Tag Archives: Birthdays

Happy Birthday, Limzer!

07/30/2011 – 11:05 PM

Yellow Polka Dot Top – H&M, Sunglasses – Prada

Okay, so Limzer’s birthday was actually some time this past week, but his birthday party was today. He had a combined birthday celebration along with a few of his friends, kindly hosted by another one of his friends. BeiBei, Allan, and I hit up Limzer’s friend’s house in the LBC (Long Beach) sometime in the afternoon. Their little shindig was complete with DJ, bar, and a ghetto dog/taco cart! Sweeeeet.

When we arrived, Limzer was standing in as DJ. It was definitely nice seeing him as we hadn’t seen each other in a while. He used to work with us, and we haven’t really hung out since he left the company. He’s an awesome dude – I think we should definitely hang out with him more often.

The party was filled with fellow Filipinos (I’m half). Most of the highly-Filipino populated parties I attend are family occasions, so it felt a little strange for me to be surrounded by so many Filipinos at a party yet only knowing one of them. (Haha). In any case, the party was good. I only regret that I didn’t try a ghetto dog or taco because I was just too full from the food and drinks I had earlier.

I hadn’t had any coffee yet when we got to Limzer’s friend’s house, so I decided to look up coffee shops around the area. I figured we could stop by to grab some coffee while we waited for the taco cart to arrive – it was scheduled to arrive at 4PM! I used my handy-dandy Yelp app on my phone and found Portfolio Coffeehouse on 4th Street. Luckily, we were very close to 4th Street – only a few blocks away!

What struck my interest were the number of stars this joint received on Yelp (4 stars!) and the fact that they were supposedly voted the “Best Coffee House in Long Beach.” It was a short walk from the house to the coffee shop, but I still wished I had my bike with me so I could have gotten there faster; it was a hot day!

I opted for a regular latte and indulged in a slice of Oreo cheesecake. BeiBei got an iced Mexican mocha and a Napoleon. Allan purchased a paradise iced tea. Everything was pretty good, though nothing really stood out to me in a special way. Walking over to Portfolio did remind me of how long it had been since I had visited 4th Street. That street is known for its plethora of vintage shops. I think I’ll just have to visit 4th Street again sometime soon and do a little bit of shopping.

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Birthdays, Coffee, Friends, Limzer Lagrimas, Long Beach, Parties, Portfolio Coffeehouse | Comment (0)

Birthdays Coffee Drinks Food Friends Restaurants & Cafes

Happy Birthday, Tony!

04/10/2011 – 11:30 PM

BeiBei, Allan, and I joined our friend Tony to celebrate his 25^th birthday. His birthday was actually on Friday, but we decided to have our own celebration and festivities on Saturday. Since we had continuously postponed watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 for many months now, we planned to watch it as part of Tony’s birthday festivities. We met up at Allan’s house and proceeded with the film.

This movie is by far the cheesiest of the Harry Potter series, putting more attention on the romances in the story. I cringed several times and even covered my eyes to save myself from the awkwardness that the scenes on the screen were sure to cause me to experience. It’s the usual Harry Potter movie length – long.

I find it necessary to see Harry Potter films with the company of others, so you have someone there with whom to comment on scenes, whether it be due to a scene’s awesomeness or absolute cheesiness.

After finishing Harry Potter and feeling slightly drained from such a lengthy film, we played a little DJ Hero 2 while we tried to determine what to eat. After driving to Outback Steakhouse and Claim Jumper, only to be deterred by the excruciatingly long wait times, we proceeded to Old Pasadena (for some reason, colloquially known as “Old Town Pasadena”) and chose The Cheesecake Factory. Tony had apparently never been to The Cheesecake Factory before and the rest of us hadn’t had it in a while, so it seemed like a reasonable choice. We placed our names on the waiting list and were delighted to discover that the wait time was significantly less than that at Outback and Claim Jumper – 45 minutes!

45 minutes was a perfect wait time, leaving us with more than enough time to grab some coffee at Intelligentsia. Intelligentsia (@Intelligentsia) is definitely at the top of my list alongside my favorite places to grab a nice cup of java. I’ve been to all three California/Los Angeles-area locations, with Pasadena being home to one of them (@IntelliPasadena), lucky enough. The other two locations are in Venice and Silver Lake. Allan, Tony, and I opted for the latte with Black Cat espresso. This is my usual drink, and none of the Intelligentsia locations have failed me yet with this choice. BeiBei got an iced Angeleno.

