:]

making money by collecting precious metals: need more gold.

2009-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

white belt:
2007 us grappling championship 2nd place

blue belt:
2009 gracie barra season opener 1st place
2009 south bay jiu jitsu championship 1st place
2009 american nationals brazilian jiu jitsu championship 3rd place!!!

boston: beer, history, beer.

2009-09-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

boston, ma
labor day weekend 2009

50/50 guard.

2009-08-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

after increasing popularity of the controversial 50/50 guard (controversial because it is mainly being used as a stalling technique) the brazilian jiu jitsu gods have gathered to invent new techniques to counter it. checkmat's take on a submission and an escape from the position:

calf slicer from the 50/50 guard:

escape from the 50/50 guard:

no summer break? who cares, i'll take my break whenever i want.

2009-08-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

welcome to the rc16 annex. imagine area 51, but 100 times less cool. i guess this is gonna be home for the remainder of the product's life. bigger cubes, more privacy to facebook, better food...i'm pretty happy :]. just gotta remember not to get stuck here for the rest of my life, gotta go for the dream.

happy birthday noona! the french laundry cookbook. sorry it's just a book, but when i heard that eric was getting you that marc jacobs bag, i sorta gave up on the bourgie gift and had to go with heartfelt. :[ next year!

@ lucille's. bbq feast and red velvet cake. so sweet, felt i had to punish myself while my teeth disintegrated with every bite.

she turned 29 and although 30 is around the corner, i realized that life just keeps getting better with age. college was alright, but being broke and binge drinking everynight in some stranger's house isn't really that appealing anymore. hurry up and have a baby so that i can start my soon to be brazilian jiu jitsu family/clan!

so here's the story if you haven't heard already. i'm not a violent person at all so please don't fear me. alex and me decide to go to baden baden and quenton comes with while everyone just "sits" around watching tv. three bottles of soju and some food between the three of us and some good conversation. the night was good, but alex (partially buzzed) decides to provoke my ego and calls me old and that i can't hang. he proposes a drinking challenge. our poison is chosen my a neutral party: jameson irish whiskey. i know i have this one in the bag, whiskey is like juice to me. concerned, i ask alex what time he has to wake up the next day and he reassures me that he is responsible. drinking commences and a fifth of alcohol (between two people) later i emerge victorious! he passes out, then i pass out after my victory parade. i wake up around 3 to go take a pee. the lights are off and i listen intently to make sure that i'm not missing. i'm good. then, for some odd reason i lose my bearings and can't find the door. later i find that i was trying to "slide" the door because i was stuck in japan mode, but turns out i was messing with a wall. i scream for help not being able to get out. five minutes later, in the dark, i feel claustrophobic and decide that the only way out is to break down the door. elbow! punch! punch! wait a minute. holy %$&@! what did i do? door handle turn, lights on. oh crap! i wake up later to find that alex doesn't wake up in time for his quiz and almost misses work too later that day. sorry that i ruined your life, haha. :[

the beginning of my quest to eat everything on this planet. part 4.

2009-08-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

grilled japanese eggplant with a miso glaze

tempura don-buri. place was famous for this stuff and hear that there's usually a line out the door during lunch hours.

okonomiyaki :]

the view from the restaurant. i wanted to make out with myself.

sapporo beer museum/heaven

hakata ramen at ippudo roppongi. has to be the best ramen in the world. perfect in every way. our last full meal in tokyo and what a way to end the beginning of many more journeys to come. life is good.

the beginning of my quest to eat everything on this planet. part 3.

