Cooking With Dog Fan Event

 

One of my many favorite YouTubers is CookingWithDog. CookingWithDog videos are typically Japanese cusine. I happened to be on the CookingWithDog Facebook and found out they were having a drawing to attend fan event in Los Angeles. I decided to enter, but didn't think I would get picked. Well lucky enough I did get picked. The event was held at TasteMade Studios in Santa Monica July 1. TasteMade is this YouTube channel to has quality informative food/cooking videos. For those who don't know the channel CookingWithDog, she is best known for cooking with her well behaved dog Francis by her side. Francis the dog wasn't there of course, but a stuff dog took his place and Francis's voice double was there. Chef taught us how to make fried asparagus wrapped in bacon and pineapple ice cream which is already a previous video. We got to try both things and they were both delicious. Both recipes were pretty simple too. I can't wait to make some pineapple ice cream soon. Afterwards it was a Q&A so we got to ask Chef some questions. One question that was ask which I wanted to know the answer too was how Francis never moves from the stool. Chef said that there wasn't much room on the stool so Francis couldn't really go anywhere. I think it's also properly trained. Our old dog was full of energy and if I placed it on the counter when I'm cooking it'd probably eat what I was making. Afterwards we were treated with a bento dinner & photo op. I wish I had gotten Chef a gift because she gave each of the attendees a little gift. This was an amazing experience. It's not everyday you get to meet the person in the videos you watch everyday. For anyone that likes Japanese cusine or wants to learn more about Japanese cuisine I would checkout and subscribe to the CookingWithChef YouTube channel.

Pasadena Marathon 5K 2013 Recap

Race Swag

My Bro and I. 5K Finishers!

This is my 3rd 5K & 2nd time doing the Pasadena marathon. I haven't done many races, but this is one to remember and a learning experience. First mistake I made was not using my inhaler. I did prep the night before, but I forgot to put my inhaler out where I would remember it. Not smartest idea. I didn't realize this till I was standing in the starting line and had my doh moment. Another thing was the weather. I knew it was going to be hot, but didn't know how I'd be affect by it since I've never really trained in hot weather. That's what I get for not running too much last summer. There wasn't much I could do so I tried not to let it get to me. When I first started running I was doing ok. I got that adrenaline rush of being in the race and I got this burst of energy to run fast. I was good for about 1.5 miles. After passing city hall and passing the 5K sign was when it all went south. My breathing was getting a bit harder and I was not taking the heat. I stopped 3-4 times the rest of the race. I think I should have paced myself better instead of rushing in the beginning. I did finish at 33:24 which was approx 2 min faster than last year, but I felt I could have done better. Just like the Coaster Run I decided that I'd take pictures along the route. Its not everyday you get to run on Colorado Blvd. Obviously the photos I took were in the beginning and not at the end. Even managed to get a selfie in. Haha. Maybe there should be a website for "Photos of Asians who take photos while running".

Overall I'm glad I did the race even though I didn't feel like it was my best. If they decide to have the race in June again, I'm going to really have to think about it. I was only doing the 5K and I couldn't really take the heat. I'm glad there wasn't a full marathon it probably wouldn't have turn out too well in the heat. 6 people were taken to the hospital because of the heat. Craziness. I was looking at the comments on the PM Facebook page and some people were saying that the 5K was really 3.5 miles according to their Garmin. If that is true I guess I get to log extra miles on my Nike+. There's been a lot of complaints about this race. I haven't done that many races so I can't really compare. I'm pretty sure races big and small experience some flaws. I knew this was a smaller race so I wasn't expecting much to begin with, but to run out of medals does suck. The swag that I got was better than last years and I got run down a street where I usually drive, so that that was pretty exciting. To bad I didn't run into RunEatRepeat. I love reading her blog and it would have been cool to meet her. 

My Yogurt Addiction

I haven't posted in a long time. Well lately I've been discovering new yogurts. First my moms friend gave us some Noosa yogurt to try, which is very delicious. Usually I'm big on the Greek yogurt, but now since discovering other brands I've been having a mixture of regular yogurt and Greek. Another brand I discovered is Muller. My brother says its a German brand, but I guess Quaker brought it to the states. Now I'm seeing more and more different brands. I think the yogurt market is over saturated, but the good thing is that we get a lot of variety now. There's just so many great delicious yogurts out there right now. It's hard to choose a favorite at the moment. Lucky enough I got a coupon for Muller in my Vons rewards. I was able to score 10 at a great deal. I think it was for $0.88. Another time I went to Vons it seemed like all the yogurts was on sale. Right now I've just been a bit crazy about yogurt. Well its actually more like an addiction. I've been eating a yogurt a day. My brother was in NYC few weeks ago and brought me back a Chobani bowl. Hopefully one day I can visit the Chobani yogurt bar in Soho or Chobani will decide to expand in LA.

