Disneyland Half Marathon - Anaheim - Part 2

When I last left off, the official half marathon pacer was passing me by (See the tiny orange flags in the center of the photo below?) If I was behind the required pace, I could be picked up by the sweeper vans at any time and driven to the finish line, which meant no medal.



I had sent my friends, Valerie Chinn and her husband, on ahead and now ran alone. Despite being behind the orange flags, there were still a good three or four dozen people behind me.

I wasn't last!

Just barely.

I briefly chatted with a woman who came out from Florida to run the half marathon until she ran ahead. Then another woman, who said she always walked behind the orange flags, but hadn't been swept up yet. And she had completed seven of them! So feeling a little encouraged, I figured as long as I stayed within sight of the orange flags, I would hopefully avoid the sweeper vans.

Except the orange flags were moving farther and farther away, until I couldn't see them at all.

With no one else to talk to, I finally put in my earphones and continued my run/walk. If I make it, I make it. If I don't, I can always try again. Now, I know 16-minute miles aren't extraordinary, but I'm slooow. My high school days of running crosscountry and soccer were looong behind me. My usual runs these days are around 18 minutes. I can do 15 minutes, but that's if I'm only running a mile. I'd already done five miles, which was the most I'd ever done at one time.

*Huff.*

*Puff.*

*Whimper.*

Did I mention it was 90 degrees that day?

Disneyland Half Marathon - Anaheim - Part 1

At the beginning of the year when I was back in Portland, I met up with my friend, Valerie Chinn, who happened to be in town too. (I recounted the story before of how her dad, who went to high school with Bruce Lee, saw the one-inch punch in person.) While catching up, she mentioned that she and her husband were planning to run the Disneyland Half Marathon and asked if I'd be interested in joining them. Ever since I went to see lil' sis finish the Disneyland Half Marathon, I've had it in the back of my mind as something to do one day. Valerie's husband is a serious racer though, having run half a dozen half marathons and almost as many full marathons in the past few years. But when she mentioned that she mostly walked the races, I figured I could do that.

She alerted me when the registration opened a few weeks later. This was the eighth year for the half marathon and the first year Disneyland was offering a 10K as well. Doing both, back to back, was called the Dumbo Double Dare. The 10k and the Dumbo Double Dare sold out within hours. The Disneyland Half Marathon sold out the next day. So just a heads up that if you want to do this, be prepared to pony up a chunk of dough and to do it fast. Registration was $175 for me. When lil' sis ran it three years ago, it was $150. *Gulp.* That was a lot of money, but it'll only get more expensive each year, so I bit the bullet.

My plan was to run three days a week -- two short runs on weekdays and a long one on weekends, adding a mile every other week. I figured it was doable if I trained for nine months. Ha! With my dad in town for several months at a time to work on the house, a sprained ankle, and just life in general getting in the way, I ran a few times a week, but never more than 5 miles at the most.

All too soon, race day drew near and I was woefully unprepared.

Media Preview: L.A. County Fair Food - Pomona

Gourmet Pigs invited me to be her +1 at a media preview for the LA County Fair.

Deep-fried foods? Sure!

Unlike the LA County Fair media preview we went to two years ago, there were no food trucks in sight. It was a return to basics. Well, basics as far as county fair food goes, which meant deep-fried, artery-clogging goodness. Deep-fried Twinkies. Bacon-wrapped pickles. Krispy Kreme burgers.

Angel's Knoll and Angel's Flight - Los Angeles (Downtown)

After leaving The Last Bookstore - Los Angeles, we headed up Bunker Hill to Angel's Knoll. Otherwise known as Angelus Plaza (no idea why they called it thus in the movie) or the park with Tom's bench in "(500) Days of Summer."

There used to be a plaque on the back of the bench commemorating the movie, but I guess someone stole it. You can just barely see someone sleeping to the right of the bench, so we wandered around the park to other benches to take pictures, but it just wasn't the same. This really was the best bench for views!

The Last Bookstore - Los Angeles (Downtown)

After a quick snack at Sarita's Pupuseria Salvadorean Food - Los Angeles and quick snaps around Grand Central Market, we walked over a few blocks to The Last Bookstore for some more pictures. Specifically upstairs, where there were several book sculptures that I'd been wanting to photograph.

The Last Bookstore is huge, with aisles of new and used books, and records. While it's no Powell's City of Books - Portland - Oregon, it's the largest and nicest bookstore I've encountered in my years in SoCal.

