Solvang, CA

So cute!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Peeps! Isn't my tree pretty?

Close up of the shells...

...and starfish... mmmm, yummy seafood.

Oh, just woke up from a dream, where I dreamt that I had a beautiful Xmas tree with yummy looking seashell ornaments and a huge starfish on top!

Kawaaiii Alert

Baby's first pair of Uggs!!!! Ahhh, they were so overpriced but had to get them cuz they are just sooo adorable. Nope, I am not having a baby, but a friend is having a baby girl in January so these are my Xmas present for her!

Global Warming is so not Happening!

My deck in West LA...

Shoveling snow... Al Gore, eat your heart out!

California girl in me... we persevere and insist on being scantily clad even in the harshest of circumstances! Hmph! We are by far the cutest gals in the 48 contiguous states!

Pics courtesy of Bella

Jiraffe

Pretty night...

The Boiling Crab

Seafood + Kitty Cat = Heaven (at least for the kitty cat involved). Yes, I love love seafood... even if I eat all the clammies, shrimpies and crabbies into extinction... I don't care! So, after craving The Boiling Crab for like the better part of last month, I decided I had to go... we got there at 5:15, and the wait was already 1 hour!

Anyway, we persevered and eventually got seated. We ordered: clams with butter and garlic sauce, mmmm, droooling again...the basil was a nice, subtle touch.

A ton of shrimp with the whole sha-bang sauce... it was spicy at first, but surprisingly I got used to it later... we also got corn on the cob and some sausages, both were very good. The shrimp thing, eh, wished it didn't have the heads on, a non-Asian girl at a table next to us almost screamed when she saw the eyes, haha!

The worst raw oysters I'd ever had. They tasted nothing -- as if they were washed with chlorine bleach. Ewe ewe ewe!

These cajun fries were so damn good! Perfectly seasoned, crunchy and flavorful.

Viva Las Vegas

Vegas here I come! Ka-ching! Ka-ching!

Ajisen Ramen

Ajisen Ramen finally opened up in Century City Mall. It's been so brrrr lately, the line was ridiculously long. (interesting that an eatery form Asia has made it into mainstream American mall)

See the Ajisen Ramen logo girl? Rumor has it, she was modeled after Baby Cat... yup I was that cute! Oh, the four large Chinese characters mean: flavor thousand pulled noodle.

Les Sisters

I went to the cutest little restaurant this weekend -- Les Sisters. It serves creole, cajun foods. Look at the decor, even spotted a cowboy in the midst!

Baby back BBQ ribs -- it was pretty good. I liked the sides too, collard greens and cole-slaw.

Fried chicken -- the chicken was nice, and it was fried appropriately. But, we ordered the spicy version and it barely tasted of anything! Fortunately, Tabasco sauce came to the rescue.

The aftermath of Mini-Tornado Cat!

Soowon Galbi KBBQ

Why didn't I go to this place earlier? Soowon Galbi has officially dethroned Chosun Galbi as my favorite KBBQ place in Ktown... We were so hungry, we swept through the food like a mini-tornado! Here is the before pic...

And after...lots of empty little plates, and four pudgy little bellies, yup, all the food went in there!

Tooth Fairy

Just came back from the dentist (7am appt!!!)... Yeah baby, looking good, time to flash that mile wide smile! Rawwwrrr!

Monday Detox

Mrs. Winston's salad is da best!

AYCE KBBQ

After being a lazy putty tat, I decided some exercise was needed so I jogged and jogged...over to the car and went straight to Fresh Korean BBQ for all you can eat KBBQ! Yay! We did quite a lot of damage for $19.99 per person...looking left, looking right, is PETA spying on me? Hope not.

After AYCE KBBQ, we went to the Noribong next door... I even sang a Chinese song called Red Bean by Faye Wong. Maybe I'll be the next American Idol!

HRH Princess Garfield...

...is feeling like a lazy putty tat today...don't move me away from the couch or the tv or my bag of potato chips...do put bib on me to catch drooolll....zzzzzzz

Egg Custard

Oh egg custard, thou art so divine! I had these at Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant on Rosemead Avenue... they are flakey, creamy, not overly sweet, perfect for the Asian palate. Mmmmmmmm...yum.

Chinese Acrobats

The Chinese National Acrobatic Troupe had a special performance yesterday in Pasadena... since I've been fine-tuning acrobatic moves on my beach cruiser, I thought I'd stop by and learn a trick or two... but boy, they were sooo good. There were so many instances where I was like -- No Way! What the? Impossible! Here, these ladies are spinning plates on a stick, and the one in the center is spinning plates while standing on another girl's head!

Nook

Nook is a contemp American restaurant serving mostly the yuppie population on the Westside. I really like the free boiled peanut appetitzer there... which they of course stole from Chinese cuisine... my grandmama used to make these with Chinese spices such as star anise and clovers...

The burger was great, totally worth the $12 bucks... the slight sweetness of the caramelized onions went so well with the perfectly done meat patty...oh yeah and the fluffy bread!

