Felt Domo-kun iPod cases sold out after only two days on Etsy in July! Made by SydneyAngel, the cases hold iPod Touch, iPhones and clunky iPod classics. This shows how people love all things Domo.
The Bad Plus played a great outdoor show at California Plaza last Friday. Fans brought their own food and wine (Ajumma ate a Crunky) and enjoyed the music as the sun set over Los Angeles. The Flea Market wrote up a blurb about free show and threw in some nice photos.
We bought a Nikon Coolpix camera to take on vacation, last week. Whenever I appeared in a photo the camera would ask, "Did someone blink?" It became a running joke among my friends. My husband would laugh and tell others, "I can see that her eyes are open, but it says she blinked!" Apparently I am not the only one with a Nikon who is having this issue.
When you make skinny jeans look baggy, you are TOO THIN. Everyone thinks that Asian girls are naturally built like matchsticks, but the truth is they're skinny because they don't eat.
Delectable dango from Fugetsu-Do sweet shop in Los Angeles. See more colorful images of Fugetsu's rice cakes here.
I confess that the eye-popping cover is what drew me to 1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara. Standing in a Little Tokyo bookstore, I halted for a quick second when I realized 1001 Cranes is teen fiction. I generally dislike teen fiction. Even as a teenager, I felt like authors talked down to readers with flat stories and overly simplistic characters. But as I skimmed 1001 Cranes, I saw that Angie, the story's protagonist, isn't always nice, her parents aren't perfect, and her boyfriend-to-be is a cigarette-smoking skateboarder.
Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking, was a brilliant journalist who ended her own life in 2004. Chang's friend and fellow writer, Paula Kamen, examines the Chinese American author's personality and ambitions while delving into the question of why Chang (who previously did not suffer from severe depression) killed herself.
'Surely these people are not lined up for Korean food served from a truck.' That is what hubs and I thought after watching people sit outside the Japanese American National Museum for an hour, behind a sign for the Kogi truck. Our friends informed us that the Kogi truck sells a hybrid of Korean and Mexican food (like Korean tacos), notifies people of their upcoming locations via Twitter, and encounters throngs of fans wherever it goes. Awesome.
You'll find a gourmet cupcake bakery at any upscale shopping locale in Southern California these days. We happened across Yummy Cupcakes on the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade. Yummy Cupcakes earns a hearty thumbs up for lovely presentation. Their cupcakes are more festive than Dots for sure. I enjoyed Yummy's moist Red Velvet cupcake, though it was more brown than red. Had it not been for the name, I would have guessed I was eating a chocolate cupcake. Props to their Shirley Temple frosting, which actually tasted like a Shirley Temple drink! The fun came to a screeching halt, however, when trying a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles. Bizzare flour taste. Heavy consistancy. Big turnoff.
Had lunch at Mao's Kitchen on Melrose, which boasts natural, Chinese homemade cooking. I liked the sparse interiors with colorful Communist Revolution posters adorning the walls. My Hong Kong-style ramen was scorched on the bottom, which is a no-no, but all in all it tasted good. My husband liked his black bean and veggies entree. I will say that Mao's Kitchen stir fries fish with the best of them.
Korean actor, Lee Byoung-Hun, is in poster form all over L.A. as Storm Shadow in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie. He was peering at us on the wall outside of Mao's Kitchen.
I got a chuckle out of "Go Girl" energy drinks and "Y Water" at Marukai market in Little Tokyo. "Go Girl" is amusing because of its name, and "Y Water" (water with nutrients for ones brain, muscles, etc.) for it's innovative packaging and amusing sayings on the tags.
