This is a record for me….. 12 days of zero [ 0 ] blog reading. And, I can’t believe I have not seen , heard nor read any news about that man living in the White House for 12 days, as well. That’s amazing ! I’m sooo happy.
So , what have I been doing the past 12 days ? Well, I went to Long Beach, California to visit my brother ( well, he insisted and paid for my plane fare…. otherwise , I wouldn’t go, he he ) …….that was on July 3 and 4, and came back home on the 5th at 10 AM, rested a bit at home, and went straight to work at 12 PM. I thought I could swim at the beach , but it was cold, around 70 F ( ~ 22 C ) . Bro’s house is just a 15 minute walk from the beach. From Long Beach airport , we drove about an hour to LA to have lunch at LA Rose Café , an authentic Filipino restaurant somewhere in East Hollywood. This is my second time to eat there. My brother goes there at least 3 x a month so the owner , Lem, knows him already. He’s a very friendly guy who talks to customers. The area is a bit , well, ghetto-ish, and the outside of the restaurant is kind of old and unpolished…. ( don’t judge a book by its cover, y’know ? ) but inside, it’s Old Manila interior , with rattan chairs , chandeliers and elaborately designed mirrors, things one wouldn’t expect to see in that place.
Don’t think it’s pretentious to have live music in this Philippine restaurant. It’s actually in their culture. In the Philippines, some serenaders are called combancheros , and they usually sing old Spanish songs… * sings * Besame , besame mucho….. Good thing there’s no karaoke… thank God for small mercies, because Filipinos = karaoke. I didn’t want to listen to some random guy singing, ” I , I who have nothing…” while I was eating grilled tocino, 2 sunny side ups and fried garlic rice.
My dessert of bread pudding was heavenly. 
Lem, the owner , even gave us the secret ingredient for his pudding. They don’t use old , stale bread…. they use freshly baked croissant. By the way, bread pudding is a staple in all bakeries in the Philippines. ( for obvious reasons… all that old, unsold bread, y’know ) I always cook bread pudding from old bread. This time I’ll use croissant. Oh, I know he has other secrets, ha ha !
So , am I promoting LA Rose Café ? Yes, I guess so. Filipino restaurants are few and far between, and most of them are cafeteria/carinderia style…. definitely the lowest in the totem pole of classic dining. LA Rose Cafe has been existing for 35 years, and that says something about the place. ( By the way, it catered for the Grammy Awards 2x. )
This week, too, my co-workers and I went to Sta. Cruz, California for a 2 day R & R. It’s a 3 hour drive from our city. Tuesday and Wednesday, July 10 and 11. It’s a quaint, old beach town . We had fun at the boardwalk and rode on one of the oldest rollercoaster ( called Big Dipper ) in the US ( circa 1926 ). It was a scary ride… sounded like it would fall apart at any moment ( while we were on it )
So what else did I do the rest of the week ? I finished God of War 4 ! ! ! Holy mother of pink ! ! ! Woo ! That was an amazing game …. insanely difficult, too. The Valkyries… oh, goodness gracious ! I posted about this video game on my manga/anime/video games blogsite @ https://2megaworthitwordpresscomblog.wordpress.com/
This is all for now. Gonna start reading your blogs now…. bye, and see you on your blogs !
Am a Molecular Microbiology student, love to read books, and I play the violin. 
dreamsending
renxkyoko
renxkyoko's space 
Posted by gardeninacity on July 15, 2018 at 2:34 am
I thought of you recently when I saw something on tv about a really popular Filipino bakery in Chicago called Jennivee’s.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 15, 2018 at 4:16 am
You know, I read a cook book written by a well known TV chef ” Wok with Yan ” . About Philippine cuisine, he writes that Fiipino baked products are second to none. I think I believe that. Hmmm, jennivees …. I’ll google that.
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 8:10 am
It looks like a nice place . . . not sure I would like what you ate but I’m sure they do hamburgers.
. . . right? They do hamburgers, right?
But, the place looks nice. Not sure about the music . . . unless they sing this song:
Posted by renxkyoko on July 15, 2018 at 8:45 am
The music is nice and mellow, classical, actually.