2009-08-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

alrighty here it is. i jacked these pictures from google, but you'll get the idea. ginza kyubey. originally the plan was to go to sukiyabashi jiro, but turns out that at least one member of the party has to be a japanese speaker. i guess none of them speak any english and they believe that they can't serve you to the extent that they would like so... ginza kyubey was our next choice. after reading up, it definitely was not a disappointment since they say that kyubey is the no. 1 in ginza and the no. 1 in ginza is the no. 1 in tokyo and the no. 1 in tokyo is the no. 1 in japan and the no. 1 in japan is the no. 1 in the world.

took forever to find and just enough luck. situated in an alley, nothing impressive at first. in no particular order. we ordered the omakase, of course.

awabi (abalone)

crazy. daikon sandwich with a shiso leaf and ume (plum) sauce. very refreshing. good palate cleanser.

fresh ebi (shrimp). it's pretty nuts since the things are still alive and jumping on a bed of ice as the kill the sucker right before you eat it.

uni (sea urchin). gunkan style. kyubey invented this style of wrapping the seaweed around the goods. it was glorious.

saba (chub mackeral)

some sort of clam. the guy takes the clam meat and slams it onto the cutting board and it magically comes back to life, squirming and all. mmmm.

ika (squid). so soft. hardly chewy as we are all used to.

hirame (sole)

o-toro (fattiest tuna). this is the creme de la creme of sushi. the fattiest part of the tuna and also the most valuable. notice that the better the quality of tuna the more it starts to look like beef. this was the first piece of nigiri that we were served. by the end of the meal, i was down to order just a plate of this. melts in your hands AND in your mouth AND then your brain. so frickin good.

grilled anago (salt water eel), one with salt and the other with a sauce. unlike any anago i have ever tried. the meat is light and fluffy, they season it perfectly. foodgasm at this point.

things not pictured: maki sushi, tamago (egg), and maybe a few other things. they say that a restaurant prides itself on the tamago that it makes since it is the cheapest thing you can order. the better the restaurant, the better the tamago. this had to have been the best tamago ever. best meal of my life, by far. i even think that at this moment i had a true epiphany. i realized that life is short, so live it up while you can. love the people around you, love the God that made all of this wonderful stuff around us and love whatever makes you truly happy. i love food and i plan to eat it right. one country at a time. damn, never knew raw fish could make you think so much. only one problem, i haven't touched a piece of sushi since i came back. i don’t want to be a snob about it, but what can you do when you’ve seen the light. it almost angers me now when people talk about all you can eat and a good meal is now almost a cry for desperation. but i think that i've found a couple of local, worthy substitutes: ikko and sushi wasabi, hope you do not disappoint.

omotesando hills. south coast plaza's "good" section times twenty and then on crack. man's worst nightmare. not only is it six stories tall, but much much dinero can be lost here.

came here when we met up with steph's brother. an unassuming mostly outdoor restaurant on a street corner where you sit on plastic crates turned over, i definitely enjoyed the food + beer here. things devoured: sashimi, grilled abalone and mushrooms, grilled fish, kaisen natto (fermented soybean, salmon roe, tuna and squid) and beer. yeah, i know natto has a bad rep since it smells like poo + death and even moreso mixed with fish egg and some more raw fish, but trust, one of the best things that i've tried. we need places like this in america. good food, beer, being outside, mmmm.

the beginning of my quest to eat everything on this planet. part 2.

2009-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

summer veggies

seared scallops on nori (dried seaweed)

seared uni (sea urchin) on crispy rice on nori (dried seaweed)

seared foie gras on grilled daikon (radish) with summer vegetables

wagyu kobe beef, blended daikon (radish) and grilled bean sprouts

one of the best meals of my life. this was the first time that i've ever had seared foie gras. at first i was a bit skeptical as to whether or not it would lose some of it's nature as a delicacy, but my world has been forever changed and now am a firm believer that almost everything tastes better grilled. the wagyu at the end was overkill. i thought of the starving children in africa...that didn't last too long because it was so damn good. if you think mastro's is good, this place shits on mastro's beef and then humiliates it. melts in your mouth and i know that people often overuse this descriptor, but the beef really did melt in my mouth. wow.

akasaka yoko hotel

bus to ghibli museum

hayao miyazaki is an animation genius, kinda reminds me of a young me, except more genius.

the beginning of my quest to eat everything on this planet. part 1.

2009-08-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

me: hey boss, i'm gonna take a short vacation in two weeks.
boss: okay, have fun!

