Sundae in the Park

FINALLY got to go to Universal Studios Hollywood! We missed the window early into our move here because we were maxing out our season passes to Six Flags and then were busy with babies for a while. I'm glad we went later, however, because it meant that we got to see the relatively new Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the Holidays!!! Which is great because we probably won't be back until the boys want to go. We had a wonderful time but when the ride descriptions say that they are not for folks subject to motion sickness, they mean it. I was prepared with a bucketload of mints because stronger meds make me sleepy and dizzier, and still spent most of the day at least slightly queasy. That said, no one forced me to get on all of the rides (including the HP Forbidden journey X 3) and I enjoyed each and every one.

Almost every ride has at least some component of a virtual reality, most shake, rattle, and throw mist/water at you, and several had a 3-D component. Oddly enough, I did better on the 3-D rides, as the more immersive experience seemed to help my equilibrium, but my husband felt the opposite, so YMMV.  Also, the park isn't all that large and there aren't that many rides, so the proportion of nausea-inducing rides is quite high. Even though the park is smallish, the lines can be long, so getting into all the rides and attractions might not be possible unless you strategize. We bought our tickets online, which come with a early admission (an hour, sort of). This, coupled with the fact that cold (for LA) winter mornings seem to be a less popular time for attendance, was essential in getting to see everything. We were ready to go as soon as they opened the gates for us at 8:30 AM and had fun walking around the HP area with such a reasonable crowd. Note that HP is pretty much the only thing open that early, so only go for the early admission if that is what you want to see. Hogsmeade is gorgeous and cobbly and atmospheric and adorable dressed for the holidays, complete with "snow" falling gently a few times each night. Because we got there so early, we were able to ride the HP Forbidden Journey ride twice with essentially no line (which, incidentally, set me up for hours of queasiness), as well as the wee roller coaster (very gentle). We had a short wait (<10 mins) to get into the Simpsons Ride, and then raced down to the lower lot just as they opened at 10 AM. That left us again, with very short waits for Transformers and the Mummy, which finished us out for the lower lot as Jurassic Park is currently closed for renovation. We hopped on the studio tour with no wait after that, so managed to get all the rides/experiences that typically have longer waits all done by noon and still didn't get to see everything until the last tick of 7 PM, when the park closed. This all a very long way of saying that, if you have limited time, want to see everything, and not as much luck/will to hustle, buying into the express passes or VIP tours might very well be worth it. 

More later..

"...as delicious as cheesecake is, it’s probably not work risking your life for."

Mob scene @ the Clarendon Cheesecake Factory brought on by a free cheesecake offer! 😨

On 9/19/2017 at 5:05 AM, dcs said:

It turns out that visiting eggslut on the weekends confronts you with a line upwards of 50 people at 8:15am.  As good as these sandwiches may be, that is a wait too long, especially when fine fare can be found at the Sari Sari Store at the opposite end of the market.  It features Filipino cuisine from James Beard Nominated Chef Margarita Manzke and her husband Walter Manzke. I originally tried for the Filipino Breakfast Sandwich (sausage, fried egg, pickles, american cheese, pan de sal), but they said the bread was not finished baking so I would have to wait (I took this as a good sign, despite my disappointment).  I opted instead for the Pinoy BBQ rice bowl (grilled pork ribs, garlic rice,  fried egg) and could not have been happier. Three amply sized pork ribs, well seasoned, some crisp on the outside and succulent to the bone.  A wonderful breakfast that more than carried me to a late lunch in Santa Monica.  I will be back to try some of the other offerings for sure, even if there is no line at eggslut.

A lot of places in GCM are closed on a Sunday evening, but no worries, Sari Sari store is open and delicious. We grabbed two quick bowls, the chicken adobo fried rice and the tortang talong, eating a few bites and taking the rest to go. The chicken adobo rice was great, with beautifully seasoned fried rice, pickly and crunchy bits, and a lacy egg on top. The tortang talong, however, was amazing, and something I looked up immediately when I got home. The version we had was a rice bowl, so not the same as the eggplant-egg omelet that seems to be the most common recipe for that term. The Asian eggplant was deeply grilled and laid on top of coconut fried rice (or fried rice with coconut milk? It was kind of wet but not sloppily so), which was then topped with a fried egg and complemented by folded-in Brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and broccoli, all of which were well-seasoned (a touch spicy and very rich) and well-seared. This was such a luxurious, delightful, fall-in-an-exotic-bowl dish, that no meat was missed in the slightest. I really, really want to learn to make something like it, especially since a glance at the current menu and yelp pictures reveals that this combination is seasonal and not always available. The buko (coconut custard) pie is apparently legendary but we were pie-ed out at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend. Next time!!

