Gin Pooler: 10 Years Later

I've mentioned it a few times before, but when I was a kid, I was extremely shy. I had a hard time speaking up in class all my life, even through college. I was always in awe (and usually still am) of people that could stroll into a room and immediately command all attention.

One of the most memorable attention-grabbing people that I have ever met in my life was Virginia "Gin" Pooler.

Pooler, as we all called her, was a teacher at my high school, which went from seventh to twelfth grade. Pooler was THE teacher because everyone that was at Whitney took her class, as she was the only sex education teacher during my time there.

With big blond hair, a rather deep and booming voice, perfectly manicured red fingernails, and an imposingly tall stature, she was unabashedly attention-getting. Pooler stomped through the halls of Whitney, alternately teasing, laughing, scolding, and generally mothering all of us. She had no shyness, no shame, and the perfect amount of bravado to keep teenage boys enamored of her.

I went to school with her daughter (a year older than me) and her son (a year younger than me, in my sister's class), so Pooler was (I think) probably even more comfortable with us, all the kids that were just about the ages of her kids at home. (On a side note- sex education from your own mother must be a tough class to take!)

Though she struggled with ovarian cancer, she came back to school shortly after her first bout, in a wig that was almost like her old hair. I remember that she gloated about never having to shave her legs again, making us all laugh when it could have been so heartbreaking. I loved that about her.

Pooler's cancer came back, devastating the many, many people whose lives she touched. She passed away ten years ago today, just a few months before her son's (and my sister's) graduation from Whitney. The school she influenced, the school her kids attended, the place that was made that much better by her presence.

I miss her still. I can't believe it's been ten years, but it has.

You're forever loved, Pooler.

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Guppy Teahouse, Cerritos

Guppy Teahouse
11803 E. South Street
Cerritos, CA 90703
http://www.myguppyteahouse.com/

Telephone: 562.865.7288

Sunday - Thursday:
11:00 am - 1:00 am
Friday - Saturday:
11:00 am - 2:00 am


Last night was the only day everyone in my nuclear family could all meet up while my grandmother's still in town.

Because my sister and I both had to battle traffic from West L.A. to get to Cerritos, we agreed to go for a post-dinner snack at Guppy's.

Let me be clear- I am not a fan of Guppy's. I like their food, yes, but between the hordes of chain-smoking, pants-sagging, foul-mouthed Asian teenagers and the pimply high-school workers, I try to avoid the place whenever possible.

It's actually unfortunate that I like their food so much, because I had an internal struggle every time: But their chicken. So good. But that one little obnoxious waitress. So annoying. But the shaved ice ... yum ... But those little Korean/Chinese/Phillippino kids ... beyond irritating. Hmm...

To add insult to injury, they play the most irrelevant songs at the highest volume possible. Seriously, Boyz II Men? Just turn it down from shrieking to at least yelling volume, and maybe I'll be able to overlook it.

Honestly, I think Guppy is the underage set's version of a bar/club. They're open late, they have non-alcoholic drinks, and annoying kids congregate there. What's more indicative of a bar/club than that?? Other than stumbling drunks, of course.

Enough hating on the place, on to the good stuff!

Their popcorn chicken is DELICIOUS. The external batter is not too thick (American popcorn chicken is more "popcorn" than "chicken") and comes in a variety of spice levels. We always get spicy, which is pleasantly tongue-tingling after eating about five of the little suckers.



































Next up came the shaved ice (빙수, pronounced bing-soo), which we got topped with strawberries, bananas, and red beans (팥), which my grandmother loves. I haven't had red beans on shaved ice in a long time, and they were a pleasant surprise- really yummy, a little sweet. The whole thing is drizzled liberally with condensed milk.








































We also ordered fruit tea, which I think is literally cut-up fruits with honey in hot water. It's sweet but good, and the little pieces of fruit are still tasty, despite being essentially cooked.








































Can't go to Guppy without getting brick toast! Brick toast, as the name indicates, is a giant piece of toast, covered with something coconut-flavored (but not actual pieces of coconut, which I hate), garnished with (more) condensed milk and chocolate syrup.

Heart attack on a plate? Why, yes, yes, it is! But still deletable and one of my dad's favorite desserts.








































Off to the Santa Monica Pier tonight for some music and some quality time with friends in the sand.

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BJ's Brewhouse, Cerritos (February 8)

BJ's Brewhouse
11101 183rd Street
Cerritos, CA 90703
http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/

Telephone: 562.467.0850

Monday - Thursday:
11:00 am - 12:00 am
Friday:
11:00 am - 1:00 am
Saturday:
10:00 am - 1:00 am
Sunday:
10:00 am - 12:00 am

I don't generally frequent BJ's Brewhouse, which has locations all over the United States. I'm not really a big fan- the food is okay but not great, the service always seems rushed and harried, and every BJ's I've ever been to has been way too loud.

When my uncle was here, he kept wanting to eat "American food," so we decided to just go to BJ's one evening. After all, my dad and uncle are hearty beer drinkers and BJ's brews many different types in-house. For the sake of "research," we set out.