I liked the mussels there a lot when I was at Nook last so I ordered the dish again. But it was a huge disappointment this time... I really should've returned it cuz the mussels really weren't fresh. Afterwards, didn't feel so good :-*(

Furaibo

Furaibo is a Japanese chain restaurant that serves bite size Japanese treats such as yakitori (aka Japanese shishikabob)... to me, it's kind of like the Japanese equivalent of a Chinese dim sum place or a Spanish tapas place... which I like very much... I prefer to sample different kinds of dishes, without the huge portions. One of the signature dishes there is the Japanese style fried chicken wings. I guess it's a common Asian thing to deep fry the chicken wings super crispy. But unlike Kyochon, Furaibo seasons its wings with finely grounded white pepper instead of a gooey garlic sauce...

Balance and harmony are very important concepts in Asian culture, so I tried to strike some with this Tofu salad... really helped to cool down the peppery taste of the chicken wings.

East Asian fusion -- Korean galbi turned out surprisingly tasty, seems they marinated it with more of a sweet Japanese mirin sauce than a Korean garlicky sauce. But I could be wrong...

Finally, the meal was washed down with a light tofu, napa cabbage and shrimp soup...

Kyochon

I love Korean fried chicken. So when I heard the Korean chain store Kyochon opened up a branch in Ktown, I had to go check it out!

The first course is a little side salad... the strawberries are a nice touch.

Then we waited and waited... and finally... our wings came! Yay! Chomp. Munch. Chomp. Oh yeah, we had garlic soy and sweet and spicy... they were yum! Tho they gave me a heartburn later in the day, but no pain no gain!

The country fries were very very good too... just enough seasoning on the outside and super crunchy too!

I even got a tiny teeny little doggy box to go... see how small it was, actually we saved one wing just so we could get this little box to go~

Alright, off to make another chicken wings delivery! the economy is getting kinda tough... so even super lawyer Cat needs to moonlight as a delivery person to make ends meet.

Tonkatsu

I scream, you scream, we all scream for pork chop! Yay! When I was little growing up in Shanghai, one of my favorite dishes was Shanghainese braised pork chop... back then, they didn't have mass piggy farms, so the pork chops were much more tender and flavorful than they are now. But nevertheless, once in a while I do get to eat good pork chops... and yesterday I went to Aki Restaurant on Santa Monica and had Japanese style deep fried pork chop, or Tonkatsu. I liked it so much, I went to Hurry Curry today and had another one! Yum yum yum! So crispy on the outside... and curry-y on the in...eh, outside... and Yogurtland afterwards! So happy!

Just as I thought life couldn't get any better... this Animal Services mobile unit parked next to me as I was about to turn back to my office... shudders, I am not a stray cat! Don't take me!

Ben's Chili Bowl

Ben's Chili Bowl is a Washington institution... back in the days when I was a budding legal eagle working in DC, I remember going there because it was frequented by celebrities like Bill Cosby... anyhoo, President Obama dropped by the place too earlier this year and now it's like the hottest restaurant in town. Look at the line outside!
And the crowds inside!
And the chili dog! Yum yum yum! Photos courtesy of whereiscat.com's foreign correspondent Bella. Yes, anything outside of West Los Angeles is considered foreign according to Princess Cat.

Quiet Sunday Night...

Just came back from Mama and Papa's. My Mama and Papa were in a car accident last week...they were not seriously hurt, but still, I try to go back once every few days to clean, cook and to make sure they are ok... to think I was this close to becoming an orphan, and got put into an orphanage, i.e. the pet shelter...sniff sniff. So glad they are okay.

Now I am back in my apt munching on some organic strawberries and reading the Magicians for my book club... supposedly it is a book similar to Harry Potter, but with lots of sex and violence... kekeke. Don't tell my Mama and Papa that I am reading a naughty book, K?

Crazy Busy!

I know I've been kinda lacking with posts lately ... but life has been crazy busy! Work, family, blahblahblah... though overall really good, just busy. Hope you are all doing great too, hehehe, I am always happy to know that my kitty pals are doing well, healthy and happy.... xoxo, Cat!

Crazy Wind!

Crazy wind here in the LA area... felt like I was working in a boat today with our high rise office building swaying back and forth... on the way back, almost got blown away, if you see a kitty cat hanging onto a tree in the news tonight, it's most likely yours truly hanging onto her dear life... crazy crazy world!

Habanero Chiles...

Awww, such cute innocent looking peppers... MUNCH... Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! Run to the fridge, grab yoghurt and soy milk, GULP GULP GULP! WARNING: never ever eat habanero chiles raw!

Negotiations 101: Pink Power

It's so hard being a (very pretty, hehe) girl lawyer working in a boy dominated world, especially when I have to negotiate against big and burly guys...ewe. But alas, I've developed a secret three step program to success and here I'll share with you... do not tell anyone else, K?

Step 1: Pucker your lips and bat your lashes... about 50% of the boys usually melt by this point and raise the white flag and surrender.

Step 2: if step 1 for any reason doesn't work, then open your eyes wide, and fill them with a pool of innocent tears, like this, most men will be like -- oh it'd be so un-chivalrous to be mean to a poor helpless little kitteh... hehe, suckers!

Step 3: well there are some evil men out there, so if step 1 and step 2 do not work... you need to show your true colors and go Hiiiiiyaaaaaaahhhh! And beat the @%%#% out of them! Trust me, it's worked every time.