The Fabliss - eat, drink, photograph

11 01, 2013

Lucky Boy Drive-In | Pasadena, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T08:07:19+00:00 January 11th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 2 Comments

the search was on…for breakfast burritos! enter: lucky boy!

food: best breakfast burrito. ever. for approximately $7, we got the (massive) breakfast burrito with bacon, sausage and avocado. what did we love? delicious salsa, potatoes inside, not too eggy or greasy! one burrito for two people is definitely enough food. chili cheese fries are good but fried zucchini (not pictured) is better.

(can you tell he’s excited?)

ambiance/service: reminds me of denny’s or tommy’s (purple and teal seats inside. yep). ample seating inside and out. gets pretty packed but ordering (at a window) and eating is fast so dont worry.
parking: ample parking spots on the side and in the back.
tips: breakfast starts at 6am. cash only.
verdict: we are fans and will be back!

enjoy!

Lucky Boy Drive-In
640 S Arroyo Pkwy
Pasadena, CA 91105
Neighborhood: Pasadena

6 01, 2013

Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery | Santa Monica, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T08:08:26+00:00 January 6th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 7 Comments

hello, bay cities! we have finally met! our trip to santa monica was all about you, large godmother sandwich with the works (sexy sandwich picture above). ordered:

large, hot godmother sandwich with the works ($8.00) – genoa salami, mortadella coppacola, ham, prosciutto, provolone, mayo, mustard, onions, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, italian dressing, hot pepper salad.
small, hot pastrami sandwich with the works ($6.35)

we came here after christmas at around 3pm and it was packed (both the market side and the deli). it’s one of those places where you pick a number and wait for it to be called. the wait time was about 20-25 minutes for us. we didnt think it was too bad since they had cactus cooler! boom. we heard this place is always packed so if you are not a crowd kinda person, stay away. and here we go:

i will have to echo what thousands have said before me…hot, delicious and oh so tasty! but is it just me or is the bread extremely hard? all you (or i) want to do is inhale this sandwich…but since the bread is so hard… you are literally playing a game of tug-of-war. once you bite down, the inside of your sandwich spews out the other side. i can definitely see why people would be in love with this so-called crunch but 5 minutes in, our jaws started to hurt.

between the godmother and the hot pastrami, my preference is the godmother. loved the taste. kyle would go with the hot pastrami. i cant ding this place because of the bread since it does taste good…but best sandwich ever? no, probably not. top 15? probably.

note: we found metered parking on the street! i can imagine parking gets a pretty competitive on the weekends.

Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery
1517 Lincoln Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Neighborhood: Santa Monica

4 01, 2013

Our New Year – Japanese Style (Oshogatsu)

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:41:33+00:00 January 4th, 2013 | Family, Food, Holidays | 7 Comments

hello, oshogatsu (new year)!

each dish has a different meaning-good health, happiness, prosperity, etc. a huge, huge thank you to my sis-in-law/chef (check out her site, here) for preparing this pretty spread for new years! (oh, yes! we get to eat this every year!)

happy new year, from our family to yours!

2 01, 2013

Green Street Tavern | Pasadena, CA

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:41:56+00:00 January 2nd, 2013 | Dessert, Food, Restaurants | 2 Comments

we have had green street tavern bookmarked in our phones for awhile now because we read that they had a great bread pudding (one of my favorite things to eat)! we originally wanted to come here for dinner but the stars aligned and we dropped in for a nice sunday brunch.

what we ordered:

the GST burger ($18 with beer) – ground black angus, roquefort-gruyere fondue, homemade bacon, arugula, roasted garlic aioli
crispy pork belly – sunny side up egg sandwich ($14) – house cured and smoked pork belly served crispy on sour dough with tomato, butter lettuce and avocado, with green peppercorn dijonaise
white chocolate croissant bread pudding, blueberry and white chocolate sauce ($8)

remember how kyle and i hate eggs but try to eat them?! (here. here. and here!?) on this day, i felt bold and ordered the sunny side up egg sandwich. umm…it was the eggist sandwich i could have ordred. i wished i loved eggs more! putting my dislike for eggs aside, here are my thoughts:

food: ingredients are fresh. if i didnt cringe when the egg popped all over my sandwich, making it soggy, i think i would have liked the sandwich more! if you love eggs, crispy bacon and avocado, this is a no brainer. kyle ordered the gts burger. dont hate us…he liked it but nothing special. we were pretty disappointed since we heard so much about this burger.

the saving grace of this meal was the white chocolate/blueberry bread pudding! UH-MAZING! i’m excited to say that this little dessert is in my top 10! (another post for later) we are definitely coming back for the bread pudding!

atmosphere: decor is very chic. very good for a date! there are two rooms. the first room has a lot of light and is good for brunch. the second room, which is a little larger and seats bigger parties, is a little on the dark side. i think this second room would be perfect for a dinner date!

parking: parking garage in old town vs. metered street parking (cheaper option). good luck!

