Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Los Angeles, CA: 12/27/09

So, I've been applying to business school which is why we've been derelict in keeping up with this thing. Hopefully that will be settled soon so we can get back to such matters. =)

Until then (and the wait will be worth it), I have one of the best live NBA game I've gone to courtesy of the LA Clippers at Staples Center! That's right, the forgotten NBA sibling in LA. We bought a 4-game "Holiday Pack" that started with Clippers v Celtics this past Sunday. The remaining 3 games will be against the LA Lakers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Atlanta Hawks. At $300/person for the entire package in section 107, we'd say we already got our moneys worth watching Baron Davis dispose of the Celtics with the final 1.5 second, buzzer-beating play.


Turns out are seats are also in the same row as, who we simply call, "Clippers man" (Clippers version of Jack Nicholson):

Lastly, as if all that wasn't enough, purchasing our package got us an autograph session with Blake Griffin (their #1 draft pick and the overall #1 pick of the 2009 draft).


I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Los Angeles, CA: 9/11/09

We were lucky enough to score tickets to Lisa Leslie's last season home game at Staples Center. The LA Sparks beat the Minnesota Lynx (90-61) and Leslie scored 19 points. Leslie was honored in a pregame tribute by her coach Michael Cooper and teammates, the current teams at Morningside High and USC, Magic Johnson, and her family.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Los Angeles, CA: 8/22/09

We are still going to post about Puerto Rico, but, until then, we decided we need to knock off some smaller posts in order to prevent an unrecoverable backlog.

I will begin with our daytrip of 2 Los Angeles area museums. First up was the Pacific Asia Museum (PAM), which is located in Old Town Pasadena, right across from the Westin. This museum is one of only four U.S. institutions dedicated exclusively to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands. We've been members of this museum for almost a year now, and this membership is what provides us with free admission to museums across the country. We went to PAM on this particular day because they were having a special Shaolin Temple Kung Fu Demo and Tea Tasting event. We had the pleasure of learning what a typical day is like for those living in the Shaolin Temple and got to see a kung fu demo, but, by far, the coolest part was getting to sit with Master Shi Yan Xu in a Shaolin tea ceremony!

We also had the privilege of sampling and learning more about fine teas from tea purveyor Linda Louie:

After PAM, we had lunch at Lawry's Carvery at L.A. Live as they were having a buy one get one free deal when you show any museum stub. Once we were done with lunch, we headed to The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). There are actually 3 MOCA locations in Los Angeles; we went to the one in downtown on Grand Avenue. As far as contemporary art museums go, this was the largest I've been to and, not surprisingly, the exhibits weren't as shocking as others I've seen elsewhere. There was a good collection of Rothko (who I learned of in Houston), Pollock, Warhol, and, of course, weird contemporary art stuff.


Stay tuned for more mini updates! The 2 pictures of the Shaolin tea ceremony and tea tasting are courtesy of the Pacific Asia Museum.

Cost Breakdown

$5.00 - Parking at the corner of Grand Avenue & Kosciuszko Way (weekend flat rate)

Parking is free at the PAM and MOCA is one of the museums we get free admission to for being members of PAM. General admission is usually $9 and $10 for PAM and MOCA, respectively.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Miami, FL: 8/13/09 - 8/16/09

Miami is actually a continuation of our Puerto Rico trip. Our Puerto Rico package only covered travel to/from Fort Lauderdale, so to get to/from Fort Lauderdale/Miami we flew Southwest.

Day 1
Our 4:15PM flight out of PR got us to FLL at 7PM (no time difference btwn the two). We picked up our rental car and arrived at Miami Beach at 8PM to meet a friend and her roomates for dinner. We went to Gotham Steak, which was located in the Fontainebleau Hotel and a short walk down the oceanfront boardwalk. Luckily, we happened to be there during Miami Spice. We both ordered off the Miami Spice Pre Fixe (3 course) Menu. We had the tuna tartare and corn soup for appetizers, grilled skirt steak and braised veal cheeks for entrees, and vanilla cream doughnuts and warm chocolate bread pudding for desserts. We each also had a glass of wine. Summarily, we felt the food was fine but not memorable.

For our 3 nights in Miami we had the pleasure of staying at the place our friend was renting, which was located in Miami Beach right on the beach. It was nothing short of incredible (pictures are below). Thank you for letting us stay! :)

Day 2
Our first stop on our first full day was the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. We didn't really know what it was, except that it seemed like a big deal and the name was enough to pique our interest. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, it's the largest freshwater pool in the US. Unfortunately, it's probably also the most expensive as it was a whopping $10.50 for an adult day pass. So we just snapped a couple pictures and left.

