spring break fun

april brought us fun stuff, like the hub’s birthday (which he spent on one of his boys’ trips to cuba) and local staycation-type activities for the bean’s spring break.

the three of us went on a drive out to malibu to do a college visit at pepperdine university.  this was one of the schools that had caught the bean’s attention during that theater arts college fair, so we figured it would be a good idea to check it out and see if it might be a contender for the ol’ applications list.

the campus is gorgeous, as you can imagine - after all, it’s beachfront property in malibu!

alas, it was not a good fit.  the bean didn’t get great vibes on campus, and then you tack on religious requirements and it was a no go.  pepperdine is firmly crossed off the list.

on another day, we headed out to l.a. to have lunch at liu’s cafe, which we’d been wanting to try for awhile but could never get to during their regular hours.

their pastries and hong kong-style french toast (pictured) were all delicious, and the bean also enjoyed the braised pork belly rice, which i didn’t get a chance to take a picture of.  oh well.

we both follow catherine.desserts on instagram.  she posts quick, fun videos making all kinds of delicious treats, and she’d just opened a dessert cafe in k-town.  while we were out that way, we stopped and picked up some goodies.

the dubai pistachio cake - not my jam since i’m not a matcha fan.  this is matcha sponge cake with pistachio knafeh, matcha mousse and white chocolate.  pretty much a multiple-negative for me, but the kids liked it.

the “my man go” was definitely up the bean’s alley, though.  this was a chocolate shell filled with fresh mango, crème fraiche mango mousse and hazelnut praline.

we took another college tour - this time at pomona college, one of the claremont colleges.  the campus was lovely and we thought it was a great option, although the bean balks a little at this one mainly due to proximity.  just a little too close to home, despite the fact that they’d live on campus and have opportunities for semesters abroad.  it’s not quite crossed off the list, but location is a big red flag in the bean’s eyes.

fun fact:  as a result of a contest on vh1, there was a taylor swift concert at bridges auditorium on this campus in october 2012.  she performed a handful of songs, including a few from her then-upcoming album red.  kinda cool, right?

we finally made it to the orange county japan fair, along with a few of the bean’s friends.  we browsed exhibits, ate snacks, shopped at the kiosks.

we had brunch with the old lady and the old man in bosscat kitchen in old town orange.  this was the site of orange county’s very first gas station and a horse and buggy repair station, and was also a family-owned liquor store for over 70 years.  

it’s not spring break without at least one trip out to little tokyo.  the bean has a really funny obsession with japanese wooden cutlery and was super excited to add to their collection.

we hit up all of our usual favorite spots - marugame monzo for delicious udon, fugetsu-do for fresh mochi, okayama kobo for bread and matcha.

in the little tokyo mall, we caught the tail end of a pop-up gachapon shop.

on another day, we dragged the old lady out for some lunch and a stop at an asian snack shop we’d seen on instagram (of course).  plus, we finally got to take her to our favorite boba shop that we’d first discovered in NYC.

the bean and i did the drive down to south bay to visit the tokyo central that has a fancy revolving sushi restaurant on the second floor.  the sushi was delicious, and the grocery store was really fun to walk through.  and there were gacha machines there too!

i went to hello kitty night at dodger stadium with my friends, where the giveaway was a hello kitty squishmallow.  

we also had a fabulous girls’ weekend at the langham hotel in pasadena, but i’ll do a more detailed post all about that.

i made a few different batches of cookies!  

my cousin (the one who invited me to that new edition concert) scored me tickets for the stone cold and the jackal show at the yaamava resort.  i’m gonna guess that you likely have no idea who that is, but will probably also not be surprised to learn that it’s a comedy show featuring two actors from “general hospital” - steve burton (“jason morgan”) and bradford anderson (“damian spinelli”).  anyway, he got me two tickets but with the show on a thursday evening out in san bernardino - well, suffice it to say that it was a solo experience for me (which i’m used to when it comes to most things “general hospital”).

while we’re talking “general hospital,” i saw a post for a curated closet sale in silver lake that featured a pair of GH actresses who play sisters on the show.  it happened to be on a sunday afternoon, which made it easy for me because i was already in pasadena for boot camp and breakfast anyway.  and so that’s how i got to meet kate mansi (“kristina davis”) and kristen vaganos (“molly lansing-davis”). both are very sweet, and mentioned that they were hosting an event at the upcoming GH fan club weekend.

the bean went to prom!

…and had their last track meet.

when jin from BTS announced that he was going on tour, i made sure to put the sale on my calendar and got lucky enough to score tickets.  the bean was STOKED.

and here’s a roundup of the crochet projects i worked on throughout the month:  a granny square tote bag using the leftover yarn from that caterpillar i submitted for the fair competition, car cup holder coasters, and a car air freshener that you attach to the vent.  i don’t even have normal air vents in my car, so i can’t even use those things, heh.

april was pretty jam-packed with lots of good stuff, wouldn’t you agree?