I left my heart in San Francisco

Image | September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 | Tammy Fong

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Short hike at Limekiln State Park off the coast!

DSCF7092 DSCF7097 The drive to Julia Pfeiffer State Beach was interesting to say the least. It’s a small narrow road, allowing only 1-way so you constantly need to pull over to let the oncoming cars through.
DSCF7168 DSCF7176 DSCF7195 DSCF7197 Kitchen Story has now become one of my favorite restaurants in SF; I cannot wait to go back to eat it again!

DSCF7221 My not-so-favorite traveling companion.. always ruining my photos.

SF is one of my favorite cities to visit, probably because it was one of the places I ever traveled to first with friends; it holds a very special place in my heart. This trip, we got to catch up with friends and just relaxed a ton; we even went swimming at the pool in our hotel!

Looking forward to my next trip to the bay area ❤

TTFN!

The PNW: Seattle & Vancouver

Image | March 24, 2019March 24, 2019 | Tammy Fong

Currently planning a trip up to Seattle & Vancouver! I’m super excited for this trip as I never really got to explore much of Seattle, and it’ll also be my first time visiting Vancouver.

I have a rough itinerary going already, but I’m open to food suggestions in both cities, and especially nightlife. What I’ve noticed is that there isn’t much (on Pinterest at least) about nightlife for non-drinkers so I’m going to try my best to see what there is to do for those like me and document and share.

Until then, if you have any food or points of interest suggestions, please feel free to share in the comments!

Portland for the Weekend

Image | March 24, 2019 | Tammy Fong

Before I embark on my next PNW adventure, I wanted to share a little about my recent trip to Portland back in January. I wanted to see and explore a little more of Mt. Hood and do some more hiking so we hit up Trillium Lake. It’s a very easy hike, although, the incline in snow may prove to be a difficult. Overall, fun and easy hike with magnificent views of Mt. Hood itself.

TIP: it may be tempting to hike/walk across Trillium Lake when it looks frozen over, but be careful! The sun was shining pretty hard when we went and Brandon had taken one step and his whole foot almost sunk in. Luckily for him, I was there to save him 😉 Ha!

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We stayed in a cute Airbnb a little east of the city and it was everything we needed, minus a full kitchen. It was cozy enough! Peep the cute little patio outside.

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Everytime I visit Portland, I want to visit Pip’s because it is absolutely delicious. I have yet to try Voodoo but honestly, I don’t think I’m missing out on much. Pip’s specializes in Chai and these cute, bite sized, cake donuts that are very affordable!

TIP: try their bacon donut, you won’t regret it.

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So I recently got a new camera (thanks Brandon!), a Fujifilm XT-3 and I’ve been teaching myself and transitioning over from Canon. It’s very different and requires a lot more learning but I’ve been getting such beautiful results (all the photos on this post are shot on it). The below shots of mountains are taken from my seat in the airplane – just mindblowing how beautiful they came out!

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For a closer look at my itinerary for the weekend, here is it!

Friday night (arrival day): Dinner at a quick pizza place to-go to eat at our Airbnb!
Saturday morning: breakfast + Mt. Hood
Saturday evening: Boba in Beaverton – MILK+T, a self-serve boba bar, and dinner at Pok Pok DSCF3282 DSCF3283 DSCF3285

Sunday morning/afternoon: Pip’s Doughnuts, lunch at Pine State Biscuits, and exploring the town! We hit up Chinatown (very small, and not much to do tbh) and downtown Portland! Afterwards, we headed to the airport to go home!

Everytime I visit Portland, I always find something I love even more about this quirky city and cannot wait to go back again. Mt. Hood is just beautiful and I need to see more of it!

If you have any other suggestions for what to see in Portland, feel free to leave it in the comment, or if you have any questions for me, ask away!

TTFN!

Greater LA Eats: Simmer Huang

Image | February 7, 2019February 8, 2019 | Tammy Fong

If you’re an LA native and you’ve been suffering from that extreme cold we’ve been dealt with, then for sure you’ve been visiting your local hot pot restaurants to keep warm. I stopped by Simmer Huang in Temple City, CA and got to try out a different style of hot pot: dry pot!

Simmer Huang puts a new twist to traditional hot pots we are usually used to – instead of soup, they steam and let all the water and sauce mix together to create our broth and it’s delicious! Keep in mind though, the process does take a while but I promise it is worth it.