 Lasa's website is here and Jonathan Gold (pre-)reviewed them in 2016 when they were supposed to be a temporary pop-up.

Food and Wine loves them, making them one of their 10 restaurants of the year for 2018.

So hungry now!!!

Lovely NYT article, and now I want to eat there:

For These Brothers, the Real Thanksgiving Feast Is a Filipino Breakfast

So I'm lazy and pretty much have always cooked with at least some non-stick assistance in my pots and pans. I'm getting skeeved out by our burn rate through cheap non-stick pans, though, and am thinking of going big and getting the All-Clad 12-inch stainless frying pan, but am worried about learning to cooking on stainless (the sticking!!). Any tips, tricks, testimonials, or literature I should check out before taking the leap? Should I do it? What say ye?

The big one had eggplant parm last night! The little did not, with projectile vengeance. The big was delighted that the dish counts as a vegetable and so gleefully requested it for breakfast this morning to get his daily veg allotment out of the way early.* I'll take it!

*We know that mandating veg and fruit to earn treats is not ideal, but it's working for now with 95% less daily negotiating so the tactic has been completely sanity-saving. The Satter method of dividing food responsibility cut down the negotiating but had us genuinely worried about malnutrition for a bit, so we built on it by adding incentive (yup, married to an economist) for him to make better-for-our-peace-of-mind choices. Yes, he tried right away to earn extra treats by eating more servings of fruit and veg but we shut that down hard and now he sort of understands step functions. I don't include this longer-than-original-post aside because I think DR-ers would be mean, but to show how we are dealing with our our more rational picky kid in case someone else is having a similar issue. The little is still a processed food monster that isn't shy about throwing food or going hungry. Sigh. I welcome any and all ideas for that one.

The baby knows how to make a quesadilla! Can't talk yet, but apparently can indicate through pointing, pantry burrowing, and yelling that he wants tortillas and cheese cooked on the stove. He ate most of it, too.

This seemingly recent (I think? Why isn't anything dated anymore??!! The stalls seem quite up-to-date, though) round-up from The Infatuation of the best places to eat at GCM has a lot of great pictures that will make you hungry and want to explore. Plenty of places to hit when the Eggslut line is too daunting...

I'm not a huge fan of the Grilled Cheese Truck, but I'm thrilled when I'm at a food truck event and they show up. As a perennial crowd favorite, they are GREAT at drawing off people into their line!  I've tried it a few times (waiting in a LONG line each time), but, in the end, it's a rapidly cooling cheese sandwich that you're eating in a parking lot somewhere. Turns out, I like to enjoy my grilled cheese more slowly, in a cozier setting, preferably with something soupy to dip into. I've tried the cheesy mac, cheesy mac-n-rib, and nutella melts - all are luscious and decadent, and they do serve tater tots(♥️), but it's just as easy to make something similar or better at home for a fraction of the cost. Since I hate to be able to say that about my outside-the-home food, no longer let myself be seduced by their cheesy promises 😉 

15 hours ago, dcandohio said:

 I invited friends for dinner tonight. I put out chips and two kinds of salsa, and I had made chicken tortilla soup earlier in the week which I served as an appetizer.

I found some giant orange bell peppers and stuffed them with a mixture of ground turkey and kidney beans with onions, celery, garlic, chopped olives, and spices.They looked like pumpkins! I made cheese sauce to serve on the side. 

I Served it with a salad of diced cucumber, jicama, and avocado with a cilantro lime dressing.

 Unfortunately, 1/2 of the couple I invited over got into an altercation with her partner, and stormed out and left, which was awkward.  The remaining partner and I finished our meals. I will say say it wasn’t the best dinner party I’ve hosted. 🤷🏼‍♂️

 But how did the peppers taste? They sound adorable and perfect for the season.

