Today I slept in a little, and it hit me that today is the last day that I am going to be able to sleep in for a while. Oh, summer vacation! I feel as if I have squandered you, but you have truly been an adventurous little break! I guess that I better make the most of my last week of summer while I still have it, and how better to make that happen then a sweet little bruch stop in Los Angeles? It's a start, right?
Brunch was at one of Gerrad's fave brunch places (I personally love that he has brunch places) called bld. bld. No capitalization. Breakfast, lunch, dinner - get it? Oh, it was some tasty yumminess. I had stuffed French toast. Stuffed with what, you might ask? How about cream cheese, berry compote, and the piece de resistance, BACON!!! Oh, children...top that stuff with some maple syrup and some whipped butter and it was so good that it made you want to slap your mama (I would never slap you, Mom, seriously)! I washed it down with freshly squeezed OJ (and it was VERY fresh), and felt about as content as I could muster with a week left of vacation.
We then headed off to The Grove, which is a pretty fancy shopping center. Next to it is the Original Farmers Market in LA, at the intersection of Third and Fairfax. It was a nice day to be out walking and finding some really cool shops. I got some lip balm at Kiehl's (seriously, it is the best - I am not lying) and had fun flipping through stuff at Shine, which has some vintage souvenirs. Another cool thing about this area? Celebrity sightings! I saw Melissa Joan Hart from "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", Kevin Frazier from "Entertainment Tonight" and John Slattery from "Mad Men."
It was now time to drop me off at the Garden Suites Hotel in Koreatown so that I could begin the working portion of this trip. As I am here technically here to study Korea, it only makes sense to be staying in the heart of Koreatown in a Korean-owned hotel. The hotel isn't bad, but the first room scared me to no end (wooden boards across the windows didn't help any), so I requested a new room. I wasn't going to be here long anyway. Our dinner tonight was at Helie Lee's house. Helie is one of the co-founders of the Korea Academy for Educators, and was gracious enough to have all of the workshop fellows over to her house for a Korean meal and time to get to know each other. The food was out of this world!! I have no idea what it all was, but it was tasty, that much I know for certain. Bulgogi (marinaded meat), kimchee (preserved cabbage), glass noodles...mucho tastiness. It was also celebrity sighting time there as well, although I had NO idea who the guy was. Turns out that we were joined by Vince Papale, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in the late 1970s. He was the inspiration for the movie "Invincible." Why was he there? Well, the producer of that movie, Ken Mok, is Helie Lee's husband. Ken also produces "America's Next Top Model" and "Making the Band" among other shows. Helie herself is also an actress, and someone said she was once on "Saved by the Bell." I am definitely going to have to get more info on that!
I was glad to get back to the hotel and snuggle down. Tomorrow it is essentially back to work!
Song of the Day: "Variations on a Korean Folk Song" - classical piece that I once played in high school band!
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