last post of 2017! what better way to end this year than with my ladies. man, lady dates are good for the sooouuul! earlier in the week, i went out with my sister and my museum buddy to spend the day downtown. first up was yayoi kusama’s exhibit at the broad. somehow by the luck of the draw we got tickets to this amazing exhibition… 4 months of anticipation and we finally were able to see yayoi’s amazing work.
after the museum we walked over to the grand central market to eat ALL the yummy food. we ate at the sari sari store where courtney and i reconnected with our filipino side. it was the second best adobo i’ve ever had…first being my grandma’s and nothing can ever top that. dessert was served at valerie’s where dana and i shared a coffee crunch cake with honeycomb all over the icing and we nearly died. it was the best last lady date of 2017!
on our way to the grand central market, we stumbled upon the angels flight railway and hopped on. this is where we cried when we had to walk up all the stairs on our way back to our car. good times…good times.
and now for the main event… the event we planned our whole trip (and outfits) around…the color factory! this pop up museum is an interactive experience encouraging folks to create those instagrammable moments (RIP kodak) and play with the hues in each room. under the creative direction of leah rosenberg and the art direction and design of erin jang, you find yourself completely immersed in the work of multiple artists. from tom stayte’s room filled with selfies to the giant yellow ball pit filled with 207,000 balls…
…get ready, this place is pretty spectacular.
ahhhh girl’s trips…there really is nothing better than a good old fashioned girl’s trip. imagine us out all night, drinking fancy cocktails, walking in uncomfortable shoes and talking about all the crude things that girl’s actually talk about when no guys are around…a real sex and the city vibe you know? cut to us in our hotel room laying in bed, dana passed out and i using the massage tools we bought in chinatown…real ragers we are. in our defense, we had arrived early saturday morning and wasted no time in getting our feet on the ground and our bellies full. two things you should know about dana and myself…. we first bonded over donuts, then dogs…aaannnnd the rest is history.
first on our list (after many hours spent on yelp) was the ferry building marketplace. we walked through all the vendors, pet all the dogs and tasted all the fruit…we also had pie for breakfast. we came up with a couple of different hashtags for the weekend…#carbfest #dogsdogsdogs #kenzieanddanasweekendoffun all of which we only remembered after the weekend was already over but i guess that’s what happens when you are living in the moment…or stuffing your face with all the good food that san fran has to offer. seriously sf…i’m impressed.
after our morning at the ferry building, we started to make our way to the museum of ice cream. you might be thinking, “but kenzie, didn’t you both already go the museum of ice cream in la?!” why yes dear reader…yes we did and my reason for why we had to go see it again in sf is well… because…FOMO…and they had re-released tickets for the saturday we were going to be in town so it was like…. MEANT TO BE. we got these tickets very last minute and it kind of threw a wrench into our food itinerary so we had to rework our schedule a bit but it all worked out…we got the penis cookies in the end (put that on a bumper sticker). 
the next morning, we hopped out of bed bright and early and headed to mr. holmes bakehouse. when i say “hopped” i mean that in the most literal sense possible. neither of us brushed our hair, i barely put my pants on but we wanted a cruffin so damn bad… love (food) makes us do crazy things.
stay tuned for more from our trip!
sometimes the best plans are the ones you didn’t actually plan for. on sunday a friend asked if i wanted to go to the 14th factory before it leaves los angeles for good. i spend a lot of my weekends in orange county visiting my parents (and their dogs) so she was shocked when i actually said yes. look at me being spontaneous!
on our way to the museum, gps couldn’t get a word in edgewise (we like to talk… a lot) and we passed the museum on our first go but once we turned back around we snagged a spot right in front! the parking gods must have been looking out for us and my excitement about this is 100% warranted because in los angeles, if you find a spot on the street where you don’t have to walk a mile to your destination, that’s considered a blessing. we both took it as a sign that our last minute plans were meant to be…and so began kenzie and dana’s DAY. OF. FUN! 
after the museum we went to salazar’s for lunch. our stars really were aligned because we found ANOTHER amazing spot right in front. i’m not kidding, i felt like i needed to test my luck and buy a lottery ticket.
okay. i’ll stop talking about parking now and get to the good stuff…the food. i had the vegetable tacos with grilled cauliflower, carrots, roasted fennel and pickled ramps (my mouth is watering as i write this post) and dana had the chilaquiles. by the end of our meal, we were sat in our chairs trying to collect ourselves after graciously devouring our food. no regrets. 
being friends with dana is like a blessing and a curse…most of the time it’s a huge blessing but my god does this woman know her food! if we keep hanging out like this, i’m going to have to join a gym (which she’s been trying to get me to do since we met. sorry, but i don’t like sweating with strangers).
after lunch we went to wanderlust creamery (still debating if this one’s a blessing or a curse). famous for their artisanal flavors (sticky rice and mango, kinder bueno, ube malted crunch), we tasted almost every one they had, they even had flavors inspired by game of thr(c)ones. i couldn’t think of a better way to get me in the mood for sunday’s episode so i had the “dragon’s blood” and “winter is coming”. 
last weekend, i went to the museum of ice cream – i have the sprinkles in my pants to prove it. upon our arrival, we were greeted with a bubble gum pink exterior and some bubble gum pink staff (ice cream “experts” as they described online). before we entered, the staff explained a little bit about the art and food inside and what exactly we were getting ourselves into. it felt more like a warning, as if they wanted to tell us what they had seen on the battlefield of ice cream but they couldn’t. they left us with a “HAVE A GOOD TIME!” and then we were off!
do you have any idea how hard it was for me to not sing “hollaback girl” by gwen stefani?
this mochi changed my life. yes, i’m being overly dramatic but mint chocolate chip mochi is life changing. the staff gave each of us our mochi and explained how the mint was being grown from a cacao soil which meant that it was essentially being grown from chocolate (straight out of willy wonka or a whole foods store). i don’t think anyone cared that much about the mint process except for me… in that moment. i regret not asking for seconds but we’ve all seen oliver twist.
black cookie dough. it’s a thing and it’s amazing and the dude giving it out was hilarious. he made sure none of us had black in our teeth before heading to the next room. he’s a true friend.
like i said… i’m still finding sprinkles in my clothes.
THEblog 