We had Costco food last night - Kirkland fish sticks made in the toaster oven, and pork tamales made in the steamer (they aren't as good as ktmoomau's look, but they do the job, especially when you bother to steam them), with guacamole that we actually made ourselves. Easy peasy.

Haha, depending on the taste of the "spongy mass," that might actually be a benefit for us, since my kids are masters at picking out vegetables that are too loosely incorporated into meat.  Looks like I'll cross my fingers that they are sampling them when we visit Costco but expect to buy a bag to try without going crazy. I have been making a lot of dumplings lately and could use a break here and there.  Thanks for the feedback, all!

It's chicken week! Creamy chicken and wild rice soup for our batch meals, made on Saturday. Baked chicken tenders on Saturday night that were meh, dry, and under-marinated. Pan-fried chicken cutlets (same panko crust as the previous night) last night were MUCH better and served with mushroom-sherry sauce over pasta, sauteed asparagus, and plums.

Has anyone tried the Ling Ling frozen potstickers? 

They are on warehouse sale this month and I just got a chest freezer so if these are good, I'll be stocking up. The ingredient list seems pretty short and pronounceable for a prepared food.

Saturday was a whole bunch of turkey meatballs with spaghetti. 

Last night we made lentil soup, grilled gochujang pork loin, Santa Maria-style grilled tri-tip, and two pans of roasted zucchini. Should have enough food for a day or two 😉

On 9/25/2018 at 1:57 PM, dwt said:

We stayed at the Blue Horizon Hotel https://bluehorizonhotel.com/, dining at places that were within walking distance:

Joe Forte's is on Eater's list of essential Vancouver restaurants. We went there to enjoy northwest seafood (king salmon, halibut, etc) prepared in a manner that let the fresh ingredients shine. Oh, and oysters too. I ate so many oysters on this trip and enjoyed sampling the west coast offerings. The atmosphere reminds me of a traditional DC steak and seafood house, with lots of wood paneling, waiters in white jackets, and a pianist playing schlocky music. There were even a few parties wearing suits and ties.

50 minutes ago, bookluvingbabe said:

We also went to Joe Forte's.  We had planned to get the seafood platter but Mr. BLB wasn't up for it.  He didn't like his snapper.  I discovered (and confirmed while in Alaska) that I don't really like halibut.  BL-6th grader loved his salmon and was mad we didn't get one of the seafood platters. So we left vaguely disappointed but I think that was more about us than the restaurant....

We stayed at the Blue Horizon way back in 2008(!!) and loved its location. We had our engagement dinner at Joe Forte's on that same trip. It was clubby , nice, festive, and close-by, with wonderful service, and we expected it to be there in case we wanted to come back in the future. The food was good but not particularly memorable for Vancouver - I recall mostly very fresh fish and the warm atmosphere/service, but we expected that going in based on reviews so were happy with our visit and choice.  Good to hear that it is still there and the experience sounds very much the same.

2 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Now that we have a house, Hubby wanted a Costco membership.  I guess I still don't get the love of these type of stores (we had a Sam's Club membership growing up).  I have gone a couple times, but- unless you go with a group of people or have a really large household- it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me?  And you can't really do a full grocery run there.  People told me you could online order like at Harris Teeter, but the selection seems more limited than what I could find in the store?  What am I missing?

34 minutes ago, Pat said:

There's a learning curve on what to buy, and sometimes items just disappear. It also depends on which store in which jurisdiction you're going to, as to what is available (alcohol and meat being the two biggest variables).  The prime cuts of beef are worth the expense (especially if you have freezer space to stash the extra couple of steaks or roasts in the package). The wines are well-selected.  Cheeses are usually good, but there is one kind of feta in brine that I've found has a weird smell even long before its use by date. The rotisserie chickens are great but have a ton of sodium.

Nuts! Very good place to buy nuts, the excess of which can go in the freezer; household cleaners and supplies that you will eventually use (laundry detergent, sponges); kitchen pans, utensils, and appliances; canned beans; boxed or canned soups and broths; underwear!; shoes; the cargo shorts they carry that I can't find anywhere else; and so forth.

Be wary of any perishable or not infinitely shelf-stable items that you don't use that often or in great quantity and aren't good freezer options.

Costco is also really good about sending out notices about any item you've purchased that has a recall on it.

