Some stats going into the All-Star break.
Against teams currently above .500…
- The Kings are 20-11-9
- In 15 out of 40 games (37.5%), they’ve scored 2+ goals
- GFA = 2.275
- GAA = 2.1
Against teams currently below .500
- The Kings are 4-5-1
- In 2 out of 10 games (20%), they’ve scored 2+ goals
- GFA = 1.6
- GAA = 2.2
sportclubstats.com currently gives the Kings a 68.7% chance of making the playoffs. bleh.
Saturday = CRAZY.
I woke up at 7AM and rushed to Staples Center to run the 2012 LA Kings 5K. My one week of training prepared me enough to finish almost 2 minutes faster than last year’s time. I crossed the finish line in 26:34, which averages to an 8:34 pace. What my training did not prepare me for was having to run 3.1 miles IN THE RAIN. It wasn’t light sprinkles, IT WAS RAIN. Needless to say, I was soaked afterward.
There was no time to chill and hang out at the event because I had to take my last GMAT practice CAT and Henry had groomsman duties to attend to. I completed my test at 2PM, which left me with only half an hour to get ready for the wedding! I didn’t even have time to eat! 
Things finally settled down once I arrived at the wedding venue: Muckenthaler Mansion in Fullerton.
Congrats, Jen & Thai ♥
The ceremony went off without a hitch and the meatballs served during cocktail hour were DELISH! I was so hungry I ate 8 of them!!! 
Although I had fun celebrating with friends, weddings, in general, give me anxiety. I would rather skip the wedding and go straight to the honeymoon – I’m working on getting everybody else on board with that idea. My mom said she’s fine with whatever I decide. Hopefully she’s not lying to me…
Currently on repeat:
This song speaks to me.
Mammoth Mountain, 1/6/12-1/8/12
Conditions: Spring, icy patches, minimal coverage
We here in So Cal are so damn lucky. It’s amazing that we get to snowboard throughout the year. There’s even snow coverage during the peak of summer!
… wait… say what? It’s January?! WELL, FUCK THIS SHIT.
No bueno
I’m pretty sure these conditions are the worst I’ve seen and experienced at Mammoth. We tried to make the best of it, but it was difficult given all of the browns spots, rocks and ICE. My board is seriously tore up!
This is usually one of favorite runs – I love to bomb it down to Canyon, especially at the end of the day. So I’m riding down and everything was OK until I turned the corner. I, along with everyone else, was surprised by large patches of ice. People were breaking. People were falling. People were breaking and then falling. @#$*&@%. Icy crowded runs = accidents waiting to happen. I’m glad I survived with bruised knees.
My friends and I spent NYE 2012 stuffing ourselves full of meat and shrimp (3 burner hot pot feast!), watching the Kings play one of their best games of season (4 goals? OH WHAT?!), and laughing our asses off playing telephone pictionary.
Round 2: Movies
Somehow Predator became Pokemon.
Best. Game. Ever. amirite?
Our experience at Traif could not have started out any worse. We arrived 30 mins late because I thought our reservation was at 8:30PM – it was actually at 8:00PM. The hostess offered us the bar since our table had obviously been given away and we accepted. As we were settling in and figuring out what to order, the hostess came by and said she would be able to move us to a table (outside in the patio area) if we didn’t mind waiting about 10 minutes. Even though it actually turned out to be more like 20 minutes, we were so delighted and grateful! The hostess was more than awesome 
.. too bad I can’t say the same for our waitress.
Amuse bouche – Moroccan lentil soup
Delicious and oh so comforting on a cold, rainy night.
Seared scallops, butternut squash, huckleberries, pistachios, sage
The scallops were perfectly cooked and I loved the sweet and nutty aspect of the sauce.
Crispy pork belly, cauliflower, peperoncini, romesco, parsley-garlic
Hmm, honestly, I don’t really remember this one. Not necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. The dish was just not memorable either way.
Butterfish carpaccio, grapefruit, avocado, mint, sesame, soy
The avocado enhanced the creaminess of the butterfish and the grapefruit brought a refreshing element to the dish. YUM!
Gemelli pasta, blue crab, fresh black truffles, braised leeks
I’ve read many complaints about this dish, specifically regarding the lack of crab. While I agree that there could have been more crab (who doesn’t want more crab?), this dish was one of my favorites. The crab was not the star of the dish, but I couldn’t have cared less because I’m a sucker for truffles.
Joe’s chopped chicken livers, balsamic-bacon toasts, rosemary & shallots
LOVED. LOVED. LOVED this! The balsamic drizzle added a bit of sweetness and paired well with the chicken liver pate.
Salt & pepper spicy white shrimp, golden pineapple, sweet potatoes
When I read salt & pepper spicy shrimp, I didn’t expect to see this; I was thinking more along the lines of Asian salt and pepper shrimp. Although I liked the shrimp itself, the combination of pineapple and sweet potatoes didn’t work for me.
Seared foie, fingerlings, ham chips, sunny egg, maple, hot sauce
This dish reminded me of the foie gras loco moco at Animal (one of my favorite dishes EVER). It wasn’t as good, but certainly isn’t far behind. How can a dish with foie, potatoes and egg not be good?
