Exploratorium.

And on the third day, God made the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts. And we paid homage to this king of buildings, and it was good.

If you think I'm exaggerating, you've never been to the Exploratorium. How can I describe it to you? It's like you walk into a room and suddenly you've been given the gift of magic. Only instead of magic, it's SCIENCE.

1. Remember those 4x5 objets d'art you'd find next to the Newton's cradle in fancy offices, with those pins that conformed to whatever shape was pushed into it? And more often than not, that meant your 6-year-old face? Well, there's one of those at the Exploratorium. Only, it's a table.




2. If you've ever been curious to see what ice crystals look like as they form (and let's face it, who hasn't), feel free to pour a warm shock of water over a very cold glass table and watch it freeze before your very eyes.




3. Hey! It turns out, if you put a mirror underneath a bowl of water and cup some air between your hand and the surface of the water, the reflection of the water looks like you're cupping a handful of water in your dry hands!!


4. Giant bubble wall.


5. Jostling aside the 5th graders on their field trips is an unfortunate necessity. But we can't all hog the cool lights, and they've got to learn manners somehow!


6. Since we all secretly loved bullying in elementary school, relive fond memories by posing with a friend at the end of a mirror! Look Ma, a wedgie!


7. Appear even taller than usual, or tall in general (and especially tall next to children)!


8. When you convince your friend to "just try it, it'll be fun," stand on the other side, wait for her to head toward the shoe and then scream when she touches it. You know, to mix things up a little.


9. Discover the joys behind hidden treats like musical water fountains.




10. Heck, you might as well go all out and make the cafeteria food look better than it tastes or even more expensive than it costs!


11. Giant bubbles.


12. Giant bubbles.


13. Impress your friends by learning the nuances connecting Hokusai and rubber duckies.


14. Wander around outside to look at the mallards and the buildings.








15. Take pictures with your friends.


16. Get suckered into eating at an adorable Euro-style eatery in North Beach.


Congratulations! In 16 short steps you've spent a memorable, exciting third day in San Francisco and unlocked the key to your imagination with science. Tune in next time when we ask, is stupid as really as stupid does it as? Is?

p.s. Prepare to have your mind blown. This is Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

San Francisco Day 2: Flowers, Facial Hair and Pizza (5/27)

Magnus lives on a sweet little street in Japantown. There are trees outside his window, elderly people live in most of the apartments, and the lobby has an old-fashioned gate. This is his charming, peaceful view.


And this is how he repays it.


OK, so he's a bachelor. He can't cook. And he is rather tidy, at least judging from his bathroom. Oh, and his fridge.

Also, we stocked the orange juice.

I mean, seriously??


Notice the paper bag/trash can. In the sink.

Needless to say, we went out. A lot.

On our first full day, Magnus recommended a crepe place nearby, so we boogied on over and bought ourselves what we thought would be a nice little snack savored delicately on our forks. Then we were given this.


Nutella, strawberries, and vanilla bean gelato in a crepe cone. Messier than it looks and even better than it sounds.

After our dainty breakfast we took the bus over to Golden Gate Park, stopping in a place we'd only driven by before: the Conservatory of Flowers.


But first, silliness.




So there we were, done taking our weirdo snapshots and all ready to go inside, when something caught my eye. I paused.


Lauren, look! It's a couple dressed in the height of Victorian fashion! How quaint! Wait till they get a little closer!

Then I froze.

Ladies and gentleman, the award for the world's craziest facial hair goes to the gentleman in the top hat!


And I'm pretty sure that was a little daisy at the end of it.

When we picked up our jaws enough to go inside, we saw how lovely the Conservatory actually is. The entire building categorizes its plants by environment and divides the room into these microclimates, so one place would be cool and shady and the next oppressively humid.



Unfortunately we couldn't disturb the plants too much, otherwise I definitely would have climbed in there and pulled a Kate from LOST hiding from the smoke monster. No? Too much?







Uh, am I the only one who never thought about how pineapples grow? Because holy cow, how adorable are pineapple plants??








We then moved into the tropical room.


And this is what happened immediately to my glasses.


They had this eerie giant tank in the middle of the room that was murky and covered with lotus leaves, so you wouldn't be able to tell an alligator or Jason Voorhees was lurking in it until too late.









We left to find an even colder, foggier city than before.


The only thing to do, then, was find pizza. And thanks to my coworkers Natalie and Drew, boy, did we ever find some. Escape from New York Pizza is a place wars could be fought over. Hearts broken. Wallets emptied.

"The Gourmet": spinach, feta, sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes. In the background, a slice of pesto.


Then the holy grail of pizzas: "You Say Potato." Thin slices of potato and whole cloves of roasted garlic over a pesto base.


The crust was wonderfully crisp, not soggy or laden down. The toppings themselves were fresh and flavorful, and service was fast. Cash only is how you know it's good. That was some of the best pizza of my life.

Afterward we stumbled into the San Francisco Giant Robot, where there was a gallery of artwork devoted to pencil as a medium.


