today i ate at osteria mozza.

i've eaten at mozza pizzeria many times, but never the neighboring osteria mozza. we went in for a late new year's eve dinner. the food is absolutely amazing. i had a squid ink and jalapeno pasta with crab and uni - it was served cold and insanely delicious. i also had their striped bass. dan had their gnocci duck ragu and the beef brasato, both also amazing and melt-in-your-mouth good. they even handed out bells for us to "ring" in the new year with.

today i experienced a bomb scare.

a suspicious package arrived at dreamworks' mailroom today, which is located in the same building that my office is located in. the cops and bomb squad were called in, and the building evacuated. eventually we were told we could just go home, as they wouldn't be letting us back in the building for several hours. in the end, it was neither a bomb nor a prank, and all is well, but it was definitely a first.

today i had cake monkey!

cake monkey bakery sells its goods at various places in LA, such as intelligentsia, silverlake wine and umami burger. i've seen it many times before, but after dinnering at umami tonight, i finally had one of their red velvet cakewiches (red velvet cake sandwich coated in chocolate). so good!

today i ate lunch with just a knife.

for some reason, i grabbed a plastic knife instead of a fork from the lunch line today. i didn't realize this until i was too far (and too lazy) to go grab a fork, so i just dealt with it. and i managed to eat everything by either balancing it or stabbing it. however, it did make me think that perhaps i should just start carrying chopsticks with me everywhere..

today i went on the simpsons ride.

we went to Universal Studios today. it was my first time inside the park in years, so obviously my first time going on the new simpsons ride, which is a revamp of the old back to the future ride. i think i preferred the old ride to the new one.. then again, i've never been a fan of the simpsons.

today i got a mani-pedi.

cat and i had a "girl's day" today.. really it was more of an afternoon. we started off getting manicures and pedicures in santa monica. i've gotten a manicure before, but never a pedicure (i'm not exactly comfortable with people touching my feet..) but it was quite the pampering experience. and my feet are so clean, smooth and de-calloused now! perhaps that's too much information..

today i saw the imaginarium of dr. parnassus.

it's a cool, funky, wacky movie with strange visuals and not everything is explained or made clear by the end. i enjoyed it though, even if i was a bit perplexed about some things in the end.

today i made a christmas goose!

mike and i hosted christmas eve dinner at our apartment in west LA. my parents, dan and gerhard attended. it was a great dinner! and the centerpiece of the dinner was the goose. originally, i was going to do a goose from scratch, but we found out that suzanne goin's tavern was selling a stuffed and trussed oven-ready goose! so, we got that instead - i still had to do all the roasting and brining though! it came out absolutely deeeelicious.. so much better than turkey in my opinion!

today i got my nook!

i ordered the barnes & noble's nook back in early november and didn't get it until today - but it's just in time for christmas!. it's my very first e-reader and so far i'm really digging it. the first book i purchased was tokyo vice (which i've mentioned before) and am really enjoying the whole reading experience on it. it's nice too that it has both wireless and 3G access, and each book i've downloaded took under 2 minutes over the 3G network. pretty awesome.

today i learned "steampunk".

the word steampunk can refer to many things, mainly a subgenre of fiction that "denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy." however, i learned of the term with regards to fashion and design, which is related in the sense that it would fit into that world. it involves incorporating lots of vintage things into high fashion or futuristic pieces, a sort of retro-futurism. i especially like the prominent use of interesting metallic objects like skeleton keys and the gears inside old-fashioned watches and clocks. it's worth a google image search if you ask me.

today i watched Major League.

dan and i watched the classic baseball movie major league tonight. i vaguely remember having seen parts of the movie before, but i also have an awful memory and can watch a movie as if for the first time after about a year or so.. so perhaps it doesn't quite qualify as an entirely "new" thing, but it sure felt new. and it was, for the first time, i was truly able to appreciate a lot of it - what chin music means, for example.

today i got a blackbird, fly!

the blackbird, fly is a snazzy little plastic TLR camera that takes 35mm film. dan got it for me as my christmas present! i've wanted one for quite awhile and it's my first TLR, so i'm tres excited and already took a few pictures with it down at the venice beach skate park.

here is a flickr group for people who have the same camera.

