Saigon Kitchen

Bo Luc Lac



Some pickled side dishes and veggies to wrap with.


My favorite! Banh Xeo!!!



Shrimp meat on those sugarcane sticks.

(Sorry for the crappy photos --- bad lighting too! ---, I was in such a rush to take pictures before everyone took a stab at everything! No time for flamboyancy.)

I was working at the registers as usual and the phone rang. I picked up and said my usual line, "Hai, thank you for calling S_, this is Carena, how may I assist you!?" And surprisingly, my mom was on the other end imitating my voice. Hahaha. She told me that we had relatives over from Reno and that we were going to go to Saigon Kitchen tonight, and to leave dinner closed to other personal plans. Hahaha...so Saigon Kitchen was where we went! We went there for last Sunday?'s Father's Day dinner, and quite frequently for other family gatherings. I LOVE their Vietnamese food.

It doesn't look much but we ordered x2 of everything --- flavored rice / meat place + a variety of grilled meats and it comes with a variety of vegetables, that you can put together on like this rice paper thing, and wrap it all up and then dip in some nuoc mam (fish sauce) MMMMM..

Happy Birthday Boo! <3

Happy Birthday Booo!!! <3 I hope you like your CHANEL Platinum Egoiste cologne cause I love the smell of it!!! Hahahaha.

Love for BFFs

What would life be without friends? I really don't know... but in all honesty, I have many acquaintances, but very few friends. Those who I can call my friends, I'm glad to have, because you guys are the ones who make me smile and laugh everyday. Without you guys, I really don't know how I'd make it through those days when I'm upset or angry.

Nothing bad's going on, but I thought this would be a nice mushy-lovey-dovey "shoutout" to my best friends. Hahaha, they're who I've been hanging out with since they've been home from college! I love my best friends!

Oh and my boo, my manbestfriend, and my lover C; sang me one of my favorite songs! I don't like this cover as much as some of his other ones, but I love it anyways cause it's for me! Hahaha. I do love these covers though ; (Sunday Morning, Bitter Heart, Rockin' That Thang, Captain Planet) Go watch and listen! c:

More Food

Sorry I've been lagging with blog updates! I've been meaning to finish the one before this post, but I couldn't resist blogging again, hahah.

Miso Soup


Salad

Nothing too much today, had sushi with Matty in the afternoon at Kazoo Restaurant! We had the typical appetizers, Matty had miso soup, and I had a salad. As for our actual lunch, we ordered a whole bunch of rolls --- the Yamaimo (Mountain Yams --- which was pretty WEIRD to say the least, it had such weird textures that my mouth didn't know what to expect ... one moment crunchy and then the next ... squishy, ew, never again!), Fresh Sake (fresh salmon), Beef Tataki (seared beef, g-onion, garlic sauce ---- this was yummy! hahah), Rainbow Roll (variety of fish, mayocrab), Negimaguro Maki (tuna, g-onion), Batman (eel, cream cheese, tempura), See Through Beef (cilantro, jalapeno, rice paper --- this was pretty good, it reminded me of Vietnamese Spring Rolls), Aki Roll (tuna, sake, w-tuna, ebi TP, mayocrab, garlic sauce).

Went to work for a little while to sub in for my Mother while she had her dentist appointment. I was going to hang out with my boo, but he didn't want to!!! But it's okay, he made me a nice video, which I shall debut later, hahha I love my manbff. So instead, I sporadically decided that I would pick up Jessica, and then go get Wendy to take photobooth pictures, but we decided last minute (again, haha) that we would just stay at Wendy's house and play Guitar Hero until I had work again!