Now I can't get the pizza out of my head. Oh man. That pizza. I burn, I pine, I perish! Here, in case you forgot:


I leave you now with a video taken at some point that day, recapping an experience Lauren and I had had a few minutes prior. That one "heyooo" heard in the beginning is a reminder of the egregious use we made of that word during our trip. Like, every hour. It was awesome.

San Francisco Day 1 (5/26)

I have a habit of keeping up-to-date with new travel deals and last-minute price drops. Blame it on my reckless 20s. When I found out JetBlue was having a "$20 sale" I informed Lauren immediately and we booked flights that same day. San Francisco? Why not?

This is what we did instead of attending our commencement ceremonies. And because I am a sucker for punishment, our return home was set for the day before I left to Vietnam. Hilarity is bound to ensue. For instance, look at my face.


We loved flying out of Long Beach Airport! It was my first experience there. The TSA officers smiled, guards were friendly and our "terminal" was open and airy. So airy, in fact, that we had feathered passengers waiting on standby a few chairs over. Those birds would have been Tasered if they managed to break into LAX!


Lauren double-checks that she's sufficiently stocked up on the color yellow.


I brought this Travel Scrabble that we ended up playing a total of one times. We always try to play for reals, but it tends not to work out. "Volva" is a word, right?




OK, will somebody please tell me what the hell this is? I was both fascinated and horrified to spot this from the air.

EDIT 8/18: Hey! We do learn something new everyday! While watching Modern Marvels on TV I discovered that these multicolored bodies of water are actually brine evaporation ponds! Those pictured are a notable collection operated by Cargill. Salty!

We were lucky enough to ingratiate ourselves with a friend of my sister's who lives in a sweet one-bedroom place in Japantown. This is the sparse but charming lobby.


And the sparse but charming Magnus, escorting us by bus to a pizza place he knew

(photo by Lauren)

Later we dragged him to Trader Joe's because we have to do these sorts of things. This is Store #100, which used to be #1 before the Manhattan store came along.




Their back room is so large it has stairs. Stairs!


And check out the height on that full-sized fridge! *wolf whistle*


Can I be a dork about this? Even the billboard post outside had Hawaiian flowers on it. Awesome.


We got back to Magnus's, where we soon discovered his tastes leaned more toward the romantic side. And by that I mean he owned movies like "Definitely, Maybe" and "No Reservations," so I'm pretty sure we just watched a rom-com and called it a night. Definitely our idea of an evening well spent!

Clementine and the Ocean (5/6)

Lauren and I tried to go see Nathan Fillion when he was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Unfortunately the audience was packed and we couldn't get seats. So what did we do? We ate.

And it turns out, we're hilarious! Who needs celebrities?


We decided to go to Clementine, because it was mostly on our way back. Clementine is a sweet little restaurant in the Westwood-ish part of LA with a seasonal menu and food that you can pick up to-go.



Lauren's Monte Cristo-style sandwich with homemade strawberry jam


My asparagus and garlic sandwich with house-pickled cucumbers





This was just before we graduated, and our talk had consisted of exams and study sessions. But Mars shifted its rotation that day and we were both, well, free: neither of us had work, or class, and for one day we didn't worry about finals or papers or being late to anything except dinner. So we drove down the coast.



The air was so warm! The sun set as we headed home, and there was just music and salty ocean air. Anything could have happened and it would've been OK.


It was a good day. Even though we didn't see Nathan Fillion.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins (5/2)

Oh yes, I am on a quest. A yogurt quest. A yuest.



How could anyone turn down that face?

These muffins were a spin from Cook's Illustrated. I substituted yogurt for buttermilk and cut down the baking times, and boy, if there's a go-to blueberry muffin recipe this is the one. The one I'm going to marry, Ma, if it'll just give me a chance.




There's nothing like a recipe that requires a bowl, a wooden spoon and some elbow grease.







Ho boy.


What are you still doing here? Didn't you have some muffins to bake?

Blueberry Muffins
Recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated via food. according to me.

2 cups (about 10 ounces) fresh blueberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries (optional)
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup plain, whole-milk yogurt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp turbinado sugar

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position to heat oven to 350F.
2. Bring 1 cup fresh blueberries and all dried blueberries to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently and pressing blueberries against the side of the pot, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened, about five minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in the large bowl. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Slowly whisk in melted butter and oil until incorporated. Whisk in yogurt and vanilla until combined.
5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in remaining one cup blueberries.
6. Gently fold in flour mixture until just moistened. Batter will be very lumpy.
7. Using a large spoon, divide half of the batter equally among the 12 muffin cups (about a third filled.) Place a heaping teaspoon of berry mixture on top of batter. Scoop remaining batter on top of berry filling. Using a skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter.
8. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the muffins.
9. Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 15 to 17 minutes, or a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean--they will continue to cook in the pan when removed from the oven.
10. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Eat. All.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (4/30)

When I discovered the magical powers yogurt has in baking, I started looking for it in recipes or figuring out how I could use it. From my basic understanding, yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk (in other words, acidic liquids--from my AP Chemistry class in high school, solutions with a pH <7) tempers gluten strands in flour batters, allowing a higher rise, more tender crumb and all-around deliciousness. That acidity is balanced by the addition of an alkali, like baking soda and powder. In other words, make these muffins.