Hamburgers ? I’m not sure… but I saw a chicken sandwich, so most likely there’s hamburger. After all, it’s a café, not a full blown restaurant. I heard the hipsters have discovered the place, and nurses, doctors from 2 nearby hospitals ,and office workers. The place was almost full when we got there at 10:30 AM. They are also selling desserts and other stuff to go. I bought 4 of their bottled sauces, empanadas and their ube cake . ( purple yam . ube =Filipino, ha ha )
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 8:47 am
All the music in that movie is pretty good. Also, my favorite movie.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 15, 2018 at 8:56 am
Wait ! ! Ahahaha ! I heard that song in a restaurant in the Philippines, sung by combancheros ….
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 9:28 am
I like both the music and the lyrics. You should watch the movie . . . when you’re not playing games or reading blogs.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 15, 2018 at 6:28 pm
As long as the movie is not subtitled, then I can watch the tv and read blogs at the same time. I multi- task.
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Ammo say this once . . . no one can multi-task.
That’s just the reality based on how the brain works. We do not have parallel processing.
At best, you can split time between multiple things but doing a disservice to each.
https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/can-humans-actually-multitask.html
Posted by renxkyoko on July 15, 2018 at 9:45 pm
Aaaargh…. my own comment did not go thru my own blogsite.
Anyways, laterz……
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 10:13 pm
. . . perhaps you were “multi-tasking” . . .
Posted by renxkyoko on July 16, 2018 at 2:33 am
So, to be honest, I watch a TV show, and on my table is my laptop, and I read the blogs.If the post calls for some ” thinking ” , like a political ” post, or someone ranting, ~_~, then I put the show on pause, and then I read. But if the post is a photo of , say, ” flower of the day”, or a smart or funny one -liner or quote , I don’t have to pause . I don’t do this though if the movie or TV show is a thriller, a mystery , or a detective story , where every dialogue or scene can give us clues…. I don’t want to miss that. ‘Course it’s really impossible to multi task , like do things at the same time. It’s physically impossible.
Oh, wait….. I watched a Filipino comedy film, where the main character is a single dad with 2 young kids, one is a baby. So, the scene goes like, he’s ironing clothes, and there’s a string that’s tied to his wrist,a nd that string is also tied to a hammock where the baby is sleeping. so the movement of his wrist when ironing is also moving the hammock to and fro, he he…. it seems the baby loves it. Do you think that’s multi-tasking ?
Posted by disperser on July 16, 2018 at 5:07 am
. . . unless he forgets the string is attached and when he goes to put the iron away the crib does a 180 and launches the baby out the window.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 16, 2018 at 6:00 am
~_~
Posted by disperser on July 15, 2018 at 8:06 pm
A test you can do to check:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking
Posted by arlene on July 16, 2018 at 6:46 am
Nice of you eating in a Filipino restaurant there. Mukhang masarap nga yung pudding 🙂
Posted by renxkyoko on July 16, 2018 at 7:48 am
It’s really delicious, Tita Arlene. Also, the place is a bit on the high end. You know, there are no nice Filipino restaurants here in our city…. pulos carinderia style…. kaya we don’t see any non-Filipinos eating here. Okay sana kung masarap at presentable, pero, walang kwenta. Another thing, the dishes are soooooo common and ordinary… fried fish ? menudo, pakbet, chorizo ?? May daing pa yata . Aaargh. Kahit na yung small Chinese restaurants dito, presentable and ala carte. We are not being snobbish, but my Mom said , parang carinderia dyan sa kanto ang image . For Pete’s sakes, nasa America na sila, hindi sa squatters’ area in Manila. We want to eat at some presentable looking restaurant, just like the ones in Manila. No wonder LA Rose is thriving, and thriving amazingly well.
Posted by arlene on July 16, 2018 at 8:50 pm
Siguro they can’t afford bigger establishments ‘no? Do you have Jollibee there too? There are so many high end restaurants here, you can always take your pick. Even in malls, they have lots of them.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 17, 2018 at 5:42 am
It’s not the size, it’s the restaurant itself. It’s not a place where we can bring friends, or someone on a date, kasi carinderia dyan sa kanto ang hitsura. I think owners of good restaurants in the Philippines should invest here. They should establish a restaurant that Filipinos can be proud of. One of the restaurants voted as one of the best in Washington DC is a Filipino restaurant called Purple Yam. One can really tell they spent a lot on the ambience ( Capiz chandeliers, etc and the staff wear a simple Filipino costume, my Mom says is called baro saya ) and the food they say is great.