My friends and I visited on a Thursday night and we shared the mild spicy, continental combination pot and added on a few other sides: beef wrapped enoki mushrooms, pork intestines, quail eggs, and New Zealand lamb legs. We also got their hot and sour black noodle as a appetizer and got their plum juice to try out.

DSCF3552 DSCF3537 Each pot comes with a base of vegetables, and they’ll start off with that by letting it steam and cook. Next, they’ll add on a layer of whatever you order, cover it up and let it cook again. After a few more minutes, they come back and add on the next layer and as they approach the last layer of food, they spread on the sauce and let’s it cook one last time before it is all ready to eat. By then, if you’re like me and you love soggy veggies, then you’re in luck. I love soggy carrots, especially if they’re going to be cooked.

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The sauce they mix in is so delicious, I cannot get over it. It’s like a black bean sauce (they’ll mix it in front of you, I didn’t ask what though)!

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After you eat, they’ll add hot water so it becomes soup and if you check in on Yelp, you’ll get a free hand pulled noodle to eat with the soup!

Everything was delicious, 10/10. I cannot wait to come back! The service was awesome, there were only 2 people working but we felt like we were getting the right amount of attention and did not have to wait or hail someone down with frustration.

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If you get a chance to try it out let me know! I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. Enjoy!

TTFN!

Fresh Year, Fresh Start

Image | January 29, 2019January 29, 2019 | Tammy Fong

It’s time for another revamp because new year, new blog right? Again, this year, I am going to try and be more consistent and really put this blog to use and capture and share my travels.

2018 was all in all a great year filled with a lot of travels, great food, great company, The beginning of the year started off a bit rough but eventually, we got through it and grew from it. 2019 is another new year for new experiences, new travels and continuing my growth, personally and professionally.

Towards the end of last year, I decided to take a stab at photography professionally. I have always loved photography and shot as a hobby, but because I never thought my work was good enough per my standards, I never thought to pursue it and monetize it.

However, at the end of 2018, I felt stuck and stagnant professionally and I thought to myself, ‘What is stopping me? What do I have to lose?‘ and I found courage within myself to decide to just start my freelance photography business. I’m not going to lie, it was extremely scary, and during the whole journey of planning and executing, there were multiple occasions that I had just wanted to quit because of the self-doubt I had. However, once I started, the momentum didn’t stop and I felt alive. I felt like I had found a new sense of purpose and I found something that I loved to do and was pursuing it.

That in itself made 2018 a great year for me overall. I ended the year by stepping out of my comfort zone and it allowed me to grow and for that, I am grateful.

Looking forward to 2019 and another year of growth and new experiences.

Cheers!

Eurotrip In The Works..

Image | July 1, 2018July 1, 2018 | Tammy Fong

Apologies for not updating recently.. but life has been busy and planning has been busier. I’ve got a major trip coming up.. any guesses?!

E U R O P E !

I went to London for the first time last summer and I will be going again this summer, and venturing into other countries including France, Switzerland and Italy. I am beyond excited and cannot wait to share my adventures!

Planning this trip has been.. intense with a ton of research what with trying to figure out their transit system, accommodations and just places we’re going to be visiting but I’ll give y’all a hint.. Swiss Alps and the Dolomites!

Once we finalize our itinerary a bit more, I’ll share it so if any of you are ever planning an intro eurotrip, you have somewhere to start with! Or, if any of you have ever been, please share some tips! We’ve booked most of our Airbnbs, or at least requested to book, and we’ve booked our rental car for that drive to Italy from Switzerland.. and we’ve booked our trains to and from the different countries but not within the Alps.. so, any suggestions welcomed!

Until then..

A Weekend in Arizona and Utah

Image | June 14, 2018 | Tammy Fong

My first ever trip to Arizona was back in 2012. During this trip, I hit 3 different states over the course of the weekend and it was exhausting but exhilarating. However, I didn’t get to spend much time in each location but luckily for me, I had the opportunity to visit each respective location more than once and so for that, I’m grateful.

Back in April, I had the privilege to visit Arizona and Utah for the third time with some friends and we hit up: Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and Bryce Canyon!