[ photo courtesy of : blackbirdflycamera ]

today i made taiwanese lo ba.

it's a very traditional taiwanese dish of stewed ground pork. it's served over rice but a good accompaniment to anything really (but that might just be the taiwanese in me). i decided to try my hand at it and it came out really good! even tastes pretty authentic to me! i served it over blanched A-choy (or goose weed, as i like to call it).

here's the recipe i used:

ingredients
1/2 - 3/4 lb ground pork (preferably with lots of fat)
1/3 cup sliced shallot
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chinese rice wine
6 cups water
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 star anise
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (or more to suit your taste)

_heat oil, saute chopped shallot and garlic until fragrant
_add star anise and ground cinnamon, stir well
_add in ground pork and stir quickly to break the meat into small bits
_add soy sauce, sugar and rice wine once the meat has changed color
_pour six cups of water and cover the pan
_let it simmer for 2-3 hours

today i had ludobites.

it's a "guerilla style pop-up restaurant event" by chef ludo lefebvre. currently, it is in it's final days at royal/t in culver city, and we managed to snag reservations. the food is absolutely amazing - definitely the most successful at being different and unique yet delicious since my first trip to jose andres's the bazaar. the fist-sized fois gras beignet had real whole chunks of liver inside! and probably most insane and insanely delicious was the tuna sashimi with sushi rice ice cream and soy sauce gelee.. whew! it was definitely an experience.

more images here.

today i learned "bokeh".

i've seen and heard that word tossed about a bunch when on flickr and other photog sites, but for some reason never looked it up. it comes from the japanese word boke which means blur, and it refers to the out-of-focus parts (or the quality of those parts) in an image. this was a particular fun word to learn especially since there is a lot of bokeh in the photos i take.

today i had chi chi dango.

they're like little cubes of lightly flavored mochi. saw and bought some at mikawaya in little tokyo after having my usual post-wurstkuche red bean mochi ice cream.

today i saw two toilets..

..sitting outdoors on a sidewalk-adjacent grass patch. they looked to be happily confiding in each other, like old friends sharing a secret. but they're two toilets. and that's just weird.

today i learned about the "carpet cloak".

as annoying as i find the daily loh down on science on NPR, it does provide me with interesting new findings and happenings in science. today's was about an invisibility carpet that works in the infrared.

The carpet is composed of a unique silicon material. The material's structure allows it to actually steer light in a two-dimensional plane around any object it encounters.

So, when light shines on an object swept under this particular rug, it goes around the bulge. No shadow is left. Result - a completely flat appearance.

So far, Zhang's invisibility cloak only operates at near-infrared frequencies. But the team says it's only a matter of time before the carpet works with visible light as well. Meaning true invisibility to the naked eye.

today i made cucumber kimchi.

it's my first time trying to make any sort of kimchee - i got the recipe from momofuku. hopefully it turns out good.

today i wrapped and shipped all xmas presents.

this is the first year i've gotten ALL my christmas shopping done early, AND i was able to wrap all of it today, and ship what needed to be shipped. i'm patting myself on my back.

today i saw prep + landing.

disney put out a super awesome holiday special called prep + landing, about an elite group of elves that prep houses to make sure everything is ready for santa. it's very original and had some great references to christmas-y things.

today i saw the jasper dickson revue.

i had previously done a photoshoot with the jasper dickson revue, but this was the first show of theirs i was able to attend (and photograph!). they're quite good live, with a very awesome energy.  plus they're just funny beer-drinking, music-loving good peoples.

