Saturday, April 26, 2008

Little Ethiopia

I just went out to dinner in Little Ethiopia with my two brothers that live in LA (the other one is still in high school so lives back in Sacramento). It was an awesome experience. First, I would like to point out – where else in the world (other than Ethiopia) can you get Ethiopian food? That’s why LA is so great, because it is such a melting pot and you can try so many new things and meet people from different cultures and backgrounds.

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.
 
Sunday, April 6, 2008

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 :-)