Right after my exams, I was actually supposed to go to Koh Samui with my friends and enjoy the insane full moon party, however, I ended up not going....and going to LA instead!
Since my mum is a flight attendant, she frequently flies around the globe to exotic destinations (while I sit at home crying in the corner). 2 years ago, she decided to bring me with her to Auckland, where we had 3 days to explore the city and it was a really fantastic experience for me as I got to sit in the cockpit for take off and landing, and it was also my first time in the southern hemisphere! (I blogged about my visit back then) Since then, I have been constantly begging my mum to take me to some other cool place anytime she wanted to. Colombo, Chennai, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, anywhere in Australia, Riyadh! I just love to visit new places that I have not visited before!
After my exams ended, my mum found out that she got a flight to Los Angeles. Despite the fact that I had been to LA before, I just thought, hey, why not! I'm bored, i'm free and it's definitely better than sitting at home!
The meal was exquisite as always. God i'm such a foodie. I was on quite a strict diet during my exams, getting ready for my graduation dinner and summer, but i blew it all away on this trip!!! It started off with the traditional Cathay Pacific special, Beluga caviar and Balik Salmon "Tsar Nicolaj". My favourite! Then I had a tomato soup (which I forgot to photograph), which had this very fruity tomato taste with a pang of basil, and the main course which was Mushroom and walnut agnoletti in cream sauce which was maybe heated for too long as the pasta wrap was hard and dry at bits. Slightly disappointing, yet the flavour was still top notch.
11 Hours later, I was in America! The land of fattening food, huge portions, a plethora of cars and mean airport security staff, not to mention tedious immigration with lines for days. Thank god a lady was nice enough to let me through the staff channel with my mum! Oh the benefits of being underaged!
After a quick shower, and packing a small bag, my friend Cindy soon arrived to pick me up at my hotel. She lives in San Marino, 40 minutes away from where I was which was quite close to the airport. For dinner, she decided to take me to an "Italian" (American) restaurant in Old town Pasadena (which I knew nothing of until the next day) called Buca de Beppo. It was very weird when they lead us to our table through the kitchen of the HUGE restaurant as it is not very often that you are taken to the kitchen while going to your table. I found later from Cindy that they do this to prove to their customers that the food is cooked in a safe and clean environment. HA! i'd like to see that happen in a $10 noodle shop in Hong Kong. I'd probably run out screaming!
It was really entertaining as whenever it was someone's Birthday, a whole horde of people would run out singing a song about pasta and pizza! And they were SO loud that you couldn't even hear the person talking next to you. A little annoying at times, but it sure created a very lively atmosphere! Also, as expected, the portions were huge! We ordered an appetizer of calamari, a cheese pizza, and one bowl of meatsauce pasta and the other of shrimp pasta, and we were 4 and a half asians plus half a caucasian, and we STILL needed to doggy bag quite a lot of the pasta!
Clutching our swollen bellies, we decided to go to the cinema to watch a movie. My first time watching a movie in America! (haha!) Although we were so full, the fragrant smell of popcorn wafting through the cinema was enough to entice us to buy something small for a little nibble despite how full we were. However, Cindy was smart enough to accidentally order a large popcorn and a large soda, and the result? A bucket of popcorn bigger than my head/Cindy's torso and a litre of coke. Seriously! Why is this even LEGAL?! Like unless it's like a group of 5 buying this, this should be illegal! Instead I see people scoffing down entire buckets by themselves! What is this madness?! Me and Cindy only managed to barely eat a third of the popcorn and less than half the coke. So as a warning to everyone, do NOT buy large ANYTHING in America, as you will be wasting food or gaining weight! (I felt so bad throwing away so much pop corn! And the guy wouldnt let us change to a small when our jaws drop after he put the coke and popcorn on the counter!)
Surprisingly, I managed to stay awake during the whole film. I am usually the person who falls asleep at the cinema, especially during a night time showing. We watched The Dictator. Maybe that was why. It was so funny that it kept me awake.. not to mention my amazing anti jetlag routine on the plane!
