Ray's and Stark Bar

Last night, after a Power Surge birthday Party, my parents picked me up and we went to LACMA. When we got there we were standing at the ticket booth, and this girl walks over and stands at the booth next to us. She asks the guy inside, "Hey I hear you guys have an art exhibit going on right now." The guy looked a little stunned and replied in a very funny voice, " Well Ma'am, this being an art museum, we have many art exhibitions going on here." That was the highlight of my night, and I'm still laughing! We were going to the Modern California Living gallery, I thought it would be really fun because I love old furniture. When we got in the first thing we saw was a RAD, I mean totally AWESOME old school, metal airstream clipper. I looked at the inside from the open doors and my dad gave me a little bit of history on the subject. He said, "See that? That is the dining room table, and at night you fold the table down and the couch comes out to make one bed. Then in the middle there is the kitchen, and on the other side, in a little alcove is the other bed. I was in love, the trailer as beautiful, I want one for Christmas! We walked through the gallery and my dad told me all about the Eames, they found a way to bend plywood and we have one of their chairs in our house. There were also really old swimsuits, dresses and hats. We walked through, occasionally pointing out that we loved something or wanted it in our house. There was a plywood leg splint for the war and I looked at my mom and said, "I think that's what I need." Although, I'm fine with my brace! In another room there were different types of jewelry, one was a necklace that had writing on it that said something like,'As long as we breathe air and man can see...life creates us.' There was also a REALLY old white car that belonged to Dick Van Dyke. Then there was a recreation of the Eames living room, it was really awesome, but you couldn't go inside. I also saw little television box that had a thing you could put on your ear to hear an old commercial. It was for the 1959 barbie doll and it kept going on and on about the barbie look. At the gift shop there were old barbies for sale but I didn't get one, I really wanted an old toy called Push-Up Preston, which I ended up getting for Hanukah. It sounds weird, but get this, it was a toy who did push-ups when you wound it up! After going to the gallery, we went to dinner in a small place called Ray's and Stark Bar. It was still in the museum so I didn't have to walk very far. When we sat down the first thing I noticed was, 'there isn't a table setting'. But the host, pulled out a little drawer in the table. In it was our napkin and our cutlery, it was so cool! My parents decided to get the tasting menu, while I got two appetizers. The chef prepared a small taste for the table, it was dried meat with tomatoes and walnut puree. I didn't really taste anything other than the walnut puree though. The first thing that my parents got was Squid Ink Pasta, with a large piece of actual squid on the top. They loved it and asked me if I would like a taste. I was NOT going to try this pasta, not going to encourage people to keep hunting and killing squids. I asked for ONE, SINGLE, noodle. I had it sitting on my plate, all eyes were on me, I twirled it on my fork and raised it to my mouth. Before I knew what I was ding I shoved it into my mouth and sloshed it down with some water. The pasta tasted like lemons and Jalapenos too. I can't say I liked it, but it was an experience.

Then my parents got some Salmon with apples, it was really good and when you put it with the apples it tasted sweet and sour. At the same time my Cinderella Squash pasta came to the table. It was beautiful, I would order it just to see the presentation. The top was covered with a thin and tangy foam, there were large Oyster Mushrooms on the sides, and leaves of Arugula. The pasta itself was SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO good. It was sweet since the squash was in the center, but when mixed with the lettuce and the mushrooms it was like a full meal. It was also very rich so I could only eat a few bites, and that was a half order!

It was so good! Next came a Duck Dish. It was a little too well seasoned for my mom, and I didn't eat the Foi Gras. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE DUCK SAUSAGE! If I could eat it for breakfast I would, it was like a mix between regular sausage and bacon. Then I had Boar Pasta, it was really amazing, the shape of the pasta was an elongated tube filled with boar ragu. It was my favorite dish of the meal

. Next came a gourmet breakfast, it was an egg that looked like the foam you put on top of coffee, and there were truffles grated on the top. It was full of Ham and bacon, too. I tried it..but I NEVER eat truffle and it ruined my apatite. There's something about truffles, maybe its the smell, or maybe I don't like them because my mom doesn't like truffle OIL.

So, I was really full and tired so I was playing a game on my mom's phone and was absorbed in it when their steak came. I, of course was to full to eat another bite but they ate it, and my parents didn't even seem to like it because they were full too.
It was time for dessert, my favorite!! My mom got Hazelnut and chocolate ice cream on a chocolate cake, but I don't really like chocolate. The hazelnut tasted like Nutella, and the chocolate tasted very strong. My dad got ice cream with a ginger cake, that was too sour for me. The ice ream was coconut flavored, and even though I've never eaten coconut, I have been getting into a coconut craze! Coconut bath oils, ice cream, milk/water!
The only dessert that I could eat was the Oreo, but better. They were gourmet chocolate cookies with vanilla icing wedged in between. The chocolate cookies on top were more like Oreo Cakes, because they were cake like but soft, they melted in my mouth. The icing was creamy and tasted like smashed ice cream.