One of the things I love Intelligentsia, besides the amazing flavor of their lattes, is the coffee art. I am a sucker for coffee art (one of the reasons why Urth Caffe is at the top of my favorite coffee venues as well).

This particular location uses Erlenmeyer flasks as water pitchers, which I absolutely love. Awesome idea. My future kitchenware in the making: beakers for drinking glasses and Erlenmeyer flasks for pitchers.

After grabbing our coffees and waiting around some more, we were finally seated at The Cheesecake Factory!

Here’s Tony perusing the menu.

Allan and Tony

Blurry photo of BeiBei playing Unblock Me on her phone

I am making a strange face, but I do love me some bread. The brown bread from The Cheesecake Factory is the best!

The little crocheted Android that my boss’s mom made joined us too!

Allan and Tony both ordered the Chargrilled Coulotte Steak, originally served with French fries and crispy onion rings. Both of them substituted the French fries with mashed potatoes.

BeiBei and I both ordered the Hibachi Steak with Shiitake mushrooms, onions, bean sprouts, wasabi mashed potatoes and tempura asparagus.

The general consensus is that when ordering steak from here, request it to be cooked less than how you desire because they tend to overcook. For example, if you like medium, you should probably order it medium rare. Better to have it undercooked than overcooked since you can always request to have your plate sent back to be cooked a bit more.

Anyway, the boys seemed to enjoy their steak, and BeiBei and I enjoyed ours. I typically order the Hibachi steak when I go to The Cheesecake Factory. Each time I find the sauce to be too sweet for me, so this time I requested for it to not be too sweet. Next time, I will most likely put more emphasis on that request, or perhaps see if I could just get the sauce on the side. I am a huge fan of their wasabi mashed potatoes, so that’s always good.

After finishing with our meals and while waiting for the dessert we ordered to be served, I folded my napkin into an origami crane. It managed to stay upright for a while before flopping over on one side. I think it looks pretty awesome in this photo!

Since we were celebrating Tony’s birthday, of course we had to embarrass him in public! I made sure to let the waitress know we were here for his birthday. Several waiters and waitresses came out with our Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, birthday candle in tow, and sang “Happy Birthday” to Tony.

Needless to say, we all enjoyed that cheesecake! It was so rich, we barely ate any, and Tony had plenty to take home and enjoy for himself.

A perfect ending to a perfect evening with friends – Happy Birthday, Tony!

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Birthdays, Coffee, DJ Hero 2, Drinks, Food, Friends, Harry Potter, Intelligentsia, Intelligentsia Pasadena, Pasadena, Restaurants, Restaurants & Cafes, The Cheesecake Factory, Tony Huynh | Comment (0)

Birthdays Food Friends People Restaurants & Cafes Work

Happy Birthday, BeiBei!

03/14/2011 – 11:59 PM

Today is BeiBei‘s 25^th birthday. To celebrate at work, Allan, Jeremy, and I stopped by Baskin Robbins at lunch to buy her an ice cream cake!

We even bought candles for it (no, she is not turning 11). The poor ice cream cake was starting to melt from the commute from Baskin Robbins to the office; I’m sure the lit candles weren’t helping either. We hurriedly carried the cake over to BeiBei’s cubicle to surprise her.

After being embarrassed with the “Happy Birthday” song and blowing out the candles, we sliced up that cake and shared it with some co-workers. Ice cream cake is very difficult to cut, especially when you only have a plastic knife, FYI. That cookies and cream ice cream cake topped with little mini ice creams of different flavors sure “takes the cake!”

For dinner, BeiBei, Jeremy, Lamonda, Allan, Xian, David, Sue Ann, and I met up at Lemonade. None of us had tried this place before except for Xian, who has eaten at the USC branch. BeiBei and I had seen this restaurant quite a few times and thought it was cute, so we really wanted to give it a shot.

Lemonade is located in the Venice Beach area on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, which is a cute street lined with cute boutiques, restaurants, bars, and cafes. It has a four-star rating on Yelp with 326 reviews, so we had high hopes for this joint.

