So...

i don't really do the whole "day recap" thing on my blog. but, my sister just wrote an awesome post where she described our evening together. so, i copied it. enjoy.

the hunt for an awesome dinner.

my dad was in tokyo last week, but this gave my brother and i some quality time together on sunday. word. i asked him if he had ever heard of pinkberry, which he of course had, since it's "all the rage." we decided we would find one and go; it's a fro yo joint. and we located one in the belmont shores area of long beach, on second street. (you know, i am still not sure why we (me, hol, lara, kat) didn't spend more time over there when we were so closeby living newport beach, it's kind of a cute area.) so what our evening plan was still lacking was a little more sustenance. we decide we should appropriately precede dessert with some dinner. and we both acknowledge we basically really wanted something awesome for dinner. and we found it!

ryan called a friend of his, whose voice i could hear across the room from the cell phone as she rattled off dining suggestions in that area without missing a beat (i aspire to be more like that instead of, 'well, what kind of food do you like?' and 'well, what kind of atmosphere are you looking for?' blah, blah...). we thought her lebanese mentions sounded like what we were looking for. of course what she had suggested was either of two lebanese restaurants right across the street from each other. when ryan and i got there, we figured we would decide which one completely based on exterior judgment. one was really cute and definitely trendy, with about a half hour wait. the other was more of a hole-in-the-wall, and our destination for the evening.

dinner at sunnin in long beach, with the bro.

we started with authentic lebanese brewskies and dug into some appetizers. we had the labneh, which was a soft, almost whipped, lebanese kefir cheese drizzled with olive oil and presented in a bowl; the rekakat, which was filo dough stuffed with feta, onions, parseley and zaatar; and my favorite, which was the moujadarah, pureed lentil cooked with rice, beans and onions topped with caramelized onions and served with pita. they were all amazing. we spent a long time eating them, and established that the cheese dish was really enough for about six people; we couldn't even finish half, and we were not being shy. the restaurant was small and narrow, with tables to accommodate either small or large parties. we weren't rushed in the slightest, and we know we picked the better restaurant of the two choices, and were quite satisfied with ourselves for seeing through the hype of the alternative. we then opted for sandwiches instead of full entrees; brother got the lamb kabob sandwich and i got the chicken kefta (my parents loved making kefta when we were growing up). we even smeared our labneh onto our sandwiches, and still barely made a dent into bowl o' cheese. our food was perfect.

lameberry.

i really don't get it. maybe it's because i wanted it to be really amazing, but pinkberry was just ok. i liked the frozen yogurt (there are two choices, regular or green tea) and what is nice is that they're not sweet. i got the regular, and my kiwi and blackberries on top were good. but it seemed kind of, well, normal, so i am confused why people wait in line around the block for this stuff. i guess the nutritional information is supposedley attractive, but c'mon it's not like it instantly makes the patrons themselves any more attractive, so i'm really confused on what is so great about this stuff. i went to take a picture and an employee lady ran over to tell me that there are no photographs allowed at pinkberry (might have to do with the fact that other fro yo shops are popping up conveniently EXACTLY like pinkberry, with names like kiwiberry). whatever. see photo below.