Nanciful’s Blog

Wednesday nights are usually spent out on a date with Hubs or upside down in tripod in yoga class or buried under piles of laundry. But this past Wednesday night, I broke out the crimper and dressed to the nines and attended the invite-only Blogger Prom. Hubs and I found our outfits at the thrift store and paired with finds from Claire’s and Hot Topic and my own closet. I ended up looking like a girl in a Taiwanese karaoke video. Maybe it’s the rainbow leopard tights? the crimped hair? the Monchichi pearl necklace? I guess I’m still a FOB at heart.  Hubs on the other hand channeled Duckie from Pretty in Pink. He rocked the piano tie pretty good.

Blogger Prom was held on the rooftop of the beautiful Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood.

I am a stickler for punctuality so we got there around 7:30PM which I know is nerdy early for some folks but I was already freaking out a little inside. Besides, it gave me time to take pictures of this awesome radio floral arrangement in natural light.

I was starving when we got there so I made a beeline for the cheese spread by the Cheese Impresario.

Here is the charcuterie spread but there were also some more food as well prepared by the hotel but I was too eager to check out the rest of the venue so forgot to take pictures.

Hubs and I sauntered out to the pool and we were greeted by some cabanas overlooking Sunset Blvd. I definitely want to return with my swim suit and lay out for the afternoon.

Around 8:30-9:00, more people started to pour in and we started to paparazzi it up.  I later found out that the above pictures is of Michelle Woo and M rockin’ the pink!

There were raffles every hour but alas we didn’t win anything. I was really looking forward to getting the brittle from Morning Glory Brittle or the gift basket from Edison’s. Here is Pauly Shore giving away tickets to the Comedy Store.

I spent the rest of the night looking for and finding the bloggers that I met from my night in Jitlada, Sinosoul,  Resforthree and Wandering Chopsticks. In the process, I also finally met H.C. of LA and OC Foodventures ,  Kung Food Panda, and Maya of Shop Eat Sleep in the flesh! I’ve only had contact via the blogosphere and Twitter with these cool folk so it was so nice to finally meet face to face.

Maya and I had a hide and seek via Twitter thing going on all night but finally caught up with each other the valet line when I was leaving. Come to think of it, it was TOTALLY LIKE AN 80′S MOVIE!

Anyways, I also had the chance of meeting some new people : Seeking Food, AV Flox from Blogher and Glozell and date.

Knowing that the food bloggers at Blogger Prom weren’t  going to let the night pass by without dessert, mini cupcakes and cheesecake sticks were served.

We wrapped up the night by picking up our goody bag that overfloweth. There were goodies from vodka to lube to coupons for the six dollar burger at Carl’s Junior. Going through the swag bag made me feel like kid after trick or treating on Halloween night.and we were dressed for the part too!

The Blogger Prom Committee did an outstanding job with the event. H.C of LA and OC Foodventures, Maya of Shop Eat Sleep, Caroline of Caroline on Crack, Esther of e*star LA, Lindsay of LAist, Marni of Happy Go Marni, Tara of When Tara Met Blog and Natalie of The Liquid Muse really made my very first blogger event memorable. Looking forward to the next Blogger Prom, maybe 90′s theme? I think I still have my MC Hammer pants somewhere in my parents’ garage.

Thanks to Hubs for being my date and photographer that night. More photos are available on the Blogger Prom Flickr site here!

I just found out TODAY that I have been bumped up from the waiting list to an actual invitee of Blogger Prom!!! So excited beans! This is happening on July 22, 2009 at the Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood.  I can’t believe how many sponsors have signed up for this event and the loot that will be in the swag bags! The Blogger Prom committee are incredible!

Hubs and I scouted out 80′s threads from the fashion district in Downtown to the thrift stores in Hollywood. I can’t wait to booze it up with all the other fellow bloggers. I will definitely post pictures up! Stayed tuned!

I was invited by the infamous Sinosoul for a foodie dinner at Jitlada last week. I’ve read several blogs where tongues turned black and stomachs churned for days after eating at this Thai restaurant due to the spiciness of the food. Although I was excited to go to my very first food blogger meet up, I was a little dubious of my stomach’s ability to stomach all the spices so I downed a couple tubs of yogurt before heading out to dinner.

I had the pleasure of meeting sinosoul, nakedsushi, resforthree and wanderingchopsticks that night. It was such an amazing thing to have a whole bunch of people get together and just talk nonstop about food food and more food.