Bye!

Watermelon Radish

Lukshon

My moms friend from college came to visit us, her name is Joy. We wanted to go somewhere special, so we decided to go to Lukshon. I had wanted to go to this restaurant last week, but my dad wasn't feeling well so we didn't go. When we got there we could see outdoor planters filled with rocks, with fire burning on them. When we got inside we all sat down at a booth and looked at the menu. Each of which was conveniently labeled either;

EAT, DRINK or BAR.
I looked at the eat and drink menus. For a drink I ordered the "Fresh and Tasty" Ginger ale. Our appetizer was the Hawaiian Butter Fish with pickled WATERMELON RADISHES!!!!! I didn't eat the fish because it was a bit too fishy for me, but everyone else thought it tasted just fine. The watermelon radishes on the side were amazing and I ate most of them! Then we ordered the Duck Popiah, which was super good. The outside was like a thin layer of dough, and on the inside there were crunchy pickled Jicama slices. The best part of this Duck Popiah was the actual duck inside, it had the consistency of pulled pork and was very flavorful and juicy that may have been the hoisen chile sauce. Next we ordered Chinese Eggplant, these were like crunchy little french fries except they had this red curry sauce on them that was amazingly good. The sauce on the eggplant was spicy and if these thing were french fires it would be the ketchup.

Then we got the special Brussel Sprouts which were cooked hot on the inside, were crunchy on the outside, and had little sesame seeds on them. Those Brussle Sprouts were to DIE for!

For the main course we ordered a whole Seabass, and I do mean whole. The fish came complete with its head and tail. It was smothered in spicy sauce (black bean ghee) with a substance that was most likely KIM CHI. I did not touch that fish because I always get the bones in whole fish and I didn't feel like choking on a bone. But it must have been great because there was nothing left but bones when the adults were done with it. Then we had this red rice, which I think was called the Bhutanese Red Rice, it was really good and I ate a lot of that. It was kind of crunchy and had egg and tasted like it had a little sea food in there. Finally, we had the thing that I wanted the most.....THE DANDAN NOODLES! These were not spicy at all, but the adults at the table thought they were! I ate two bowls of it and then was to full to eat any more. These noodles had pork in a spicy sauce that was not unlike pasta sauce.

Finally dessert, three things, a mini carrot cake that was really flavorful and had some coconut sorbet on the side that gave it a freshness that it needed. A chocolate blend with coffee chips and vanilla ice cream, this was OK because I don't really like chocolate. The last dessert was my favorite, it was a mango puree that tasted like a smoothie! I reccomend this restaurant, it is really wonderful and happening!

Watermelon Radish

Charity Bake sale

A few Fridays ago I was getting ready for a big charity bake sale. I was all set with my ingredients and my friend M. who is also part of the charity was coming over to bake and hang out. The bake sale is for our charity called Coins 4 Hope, we help underprivileged children, set goals for ourselves, encourage others to give and we also help others to lead better lives. We are a group of friends, working together to make big changes in the lives of others. On Friday after school I went down the street to my art class for an hour, anticipating what M. and I would be baking. After class I went back to school, and followed the sound of singing, because M. was in an audition workshop. I found M. and we drove to my house. At home, we got right into baking, we started the sugar cookies first

We rolled out the dough my mom and I had made the night before. M. and I took turns trying to roll the dough evenly. After the dough was in a giant flat circle we took our cookie cutters and made cookie circles. We popped the sugar cookies into the oven to bake while we made the brownies. M. and I didn't read a lot of the directions while making the brownies. First we added the eggs, flour, sugar and tons (tons) of chocolate chips. The brownie mixture in the bowl looked a lot like cookie dough. I told M., "Do you think that these brownies will turn out more like cookies than brownies?" we both shrugged and continued to make them. Once the cookies came out of the oven we replaced them with the brownies. We had decided to make this batch of cookies with frosting instead of sprinkles. The only problem was that we didn't have the frosting pens and we wanted to write the name of the charity or hope or love. M. said, "I know how to make frosting pens." So I also learned how to make those that night. I held out a plastic bag and she filled it with frosting, then I squished the bag closed and we cut the top off. I did the same for her frosting pen. We decorated the tops of the cookies with frosting, edible glitter and sprinkles. The cookies looked wonderful!

As M. and I were sitting down for our dinner of Brie Pasta with tomatoes my mom rushed into the room with the tray of brownies we had made earlier. She thrust the tray in our faces and said, "There is something wrong with the brownies, they are really sweet and DO look like cookies!" I laughed and shook my head, thinking, 'They can't be that sweet!' One bite and I couldn't eat anymore, but they were good anyway. Later on we made real brownies. Then we went to sleep eagerly awaiting the bake sale the next day. When we woke up we had a lovely breakfast, M. had a bagel with cream cheese and I had (my own invention) a bagel with cream cheese and homeade corn beef. Believe it or not, this tastes really good. After M. left I changed into my Coins 4 Hope t-shirt and made some signs.


