Foodie Firsts in Los Angeles

Considering I was in Los Angeles for less than 36 hours, I did a pretty good job eating some delicious food. Partly it was due to the awesome organizers and sponsors at V3Con because they provided the good eats. 

Kogi BBQ Korean Tacos

I attended V3Con's opening reception on my first night in L.A. Chef Roy Choi, creator of the famous Kogi BBQ food truck, was presented with the V3 Vision Award. In celebration, we were treated to his Korean tacos right outside the Pacfic Asia Museum, where the reception was held. I feel pretty spoiled that I ate Kogi's Korean BBQ tacos for my first L.A. food truck experience! I could have eaten more than two.

crunchy golden lobster potstickers with spicy togarashi miso butter sauce

During the reception, munchies were provided by Roy's Restaurants (not to be confused with Roy Choi above) These crunchy golden lobster potstickers with spicy togarashi miso butter sauce were a huge hit among the folks around me. They were eyeballing them like vultures. For a very good reason!

Daikoku Ramen from Daikokuyo

After my roommate Grace of Hapa Mama returned to our hotel room, a friend texted me to invite us out for ramen. We walked across the street to Daikokuyo in Little Tokyo. We got there around 11PM and the place was packed! Clearly a sign that it was good ramen. Previous to this giant bowl of happiness, I had only eaten packaged ramen (not the stuff you bought in college for ten cents, the good stuff.) The noodles were chewy, the broth was hearty, and the sliced pork belly just melted in my mouth. It was the perfect late night snack.

My sister introduced to me to mochi several years ago from her travels in Japan. After stuffing our faces with ramen, we did a little late night window shopping. Japanese restaurant/food displays are so beautiful! Here's the window display of all the different types of mochi treats you can buy from Fugetsu-Do Confectionary. They were closed that late at night, but I was lucky to receive an assortment as a V3Con speaker thank you gift!

My friend Katie and her husband also took me to In-and-Out Burger before dropping me off at the airport. Even though I had to wait until I passed through LAX airport security to eat my very first In-and-Out cheeseburger, it was totally worth it! I didn't get a photo of my burger, but I have a selfie with me and Katie. Which is a gazillion time better than a photo of a cheeseburger.

What yummy food have you eaten recently?

Not Quite Asian Enough?

Camera installation outside the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA

I'm used to being the token Asian at gatherings. I grew up that way. Growing up in small town Louisiana, I yearned to be part of a community of Asians-Americans to whom I wasn't related. That was one of the reasons I was thrilled to attend V3Con: to meet Asian-American journalists and bloggers. So why did mingling in a sea of Asian-Americans felt like I was wearing an ill-fitting dress?

I knew the attendees would be diverse in age, ethnicity (within the AAPI designation), and lifestyle. I had no illusions of jumping in a crowd of "my people" and being embraced as a long lost sister. A majority of the people I met grew up and/or lived in California. They seemed comfortable in a crowd of other Asian-Americans. They seemed comfortable in their own skin and who they were. Like they never had to defend their Asian-ness to their classmates (but we all have). Or their friends have always loved eating pho or kimchi, and not when it became cool to eat such deliciousness. Like they grew up with Asian friends, but not because being Asian was a requirement, but because they had more choices than just the black and white kids in school.

Those were my thoughts, further compounded by my insecurity of not knowing more than a handful of people. Of course, that further added to my introvert tendencies. It wasn't the conference's fault. The conference was a great platform for Asian American digital media community. I made myself feel this way. I didn't plan on it. It just happened without me realizing it.

From Visible & Invisible exhibit at Japanese American National Museum: a page from the open journals where guests can leave their thoughts.

