food Food FOOD

Oh hi!

So this post is mainly about food. To be honest, I was going to post more about one thing...but it turns out I have more recent photos of food than anything else! Of course, photos are of some of my top favorite foods

Boba

Asha Tea House

A quaint little place in Berkeley. The tea house has this lofty industrial warehouse look. Boba here is actually pretty good compared to the others I have had in NorCal (and this is closer too!). A lot of students come here to study and lounge, so it has a nice quiet/lounge ambiance.

Korean BBQ

Jong Ga House

Korean bbq in LA is amazing: low price + all-you-can-eat. When I say low price, I am talking about $10/person for dinner, and you can eat all the meat you want. Up here in NorCal, I have not found a place with that kind of pricing yet, however, this one place had pretty good ratings so Obiwon, Stef, Williana, and I decided to swoop in. $20/person.

Server/waiter was super enthusiastic! He brought good energy to the table and kept us entertained. The selection was good, and service was great. If you plan on going, be sure to call in for a reservation because the queue at the door is LONG!

Food Trucks

Treasure Island Flea Market

One of the things I look forward to at the end of the month! Every month, Treasure Island has a flea market with local shops posting their goods for sale. A lot of homemade and vintage items can be found here, and at good variety and price!

A bonus to this is that a string of food trucks are always available for those who are hungry! In front of the trucks is a nice space of grass for people to lounge and eat. Often there would be live bands/artists playing their music for everyone. Very relaxing!

We were fortunate enough to go on a beautiful day! We were able to get a nice view of the city and the weather was very promising, with exception to the insane winds.

High Tea

 OOTD

Crown & Crumpet

All four of us went to to Japantown to have high tea. Though Crown & Crumpet is more like a pit-stop version of high tea, it is quite good. If you do not have the time for high tea, try going to Crown & Crumpet. Nothing is rushed, but it does not have the ambiance to make you linger THAT long. Why? Because it is located in Peace Plaza, with shops like MARUQ (carrys Aymmy, Liz Lisa, Tralala, etc.) and Baby, the Stars Shine Bright.

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Aside from some foods, I have been trying to get a green thumb. More greenery calms a person, so I have been potting some things for the apartment.

Hope everyone's weekend has been just as pleasant!

Cherry Blossom Festival in SF Japantown +

Hello all!!

( ^_^)／ やぁ！

As many may know, the past few weekends have been filled with activity in Japantown due to Cherry Blossom Festival!

I had missed out on it during the first week, so I tried my best to make it to the second week!

FOTD

I finally took the time to use my 3-prong Conair hair curler/waver that was gifted to me on Christmas by Rayna! A light mist of hairspray all over and my mermaid waves stayed on the whole day! FOTD courtesy of Rayna again, because she got me Naked 3, which has pink neutrals and browns.

To go with the pinkish theme, I wore a dusty pink/neutral flowy blouse (H&M) with a black mini peplum skirt (Zara) for some contrast. To give a more tamed look, I wore the pointy maryjane flatforms (unbranded), and finished it up with a pop of color with my orange Kate Spade cross-body bag.

Upon arriving Japantown, Obiwon and I started hunting for parking..

..for at least an hour.

We gave up and parked at a market nearby, only to later find 3 tow trucks removing cars from the lots (the parking is for customers only). We ran into Nijiya market to grab some food quickly, ran to the food booths and shoved our faces, and left to find something else to do. We did not want to risk getting the car towed.

Sadly, that was how my one hour in Japantown was during the festival. At the very least we were able to enjoy the festival food, but with such a short amount of time, I did not take any photos.

ヽ(　￣д￣;)ノ オテアゲー

Green tea daifuku from Nijiya Market

Filled with red bean!

Kirin Peach & Raspberry drink. New favorite!

Trying to find something to do, Obiwon and I decided to stop by to get some coffee then peruse around Muji.

I feel quite lucky that Muji is now more available in California. More recently, a store has opened in SoCal! The one that Obiwon and I went to is in SoMa.

I love that Muji gives us such simple designs that do everything we want. Getting the innovative Japanese products we want is always hard since it usually costs more than I can really afford. Fortunately, Muji makes everything easier for me! My small haul:

Face brush, wire organizer, cotton L/S shirt, wash bucket

I made these small purchases as a way to start migrating towards a more simpler design lifestyle (though I tend to go back and forth). The face brush is typically used by men to apply shaving cream to their beards before shaving. However, I purchased this as a manual version of the popular Clairsonic face brush. My skin is relatively sensitive, and Clairsonic is quite pricey for me, and so I opted for a manual brush. This face brush is made of white horse hairs and hinoki wood, and gives a wonderful fresh and woodsy fragrance! The wire organizer is for my sink as my facial products are taking up space and makes my sink area look messy. It looks a lot better now! The L/S shirt is so soft, and the colors are nice and mellow, great for lounging and wearing out casually. The wash bucket is mainly for face-washing since my sink is so deep, I end up taking forever filling my sink and use up more water than I need to.

That was essentially my Cherry Blossom Festival experience. Quite disappointed as I did not get to take my time to see everything (but no regrets on the Muji purchases!).

On another note, I have taken a few photos of my outfits since I had just recently got a mirror in my room!

ASOS, Uniqlo, Zara, Sperry, Coach

H&M, vintage, Gap, Sperry

H&M, Zara, unbranded, Kate Spade

And some food!