 

 

more photos can be found here.

today i found out that wolf is leaving.

randy wolf, one of the dodgers most solid and consistent pitchers this past season, has signed a three-year contract with the brewers. i am quite sad. no more wolfpack in LA.

today i heard about the number 33.

overheard at work: "thirty-three is an age, not a temperature."

it has been pretty darn cold by los angeles standards the past couple days. people have had a lot to say about it.

today i saw a trailer for deathly hallows.

however, warner brothers keeps taking the trailer off of websites, which is a bummer. looks great even though it's split into two movies.. but it's the last "chapter" of harry potter, so i can't wait.

today i saw fantastic mr. fox.

went to see wes anderson's latest, based on the book by roald dahl. true to form it was dry yet witty. i loved the rough stop motion, especially with the fur (i had my doubts before seeing it) and the refined yet still wildly animalistic characters.

today i tasted future goodies.

mike, juney and lucy are looking into a little food venture in the future. i won't reveal any details here, but they had their first tasting today and we were invited! suffice to say everything was really freaking good!

today i saw the cirque.

we went to cirque du soleil's kooza in santa monica. it was an almost-three-hour show, though it had a half hour intermission. that stuff is pretty insane and extremely impressive.

today i played wii sports.

so i got dan a wii for christmas, and it arrived yesterday and we set it up tonight. not only have i not played anything on a wii before, but this is also the first time i've owned a video game console at all. yes, technically it's dan's, but it's still the closest i've ever had to owning one. kind of exciting.. and fun, and weird, but i kinda like it. the interactivity and feedback of the controllers is very cool. most excitingly, we have the new super mario bros game on the way (it's one of about 3 games i ever got to play growing up when i visited my cousins in taiwan).

today i experienced holiday season disneyland!

the surfacing department on how to train your dragon is quite small now, and we were approved to take a field trip to disneyland - so we did! the weather was nice and cool, and the lines were nice and short. and everything was decked out for the holiday season, the best of which was the haunted mansion being decorated nightmare-before-christmas-style. with the lines short, we were able to do a lot more in one day than i've ever in the past. we stayed until closing - which meant we got to see the fireworks show and "snow" (little soap suds really, but still pretty nonetheless). it was also my first time on it's a small world since they renovated it - it was also holiday'ed out so they were also singing jingle bells inside. fun freaking times. best part? i still got paid. weee..!

[ photo courtesy of : disneyfrontierblog ]

today i learned "eschatology".

it's the study of the end of the world. seems like people of all creeds have been pretty obsessed with this stuff, long before that 2012 movie came out. neat stuff.

today i made japanese curry.

so what if it's pre-made in a packet that i just have to heat up in boiling water? it was quite tasty - and as a twist, we put it on udon noodles instead of rice. in the words of rachel ray, yumm-o! maybe one day i'll make real curry from scratch (whether japanese, indian or thai.. mm, they all sound good right now).

oh also, i became an aunt for the third time today - my oldest brother and his wife just had their third baby! doesn't really count as a "new" for "first" but thought i'd share anyway. welcome to the world baby leila!

today i learned "petrichor".

the word came up at dinner tonight and it's the word for that post-rain smell - who knew there was a word for it? from wikipedia:

from Greek petros "stone" + ichor "the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology") is the name of the scent of rain on dry earth.

although, the word was created specifically for a scent that involves oil from plants and dry earth - so i doubt it's truly the smell most of us know from living in cities and suburbs. perhaps a new word should be created for that - cementichor? asphaltichor? hmm...

today i saw an education.

it's about a sixteen-year-old english girl who meets an older man and is seducted by the life he introduces to her. it's a very beautiful movie - i loved it.

today i learned about some new york eats.

dan is in long island for thanksgiving and a cousin's wedding, but will be in manhattan tomorrow for a hockey game at madison square garden. he asked me to look up some nearby places him and the fam could go eat at beforehand. so, i started by looking at eaterNY's eater38, and used google and yelp from there. in the end, i sent him 3 places: co. (a pizza place), txikito (a basque tapas place) and rickshaw dumpling bar (a dumpling place). 3 different styles of cuisine, 3 different price points, all very interesting. now i'm just jealous i don't get to go.

today i had a durian pastry.

so, i've never had durian before, and i try to avoid it because they reek pretty badly. i know some people love them, but most dislike them. today at dim sum, my parents ordered a durian dessert - a sort of cannoli-type with durian filling. it didn't smell at all (i guess that only happens when the fruit is first broken open) so i tried a bite, and i did not like it. i mean, it didn't really taste like much, but the consistency was thick, gooey, sticky and really not to my liking. kind of like peanut butter gone wrong. but hey, i tried it.