Also on the National Register of Historic Places and a National Historic Landmark, we also stopped by the Freedom Tower. During the 1960s, this building was where Cuban immigrants fleeing the communist Castro regime were processed.

We had lunch nearby on Calle Ocho (8th Street), which is the main street that runs through Little Havana. We went to Exquisito Restaurant and took a stroll along the street after lunch, stopping for some coco frio.
After lunch we headed back to enjoy our friend's place, driving back through South Beach to admire the Art Deco District.


For dinner, we chose another restaurant participating in Miami Spice: Casa Casuarina a.k.a. the Versace Mansion. It was both very cool and quite eery eating in Versace's house where he was also shot on the front steps. The mansion has also been converted to a nightclub and hotel, with rooms starting at $1,200/night. I took a picture of the menu so that describes everything we had except the drinks.


As should be expected, Versace lived right where all the action is in South Beach, so after dinner we were able to walk around and enjoy the nightlife. Walking south on Ocean Street brought us to the Clevelander:


Yes, that is a flamenco dancer over the hotel pool. Yes, that is a lady on stilts. And this was when it was only 10PM. Miami is, quite simply, off the hook. It is an older (and less diverse, compared to LA/Vegas) crowd but they really do party 'til 6 in the morning. I have no idea how people hold steady jobs here. Anyway, the rest of our night consisted of similar sights and oysters and champagne at Hotel Ocean, where we also befriended a local businessman.


Day 3
Based on a recommendation from our friend, we went to Tap Tap for lunch on our last full day in Miami. Tap Tap features Haitian food and music, which came up in npr's All Things Considered in the days following the Haitian quake (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123784163). While there, we met a couple that was visiting from Sarasota, FL and checking out the art museums. We ended up sharing a table with them and got to try some of their food!


As we left lunch the rain started to come down. It quickly turned to a downpour that continued for the duration of our hour long drive to Everglades National Park. We waited out the rain at the Main Visitor Center (entering through Homestead) where they had an amazing artist's exhibit. We took advantage of a break in the rain to drive to the Royal Palm Visitor Center and do a short (<2 mi) hike to see alligators. Before we even began the trail we got treated to a vulture sighting in the parking lot.


The Everglades are huge and we barely scraped the surface with this visit so we definitely plan to visit again in the future. I will also remember to try and cover any exposed skin as to not get ravaged by mosquitos again. We had to make a pit stop back at where we were staying to clean ourselves up before heading out for dinner with a friend of ours who lives in downtown Miami. We drove to his place, then walked around and surveyed the numerous food choices and ultimately decide on a french bistro called Provence Grill. We had charcuterie, escargot, and steak tartare. Our friend had short ribs. It was all good. Afterwards, we stopped by an italian market for dessert: coconut flan and cannolis.


Brickell Avenue, the street on which our friend lives, is apparently home to the largest concentration of international banks in the US. We hung out at his place until it was time for all of us to sleep. Here's the view from his balcony, which also overlooked the pool and was accessible from floor-to-ceiling windows:

Day 4
Alas, Sunday had to come. Our flight was at 1:15PM which gave us one more meal. We ended at the same place we started at when this trip began: the Five Guys in Fort Lauderdale. Now, I had liked this place before Obama made it popular and it wouldn't be until after this trip when I would find out that Five Guys has made it to the West Coast!

We had a short 1 hr 5 min stop in Tampa Bay en route to our 6:30PM arrival in Ontario. I just happened to be looking out the window when we were passing over Houston, which I thought was pretty cool. You can see the Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park, and the downtown buildings - Chevron (ex-Enron), Dynegy, etc!


Cost Breakdown

$300.40 - 2 1-stop flights from ONT to FLL on Southwest (we used a free flight award for our flight back)
$118.77 - 1 night at Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport-North (for the night before we left for Puerto Rico)
$119.59 - 3 day car rental @ FLL from Hertz, with $10/day discount
$123.00 (includes tip as we can't find the itemized receipt) - Dinner at Gotham Steak in Fontainebleau (2 Miami Spice pre fixe meals + 2 glasses of wine)
$113.36 - Dinner at Casa Casuarina (2 Miami Spice pre fixe meals + 2 drinks, 1 of which was $19.62 by itself)
$64.64 - Dinner at Provence Grill (charcuterie, escargots, steak tartare, 2 glasses of wine)
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$862.64