Craving That Sush

It's Friday night and we are starving! But, what to eat? Especially since there's so many things I can't eat these days. Well, funny thing.. Jeric wanted Sushi. Of course, that's definitely on the do not list. However, there are some rolls I can eat like the crunch roll, tiger roll, and any of the baked rolls. There's also tempura and battered calamari. Plus, I wasn't that hungry yet. I was going to order a roll and tempura while Jeric did AYCE. But then, we had to wait a bit and by the time we were seated I was pretty hungry so I joined in on the AYCE.

Of course, I was full after two rolls, tempura and the calamari. I still ate enough to satisfy how much AYCE was, but Jeric ate a ton! He always does though. I would've joined him had I been able to eat all the raw goodness.

Battered Calamari


Mixed Tempura


Sushi Rolls


Jeric's Raw Sushi


Baked Crawfish Roll

Because I Forgot.. No Meat Today!

I totally spaced when I prepped my lunch last night. I forgot that today is Ash Wednesday and that we should abstain from eating meat! Yah, my lunch was hamburger helper! That's like mostly meat!! DOH!

So, what to do for lunch? TO YELP! There were the typical chain/fast food spots that offer fish filet sandwiches, like KFC, Wendy's, and Burger King that were nearby. But I totally just wasn't feelin it. So, I did a search for fish near work. And, well, I found this Thai place that supposedly was authentic and had good reviews. Looks like we have a winner!

The place is called Thai By Sushi On Fire. Yah, I don't know why they added Sushi in the name. Whatevs.


Anyhow, the place was nearly empty when I got there. Very clean and spacious though. I took a mighty long time perusing the menu. I just couldn't decide what to eat! They had all these seafood specials and then there were the staples, like Pad Thai, Shrimp Fried Rice and Tom Yum Soup that were all good for meatless days. I had quite a dilemma on my hands. Then I saw the lunch specials, which came with a salad, a veggie egg roll and rice. I totally wanted to try their sweet and sour shrimp or fish, but sadly those weren't on the lunch special menu. Booo. So, I settled. And I really wish I hadn't. Because, for the price, it just was meh.


I ended up ordering some fish filet special with a mild sauce, which I didn't finish. I wished it was sweet and sour! Next time (if there is a next time) I'm totally ordering the norm!

Craving That Pizza!

Today was errand day and we were headed off to Costco. Since we were there and haven't really eaten much yet, we were thinking of a hot dog and pizza from their food court. But then, Jeric suggested we just wait and go to Pieology. I was totally down for that!

So we quickly grabbed what we needed from Costco and rushed over to Pieology!

I built my own pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, meatballs, sausage, and pepperoni and Jeric built himself a bbq chicken pizza.



Still love this place!

Visiting Papa and Mama

Since we were in LA, Jeric wanted to go visit Papa at Forest Lawn.


I thought it was really nice that we came by to see him on Valentines Day. We also visited his little cousin, Nicholas.

Afterwards, we headed out to Mama's house for a surprise visit. Geoffrey was there too since he took Mama out on a Valentines Day date. We all just hung around and chatted for a good while. It was fun and relaxing.

The rest of the night was spent at Jeric's parent's house watching the NBA All-Star game.

Brunchin for Vday

It is Jeric's year this year! I was anxious to see what he was going to plan. He did mention that maybe we just buy food and he'll cook (especially since we were thinking of things I can't eat or being around crazy crowded restaurants).

Well... we both woke up might hungry. So he said, let's go somewhere for breakfast! Which ended up being more of a brunch. I wanted something that had breakfast items, so he searched for some a good cafe and found Urth Cafe. Which I thought was Earth Cafe. Lol.


The location was right smack in the middle of the Art District and to be honest, where it was located, it seemed very out of place. Like, I figured this kind of cafe looked best surrounded by other cafes/restaurants with outdoor seating or next to lovely parks. Not near some brick-walled looking business? It was just an odd place for such a pretty and relaxing cafe.

We started off with drinks. Jeric ordered the Vanilla Honey Latte and I ordered a Strawberry and Kiwi Smoothie. Jeric said his coffee was good for sitting and relaxing. Definitely a sipper. The smoothie was delish too. You could tell it was ubber healthy. Didn't feel heavy when I drank it.


For food.. Jeric ordered a Turkey Panini. He held the mustard, but forgot to find a substitute for them to add so his sandwich was fairly dry.


I ordered the Beef Hash with Scrambled Egg on top, since I couldn't have the Poached Egg. This was delish, but way way hearty!


We wanted to order a muffin to go, but by the time we finished eating, we were too full! Oh, and Jeric tried to down his coffee real quick because he didn't want to waste it. Hahaha. Silly boy.. ask for a to-go cup!

Now.. would we go here again? Probably, most likely, not. Way too expensive for food that was just alright.

Free Cooking Class? I'm there!