today i saw an out-of-control child.

while dinnering by the front window facade of california roll factory tonight, a woman walked by with her eight-to-ten-year-old child who went into hysterics in front of the restaurant, screaming, crying, tantruming on the ground, and even grabbing at the outside chairs and tables. it was insane, and this woman could not get control of her child (not that she was trying that hard, and was throwing a bit of a tantrum herself).

as disrupting as it was for us with only a pane of glass separating us from the craziness, i felt really bad for two guys that were sitting outside.. the ones whose table and chairs she was grabbing at and sitting in.. she even grabbed at their chopsticks and food. this went on for nearly twenty minutes!

and while i obviously don't know the whole story and shouldn't judge, i just don't understand how it could escalate to that point. boundaries and discipline, people. boundaries and discipline!! did i mention the woman was walking the child on one of those monkey backpack leashes?

today i ate at barbrix.

barbrix is a relatively new resto + wine bar in silverlake that i've been meaning to try for awhile, and we finally had the opportunity tonight! we had two bottles of a very tasty austrian red, and many small plates - all very delicious. and, of course, i took lots of pictures.

today i saw my photo on eaterLA!

eaterLA used one of my anisette photos from this past weekend in one of their posts today! it's the first time they've used one of the photos i've thrown in their flickr group. funnily, the credit originally read jenniferjpants instead of jenniferjpan (i emailed them to correct it..). i wonder if pants is the noun or the verb?

today i saw a christmas carol.

motion capture has come a long way since that final fantasy movie back in 2001. and beowulf was pretty good, but not quite there. today i saw zemeckis's a christmas carol, and for the first time ever, it's spot-on. at least for the main character anyway - all other characters are at about beowulf's level. the movie itself is pretty dark and even scary at points. definitely worth seeing.

today i used a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

my brother found and gave me the lens a couple weeks ago, but today was really my first time using it. i took it to dinner at anisette with us - and it was perfect for the low-lighting food shots i was taking. here are a few:

 

today i watched miyazaki's porco rosso.

we found the dvd a few weeks for five bucks at a blockbuster that's going out of business, and finally got around to watching it. and while they never explain why the main character was turned into a pig, or what happens to him in the end (not surprising from miyazaki) it was a very beautiful and funny movie.

today i saw baseball stadium panoramic collages.

in the front lobby of the building i work in, they've been showing several employees photographic series. the new one that went on display today is a bunch of panoramic collages of baseball stadiums. there were many of dodger stadium, but also included wrigley field, yankee stadium, shea stadium, petco park, citi field and fenway park. they're pretty amazing.

today i had really bad mochi.

i love mochi. looooove. and mochi ice cream is a staple. today we picked up the usual box of mikawaya red bean mochi ice cream at the supermarket. however, today it was bad. really bad. instead of the mochi being its usual chewy / gluten-y texture (or 'Q', as we taiwanese say), it was dry and crumbly and flaky and paper-y. my guess is freezer burn, but regardless of the reason, it was just plain gross.

today i learned how to surface fur.

i've been doing a little bit of surfacing at work for the past month - just an asset here and there. it's been great because it's helped me better understand the workflow of my artists and how their shader networks are set up. plus, it's also just fun for me. today, my supervisor taught me how to use fur to put a bit of fuzz on some fabric. very exciting.

today i saw awesome necklaces.

during some post-dinner shopping, i stumbled upon quite the collection of unique silver necklace charms - including a camera, a lego, a retainer (full-sized!) and a few robots. i was so enamored that i bought the camera one - just to add to my "camera" collection!

today i went on a group bike ride.

we did a group bike ride on the beach path from santa monica down to manhattan beach pier this morning, then grabbed lunch at the farmers market on main street back in santa monica. the ride was just about 30 miles roundtrip and amazing - hopefully it becomes a regular ride and we can increase the distance each time.

today i had drinks at the huntley.

a few coworkers and their significant others reserved a cabana at the huntley hotel's penthouse in santa monica and we stopped by late to grab drinks with them. it's an 18th floor view of the city, and it was fun to watch the antics of others.

today i saw skid row.

between dinner at the gorbals in the alexandria hotel and the artbox exhibition at BOXeight gallery, i drove through skid row. just rows of tents. i'd heard of it before, but had never seen it. in-freaking-sane.

