Kat's 9 Lives

I happened to come across Which Wich while purchasing food from L&L Hawaiian BBQ. Since my meal was decided for that day, I made it a point to come back again to give them a try. They have a very interesting set up that may take some getting used to. There are bags separated into groups on the left side where you pick the type of sandwich/category and start marking your choices with the red sharpies. You can mark what components you would like to add into your sandwich. Then bring it to the register to make the purchase. You can also make it a combo for $2.50 or $3.50 more. For $2.50, you can get a soda + chips or a fresh baked cookie and $3.50 gets you a small smoothie + chips or a fresh cookie. After seeing the sign for making it a combo, I decided to take up this deal. Darn my impulse buying behavior! O=)
It was hard to choose which wich to eat! =P In the end I went a complete 180 degrees with my choices and listened to the lady's suggestion of meat. What actually got me to change my choice was because all the meats used are deli meat! At first I though the Chicken Salad I chose was the only one that was real chicken chunks... but as I found out while eating, it is cubed chunks of deli meat as well. >_<# Oh well, you couldn't quite taste the texture difference after all the components so it's all good to me. lol I smartly chose to add Pesto sauce, Mayo, Crispy Onion, extra Garlic, and Tomato. It's simple and the flavors were perfect to my own liking. The pesto sauce & garlic really stood out and were well flavored. Breath mint please! lol The crispy onion really added to the texture by giving it a crunch. The flavors were so strong together that the crunchy onions almost reminded me of crispy BACON! Mmmm good. O=D The tomatoes were great to add a sweet acidity into the mix. I think I lucked out that day with my choice and whoever made my sandwich didn't skip on the sauce. For my drink, I chose the Oreo shake. It was blended very smoothly and on the spot. I thought it was super sweet at first but then the flavors started to come out more. The more I drank, the more I liked it. Still, I don't know if it is worth the extra price but at least I tried it. ^_^ The smoothie was a good dessert during and after the sandwich. All in all my sandwich was good. Do note that my friend who was with me did not like her sandwich, but I think she just chose the wrong components. Their sandwich is not the greatest in the world but the flavor and taste of my sandwich was solid. Now onto the price... it's $5.25 for all sandwiches. I took a picture to try and show how big it really was. My hands are actually very small for my height and the sandwich was almost the same length as my hand. >_< Subway has the $5 footlongs that are double the size or Le Diplomat comes close too. So it's your call if the sandwich at Which Wich is worth the price difference for you! =9
Which Wich
1945 E 17th suite 106 92701
Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 953-9900

The new Michelin Guide 2010 for San Francisco just came out Oct. 19th. (I know the date is off, but please bear with me as I try catching up.) As many people know that the best of the best restaurants get the coveted 3 stars, exceptional restaurants get 2 stars, and definitely worth noting gets 1 stars. Of course to be the best judge of everything, I recommend that you try these wonderful places yourself for your own rating. ^_^ Using the Michelin Guide would be a great start to a wonderful exploration of food and service.
One place and one person in particular, I would like to give a shout out to. Luce in San Francisco is one of the new restaurants to receive the wonderful 1 Michelin Star rating. Although in my book, Chef Dominique Crenn deserves more! ^_- Her vivacious personality, warm friendliness, attention to detail, love of the craft, and of course... superb culinary skills have made her a national icon and star. She is currently competing on the Next Iron Chef on Food Network. Be sure to cheer her on! Ever since my first visit to Luce last year, I have been a huge fan of her and her cooking. Such a sincere and wonderful chef. I love the fact that she is always around and will come out to greet the guests to make sure that everyone is enjoying the food. Her innovative ideas and skills were clearly seen that night. The picture here is a preview of my trip NYC for their Food & Wine Festival. ^_^ You can clearly see her fun attitude and love for food. (Don't worry, she didn't really lick the equipment.)

Michelin Guide 2010 for San Francisco

3 Stars :
French Laundry *

2 Stars :
Coi
Cyrus
Manresa
Meadowood, The Restaurant

1 Stars :
Acquerello
Ame
Auberge de Soleil
Aziza *
Bouchon
Boulevard
Chez Panisse
Chez TJ Commis
The Dining Room at The Ritz Carlton *
El Paseo
Etoile
Farmhouse Inn and Restaurant
Fifth Floor
Fleur de Lys
Gary Danko *
La Folie
La Toque
Luce *
Madrona Manor
Masa's *
Michael Mina
Murray Circle
One Market
Plumed Horse
Quince
Range
Redd
Sante
Solbar
Terra
Ubuntu
The Village Pub

* blue asterisks denote where I have tried so far =)

Bon Appétit!

This was my first trip to Joan's on Third. Honeybee recommended to meet up here for a quick snack whilst Ms. Lin and I were up in LA. We were actually really lucky and found parking right in front. The first thing we see are these cute fake cow figures. I had to take pictures of them to pay homage to Ms. Lin. Joan's on Third is actually a market, deli, dessert, and food service place. You can sit outside and enjoy the weather or there are tables inside as well. As I walked in with my camera the guy at the dessert counter says no pictures to me immediately. This caught me a bit off guard and I was super annoyed. If we weren't meeting Honeybee I would have left because I found it rude and stupid... but luckily the guy wasn't rude when we ordered. The pictures of the gelato were all taken outside. >=P I will always find a way around the rules. Once I buy anything, I can do whatever I want.
So the 3 of us decided to each get a gelato. The guy at the counter was actually pretty nice about trying the flavors and recommending combos. If he didn't I would totally slam them, but I'm fair if the food is good. Ms. Lin and I decided to try out 2 flavors. We chose Chocolate and Strawberry. The chocolate gelato was super thick and rich. It started off tasty but we both started to get sweeted out and argued who would finish it. =9 The strawberry was much lighter and had a nice flavor. We were not overwhelmed by the richness and sweetness, it was very refreshing. Honeybee was super sweet to buy us the gelato and sharing her cupcakes. No pictures were taken because I didn't feel like walking outside just to do it. >=P They were not bad but nothing special.
Since we kept eating so many sweets, we asked for water and a guy kindly brought us bottle. The service there seems pretty friendly, except the bad first impression. Still, glad that we made it through to try them out and mark them off my list. It seems like Joan's on Third is an iconic place to go or at least visit once in LA. Before that day, I didn't even know of their existence but now that I have been... somehow I am always doing something nearby and notice them all the time. Maybe one day I will go back to try out some of their hot foods.
Joan's on Third

