Random Night in Los Angeles

I flew to SoCal last Saturday morning and I really want to go Universal Studio but we realized it's spring break for other students, so it might be crowded there so we ended up strolling around Los Angeles instead.

Our mini adventure started pretty late but remember.. the night is long so here we go.

We went to Santa Monica Beach Pier. We just chilled there for about 2 hours, ate some snacks, took some pictures, walk the pier till the end of the historic route 66,  and rode the roller coaster at the amusement park.

After that, we headed to Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Walk of Fame stretches over 3 km and is engraved on both sides of the street with the names of celebrities. The distance between the stars is about 1.8 m.

We also saw this $5 store and ended up buying some souvenirs.

After spending a good 30 mins in that store, we felt hungry and saw this NYC pizza place which we really missed. The pizza was huge. It was bigger than my face, and it's definitely not bad, the taste was good or maybe I was just really hungry.

To end this little adventure, we headed to LACMA to see the Urban Lights. I've seen this place many times but it never fails to make me feel excited. I love taking pictures here.

It was a fun night after all. I love unplanned adventures.

In Philippines we have this saying, "Unplanned trips are always better than the planned ones."

Found a New Milk Tea Spot

I was scrolling down on my instagram when I saw two post about this place. As a milk tea lover and a sucker to unique containers/bottles;  I was excited to try this place and it happened to be close to my house.

The place is located in Senter Rd, San jose. My first thought when I saw the place was "oh its smaller than I thought." It has decent size for tables. However, it will be crowded once the rush hour hits.

We came here on a Sat night around 7pm and there was not a lot of people, but all tables are occupied though but Im happy it wasn't that crowded and we were able to get a table after 10 to 15 mins of waiting. There was plenty of parking in the park lots where this is located. 


Music was jamming and light up table and chairs was changing color. Pretty cool.

I ordered "A Date Night" it's a regular milk tea with boba and I give it a 3.5/5. It takes like a normal milk tea, and it's definitely not bad.  My two other friends got a "Passion Green Tea" and "Dirt Tea with Oreo."
We all decided to get those cute emoji cups, I really dont know how they calls it but its really cute and unique, although you have to pay extra dollar on it.

We also ordered the chocolate bingsu and it was a 5/5. The presentation was really cool. The taste was perfect. They also give extra chocolate syrup and milk. One thing I noticed that they take forever to make this bingsu and we were getting annoyed whenever someone brings out a order and its not ours.

Over all, this place is a good hangout place with lots of option in their menu. They also sell roll ice cream  with unlimited toppings and fried snacks. I like how they have card games and other games that you can play while you and your friends chill here.

Museum Type of Day

Zeltweg, 1981
By Frank Stellar
(Mixed media on aluminum)

It was a fun Saturday with my friend Tiffany.

We decided to visit Cantor Arts Center in Stanford University. We were fascinated how nice this museum was. And admission and tours are free. The building has a good structure and designs inside and outside. Every room/area has its own style based on what collections they have on it.


Although we only had less than hour to walk around, We still enjoyed all the artworks. I'll definitely come back with more time.

Here are some of my favorites artworks. There’s more, but I’m not sure if we can really take pictures though.

Full Time, 1981
By Squeak Carnwath
(Oil and Alkyd on Canvas over panel)

Woman Standing- Pink 1954-55
By Willem De Kooning
(oil and charcoal on canvas)

Many Faces of Legend,  1962
By Norman Lewis
(oil on canvas)

After our mini adventure in the museum, we decided to eat dinner in our go to asian place called Local Cafe, its near De Anza College, This place is very simple but has bomb food. Today,I got the Baked Chicken Mushroom plate and I would say that the serving was big; I only ate half of it.

My friend got a Beef Chow Fun.

What I missed about Philippines? STREET FOOD!

 They say "Its More Fun in the Philippines"and one reason why its fun, because of STREET FOOD. Philippines will never be complete without street foods. It's one of the best thing you'll ever experience when you visit Philippines. Its cheap, goooood, and convenient because streets foods are commonly seen outside church, school, market, and etc. It's legit "STREET" food because it's everywhere.


Here are some common street food that I got to eat again after being far away.

1.  TUSOK-TUSOK

Tusok-tusok is really hard to explain but you just have to get a stick and get the food by yourself, you can either eat it while its in the stick or put it a cup or paper plate. You also get to pick your own sauce; sweet, spicy or a mix of both, and vinegar with onion and garlic. 

What's the choices?