Being in Los Angeles brought back the yearnings and regrets from my youth. Should I have attended a college with a larger Asian American population, like I originally wanted to but stayed closer to home for my mother? Or should I have tried to date an Asian boy during my college years, assuming that I could find one I was attracted to at my university? Or maybe I should have tried harder to fit in with my large, Asian-sized extended family, instead of growing up as the nerdy kid with a her nose always in a book? How would I feel about my Asian-ness if I had been surrounded by more Asian friends? If I had grown up in California, would the history of WWII Japanese-American internment been taught in my class, instead of me seeking it out and being chastised by my history teacher because it wasn't in our textbook? Or maybe I should have majored in Asian American studies instead of theatre during college?

Of course it's too late to spend much time strolling down these lanes of regret and what ifs. In truth, I felt a little intimidated by all the Asian Americans conference attendees--as a whole. They seemed to wear their Asian-ness like a well loved leather glove. I let my inner gremlins keep me from wearing my extroverted hat that I put on during conferences. Even though I no longer felt physically short among the crowd, I felt my Asian-American experiences lacking compared to theirs.

Store front's history written on sidewalk in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles,CA

On the long flight home back to Washington, DC, I looked within to understand why I felt this way. I know that being Asian-American is not my main identity. My ethnicity merely shaped how I see things around me and how others see me. I'm more complex than a check mark on the census form.

Mostly, I've been thinking about my Hapa kids: half black, half Asian and 100% American. My feelings from this weekend reaffirmed why it's so important for me to raise them in a ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan area. My daughter might not be surrounded by a lot of Hapa kids in her class, but she won't be the token biracial kid in her school. While she may not see Hapa kids, Asian kids, or even black kids as part of her "tribe" now, but as she grows, she will search for a group in which to belong. Sometimes the lines are drawn by interests or activities; other times they are drawn because of race or culture. This will ebb and flow throughout her journey.

I'm not sure how my kids will self-identify once they realize they can choose (or refuse to choose one over the other). While I may occasionally feel that I've missed out by growing up in rural Louisiana, I know that my Asian-American experiences is what I make of it. I want my kids to be one of many biracial kids in a community that they love and can call their home.

I want my kids to have a better life than one the in which I grew up. Like any other parent. It just feels a little more complex right now.

I'm Speaking at V3Con!

Today I'm headed to Los Angeles for the very first time! I'm excited to be speaking at V3Con Digital Media Conference.  I'm honored to be speaking with my fellow panelists about how can parents tackle digital issues without saying “In my day….” You can follow our session "Help! My Kid Is on Snapchat”: Online Issues Facing Parents and Families this Saturday at 1PM on Twitter with the hashtag #V3fams. You can also follow the panelists on Twitter:

• Susan Hirasuna, @susanhirasuna (Moderator)
• Eileen Hsu, @koolasiankid
• Thien-Kim Lam, @thienkim
• Grace Hwang Lynch, @hapamamagrace
• Jason Sperber, @dad_strangeland

Ever since I learned of V3Con (which evolved from Banana Conferences) as an event for fellow Asian American Pacific Islander journalists, bloggers, and other digital content produces, I knew I wanted to go. I'm hoping I don't geek out when I meet the AAPI bloggers I've been following for a long time. The schedule is jammed packed with sessions about activist blogging, success as a woman in social media, Asian visibility in Hollywood, and lots more.

Plus, the conference will be at the Japanese American National Museum right in Little Tokyo. There's event time in the schedule for us to walk the museum. I'm planning on taking lots of photos on my new Samsung NX1100 camera. It's my first fancy pants camera! Not only did I buy myself a new camera with a detachable lens, I also am a proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. You know how much I love my Android devices.

With my new mobile device purchase, I'm glad to be working with Protect Your Bubble, who is my travel sponsor for V3Con. Protect Your Bubble offers insurance for your new gadget, especially mobile devices like your smartphone and my new tablet! I'm still learning more about Protect Your Bubble, but I like the fact that if something happens to my device, I can get a replacement the very next day. How awesome is that, especially if you're traveling? I wouldn't want to be stranded in Los Angeles without my smartphone. Check out their video to see what Protect Your Bubble offers:

Protect Your Bubble even insures cracked screens, which would have been handy when my old laptop screen met its sad, sad death several months ago. I'm testing out their service and will return in a couple of weeks with more info. I'll also have a cool giveaway from them. In the meantime, learn more about Protect Your Bubble on their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

I'm looking for the five hour flight each way. I have a stack of books packed plus some tv shows on my tablet to catch up on for some quality me time. My trip to L.A. will be short but sweet.

