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Taiwanese panfried oyster cake or oyster omelets (it is better than it sounds!) from Kang Kang Food Court. (My Mom makes it better than anyone else in the world, though!)

Oh, and Lowfat Cottage Cheese & Pineapple.

Not in the same meal, though. (Although I did eat both of these on the same day (today)).

Here’s a picture of the oyster dish I was talking about… with a recipe borrowed from the Tung-An House Fu-te Food Store:

Fried oyster cake

A genuine Taiwanese cuisine which you can easily make with Hsien Zi Wei’s fried oyster cake powder [note from joz: this powder is basically sweet potato starch] at home as good taste as the one served at restaurant.

Cookery:
1. Stir 2 tbs of fried oyster cake powder in a bowl of 1/2 cold water, prepare.
2. Heat the oil on a pan, fry an egg and then add some oysters on it.
3. Stir the egg with a spoon, then add the mixing(step 1)on it.
4. Add some crowndaisy chrysanthemum or other vegetable, turn over to fry until the sauce is absorbed, serve.
5. Can add some condiment like chili sauce or bean sauce for better relish.

“Busy is a 4 Letter Word”

(Ok, right now I am too busy to write a book, but if I did write one, that would be the title. Don’t steal it!)

The Star Wars Line: Super Nerd* Trainwreck!

1) These are Super Nerds who are waiting in line for 6 weeks for a movie
2) The movie is most likely going to suck
3) They are lined up in front of a theatre that is NOT showing the movie
4) They movie is actually showing at a theatre a couple of blocks away but…
5) The Nerds are KEEPING THE LINE IN FRONT OF THE WRONG THEATER “in protest” (of what?!)
6) The Nerds aren’t planning on moving the line to the right theatre… and even if they did, it wouldn’t matter because anyone can buy tickets online (from the comfort of home) and get reserved seats that are just as good as those who are waiting in line in person.
7) Which wouldn’t matter anyway, since they are in front of the wrong theatre

*No nerds were harmed in the writing of this post.

Tonight I’ll make the trek over to the DGA to catch the first night of USC’s First Look Festival, a twice-yearly event showcasing recent USC film works.

I’m actually there to see one specific film, Spin, by my friend David Marmor (previously pimped here on jozjozjoz.com). It’ll actually be the “Last Look” of Spin here in L.A., having screened (to date) in over 46 film festivals around the world. I’m looking forward to “spontaneously” cheering on David’s film and if you go, I hope you’ll join me in doing so.

Tickets are free, parking is free in the DGA lots, and there’s going to be free food in the lobby afterwards. So really, why not go?

The comprehensive four-program festival features advanced short film projects produced by students in class workshops or as independent projects. It is free to the public.

The first festival of 2005 will take place April 4-9. The festival’s annual animation night, a full evening devoted exclusively to animation projects, will be offered on April 8.

The selected student films will be shown Monday, April 4 through Friday, April 8, at the DGA Theater at 7920 Sunset Blvd. Screenings will begin at 7:30 p.m. each night.

On Saturday, April 9, all films shown throughout the week will repeat during the course of the day at Frank Sinatra Hall, located in the Eileen Norris Theatre Complex on the USC campus.

Fifty-one films – from dramas and documentaries to comedies and animated shorts – will be included in this year’s program.

Among the notable filmmakers who have showcased their first efforts at the festival are Gary Fleder (“Kiss the Girls”), Luke Greenfield ( “Girl Next Door”), Mollie Jones (the upcoming “Chinese Baby”), Anne Misawa (Eden’s Curve), Bryan Singer (“X-Men,” ) and Jon Turteltaub (“While You Were Sleeping”). [full story]

I love it when I accomplish a lot in a day:

6:45am - Wake up on my own. Go to the bathroom. Force myself back to bed.

9:00am - Alarm goes off. Get up for real. Brush teeth, shower, get dressed. Annoy the Yoshi while getting dressed and preparing to walk out the door.

10:00am - Go to the office, pick up something I left there yesterday. Drive from Hollywood to Beverly Hills for an errand. Ponder getting gas. It’s $1.43 (typo! It was $2.43) at the station I like to get gas. Decide to wait because the big ‘ol tanker is there. I hate those things. Drive from Beverly Hills to Mar Vista area to get mail. (We’ve been living on the other side of town for exactly a year but still have to go across town to get snail mail.)

11:00am - Go to Costco in Marina del Rey to get gas. The lines are horrendous. And I accidentally got in the line where there is only one pump working. Then the guy at the pump with the giant SUV is standing there swiping his credit card UPSIDE-DOWN… fifteen times! It doesn’t occur to him that HE might be doing something wrong… so he just keeps swiping his card over and over and over again… until someone in line ahead of me gets out of his car to show him how to do this. I finally get my gas… doh! It’s $1.43 $2.43 (no cheaper than that other station that had no line!).

