Just got back from a month long trip. . . Tokyo, Hiroshima, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  Here are some of the things we saw and ate ^_^

This beautiful display of stone crabs and lemons comes courtesy of Joe's Stone Crabs at the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas.  This is ONLY their 2nd location, with their 1st in Florida.  From what I hear, it took A LOT of convincing as they do not want to compromise their taste in their 2nd location.
MY VERDICT:  BRAVO!!!  These Stone Crabs were the size of my fist, and about 1 foot long.  Simple steaming with an extraordinarily marvelous mustard dressing, it is truly SIMPLICITY at its finest.

This is also from Joe's Stone Crabs. 
Here we have (from center clockwise) the ever-popular Stone Crabs Bolognese, Steak (medium-rare), and a bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon.  Though the bolognese was a little heavy for me, everyone at my table picked it as their 2nd choice (with Stone Crabs being #1).  The steak was, for me, a perfect medium rare. . . way too rare for the others, though they agreed the medium cooked steak was flavorful.  Lastly, the wine, which was recommended by the Sommelier, was a perfect fit for the evening. 
The ambience, the service, the quality of food pushed Joe's to the Top of my list. 
MY VERDICT:  A DEFINITE MUST-DO!!

Ah!  Probably one of my favorite comfort junk food ever. . . Chili burgers from Tommys.
Here, you see the menu.

From center, clockwise:  Chili Cheese Dog, Chili Cheese Fries, Chili Cheeseburger.
What can I say?  I love Tommy's burgers. 
The sloppy-joe'ness, the flavor, the texture. . . I love Tommy's over Pinks anyday.

Here we have Crustaceans in Beverly Hills.
We ordered Spinach, Garlic noodles with Shrimp, and Beef & Potatoes.
Over the years, Crustaceans has lost its quality.  While the garlic noodles were still delicious, something was missing.  They're lost their Umpfh. 
Even if you made reservations, unless they know you, they'll still make you wait a long long time.
MY VERDICT:  Not worth the effort to wait.

My friend, Aileen was celebrating her birthday, so the server at Crustaceans brought her a birthday dessert platter.  From left to right:  Deep fried battered Bananas, Panna Cotta, Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.
MY VERDICT:  Its' ok.

What we have here is fondly known as Mastro's Martini.
Basically, Cosmopolitan the Mastro's way. . . a little sweeter, a lot colder. . . they pour Cosmo into the martini glass over dry ice.  Visually super appealing, taste yummy too!  ^_^

Mastro's French Onion Soup.
Sigh!  What can I say?  This is truly a work of art!  I've never had a better French Onion Soup. 
The Garlic Toast is as tasty. . . Man oh man! 
That cheese, the gratin, the caramelized onions. . . its French Onion Soup at its BEST!!

This is called the Seafood Tower.  Another one of Mastro's brilliant ideas.
Each server will decorate the tower for their table.
The table gets to choose among a variety of appetizers, then the servers build them this tower.
What you see here is what they consider a small tower.
Its beautiful!  The servers pour the water over the dry ice as they arrive at the table. . . the result:
Nice, Cold seafood at your finger tips.
GENIUS!

The Mastro's Bone-In Fillet.
This here is a thing of beauty.
It is beef at its FINEST, cooked to perfection.
Look at the color, look at the size, just LOOK AT IT!
10 ounces of Heaven!
Gob bless Mastro's.

Not very visually appealing, I know, but this is MY PLATE.
From left to right. . .
1)  Lobster Mashed Potatoes:  need I say more?  Lobster AND Mashed Potatoes?!?!?!  YIKES!!!
2)  Sauteed Mushrooms:  Lovely, nice crunch, very very flavorful
3)  Gratin Potatoes:  Not bad. . . could've passed but not bad at all
4)  Creamed Spinach:  Very very nice.  This I like. . . and I don't like creamed spinach
5)  Bone-In Fillet:  See Above
6)  Creamed Corn:  What's not to love about this?  Cream, corn, butter, salt, pepper.  Just SUPER!!

