Brunching in Old Town's New Gastropub, Kings Row (Pasadena)

Bananas Foster Griddle Cakes

When a gastropub opened up in Old Town Pasadena, I admit I didn't pay much attention. That is, until I saw Deep End Dining and Trippy Food rave about the oxtail at Kings Row. They claimed it was fit for a king, and that intrigued me, so when they invited me to try out the new brunch menu, I accepted.

Kings Row opened in the old Neomeze space, which they have completely transformed from the pink and blue-lit lounge to the brick-walled bare space playing country music.

The brunch menu was pretty diverse with dishes ranging from chorizo fajitas to chicken fried steak to fish and chips. And buckwheat waffles a.k.a. the best waffles I've ever had. More on that later.

The fish and chips ($14) featured huge pieces of moist, nicely battered fish. We liked the fries as well, but could've skipped the mushy peas (is that a British thing?)

A hint for things to come: the portions are generous.

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Nespresso Pixie Launch Party with Ted Allen and Pixie Lott

My first exposure to Nespresso was from my former roommate who owned a machine. We would chat over an easily made espresso (pop in capsule, press button, and voila). And they were good! They may not be as good as the ones made by real baristas at, say, Intelligentsia, but they were certainly better than what I could achieve, and at $0.55 per capsule they make espressos a more affordable life style choice.

So, Nespresso recently launched a new model. A much more compact machine dubbed Pixie, which easily fits on small kitchen counters (my Pixie is smaller than my water kettle or my bread box). More about the machine later, let's talk about a party. To get word going about the Pixie, Nespresso held intimate parties around the US and I was invited to the LA one, held in a suite at the W Hotel in Hollywood. There were various reasons to come to this party, one of them was that Ted Allen from Food Network's Chopped was there to host the party.

A propos to the name Pixie, they had a British hit pop singer Pixie Lott perform a few songs for us also! Now, I hadn't heard of her before since I'm pretty unaware of the pop world, much less the British pop world, but apparently she's huge there and was actually named "Hottest Female" by Virgin Media Music Awards.

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Chew, Bow, Sip. Watching a Japanese Tea Ceremony (Sado)

I have always wanted to be a part of a Japanese tea ceremony (sado), but I wasn't able to find a place to do so until the Kulov Tea Festival last year. They had a tea ceremony workshop held by Mrs. Soshitsu Nishimura of the Edo Senke school. They have different school/styles of tea ceremony, and unfortunately I have no idea what the differences are. The workshop was held at Royal/T and they had quite a few attendees so we did not sit on tatami mats and participated fully. We sat in chairs and watched and partook in wagashi and the matcha that Nishimura sensei's student prepared.

The tea ceremony is all about purity and hospitality, so the first thing the host does after kneeling (or sitting) down is clean all the utensils and bowls that will be used (after the fire for the water is lit, of course). Afterward, she transfers some water to get it cooled down to the proper temperature.

Before tea, the guests are served a wagashi (traditional Japanese snack).

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