Monday, August 30, 2010

Ultimate Guys Trip 2010: Las Vegas

No homo.

The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix) - Passion Pit

Definitely one of the best, and by far the craziest Vegas trip I've ever been on. There were talks about this trip way back in January (the picture taken after the talk), and we were supposed to go in July after EDC. Honestly, I don't think any of us thought it would happen. But with a few catalytic factors coming into play towards the end of summer, what better time to go than now.

The biggest fail was not taking a lot of pictures, but hopefully we can revisit this trip every so often so that we can keep the memories in tact. Therefore the trip will just be compiled into one post rather than broken down.

And it will be wordy. You have been warned.

First off was Friday. I gathered the #OCWolfPack together of Yonten, Aranguri, and Millar and we headed out to Vegas after the detour in Pomona. When James and I got Cesar, we were surprised that he didn't bring his bags out. The Hangover hasn't started yet Cesar! Meet baby Coraline. (She stayed back of course.)

3.5 hours later we made it to The Strip! I think knowing that the #LAWolfPack (Anson, Reyes, Ligan, Wong) was a few minutes ahead of us made me determined to just get to the hotel as soon as possible. No pitstops after Pomona.



After we checked into the Tuscany Suites, we grabbed dinner at Bahama Breeze across the street. It's basically a nicer version of Islands with a wider variety of food.


Our waiter definitely had his favorite among the three dishes below. (Buttermilk fried chicken? Nice...) We discussed plans for the next 2 days while enjoying the eats.

We got back to the hotel and got the pre-party going. Apparently this is the stuff the Bay Area kids like to get down on. Fernet Branca. It tastes like Chinese medicine. Gross.


Can't beat this for under $30.


And one year, six months ago, when Cesar introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added five more guys to my wolf pack. Eight of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast!


After a few drinks we cruised over to Eve at Aria for a bit. Well, we only made it to the outside. After the express check-in line failed for us, we headed over to XS. It was pretty easy to get in, but most places aren't that bad on Monday. I don't recommend XS on a Friday though. But you make the best with what you got. Everyone was sorta all over the place so I'm not sure what everyone else was doing. I think I was just chilling in the back, drunk tweeting/updating nonsense... Word on the street though was that there were madddd Canadians in the house and also a Taiwanese child star as well.



Hazy trip back to Tuscany Suites.



$3.99 for a steak, 2 eggs (no salmonella after effects!) toast and hash browns. To our surprise, there were a bunch of (bunk) Asians all around us. I guess we all know where the 4th meal deals are.


Texting up a storm on my phone. Here's one of the culprits! Lullz.


The next day we headed over to the MGM for some breakfast at the food court.


And checked out the Sony 3-D experience. I almost lost my driver's license here! That would have been a real bummer on the rest of the trip...


After an hour of waiting around doing nothing (another failmoment of the trip), a few of us finally got to the MGM pool for some sun and to go around the lazy river.


(This picture has been Alex Wong approved.)

One last meal at Tuscany Suites followed by a much-needed nap. The cornbread was the business.




Last night was a practice run. Tonight's the real deal.

A reference to us going to XS for a second time, but to also make the night count.

Reyes, Ligan, me, Cesar, Alex, Yonten, Anson, Millar. LET'S GO!


We were running that city that night. The group went off into various separate smaller packs throughout the night, and we met so many random people. Hotties, cuties, grenades, land mines, cougars, alphas, bros, hoes, homies. We went all over the place and we hit them all. (This is why I'm particularly bummed. I hardly took any pictures!)

Trending topics that I personally noticed that night were that there were a bunch of CANADIANS (again) in the house, Filipinos, and also people from Anaheim Hills! (Billy Kang, Mitchell Long, and some random FINE half Indian/Filipino girl whom I failed to get a full name or number.)

One of my favorite quotes of the night had to be from Alex though...
Me: "Hey where are you from?"
Girl: "Canada!"
Me: "What?! Everyone from Canada is here! My friend Alex is from there too!"
Alex: "Oh what part are you from? Winnebago?"
Girl: "Uhhhh... you mean Winnipeg??...."

Sam just could not stop _____ing to/with James! (Use your imagination.)


The cooooolest girl I met was Gen from the T-Dot! I'll be expecting that picture of you and Drake yo!


The straggling wolf pack that stayed until the end.


Vegas. What a night.


Stayed up for a little random adventure until 7:00am, and woke up by 9:30am to get the hell out by 11:30am before the traffic hit. With a food/restroom stop at Barstow, we made it home before 4. Amazing.

A trip for the ages. Let's do it again wolf pack.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Vegas Bound 2010

Vegas for the weekend. I guess I'll leave you with these 2 videos while I'm gone.

Skip ahead to the 1:45 mark for the real anticipation build-up. Major bakla!