1 Year Barre-iversary

I never know what to blog. When I read other blogs and find everyone so amazing to be able to post something daily. Well this past week was my 1 year Barre-iversary. I never knew I would be hooked on the barre for a year. With the gym I always had an on and off relationship, but its surprised me that I'd be consistent with the barre. Also going to the barre has actually made me more consistent with the gym because I wouldn't be where I am with just the barre. I think overall the going to the barre has made me more aware of my overall fitness and what I'm doing. I am so glad I have found the barre. 

Another big help with keeping me stay on the fit track is Instagram. When I first joined Instagram I wouldn't have thought of it as a tool to keep fit. As I started looking at hahstags and finding fit minded people to follow its actually helped me with keeping fit. Seeing other people post pictures of their healthy food and workouts make me want to do the same. I still have my craving days where I give into my cravings (ok maybe more than usual), but overall it has made me want to keep up with the healthy/clean eating.   

 

Few weeks ago I finally got to try Blaze Pizza. When I've past by Blaze Pizza in the past there was always this line out the door, but never knew the line goes quickly. This is going to my new go to pizza place. Blaze is this build your own pizza place. You can think of it as the Chipotle of Pizza. You can either get their signature pizza or build your own with the variety of toppings they have. Its surprising how they get pizza cooked quickly. I would say it takes about 5-10 min for a pizza to be done which is not bad. They guy getting the pizzas in and out of the brick oven looks super busy since orders are continuously coming in.

Runs, TIU, & things...

#runforboston

I haven't post in a while. Well with all the stuff last week I happen to come upon people dedicating their runs to Boston. A lot of people was doing it on 4/17, which happened to be the day I was going to the gym. So I decided I would do that too. See as I haven't been having great runs even on the treadmill I decided that my goal would be 2.25 miles. I'm not sure what happened, but I actually did 3.42 miles. I was really surprised and I think I got a slight runner's high. Saturday my brother was home for the weekend so he decided to take me on this run he does when he's home. Again I thought I couldn't do it, but actually surprised myself. The uphill portion of my brother's run was a bit challenging. One part my brother was signaling me to stop which I thought maybe because he wanted to ask if I needed a break, but actually his knee was bothering him. I'm glad I have a fit fam. So far I'm 10.1 of 26.2 miles for Boston. Now I'm thinking one day I could try a 10k. Maybe next year.

TIU Bikini Challenge 2013

Here I go again. Got an email about the Tone It Up Bikini Challenge 2013, but wasn't sure if I wanted to do it because lately I've been signing up for things and never completing it, like BBB. Then I starting browsing around Twitter/Instagram and found out that there's a lot of support out there. There tons of TIU members/participants. Great thing about it is its free. So far I've done the Bikini Strap Workout that was called for on Thursday. So here I go again, hopefully I see this through. Lately I've been finding Instagram to be a big help to keep on the healthy track. Seeing people's photos of healthy food or anything health/fitness related has really been a big help. It also make me want to post my healthy eats. Except for when your brother comes home for the weekend and suggests eating Alberto's. Good food, but I gained a food baby out of it. Next time I'm opting for a lone burrito instead of a burrito plate.

I went in to Smart & Final the other day for bananas, but came out with this. It happened to be on sale, so I was like why not give it a try. Another way to feed my Greek yogurt addiction. Very delicious and you can't even tell its Greek yogurt. It taste even better than when I mix a ranch packet with low fat sour cream. Now I'm thinking I could make my own with a ranch packet and some Chobani. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the big Greek yogurt companies start coming out with dips.

Why does the Japanese market have to be so temping. Oh I wished I could have got something, but I had to tell myself "look, but don't touch". Hahaha. The pocky was on sale too.