Tiny, soft and puckeringly tart, these muffins are a great way to make friends. I don't understand how poppy seeds work so well with lemon. For example, the phrase "they got along like poppy seeds and lemons" is so very appropriate I just might use it today.*

*Think that's nerdy? I have this in my repertoire: "He liked her as much as a weak acid likes protons." Trust me. It works.

In any case, this recipe from the inimitable Ina has been used to make a beautiful loaf, many mini loaves for gifting, and in this sweet bite-sized form. Make them however you like; just make them fast.






I mix the glaze ingredients in my 1-cup measure and just heat it directly over the stove.


Delicious here:


Embarrassingly good here.


Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
adapted from Ina Garten

makes about 24 mini muffins, 12 regular-sized muffins or one 8 1/2" x 4 1/4" loaf

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking pan, muffin tin, or loaf papers, then flour.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil and poppy seeds into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes in a loaf pan, 25 minutes in a muffin tin or about 20 minutes for mini muffins, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the batter comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in, or brush over individual muffins. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake. (Note: I usually leave out the glaze and the muffins are wonderful without it.)

Kogi BBQ Truck (4/25, 5/8)

Taco trucks in LA are ubiquitous. Some people say we use the derogatory term "roach coach" because of their dubious sanitation standards, but I'd argue that it's more of a term of endearment. Why else would people shout "roach coach!!" while running toward it with such glee? This city loves its portable Mexican food.

Which is why I found myself standing in this line for almost three hours.


Ladies and gentleman, this is the Korean BBQ truck.

I think it's safe to say most food bloggers/readers have heard of Kogi BBQ, especially those in LA. A fusion of Korean and Mexican food from Korean-American Chef Roy Choi, the truck has amassed a huge online following due to its novel approach to dining: you go to the food, but the food always moves. Diners meet at locations specified on Twitter (@kogibbq), often forming a queue even before the truck arrives, and occasionally work to help the truck find a location where it won't get ticketed.



We finally made the venture when a truck (there are now three, but two at the time) decided to putter over to the Lakewood area. Unfortunately I think this had the effect of drawing every single person from greater Orange County who had previously been hesitant to drive up to Hollywood or Venice, and the line was excruciatingly immobile. We were limited to 3 tacos a person, with no other menu options. After we got our food and left, we found out that they ended up calling over the other truck to come help out and restored the full menu.

Chef Roy himself was gracious enough to walk the entire line himself, offering free peanut butter truffles as appeasement for the craziness. It worked.


First rule of Kogi BBQ: bring beer. Not only will beer greatly enhance your dining experience, it will pass the time in line swimmingly. This explains how I wasn't too bothered by the wait.

This is near the middle of the line. I think I can see the truck from here.




The menu, which we weren't allowed to order from.


Kogi is cash-only and specializes in its $2 tacos--pricier than most taco trucks but a pretty sweet deal. Don't forget the 9.75% tax.




Guillermo ordering in Spanish. Second rule: bring a Mexican. Guillermo was dubious when I explained the food to him, but he changed his mind.




Quiet, intense Chef himself.




We were so hungry by the time we got our foods, I was barely able to snap this. According to the website, every taco is seasoned with "sesame-chili salsa roja, julienne romaine lettuce and cabbage tossed in Korean chili-soy vinaigrette, cilantro-green onion-lime relish, crushed sesame seeds, sea salt and garnished with lime wedge, orange wedge and red radish wedge."


And because I had so briefly glimpsed the food from my weak car light, I went back two weeks later with my dad (in the name of research). I tried to order the kimchi quesadilla, another popular choice, but they were out and substituted with a short rib quesadilla.




Three short rib (kalbi) and one tofu taco. The tofu is perfectly tender and flavorful, but the kalbi steals the show. Meat is succulent with a charred crust, and every bite combines juicy meat with a burst of the Korean vinaigrette and a kick from salsa.


Come to mama.


They recently started dessert specials, which change often. That night was a chocolate chip cookie with sea salt. Good but definitely not worth the $3+.


Verdict: Insanely good. I've been three times so far. The lines are still nuts, but drinking with friends is definitely a good way to have that pass. Leave the desserts for another time; they're way too expensive. Stick with the gold: kalbi tacos are the way to go, and the kimchi quesadilla that I've finally tried is really great. Burritos have egg and hash brown in them, an homage to the quintessential Mexican breakfast burrito.

Whether it's worth the wait is up to you; part of the reason I like it so much is the chance to stand around and chat in a new setting, but it's definitely a bad idea if you need food fast. Bring lots of friends and drive a truck, if possible, hooked up to some good tunes, and tailgate the hell out of that food. For the experience alone it's worth hunting down that elusive truck, that king of roach coaches.