Our apartment complex offers these free cooking classes once a month. I've been meaning to try them out for so long, but have either been busy or lazy. Hahaha.

Today, I decided I was totally going to go! The classes are always held by a chef from Big City Chefs, who are featured on the Food Network and are always in the main club house. I was kind of wondering how it would be a cooking class since there's only one stove. I really was hoping we'd have individual mini burners to cook on. Cause you know.. it's a cooking CLASS! I guess I had major high expectations. Hahaha. Cause when I got there, it wasn't what I thought.

A few folks arrived before I did and they were seated at the counter.. no personal burners to be seen. I took a seat at the counter and then realized, this is totally not a cooking class. More like a cooking demo! The chef cooks for you and talks to you while he cooks. He just explains what he's doing while he cooks.


I was a little bummed that I wasn't going to get my hands dirty. But oh well. It was still fun!

I did pick up a few things. So I guess it is a class, just not the kind of class I expected. But what can you say? It's free.99!

Here's some of what I learned.. put an item you'd like to soften/melt into a heatable bowl and place that bowl on top of a pan over flame and stir while it melts.. tada! You can use one of those turkey aluminum pans to hold things up, like jalopenos you want to stuff. Just flip the pan upside down, poke holes, and then there you have it! Little stands for your jalopenos or whatever it is you need to bake that has to stand upright. That's all, but hey, I learned something new!

Anyhow, the menu for today was set for Oscar-Themed appetizers. This is what we had..

Stuffed Jalopenos


Beef Sliders


Potato Wedges (he left them as halves, since there weren't many of us)


All were very delicious and super easy to make! Some really good things to keep in mind for small get-togethers. I am STUFFED!

The only drawback, they don't offer drinks of any kind. So, for next time, cause I'm sure I'll go again.. I need to remember a bottle of water!

Ohh, I signed up Jeric for the class too, but he didn't want to join. Haha. Instead he was at the gym. And when my class was done, he was done at the gym! Perfect timing!

If anyone wants to join me for the next one, message me and I'll keep you in the loop.

Handing Out Some VDay Candy

Since I already started receiving candy in my VDay mailbox, I thought I should also hand out candy of my own.

I decided to hand out some lollipops, but didn't want to buy cards for them. Instead, I made some myself! Not bad, right?




Oh, and here's today's VDay rake..


Woohoo! There's a Scratcher in there!

Can't Resist Free Food

I can never resist free food. Especially in the form of pastries! I swear, I'm gonna get so fat here!

A few girls met with one of the VP's and after their meeting, they walked down my cube aisle and offered everyone some pastries. Would you say no to this? I think not.

My VDay Mailbox

Since VDay is coming up this Saturday, our company put together a fun event for everyone.

Starting on Monday, February 9th, employees are to put up folders, envelopes or boxes around their workspace and they should be super decked out for VDay. And at the end of every day, the three VP's of our department will be handing out gift cards for the most elaborately decorated ones. Then, on Friday, they're going to have some yummy and healthy treats as well as a few games setup.

I totally wanted to make a cute box so I did some digging and found a super cute idea of making a post office box!

I was supposed to make this over the weekend, but I ended up being pretty busy and totally forgot about it.

I definitely wanted to make it today though! I already missed out on one day of gift cards, so I needa get crackin!

After Costco, we headed over to Michael's and I took forever finding just the right pieces for my Mail Box. Now comes the fun!

I couldn't find a template at all on the web to help, so I totally had to wing my design. I figured out a bit of what I can do while I was at work, so at least I had some sort of idea where to start and what supplies I needed. All it took was one large poster board (22x30), some pretty VDay paper, washi tape and then stickers (I LOVE STICKERS)!

I seriously thought I could tackle this in like a few hours. HA! It took me like 5! I also started late because I had some chores to do and ended up finishing around 2:30 am. And it's still missing a few little touches.

Isn't she a beaut?


PS.. I think they changed it. It's not a giftcard everyday, it's a giftcard at the end of the event. I hope I win!

Free Bagels for Bfast!

Someone brought in some bagels for work. I was getting pretty hungry too! My oatmeal for bfast doesn't always cut it.

Delish!

Girly Time At Coco Ichibanya!

Met the girlies for din din! It's been a really long time since I've seen most of them, like a year! So it felt really good to get out and hang with them today.

We ate at Coco Ichibanya, a Japanese Curry House. We got there at the perfect time. There were probably only two other groups there when we arrived and by the time we were chowing down, the place was packed! We totally beat the dinner rush.

I ordered the Fried Chicken curry dish with a hard boiled egg and Keema Cheese French Fries, which look just like chili cheese fries.

After dinner, we all headed out to Handel's Ice Cream. I got a pint to take home so Jeric can have some. I got half Graham Central Station and half Strawberry Cheesecake. Yumm!

It was pretty late and cold so we called it a night.