California Lovin'

Mobile food vendors have been around for decades, and yet in the past few years they have again captured the imagination of our nation. LA has been on the forefront of this movement with the many food trucks that are daily twittering their wares to a very hungry city. In a state that most people consider to be a culture of salad eaters and general health nuts, you are seeing people who want some haute street food with meat and spice. Not what one would usually consider "healthy".

DC is following suit with many food trucks now gathering a following, but since I am currently in LA it only made sense to try some of the originals. With my brother in law playing tour guide we made our mission, and that mission was tacos. With the help of http://www.ilovestreeteats.com/la we were able to check out all the different food trucks twitter feeds at once which made it super easy to find which truck we could get to quickly. The Flying Pig was heading to Downtown LA and with pork belly buns as a prospective edible delight we hopped in the car and headed to the freeway.

On a side note, can I just say how much I miss California driving. It just makes so much more sense to me then the craziness that is NoVA and DC. Driving around the district with friends can be quite stressful and I'm not even the one driving. Thank god I can walk and metro to everywhere that I need to go. But how I miss the buzz of driving with the windows down, warm sun coming down, and the landscape of mountains and ocean surrounding me.

Now back to the Flying Pig......

We found the truck around 12:30 and there already was a pretty decent line. We were all set to split a few things, but were a bit disappointed they were already out of the shrimp burrito. Oh well! We ended up order 2 pork belly buns, 2 duck tacos, and 2 spicy pork tacos.

As time passed we realized that this order seemed to be taking much longer than it should be. By the time 30 minutes had passed we began to wonder what was up. "Hanger" was beginning to creep in on both of us as well as all of the other customers. Trucks are supposed to quick lunch spots to grab in a few minutes and run back to the office. As another food truck passed promising delicious burger sliders, and the smell of beef wafted past, everyone seemed to surge forward on the truck with the intent of making these tacos appear.

An hour passed. You read that right. One Hour! Utterly ridiculous, I know. Why did we wait? Who really knows. We could have cancelled our order and moved just down the block to the next trick. But I was determined and kept thinking that we would soon have our food. It turns out that 2 very rude girls ordered enough tacos to feed about 20 people, which held up everything up for everyone. First of all, a mobile food truck is for quick eating not catering. Second, the people who run the Flying Pig should have a policy of what is an appropriate amount to order to keep their "kitchen" moving so as to benefit the lunchtime crowd. Needless to say, once we finally received our food we were a bit perturbed. I wanted to hate it, to have my anger justified but damn, it was so freakin good!

The pork belly bun was my favorite of the three things. Fatty pork belly with pickled cucumbers and onions in a soft pastry bun. The tacos were also delicious, though the spicy pork was my favorite. I do think that the wait was most likely an anomaly due to the those girls that ordered for an army, but I would hope that the Flying Pig would learn a lesson from this as well.

Here is the thing, I was still hungry and 2 small tacos and a pork belly bun were not going to fill me up. After an hour of waiting and smelling the burger truck down the way, it just seemed right to check it out. With only a few dollars left we headed down to the Pattywagon which sells organic grass fed beef mini sliders. We were able to order 2 mini sliders, a regular burger and another with sauteed onions and peppers. The meat was flavorful that we did not even to add any sauce or condiment. This was the ultimate burger and I would definitely love to check them out again and try some of their specialty burgers.

Can anyone please tell me why the paragraphs above were all underlined and how to remove said underline? I am too lazy to figure it out, so sorry for the inconsistency. But I will leave you with this, if you are in LA it is worth finding one of the many food trucks that drive around the county. Just remember to have some cash on hand and to have your twitter account. To close I must share the cutest little dog ever that should leave you with a smile. My aunt's dog Gigi who was saved from an animal shelter. She had some teeth problems and had to have a few of them removed, thus her tongue is always hanging out of her mouth. Awwwww! Have a wonderful week!

My Big Fat Armenian Wedding

Let me state this first, I did not get married! But saying my sister's big fat Armenian wedding just doesn't sound quite right. But let's move away from technicalities and get to the meat of the matter. My sister (beautiful, confident, smart, lovely sister) has married the boy of her dreams last Sunday and I could not be happier. It's just amazing to me that it is over. You plan something for months and months and then BOOM, it is done. And now my sister is a MRS! That has to be the craziest part for me. I can remember us talking about what we dreamed about our wedding being like when we were kids. We were very taken with the idea of having a rainbow wedding where each bridesmaid would where a different colored dress and her partner in the groom's party would have a matching vest. Can you tell that we were children of the 80s? And that we may have been thinking of the ideal wedding for Rainbow Bright?

Needless to say that idea did not come to fruition at her wedding. The bridal party wore deep navy blue cocktail dresses, with pockets, with the boys looking dapper in dark suits. The flowers were shades of dark purple and blue, and the overall theme was "effortlessly elegant".

What had to be the most interesting part of this whole experience was the blending of 2 cultures. You see, my new brother in law is Armenian and is very active in the Armenian community in Glendale. Some people have not even heard of Armenia or know where it is so I will enlighten you. Armenia is a country that has had a pretty war torn and bloody past (and I will not assume to be an authority), but geographically it lies between Turkey and Georgia. It also shares similar food, dance, and culture with Greece. And if you weren't sure if there were is a connection between these two countries you would have realized it after this wedding.

