Lukshon Revisited

I was really impressed with Lukshon on my first trip right after it open and revisited the restaurant on Monday night to see if things had changed in the few months since it has opened. Prices have gone up just a bit; our meal was more expensive for less food than our first visit, but the meal was still pretty good on the whole. I don't think we ordered as well as we did the first time; everything was outstanding the first time, while this time everything was good, but not as noteworthy. We walked in on a Monday night without a reservation and got seated right away. Service was friendly and it was overall a good experience.

I do love the details and the restaurant is gorgeous

Spanish mackerel with green papaya and other. I liked the "salad" on top, very refreshing and light, though some pieces of the mackerel were a little fishy and overcured

Foie Gras Ganache with Carob and a gastrique. It was a little too cold when it was served so the flavors were a little dulled. It was good, but didn't wow me, and usually anything with foie wows me

X.O. rice with long beans, good but we could have easily made it at home

Dan Dan Noodles with Kurobuta pork and Szechuan peppercorns. I still love this dish. I've been on a Szechuan kick, trying the dandan noodles at places like Lucky Noodle King in the San Gabriel Valley (written about by J. Gold), but I still prefer this one, even though its almost 3x the price

Side of Brussels Sprouts with chili garlic and sesame. Just a little too salty for my tastes

Hot and Sour Gimlet: great drink with just the right balance of heat and acidity

Complimentary dessert: pineapples with tapioca and sorbet with pomegranate seeds and panna cotta. Both were delicious and the perfect after dinner treat

Lukshon

3239 Helms Ave

Culver City, CA

Prada Minimal Baroque Sunglasses: So Obsessed

Prada Minimal Baroque Sunglasses in Tortoiseshell

I love Prada's entire S/S 2011 collection: bananas, stripes, humongous hats, pinks oranges greens, epitomized by Hailee Steinfeld who became an instant fashion icon by rocking a Prada dress at the SAG awards. The collection is so Prada: fresh and graphic and will go down as one of those iconic memorable collections that define a season. It's had the biggest impact on fast fashion; go into H&M now and you'll see similar stripe color combinations and banana prints on everything from swimwear to dresses. Along with Marc Jacob's S/S 2011, which has a drapier, prettier 70's vibe with great prints and patterns, Prada is my favorite collection of the season. I haven't purchased any of the clothes yet, but I love the accessories. The perfect finishing touches to the S/S 2011 Prada collection are the Minimal Baroque limited edition sunglasses which are fantastically whimsical and fun. The more outrageous deluxe models are a bit too much for me for everyday use, but I became obsessed with the solid color ones with the baroque swirls at the temples. I went to the Prada store at the Beverly Center, but the associate told me they were all sold out at all the Prada stores. I called around to Saks, Neimans and Barney's, but they were all sold out (Barneys no longer carries Prada). I finally located a tortoiseshell pair at Ilori on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I originally wanted the black version, but they didn't have the black versions in yet, plus the tortoiseshell version are fairly dark. They also had the more elaborate deluxe editions which I tried on for fun and quite liked, but were a little too attention grabbing. The people were so nice and helpful at Ilori, versus the snobby attitude I encountered across the street at Prada. It's been years since I've bought fancy sunglasses; I lost my last pair of Marc Jacobs around 5 years ago and have just been buying cheapo sunglasses from places like Fred Flare and H&M since then. This is the first pair of sunglasses that have inspired me to go out and splurge, these are just that unique and I'm totally in love with them.

Prada Minimal Baroque Sunglasses in Tortoiseshell

Prada Store on Rodeo Drive

I got yelled at by the associate for taking this picture. She could have asked nicely but instead she really freaked out.

Ad on the back cover of my June issue of Vogue with Penelope Cruz on the cover

The deluxe editions. Pretty crazy right? So fun though

Image from style.com. The brown pair of the deluxe versions were the most flattering on me.

Hailee Steinfeld (love her) at SAG awards. Image via glamcheck

 Random Rodeo Drive shots:

Ilori: where I purchased my Prada Minimal Baroque Sunglasses. As of 5/25/11, they still had 1 pair of the tortoiseshell and 3 different versions of the deluxe Minimal Baroque editions

Sweet Peas Love

It's amazing how some fresh flowers can really transform a room. I bought several bunches of sweet peas at the Santa Monica Wednesday farmer's market yesterday. I love their little fluffy petals, pretty colors and lightly sweet fragrance.

First Trip to California Adventure

Paradise Pier post World of Color

We made our annual visit to Disneyland a couple weeks earlier than previous years thanks to M's silver pass, which got four of us into both parks for free, which is awesome. This is the first year in the last three years that Disneyland didn't do any free passes for the general public; two years ago, I went for free on my birthday and last year, I went for free as part of their volunteer promotion. It was a great day and I got to actually ride the California Adventure rides for the first time; I had previously only seen the park while running through it for the Disneyland 5K. I loved Tower of Terror and California Screamin (the big white rollercoaster); there's nothing like riding a ride for the very first time between the anticipation and the surprises. None of the other rides were particularly interesting, the only other ride we went on was California Soarin'; we spent most of the day in Disneyland and only came back to California Adventure for the World of Color and the beer. Disneyland Resort is completely dry while you can buy beer and wine at California Adventure, a nice way to relax in the middle of the day. At Disneyland Resort, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain (3x), Peter Pan, and Matterhorn. We had Dole whips, churros, Bay Cities sandwiches that we brought in, and nachos and a chicken sandwich from Whitewater Snacks, a bit of a hidden secret for good, reasonably priced amusement park food (an oxymoron) inside the Grand Californian Hotel. As much as I really liked Tower of Terror and Californian Screamin', I don't think that the more expensive park hopper pass is worth it and I won't be paying for it in the future. Disneyland has so many more good rides, is aesthetically so much prettier and has a lot more charm and the nostalgia factor. I'm glad I was able to try California Adventure but I'll be sticking with Disneyland next year!

Our usual first ride of the day

Over to California Adventure: the Tower of Terror

Inside the lobby of the Tower of Terror

Back to Disneyland resort

My Dole whip float. K. had two Dole whips.

Our guide was pretty wacky

The Evil Queen from Snow White; rather intimidating

Between resorts again: we spent a lot of time hopping between the two parks, taking advantage of the fast passes

One of the best parts of California Adventure, the Karl Strauss beer cart! We tried the Red Trolley and the Tower 10 IPA. The IPA was perfect and the Red Trolley was pretty good

For reference, I'm wearing Lululemon polocrosse tights and cool racerback in static very violet, purple Nike drifit pullover, Uniqlo UV cut black wrap cardigan, LL Bean pink down jacket (pictured below), Fred Flare "Carrie" sunglasses, and Nike Free Run sneakers. Very comfortable Disneyland outfit.

Mulan

Back to Disneyland

Waiting in line for Matterhorn, right before my mouse ears flew off on the ride. So sad :(.

Dinner at Whitewater Snacks in the Grand Californian Hotel: chicken nachos. The nacho chips were surprisingly good; homestyle, not like Tostitos

Grilled chicken sandwich

More Karl Strauss beer

World of Color. Basically a light and pyrotechnics show with some projected images set to famous Disney songs. Pretty but I don't feel the need to see it again.