• Kwek Kwek -  are hard-boiled quail eggs coated with orange batter and deep-fried. When chicken eggs are used, they are called tokneneng.
• Fish Ball - This snack is round, fish-flavoured dough that is deep-fried in a wok. 
• Kikiam
• Fried Tofu
• Hotdogs

2. TAHO

It is a warm fresh soya milk with caramelized brown sugar syrup with a small tapioca balls called "sago." Taho vendors are typically traveling by foot, carrying two large aluminum buckets, holds by a long stick over their shoulders while yelling "Tahoooo!" 

They sell this early in the morning to mid morning, so it is perfect for breakfast.

3. SWEET CORN

Boiled sweet corn is seasoned with salt and butter, Some serve it on a bowl; others serve it in cups filled with corn kernels mixed with cheese powder and butter.

4. TAPSIHAN

TAPSILOG
This place serves their food in a small pots and drink in a jar.

Tapsihan is a place where you can eat different combination of a main dish-egg-rice. The names of the food are combined together to create a name for menu.

•  TAPSILOG  = TAPA (dried or cured beef) SI is for sinangag (fried rice) LOG is itlog (egg)
• HOTSILOG for HOT DOG
• TOCILOG for Tocino (pork belly)
• BANGSILOG for Bangus (fried fish)
• CORNSILOG for corn beef

and the list goes on...


5. IHAW IHAW

Last but not the least, MY FAVORITE.

Ihaw-ihaw means grilled. So everything is grilled. It has a wide variety of food choices from meat to seafood. They are grilled and skewered on a barbecue sticks then dipped it with the sauce you like; spiced vinegar, sweet, spicy or mixed of all.






My favorite is ISAW.

Isaw is made from barbecued chicken or pid intestines. The intestines are turned inside out and cleaned thoroughly. 

These are my top filipino street foods, and there's more to offer. I really want to eat more but a week in the Philippines is NEVER enough.... cant wait to go back again!


P.S If you really want to feel the inner filipino spirit you have, I recommend trying BALUT!

BASIC STEPS TO PACK LIGHT

Whether you are packing for a business trip or going on vacation, it's always hard to pack light.

Traveling, especially air travel, has become extremely strict with limits for carry-on items, fees for checked baggage, and weight limits for both.  That is why it's better to travel light, so that you can avoid any unnecessary problems, and get to your destination peacefully and hassle free.

Travel essentials.
Luggage, carry on bag (to put all the girly stuff), PASSPORT!,
a hat (because traveling across the world means its a long flight
and hair is going to be messy hihi). and one pair of shoes
to wear to save up some space in your luggage.

I went to the Philippines for a week to do some personal things, and packing for my home country has always been easy for me. WHY? because I can pack light.  From November to February, the climate is cool and dry.

The overall weather in the Philippines is tropical. It is most likely high temperature, high humidity and abundant rainfall, but mostly SUNNY---HOT.  It means i can wear summer clothes.

I don't have to worry about what to bring, it's all about t-shirt, shorts, and tank tops.

Here are some tips how I packed light.

#1 Determine the climate conditions of your destination

Checking the weather is one big step before packing. If you know the weather, then you'll know what to bring.

#2  PLANNING

Plan your wardrobe so that everything matches with everything else and so that you can avoid overpacking.

• While planning what to bring, make sure you know what bag/luggage to use. It will guide you with the amount of space you actually have for your things.
• SHOESSSSS! Just bring enough shoes. Remember that shoes takes a big space in your bag.

#3 Roll, don't stack

Rolling your folded clothes, instead of stacking them on top of each other, will make them easier to compress if you roll them tight enough. What I like about rolling my clothes, it makes it easier to pick out from the pile without unpacking or messing up the rest of my clothes.

#4 Travel size your items.

Keeping within the constraints of the 100 ml, limit for liquids for carry-on baggage, purchasing smaller versions or repackaging your toiletries into smaller containers will help you save a lot of space.

#5 Get creative with use of space.

A good traveller knows how to use a single item for multiple purposes. For example, I usually put my underwears inside my shoes. It also helped my shoes to stay in shape. (Don't worry,  I clean all my shoes regularly) :)

#6 Check the weight

Every airlines has weight restriction, so make sure you know the limit of your airline, and check the weight of your bag after packing to avoid problems when checking in.

If you have a carry on size bag and decide not to check it in, then you don't have to worry about the weight because they usually don't check it. This is one thing I like about carry on bags, you can put more things as long as you know how to fit them inside and not worry about weight.