OH!!! And I made homemade mashed potatoes and chicken/mushroom alfredo topped with fresh tomatoes and dried parsley the other day! c: Moms made the chicken. c:

Hello Dessert x Rodent

(Marc by Marc Jacobs Admiral Blue Cloud top, MNG by Mango cardigan, H&M jeans, Dolce Vita sandals, Forever 21 ring)

I meant to blog about this yesterday, but time flies and I always end up lagging more than I expect. Hahaha. On Wednesday, I finally found time to have Hello Dessert with buddy and catch up about everything! I was so excited to go to Hello Dessert, cause I've been having a million cravings for it since the last time I had it ... which was probably about 2 weeks ago. HAHAHA. But aside from getting my usual (either Mango Moo or Willow Nectar and sometimes the occasional Snow Azuki), I decided to actually try their real deserts.

Mai Thai
(credits to Crystal H. via Yelp
photo edits credits to me)

We first had the Mai Thai which has scoops of mango ice cream and coconut sorbet (I think)with cut pieces of pineapple and mango that are lightly dusted with toasted coconut. Yummy, but it was a bit pricey for a tiny plate of it ... even for my beloved Hello Dessert! I forgot to take a picture of it though, so I'm borrowing a picture from one of the pictures posted on Yelp

Waffle Bowl

After about an hour and a half of that Mai Thai and talking, I decided I wanted another dessert. Which is so bad because I had no dinner whatsoever, so basically all that desert was my dinner. It didn't help either that I was having massive cramps thanks to ketchup week, haha. But whatever!! I love Hello Dessert nonetheless! We decided on the Waffle Bowl, which we chose to have Green Tea Ice Cream and this Rose something Gelato (I can't remember what it was called) but we decided to stick with something we both liked and something new. Buddy wanted to try the Rose something cause we were wondering what that could possibly taste like, so I asked the guy at the register whether or not it was good, and he let me sample it. My first initial thought wasn't too happy, but as I let it sink in my mouth, I was soooooooo yummy, it had a nice florally rose scent to it, and you can even taste the rose petals in it...and it's sweet! It's definitely a flavor I think everyone should try, cause it's nothing like I've had before. We finished our dessert and talked some more in the car. We had a super long catchup talk, for like 2 and a half hours! Hahaha. Good stuff! I love my buddy. c:

When I came home, my brother told me that I had not closed the door to our garage completely, leaving enough space for a fat, black, rat/mouse (which we have yet to find out what exactly it is) to crawl into our lovely downstairs living space. He told me he saw it run across the kitchen while he was eating downstairs and that Mother and Father had instructed him to tell me to attempt to kill it with a plunger. A PLUNGER?!?! How am I supposed to kill a rodent that's apparently black, 3 inches fat, and 4 inches long ... with a plunger?!?! In a frenzy, I googled how to get rid of rodents and one of the first searches that I found was a gruesome picture of a dead rat/mouse shot with a taser in the head. X___X That wasn't of any help so I called buddy and asked him what I should do, and he told me to go to Safeway ASAP (at that time it was 11:40 and Safeway closes at 12) so I was like omg, I speedracered to Safeways and was looking through and go this circular contraption which is supposed "kill mice instantly and help keep you from being exposed to the dead rodent". I left at exactly 12, only to remember that I needed peanut butter so I ran back inside. They weren't going to ring me up but I explained my situation very briefly and they were nice about it so they let me purchase the peanut butter I needed. I went home, set it up, hoping that overnight it would be caught so I would not have to be paranoid everywhere I go (but with doubt because since my brother said it was so big, I didn't think it was going to fit in the trap), but when I woke up, I didn't want to go and check! I was afraid I might find some bloody rodent mess on the floor or something half stuck on the trap or if I really had to touch it. x_x When I finally had the guts to check...NONE OF THE TRAPS WORKED!!! UGH, so I'm still stuck with a black, fat rodent of some sort roaming downstairs to my despise and horror!!! I really hope it left on it's own, otherwise I'm going to have to buy more contraptions to rid of this rodent. Any suggestions? x_x

I Think I'm In Love ....

with these sandals! Hahaha .. I've been wearing them with just about anything, anywhere! Today, to get my new eyeballs, to have lunch with my mother & brother, and to work!