Green Street Tavern
69 W Green St
Pasadena, CA 91105
Neighborhood: Pasadena

31 12, 2012

Chiang Mai, Thailand – Part III

By vivilinh | 2014-07-24T09:42:32+00:00 December 31st, 2012 | Life, Photography, Thailand, Travel | 5 Comments

Chiang Mai Thailand U Chiang Mai Hotel

in chiang mai, we stayed in the old town (the center of the city and surrounded by a moat and huge walls) at the u chiang mai hotel. we absolutely loved it and cant rave about it more. we loved staying in the old town because you can literally walk to most of the temples. within the old town, there are no high rises because no building is to be taller than the temples. this area is on the quiet side normally. however, the busy streets/night market outside the wall are a 15-20 minute walk. not bad.

the hotel itself was pretty awesome. it is located at the center of old town and is close by amazing spas and restaurants! the staff goes above and beyond to make sure that your stay is fantastic and they are all so helpful and friendly. breakfast is included daily, which is a plus. the best part: the AC can be blasted and keeps the room at a pretty freezing temperature! a nice touch: fresh, beautiful orchids daily.

Wat Chedi Luang | Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand Chiang Mai Thailand Krathrong's Dhukka

krathrong’s dhukka

write the name of your family name on the three corners flag
cut your nail, your hair and put them in the leaf-krathrong
pray to buddha to send your troubles away
make your wishes to think, to speak, and to do good.

now your troubles will be sent away

Loi Krathong Chiang Mai

huen phen is one of those must eat places in chiang mai. they are known most for their kao soi. kao soi (turned out to be our favorite thing to eat in thailand) is a curry noodle, special to northern thailand (“lanna” means northern thailand). we tried to eat this every day. we mean every. single. day.

just finding huen phen was a little bit of a hot, sticky, sweaty journey. this place is packed all the time…and its huge! we ended up over ordering (5 dishes for two of us) and would highly, highly recommend the kao soi (duh) and the fried papaya salad. those were the two stand out dishes. when we came here, it was 90 degrees and felt like 90% humidity (actually this is what it felt like the whole trip). we were sweating. it was uncomfortable. before the trip, we were told to stay away from water that was not bottled and ice. this was the day we had to cave in. it was just too hot and the room temperature water bottle just did not do it. we had to order the thai tea with ice and it was amazing!

Huen Phen Chiang Mai

walking around… visiting random temples and enjoying the festival decorations.

Chiang Mai Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand

how excited were we that we were in chiang mai for the loi krathong festival and yi peng festival??

a krathong is decorated with folded banana leaves, incenses, and a candle. when it’s a full moon, everyone in the city launches their krathong on a river, canal or a pond, and make a wish!
loi krathong coincides with the northern thailand festival, yi peng! for yi peng, everyone in the city launches floating lanterns into the sky! (my bucket list!)

this was the best time for us to be there since (i) the whole city was decorated with lanterns and flowers and (ii) there were festivals/events going on every day that week!

Chiang Mai, Thailand Chiang Mai Thailand IMG_8145-1 lantern time! IMG_8125-1 IMG_8158-1 IMG_8136-1 street chicken IMG_8303-1 IMG_8180-1 IMG_8201-1 floating lantern! IMG_8203-1 we are sweating in this picture... floating lanterns IMG_8262-1 IMG_8306-1 IMG_8315-1 IMG_8351-1 IMG_8309-1 IMG_8347-1 IMG_8344-1 lots of photographers... IMG_8313-1 IMG_8355-1 IMG_8346-1

lanterns everywhere! breathtaking. i didnt end up taking my dslr that night (bad decisions) so my pictures arent that great and do not do this festival justice. its something that you should definitely see yourself! imagine floating lanterns let go everyone in the city…all night long!

IMG_8532-1

one of the must see temples in chiang mai is wat phra that doi suthep, which is located on a mountain 9 miles / 15 km away from the city. to get to the temple, you have to climb 309 steps (obviously not to bad since i did the downtown stair climb! woot) on the way up, there are a lot of food/clothes/souvenir vendors (we are embarrassed to say that we got ripped off by all of them because we are the worst at haggling). oh, but! we obviously stopped for some corn and tangerine juice which was delicious!

IMG_8534-1 IMG_8538-1 IMG_8550-2-1 IMG_8553-2-1 Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep IMG_8559-1

the temple has an amazing view of chiang mai. too bad the morning we went, it was on the cloudy side. the temple is beautiful, isnt it?

IMG_8562-1 IMG_8575-2-1 IMG_8587-2-1 Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep IMG_8606-2-1 IMG_8605-2-1 IMG_8621-2-1 corn! IMG_8626-1 IMG_8637-1 kao soi IMG_8646-1 IMG_8648-1