The whole ordering protocol was a bit confusing, thus we took quite a bit of time figuring out what and how to order. We were also waiting for Xian, David, and Sue Ann to arrive. The ordering process is somewhat cafeteria-style; they have different prices for different types of combinations and you basically pick and choose what you want. Conveniently, they have a copy of their menu online.

Their motif is very modern and also very green. They even had grass painted on the walls! Is BeiBei eating grass?

I ordered a semi-traditional sandwich: tender beef with horseradish aioli and arugula on a soft panini. As a side, from the “marketplace,” I chose the watermelon radish and ahi tuna cooked with snap peas, black sesame, and ginger. What’s neat is that Lemonade has many choices of food/sides in the “marketplace,” and you’re free to taste samples of anything they have – from hot and cold foods. I tasted a sample of the watermelon radish and ahi tuna and immediately found it to be delicious. The radish was great. The ahi tuna was a bit more overcooked than seared, but it tasted really good with their seasoning. When I ate the side with my meal, however, I found that the ahi tuna that wasn’t overcooked tasted way too fishy; it seemed that the tuna wasn’t very fresh. That was totally a buzz-kill, but the watermelon radish still tasted really good. My sandwich tasted exactly as I had hoped. I was intrigued when I read “horseradish aioli” on the menu and immediately set my stomach on consuming this sandwich. The beef was tender and delicious, and the horseradish hit the spot and gave the sandwich a good kick of flavor.

Since the restaurant is called “Lemonade,” it is no surprise that they do in fact have lemonade. They don’t only have regular lemondade — they have multiple different flavors of lemonade! I opted for the old-fashioned lemonade. Jeremy and Allan both got the kiwi strawberry lemonade. BeiBei ordered the blueberry mint lemonade. Pictured above is the old-fashioned lemonade and the kiwi strawberry lemonade. I personally thought the old fashioned lemonade tasted like any other lemonade you could get at any other restaurant; nothing special there. The kiwi strawberry lemonade was pretty good. I was definitely not a fan of the blueberry mint lemonade, although I am usually not a fan of mint in beverages anyway.

My little Android came out to join us for BeiBei’s birthday celebration. Unfortunately, by the end of the night, he was missing an antenna. :[ He fell off my lemonade, smacked the table, and one of his antennae came off.

Both BeiBei and Allan ordered the Moroccan chicken braise with Basmati rice. They seemed to enjoy their food. Lamonda and Jeremy tried two types of pot roast sandwiches. Xian ordered a few sides. I forgot what Sue Ann and David ordered; I believe they both ordered sandwiches and then ordered other things to-go to take to work for lunch tomorrow.

The general consensus seemed that we give this place three-and-a-half stars, not quite four. The food was okay, in my opinion. It was a little pricey just for simple sandwiches and sides. I think the interior of the place is very pleasing to the eye. I love the all-lowercase cursive “lemonade” logo. I can’t say I’ll want to come back here again, but I wouldn’t mind eating here if I happen to be in the area.

After dinner, Allan, BeiBei, and I went back to our work building so BeiBei and I could pick up our cars (we carpooled to Lemonade). We decided to take some shots by the large “909″ sign outside of work. I love these giant red numbers! I had taken a photo with them before (which can be seen in an old post), but the lighting looks so much more awesome at night!

To sum up the evening,

Happy Birthday, BeiBei!

See BeiBei’s birthday post here. It also happens to be her very first blog post, so please welcome her to the blogging world!

Tags Allan Chiou, BeiBei Chen, Birthdays, David Ng, Food, Jeremy Nissen, Lamonda Steele, Lemonade, Restaurants, Sue Ann Ooi, Work, Xian Li | Comments (3)

Birthdays Food Friends Life Me People Restaurants & Cafes Street Art

Birthday Weekend Recap

03/10/2011 – 1:34 AM

My birthday recently passed. (I’m now 24!) It was on Monday, March 7^th. However, the festivities surprisingly began last Friday at work!

My co-workers surprised me with this huge birthday cake with a cute caterpillar on it! The cake was so heavy, in the first photo, you can actually see it in dipping in the center from lack of support. I could barely hold that thing up!

Jacob and Jeremy really loved that cake.

