Little Ethiopia
And the food was amazing! We had no idea what we were doing or what to order, so the waitress said she would surprise us. So first she brought out Ethiopian wine which was very sweet, kind of like honey wine. And then the main dish came out which was a huge platter of chicken, steak, vegetables, and various sauces- some spicy and some like hummus-y. The coolest part was that you don’t use utensils. Instead, they give you these thin rice crepe like things, that you use to pick up the food. If you’re really good at it, the food is never supposed to touch your fingers, only the rice “towels.” The food was amazing and within minutes my brothers and I had devoured the entire platter of food. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone and I totally want to go back and try more Ethiopian dishes.
You know you’re old when…
I totally don’t feel old enough to be receiving wedding invitations but I’ve received two “save the date” invites in the mail and I am expecting one more soon. And I haven’t even graduated college yet! Its crazy!
Yesterday I went to my first bridal shower. I was completely overwhelmed, I had no idea what the protocol was- what do you wear, what do you write in the card, what do you buy? This is so far out of my realm. I think I handled myself ok though. I wore a skirt and top, not too fancy; I bought martini glasses off of her registry; and in the card I wrote: “Congratulations! I am so proud of you, and so excited for the life you will live together. I cant wait to see how beautiful you look in the wedding dress.” That seems ok right?
The shower was actually really nice. We ate great food, played games, watched her open the gifts; actually very much like a little kid’s birthday party except the gifts were casserole dishes and wine glasses rather than Barbies. I’m really excited for the wedding, it will be absolutely beautiful and so much fun. I just feel really old and grown up. Long gone are the days of piñatas and funfetti birthday cake.
Senior week!
This past week was "Senior Week" for my sorority, a weeklong celebration of our last 4 years at college and a time to honor the seniors. It was such a blast and a great way to hang out with all my sorority sisters before we all go our separate ways. I just cant believe how quickly these 4 years went by. It seems like just yesterday I came to college, then I was a new member in the house, then before I knew it I was decorating the bucket of goodies for my big sis, and now its my turn! Wow time flies...
So the week started out with the "Senior send off" on Sunday where we read wills to the rest of the house, which I was unfortunately unable to attend. But basically my will would have included: late night study sessions in the study room eating cereal, Franz's (our chef) amazing lasagna, midnight runs to Chanos, and other such crazy things- all to my amazing little sis in the house.
Then Tuesday night the younger girls in the house dressed up in ridiculous outfits including feather boas, whistles, and tiaras, and we all went together to the 9-0 (the local bar). That was a ton of fun being able to hang out with all my senior sorority sisters. Wednesday night we went to C&O Trattoria, an ammmmmazing Italian food restaurant in Marina Del Rey. And then Thursday we were again dressed up in ridiculous shirts and went to Sharkeez, a fun bar/ restaurant in Manhattan Beach. It was such an amazing week and I'm going to be so sad to leave all these girls in 4 weeks. But I will never forget all the amazing memories we shared.
Chinatown and Olvera Street, all in one day
Today I went with my mentee from WYSE (Women and Youth Supporting Each Other) and some other mentors to Chinatown. The girls were a little skeptical about Chinese food and most of them had never been to Chinatown. It was really cool driving them down Broadway Street under the dragon arches and showing them Chinatown with all the Chinese characters on the buildings, the people, and the new sights and smells. Then we went to my favorite restaurant in Chinatown- Yang Chow. If you've never been there, then the next time you're in LA you HAVE to go there, its amazing (make sure to get the slippery shrimp). We taught the girls how to use chopsticks, which was quite entertaining, and then we got them to dry all new kinds of food. We were laughing and having a wonderful time. We all made sure to save room for churros though from Olvera Street.
Then we drove to Olvera Street, though technically you could walk cause they're so close. Olvera Street is considered the "Birthplace of LA," and has been around since the late 1700's. It is this historic street distric with Mexican shops, restaurants, and souvenirs. The food is absolutely amazing and on weekends there is live music in the plaza. Its amazing that two completely different cultures/ subdomains of Los Angeles exist so close to one another. So we walked around Olvera Street for awhile, taking in all the sites and playing with the toys and souvenirs, and then got churros from Mr. Churros shop. These are probably the best churros you will ever have in your life. This street is always so much fun and its bustling with people. The girls had a great time and I know that we all did too :-)
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