We have a fairly large house, two toddlers, and two adults, and we don't spend enough at Costco to make back the executive membership cost with the cash back, so we have the basic (Gold) membership. I've heard that some of the best $ savers from membership is for pet food/supplies and booze, neither of which apply to us. Diapers can be cheap there when on sale, but overall, an Amazon subscription is cheaper for baby stuff, too. We keep our membership because we like their products and the rest of the family LOVES the trip itself for trying samples. My kids will eat anything while there, even if they turn up their noses at the same food brought home. We typically get meats, cheeses (Babybels, especially on sale, are a fantastic deal), paper goods (parchment paper, TP, and paper towels), pesto, mushrooms, oilve oil, and frozen prepared foods. We like the tamales, spinach ravioli, breaded shrimp, fruit, and the Cod fillets > the fish sticks (though those are pretty decent, too).  The frozen perogies, when available (only by special vendor event) are great for prepared foods. We also buy a lot of higher-end snacks, like jerky, chocolate treats, dried fruits, nuts, candies, etc. and they are quite a bit cheaper in bulk and last...long enough to be eaten down.  The boxes of chocolates or other treats can also make nice hostess/host gifts.  If you use the brands of toiletries they sell, you can save a bit there as well - all our lotions (Aveeno, Cetaphil) come from there. The price for regular grocery store snacks (Cheez-Its, Ritz, granola bars, chips) doesn't seem to be better than buying on sale and then you can do so in smaller quantities for a greater variety. We also buy some random household items/dry goods/clothes there as well, depending on what's available/on special sale.  They've set it up in treasure hunt style so you never quite know what will be there to find. 

Their return policy is still quite generous, even with the recent pullbacks. For food that you tried and don't end up liking, they will accept the remainder, no questions asked, and refund your $. For example, the big thing of cream that spoiled?  Brought in the empty container (per their instructions) on my next trip and received my $ and an apology. 

We go about once a month to catch whatever is on special warehouse sale that month plus to stock up on our usuals. Now that we have a chest freezer we might be stepping up on the prepared foods, but I don't want to go crazy for sodium-watching reasons. Many of the items are available for online order and free delivery, so if things are particularly bulky I'll check there first and just have the things sent to my house. 

Eater has a nice retrospective checking in on various (relatively) famous LA food trucks.

Eggslut has morphed into a hugely popular mini-chain with 4 LA-area locations, one in Vegas, and one in Beirut??!! It doesn't appear to have a truck anymore.

Ludo has two locations; a stand in the Staples Center and a spot on Universal Citywalk. I miss their truck.

BellyBombz has two storefronts; one in Artesia and one in Whittier. They still run a fleet of trucks but I always check and triple check that they're coming to an event, because I've been frequently disappointed by their last-minute cancellations (granted, they come up a long way to get to my county but sometimes they just never show up!!). I still try to get their boneless wings whenever they come up our way.

Here's what we've had to say on the LA food truck scene in the past (from the original Dining in LA thread):

On 12/1/2009 at 12:41 PM, 1000yregg said:

I found the Kogi BBQ Korean Taco truck via their twitter account.
Tried two of their tacos- the short rib (kalbi) and the spicy pork. They are served on small 3" corn tortillas, $2 each. The short rib was the superior of the two. The tacos were loaded with veggies, kimchee, onions, lettuce, cabbage.
What I liked better than their tacos were two of their specialties- the kimchee quesadilla- loaded with cheese and kimchee, and the Kogi slider- which was like a slider loaded with bulgogi.
Their lines, especially in the evenings can run an hour, but we were lucky to catch a small lunch rush in Santa Monica.
pics

On 4/4/2012 at 1:11 PM, 1000yregg said:

The next day, went on a mini food truck safari. Started at eggslut for breakfast and had "thee slut", a coddled egg served in a small jar over potato puree, with a side of toast. We then went to a park nearby Universal studios where trucks hang out. I had the loco moco and spam musubi at Aloha Fridays truck. It was cheap- $10 for the lot. I noticed that food trucks are cheaper in LA than in DC or Baltimore- what gives?

