Dining with the Catty Critic

My kind of Valentine’s Day

Catty Critic — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:55:34 +0000

Valentine’s Day. Most girls in relationships love it. Everyone else hates it. Cat Wrangler and I? It’s an excuse to have cheese fondue at home. A much better, cheaper option than dining out in LA during one of the busiest restaurant nights of the year. Also, traffic is horrendous because everyone is trying to get to their date location. To put it in perspective, there’s traffic, LA traffic, LA holiday traffic and then LA Valentine’s Day traffic. Yeah.

Dinner reservations? Haha, good luck.

Shredding blocks of cheese isn’t CW and my idea of fun. Plus, I’d be more likely to shred my fingers instead. I’m really accident prone. Like “see a pot hole a mile away and still fall in it” clumsy. It’s a wonder I haven’t injured myself more while in the kitchen….

To save ourselves time and prevent a . . . → Read More

Saehae Bok Mahnee Bahdeuseyo!!!

Catty Critic — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:30:53 +0000

Happy Lunar New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Snake.

Hissssssssss

While many people think it’s Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year is, in fact, celebrated by Koreans, Vietnamese and some other Asian cultures. So, being a good Asian properly raised in Korean customs (totally being sarcastic… I’m completely white-washed), I invited some friends over to celebrate by eating Chinese food and making dumplings.

(From top left, clockwise) Turnip cakes, taro cakes, Kidlet with his red envelope, dumplings ready to be cooked (these were the “trial n’ error” ones)

We had some chow mein (noodles for longevity) as well as taro and turnip cakes. I was going to make some dduk (Korean rice cakes) but the bag I had in my freezer turned out to be too old and . . . → Read More

God Morgen

Catty Critic — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:13:20 +0000

I like mornings that start off with Copenhagen Pastry.

(Starting at top, clockwise) Raspberry pastry, cheese-poppyseed twist, coffee bread, kringle

Copenhagen Pastry 11113 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 310-839-8900 Hours: Mon. – Fri. 7am – 5pm Sat. – Sun. 8am – 4pm

This Food is TOO Cute

Catty Critic — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:40:07 +0000

With the VFX on OZ wrapping up, I’ve been crewed to a new show at work – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: Revenge of the Leftovers. Oh. My. Gawd. The food in this movie is cute. Like SQQQQQQQQQQQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I will never look at food the same way again. I may not be able to eat food again. Oh, who am I kidding? Nom nom nom…. But now I kind of want to play with my food.

Check out the first look! http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/01/17/first-look-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-2/1840839/

It’s Too Early in the Morning For This….

Catty Critic — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:39:54 +0000

Help! I’m having a little bit of an identity crisis. I told the barista that my name was “Rosa” but apparently, I’m “Posa”. Now, was he saying my name is “Posa” or is this a new slang/spelling for “poser”? I’m a poser? Who/what am I posing as? Rosa? I’m not Rosa? Obviously… But if I’m not Rosa, then who am I? Oh dear. At least I have some caffeine in me to fuel me as I sort out this existential quandary.

Identity crisis…

Seriously… “Posa”? Do I look like a “Posa”? Is that even a name?

Getting in touch with my inner food self…

Catty Critic — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:18:21 +0000

“Work on Saturday”, they said, “and we’ll give you Monday off.” Okay. Of course, what was supposed to be an easy 8 hrs turned into 14 hrs. (T_T) Oh well, I got paid OT. But I sure was glad I scheduled a spa day for myself on Monday. The catch? I booked it at a Korean spa in K-town. While I had been to a “Korean” spa before, I had not been to a true one yet.

Korean spas. Not quite your typical place where you lounge in tranquility to the soothing sounds of pan flutes and aromatherapy and enjoy treatments in a private room. No, Korean spas are different. Jacuzzi pools may include green tea or mugwort in the water. Dry saunas may be enhanced with jade walls, salt bricks or some other mineral while wet saunas may have some herbal concoction scenting the air. Also, everyone is naked. . . . → Read More

Eating Humble Potato

Catty Critic — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 04:28:12 +0000

One of our coworker friends who lives in our old neighborhood of Westchester told us about a new place that opened up in the area, Humble Potato. This place boasts American comfort food with a Japanese kick. I was hooked at the mention of curry fries. The Japanese version of poutine? Sure!

The Cat Wrangler was game to try it as well since he likes Japanese curry, one of the few Asian foods he actually enjoys as opposed to just barely tolerating it. Yeah, I’m married to a white guy who isn’t that into Asian cuisine. Don’t ask how our marriage survives… or what he eats at my family gatherings. So for dinner on a Saturday, we headed over with the kidlet. The place wasn’t too packed; turns out, we ended up just beating the crowd because a line formed out the door shortly after we ordered. Lucky Cat was . . . → Read More

Ryan Gosling… it’s what’s for breakfast.

Catty Critic — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:16:50 +0000

When it comes to round breakfast foods with holes in them, the bagel is #1 in my book. A good glazed yeast donut is a close 2nd but I actually prefer the twist version. I don’t know why… Maybe it has to do with me being able to tear it apart like string cheese. But let’s go back to the bagel….

What exactly is so lovable about the bagel? Is it the way it squishes when you squeeze it gently? Maybe it’s the dense softness of the interior contrasted with the somewhat tough skin. Or could it be its comforting warmth after being toasted? Or how about how delicious it is naked or covered in schmear or slathered in melted butter and jam? OMG, the bagel is the Ryan Gosling of breakfast foods!!?!?!?!?!

Yes. Yes, you can, Ryan.

. . . → Read More

Unsinkable

Catty Critic — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:25:15 +0000

Tuesday night, the Cat Wrangler (my husband) and I took advantage of an invite from media agency, Taylor, to view a screening of a short documentary, The Unsinkable Henry Morgan, followed by a Q&A with Director Michael Haussman and underwater archeologist Fritz Hanselmann. We unscrupulously used this event to have our first “date” night in months.

VFX is a brutal industry on relationships/marriage. When production is on normal hours, there’s really no problem. But when overtime starts, it can go on for weeks, even months, starting with 10hr days, then moving on to 12hr days, Saturdays, full weekends, holidays… It’s easy for people to grow apart, for resentment to foster, for more fights to break out. With both of us in the industry, on different shifts, I guess you can say we’re doubly at risk. We grasp at any chance we can get to spend time together and . . . → Read More

Happy New Year!

Catty Critic — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:31:00 +0000

Happy New Year, people! I spent mine drinking cheap champagne with mango puree and playing board games with Husband and some friends. Then we watched the ball drop in Times Square while Jenny McCarthy made out with some dude in uniform. Her lipstick smeared all over his mouth and made it look like he was the Herpes King of 2013…. Awkward! Though not as awkward as Kathy Griffin trying to grab Anderson Cooper’s package all night…. (o_O)

It seems various cultures have some sort of “lucky” food you are supposed to eat on New Year’s Day. There’s noodles, pork, black-eyed peas, collard greens… Koreans eat “duk mandu guk” (rice cake dumpling soup). When I was a kid, my mom would put my sisters and me to work making mandu while we watched the Rose Bowl parade on tv. She would pack most of them into the freezer for . . . → Read More