We set off for our journey around 9pm on a Friday night and made it to Page, Arizona around 4am, Saturday morning and checked into our hotel. *Pro-tip: call your hotel ahead of time if you’ll be checking in late, like really late, otherwise they may cancel your room because they’ll assume you’re not coming.

After we re-booked our room, we settled in to sleep so that we could get up for our 11am tour at Antelope Canyon with Ken’s Tours. I highly recommend Ken’s Tours, not because it’s my 3rd tour with them, but they are the more budget-friendly company. If you’re planning to visit Antelope Canyon, I would recommend going early to beat the crowds and heat because this place is only going to get more and more popular. When I first visited this place back in 2012, tickets were only $20/person and this trip, we paid $50/person and I had to squish with a bunch of other tourists in the canyons.. not that fun. Here are some shots:

After Antelope Canyon, we headed into the city to find a place for lunch before we headed to Bryce Canyon. The drive from Page to Bryce was about 2.5 hours but it’s definitely do-able if you are just planning to do a short day trip. We left around 2:30 pm and arrived around 5pm, with just enough sunlight to do a short hike: Navajo Loop Trail and watch the sunset over the canyons. The Navajo Loop Trail is fairly short but part of the trail was closed and it was getting dark so we went back the way we started (just a heads up). Here are some shots!

Afterwards, we headed back to Page so that we could rest up early to make it for sunrise at Horseshoe Bend. Every time I visit Arizona, I always stay in Page because it’s closer to the border of Utah so it makes it easier to visit the National Parks but keep in mind that because it’s a small city, many restaurants close early so when we got back, it was close to 10pm and we could only order pizza, not that I complained haha. We all turned in pretty early, and woke up around 5:30 am the next morning to head to Horseshoe Bend. The last two times I’ve been, I’ve always gone during sunset and so I was very excited to finally go during sunrise and it did not disappoint. We didn’t make it right at sunrise (we were late) but the colors were still amazing as the sun started to hit the rocks.

Overall, it was a fun and relaxing trip and we accomplished a good amount. If you’re ever traveling to Arizona, feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need recommendations. Or, if you’ve ever been and would like to share your tips, let me know! I’d love to hear your experience 🙂

TTFN!

Killer Noodle Bar x iichiko Grand Opening

Image | May 17, 2018May 17, 2018 | Tammy Fong

I was recently invited (shout out to my girl, polydeux!) to Tsujita’s Killer Noodle grand opening of their new bar that featured iichiko soju. I’ve never had Japanese soju before but I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I like the drinks with iichiko! Here are a few shots from the event – hope you enjoy!

P.S. Try their ramen – it’s really good, especially if you’re a fan of peanut butter!

TTFN!

A Weekend in Joshua Tree

Image | March 31, 2018March 31, 2018 | Tammy Fong

It’s been a minute since I last visited Joshua Tree for more than a few hours. Early March, a couple of friends and I headed out to Joshua Tree to celebrate our friend’s birthday. Since there were going to be more than 10 of us, we opted for an Airbnb–it was just to manage.

We headed out Friday night around 8:30 pm and arrived around 11:00 pm, it’s about a 2 hour drive east from the greater LA area and during that time, there may be some minor traffic, fyi!

We didn’t plan too much and just decided to go with the flow this weekend. There is quite a lot to do if you’re planning for only a weekend; 2-3 hikes is definitely do-able!

On Saturday, we woke up and did a big group breakfast and set out for a hike around 1:00 pm. We did 1 easy hike, Arch Rock, and ended with sunset at Keys View around 5:30 pm, which is highly recommended!

Later that evening, we stayed in and watched a movie on Netflix and had a big delicious group dinner, consisting of steak, galbi ribs, a cheeseboard, and fruits!

On Sunday morning, everybody left at their own pace and while everyone left for home, Brandon and I went back to Joshua Tree to do the Barker Dam hike. It’s a 1 mile loop, flat ground and super easy. I’ve done this hike previously but did not see any water at the dam so this time, I wanted to see it. While on the hike, we saw some climbers and watched them for a bit (kind of made us both miss climbing!)

Joshua Tree is a fairly small national park and even though there are quite a few hikes available, you can definitely accomplish a lot in a weekend trip so if you’re thinking about visiting, just do it!

Check out my photos from the trip, hope ya’ll enjoyed! 🙂

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