Daikokuya
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Daikokuya is arguably the most popular ramen joint in LA. I can’t count the number of times photos from this grungy, nondescript ramen shop has shown up on my Facebook feed.

Phil, Cindy and I went for lunch. Unfortunately for me, all the ramen I had in New York left me a bit jaded by the time I was in LA. Daikokuya’s ramen is solid, but it needed to be unique in some way to really impress me at that point. There are only so many good bowls of ramen one can have within a month before getting tired of it.

Tsukemen on the left, Miso Ramen on the right

While walking after lunch, I spotted this woman below. I wish I got a full body shot. I really liked her bright white Adidas high tops.

Japanese American National Museum
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

We spent a few hours in the Japanese American National Museum. The museum shed light on the life of Japanese Americans, especially during World War II. I came away with a newfound understanding of a side of the war that we barely covered in school.

The museum was also showing an exhibit called Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty, but we didn’t go. In retrospect, I wish that we did. It covered Japanese and popular culture and toys, a few things I’m interested in.

Ozero Tea & Desserts
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles

Ozero‘s drinks seemed to lie somewhere between bubble tea and chè. Thoguht, it’s closer to bubble tea than Bambu, one of my favorite places here in the bay. Some internet sleuthing leads me to believe that it has been renamed to Twinkle Brown Sugar. Can any Angelenos comment?

Hae Jang Chon Korean BBQ
Koreatown, Los Angeles

When in Los Angeles, eat Korean BBQ. If that isn’t a saying, then it should be. LA has the largest population of Koreans in the US, in front of New York and Baltimore-Washington. The vibrancy of Korean culture in LA is proof of that. In addition to being home to traditional Korean restaurants, LA is also the birthplace of Korean-Mexican fusion food. Famous chef Roy Choi helped this culinary genre gain popularity and built an empire with his Kogi food trucks.

Let’s get back to Hae Jang Chon though. It’s your standard Korean BBQ restaurant: meat cooked at your table with side dishes and other small items. The food was similar in quality to that of NY and better than BBQ of the Bay Area, but it was cheaper than both. That’s LA for you.

Venice Beach Boardwalk
Venice, Los Angeles

One of the last things I did in LA before returning to the bay was biking along the boardwalk in Venice. Biking around cities was never something I did much. I’ve almost always owned a bike, but I have either lived in suburbs or dense cities with public transportation. Both are places where bikes are impractical.

After pedaling around Venice, I think biking is one of my favorite ways to sightsee (second to running a marathon through a city).

As I write this, it also strikes me that both friends in this post, Cindy and Phil, have moved out of LA. Cindy is in Amsterdam (still biking!) and Phil is here in the bay.

Thanks for letting my stay at your place, Phil. Thanks both of you for showing me around and continuing to be amazing friends.

2014 San Francisco Marathon

Meixin travelled over from the east coast to join me in the first half of the SF Marathon. I’ve been running this race for the last 3 years (I ran the full in 2012 and the first half in 2013 and 2014). In my opinion, it’s the best race in the area because of the weather, the view and the chance to run across the Golden Gate Bridge on the roadbed. It’s even better when running with friends.

Meixin and Me at the Marathon expo

Meixin sitting in a sculpture outside the Fort Mason Center

scenes in the marina

Brunch at Chris’ Place

Chris and Ming hosted a bunch of us at Chris’ apartment for brunch. They are both great cooks. Now that I think about it, with just a few exceptions, most of us in the Mechabananas Columbia group are good cooks.

There’s something refreshing and relaxing about talking while cooking

Ryan and Julia

The many faces of Meixin Wang

Dish Hike

On the Sunday of the race, well after we had returned home, Meixin and I joined the rest of Brohaus for a hike along the Stanford Dish trail with Louisa, Merlyn and a few other friends.

the girls were in amazement of the vast swaths of dried grass. jk i think it was a squirrel

Dinner at Terún

We followed up the hike with dinner at Terún. Sean and Gefflin joined us, resulting in a mishmash of groups that are connected through TAMS, Columbia, Yale and Facebook with Brohaus in the center. I love how complicated and intertwined our social circles can become these days.

Sang’s face in these pictures makes me crack up

Lots of smiling faces that night. Credit Jeff for the photo on the right.

I forgot one of the most important things. The whole dinner was also a surprise birthday party for Dustin. Happy (super late) Birthday, Dustin!.

Stay tuned folks. I’m thinking of ways I can catch my posts up to the present without bombarding you all. Right now, I feel like a fisherman trying to reel in a fish while my boat moves away. Every time I bring the fish in more, the boat moves as well, letting out more line.