The cake apparently wasn’t the only surprise. They had apparently pitched in together and purchased this Comme des Garcons wallet I had been wanting. I was almost going to splurge on it for myself that week too; good thing I didn’t! The box was actually wrapped in a reddish wrapping paper, but I had taken the photos post-unwrapping. Needless to say, that is currently the wallet that can be found in my purse.

BeiBei was our master cake slicer.

Jacob loved his slice.

Stas was… apathetic?

The cake made Mark Jones happy. :]

Jeremy just really wanted to eat it.

Franklin was the one who apparently picked out the caterpillar design!

Ji didn’t want cake…

…but Allan sure did!

On Saturday, as a little birthday get together, a few of us went to Shabu Shabu House in Little Tokyo to indulge in some delicious shabu shabu. Specifically, BeiBei, Jona, Allan, Tony, Ji and his gilfriend (Jen), Jeremy, Lamonda (Jeremy’s girlfriend), Nick (Jeremy’s friend), and Jacob were there.

Allan is a “hipster.” (Jeremy decided to steal this sticker off some undies at Victoria’s Secret during his visit to the mall earlier that week and gave it to me)

Jeremy looks more appropriate to wear the “hipster” sticker though. Sunglasses indoors — totally hipster.

Tony got me this Android special edition collectible!

After chowing down on our shabu shabu and walking around Little Tokyo a bit, BeiBei, Allan, Jona, Ji, and Jen proceeded to my house. Ivan came to join us too! We sang karaoke until the wee hours of the night. Okay, maybe not that late. I suppose we wrapped it up around 1 A.M. It would have been a lot of fun if the others had joined us as well, but it was still an excellent way to end the night!

On Sunday, Allan, An, and I decided to hunt down the last surviving piece from Banksy’s recent work in Los Angeles – the “Foreclosure” piece. I wish it weren’t covered with Plexiglass, but I suppose the owner of the building wanted to preserve the piece. It certainly does take away from having good photos without glare or reflections though. There were a few people who had also decided to stop and take photos of the piece while we were there.

Spotted a random Diglett and a mushroom in the vicinity!

After finishing up at the Banksy spot, we headed toward the Magic Kingdom – Disneyland. We did not reach our destination, however. Hindered by hunger and the forthcoming rain, we decided to search for a place to eat dinner. An had this craving for fish & chips. Using my trusty Android phone, I found a superb British pub (four stars on Yelp) in Fullerton whose best dish was none other than fish & chips! Enter The Olde Ship.

An and I both ordered the tomato basil soup as a starter.

Allan had the clam chowder.

For his entrée, Allan ordered the chicken pot pie.

An and I ordered the same thing again! Fish (haddock) & chips.

An was really happy he got his fish & chips.

I only ordered hot water as my beverage and asked for some slices of lemon to put in it, but let me tell you, this was such a delicious drink. Who knew hot water + lemon could be so satisfying?

Needless to say, we all found our meals quite enjoyable. An absolustely loved the place. I’m sure we’ll be back again sometime in the future!

Monday rolled by – my actually birthday – but unfortunately I was sick with a sore throat and the chills. I was feeling a bit off on Sunday already, thus the reason behind ordering the hot water and lemon at The Olde Ship, but I didn’t think I’d be sick enough to have to stay home all day the next day. I did, in fact, stay home from work on Monday. I spent my birthday working from home while drinking hot tea and Theraflu. I’m not complaining though; it was definitely a relaxing day, sans the discomfort of being sick and feverish. And at least I had an excellent birthday weekend, thanks to all who made it enjoyable.

I went to work on Tuesday, and Morgan stopped by after she got off work to surprise me with an awesome birthday balloon and cute mini bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Manhattan Beach!

These cakes are so cute, and delicious too!

Overall, I had an excellent 24^th birthday. I’m grateful for all my friends and family who greeted me and helped me celebrate. It didn’t even bother me that I was sick on my actually birthday, really. I had enough fun over the weekend to last me for quite some time.

I really wish I didn’t look so tired in my photos. I should probably try to sleep earlier on a daily basis. Maybe that will help out my immune system too. I’ve been sick so often this past year. I suspect it may be a combination of two things: working indoors for long hours without any fresh air (in contrast to all the fresh air I had back in Berkeley during college) and sleeping late. With that said, I take my leave. Good night!