YouTuber Sighting at the Gym

I love that I go to a chain gym. It has its downsides, but there's also the positives. Well one many thing is that I can go anywhere. I usually choose where I want to go depending on where I'm coming from or what errands I need to run after. Well today since I needed to go to Trader Joe's I decided to go to gym that would swing me by Trader Joes on my way home. Ok to keep long story short I saw my favorite YouTube singer Jason Chen at gym. I've seen him couple of times before when I go to this particular gym, but its always been random when seeing him. I was trying to run a 5K on the treadmill, but that ended up being a 75% run 35% walk. I haven't run for a few weeks so I should have known it wasn't going to be a good workout. I'm about to leave when I turn my head and see Jason Chen on an elliptical. Basically I hop on another machine to ponder how I was going to ask for a photo. In the end I didn't ask for a photo. I got another workout though. Always good to burn more calories. I saw him leaving, but I was like ehhh never mind. It would have been a hot mess of a photo anyways. All sweaty and stanky. No. lol.

Below is his recent cover of P!nks "Just Give Me A Reason". Everyone should subscribe. He makes covers of popular music and he has great original music.

 

Weekend Trip to SD

Ok any longer I take to write this post it will be May. The last weekend of March my family & I went to San Diego for a mini vacation, since my sister came back in town. I've been going to San Diego since I was 3, so I've lost count how many times I've gone. I was just in San Diego last September with my grandmother. One of my brother's best friend from college happens to be from San Diego, so my brother has also visited plenty of times. San Diego has always been our to go place for a quick fun vacation. The hotel we've always stayed at is Paradise Point on Mission Bay. Its can get on the pricey side, but its worth it because you can be steps away from the bay. Normally our pit stop before getting into San Diego is another beach city called La Jolla. This time we were hungry before La Jolla, so we decided to stop for In-N-Out in Carlsbad also a beach city. Thanks to the poor iPhone map/Yelp it directed us to the wrong place and In-N-Out wasn't at where they said it was. Though it was a good thing because we stumbled upon this place called Pizza Port Brewing Company. I would put a link down, but google says the site is compromised. Pizza Port is this nice casual pizza restaurant & bar. You walk up to the counter and order. They have a variety of preset pizza and you can also DIY your own pizza. In about 10-15 min your pizza is ready to take to your table. They have a nice selection of beers according to my brother the beer connoisseur. They brew their own beer and also have a selection of local/California beers. The pizza was delicious. We ordered couple a veggie, a combo one, & a garlicky one. If their site wasn't compromised then I could see  the names of what we ordered. I think Carlsbad is going to be our new pit stop before getting into San Diego. I think it would be great one day to explore Carlsbad and see what its all about.

 

For dinner my brother recommended that we checkout Coyote Cafe in Old Town San Diego because they have great Mexican food. They had a line, but it went quickly. So many different options to choose from, but I decided on the shrimp tacos. I was able to finish my dish because the portions was just right. Some Mexican places I've been to the portions are huge and I could never finish it. Not that I don't mind leftovers, but this place didn't leave me feeling overstuffed trying to finish everything. On my next trip to San Diego I am definitely going back to Old Town to have some Mexican.

 

The next day we had breakfast at The Mission Restaurant my new favorite brunch spot I discovered last time I went to San Diego with my grandma. They are famous for their pancakes which dominate the menu. They also have Latin style breakfasts and vegetarian options. Only thing they lack is omelets. They do have eggs, but it isn't a big chunk of their menu compared to other breakfast places. The rest of the day was spent at Balboa Park and dinner at Seaport Village. The beautiful pic of the flower was from the The Botanical Building at Balboa Park. Balboa park has museums, gardens, and the San Diego Zoo. Since we've been to San Diego so many years we've already seen much of the touristy things like the Zoo. Though we did want to go to the Zoo to see the pandas, but the $44+ admission was a bit pricey.
  

 

The last day (Easter Sunday) we ate breakfast leftovers from the Mission and used up the $20 hotel credit that included in our stay. My brother and I mini golfed, which was probably more fun when we were younger. I think were just not meant to be golfers or have the patience to golf. My ball was flying all over the place and was always passing the 6 stroke limit per hole. I guess golf isn't for everyone, even mini-golf. Tennis is more my thing. For lunch we were trying to go to Point Loma Seafoods which I discovered long time a ago on Rachel Ray's show $40 a day. I totally forgot that some places close for Easter. I should have called first. In the end we just ate some seafood restaurant nearby. I took pics, but I think I already have an overload of food pics. Well I guess you can never have too much of food pics. That's just my opinion. My sis thinks I should be "pics of asian that take pics of food". Haha. Maybe I'll have someone take a photo of me taking photos of food. Below are some funny videos of Asians taking pics or pics of food. I'm not that bad.