Love the antique-looking globe and chair. You can see a hint of the records area in the back.

Nature of Water: An Art Exhibition Inspired by the Philosophies of Bruce Lee - Nucleus Art Gallery and Store - Alhambra

The Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition reminded me that I had these old photos from January 2008 of the Nature of Water: An Art Exhibition Inspired by the Philosophies of Bruce Lee. This was at Nucleus Art Gallery and Store's former location, just up the street from where it is now.

If you're a serious Bruce Lee fan (and who isn't?), there were some really great pieces and some so-so pieces. With a brother who's a lifelong Bruce Lee fan (we even visited his and Brandon's grave), the Nature of Water exhibition was a nice interlude.

At the time, I thought these photos didn't really have a place on the blog, but as I've started including more and more of my interests, it's as good a time as any to share them. Besides, don't you want to read about my two degrees of separation from Bruce Lee?

Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition - Nucleus Art Gallery and Store - Alhambra

I swung by Nucleus Art Gallery and Store in Alhambra to check out the opening night of its Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition but the line wrapped around the corner and far, far into the parking lot to the other end of the block. So I decided to visit my cousin and meet his new baby instead.

The next day I returned to check out the exhibit. I asked the clerk how many people showed up on opening night and he said they estimated 1,300! As it was, the last person in line didn't get through the door until nearly 11 p.m. Guess it's a good thing I didn't go because I don't have the patience to wait 4 hours in line. Bummed I missed out on the house-brewed butterbeer though. :(

I was really pleasantly surprised by the quality of the artwork. I think it truly shows how much people love Harry Potter and the whole universe that J.K. Rowling created. I took so many photos and even after paring them down, still ended up with 50 so be forewarned.

AltaMed's 6th Annual East LA Meets Napa (Union Station) - Los Angeles (Downtown)

After the fun I had during the 4th and the 5th Annual AltaMed East LA Meets Napa event, I was excited to be invited back again by Nerissa of NRS Public Relations. No +1 this time though so I was on my own. Not that that mattered too much since I ran into a dozen LA food bloggers. I told ya, it's a popular event!

And not just with food bloggers as you can tell by the crowd.

Foodbuzz 24x24: Exploring Vietnamese Regional Cuisine, North, Central, and South, in Little Saigon

When the last helicopter pulled out of Saigon 36 years ago, the Vietnamese population in American numbered in the thousands. Today, there an estimated 1.6 million Vietnamese Americans, with more than 135,000 of them in Orange County, the largest community outside of Vietnam. I've written extensively before about the history of Little Saigon and by extension, Vietnamese American history. So let's move the discussion further to how food and culture assert themselves into the American landscape.

In my musings on American cuisine, I argue that our food is made up of ethnic absorption and mass popularization. American cuisine is a reflection of America itself. Our strength lies in our ability to absorb other cuisines and their culture. No more so is that evident than last month's addition of banh mi, the Vietnamese sandwich, into the Oxford English Dictionary. These days, with trendy bars hawking banh mi sliders and Korean Americans selling their version of Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup), having a few Vietnamese dishes enter the American lexicon still doesn't really tell you much about the cuisine.

Needless to say, Vietnamese cuisine is far, far more than sandwiches and beef noodle soup.

Pasadena Wine Festival (Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden) - Arcadia

 
When I queried my Facebook friends to see who wanted to be my +1 for the Pasadena Wine Festival, my friend Don got first dibs. Actually, he was supposed to be my +1 for the 5th Annual AltaMed's East LA Meets Napa event, but he got held up at work and couldn't make it. Too bad because that was my favorite food and wine event. Nonetheless, he was excited at the thought of any wine festival. I warned him to keep his expectations low since I anticipated long lines and wasn't sure whether I was getting general admission or VIP tickets.

Earlier that day, I picked up oldest nephew's childhood friend from the airport and we stopped off for a late lunch/early dinner at Bamboodles Restaurant - San Gabriel. Don joined us at the tail end of our meal so we filled up on green tea pork noodles, spicy beef stew spinach noodles, and spicy wontons before heading out to the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

Most people parked across the street at the mall and walked over, but I had injured my foot earlier this month and was still hobbling around, so Don offered to spring for parking at the arboretum. $13! We met up with the middle '87 and older '88, who decided at the last minute they wanted to go.

