I hate LAX but Whistler awaits

February 4, 2010 in travel | Leave a comment

(These double-decker Airbuses don’t look that big from afar)

Everytime I arrive in LAX from Japan, it feels like I’m entering a 3rd world country.  Its dirty, smells, the air is stale, everything in sight looks like its in need of repair, airport employees look inattentive and rude.  Its a bad first impression.

We flew out of LAX for our first ski trip of the season.  Whistler Blackcomb is our destination – my favorite mountains. The roundtrip airfare direct to Vancouver (2.5 hr flight) was $175.  A direct flight from San Diego would have been $750, or with one-stop $380 (7 hr travel time).  Driving up to LAX is not my favorite thing but given the cost difference, it seemed worth it.

Coming from moldy, dirty, and rude LAX, the Vancouver Airport was like heaven.  From Vancouver its a 2.5 to 3 hour bus ride to Whistler, an hour of which is getting through Vancouver city center.  There are no freeways through the center of Vancouver, which gives the city a very cosmopolitan feel. Unfortunately we weren’t able to spend time in Vancouver this time – it such a lovely city.

(A long wait – a stand for his laptop)

After you leave Vancouver, you drive through a very scenic fjord up to Whistler.  Once you reach Whistler, its a walking village and no need for a car.

With 2 weeks till the Olympics, it looks like there is still a lot of work to do. For the first time, the medal ceremony will be held in 2 places, one in Vancouver, another in Whistler. The Whistler Olympic flame cauldron.

Yakyudori Ramen

February 4, 2010 in San Diego | Leave a comment

After reading this article in yesterday’s NY Times about ramen joints in Tokyo, we had a craving for ramen.  We decided to try Yakyudori Ramen, which just opened.  Its run by the same people as Yakitori Yakyudori, a very good yakitori restaurant in Hillcrest (review here with pictures).  Yakyudori Ramen is located on Convoy St., next to Starbucks (the Korean Starbucks as opposed to the Japanese Starbucks next to Mitsuwa – for some reason Korean seems to congregate at this Starbucks, while Japanese seem to go to the other Starbuck in the Convoy area).

We ordered gyoza and shio-ramen.  The gyoza was the way we like it and very good.  The ramen was also good.  My wife liked the ramen here better that the shio-ramen at Santouka and Tajima.  I prefer the shio-ramen at Santouka, although the shio-ramen at Yakyudori is lighter than Santouka’s.  The ramen pickings are slim in San Diego, but a few years ago there were no good ramen joints in San Diego – you had to drive Orange County or Torrance.

Yakyudori ramen is  open till past midnight, while Santouka closes at 7:30.

San Diego’s Mt. Fuji (aka La Costa Fuji)

January 25, 2010 in San Diego | Leave a comment

Poor man’s Hakone – the scale is all wrong, but I always think of that hill in the distance as San Diego’s Mt. Fuji while running along Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad (La Costa), especially on a foggy morning. I don’t know the name of the hill.

We’ve had some nice sunsets so far in 2010.

The recent storm left a lot of snow in the local mountains:

Expensive LA Sushi

January 25, 2010 in house | 1 comment

If this was my bill, I’d be in the ICU – from a review here:

Came across these places while looking for a place to eat in LA.  I’ve never been to these places, but maybe one day – I need to save up first and this post is mainly for my reference:

Urasawa in Beverly Hills – has 5 stars on Yelp with 150 reviews and one of only a handful of Michelin 2-star restaurants in LA.  To eat here, its a whopping $400 minimum per person – omakase only.  A review here with pictures and here with pics by those lucky enough to eat there.  This place looks seriously good.

These other Michelin stared sushi restaurants are cheap by comparison – you can get by for under $200 per person, Mori Sushi (review here with pics) and Asanebo (review here with pics).

Nine-Ten San Diego Restaurant Week

January 24, 2010 in San Diego, dining | Tags: | 3 comments

We weren’t planning on going to San Diego Restaurant Week this year – the food quality seems to degrade because of the crowds – but we were in La Jolla and it was dinner time.  San Diego Restaurant Week was supposed to be over but due to the storm this week, it was extended for another week.  We went to one of our favorite places, Nine-Ten.  The food was very good – grilled octopus salad, rib-eye, scallops, half-baked chocolate cake – all good.

Hatsu-gama 2010

January 24, 2010 in San Diego | Tags: | Leave a comment

Looks like the storm hitting Southern California has passed.  Just in time for hatsu-gama tea ceremony, a different kimono than 2009.

A Windy Mess

January 22, 2010 in San Diego | Tags: | Leave a comment

Another day of high winds, thunder, hail, and rain in San Diego.  I saw at least a dozen fallen trees along the cross street near our house.

What the red band left behind

January 21, 2010 in San Diego | Tags: | Leave a comment


We’ve been experiencing some severe weather this week in San Diego due to Mr. El Nino. Heavy rain, tornado warnings, flash floods, thunderstorms, blackouts, and the heaviest stuff is to come tomorrow. Today a red band that shows up on the Doppler radar indicating tornado warnings passed by. I got home after work to find – snow? No it was a pile of hail.

More pics from the storm:

New Year’s Day Sunset

January 3, 2010 in San Diego, food | Leave a comment

A beautiful sunset on New Year’s Day.

A relaxing New Year’s Day – some even wore their bedroom slippers.

After watching Avatar (wow), we had sukiyaki for dinner with wagyu beef – yum, just melts in your mouth. Excellent dipped in raw egg. To reduce the risk of salmonella, we use organic eggs from New Zealand (available at Jimbo’s and Asian markets). Even with non-organic eggs, its estimated that only 1 in 20,000 eggs is contaminated. Sukiyaki is just not the same without a raw egg.

New Year’s Eve Moon Rising

January 3, 2010 in Japan, San Diego, food | Leave a comment

Moon rising on New Year’s Eve – a rare full moon on New Year’s day.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve at a friend’s house, where part of the dinner was osechi-ryouri, a traditional Japanese New Year meal.  New Year’s is the most important holiday in Japan and most stores were closed for several days (before the combini-era). To avoid cooking on those days,  the traditional meal consisted of preserved foods.  Each item has a symbolic meaning tied to good health, prosperity, and long life.  For example, kuro-mame (black soybean) where “mame”,  which means bean, is also phonetically the same as diligent/hard working.

Not all items in the traditional osechi-ryori are to my taste.  I’m not alone.  Recently more creative types of osechi-ryouri are becoming available such as Italian (prosciutto, olives, pasta, clams), Chinese, and French-Western style (roast beef, escargot, smoked salmon).