[a week later]
boss: hey, where'd you go?
me: japan.
boss: wtf! haha.

first stop in my journey to try everything tasty that this earth has to offer. tokyo.
the challenge: trying to see all of tokyo in a week.

of course.

beef tataki salad.

japanese eggplants with a miso glaze. frickin good, coming from someone who prefers only eating things that have a pulse.

udon. bomb.

cold soba. you grind your own roasted sesame seeds, restaurant must've been lazy. kristen, i jacked some of your pictures! first dinner in tokyo. risky. setting the bar too high? hell no!

tsukiji fish market at 4 a.m. with 30 minutes of sleep. tuna auctions. the rest of the market was HUGE.

this definitely made it worth it. sushi at 6 in the morning with an ice cold brew to get me through the day!!! probably made with the fish that we saw in the market.

roppongi hills. where i wanna live. the rich area of tokyo + nightlife + amazing food = happy tim.

kaminarimon, a big ass lantern, in front of a flea market, in front of a temple. nice.

legit. sanctity from the heat. a/c is seriously crucial here in the summer.

akihabara. a town for nerds, perverts (there's a bunch of cartoon porn shops) and people looking to buy cheap electronics. i swear if they start playing nba 2k9, i'm gonna burn this place down.

mitama festival. oc fair on crack. imagine a shitload of people, food stands lining both sides (and not that deep fried crap that they have at the fair), half naked drummers dropping a beat, in front a shrine. supposedly where they housed the remains of japanese war criminals. ooohh controversial, but i don't care right now, me rikey food.

done! shower, bedtime beer, sleep. good day.

da jiu jitsu.

2009-07-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

i know that no one cares about brazilian jiu jitsu, but i also know that no one probably reads this anyways so...
my jiu jitsu game has finally come to a new level after plateauing for a good 6 months or so. my transitions are tight, my positional control combined with my new fatass weight has become a new threat to be reckoned with, my butterfly guard sweeps and my armbars whether they be from the guard, inverted, from the gogoplata position, from side control transition to far side armbar, etc...are my new weapons of choice. things that i need to work on: chokes, wrist locks, ankle locks, and turtle guard.

anyways...a few weeks back before my japan trip i went to the 2009 south bay brazilian jiu jitsu open. i came, i saw and i conquered. nothing feels better than getting your arm raised knowing that you just kicked the other guy's ass and also knowing that he knows it too. highlights: going without a corner man because my professor had family in town, eating a flame broiler teriyaki bowl an hour before my fights and still winning, instilling fear into my divsion that hopefully lasts well into next year and...my first flying submission in competition (flying triangle transition to armbar)! number 15 on my 100 things you should do before reaching black belt list...check! got my third stripe on my blue belt and the purple belt should come within a year from now or less. dare i say future black belt mundials champion...

official results finally posted

with my san diego daddy, he's so proud of me :tear:, haha

bueno.

2009-07-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

i don't know if the universe is paying me back for 23 years of crap or if i'm just old enough to realize how much i appreciate life and it's little nuances, but everything seems to be falling into place nicely :]. work is bueno, brazilian jiu jitsu is double bueno and life in general is bueno deluxe. i've decided that i'm going to screw saving up for a year or two and to just spend my dinero traveling, eating the world's delicious food and seeing the beauty of the world while i'm still relatively young, before i have to buy a house, car, etc... thanks God, much appreciated. updates galore when i have time.

dilemma.

2009-07-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

do you take the money or do you take the happiness? what to do...?

brain hurting, i guess i'll think about it later.

up next: friday: northrop grumman golf tournament. imagine the tiger woods and the anthony kim of the company playing on the same team. game over. we got this. and family dinner for my dad's big announcement. long lost freak brother? long lost freak sister? saturday: south bay jiu jitsu tournament. super heavyweight? oh man, david versus goliath. except this time david is frickin huge too. and then some jbbq (japanese bbq) with the kids!!! sunday: tokyo!!!

spontaneity.

