Taiwanese Porkchop

I'm always whining, because I don't know where to get Taiwanese porkchop in LA. There's this place in El Cerrito called 168, and it has the best one. It's like barely over five dollars, and it's excellent. I take everyone there, and everyone loves it.



Emily and Jennifer after a good meal.

Finally, after all my whining, Paul took me, Diego, and the ladies to this place in Monterrey Park. Apparently, this is some place where he goes with his family all the time. The porkchop was fairly good (not quite as spectacular as 168's, but comparable). I've been there about 2 times since.


Paul brings us to ghetto Chinese food.

They also had these steamed dumplings that have this meat broth/soup inside. My cousin was driving all of us crazy when we went to Hong Kong. She said she wanted "soup dumplings" and no one knew what she or we were talking about. We scoured the city for these thing, and never found any. How ironic that they are so readily available here at home.


Diego at Taiwanese Porkchop place.

New Years

On New Year's, we went to Tangier Lounge. We went with Jennifer, Robert, Paul, Natsuka, Emily, and Daniel. I had a filet mignon for dinner, chocolate cake for dessert, a squash (I think) soup, a salad, and a glass of wine. It was a fixed menu and admission. We ended up shelling out about a hundred (or more) each. That was a bit pricey for me, and us.


Diego and me at Tangier Lounge for New Years.

After dinner, the gang decided to walk down the street to find something to do before the countdown. I thought this was a bit dumb, because we paid for this other place and we should have just gotten a table there. We could have lounged in the bar or over in the dancing space. However, everyone wanted to walk, so we did.


Diego and me at New Years.

The problem was that we didn't find anything to speak of. We finally went to this small bar/food place for free. We hung around the bar while the guys watched a football game. I thought this was dumb. After less than an hour, we walked back to the Tangier Lounge for the "club" part of the evening. There were more people there by this time, and there were absolutely no tables open. If we had stayed originally, we could have gotten a nice spot, but there I go again.

The music was only so-so, and it wasn't exactly to my taste. We danced for awhile, stayed for the countdown, and then went our separate ways for the evening. Diego and I actually went to his cousin's house afterwards. He was having a party. I didn't feel like dancing, and I think that made Diego sad. By the end of the evening I ventured out to the dance area and went at it. Then he wanted to go home. That always happens. I think our timing is off....