I'd love to hear more about your devices. Have you every lost a cell phone or cracked your tablet? How did you deal with it? If you have any questions about Protect Your Bubble, please leave them in the comments and I'll find the answer for you!

Protect Your Bubble is sponsoring part of my travel expenses to V3Con. All opinions are my own.

Moody Seascapes Kid Art & Art Room Aid Follow-Up

Aliki's Violent Seascape

Back in February, I worked with Sophia's art teacher to set up a project on Art Room Aid, and help fund her second grade class art lesson about Winslow Homer's moody seascapes. Art Room Aid is a program by Blick Art Materials that is helping teachers across the country enlist the aid of parents, families, friends, and other art advocates to fund their art projects and keep creative learning going. Any instructor who teaches art can participate.

Estaban's Excited Seascape

Both Ms. Ward and I were amazed that her project was funded in only a few weeks! Not only that, parents approached her in person and offered donations for the project. A few weeks ago, she shared the result of the class project. All the artwork in this post are done by second graders!

Nelson's Mad Seascape

This is our first time setting up a project page on Art Room Aid. We've had such a great experience with it, I hope to be able to do it again next school year. Art is so important for our children's education, and I want to make sure art teachers have the resources to create a rich experience for their students.

I hope you'll check it the program for your child's school!

Tangy Kale Salad with Cranberries and Almonds (Recipe)

Kale is the new superfood. Maybe it's not new anymore. I've come to love kale but only because I found my favorite way to eat it: raw with a tangy salad dressing. If you're skeptical of kale, try out my Kale Salad with Cranberry and Almonds. Or the CranCran Kale Salad as I like to call it.

Last Friday I picked up my first Maryland's Pick bag from Whole Foods. As expected, it was full of greens, including kale. I had very little exposure to kale until I joined Maryland's Pick, which offers local, seasonal, organic produce weekly like a CSA. My first bag had 3 bunches of kale. Two were just regular green kale, but I also received a beautiful bunch of purple kale.

Because kale is such a hearty green, you can make this salad ahead of time. Dress and toss it and then save the toppings (cheese, almonds, and cranberries) until right before you serve it. I think it tastes even better the next day! It makes a great side or you can add your favorite protein like chicken or tofu on top to make it a meal.

If you don't have one already, invest in a salad spinner. My husband convinced me to add one to our wedding registry years ago and I love it! My favorite is the Oxo Salad Spinner (affiliate link). I've had it for 11 years and it's still going strong!

I hope you'll love this quick and easy kale salad like I do! It's a hit in our family, even Jaxson loves it.

Tangy Kale Salad with Cranberries and Almonds
Serves 3-4 with generous portions

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp of honey or agave syrup
1/4 cup of toasted chopped or sliced almonds
1/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of shredded or grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (or similar)

Directions

Cut off bottom stems of kale. Wash and dry. Stack 2-3 leave on top of each other and cut kale into thin shreds, about 1/2 inch or so. Make sure to avoid the woody part of the stems. Place kale into a bowl while you make the dressing.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, and honey until well combined. Pour over shredded kale and toss. Let dressed kale sit for at least 15 minutes so it wilts a little. The longer the dressing sits, the better the flavor. Give it a quick toss after 15 minutes.

Place almonds on a baking sheet & toast in the toaster oven or conventional oven. Keep an eye on them as they will toast quickly, less than 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

Right before you're ready to serve the salad, add the almonds, cranberries, and cheese to the kale. Toss to mix the ingredients evenly.

Eat!