say no to those cutters

dear honda fit:

just because you get great gas mileage with your 34 mpg does not mean you can be an atrocious human being. just because you think your car projects the belief that you are doing something good for the environment does not give you the right to cut someone off at a backed up freeway exit without so much as a thank you. not only that, but you actually had the nerve to say "what the @#$% is your problem??" in your car with your rolled up window to my face when i refused to let you in for 5 minutes. while it is true that i responded with "what the @#$% is YOUR problem?!", you should not have continued to edge your way next to me because i would have in fact let you hit my car.

yea, that's right. i saw you pull OUT of line and drive up to the exit and then try to cut in front of me. why don't you wait in line like everybody else? if you are truly someone who forgot about the exit and had to jump in late, or was in a justified rush, you are to say, "please can i cut in?" and "thank you" with universal hand gestures/facial expressions. not: "what the @#$& is your problem?"

luckily, your girl in the passenger seat was nice and stayed out of it and would not look at me. if she had, this would have further antagonized me to roll down my window. also, i went spinning this morning so i was tired/starving and had a breakfast burrito waiting for me so i didn't want to be bothered with you any futher. go ahead and cut. karma will come for you.

if anyone sees a self-righteous black honda fit driving around culver city, watch out. he may randomly try to threaten you from inside his car when he cuts you off.

@ thai food again: jitlada

saturday night. the next meal of the holiday weekend was to be at jitlada, our new favorite thai restaurant. i've never had a "favorite" thai restaurant since i've been in l.a., actually. dinner of course starts off with a beer. this was our third time here in the past 2 months. i can definitely now say that this is by far the best thai food i've had in the U.S. of course, nothing will ever compare to what i had in thailand, but i still get cravings for jitlada's food (especially the tom kha/coconut soup) all the time. if only they weren't so far away from me! (sunset and normandie?? that's like $5 round trip in gas money)

jitlada is known for their southern thai cuisine. i have two words to describe this regional food: deathly spicy. you must order from their southern thai menu on the very last page (beware: some menus are mysteriously missing this page. make sure to ask for it. click here for a link to a translation of that menu.)

we always start with the coconut soup (tom kha - currently #12 on the main menu). pictured above is the seemingly endless bowl of soup.

tom kha is coconut based and consists of mushrooms, bell peppers, and chicken (by default - but you can get shrimp instead). i love anything with coconut milk but what makes this my favorite is the tangyness of the soup. this is mostly why i love thai food: the tangy, basil-y, lemongrass-y, spicy flavors that come together for such a fulfilling eating experience. this soup is also really great paired with rice. i can seriously just eat this soup with rice and that's it.

destructor's fish. he orders a different whole fish everytime we go. today it was a pomfret. this is fried and topped with a rich, sweet chili basil sauce full of fresh garlic (i think i am drooling again as i write this).

southern thai curry 1 of 2! #8 on the southern thai menu: spicy curry with chicken and young jackfruit. the ingredients were nothing new but like most of their southern curries i think there was tumeric involved. probably not that much because i asked for them to make it mild. last time, i had the regular southern curry with tea leaves and was in so much pain from the spicyness i had to eat a plate of ice (which they gave me with the curry).

this is my friend's beef curry with cassia buds (#3). i had 1 bite and it was so spicy that everytime i took a bite of my milder curry i wanted to cry.

anyway, it's not as painful as it sounds. i very much enjoy eating spicy food except for the bloated feeling i get from drinking too much water to defuse the burning sensation.

fyi we also ordered the prig king but it was not good. that's the only thing we ordered that was "normal". i was craving green beans but really, you can get this dish anywhere so don't waste your time on that here.

finally, dessert. there are no words to describe this. "jazz" who is the owner of the restaurant told us she makes this herself (click here to read her story). mango sticky rice has a very special place in my heart. you sometimes see this at random food festivals, but that's like having panda express instead of real chinese food. the mango is perfectly ripened and warm. the rice is sweet in a subtle way (i hate super sugary stuff), with intoxicating coconut flavors. please eat this!

i can't wait to go back and try their rice salads and mango shrimp salads. i've heard great things about them.

jitlada thai restaurant
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104

later that night: dancing @ jimmy's lounge

i don't know these people but they make for a good picture.

...and so, the night ended like this.

the 4th continued: bbq at miss phd's

we finally rolled out of bed at 1pm on the 4th (after a night of confusing partying at rhonda) and after talking to some drunk friends and debating what to do for 2 hours, we headed back to the eastside to bbq at miss phd's groovy multi-colored pad (i like to think of it as caesar milan's dog community)

as you can see our bbq started with sangria. please note the very high end prestige brandy we used in the background. while destructor slaved away at the grill, we contributed by chopping fruit and soaking it in alcohol.

you may think these are some sort of gourmet sausages, but actually they're from vons and they are the jennie-o brand: hot italian turkey sausage! they were amazing. i was surprised and i am still craving them. we put them in toasted hot dog buns with mayo, mustard, onions! delicious. it wasn't all dry and gross but very well seasoned and spicy.

pork burgers! a favorite. miss phd modifed our recipe and it was really yummy - i think we bought lean pork or something because they almost tasted like turkey.

pork burger recipe:
1 lb ground pork
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
about 2 tsp fennel - more if you want a stronger flavor

the fennel is what really does it!

modifications:
minced shallots
1 egg

after all the sangria, beer, and food, we hung out with all the neighbor dogs in the complex. then we all headed over to tiki ti to get more drinks. we ordered delicious (and strong) tropical drinks. i normally don't like cocktails/sugary drinks but i loooved this place. i tried everyone's . the menu is extensive and i always get overwhelmed when there is a long list of cool names without descriptions. after much thought i ordered the "top secret" (bottom right) - cream soda and rum: a delectable concoction! belvedere over there in the top left is drinking a "pain killer" - a dangerous mix of...stuff.

afterwards we went back to the house to rest before going out for more adventures. we also watched some fireworks in the street and met this nice gray kitty.

early start to the 4th: rhonda in hollywood

rhonda.

when we arrived at midnight on thursday (technically friday the 4th!). the line was crazy, with impatient millenials trying to sneak around the back. my friend promised a good time, but due to the holiday weekend, it was crazier and pricier than usual: when we got to the front the guy with the cool haircut said, "$40 for the 4 of you." we stared at each other with sad eyes as we tried to count our cash. finally he said "how much do you have?" the 4 of us together had $25. he said, "ok."

we started upstairs: 70s music, young hipsters (what else but the american apparel kind?). it was sweaty, like the humidity in the middle of summer in houston. we sat under the best vent we could find and looked around at the kitschy mirrors and gaudy "greek" statues. i loved this place. if only it wasn't the 4th of july weekend.

then, the spilling. there is nothing worse than being spilled on by a girl with a bad outfit. she was wearing some sort of hot pink spaghetti strap tank top, with a black short sleeve mesh thing over it - the kind that had a heart pattern or something. this wasn't a normal spill. she had her beer in her hand with the opening pointed towards me, and was jumping around continuously, splashing beer on me repeatedly.

that's when we decided we needed to go downstairs. it was cooler and there weren't as many people. there was another dance floor, haphazardly established over a tiled floor. was this what it was like in the 80s? laser beams and fog machines, older hipsters (also with american apparel shirts). how many of those pieces did i see that night? fortunately, some felt that it was necessary to differentiate themselves from the aa masses by wearing a white v-neck style with blood red scribbling that read: "i am not god."

p.s. on the way out i saw a girl with NO pants. literally.