11:30am - Go to the Albertson’s (in the same shopping center) to get a box of Cheerios for a kid’s birthday party I’m supposed to be at in an hour. [I generally give better gifts than boxes of Cheerios… this was by request, and somewhat of a crank gift.] Get distracted by the giantness of the store and start doing other grocery shopping. One full shopping cart and box of Cheerios later, I am in line to check out. The guy at the front of the line is buying 70 bags of ice (ok, not 70, but A LOT of ice!). The bagger has to go and help him to his car so now our checker is also bagging as well, taking more time. The crazy Asian lady in front of me has only a few groceries, but decides to pick a fight with the checker about the weight of her red grapes. They are $2.99/lb. but they showed at $3.27 on her receipt. She argued and said that she weighed them and it was less than a pound and made the checker re-weigh them. Then she tried to get the checker to “take a few grapes off the bunch” so that it would be less than a pound. He refused and she finally agreed to pay for the grapes. Then she reminded the checker that she had a $1 off coupon that he forgot to scan. He had to give her an extra dollar.

12:05pm - I finally leave the supermarket and start heading back across town. I look at the line for the Costco gas… there is no line now… doh!!! I have groceries to put in the fridge and a box of Cheerios to wrap for the birthday party that starts at noon. Uh oh, I’m going to be late. Traffic on the 405 and the 10. Not boding well. Pop open a can of Blue Diamond Almonds: Maui Onion & Garlic flavor… this is the first food I’ve had all day.

12:30pm - I get home and desperately have to use the bathroom. (Drank too much Fresca in the car.) Dump all the groceries on the kitchen floor while tending to “more urgent business.” Get Yoshi to wrap the box of Cheerios. I try desperately to make myself look presentable for a birthday party where people from work will also be.

1:00pm - Get to birthday party. Luckily, it’s not that far away from where we live. Start cramming random junk food in my mouth. Aside from some almonds, this is the first food I’m having all day. Mmmm… food is hot dogs/sausages!

3:30pm - Having eaten all kinds of yummy food, talking to a bunch of cool people, seeing cute kids run around all afternoon, I’m pooped. Time to leave. Allergy pills not working anymore.

4:00pm - Home. Do random crap around the house. Check email. Chat on IM. Play the new stupid game (Astropop). Feed Yoshi a Maui Onion & Garlic flavored almond (”Ack! Salty!” says Yoshi.). Whine because I’m bored. Annoy the Yoshi because that’s more fun than being bored. Whine some more because it’s Saturday night and I’m just sitting in front of the computer.

6:00pm - Yoshi gets sick of my whining and asks me what I want to do. I say, “I dunno.” Yoshi asks me what I want for dinner… I say, “Food.” Yoshi resists the urge to whack me upside the head.

6:30pm - Yoshi suggests we go to Target to get some stuff for the house. I say, “Ok.”

7:00pm - I drive to the Target at the West Hollywood Gateway. That is one confusing parking lot. Yoshi says my brakes shouldn’t be making that noise. Uh oh, must take car in next week (and probably deplete bank account to do so). We attempt to buy only what we can carry but end up having to get a cart to put our random crap in. We take our stuff to the car and decide to explore the West Hollywood Gateway for food.

8:00pm - We go and check out ULTA upstairs, a Sephora/Pure Beauty wannabe store. I try out a massage chair and then buy random beauty products.

8:15pm - Dinner at Pasta Pomodoro, which I’d never been to before. Yoshi spots what I’m going to order (Verdure Roasted Brussels sprouts, eggplant, asparagus and broccoli with olive oil and garlic or spicy Pomodoro sauce. Add Chicken.) before I even look at the menu. Am I *that* predictable?! Waitress apologizes because she didn’t realize our table was in her section. We had had wait all of 2 minutes to make our order. We barely had to wait. Waitress offers to buy us dessert. I contemplate the little tartlets, but we decline… we weren’t at all perturbed and I had eaten enough random crap at the birthday party already.

9:00pm - Head home; stake claim to bathroom immediately upon arriving at the doorstep (drank too much water at dinner). Take trash out. Put load of laundry in the washer (along with too much detergent. Oops.). Clean kitchen, put random stuff away.

10:00pm - Blog about the day. Return some emails and catch up with some chatting. Eat more Maui Onion & Garlic flavored almonds. Don’t share them with Yoshi, who just doesn’t appreciate them.

Still left to do: Share Maui Onion and Garlic breath with Yoshi, who’d better appeciate it!