I can't seem to remember the name of this location.  But here's the address:
555 Pier Ave
Long Beach, California
I don't have much to tell you about this place as far as its ambience. . . but the food. . . glorious!
Ed, Terra, Serdar and I are A LOT!!
There were deep fried halibut, deep fried scallops, deep fried shrimp, grilled halibut, fish tacos, clam chowder, shrimp ceviche, cole slaw, french fries, BBQ grilled shrimp on skewer. . .
Every bite was as heavenly as the previous.
Go.  Try it for yourself.

OK, I won't leave you hanging.  Here are their locations. . . you go find out how to get there yourself.  ^_^

1)  Joe's Stone Crabs  (Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas)  ->  the first location is somewhere in Florida
2)  Tommy's Burgers  (the rest stop in Barstow on the way to LA from Vegas) -> there are many locations
3)  Crustaceans (Beverly Hills, CA) -> I think there's another one in Las Vegas. . . but quality is down
4)  Mastro's (Beverly Hills, CA) ->  The one and only.  GO!!!
5)  555 Pier Ave, Long Beach ->  Also, solo.  Diamond in the rough!

You know what I hate most?
Skinny girls on diets.

I loath having dinners with these girls. They piss me off right down to my toe nails, right up to my split ends.

ME: What are you getting?
THEM: I'm on a diet. Need to lose a lot of weight.
ME: OIC. So. . . what are you getting then?
THEM: Just water. Oh, and since I'm not eating dinner, I can have a cheesecake.
ME: . . .

So, they won't have meat, potatoes, rice, sauce, veggies. . . all the goodness that the Good Lord has given us. And they order cheesecake or some form of dessert. . . cos it'll help them lose weight? Ugh! Another girl won't eat carbs, but she feels she should reward herself with ice-cream. Oh! But hold the nuts and the fudge and the whipped cream, please. "I'm watching my weight". I wanna tell them all. . . fuck your weight! Where would you lose it from? Your hair? Take off you shoes, you'll lose some weight there.

"I'll just have a salad, please. Caesar salad with extra dressing, grilled chicken too. Oh! And I'll have just the half order. Thanks. And a diet coke too."
Then comes her food. She looks at it, and looks at her guy's plate.
She asks for extra parmesan and black pepper.
Then daintily picks at her guy's plate of steak. "Oh, I just want to try an itsy bitsy piece" Then reaches for another "Its so good I'll have just another tiny bite". Ends up "picking" most of it. Then "Honey, I'm so full I can't eat another bite of this salad. Here, you have it" Meanwhile, she waves at the waitor and orders a hot fudge sundae "but no nuts or fudge, please. I'm watching my weight"

Some guy friends of mine told me once. . . and words of advice to all ladies out there too. Very wise words:
"Dude, it fucking hurts to fuck a skinny chick. It's like banging a metal chair."

FYI, I was in a dilemma. Happy cos I learned something new. Mortified. . . for obvious reasons.

All these stress about weight. . . just to get a man? Maybe I'm the lucky single one. Just maybe.

Been on this crazy diet for almost 2 weeks now and have lost a lot!
Here's the diet in short:

ONLY fish, green vegetables and water allowed.
ONLY ways to prepare are steaming, grilling, baking.
NO salt, sugar, starches, or bad carbs (rice, noodles, bread)
ONLY moderate to light exercise allowed
NO weight lifting

Today is Day 11. I have lost 5kg. Its not as tough as I thought, though finding new ways to flavor food is challenging. Since I'm a culinary school grad, its not a big deal.

Going out to eat is limited to Japanese restaurants for Shabu Shabu and Sashimi, or Chinese restaurants for Steamboats. Walking by food courts is challenging but remembering the weight I've lost thus far is a great motivation.

I used to hate water. Now, after 11 days of ONLY drinking water, its not so bad afterall.

After this diet is over, I'm burning my steamer. AND eating a drumstick from KFC. But just one, of course. My stomach's shrunk. I can feel it.

And since no one's going to be reading this, I'm going to post my before photo. . . as soon as I find it. And two weeks later, I'll post my after photo. I hope to lose another 5-10kgs. But as long as I don't gain back the 5kgs I've lost thus far, I'll be satisfied to know I'm already healthier.

Good luck, dear.

I'm all about food.  Eating it, Cooking it, Looking at it, etc.  As they say, I live to eat.