Margaritas and More...

Mexico is to cocktails as Germany is to beer. Mexico's vast contribution to plethora of alcoholic beverages of the world cannot be overstated.

The Coco Lolo:
Coconut juice, pineapple juice, and like, every bottle on the opposite side of the bar.

The Margarita: Served on the rocks, or frozen

Sangria:
A Spanish wine punch

The Paloma (dove):
Tequila and Squirt, to be consumed on a sandy gay beach

A Dry Martini:
Although not native to Mexico, the martini is nevertheless a popular fixture of sidewalk bars

Tequila Sunrise:
Orange Juice and Grenadine

McDonalds: Japan

Oh Japanese McDonalds. Its been almost a decade since I first had the illustrious Teriyaki burger in Japan. Since then, Japanese McDonalds has fascinated me for many reasons.


One of the first things you will notice about Japanese McDonalds is that they almost always have smoking sections. This is a very Japanese thing to me. Japan is still a smoker's paradise with cigarette vending machines, ashtrays on every street, and smoking sections in every fast food establishment. Whether or not you agree with the morality of public smoking accommodations, it looks pretty funny to light up a cigarette in front of the arch. 

Now, apart from McDonalds' smoker-friendly environment, it is also open 24 hours in more metropolitan locations (maybe even everywhere). I'm not just talking about drive-through service (which I've never seen in Tokyo and doubt exists), I'm talking about the whole restaurant. If you find yourself in any part of Tokyo between the hours of 12:00 am and 5:00 am (when the trains stop running) go into a McDonalds and you'll see scores of teenagers, businessmen, and clubbers all asleep in those plastic seats, tired from a night of hard work.

The last really awesome thing about McDonalds is, of course, the menu. McDonalds Japan has one of the most unique menus in the world with many, many deviations from its American heritage. The Teriyaki burger was just the start, get a load of these specials when I visited in Fall of 2010:

Lunch at Elephant

Top: Nordstrom?
Skirt: Anthropologie
Shoes: Vintage
Necklace: vintage
Bracelets: flea market in Mexico
Sunglasses: from the Hong Kong Museum of Art gift shop



Ruffle detail:



Location: Elephant Deli, NW Portland

Rose Garden

Dress: thrifted (thanks mom)
Belt: vintage
Shoes: thrifted







Location: Rose Garden, Portland, OR

Starbucks: Japan

Whenever I'm in a metropolitan region of Japan, the first thing I want to do is go to Starbucks. Despite many resemblances to its American counterpart, Starbucks Japan is a whole lot more bad-ass.
First of all, it offers the elusive "Short  size", which is a size smaller than the smallest size in the US, the Tall size. Secondly, it offers special beverages that are not  for sale in the US.


In Winter of 2008, my favorite drink was the Tiramisu latte. This is an image of the back of the cup, which I was surprised to find in English, and more surprised to find the English free of grammatical errors.

More recently, in Fall of 2010, I fell in love with the new flavor Creme Brulee!

I must have had one every day I was in Osaka. I even tried it Iced, though it disappointingly tasted just like a regular iced caramel macchiato.

Dusk and Color

Top: Walmart (No joke)
Skirt: vintage



New Category Alert:
Fall-Winter side-by-side comparisons:

Taipei: My Future Home

Well...in a little while.

What a coincidence, the same month I decided to move there, Nylon Japan did a street snap of Taipei.
Soon this will be my fashionable new home!

Source: Nylon Japan, June 2011

Korean Airlines

Flying out of LAX to Hong Kong via Seoul was my first experience on Korean Airlines. They had just released a new fleet of very outstanding airplanes that were to operate on some of the more highly-traveled routs (i.e. LAX-Seoul Icheon).
These planes were very luxurious. Some of the most awesome things about Korean Airlines:


1. The seats were wide and comfortable, the entertainment was rad (Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and American movies all with subtitles in every language), and I was given as many  honey roasted peanut packages as I deemed necessary for a 10 hour flight.


There I am in my seat. Look at all that room!

1. Safely video is shot like a low-budget sci-fi movie. Check out this girl's creepy face! Awesome!

2. You can fall asleep without worrying about missing dinner or duty free. It was never really clear to me where to place these stickers (face, body, pillow, chair...) but somehow I was awoken for meals.

3. The food was AWESOME. I told all my Korean friends before I left that I hoped I would get to eat kimchi AND bibimbap on the plane. Well, I got BOTH. That's right, I even had a second helping of bibimbap, no questions asked. They even give you an instructional menu.

Piano Key Shorts

Top: H&M
Shorts: self-made, Fall 2010 Collection
Shoes: vintage