Just Another Day (my birthday, I guess...) FINALLY UPDATED!

Well, the day is coming closer, damn closer. Faster, faster than anything else i've seen or overcooked before. I'm already stressing over a new alias/blog name since, pretty soon...i'm going to...outgrow it. Yup, one more year 'till the big 2-0, ending my...hmmm....I don't know what to label it (teenage years).

Well, as the 'real world' continues to kick my ass, my birthday (both the early celebration on Sunday and today) actually went by pretty good...for the first time. It all started with my usual early sacrificing but sustaining visit to the Alhambra Sunday Farmers Market to peruse the endless varieties of unique asian greens, followed by my will-to-live restoring yoga session. This week I decided to try out some pretty Chrysanthemum leaves that go for about $5 a pound (I know, only got about a dollars worth). I don't know what I would do without food and yoga...

We somehow had enough money to have brunch at my favorite brunch place at the moment, Flore Cafe in Silver Lake. I don't usually use those cheesy words like 'heavenly' to describe the taste of food but for their Tofu Benediction Dish, I believe there is no other word. Think of it like a vegan take on Eggs Benedict: freshly baked toasted Batard Bread topped with tender slices of soft tofu, a generous handful of organic crispy kale, slices of ripe tomato and creamy Haas avocado. And that heavenly sauce...well, I'll just quote one of the waitress's there, "every day when the day is over, i'm always hoping that we'll have somehow have some left over so I can take it home and pour it over everything".

When I was already thinking about what I was going to have for dinner (go out to eat twice on the same day?! I wish...) My sister calls me all of a sudden to tell me that she will take us out for dinner!! I couldn't think of any other semi-affordable place so I decided to appreciate it and go all the way to one of my other favorite places at the moment, Au Lac, all the way in Fountain Valley. I wrote about this place earlier....simply, a one of kind type of restaurant, worth the drive from anywhere. And just when stuff was starting to go kind of bad (made the reservation kind of late so starving and snapping at each other, ran incredibly late and almost gave away our table), the wonderful Chef Ito, yet again, saved my day and changed my life. Not just for his tight welcoming hug that he gave and the glorious food that we shared, both cooked things like 5 spiced Soy Duck Noodle Soup so meaty, its scary and his raw creations like Jackfruit smoothies with a similar funk like Durian and Hot and Sour Soup with slippery coconut noodles and 4 different kinds of seaweed, but for his affection and charity.

Like I said earlier, the food here is really made with love, seriously. Right, when it looked like everyone on the table was finished eating, the lights suddenly start to fade out and Chef Ito and some of the crew come out. They start to sing "Happy Birthday" and are carrying a plate with some slices of that--whatever is above 'heavenly'--raw pies that he makes with a lit candle. It was something sincerely heartrending: "Happy Birthday Javier" handwritten above the vertically stacked pies with chocolate mint sauce, a rose made with tomato peel and mint leaves on the corner...i almost cried because everything was so beautiful.

I'm going against my no-photo policy so I can show you just how compassionate it was.

...I could eat this all day, really.

Thank you again Chef Ito for everything: the pies that I had again for my real birthday, taking those elixir shots with me, but most of all, gracing me with your kindness and making me happier.





The City of Alhambra Certified Farmer's Market
Every Sunday of the year (except Easter)
8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at
the corner of Monterey Street and Bay State Street.

Flore Vegan Cuisine
3818 W. Sunset Blvd.
(323) 953-0611

Au Lac
16563 Brookhurst Street
Fountain Valley, California
714.418.0658

a one of kind type of place

Humanese and Made with 100% Certified Love

Sure, all those Raw-Vegan places in L.A claim to make their food with "100% Real Love". And I have had my infatuation's with Julianno's, Rawvolution, Leaf Cuisine and their animate delectables but more than often, that good energy is stinted thanks to that stereotypical "snobbiness" that still somewhat prevails in being "vegan" or "from West L.A". Luckily though, I found just the place where there the food's wholeness leaves you in some sort of nutritious-created euphoria and the the raw chef himself does a better job waiting tables than the actual waiters.

As soon as you step in you know you're not in L.A anymore, the words "Love" tiled on the floor and the dark, cool ambiance consoling you from a world full of stress, smog and anxiety. When you're seated, you're handed two menus: one with the vietnamese and chinese inspired cooked creations with things like Fish Clay Hot Pot Sensation and Sauteed Soy Kidneys with Basil and the other with the Raw ones, where even the dish names arouse you with names like I Love You and Imagine.

And it just isn't the usual Collard Wraps, dehydrated fruit, veggie nuggets and nutmeat thing. No, no, no there are wondrous things: Risotto's, with chewy cultured aquatic grass seeds and more sea veggies that you even knew were edible, Hot And Sour Soups brimming with tender coconut meat. And for dessert, there are astonishing things: Durianaddict smoothies with the intense, acquired taste of tropical Durian somewhere between a mango and pineapple that lingers in your mouth in the same essence that raw garlic does. But the Choconut X-Tasy was really an act of affection: a frozen raw chocolate and coconut ice cream pie doused with chocolate syrup that makes Spanish Fly look even more like a gimmick than it already is.

Be sure to show your appreciation to the curt waterboy, as he is the masterful creator of the gastronomic love you just experienced, he won't be afraid to show you his.

Namaste Chef Ito, Namaste...

Au Lac
16563 Brookhurst Street
Fountain Valley, California
714.418.0658