2009-07-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

the best things in life happen when you just go with the flow of things.

spontaneous 4th of july big bear fishing trip:

couple of beers and some quiet time. old man and the sea :[

GIANT catfish :]good day

sorry, no pictures of food this week, just stayed in and bbq'd. massive ribeye's, baked potatoes, sauteed spinach, grilled corn, baked beans, gentleman's jack daniels whiskey, beer, scrambled eggs, thick cut applewood smoked bacon, grilled baguettes, waffles, italian sausage, spaghetti, chips, etc… enough food to feed a large mexican family for a week, eaten in two days. everything was cooked in butter because we forgot to bring oil. mmmm. i guess it's salads this entire week :[.

next up: spontaneous japan trip, on two weeks notice.

on my mind...

2009-06-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

over thinking is overrated. too many things to worry about in the future (i.e. buying a house, finding the perfect career, finding time for yourself, etc...), which is why i've decided to drop all of my worries for the next couple of weeks and let things just turn out the way that they're supposed to. i guess listen to what God has to say for once. but it definitely feels good now that i've already mentally checked out until the most random/spontaneous japan trip ever!!!! only 7 more working days and i'm outta this b.

and to end off on an even happier note, here are a few pictures of some delicious food:

antipasti (left to right): bresaola nostrana (house-cured beef, wild arugula, shaved parmigiano, lemon, tuscan olive oil), ventresca, borlotti e cipolle (olive oil-poached tuna belly, cranberry beans, pickled red onions), and polipo e patate (charred mediterranean octopus, yukon gold potatoes, celery hearts, sicilian capers).

primi: tortelli di pere e pecorino al burro e salvia (pear and pecorino tortelli, brown butter, sage). freakin delicious. all it needs now is some shaved white truffles and a few gold flakes. mmmm.

pizze: prosciutto di parma e rucola (margherita with parma ham and wild arugula). mmmm.

pizze: pancetta, ricotta e cipollotto (fresh ricotta, house-cured pork belly, scallions, fennel pollen). so good. house-cured pork belly is like homemade bacon, ricotta is like God's cheese, and fennel pollen, who knows what that tastes like, but it's Frickin good, capital F.

gastronomical adventures. haha, that sounds kinda dirty.

2009-06-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

i have a week until work is gonna get crazy so, i made a list. i love lists. places to eat before i die. kinda like the movie the bucket list except with food since i'm a fatass. i'm guessing that the list is gonna cost me at least one of my organs with all of the plane tickets and such, so sugar mamas are definately welcome, i make a good companion. in no particular order:

