The Smell of Ice, Violence, and Beef

As of Friday morning, I had absolutely no plans for Friday night or all day Saturday. Except to maybe clean my apartment or start Christmas shopping. By the afternoon, thanks to my Spelling Friend with the great hookups at Staples Center, a chain reaction was created and suddenly I had plans.

She gave me her company tickets to the LA Kings game, but the catch was I needed to actually find someone to go with. Otherwise, she'd give them to someone else. Within 10 minutes, I had called up everyone I thought who would remotely be interested and left messages all across town. Erm, fortunately and unfortunately, three of my friends called back and said they could go.

I ended up meeting with one of those guys, my Chai Tea Specialist friend and a couple others for a Friday night flick "Happy Feet." Not my first choice for a movie (Super cute penguins and a good message, but a bit too much singing for my tastes), but he worked on it.

Took Vaj with me to the afternoon hockey game, and he treated me to a delicious McDonald's lunch as we watched players shove each other into the side panels. It was refreshingly cold in there in contrast to this freakishly hot weekend. It was also the closest I've been to the ice for a hockey game - so close that some poor kid one section over got beaned by a flying puck. Luckily all was well, and he came back one period later with a ice pack on his head.

I have to say, hockey is right up there as one of my favorite sports to watch live. Purely because the people are no frills and these guys are so talented, they are ice skating AND wielding large sticks, trying to play a game of hockey. What other sport are they doing TWO different activities at once? I can barely ice skate (I just grip on the railing and go in circles on the outer perimeter of the rink) or play hockey (played once in a gym. We wore shoes and used a small rubber ball.)

After the game, I went home briefly and then met up with Bizarro Twin for dinner in Koreatown. She had also said yes to the game but she decided to treat me to a belated birthday dinner of pure meat instead. She took me to her favorite spot - Soot Bul Jeep.

When she described it to me over a year ago, I thought she was exaggerating. But I kid you not, you can smell the meat before you get near the restaurant. It is also so filled with smoke, everything is hazy inside. I'm not sure what all those fans are for, but the restaurant certainly has some ventilation issues. In the end, WHO CARES, because it is the BEST kalbi I've ever had. BT and I ate three plates full. The waitress gave us a strange look when we ordered but then again, the two of us always get strange looks when we eat together because of how much we pack away. It might be that good because they use a charcoal grill instead of the usual gas grill. I'm sure I've inhaled enough carcinogens to take a few months off my life, but it was so worth it.

We went to an outdoor cafe for tea and dessert afterwards, partly so we could keep chatting but also to air ourselves out from eau de BBQ beef. I told her that I'd probably be oozing the smell of beef as I ran with the running group the next day - which might make a strange impression since I've only just met these people. And she replied "Oh come on, what man doesn't want to meet a women who smells like meat?" All in all, an unplanned and unexpectedly great Saturday with friends.