I have had my share of Thai food in LA, in Asia and in Germany.Everywhere I go, the taste is consistently the same. However, Jitlada changed my perception of Thai food. I didn’t realize that Thai food can be so dimensional. There were 13 of us total and I brought Hubs, Sis and Bro to dinner too! Yeah I like to travel with an entourage. Between the introductions, pleasant exchanges about favorite foods and comparisons of the nastiest food ever touched our tongues, we somehow got our order in. Amidst of the mini madness, I tried to take pictures of the food but I was too concerned with eating it then shooting it. However, nakedsushi has already blogged about her side of the experience along with some incredible pictures. So go check it out!

I’ll try and recap some of the food we had.

Some sort of salad:

Oxtail soup (which I didn’t have because it was beef):

Yellow curry with clams.the BEST Thai curry I’ve ever tasted.

Another curry with balls made from fish paste. This one is off menu and another great dish. If I recall correctly, there were thin rice noodles in the curry as well. This was my favorite dish of the night. This curry and the previous yellow curry tasted completely different. This had a little more body to it.

Brown sugar chicken. I actually remembered the name of this dish because many of us made a hoopla about ordering this since we were all too curious. In my mind, I was envisioning something similar to Kyochon fried chicken but with not so much batter. Instead we got this. It was a little disappointing because it just tasted like something from Panda Express would have..bland and not even sweet at all.

This was some sort of stinky bamboo and salted fish curry. Although I could smell the stench across the table, I had to give it a try. I had something similar when I visited Ningbo China  and yeap, it was the same, extremely salty and taste like the smell of a squat toilet.

Lamb hot pot. Very lamby, very good.

Surprisingly and fortunately, I could handle the spicy factor on all the dishes. Some folks who have frequented Jitlada in the past said that it was definitely less heat in the dishes. I’m okay with that since I like actually being able to taste my food instead of trying to put out the fire in my mouth.

We finished off the meal with some Morning Glory peanut brittle and caramel that resforthree generously brought for everyone. I LOVE PEANUT BRITTLE. Hubs and I almost missed a flight because I NEEDED to get some brittle from the See’s candy cart at the Burbank airport. Morning Glory brittle is not overly sweet and has the perfect crunch to it. I was coveting the entire bag of brittle and I volunteered to bring the remaining brittle and caramel home. You can get your own Morning Glory brittle here!

Jitlada and meeting fellow food lovers was such a treat. Thank you everyone for an enjoyable night. Looking forward to the next get together.

Tel:(323) 663-3104

When the Hubs and I were dating, I lived in the 909 and he in the 626. For you non Angelenos, there is a 20 mile distance between these area codes. Due to our busy schedules,  we would only see each other only once or twice a week. Oftentimes, we would meet in the middle for brunch, dinner, coffee etc. Le Roy’s in Monrovia was one of the places where we would meet for nice and satisfying Sunday brunch.

Le Roy’s is a diner that serves damn good classic American fare and great prices. The service is impeccable as well. The ladies exude southern hospitality and calls you sweetie and honey. I loves it.

Hubs almost always order a omelet with tater tots. If you are not a fan of tater tots (I don’t know why because they are the best breakfast tuber evers!), Le Roy’s offers 3 other choices of  home fries, breakfast potatos, and hash browns. But let me reiterate again, the TATER TOTS are best. Brings me right back to 4th grade. They are made crunchy on the outside and steamy goodness on the inside.

I am a carb whore and usually order some sort of pancakes or waffle but that day, I ordered the Portuguese sausage, eggs and fresh fruit. I love that Le Roy’s fruit salad consists of “real” fruit such as pineapple, kiwi, strawberries and just peeled bananas. I hate it when restaurants give you the “fake” fruit like grapes and mushy, overly ripen cantaloupe mixed with canned peaches. Blegh!  If I remember correctly, Le Roy’s also offers breakfast links and sausage patties as well. I LOVE these options!

Another reason for me to come back to Le Roy’s for more is their homemade salsa. We had to ask for it but the waitresses are more than happy to bring it for you. In fact, they insist on it. I pour this salsa over everything. It’s that good.

Le Roy’s is only opened until 3 pm. There is counter seating, indoor seating and also a small patio in the back. Don’t be deterred by the line outside the restaurant as It usually goes by pretty fast. Definitely give Le Roy’s a try if you are ever in the area. If you are not a breakfast/brunch person, they also offer lunch items such as sandwiches and salads.

We just recently had dinner at Palate Wine Bar with our dear friend Azat of 90 Plus Wine. Hopefully, I’ll get a review of Palate up in this lifetime. Being the superfly wine connoisseur that he is, he picked out a 2006 Clos Saint Jean Chateauneauf du Pape Vieilles Vignes. (It’s a really good Cabernet for us lay people.) The wine smelled so good I wonder why they don’t bottle it and sell it as perfume. It was fruity and complex but refreshing at the same time. Please visit 90 Plus Wine to check out Azat’s review.  You can also find extraordinary recipes and even more wine reviews on the site.