I was one of the first ones there and greeted my friends H. and E., who were already multiplying the number of signs we had. The table already had some yummy goodies like cupcakes and muffins. We made more signs as we talked about what we wanted to accomplish that day. We were joined by our friends A., E., R. and G. who were bringing cookies, cupcakes and more sweet treats, Oh My! We had a perfect strategy in mind, some people would stand with signs at the beginning of the block, a few kids would be positioned by the bake sale table itself, and finally three or four kids would stand on the far corner by the stop sign to yell into car windows. This strategy worked even more when M. and O. arrived. There was a man who had an estate sale on the other side of the street and this brought good business. The best part was when we flagged down a tour bus in the middle of the street, but the people in the bus couldn't get out so we brought the goodies to them, and it was quite fun. At the end we were all allowed to eat some of the leftovers, until a man bought all the rest of the sweets and we sold out! It was really fun!

If you are interested in the Coins 4 Hope charity please go to..

www.coins4hope.com and see the man looking at the moon logo.

We sell wristbands and t-shirts, too!

Watermelon Radish

Advisory Challenge

Last week my advisory was assigned to make a goal for the next day. Each person would make their own, some people chose to do all their homework or do their chores. I chose to make noodles and bring them into my advisory tomorrow. Ms. D'amato thought this was a great idea and I promised to make Peanut Noodles that night.

Well, when I got home my dad was still making dinner and wouldn't help me with my noodles, so it was agreed that I would make the noodles after dinner. We had a good meal but I saved some room for the taste test! After dinner I told my dad that I had to make them and not him. He nodded, but I'm not sure I got the point across.

First I put my ingredients in the Cuisinart, which (by the way) I pronounce Quiz-in-art. The recipe told me to put 1o garlic cloves into the Cuisinart, but I decided to put only 5 because I didn't want it to be too spicy. I put in the peanut butter because they're called Peanut Noodles. Then you add soy sauce or the fancy word, Shoyu. Followed by some sugar to make it extra sweet, like me! After the sugar, compliment the sweet with some spice, or 1/2 Tbsp. Ra-yu oil. To top all that you add some rice whine or even dry sherry. After adding all that mumbo jumbo you blend it and it becomes PEANUT DRESSING!

While that's sitting out, take some Chow Mein noodles that you can buy at ANY supermarket in the Asian section. Then, without chopping off any fingers I successfully and thinly sliced some green onions. Then I added some baby corn or those weird mini things and sliced some water chestnuts. Usually I shred a chicken breast (cooked, best to avoid getting Salmonella) on top of the noodles.

When I was done I felt really proud that I had made some AWESOMELY good noodles. The next day I came to school with not one but two lunchboxes. I had to get to my first class but I handed my precious noodles to Hiram with a warning of, "Give these straight to Ms.D'amato or....." well lets not go there. At advisory I took my noodles out of the science lab fridge and walked down to the advisory room. Everyone had a plateful and LOVED them. I am very happy that I made noodles and will make them again soon.

Till tomorrow!

Watermelon Radish

French Reunion

Last night at my house we had a party. Our friends from France, Phyllis, JJ, Julie, Jordie, and Catherine came for dinner. We also had our good friends from LA, Carlyle, Web and their daughter Marjorie and our cousin Tavan. We all hung out for a while talking, eating bread, cheese and olives. After about an hour my brother Chris, his girlfriend Audrey and her friend Regina stopped by. Marjorie, Regina, Chris, Audrey and I all went on the trampoline and bounced around. After that I did mad libs with my friend then it was time for the appetizer. My mom had made Gazpacho the whole day, and I was really looking forward to it. The first time I had Gazpacho, was in Barcelona. We went to a cafe on the water and the soup came in little chilled clear bowls, with different colored layers of soup. There were also little bowls of condiments including croutons, avocado and sour cream. My moms soup reminded me of this because it was really good. It was really refreshing and the taste of tomato didn't overpower that of the cucumber, garlic and red bell peppers. It had a little bit of pepper and was sort of spicy, but not the type of spicy where you had to drink water.

After the soup my dad had a special treat for all of us! We filed into the kitchen with our plates and our choices were, skirt steak, Wild King salmon cooked on cedar plank or both! I chose the steak, but I didn't really like it because I am very sensitive to an ingredient in the marinade, Cumin. I have tried the salmon before and it is barbecued to perfection, it's soft and it cuts like butter. My dad puts a secret sauce on top that makes it taste sweet. I don't really like salmon but ever since I tasted that one I kept telling dad, "Can we have the Cedar Plank salmon?" With that there was a wilted arugula and grilled potato salad. It had a sweet balsamic like dressing but it was mustard vinaigrette. My favorite parts of the salad were the potatoes because they tasted like french fries and the arugula. For dessert there was homemade peach cobbler and little chocolates. I am in on a deal with my dad, so I can't eat any sweets for a month and I get an iPhone! I started two days ago and its not that hard, really!

Bye!!