It was a toss-up between this version and the one below. An oldie, but a goodie.


Not again...

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Aug 20: The Bonus Round

(This title (as the previous one) was inspired by the movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World. GO WATCH IT.)

What One's Wearing
-Lovewright Co. hat
-Insight51 tank
-The Hundreds shorts
-Casio watch
-Supreme camera bag
-Nike Air Pegasus Retro



Sorry Bin. It matched my shirt and shoes :P





David was up for some drinks later that night so we hit up the Bootlegger's Brewery in Fullerton. This was... goddamn it I forgot. But it was tasty.


Oh yeah there was also a Calbi truck sitting right outside.


Beef and spicy pork tacos. Pretty good for those infusion trucks. I'll take a traditional taco 90% of the time though. So this basically made the 6th taco truck/spot for the day. That record won't be broken by us for a while...


Phil swapped in for Marian. We watched Scott Pilgrim afterwards. It was awesome (again).

Monday, August 23, 2010

Aug 20: Santa Ana Taco Crawl 2010!

Santana - Oye Como Va by colie

With a Friday off after the CG concert and no plans to go to Vegas until Saturday (which I didn't end up actually doing), I made plans with David (aka the Mysterious Sawyer; aka Mista MacConkey; aka cSy*Schroeder; aka David Blizzane; aka UC David; aka Ryoma Echizen; aka the 8th Hokage) and Marian (aka Mar; aka 1/3 of the Ya-Ya sisterhood; aka Princess Mar of 6th College). David had something special in store for Marian and me.


TACO CRAWL!!

View Larger Map

Alright maybe I'm hyping this up a little, but if you've ever seen this guy's blog, you know he's had his fair share of good and bad places. He does the research, reads reviews, and gives his own critique at the end of the day. And he's definitely not afraid to keep it real.

Our agenda included 5 different taco trucks and restaurants in Santa Ana, with the encore at a dessert spot in Anaheim. Side missions (trips to the neighboring markets) were minimal, but unavoidable. You can't eat at 5 spots straight without taking some detours for digestion.


Damage control. Better safe than sorry.


For palette cleansing. (Not really, it was just a snack for the car ride.)


First stop: Alebrije's Grill.




Whet your whistle with these tasty drinks. Non-alcoholic sangria? ::thumbs up::


Taco Acorazados ("Battleship Taco"). Hand-made tortilla, bean spread, rice, beef, avocado, cactus, and crumbled cheese with carrots, onions, and 3 different sauces. This is one of the many things I wanted to try here! We got to talk to the owner, Alberto about his aspirations about his business. Hands down, this was THE BEST of the 5 spots we sampled. Check it out! open daily until 10pm!


We were tempted to order more, but we must stick to the path.

Second stop: El Gallo Giro.


I knew we were gonna try different foods, but I didn't expect all these drink choices.


Watermelon, tamarind, horchata. Pick you poison.


This spot is best-known for their tortas. Lettuce, avocado, jalapenos, cheese, bean spread, and 4 meats!!! But I'd have to say that the bread was a little too dense for my liking. I prefer fluffier bread so that I can enjoy the other flavors more. But this was still my 2nd favorite of the day (Marian's 3rd, David's tied for 2nd).


Third stop: Taqueria Tapatia.


Al pastor tacos. Sorry to say, this was the least liked of the 5 stops. Maybe it was because we were starting to get full. Or maybe it's because it didn't have that hole-in-the-wall ambiance. This was not a memorable meal.


Fourth stop: Chiva Torta


Tortas Ahogadas. A torta stuffed with beef and onions served on a special hardroll and dipped in chili sauce. It's messy, but an excellent twist on the standard torta. This was my 3rd favorite (Marian's 2nd, David's tied for 2nd). Another 2nd-tripper.


After a long detour we finally made it to the final taco destination. (After walking about half a mile, we walked back to the 4th spot to find that it was literally around the corner...


Fifth stop: El Rincon del Sabor.


We gambled here. Not only were our stomachs plum ripe for picking, but we repeat-ordered something from the first truck.

Taco acorazados. Similar to the first truck, but the tortilla did not taste homemade, and some of the other ingredients weren't included in the 2nd round. This was overall, our 4th favorite.


And now the grand finale.

Dessert: Natural


They're most well-known for this: the Chamoyada smoothie. A mango smoothie with chamoy syrup (salty/sour apricot mixed with chili powder). Imagine mixing a mango smoothie with Mexican candy and this is your result.


And it's served with a special straw!


I ordered the cantaloupe smoothie. The perfect drink for a hot summer's day.




Let's recap.

1st place: Alebrije's Grill
2nd place: El Gallo Giro(tie), Chiva Torta(tie)
4th place: El Rincon del Sabor
5th place: Taqueria Tapatia

Good stuff Davey my boy.