Yesterday otherwise
Other than the dentist yesterday, it was a very full day. At noon, my Central Cali friend Noreen came by to visit. I hadn't seen her in about a year. She was down south to relax before she goes back home to start the new school year again as a sped teacher. Our plans of the day were to go car shopping and see the sushi nazi.
But first, we would dim sum. Our friend Alan met us at Seaworld Seafood Restaurant in Rosemead. It's my favorite dim sum place because the ABC dishes are the same price and cheap, and the food is good. We ate our fill and drank lots of tea. Afterward, we went to Ranch 99 market to pick up a pack of preserved duck eggs for Noreen to take home to her jook.
Alan left and then it was off to go car shopping. We headed to Longo Toyota to test drive the Camry SE. They didn't have any SEs for us to drive, but Noreen tried the LE V6 since it has the same engine. The SE would differ in the suspension, body kit, and aerodynamic underpaneling. I love the Camry SE. Or, I should say loved. The lackluster interior left me wanting. The layout of the center console was kinda bleh to me. The car did not seem to have any pep.
Next we went to Longo Lexus next door and tested the IS 250. Wow, this car is in a class of its own. I've been in and driven the 350 before. It's very nice. I also have talked with other Lexus dealers before and they say the 250 has no get-up-and-go compared to the 350. So I didn't expect much out of the 250. But I was considerably wrong. There was plenty of pep in the 250. Noreen took the 250 out on the freeway and it merged pretty well. There was some good speed coming out of that engine. The interior was leaps and bounds better than the Camry interior, although I peeked into the Camry SE and liked the look of the sport seat fabric. But the IS's interior was infinitely better.
We then went over to Power Nissan for an attempt to test drive the Nissan Altima Coupe. That thing is one sexy beast, and called by many the "Baby G" as it's body styling shares much from its older, beefier brother the Infiniti G35/37. Alas, there were no Coupes to test drive because they're so popular that the dealership can't keep one on the lot. The attempt to test drive the 4-door was also met with failure. Looking at the sticker price of a fully loaded 4-door, the price was roughly the same as the IS 250, to my surprise. Although they were the same price, a shopper still needs to consider his or her ability to maintain the car. Lexus parts and service will indefinitely cost much, much more than Nissan. Anyways, in the showroom was the 4-door and the interior look, layout and feel felt so much better to me than the Camry. Maybe I just like dark interior.
After the test driving, we had some time to kill so Noreen and I headed to the Pasadena area. Eventually we were going to pick up my roommate Ray from his workplace in downtown Pas. We walked around downtown, had some Starbucks, did some window shopping.
Picked up Ray, drove to Studio City. It was an experience getting there and not getting killed. Anyway, Sushi Nozawa is some famous hole in the wall sushi place where people and celebrities can get kicked out of. The decor is something out of the 80s and unassuming of such a reputation. My two partners in crime spotted Eddie Kaye Thomas ("shitbrick" from American Pie) walking out as we waited for seats at the bar. I, being the oblivious one, didn't notice as he walked right in front of me to get out. Noreen thought Nicole Richie walked past us going in to sit at a corner with two other people. I didn't have a clear view. And Ray said it wasn't her. Anyway, the thing about Sushi Nozawa is you have to follow this guy's rules. If you sit at the bar, you are giving yourself to the "Trust Me Special". The chef gives you 5 things, and you don't get to order anything until afterward. We had lots of good stuff: toro, baby tuna sashimi, yellow tail, crab roll and we ordered the sardine, uni and Japanese sea eel after the special. The halibut served as part of the special was not spectacular. Our bill, after tax and tip, came out to $250, a sizable chunk of change. It was money I could have saved to buy an annual pass to Disneyland or something. Needless to say, Sushi Nozawa is something I could do without, or do only once a year.
After Sushi Nozawa, we head home, decompress a bit. Noreen drives off. Shortly thereafter, Ray receives a call from family members. Ray's family are big Disneyland nuts. And there were there once again... drunk... once again... So they needed another sober driver to help wrangle the herd of drunk cattle. Ray and I head back to my car. Accompanying us is Ray's cousin Christine and our roommate Yuko.
We get to Disneyland shortly before midnight, when the park closes. Our plans were to head to Guppy Teahouse in Cerritos (South Street and Pioneer Boulevard) in a big group. But the drunk people were taking forever to get back to the parking structure. So we leave Ray and Christine to gather the herd and Yuko and I go to Guppy ahead of time. Well, I get lost a bit on the way there, since roads change names and whatnot. But I eventually find myself on the 91 and get there around 12:40 (they close at 1). The place was crowded and would only get more crowded once I told the waitress that we need a table for 8. It's a good thing we got there as we did because a couple of minutes later this family of 10 show up. Well, we get to our table, and I immediately order a large shaved ice, mixed fruit with condensed milk. I was wasting no time. Half of the herd shows up 10 minutes later, then the other half, then the shaved ice shows up. The fricken thing is huge. It's a $20 pile of shaved ice about a cubic foot big with strawberries, mangos and bananas. Then you drizzle condensed milk all over it. It was teh yums. We finished about 1:30 a.m. Then head home. Talked til 3 a.m., then went to bed.
