Seeking Food - By Ketojinic

One of my favorite places in Santa Barbara, CA is Arigato Sushi. They don't always have these gems (they run out quickly) but when they do, I make sure to get a bunch of these decadent uni shooters and oysters on the half shell. At first I was wary - why would this place be any better than any LA sushi joint? Well, it is.  These uni shooters come with raw quail yolk, salmon roe, and uni. So decadent. The beautiful oyster. They also have quail and uni sushi, and the albacore was amazingly fresh, clean, and the soft shell crab roll was freakin awesome.

I've never been to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market before. (/ducks hurled insults and flying shoe). I live East of the 405!! Besides, I live walking distance to a permanent farmer's market (even though I've never been impressed with their selections). I've always been dying to go but never managed to make the effort. Anyway, yesterday was a good time as any to check out the Santa Monica Farmer's Market especially since I was being guided by a film professor and advisor of mine who is a long-time veteran of local food shopping and farmers market connoisseur. I got there a little early so I had time to drive close to the beach to get my yearly dose of some waves. It was so hazy and gray though - the beach was barely visible. My professor was saying that it's the beginning of apple season! What? I thought you could get apples year round! See, this is the kind of thinking someone does when they only shop at supermarke...

In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, you grow up knowing about certain places and they become mainstays. There is less competition since the population is so small and little communities form to help each other out and their businesses. For example, the Korean community in Santa Cruz is so tight-knit that it's easy to identify them based on which church they go to and if they don't go to church, which church they are affiliated with (where most of their friends and family attend). This idea stretches to other types of communities of people who live in Santa Cruz. On our last day in Bolivia, we went to our church to say goodbye to our community and an unexpected trip to eat duck was devised by a few family friends. " ¿ Quieres comer pato?" - "Do you want to eat duck?" exclaimed Mrs. Yoon.  We were about to head out to Cotoca, a neighboring city so we turned her down. Have you ever tried turning down an adamant Korean lady? Needless to say, five minutes later we...

(Clockwise from top left: Shrimp Toast, Lobster roll, Fried Oyster sandwich) (Left to Right: Chicken Sandwich, Fish and Chips) Son of a Gun! I love Animal (Vinny and Jon's first outpost in LA) and when I heard Son of a Gun, their Seafood-centric new joint opened, I knew I had to pay a visit. Since they're open for lunch now and miraculously, the lines are still not long yet, we decided to go before more people would hear about it. The three of us walked in a little earlier than LA lunch time, around 12pm sharp. We were able to get the communal table but you can make reservations ahead of time for the tables if you need your own space.  The decor was fabulous and the vibe was chill. My kind of place. The food is seafood centric but definitely the kind that goes better with beer since a lot of the food is fried. We ordered the shrimp toast, the lobster roll, the fried oyster sandwich, the chicken sandwich, and the fish and chips. They were all so fried and fatty...

It took me nearly ten years to see Bolivia again. In my mind, I built up Bolivia to be this magical place where not only my childhood took place, but a place untouched by the evilness of industrialization, mass production, and globalization. (Lomas de Arena: Sand Dunes, Santa Cruz, Bolivia) Of course, a lot of things have changed. (La Paz, Bolivia) When I lived in Bolivia, I barely left my city, Santa Cruz. The cuisine of the altiplano (or the high altitude regions) is pretty different from the cuisine of the lowlands. La Paz, the capital, is dry, cold in the shade, hot in the sun, and you're basically living amongst the clouds. People here eat a lot more quinoa than they do in Santa Cruz. Most of the quinoa comes from the altiplano because quinoa is hardy and it can grow in high altitudes. The andes are the perfect place for quinoa to grow. During our trip to La Paz and the Salar de Uyuni, we had a lot of quinoa soup and cooked quinoa instead of rice. ...