I wish I could convey the tastes, the sounds, and overall joy that was emanating from this event. But as my favorite subject is food I think I am just going to stick with that for the moment. Let's start with cocktail hour. Honestly I did not see much of it as I was in a special room for the bridal party, but I did sneak out for a bit a what I saw was pretty mind-blowing. Trays and tray of appetizers, a dessert table with baklava, home made fig newtons, dried fruits and nuts, bowls of sour gummy worms, and other sweet treats, and a full bar with top shelf liquor to imbibe on. Seriously? This was only the cocktail hour. You are supposed to whet your appetite, not make a meal on dried dates and neon gummi worms. But who were we to deny ourselves?!

In the actual reception each table was stocked with wine and champagne, had platters of hummus, baba ganoush, taziki, and red pepper dip, along with baskets of bread, charcuterie, and cheese. Oh were we in trouble! And the thing is you are starving. You have been waiting for a nibble and now it is like a kid in Christmas Day and you are just too excited to stop yourself. Well then a salad came out and after that we each had a plate of dolmas, kibbeh, and some type of fried cheese stick (but not quite like a mozzarella stick).

And while all this food is being put in front of you and taken away you still have a platter of delicious, creamy hummus in front of you that you cannot stop yourself from dipping into and the champagne is consistently being poured; and that's when you realize that you are stuffed. But then you hear that that plate with kibbeh and dolmas was just another appetizer and dinner is going to be served in just a few minutes. WHAT???!!!! But we had dessert at cocktail hour, enough hummus to fill a bathtub with, and fried kibbehs that just put me over the edge. Yet another plate comes out with salmon, filet mignon, and some kind of starch that I could not even comprehend as I was in such a food daze that nothing was making sense anymore.

What is funny about all this is that amount of food that was being served was very toned down for an Armenian event. Traditional Armenian weddings have food served family style with just platter constantly being brought out. My brother in law told me that after the Armenians suffered genocide and starvation they just want to keep eating when they can and any affair from the Sunday family meal to a wedding is stocked with enough food to keep you fat and content for a good week. Well after all of the food I engorged I could definitely live off the fat of the land for awhile (but you know I wouldn't actually done that!) Heck, I stuffed my face and still put a few bites of wedding cake down my gullet.

My only solace is that we danced. We danced to Black Eyed Peas, and then to traditional Armenian music. We danced with lots of hips and booty shaking and then arms high in the air while you delicately swivel your hands and not much else. It was a literal dance off between our families. Not sure who would be the Sharks or Jets, but everyone was bringing their A-game to the dance floor.

In other words, it was a success. Everyone had fun, thought the bride was beautiful, and did not want the night to end. I can only hope if I ever get hitched that I will have such a great party.

Hello! My name is Veronica and I will be your tour guide for this crazy blog!

This has been a long time coming. The idea has been in my head but it took a few good pushes to actually commit to this. It seemed cocky and self-indulgent to assume that I may have thoughts, ideas, or stories that others may want to hear about. I’m not saying there won’t be disappointments, I can’t be on point all the time, but I am going to try to make this enjoyable. I figure if I have a bit of a giggle or have an “aha” moment that maybe you might feel the same way.

I will give a short synopsis, my first monologue (yeah!), to explain a bit about myself. I am a born and bred SoCal girl who has somehow found herself residing in DC. It was a bit of a circuitous route here, and it was not political dreams that brought me. I spent some prime years after college being a vagabond of sorts. I worked for Club Med resorts, in the States so nothing too exciting, and backpacked a bit around Europe and lived in Australia for a few months. The parental units decided to transplant themselves to Northern VA before I returned from Australia and it was either sink or swim in Cali or have free rent. (I mean which would you choose?!) So now I am here living on Capitol Hill and enjoying life in the District. It was not an easy road. DC is a city that has to grow on you, much like fungus or mold on a good cheese, but in a non-gross way.

Despite my desperation to get a decent job and often being mocked for my after-college decisions, I have never once regretted the path I took. Yes, I would probably be making more money or have some swanky job with a corner office out in LA (kinda doubt it actually), but you know those things you read about, the places you talk about going to, I’ve been there. Travelling has made me a better person. That’s it, plain and simple, and for that reason I am thankful that I did it. It also opened my eyes to possibilities in other cultures, food, music, fashion, etc. And food in general has become a bit of an obsession.

I talk about food almost all of the time. It is interesting and tasty, and I love learning about food, reading about restaurants/chefs, watching food related shows and seeing what new trends are happening. Let me say this though, I have no aspirations to be a chef. I am not cut out for it, as my minor blow ups in the privacy of my home have shown me. Yet food is intriguing because it is a bit like magic: you never know what a chef can create from simple ingredients. Also, the cultural and social aspects that come with the joy of eating are varied across the world, but it is still a common thread that every person can relate to each other with. Maybe I am a geek, but that crap is fascinating to me.

While this blog will definitely be an outlet for my food related inquiries, write ups on places I dine and travel, and my attempts at cooking and trying to learn moderation and to be healthy, I have been know to digress and will definitely diverge off course and speak to my other interests, observations, stories, etc. In a nutshell, this will be about me and if you don’t like it, well you can’t win them all, and you are welcome to find somebody else that will amuse you. So to all the people out there, I hope I can bring something even miniscule to your day of procrastinating from work, finding nothing on TV, avoiding the gym, etc. Bon Apetit!


Veronica

p.s. this is a work in progress so please excuse the mess while I figure out what I am doing.