But first, we would dim sum. Our friend Alan met us at Seaworld Seafood Restaurant in Rosemead. It's my favorite dim sum place because the ABC dishes are the same price and cheap, and the food is good. We ate our fill and drank lots of tea. Afterward, we went to Ranch 99 market to pick up a pack of preserved duck eggs for Noreen to take home to her jook.
Alan left and then it was off to go car shopping. We headed to Longo Toyota to test drive the Camry SE. They didn't have any SEs for us to drive, but Noreen tried the LE V6 since it has the same engine. The SE would differ in the suspension, body kit, and aerodynamic underpaneling. I love the Camry SE. Or, I should say loved. The lackluster interior left me wanting. The layout of the center console was kinda bleh to me. The car did not seem to have any pep.
Next we went to Longo Lexus next door and tested the IS 250. Wow, this car is in a class of its own. I've been in and driven the 350 before. It's very nice. I also have talked with other Lexus dealers before and they say the 250 has no get-up-and-go compared to the 350. So I didn't expect much out of the 250. But I was considerably wrong. There was plenty of pep in the 250. Noreen took the 250 out on the freeway and it merged pretty well. There was some good speed coming out of that engine. The interior was leaps and bounds better than the Camry interior, although I peeked into the Camry SE and liked the look of the sport seat fabric. But the IS's interior was infinitely better.
We then went over to Power Nissan for an attempt to test drive the Nissan Altima Coupe. That thing is one sexy beast, and called by many the "Baby G" as it's body styling shares much from its older, beefier brother the Infiniti G35/37. Alas, there were no Coupes to test drive because they're so popular that the dealership can't keep one on the lot. The attempt to test drive the 4-door was also met with failure. Looking at the sticker price of a fully loaded 4-door, the price was roughly the same as the IS 250, to my surprise. Although they were the same price, a shopper still needs to consider his or her ability to maintain the car. Lexus parts and service will indefinitely cost much, much more than Nissan. Anyways, in the showroom was the 4-door and the interior look, layout and feel felt so much better to me than the Camry. Maybe I just like dark interior.
After the test driving, we had some time to kill so Noreen and I headed to the Pasadena area. Eventually we were going to pick up my roommate Ray from his workplace in downtown Pas. We walked around downtown, had some Starbucks, did some window shopping.
Picked up Ray, drove to Studio City. It was an experience getting there and not getting killed. Anyway, Sushi Nozawa is some famous hole in the wall sushi place where people and celebrities can get kicked out of. The decor is something out of the 80s and unassuming of such a reputation. My two partners in crime spotted Eddie Kaye Thomas ("shitbrick" from American Pie) walking out as we waited for seats at the bar. I, being the oblivious one, didn't notice as he walked right in front of me to get out. Noreen thought Nicole Richie walked past us going in to sit at a corner with two other people. I didn't have a clear view. And Ray said it wasn't her. Anyway, the thing about Sushi Nozawa is you have to follow this guy's rules. If you sit at the bar, you are giving yourself to the "Trust Me Special". The chef gives you 5 things, and you don't get to order anything until afterward. We had lots of good stuff: toro, baby tuna sashimi, yellow tail, crab roll and we ordered the sardine, uni and Japanese sea eel after the special. The halibut served as part of the special was not spectacular. Our bill, after tax and tip, came out to $250, a sizable chunk of change. It was money I could have saved to buy an annual pass to Disneyland or something. Needless to say, Sushi Nozawa is something I could do without, or do only once a year.
After Sushi Nozawa, we head home, decompress a bit. Noreen drives off. Shortly thereafter, Ray receives a call from family members. Ray's family are big Disneyland nuts. And there were there once again... drunk... once again... So they needed another sober driver to help wrangle the herd of drunk cattle. Ray and I head back to my car. Accompanying us is Ray's cousin Christine and our roommate Yuko.
We get to Disneyland shortly before midnight, when the park closes. Our plans were to head to Guppy Teahouse in Cerritos (South Street and Pioneer Boulevard) in a big group. But the drunk people were taking forever to get back to the parking structure. So we leave Ray and Christine to gather the herd and Yuko and I go to Guppy ahead of time. Well, I get lost a bit on the way there, since roads change names and whatnot. But I eventually find myself on the 91 and get there around 12:40 (they close at 1). The place was crowded and would only get more crowded once I told the waitress that we need a table for 8. It's a good thing we got there as we did because a couple of minutes later this family of 10 show up. Well, we get to our table, and I immediately order a large shaved ice, mixed fruit with condensed milk. I was wasting no time. Half of the herd shows up 10 minutes later, then the other half, then the shaved ice shows up. The fricken thing is huge. It's a $20 pile of shaved ice about a cubic foot big with strawberries, mangos and bananas. Then you drizzle condensed milk all over it. It was teh yums. We finished about 1:30 a.m. Then head home. Talked til 3 a.m., then went to bed.