[ photo courtesy of : nytimes ]

today i learned about eponyms.

while listening to NPR on the drive to work this morning, they did a segment on john marciano and his new book Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words. here's an excerpt from the book:

As a word, eponymous is a bit anonymous itself. Its moment in the sun came with the release of REM's album Eponymous, a subtle dig at musicians who name records after themselves, such as Peter Gabriel, whose first four albums are all entitled Peter Gabriel. In short, an eponym is anything that's ever been named after anybody. The title of an autobiography, the name of a legal fi rm, Mercedes-Benz, Washington State—anything.


But eponymy doesn't necessarily involve the conscious act of naming. An eponym can also be a word that explodes into the language because of who a person is or what he or she did, often to that person's dismay.

some example eponyms from what i heard this morning: silhouette, frisbee, leotard, galvanize, tantalize.

today i had an enchilada.

it might sound strange, but i've never had an enchilada before. they just never looked appetizing - plus i'm not the biggest fan of mexican food unless 1) there's seafood involved - in which case i love it - or 2) it's fused with some asian flavors (a la kogi). tonight, however, we went to el cholo for dinner and enchiladas are their specialty - and luckily for me, they had a crabmeat enchilada and that's what i had. it was really quite good and light. i also had a bite of a traditional chicken enchilada, which was tasty, but nowhere near as tasty as the crab - but i'm biased i guess.

today i saw dug's special mission.

pixar's up came out on DVD today - we rewatched the movie (so good!), as well as partly cloudy, the short that was shown beforehand in the theatres. the dvd also had a new short about dug the dog and the "special mission" he was on before he met carl and russell. turns out it's his birthday!

today i learned about yakuza.

jake adelstein was on NPR's fresh air, talking about his book tokyo vice. in the short segment i was listening to, he spoke about the yakuza, "members of tradional organized crime syndicates in japan." it was absolutely fascinating, and now i want to read the book!

today i saw a felt credit card sign.

this was seen at a funky little shop in silverlake. it's pretty awesome!

today i experienced bloodletting.

i went to a new chiropractor today with my mom - he's unique in the sense that he combines and has a license for both western and chinese practices. anyway, he mentioned (and this is the chinese medicine line of thinking) that i have bad blood circulation / stagnant blood and that some bloodletting where my pain is worst can help. basically he pricks my lower back with a tiny needle then uses a suction cup to suck some of the blood out. FUNKY.

today i saw live radio.

NPR / chicago public radio's Wait Wait.. Don't Tell Me! was at the pasadena civic auditorium. we managed to get tickets because dan's friend eva works for the show and reserved us a pair. it was quite hilarious - with special guest george takei of star trek fame - and had a very interesting format. i'm a bit inspired to start listening to NPR..

today i realized i like peas & carrots.

there were peas and carrots served at lunch today, and while eating them, i remembered that about two years ago, i still detested them. and now i eat them without thinking twice about it - and even incorporate them into my cooking sometimes. my palate continues to grow.. maybe beans are next? bleh.

[ photo courtesy of : blue lady studios ] 

today i saw the yankees become world champs!

so while it is sad that the dodgers were eliminated in the league championship against the phillies, it is so gratifying to have the yankees crush them and win the world series tonight.

today i saw the indie scene.

my buddy deron wade started the independent scene as "an opportunity for artists and musicians who aren't interested in waiting for the approval of bookers, managers, agents, or labels to perform." tonight they had an acoustic showcase at the spitfire grill in santa monica featuring lilly carrico, deron wade and bobkat. it was quite small in attendance (five of us outside of the performers) but the music was good.

today i saw the silver lake art crawl poster.

it's happening this weekend! plus the poster is super cute.
now i want to make a sock monkey..

check it out at www.silverlakeartcrawl.com

today i saw a lion stuck in a tree.

perhaps someone lost it while trick-or-treating.