It feels like forever since my last post! Just want to update everyone on what I’ve been up to. I have so many photos to share, I’m going to have to post them in increments. Let’s backtrack all the way to last Sunday (yea, I’m way behind).

After church in OC, my sister and I were ridiculously hungry. Luckily, we had looked up veg restaurants in the OC area and found a vegan Vietnamese pho place called ‘Hoa Sen.’ Pho is also one of the foods on my vegan bucket list. I haven’t had it in years and years, and even though I barely ever think about it in Korea, I was suddenly intensely craving it like a pregnant woman! I guess when you know a vegan version doesn’t exist (such as in Korea), you just never think of it, but then when you know that it’s available, it’s all you can think about.

I ordered their basic pho (‘Hoa Sen Noodle Soup’) dish for $5.50. So affordable! By far the best part of the whole meal was the hot broth. It was excellent and it had the exact pho taste that I’ve been missing all these years. All those herbs, spices, sauces… I don’t know exactly what goes in it, but it is one of the most comforting bowls of food evar~! There was also quite a bit of soy meat in the dish. I thought the thinly sliced soy meat (chicken?) was pretty good, especially when dipped in some hoisin & sriracha sauce. There were also ‘meatballs’ in it, which were aiight, but I didn’t finish them. I’m okay with eating soy meat, but only if it’s thin slices, rather than large, dense, chewy cuts/balls. I guess I’m just not used to the texture. For me, it was really just all about the broth, noodles, and veggies. Oh, that broth! It made the dish. Even my omni sister (who knows good pho) was really impressed.

My sister ordered the ‘Hue’s Soy Beef Noodle Soup’ which was delicious too. It had different noodles (wheat, not rice) and a lot of large soy meat chunks, which were good in small doses. Again, the broth was killer. :) Even though we didn’t finish all the soy meat, we still thoroughly enjoyed our food there, and I would absolutely return to satisfy my pho craving. Someone neeeeds to start this kind of restaurant in Korea! I’ve been saying that at every single restaurant I go to, but it’s true. All the veg*n restaurants here have such intense, flavorful food, that the Korean ones seem so bland now, in comparison… Another major plus about Hoa Sen was that the prices were very affordable. Leaving completely stuffed on a delicious $6 meal was a nice break from all the other expensive vegan eats I’d been having up in LA. My spending rate needs to slow down a bit…

After lunch, we rushed back up to LA to catch the last 2 hours of the Renegade Craft Fair Holiday sale. It’s funny how when I visited LA last year, we also went to this fair, and then I got to go this time as well. The weather was absurdly warm and simply spectacular for an outdoor craft market.

When we got there, we were overwhelmed by all the amazing, creative items for sale. I would simply loooove to one day have my own stall at a craft fair, selling my own stationery line. :) Someday, someday~

That’s me, admiring some purses. I was on the lookout for a new wallet! :)

Here are photos of some of my fave booths:





So much talent and creativity in one location! It was a true feast for the eyes.

*photo taken by my sister- I love how she captures light!

The sun beginning to set on a fabulous Sunday.

In the end, here’s what we came away with. An adorable letterpress card for a baby-shower, a recycled sweater hat with crocheted flowers, and two prints from the free photobooth! Fun fun~

Next up, a post about this week’s 3-day trip to San Diego! :) Now I’m going to skedaddle to make lunch and enjoy the day. Ta ta~