Homemade dumpling with noodles

Homemade pork ribs

Homemade pork chops and chicken soup

Homemade sandwich

Homemade...epic bread lol

Talon Update

I finally took the opportunity to take better photos of Talon in the new apartment. He seems to enjoy his new home!

Though I was not able to go to the festival, my apartment-mate Stef came back from SakuraCon with a small gift for me:

This super cute pencil pouch! Light colors and big size, great as a makeup bag, or pencil bag, or even a small errand bag (ex. for receipts, pen, checklist, small change, etc.).

Thank you Stef!

Hopefully I get to go to Japantown events earlier and miss out on the traffic and parking havoc next time.

How was your weekend?

Bare Basics

Uniqlo Heat-tech top, A.P.C. Petit Standards

Keeping it simple.

TESTING TESTING 1 2 3!!

I took the time to test out solo shots of myself. I will be posting more fashion styles I enjoy once I figure out how to take better photos. Please be patient!（￣◇￣)ゞ スンマソーン

Also, I apologize for the random sizing in my photos. I only realized as I was loading the photos that I chose the wrong corner for this; there is a door to my left and right, and an outlet, so the photo ended up looking messy! I ended up cropping it all weird! I'll do better next time!

October Haul Post

This post is for my purchases in October and my thoughts on them!

My OOTD

Now, let's get started!

Beauty Products

Love More Snail Mucin Healing and Hydrating Mask, Face Q Peony and Snow Lotus Mask, Face Q Ocean + Aloe Mask

I got some face masks from Sasa because the weather is slowly getting colder, which means my face will soon start feeling the cold dry air. My skin is complicated, so I need to hydrate accordingly. I have not used the masks yet though since the weather keeps jumping from chilly to hot.

Something I got extra in the order was the Nivea Body Whitening Treatment Cream. I have been using it on my arms since I have been doing more activities outdoors and have been getting an uneven tan because of it. Highly recommend this product since it smells lightly of berry yogurt, hydrates well, and is not oily! I will purchase a larger bottle once I finish this product!

Clothes

Zara, ASOS, ASOS

 I have been trying to stock up on some transitioning clothes; clothes you can wear at the end of summer towards autumn. It is still warm, but I can feel the chills starting to catch up. Let's get a better look at the items!

The Zara top is actually quite nice! The color is actually a dark blue-grey (I apologize for the poor lighting!). A bit soft and quite airy. I liked that this simple muscle tee has a quilted pattern on the shoulders as it would keep me a tad warm, but  not too much. The scalloped hem is also a nice touch.

This ASOS top is something quite unexpected! I purchased this top on the whim since I had a stripes moment, and I ended up loving this shirt so much (I'm wearing it in my OOTD photo!). It feels quite liquidy and light. It is a bit loose, but not overly-so. Its length is just enough for a tucked-in look or left untucked for a simple lounging feel. I wish there were more colors available for this!

I am madly in love with this top. The color is that of Cammy's (Street Fighter) uniform, and even the fit is similar to her bodysuit! The top fits me just perfectly, leaving no ruched sides and accentuating my mildly broad shoulders. I loved the fit so much, I also own this in black.

Saturday

Kate Spade's newest brand, Saturday is definitely made for the ladies who want to dress up for work, but want some more pop! in the monotonous workplace styles. I purchased this blouse because the pattern was a lovely mix of floral and geometric, and is also suitable for a variety of other occasions. If it wasn't enough, the fit is perfect for my dainty figure! I purchased a leather wallet clutch as well since my current wallet was taking up more space in my bag than need be.

Uniqlo

I am back in SoCal now, and so the convenience of a Uniqlo is now gone. ･｡(｡/□＼｡)｡･ﾟ Fortunately enough, there is a webstore! I purchased a cotton plaid button-up for my winter wardrobe and an alpaca sweater for the colder weather. The plaid in the photo is horrendous, but trust me, the actual item is a lot more contrasted. The alpaca sweater purchase was a no-brainer since 1) I have never owned anything made of alpaca fur, and 2) I have a weakness for sweaters. I don't actually own a light grey sweater (with the exception of my angora cardigan), and I have been loving crewneck sweaters lately, so a $20 investment was not too bad in my opinion! The sweater itself feel like a soft wool, something like an angora and wool mix. There are a lot of colors available for this sweater too, so I do recommend this!

Supreme

This was a gift from Obiwon when I went on the Yosemite trip! The color is of a dusty mustard yellow, quite true to the photo. It is from the A/W 2013 line, and has quite a nice fit. LOVE the pom-pom on top. This will be a wonderful staple for my casual outings during the cold season.

Forever21

To be honest, I have been avoiding Forever21. When I was younger, I felt that the brand was a savior for those with pocket change, but as I got older, I realized that a lot of the clothes are difficult for transitioning into a more mature look, at least professionally speaking. However, I passed by today and my eye latched onto this button-up, so I had to have it. I tried it on and it fit perfectly! Then on my way to the register, I also caught a glimpse of this adorable sock pattern! Nabbed that too! Just glancing at this, it looks like I went shopping at Madewell. Button-ups work for just about every occasion, so I am quite happy with this!

I am so happy with my clothes for the colder season! I feel like I dress up the most as the season turns chillier.


What staples will you be having this season?