After checking in, I found out that I got complimentary VIP tickets after all. Thanks Nick and the folks at Pasadena Wine Festival!

We got there around 5 p.m. and the lines were already pretty long. But early October in Southern California is usually so nice -- still warm, but cool and in the shade of the arboretum's trees, the Pasadena Wine Festival looked to be a pretty popular event.

Images at War's End: Refugee & Marine Images from Col Waterhouse Collection & Marine Staff Photographs from Camp Pendleton Archives - Camp Pendleton

After making a quick breakfast of Feta Cheeseburgers to a wide-eyed oldest nephew who was excited at the prospect of anyone cooking for him, I headed off to Camp Pendleton, the reason why I went down to San Diego in the first place.

I had a later shift at work that day and had been meaning to check out the "Images at War's End: Refugee and Marine Images from the Col. Waterhouse Collection and Marine Staff Photographs from Camp Pendleton Archives" exhibit before it closes at the end of this month.


Camp Pendleton might not mean much to you unless you're military or Vietnamese-American, in which case, I suggest reading my post on Little Saigon and Vietnamese American history first to get you acquainted.

On April 28, 1975, General Paul Graham was told that Camp Pendleton was one of four military bases in the United States that would receive and house refugees from Vietnam. The other bases were Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. The refugees were then dispersed across the country, into every state and as many as 813 zip codes.

In 36 hours, the marines worked around the clock to build eight tent cities and to provide water, food, clothing, medicine, electricity, power, and security for the first 18,000 refugees. By October, Camp Pendleton had been home to more than 36,000 refugees.

Cinespia Cemetery Screenings - Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Los Angeles

At the beginning of the summer, when oldest nephew came up for a visit, I talked him and lil' sis into seeing a movie with me at the cemetery. Yes, if you've seen "Valentine's Day," that's exactly what I'm talking about.

It was one of those L.A. things that I've been wanting to do since I first heard about the Cinespa Cemetery Screenings last year when E*starLA and Caroline on Crack tweeted about lobbing water bottles at an obnoxious guy who came 10 minutes before the movie started, plopped down on a tall chair, and refused to move. Man! Those ladies were serious! I made sure not to bring any chairs at all! :P

The cemetery screenings started a decade ago and my excuse for not knowing about them before is that I'm old and just don't get out as much as I used to. :P The movie was a classic so my third cousin came up to join us for the occasion.

Lil' Sis Ran the Disneyland Half Marathon!

Discouraged from the job hunt after lil' sis finished school, she decided she needed a goal. I thought she was crazy when she told me she signed up to run the Disneyland Half Marathon.

Lil' sis has weak ankles! She'll fall down! She doesn't run! Much less run for 13.1 miles straight!

Week by week, I watched as she added mile after mile to her routine.



I can't see!!!

After all that hard work, I have to see and photograph when lil' sis crosses the finish line!

AltaMed's 5th Annual East LA Meets Napa (Union Station) - Los Angeles (Downtown)

I had such a great time at AltaMed's 4th Annual East LA Meets Napa celebration at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles that I was overjoyed to receive my own invite the following year from Alexia at Double A Public Relations & Marketing. I got a +1 too and invited my friend Don since his birthday was coming up, but he couldn't make it. So I asked my childhood friend since she works downtown. She had a sore throat, a result of a too tight neck hold during Brazilian jiu jitsu class, and couldn't comfortably eat, but she didn't want to miss the opportunity after I raved about it so much.

East LA Meets Napa is seriously one of the best food and wine events I've attended. I love almost every food stall and it introduces me to so many great new Mexican dishes and restaurants in SoCal. All proceeds from the event also benefit AltaMed's programs to provide care for underserved areas of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

After seeing Gourmet Pigs' pictures of the gorgeous Attilla the Flan's floral creations, I was determined to hunt some down for myself this year.

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve

Recently, Gourmet Pigs and I went to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve because I've lived in California too long not to have done this.


I know it's California's state flower, but the California poppy is just a "meh" flower for me. But field after field and hill after hill of them and the California poppy is really something else!

Ask Wandering Chopsticks 8

The month started off with my ba noi (Vietnamese paternal grandmother)'s death anniversary.