Another thing that I noted that really annoyed me was that just to watch this 17+ movie, I got carded 3 times! Thats more than when I go to bars and clubs or buy alcohol in Hong Kong (where I just DON'T get carded). All I had was my Hong Kong ID so people sure were confused when they carded me :
1) When I bought the ticket
2) When I showed the ticket when I was going into the cinema
3) When I sat down before the movie started and people were movie hopping.
Since my mum is a flight attendant, she frequently flies around the globe to exotic destinations (while I sit at home crying in the corner). 2 years ago, she decided to bring me with her to Auckland, where we had 3 days to explore the city and it was a really fantastic experience for me as I got to sit in the cockpit for take off and landing, and it was also my first time in the southern hemisphere! (I blogged about my visit back then) Since then, I have been constantly begging my mum to take me to some other cool place anytime she wanted to. Colombo, Chennai, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, anywhere in Australia, Riyadh! I just love to visit new places that I have not visited before!
After my exams ended, my mum found out that she got a flight to Los Angeles. Despite the fact that I had been to LA before, I just thought, hey, why not! I'm bored, i'm free and it's definitely better than sitting at home!
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| I kind of ate a potato already.. oops! I'm a terrible foodporn photographer. I start eating my food the second it arrives, and almost always forget about photographing it first!!!! |
While on the plane, I tried to sleep in order to adjust to the local time and not succumb to jetlag when I arrived for my short stay. I must say that it worked brilliantly!
After a quick shower, and packing a small bag, my friend Cindy soon arrived to pick me up at my hotel. She lives in San Marino, 40 minutes away from where I was which was quite close to the airport. For dinner, she decided to take me to an "Italian" (American) restaurant in Old town Pasadena (which I knew nothing of until the next day) called Buca de Beppo. It was very weird when they lead us to our table through the kitchen of the HUGE restaurant as it is not very often that you are taken to the kitchen while going to your table. I found later from Cindy that they do this to prove to their customers that the food is cooked in a safe and clean environment. HA! i'd like to see that happen in a $10 noodle shop in Hong Kong. I'd probably run out screaming!
It was really entertaining as whenever it was someone's Birthday, a whole horde of people would run out singing a song about pasta and pizza! And they were SO loud that you couldn't even hear the person talking next to you. A little annoying at times, but it sure created a very lively atmosphere! Also, as expected, the portions were huge! We ordered an appetizer of calamari, a cheese pizza, and one bowl of meatsauce pasta and the other of shrimp pasta, and we were 4 and a half asians plus half a caucasian, and we STILL needed to doggy bag quite a lot of the pasta!
Clutching our swollen bellies, we decided to go to the cinema to watch a movie. My first time watching a movie in America! (haha!) Although we were so full, the fragrant smell of popcorn wafting through the cinema was enough to entice us to buy something small for a little nibble despite how full we were. However, Cindy was smart enough to accidentally order a large popcorn and a large soda, and the result? A bucket of popcorn bigger than my head/Cindy's torso and a litre of coke. Seriously! Why is this even LEGAL?! Like unless it's like a group of 5 buying this, this should be illegal! Instead I see people scoffing down entire buckets by themselves! What is this madness?! Me and Cindy only managed to barely eat a third of the popcorn and less than half the coke. So as a warning to everyone, do NOT buy large ANYTHING in America, as you will be wasting food or gaining weight! (I felt so bad throwing away so much pop corn! And the guy wouldnt let us change to a small when our jaws drop after he put the coke and popcorn on the counter!)
Surprisingly, I managed to stay awake during the whole film. I am usually the person who falls asleep at the cinema, especially during a night time showing. We watched The Dictator. Maybe that was why. It was so funny that it kept me awake.. not to mention my amazing anti jetlag routine on the plane!
Another thing that I noted that really annoyed me was that just to watch this 17+ movie, I got carded 3 times! Thats more than when I go to bars and clubs or buy alcohol in Hong Kong (where I just DON'T get carded). All I had was my Hong Kong ID so people sure were confused when they carded me :
1) When I bought the ticket
2) When I showed the ticket when I was going into the cinema
3) When I sat down before the movie started and people were movie hopping.