On 5/13/2013 at 10:52 AM, Sundae in the Park said:

Finally got to try the famous Kogi truck, and while my suddenly kim-chee-crazed husband loved it, I thought it was just fine.  Great tacos for cheap are widely available around here and the price and the grease factors were a little high for me.  The Ludo truck, however, really manages to do wonderful things with fried chicken.  Even though it's boneless and cooked up fast to order, the crust, heavily studded with rosemary, is remarkably crunchy and the chicken stays incredibly moist. 

On 8/8/2013 at 11:28 AM, Sundae in the Park said:

Belly Bombz (food truck) is all the name promises "“ great Korean fried wings smothered in tasty sauces, plus sliders and fries. It's a bellyful and the sauces will get all over your hands and clothes (and mouth, and facial hair, as applicable "“ luckily they are free with the handi-wipes) but it will all be worth it.  I wanted to try all the sauces but the Firecracker is a sweet-chile, low-heat, great start!

On the other hand, I don't really get the appeal of the Grilled Cheese Truck.  Every time I see it, there's an hour+ line.  I waited once to try the cheesy mac-n-rib, which I admit I'd been lusting after for a while, but in the end it was cheesy toast filled with some OK mac-n-cheese and a dab of BBQ rib meat.  Now I'm just glad that its line sucks up customers from the trucks I do want to try.

On 1/1/2014 at 9:22 PM, Sundae in the Park said:

I've gone through most of the flavors of Belly Bombz at this point, and my favorites are the firecracker and soy caramel.  The mom's recipe is a little bland and I didn't really care for the sriacha lime or spicy garlic parmesan.  I like my wings saucier so I've only tried the bomb dust on fries.  It tastes exactly like the flavor of an excellent BBQ potato chip so I thought it was great, but YMMV.  The slaw that comes with all items is crisp and refreshing, gobbled down by two people who generally don't like cole slaw.  My husband really likes the sliders (both the pork belly and the beef, when they have them) but I stick with the boneless wings.

We haven't been to the Ragin' Cajun restaurant, but their food truck is one of our favorites, with some lick-worthy chicken-sausage bisque and perfectly-fried po' boy fillings.

On 9/10/2018 at 3:11 PM, leleboo said:

*Before anyone comments on how healthfully my kids eat, I'd like to point out that I promised them Happy Meals tomorrow. 

Thanks for this, leleboo. It's heartening as both of my kids are going through picky phases (I hope they are phases! Especially as they are for completely different foods!! *tears at already-mom--thinned hair*) at the moment. They still eat my potstickers (taken directly from my mom's playbook and stuffed with ground turkey, egg, and spinach), thank goodness (had them last night, again), but having those every day is...impractical. One eats Cheerios and the other consents to eat wheat toast daily but otherwise, the struggle is real  And, unfortunately, shrugging off obstinately fasting kids isn't an option as they are both off-the scale tiny. With our elder son, there was a period where he would only eat Chinese restaurant food. Our takeout place loooooooooves us and actually calls back to check if our order changes from the usual to make sure it wasn't in error.

Oreo cookies are the best! My favorite growing up except when I was in the mood for vanilla cookies (Vienna Fingers, which I can't find any more ).  Nowadays they are the only cookie I buy from the regular store, though sometimes cookies from Trade Joe's sneak in the basket. If you crush a couple and top your ice cream with them, it's just about as good as going to Cold Stone. And the oreo cookie pie crust is my definition of holiday decadence. Original only, as I think the new flavors (excepting double-stuffed) are a travesty. 

Eating in LA won't be the same without Jonathan Gold to consult 😰 Luckily, there are thousands of reviews to check and hopefully the LA Times will keep the Goldbot up for a while to continue auto-generating Gold's suggestions.

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Three Knockout Art Exhibits To See in LA Right Now - (dcs)

Jonathan Gold, who led the discussion of the LA food scene for so long and has now left us 😰

Beans (red and pinto beans, done in a crock pot) and rice (done in a rice cooker), warmed-up Hawaiian pork rescued from the freezer, grilled corn cut off the cob, cucumbers, grape tomatoes sauteed until they popped, and purple cabbage peanut-sesame slaw made for some pretty awesome not-burrito bowls.  More importantly, none of this prep made the kitchen hot and we'll have lots of leftovers.  Unfortunately, baby ate only pork, big kid basically ate only rice. Sigh.