Eat. Travel. Eat!

Last Saturday, the first Southern California branch of CREAM (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me) opened in University Gateway, an apartment/shopping complex located adjacent to the University of Southern California's University Park Campus in Los Angeles, California. Based out of Northern California , CREAM aims to provide reasonably cost, proprietary and high quality products with friendly service in a "fun and relaxed atmosphere," and is an extremely popular dessert outlet in Northern California. CREAM happened to offer free ice cream sandwiches (normally 2.99 USD) to all customers on their opening day, so I decided to I checked it out. There was quite a queue outside during opening night (took around 30 minutes!), but music from KXSC radio, a raffle for more free CREAM sandwiches, cheerful and motivated employees, and a complimentary drink holder made the wait doable. Inside , CREAM was bustling, with lots of employees running around, scooping ice cream...

DeLuscious Cookies + Milk is a "luxury bakery in Hollywood" that aims to provide "pure indulgence" to their customers through "incredible desserts, impeccable service, and personalized care." With that said, when Katie of DeLuscious Cookies & Milk asked whether I would like to sample their new line of VeLuscious cookies (vegan cookies!), I was definitely curious! Just a few days after I said yes, a sampler box of their products arrived in my mail. Opening the box was like opening a gift-- ribbon on the outside, a personalized letter, pink wrapping paper to present the cookies, individual packaging of the cookies with round, simple labels-- very fancy, and definitely an impression!

Another visit around Trader Joe's led to another cookie discovery: Lemon Heart Cookies. The packing is interesting--clean and fancy--but the ingredients were also interesting. Almond meal? The enriched wheat flour could be swapped for a better ingredient, but considering the nature and pricing of the product, it's decent. Trader Joe's Lemon Heart Cookies were pleasant, and the description ("Delicately textured cookies with a hint of almond flavor and lemon icing") fit completely. The cookies could have been slightly moister (these were pretty dry), but were pleasantly sweet and lemony. By that, I mean that the cookies were not artificially lemony, but rather had a natural lemon flavor. The almond meal added additional texture, which I liked. I'd buy these again!

Back in May, I attended the UC Irvine Undergraduate Research Symposium , an annual symposium featuring undergraduate research. Although I only attended the afternoon session, there was still much to see and to learn--I was unable to visit all the presenters' posters or oral presentations! This research symposium featured undergraduate research from the entire university, meaning that one could find research in computer science, engineering, humanities, biological sciences, and more in the same spot! There were also two parts: oral sessions, where presenters discussed their projects with projected presentation slides to a small audience in one room, and poster displays, where presenters discussed their projects next to their posters outside. The research was quite diverse; a few of these topics discussed at the symposium include home automation, car security, dorm design, autism, solar stove, literature, autism, chemically powered modeled cars, solar airplanes, and rockets...

Having reached the trough in terms of Chinese restaurant suggestions in San Francisco, we went out scouting for opinions when we were in Chinatown. The lady at Eastern Bakery came up with Far East Cafe for three reasons: cost, cleanliness, and taste. Although the entrance did not reveal much, we took the suggestion and walked in.

Sesame Grill has been one of the restaurants I've been frequenting for about ten years now, and I've previously posted two reviews on just their early-bird dinner specials . However, I had always meant to write a separate post on simply their lunch specials. With each month past those two reviews, I had always wanted to write this post on Sesame Grill. But then there were problems. The pictures to me seemed mediocre, and so I wanted to improve them with subsequent visits. Soon enough, the pictures were over the amount I would typically post! The time to post about a post of such length became shorter as time moved on, and this post was left to sit out for quite a while. Having not posted for two weeks I might as well do something interesting for this week! Today, I present you these pictures, from all the way back to May of 2009 to current time on Sesame Grill. There has been quite an improvement in their offerings and I think you will be able to sense ...