The women, just outnumbering the men, managed to "agree" upon getting the 7-beer sampler. There's also a 14-beer sampler, which seemed like an obscene amount of glasses with which to litter the table. The beers are arrayed in darkest ---> lightest order.

3 minutes after ordering the beer. Tentative sips ... no swigging (yet). None of the girls drink beer, so the two men were taking their sweet time with the taste testing.


















1 minute passes. Clearly, the dark beers are being shunned in favor of the lighter ones.


















2 more minutes, and an obvious winner stands out. The Jeremiah Red, a red ale that's apparently quite delicious. In second place is the Piranha Pale Ale, which my uncle seems to be leaning towards.


















18 minutes later, and three of the beers are dead and gone. The P.M. Porter was pretty much consumed entirely by Dad. He's the only one drinking the dark beers, as well. I stopped taking pictures of the beer after a while, but they did eventually drink all of them, as well as order full pints of their favorites (Jeremiah Red for my dad, the Piranha Pale Ale for my uncle).


















See how happy a little beer makes them? They're both terrible at smiling for the cameras, unless there's a mixture of seven different beers running through their systems!


















We got French fries as an appetizer because my uncle discovered a love of Idaho russets while he was here. He claims that the potatoes in Korea are not the same. American potatoes, I believe, are extremely mealy, while Koreans prefer the waxier varieties. Mealy potatoes do make the best French fries.

I learned that my grandmother (my mom and uncle's mother) loved French fries. We ordered the fries (half steak fries, half shoestring) in honor of her ... and proceeded to gobble them up like the piggies we all are.























I love the UFO-like pizza stands at BJ's. They're fun and functional!


















The actual pizza. It was the BJ's Favorite, which contains:

Oven-baked meatballs, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, black olives, white onions and seasoned tomatoes.

Pretty good, though the dough was very doughy. I doubt that 'doughy' is a synonym for 'deep dish,' but who am I to judge? I have no idea how to make pizza dough.


















The baked potato that my dad claimed was as big as his head (no it wasn't, but it was a close call). It really was an enormous potato. All five of us ate slices of it and it was still not fully consumed.


















My dad's hand is for visual reference. The ribs look almost small compared to that monster potato!


















I ordered the blackened chicken pasta, which is smothered in a cream sauce. The cheesy toasts that this pasta comes with are deletable. The actual chicken was good, but the pasta itself was a little overcooked, as was the broccoli. I do not like limp pasta. Especially when it's limp and overly doused in sauce.


















Pizookie! Pizza + cookie = pizookie.

We ordered the oatmeal raisin cookie with the vanilla ice cream. The cookie was way too sweet, the ice cream was just average, but I've always enjoyed the idea of a pizookie. And I like saying the name. Pizookie.

Pizookie.























The sister and the uncle after dinner. We all waddled out and came home to sit. I remember that we were exhausted from all the sheer eating we had done.

All in all, the company made the evening fun. My uncle only left a week ago, but I miss him already!

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Stuffed, Southern-Style

It's my uncle's birthday tomorrow (the one staying with us for a month) so we decided to celebrate today!

We (the father, mother, uncle, and two daughters) decided to go to my dad's current favorite restaurant, Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que. He loves barbecue, he loves Southern food, and he loves (crappy) American beer. My uncle didn't know any better, so he agreed and off we went.

We got something called a Backyard Family Feast, which the menu clearly stated would be served family-style for four or more. Which to me means that it would serve four-ish people. Maybe four fat people or five skinny-ish people. Right??

Out comes an entire rack of baby back ribs (my favorite), half a barbecued chicken (chicken is not my ideal protein (it's bland!) but it was delicious), an entire rack of giant beef ribs (I thought they were dinosaur ribs), a large bowl of macaroni and cheese, a large bowl of braised greens (excellent), four baked potatoes that were about the size of my foot, grilled corn on the cob (mercifully normal-sized), and absolutely delectable biscuits with honey butter.

The five of us, five full-grown adults, ate until we were about to pass out (while watching the Lakers LOSE like LOSERS- what the heck, Lakers?!) and still brought home three Styrofoam containers and four lidded cups of leftovers.

Wow, Lucille's. Which of your four customers can eat all that food in one sitting??

It was delicious, though. My Korean family is oddly very Southern. We all love kale and collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and buttermilk biscuits. My uncle was delighted and we managed to sneakily pay the check while he was off in the bathroom (Koreans fight- FIGHT- over who gets to pay the check. Unless it's my parents. They just look at us expectantly).











Yummmmmmmmmm.

Because we're all pigs, we also came home and had ice cream cake with coffee.

Overall, a satisfying food day that's managed to put everyone in a food coma. I've only just held on because I wanted to watch "My Name is Kim Sam-Soon," which comes on at the ridiculous time of 10:10 p.m. I've watched, I've laughed, I've tsk'ed some stupid decisions, and now I'm off to bed. To resist the deep sleep of barbecue-induced exhaustion is futile!

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