Endeavour, California Science Center, Los Angeles

I asked a friend for recommendations on what to do near downtown Los Angeles, and seeing the Endeavour was one of them.  I don't know much about space, or spaceships, or space travel, but everytime I go to a sciencey place, I always feel in awe, and the universe seems so big and special.

On a random note, I like that they spelled it -vour, vs the traditional American -vor.

I visited the California Science Center on a weekday, which made the visit free (woot!), though I had to pay $10 (I think) for parking.  The Endeavour was in a hangar built specially to house it, which was pretty cool.  I think this is the first real space shuttle that I have seen.  It was massive.  (Shocker, I know.)  There was a lady who could explain things to you.  She showed me the little pads - I think there were 2 or maybe even more different kinds - that were on the outside of the shuttle, built to withstand heat, cold, debris, etc., and we got to touch them.  They felt so flimsy, yet were so strong, and that was amazing.  Science is amazing.  I learned so much from the videos and pictures, got to feel a lesser version of the emotions people felt then when space exploration was a lot more novel, and I felt like a little kid, discovering something super cool.

Sometimes when I see really cool clever people Science-y things, I always feel like I wish I did Science, but sadly I don't think I had the aptitude for it.  Anyhow, maybe it is better to be ignorant, and then one can be in blind awe.  Afterall, if we have nothing to go wow over, what is the point of living?

I remember I was running one day on the Embarcadero, and I saw the Endeavour's last journey - it being strapped to the back of a plane or some other shuttle.  It was a gorgeous day,the sun was out, the skies were blue, and there were a ton of people hanging around, and the balconies and windows of buildings were strewn with people.  I had no idea what was happening then, but I saw it and was pretty damn happy I did.  I never thought I would get to see the shuttle in real life.

Well, one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Jitlada, Los Angeles

Yet again another Travel & Leisure Thai food list item.  We have now conquered Lers Ros Thai in SF, Khong River House in Miami and Lotus of Siam in this blog, and now we go to Jitlada in LA, which another of our friends did recommend too.  (We actually also have been to Asia Market in Houston, but I was too hungry and did not take any photos.)

Lingon got this ginger smoothie, which was SUPER gingery.  I liked it, but I don't think it was possible to finish a whole thing of that.  From the list, we ordered the Phangga jungle curry, which was so hot I think we almost died.  I'm honestly not too sure I tasted much of anything else other than the chilli on my tongue.  We also got one of our classic favourites, papaya salad, which sadly did not have too much of a kick.  Lastly, we got the pad see ew, which was great!  We love pad see ew, and it's nice to find one that matches our favourite at Siam Noodle and Rice in Chicago.

After hearing so much about Jitlada, and supposedly the fact that Ryan Gosling goes there, kind of have a meh feeling about it.  The food was not bad, but to take a special trip there was very... meh.

Lotus of Siam, Las Vegas

Back to the the Travel & Leisure Thai food list.  I had recently written a post about our trip to Khong River House in Miami, which we found to be a disappointment.  Lingon and I rarely go to Vegas together, so now that we had the opportunity, we decided to go to Lotus of Siam, also on this list.

The restaurant was in a strip mall, 10-15 mins from our hotel on the strip.  It had a very basic exterior, with a neon "OPEN" sign.  We walked in, and unlike Khong River House which had a gorgeous interior, Lotus of Siam had simple furnishings.  It was a huge restaurant though, and seated many large parties.

We combined Money's recommendations (btw Money was not a fan of this one) and the list's recommendations, and ordered the following, complete with reviews.
1)  som thum (this classic dish from Thailand consists of green papaya, chili, tomato, crushed peanuts mixed with lime juice, fish sauce and sugar) - we thought we were very clever and when the waiter asked about our preference for spicy from level 1-10, we decided to try 8.  Holy crap, it is now the next morning and I think we are still paying for it.  But it was nice and crunchy, a very well done papaya salad, though not particularly special, not by any fault of its own, just that it's a simple dish.
2)  sticky rice - our waiter kept pushing us to order this, telling us these dishes were eaten with sticky rice.  Initially hesitant, we caved, and by the end of the meal this sticky rice really saved us when our mouths and stomachs were on FIRE.  Not remarkable, but a nice side to have.
3)  nam kao tod (crispy rice mixed with sour cubed pork sausages, cilantro, green onions, grounded dry chilis, ginger, peanuts and lime juice) - MMM MMMMMM.  I did not even read the description of this, because both Money and the T&L list said to get this, so I had a bit of a surprise when a rice dish showed up.  It was a relatively light dish, and the lime flavour really showed the flavours of everything else.  Again, we chose level 8 spicy - I think next time we go with level 5.
4)  issan sausage (grilled sour pork sausages, served with fresh chili, ginger and peanuts) - great sausage!  Perfectly soured and spiced.
5)  larb plar dook (minced catfish, chopped onions, fresh and dry chilis, lime juice. Served with fresh cabbage) - interesting larb, I think I prefer pork.  It was not too fishy, and the texture was good (not too soggy or tough), but maybe I just prefer the tried and tested pork larb.
6)  Thai iced tea - we just got one to share, but as our mouths got progressively hotter, we had to order a second.

My stomach is still hurting.  But worth it.  Great meal.  DEFINITELY will go back!  I want to try the garlic prawns.  A lot of that dish rolled out of the kitchen and it looked amazing.  One for next time!

Mua, Oakland

This post has been, for a long time, in my to-complete box.  I sent my blog link to Money yesterday.  I'm sitting in a hotel room while Lingon is out at a super fun conference, so I'm going to write about this one cool dining experience we had.

Our dear friends Money and Chang recently moved to Oakland.  Sad times, since we don't like it when our friends move out of the city.  It means more time to get to them, usually!!  Grr.  Chang picked Mua for our first venture into Oakland together.

The restaurant was in a rather busy part of Oakland that I had been to before.  The area in the evening looked relatively sketch, with some homeless person wandering around.  I quickened my pace to enter the restaurant.  When I entered, I had a rather big surprise - the interior of the restaurant was probably 5 times the size I thought it would be based on the rather unassuming exterior.  Kind of like a large warehouse, the 2-story restaurant was loud and hip.  It came complete with a DJ.

We were seated upstairs, and as it was late we proceeded to order ravenously.  This meal was from last year, so honestly I have do not remember what we ate (I think we got polenta, catfish and 2 types of lamb, among other things), but it was great.  Everything we ordered was hearty and delicious.  I'm always saying how I don't like white people food (really, I mean I prefer Asian food), but if I were to have white people food, I like this kind of simple foods (don't take that to mean the flavours were simple, some really were very complex and super delish), vs molecular super cool super fancy super expensive ones.

If I had to go to Oakland, or recommend an Oakland restaurant, Mua would definitely make the list!  Yum.