My ong co (Vietnamese great-grandfather), ba noi's father's, death anniversary back in February.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection (Pomona Public Library) - Pomona

After lunch at Pollos KiKiRyKi Peruvian Restaurant - Claremont, my friend and I went to check out the Laura Ingalls Wilder Collection at the Pomona Public Library. Clara Webber, the Pomona Public Library's children's librarian from 1948 to 1970, struck up a correspondence and friendship with the author. When the library was remodeled and the children's room was named in Wilder's honor, she donated the handwritten manuscript to "Little Town on the Prairie" to the library.


Also included in the collection is the original typewritten manuscript of "By the Shores of Silver Lake" and "Remember Me," one of the scripts Michael Landon wrote for the television series of "Little House on the Prairie."

She had wanted to check out the Gingerbread Sociable, an event the library hosts the first Saturday of every February since 1967 to celebrate Wilder's birthday. Sadly, it was over by the time we arrived. I still enjoyed looking at the Little House artifacts anyway.

Star Trek: The Exhibition (Hollywood & Highland Center) - Los Angeles

I won a pair of tickets to see Star Trek: The Exhibition on Twitter from @HandHCenter, the Hollywood and Highland Center, when I correctly answered that the USS Enterprise 1701-D had 42 decks. No, I'm not nearly that nerdy. I had to Google the answer. Still! I won tickets! Worth about $16 each.

Of course I had to take my brother with me. Only he would truly appreciate the experience. Speaking of the experience, long ago, I got a hotel package from the Las Vegas Hilton that included two tickets to Star Trek: The Experience. Can you believe no one else in the family wanted to duke it out with us for them? :P

Anyway, The Exhibition was chock full of memorabilia that would satisfy any Trekkie.

C'mon, I'll show you.

Great Balloon - Orange County Great Park - Irvine

Argh! It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!




I hate Halloween. I do. I'm not a complete grinch. I like seeing little kids dressed up and I hand out candy. I just hate ghouls and goblins and creepy crawlies and scary movies. So it was with dismay when I saw that the Great Balloon had been transformed into a giant pumpkin head.

"Que pasa, calabaza? (What's up, pumpkin head?)"

"Nada, nada, limonada. (Nothing's up, lemon head.)"

Ha! The things I remember from high school Spanish class.

Thwarted by a previous attempt a few weeks before, the middle '87 asked if I would take her to the Great Balloon. She had gotten there in time, but her turn wasn't up until 8 p.m. By then, visibility was poor and no flights were allowed.

Hey! I was the one who saw the LA Freebeee post and tipped her off about it. And she didn't even invite me when she went the first time?

Hmph!

We decided to go early so we could picnic on the grounds and make sure we were first in line. We stopped off to pick up some Vietnamese sandwiches and the younger '88.

Ack! That big old pumpkin head kept leering at us every which way.

Club 33 - Disneyland - Anaheim

Don't know what Club 33 is?

S'alright.

I didn't either until recently. But if you're a Disney freak, like lil' sis is, then "SQEEEEE!!!

OMG!!!

OMG!!!

OMG!!!

OMGWTFBBQ!!!"

For the past several years, I had seen kevinEats post about his first, second, and third visits to this exclusive club but hadn't paid particular attention. Plus, I didn't know he could invite guests so it wouldn't matter how exclusive it was, I wasn't getting in. Except last year, Mike of Famished LA did get in, as Kevin's guest. Mike is a Disney freak. So when he mentioned that Club 33 had closed its waiting list because there's a 14-year wait, then I paid attention.

Walt Disney built Club 33 as an exclusive and serene oasis where he could entertain visiting dignitaries away from the hustle and bustle of Disneyland. Unfortunately, Club 33 didn't open until June 15, 1967, six months after Disney's death.

If you are a Disney freak, then you probably already know about the door marked "33" in New Orleans Square. Entrance is only allowed if you're with someone who has membership. Membership itself is limited and corporations and individuals pay thousands of dollars at admittance and in annual fees. Not that that matters since there's a 14-year waiting list that's been closed to new additions for years. Once you secure an invite, locate the not-so-secret doorway and press the buzzer on the intercom concealed in a hidden panel. You are not allowed in unless your name is on the list. You are not allowed in more than 5 minutes before your reservation time. Dress code is nice-casual ie. if you're visiting the theme park that day, change out of your tank tops, shorts, and sneakers.

And if you are a Disney freak, like lil' sis is, then entering its hallowed doorway and dining there just might make your childhood and adult Disney dreams come true.