You should be writing this down (@ Whole Foods Market DTLA)

PDX ♥ LA (@ Pok Pok LA)

My favorite wings EVAR are from Pok Pok in Portland, and now they’re in LA! If you didn’t have a reason to visit me before, I can give you half a dozen now…

I downloaded the transitory app partly because of craigslist killers, but mostly because my friends go on sketchy tinder dates.

WARNING: This beer is cold af, you guys (@ Wood Handcrafted Pizza)

I’m here for the tamales (@ Hollywood Forever Cemetery)

I cropped the meth heads out of this shot (@ MacArthur Park)

Micheladas under the blood moon with Deane and Isadora (@ Block Party)

Accurate.

Questlove x Michael Jackson (@ Grand Park)

If this event was any indication of what ACL will be like, I’m not ready for the heat (sunburn city!) or Anthony’s dance moves.

You dim sum, you lose some (@ Kang Kang Food Court)

My mom and my sister visited me in LA this weekend, and we had Filipino, Chinese and Vietnamese food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And since that wasn’t Asian enough, we took pictures of our food and posted it on instagram.

Migration (@ Santa Monica Pier)

@hotxtea‘s yarn art installation can be found over the pedestrian bridge just north of the pier. It’s def worth checking out before the city takes it down!

Summer movie night (@ Hollywood Forever Cemetery)

Love wins (@ Micheltorena Stairs)

Brought to you by the letter A (@ Alfred Coffee)

¡Salud! (@ Broken Spanish)

Happy birthday with sprinkles on top! (@ California Donuts)

These donuts were almost as cute as my favorite 4-year-old ♥

I don’t know what’s sadder—is it that part of my job as a web designer at Skechers involves creating e-blasts for the cafe inside our office building (how else would you know that tomorrow’s special is chicken tikka masala?!), or that while googling BBQ photos to use for their 4th of July special, I immediately recognized this spread from Smoke City Market???

If you’re looking for the key to my heart, a platter of smoked BBQ beef ribs will unlock all the mysteries.

Highlight of my day: After lunch with my coworkers @ Pitfire, the cute cashier slipped me a free jumbo chocolate chip cookie on my way out.

I met up with my coworkers outside afterwards, thrust my cookie in the air and was all like, “FREE COOKIE, BITCHES!” Our excitement was short-lived, though. When we got back to my car, I had two parking tickets—one for an expired meter (my friend paid the wrong one) and another for not having a front license plate (I mean, if my car was meant to have one, it would have come with holes drilled in it).

I owe the City of Manhattan Beach $96 for that free cookie!

We’re only here for the doyer dogs tbh (@ Dodger Stadium)

Glass ceilings (@ Union Station)

Chicken and waffles with my woes (@ The Tasting Kitchen)

Love when the girls visit me in LA, if only for brunch and chisme!

Stuffed with tacos and wrapped in a mexican blanket (@ Tacolandia)

Today was a good day.

Juice flight-ing this cold (@ Verve Coffee Roasters)

Spicy Pork Belly Ramen (@ Ramen Champ)

I only eat ramen when I’m sick or when Shi is in town. Today it was both!

Love when she visits ♥

(@ Santa Monica Farmer’s Market)

#TBT to Kim Kardashian’s ugly cry face (@ FYF Fest 2014)

This is also the face I’ll be making when Morrissey headlines this year’s festival.

If you don’t belong, don’t be long (@ Hollywood Blvd & La Brea Ave)

Day ruined (@ Smoke City Market)

I still had my beloved beef rib and brisket. Best BBQ I’ve had so far in LA (and in life!).

Whitewashed (@ Bates Motel)

I like my coffee with a side of reassurance (@ Dinosaur Coffee)

Day ruined, part 2 (@ Churro Borough)

The last time Deane and I tried to eat Churro Borough, they sold out at the pop-up they were having at our beloved Ramekin (RIP!). Now that they’ve set up a brick and mortar at Ramekin’s old spot, they’re even more popular! Hopefully we’ll get to have churro ice cream sandwiches again before we’re on social security.

Cubanos on the curb (@ Animal)

Jon Favreau and Roy Choi hosted an El Jefe pop-up from one of my favorite movies tonight! Chef was everything, and so was this sandwich (and so was this soundtrack!).

Make a donation of $10 or more to sponsor my participation in San Diego Humane Society’s Walk for Animals and receive a bag of homemade beer bones made with repurposed spent grain locally sourced and generously donated by LA craft brewery, Progress Brewing!

You can donate HERE. Please put your address in the “Personal Note to Walk Participant” field if you want dog treats. If you’re in LA or SD, I can probably just meet up with you 🙂

I battle my obvious love of dogs on a daily basis.