Anyway, that’s my rant. Ikaw ba Tita, will you bring someone on a date sa turo-turo and eat fried fish ?
Posted by arlene on July 17, 2018 at 10:30 am
Haha, you made me laugh. Siempre pakitang gilas ng kaunti, huwag naman tuyo at itlog ang ihain…hehe! There are so many high-end restaurants here and the food is just great.
Posted by renxkyoko on July 17, 2018 at 3:22 pm
Well, they should have a franchise here. Get a partner here or something. Restaurant business is very risky. But it’s worth it if it’s going to be worth it for Filipinos to patronize it. Just look at LA Rose Café… they ‘ve been in the business for 35 years, imagine that. Filipinos don’t want to celebrate in a carinderia where they point at the food they want to eat. It’s so……..
Posted by arlene on July 17, 2018 at 7:45 pm
Haha!
Posted by D K Powell on July 16, 2018 at 11:45 am
While you were missing anything about the Man in the White House, he was busy causing mayhem over here in the UK! I’d love to believe something good will have com from his meddling – finally getting rid of the equally awful Teresa May – but, like Trump himself, I think she’ll survive his mess. Alas.
Posted by Becky on July 18, 2018 at 12:44 am
reading your post made me hungry and envious! I wish I was at the beach! When I was in Cali, we went to Pimosa Beach, and I tried to go into the ocean. Nope not happening. It was too cold! And I am Canadian! forget that!
I never been to a Filipino restaurant even tho there used to be one here. the girls tho keep telling me to try a Chinese restaurant because their chef is a Filipina and she fries chicken just like Jollibee! Chicken Joy!
Posted by Peter Wells aka Countingducks on July 18, 2018 at 9:05 am
Now I’m feeling hungry, or is that just greedy ?
Posted by RonMamita on July 18, 2018 at 5:07 pm
Thank you for being here, and for sharing cheers!
Posted by Mario Savioni on July 21, 2018 at 8:01 am
Wish I had gotten to meet you. You were about three hours away when you were in Santa Cruz.
Posted by allenjambalaya on July 25, 2018 at 7:51 am
Hello Ren, long time no visit here. ひさしびり!
The café locks like a throwback from the 1900s or even earlier than that. It looks like an ancestral house we visited in Tayabas, Quezon. I wish the café serves Sinigang.
I will be assigned in Japan this September so now they will call me Aren (アレン). Sounds like your name, Ren (レン). Hehe! 😂
Posted by renxkyoko on July 26, 2018 at 11:33 am
I know ! Those decorative mirrors and consoles ! Filipinos love these things. Ha ha We even have mirrors like those here at home…. my mom’s stuff, he he he…..
Aren= Allen LOL It took me a while to get it.
Oh, wait, Japan ???? Whoa ! Lucky, lucky you ! ! !
Posted by barkinginthedark on July 31, 2018 at 4:30 pm
no crispy pata? 🙂 continue…
Posted by usfman on August 7, 2018 at 11:02 pm
I would much rather read about a Philippine restaurant than Donald Trump. Thanks for reading my blog.
Posted by Paul Stroessner on May 9, 2019 at 5:43 pm
Haha! You thought YOU were behind on blog reading! I ended up deleting hundreds, but I keep yours because I love your posts so much.
That Philippine restaurant sounds great! I love trying all different kinds of food. I’m not aware of any Philippine restaurants in my area, but I’ll have to look into it, and see if there are any.
I think I told you before that I lived in the Bay Area for a bit. I had gone to Santa Cruz Boardwalk a couple of times, and went on that roller coaster. I am a roller coaster fanatic. I’m so spoiled now that if it doesn’t do something crazy, I can get bored. But, there’s something about those wooden roller coasters that are special. Maybe it’s because you can really feel the speed. I loved this one, and there was one I went on years ago at Knott’s Berry Farm which was my favorite ride in that park.
And I’m 90% sure that the Boardwalk is where parts of The Lost Boys was filmed.