October Almost Over?!

It's early in the morning, but I thought I'd write something up before going to bed.

Let me begin by saying that I had a wonderful time with Carrot on our 10 month anniversary. I really enjoyed our delicious thai/japanese fusion dinner we had and watching a movie. The only thing I have to say about NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU is that it lacks the ability to explain the "love" aspect in the movie and seems to give off the impression that love in NY is mostly having sex and drinking alcohol which leads up to sex. I was a bit disappointed because my thoughts before watching the movie was that there were going to be short stories on what love is through different couples living in NY. Hopefully the next movie, Shanghai, I love you will be better.

Huntington Library - Chinese Garden

Last week was really busy for both me and Carrot. We had gone to a screening of Academy Award winning documentaries and met the directors, producers, and even the individuals who were featured in the film. It was interesting, but there were moments where I couldn't keep my eyes open. ^_^; It was cold in the theater too. A couple of days later we went to the Huntington Library for a preview of what the Chinese American Exhibit in the US Pavilion will look like at the Shanghai Expo for next May. We met some of the C-100 members, whom are Chinese American individuals which have succeeded in various fields here in the US, and the president and VP of the Huntington Library. Carrot is currently the project manager of the Chinese American Exhibit. The library has really beautiful gardens there and it's huge!! Be sure to check it out when you're in the area.

On Friday we attended the Chinese American Museum's grand opening of Arthur Dong's "Hollywood Chinese" exhibition. Carrot and I carpooled with 'The Joy Luck Club' actresses Tsai Chin and Lisa Lu as they were featured guests at the event. The two are very special ladies and had interesting stories about their life. Arriving to the event 30-min late due to traffic, we strolled down a "red carpet" and had the honor to meet Arthur Dong, the president and executive director of the Chinese American Museum, and the artist who made Disney's Bambi - Tyrus Wong! That was the first time I found out that Bambi was drawn by a Chinese guy. His daughter invited us to his 99th birthday the following day at the Santa Monica beach to fly his hand-made kites. He was a wonderful man and despite having hearing aids, he had a pretty good memory. The "Hollywood Chinese" exhibition was really nice because it was basically a collection of Chinese actors/producers/directors/writers/etc in Hollywood films over the years. Again, if you're in town, please check it out and support the Chinese American Museum as it preserves some of the Chinese history.

Disney's Bambi

HAPPY 99th BIRTHDAY TYRUS!!

The following day Carrot and I went to the Santa Monica beach to go to Tyrus Wong's 99th birthday. However, his real birthday was on Monday, October 25th. We met some more interesting folks there on the beach and even got to see Mr. Wong's colorful kites he made. There were 7+ monarch butterflies, 1 centipede, and a bumble bee. He is young at heart with a creative spirit. If you ever are out at the Santa Monica beach, Tyrus Wong can be seen with his kites flying in the sky every 4th Saturday of every month if weather permits.

Even with a busy week we still managed to have a couple of group meetings to work on our YouTube series and make some more delicious food. We will have to post up some pictures soon to show you guys...sorry about the delay! Other than that we went to the library today and picked up lots of DVDs to watch and some language CDs to listen to! I'm kind of excited about learning Japanese.

The week ahead is going to get busy and Halloween is only 3 days away! Got your costume figured out? Well, Carrot and I are planning to be boy and girl scouts, which was inspired by Russell, the little kid from Disney Pixar's UP. Carrot's idea... hehe. Well it should be a lot of fun.
Spend as much time as you can outdoors before it gets really chilly outside!!
Sincerely,
Tomato

Celebrations with the Tomato

On Saturday Tomato and I celebrated yet another one of our special dates.  Our Tenth Month being together =]!

We went to Pasadena to eat at a place call Cha La Thai, a Thai/Japanese Fusion.

The food was really good and extremely reasonable in price.  We had a four piece taster platter including fried avocado rolls, tempura, "golden triangles," and smaller fried triangles.  The "golden triangles" were pretty key, it was chopped up crab with cheese in a fried wonton.  We also ate vegas rolls, panang curry and flat noodles.

We had tea with our meal for just an additional $2.  And used a Restaurant.com coupon to chop off another $25 off the bill.

In any case, the dinner was amazing and I loved spending it with my wonderful Tomato.

Afterward we went to Arcadia to watch New York, I Love You.  Both Tomato and I wanted to see it as, 1) I truly enjoyed Paris, I Love You, and 2) Both of us LOVE NEW YORK (and Natalie Portman... for one of us).

For all of you who don't know what these, "I Love You Movies" are, they are compilations of short stories written and produced by significant members of the Hollywood industry about a certain location (i.e. Paris and New York). 

The movie was pretty good overall and I recommend seeing it sometime, however I felt that it left out a lot of fantastical elements that were active in its predecessor.  Natalie Portman's story that she produced was especially good.

The next one on their list is Shanghai, I Love You.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well.  Tomato and I have plenty to look forward to.  We spend a good amount of time this past week planning for what will be something that'll bring you back to our page over and over again.

That is... We are producing our own web series. =]

~Ciao