I can’t watch a cute puppy video on youtube without clicking on all the related videos. Next thing I know, I’ve lost three hours of my life watching 103 videos in a puppy surprise playlist and have been crying for at least two of those hours. Just kidding. (I cried for all three.)

When Pammie asked if I wanted to do a walk for animals, I immediately said yes without knowing any details other than dogs were somehow involved. Her office organizes this huge fundraiser that includes a bake sale where homemade dog treats are sold for donations, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to combine my love for dogs with my love for baking and get involved.

I reached out to some local LA craft breweries, and Progress Brewing in El Monte was generous enough to donate some spent brewing grain towards my cause. I drove out to what the dude described as “east of east los” with nothing but a 5-gallon bucket and a friend to witness my death in case the dude chopped me up into little pieces and dumped my body in the mash tun (I did meet him on the internet, after all).

Kevin, the co-owner of Progress Brewing, was actually a really nice guy. He asked if I preferred “Black IPA” or “American Red” doggy biscuits! Ha. I went with American Red, obvi, since I’m not a fan of IPAs. Dogs are also allergic to hops, so if you’re going to repurpose spent grain, make sure the brewery didn’t mash hop the batch you’re getting.

It’s best to use the spent grains within the first few days after brewing, otherwise they’ll go bad. I used a FoodSaver and froze them in portion-sized bags for storing and later use, since they gave me around 40 pounds of grain.

Here’s a simple, all-natural recipe if you want to try making these at home:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups spent grain
• 2 cups organic barley flour
• 1 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 organic eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the ingredients and mix with your hands until a thick dough forms. Roll out the dough on a generously floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters like this cute dog bone.

Line the biscuits on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce temperature to 225 degrees and continue baking for 2 hours. Cooking them the additional time at the lower temperature will help ensure they dry completely, extending their shelf life.

The dried biscuits will keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container and even longer if you freeze them in zipper bags. You can give them to your dogs straight from the freezer as a cool summer treat, or, if you’re in LA, in the dead of winter when it’s 90 degrees out!

I woke up before the sun on a Saturday to go hiking and eat vegetarian food with Deane, Ledi and Isadora (@ Kitchen Mouse).

I don’t even know who I am right now.

Excuse us while we eat our feelings (@ The Hart and The Hunter)

Vintage vibes (@ Rose Bowl Flea Market)

Our flea market finds included a vintage bag for Chel, a t-rex toy for Darien, an Alf hand puppet for Shi, and a vintage gun lock for Anthony.

The only thing I took home was a sunburn on my chest.

Museum day with this nut (@ LACMA)

Shi and I spent the day sitting in traffic and tar pits. Two museums on one Saturday in LA was just too ambitious.

Sunday adventures with this slut (@ Eggslut)

He took me to Home Deeps to get a tire pressure gauge and made sure my car was safe to drive, but he also took me to Compton to get BBQ for dinner. Idk if he wants me to live or die, tbh.

My favorite place in LA is closing for good this weekend, so I had to go there one last time before I went home for the holidays. Deane and I cried into our last chocolate bread puddings ever, and then we ate our tears (@ Ramekin)

You know you live in LA when free parking is a gift.

…then I googled you (@ Culver City Art District)

…or the wurst idea ever! #onlyinLA

Greenhouse vibes (@ Commissary at the Line Hotel)

Ooh, baby, I like it rawww (@ Fishing with Dynamite)

The claws are out (@ The Port of LA Lobster Festival)

It smells like doyer dogs and betrayal (@ Dodger Stadium)

Overheard at the table next to us (@ Grub):

“I need an exact headcount for the lobster bake I’m throwing at my house for my birthday, because I’m flying in fresh lobsters from Maine.”

“My sister is really into strippercizing right now. She has a room in her house with just a stripper pole in it.”

Oh, Hollywood. I nearly spit out my blackberry pepper champagne cocktail.

LA opened its first Dunkin Donuts today, so I’m halfway there, you guys!

The Strokes – You Only Live Once

Epic weekend. I saw The Strokes perform, and I forget the rest. x__x (@ FYF Festival)

Crossed another one off of LA Weekly’s 99 Essential Restaurants list… 93 more to go! (@ Father’s Office)

Anthony visited before his BBQ class in LA, and we tried one of LA’s best burgers. It was meh, felt more like a sandwich because it was served on a french roll, but the beers were excellent. My favorite burger in LA (and in life) is still from Plan Check!

Hopefully he learned some new skills from the BBQ Pitmaster for the next party he unwillingly lets me throw at his house.

Two years in LA today. Where did my life go???

Life after Summer (@ Bradbury Building)

Sunday Slutty Sunday (@ Eggslut)

You ready, B? (@ Rose Bowl Stadium)

Let’s get ready to rumbleeee (@ Cooper Design Space)

Made in LA (@ Hammer Museum)