st. john (london) - roast bone marrow and traditional english fare.
elBulli (spain) - supposedly the most difficult reservation to book (you need to book one year in advance), plus round trip plane ticket to barcelona, plus hotel, plus a rental car to drive to roses for a ~$400 per person, ~30 course, 4 hour dinner experience with ferran adria at a 3 star Michelin rated restaurant. voted the #1 restaurant in the world run by the #1 chef in the world.
french laundry (napa valley, ca) - thomas keller's restaurant. foie gras, caviar, snippets of megan fox's hair, and anything else you can imagine.
per se (new york, ny) - thomas keller's restaurant on the east coast.
sin huat eating house (singapore) - located in singapore's red light district, you'll probably catch something just by looking at someone, but it's looks like its worth it.
le bernardin (new york, ny) - fish, the best in the world.
salumi (seattle, wa) - small sandwich shop owned by mario batali's parents. somehow they formed a super baby so seperately they'd be good too.
russ & daughters (new york, ny) - eastern european jewish style herring and smoked belly lox.
katz's delicatessen (new york, ny) - best ever pastrami on rye. katz's was featured in the movie when harry met sally…or so i've heard.
etxebarri (spain) - almost everything is grilled over homemade charcoal, mmm.
sushi mizutani (tokyo), kyubey (tokyo), or sukiyabashi jiro (tokyo) - best sushi EVER. each piece is served at the precise temperature when it tastes best.
hot doug's (chicago, il) - foie gras hot dog and fries cooked in duck fat. om nom nom.
oklahoma joe's barbeque (kansas city, mi) - best in KC, best in the world.
CUT - wolfgang puck's steakhouse. authentic wagyu ribeye goes for around $200 a la carte. it's the steak God would eat…if he ate steak.
minibar by jose andres (washington, d.c.) - cotton candy foie gras, philly cheese steak made with kobe beef and a lot of food that is deconstructed. ooh, the bill comes inside an egg shell that you smash to open. interesting..
alinea (chicago, il) - one of the best meals that money can buy in america.
urusawa - arguably one the most expensive dinners in the world. 30 course omakase, over 4 hours long, ~$500 per person including sake, tax and tip. kobe beef, uni galore, toro up the butt, a giant piece of black truffle made into tempura and gold flakes on a bunch of the dishes. ridiculous. and the general consensus is that for what you get, it's a bargain. 2 Michelin stars.
stonehill tavern - michael mina's restaurant at the st. regis.
fogo de chao - upscale brazilian churascarria
lawry's the prime rib - prime rib!
animal - another one of those restaurants on acid. foie gras loco moco, bacon wrapped chocolate bar, etc...
pizzeria mozza - comparing it to pizza hut is like comparing in-n-out to pedigree dog chow.
bouchon (las vegas, nv) - thomas keller's restaurant for common folk which is still pretty baller. good brunch if you're in vegas.
providence - 9 course tasting menu.
lola gaspar - duck tacos and french fries cooked in duck fat. efficiency.
ambrosia - shrimp scampi flambe cooked tableside and a crazy amuse bouche.
anjin - jbbq, kinda like kbbq except the j is for japanese.
langer's - pastrami on rye. pretty much katz's but in l.a.
philippe the original restaurant - french dip.
father's office - booze and burgers.
park avenue - one of the best restaurants in all of orange county and it's in stanton. who knew?
orange hill restaurant - good food, amazing view.
hollingshead's delicatessen - aa afterparty headquarters. nice deli with beer as far as the eye can see, including pliny the younger, 11% abv.
marche moderne - french appetizer's galore.
basilic - small french restaurant on balboa island.
red lobster - how have i never been here? i hear that the cheese bread is all the rage.

blue - the ultimate food run; no rush to complete; could possibly be the last meal i ever have
red - phase one of list completion; take out loans; rob a bank; begin the journey of a lifetime
black - anytime; mostly local
green - done!

feel free to make suggestions of possible additions.

meh.

2009-06-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

where has the time gone? this past year has seriously been a blur, so much has changed for me since college and it feels like if things continue like this, that life is just gonna pass like gas. i think that i finally realize my age and the impending doom of what is yet to come for me in life, but i also reflect on how much i have already accomplished and all the things i've experienced, the highs and the lows. it's very comforting knowing that my life is just beginning and the fun starts now. keeping a blog is lame, i feel like doogie howser m.d. right now minus the blue screen, being a boy genius and the fact that nph is gay, but i think that keeping account of things will help me cherish life's moments instead of letting them insipidly pass by. i guess this is the precursor to my quarter-life crisis, either that or i'm really frickin bored during the week. either way, hope this makes for some good bathroom reading at least.

where to begin? well it's been about 10 months since i moved out of THE bubble into a different bubble, rancho bernardo, a suburb of san diego and i'm already looking to move back and vanpool to work as soon as my lease ends. as soon as i got the call that i had a job waiting for me, i was happier than ginger kids on crack. i was moved out and ready to go in less than a week. living alone was cool for the first month or so because you can do whatever you want, sleep naked, watch tv naked, drink naked, but when you start cooking naked it starts to get a little weird. anyways, for those of you that know me best, you know that aside from God, family, friends and crap there are only two things in life that i truly love: brazilian jiu jitsu and food, pretty much all i do nowadays.

pretty much my daily routine:

go to work super early because apparently old people never sleep
getting in some studying

a little bit of this after work
a little bit of that (spicy tuna-don with canned tuna. limited ingredients because i'm too lazy to go to the market. not bad though.)

bad habits, must stop soon

and a lot of this on the weekends! mmmm! grilled artichokes and prime rib.