(dress from Hong Kong courtesy of cousins, Forever 21 leggings, Dolce Vita sandals)

Earlier this morning, I logged onto Twitter to see what feeds I've been getting, only to see a surprise response that I did not expect at all! I replied without even thinking that I would get a response, but I did! Being a huge fan, I was so ecstatic when I saw that Wesley from Wong Fu Productions replied and mentioned that he viewed my blog...MY BLOG! Never have I really thought that - wow! the internet can really bring/connect people together no matter where you are, who you are - until today.

More Food

To Pepper Lunch with my mother and father! c:

(Off 5th Saks green dress shirt dress (lol?), Forever 21 leggings, Dolce Vita sandals)
- Weird leg stance o_O -

Ohman, this is the 4th consecutive post with food in it. Hahaha... I haven't been feeling too well this entire day...I've been getting sharp pains in my stomach, and I don't know why. I don't have to use the bathroom or feel that the reason why my stomach hurts is because of something I ate. I keep feeling like I want to throw up, like that kinda sick feeling, I don't know. But now now, don't get any wrong ideas, I'm not preggo, so do not worry. Hahah. Well anyways, I think maybe satisfying my craving for Pepper Lunch helped my stomach a bit? I feel a littttleee bit better.

My #10 Beef Yakiniku with Garlic Butter + Egg


Dad's Beef Angus Rib Eye Steak with Garlic Butter



Mom's Beef Yakisoba

The meat is served raw, and you cook it while it's on this extremely hot, stone/clay plate. c: It's sizzly, fun, cheap, and delicious! <3

Chill Days

(Forever 21 gray v-neck, American Apparel fleece hoodie, 7 For All Mankind shorts, BCBG jelly gladiators)

These past two days have definitely been a lot more chill and relaxing than my normal work-all-day-everyday schedule! Yesterday, my big & my pbros & I went to Great America and for the first time I actually went on the "good rides." I almost died three times. x_x First Top Gun, then Vortex, then Invertigo. My eyes were covered/closed during the entire ride of Top Gun & Inveritgo, it was soooo scarry!! Top Gun was like like putting my head in a salt shaker and shaking my head around, haha. Vortex... I managed to actually keep my eyeballs open. It was kinda scary, but it wasn't as bad as Top Gun. Invertigo was the worse! I was so scared for my life... hanging there so high up, and then dropping and and going backwards. I hate that feeling of falling!! Well .. we played a couple more games and went on a couple more rides and then we left.

The boys wanted to play basketball ... but Joe and I don't play, so we had to watch...or well I did, Joe fell asleep. After 3 12 point games, Denny and Harrison ended up winning, which took forever. I wanted to nap cause I was soooo worn from lack of sleep and a long day of intense rollar coasters! They took me home and I napped from the time I got home to the time Denny called me to watch UP.

That movie was sooooooooo cuteeee!! I recommend it to everyone to watch it! It made me laugh the entire time, and some parts were just so sad, that it made me cry .... but mostly laugh! It was so gosh darn adorable, I don't even know what to say anymore, you just have to watch it! Hahah.

My Storm Bringer Rolls
( which was a "soft shell crab roll" topped with yellowtail, salmon, fresh water eel, tobiko, and avocado)



Michelle's California Roll (crab, avocado, cucumber(though I think the cucumber is missing)) & Crunchy Roll (fried shrimp, crab, tempura crunch)


My Mango Mochi

Today was sushi day at Sen Dai with Michelle! <3 Service was quick! Michelle had a California Roll & a Crunchy Roll. I had a Storm Bringer roll and a mango mochi again, both of which were very tasty! c: We went back to her house for a mini dinner break and went back out to go to Nordstrom Rack. Michelle found me a pair of cute Dolce Vita sandals which I'm extremely excited to wear out! Hahah. We didn't end up going to Neiman Marcus to see the Chanel bags though (SALE!!!) cause we didn't make it back in time before they closed at 8. :c