8350 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048

It is such a tragedy to lose such a talented man just when he was about to make his comeback. The movie, This Is It, is a recap of all that was happening on stage before the big comeback tour in London. Michael Jackson is brilliant and captivating. Watching this movie tonight brought back a lot of childhood memories. With all the dance shows on these days, we get to see a wide array of dance styles and techniques. They all talk about the "King of Pop" and how he revolutionized dance. I truly believe that and was reminded of it tonight when I saw on the big screen just clips of his behind the stage, practice runs, where the MJ is as smooth as ever. Many have imitated his style, but I believe none can really master it like him. He's so smooth and spotless on all his moves... c'mon they are HIS moves! ^_^

The movie does not have any chase scenes, blood or gore... it was just pure MJ and you follow him on this journey along with the people around him. You see how many fortunate people were able to work with him and how he really put everything he had into this comeback tour. The scenes where they start the rehearsals are great and when you see all the new ideas/technologies that they have developed for the show... it'll make you really miss him because you won't have the chance to see his brilliance complete and live! This will be chalked down as one of my greatest regrets to never have seen him in concert. Albeit I was too young to see him in his prime, but I will never forget the Thriller CD. It was the first one I bought in my teens. I have often told those around me that there are only TWO people I would pay a fortune to see in concert. One is to see MJ in concert, which almost could've come true. Yes, I would fly out to London just for his concert if I knew it was going to be this spectacular! Another one is to see Whitney Houston at her prime/best and not be messed up with drugs. Alas, now both wishes will never come true. I thought there was hope for MJ but now all is lost. =*( May he be happy in heaven and find peace.

During the holidays my family and I decided to go out and have some fun in SGV. Ms. Lin looked up Energy Karaoke a while ago but we never had the time to go or missed out. Finally we went and this place is located above the Yogurtland on the corner of Garfield and Valley. They offer Happy Hour for only $15 and a free drink or the prices vary based on room size for regular hours but everyone must get a drink to enjoy this benefit. I was going to take a picture of the rooms but it was already dark when I went in and they didn't turn out well so I didn't bother. O=9
This was place was a lot nicer and newer than what I thought it would be. The staff was super friendly and helpful. Also if you go over your time they don't charge you an extra hour, they prorate everything fairly. They have a pretty decent selection of Chinese songs and a lot of English ones as well. My Aunt wanted to sing songs from 20+ years ago and they did have a few for her too. So all in all not bad. A great place to sing and just have fun!

Energy Karaoke

33 E Valley Blvd Suite #208-210
Alhambra, CA 91801

I was so sad to find out that the Genki Living across from IVC closed a while back. They had a great Fruit Tea and decently priced crêpes! =*( Whilst on a girl's night out with my evil twin and PK, we wanted something sweet nearby. Lucky for us that PK always has her iPhone and she found a Genki Living in Garden Grove. We set out for some more dessert after a fattening meal of Korean BBQ. O=) This location is tucked away on the corner of Garden Grove Blvd and Brookhurst behind a bank. I really like the decor here. It was very cutesy and nostalgic. The floor is nicely painted and the walls have cute drawings of classic games. While we were waiting for our food, Kat and I noticed the archaic Street Fighter arcade game. Both of us pulled out a quarter and began the "challenge". =) It was a nice workout! lol
Since we were pretty full to begin with, we decided to share a Shaved Ice. The toppings we chose were Condensed Milk, Pudding, Mochi, Strawberry, and Green Tea Ice Cream. It was a good size for the 3 of us. They were pretty generous with the toppings. I wasn't a big fan of the green tea ice cream. The quality was a bit sub-par and had gooey texture. I felt the flavor of the green tea really fell flat and the tea had a weird after taste. As shaved ice goes, it is just so-so. The flavors and components fell a bit flat for me. I think I have been spoiled/ruined by SinBala and Half & Half Tea House. There really aren't many places that serve shaved ice around where I live and it's even harder to find a good one! =*(
Even though we were pretty full, we were greedy. I saw that they served Taiyakis and if you buy 3 you get a deal of it being $4.79... we have 3 people so why not! lol Of course I had to choose the more expensive ones to make it a better deal. O=) The Red Bean with Mochi and Peanut Butter with Mochi were the most expensive. Our third one was a normal Custard Taiyaki. They were all just okay but I find them super fun to eat. They are really just Japanese Waffle shaped like a fish and stuffed with ingredients. The ones with mochi inside definitely have an intriguing texture. It is both chewy & thick from the mochi and a slight chewy texture but a more airy density from the waffle.
All in all it is a quaint little find. We just enjoyed our time together and satisfied our sweet tooth. I have been back recently to try all new things and new taiyaki. Of course I couldn't resist playing a quick game of Street Fighter. O=9 Since the Genki Living close to me is gone, beggars can't be choosers. I just have to settle for this now. Even though they have the same name and are part of the same chain, they sure don't taste the same. I will have to try the one near SinBala one day. ^_^

Genki Living

10130 Garden Grove Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92844