Sautéed veal sweetbreads, roast mushrooms, green garlic, spinach
By this time, we were so damn full, our buttons were about to pop off. I liked the earthiness of the mushrooms and green garlic, but the dish would have been much better had the sweetbreads been accompanied with something that would have provided a contrast in texture instead of spinach. Henry isn’t a big fan of sweetbreads because of the texture so even though I was already extremely stuffed, I basically finished the dish myself. oof.
We definitely learned the hard way that 8 dishes is wayyyy too ambitious! No regrets though, we had a great meal.
Verdict: 4/5
Traif
229 S 4th St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
This happened.
<
To the left of my house…
…to the right of my house, a block away.
24 48 72 96 120 144 150 hours without power. Awesome.
How did we celebrate 11/11/11?
By taking a day trip to Mammoth for opening weekend! Yes, we actually thought it was a good idea until it was time to drive back and everybody wanted to just knock the effff out.
Mammoth Mountain, 11/11/11
Conditions: Snow with low visibility, fresh powder, early season terrain
I have a love/hate relationship with snowboarding during snow storms. While I love cruising through fresh powder, the low visibility kills all the fun for me. I know my goggle lens is definitely too dark for these conditions, but I used Henry’s for a bit, which has a higher VLT, and I still couldn’t see shit!
So now that I’ve experienced a day trip to Mammoth, I’ll probably never do it again. I didn’t even do any of the driving and I felt physically exhausted. Oh well, I’m planning at least one weekend trip to Mammoth every month… can’t let our season passes go to waste!
I knew exactly where I wanted to celebrate my 27th birthday.
NYC.
I purchased our plane tickets 4 months ago and had been counting down ever since. Now that it’s over, I feel empty inside and have nothing to look forward to until our snowboarding trip to Utah next March. Le sigh. #firstworldproblems
To save money, I took a chance and booked a room for Henry and I at the Verve Hotel. The hotel received great reviews on both Yelp and Trip Advisor so it made my decision a little easier to make. The Verve Hotel is located across the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City and is within a 5 minute walk of 3 subway stations: Queens Plaza (E, M, R), Queensboro Plaza (7, N, Q) and 39th Ave (N, Q). By staying in a hotel one subway stop from Manhattan, I saved us about $600. Awesome, right? I saved us even more money since we took the AirTrain/Subway instead of a taxi from JFK. The AirTrain cost $5 and took us to the E line (Sutphin Blvd/Archer Ave). From there, we used our unlimited 7-day Metro pass and took the E line to Queens Plaza. A taxi ride would have easily cost $50+.
As with all the trips I plan, this one revolved heavily around food. I shouldn’t even say that anymore since it’s basically a given.
Our first meal in NYC was chicken and rice at halal cart (53rd and 6th). It has NEVER, EVER disappointed me. I love it so much. We even picked up two plates on our last night to bring home!
mmMmmm… white sauce
We also had a delicious brunch at Shopsin’s, a little shop located in the Essex Street Market.
Tip: The menu is HUGE so look it over online and have a general idea of what you want before you arrive at Shopsin’s. Oh, and taking pictures is frowned upon (yes, the cook actually shook his head at me), but I did it anyway.
Oyster scramble (CS10) and Blisters on my Sister (Mexican)
Mac and Cheese Pancakes w/ Bacon .. UHHHMAZING
One of the things I’ve always wanted to do was ride a bike around Central Park. I guess the 4th time’s the charm since the weather finally cooperated with me!
We rented bikes from Bike and Roll (Columbus Circle location). A full day rental costs $44 and a “day pass” costs $49. With a day pass, you are allowed to return the bike at another Bike and Roll location. This was a great option for us since I wanted to bike down to Battery Park City.
A quick pit stop at Luke’s Lobster for lunch…
… before riding along the Hudson River and finding this …
I really thought the obstacle course was drawn by Bike and Roll! It was actually for a kid’s event the previous week. LOL!
After a 14 mile bike ride, we treated ourselves to gelato from L’arte del Gelato. SOOO GOOD!
Mokaccino, Mascarpone, Pistacchio
…
Since we’ve already visited the Met and AMNH, we decided to check out the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
Our day passes from Bike and Roll were also good for $5 off the All-Access Pass ($35) at the Intrepid, which included general admission, audio tour and 1 simulator ride (general admission itself is $24). Head sets were not provided with the audio tour. Instead, you held up the device to your ear and listened as you would with a cell phone. Some would probably find this tiring and annoying, but I didn’t really care too much. I only felt inconvenienced when I wanted to listen and take pictures at the same time.
Did I mention that I love planes?
TBM-3E Avenger and FJ-3 Fury
Flight Deck
F-9J Cougar and F-11F Tiger
F-14 Tomcat and A-12 (precursor to SR-71 Blackbird)
…
A birthday trip wouldn’t be complete without a birthday dinner, right? Well, make that two.
Marea and Eleven Madison Park
Thanks, Henry! ♥
——–
NYC Eats & Activities (+our verdict):
Verve Hotel, 4/5
Halal Cart, 53rd & 6th, 5/5
Shopsin’s, 4/5
NYC Bike & Roll, 4/5
Luke’s Lobster, 4/5
USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, 4/5
L’arte del Gelato, 4/5
Doughnut Plant, 4/5
Laduree, 4.5/5
Shake Shack, 4.5/5
A long flight is more endurable when you have Laduree macarons to eat.
