(Re)Reunited, and it Feels So Good

As much as I love my man, I won’t deny that I get a persistent urge for some female contact every now and again. Sure, Nick is there for me to remove spiders from my room in the middle of the night, to go on a hand-holding walk to the market, and all other things with the emotional equivalent of skipping on a beach at sunset.

But for all that love, he’s still a boy. He still laughs when I compulsively shop on eBay. He doesn’t understand why I can’t leave the house in an outfit that looks too similar to something I wore last week. There are just some things that need a lady’s touch.

On my birthday, I proudly reveled in the fact that I was successfully able to fuse two groups of friends with remarkable results. Now, of their own volition, those friends were eager to not only see me again, but to see each other! Thus, I was only too happy to oblige.

As it turns out, we were all overdue for some lady time. There were romantic issues to be discussed. There were the perils of employment to navigate. There was juicy gossip to dish out. So, we dressed to the nines, hopped in our cars, and rendezvoused at one of my tastier haunts: Sompun Thai in Silverlake. This place is a 15 on a 1-to-10 scale of cuteness. It’s located on a tricky bend on Santa Monica Blvd. that, if you’re not paying attention, may cause you to totally bypass your destination. But once inside, tasty delights await.

Seated in the restaurant’s cozy patio, me and my ladies met and ate and loved each other. Garlic chicken…spicy mint noodles…basil and beef…two Singhas…oh my. Whitney and Melisa, I’ve known since elementary school, and Zahra (oh that Zahra!) has been in my life for near ten years now. But one fact that I’ll never stop being grateful for is how we’ve managed to make this transformation from talking about Jumanji and Jurassic Park (or in Zahra’s case, stressing out over who was getting better test scores in Pre-Algebra) to being able to talk and love and embrace each other’s advice as grown women.

I first came to Sompun a few years back, having been introduced to it by my L.A.-savvy uncle over an impromptu lunch with him and Nick. I felt so grown up. We even had beers! It was all a very grown up affair. But bringing Nick into the fold of my family -and having them take me seriously- has been one of my most important quests. By all accounts, I think it’s working. Although, according to my Aunt Irma, her only reservation is that he has a tendency to over-stress when it comes to school. I’m not worried. He always helps de-stress me. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t do the same for him?

Sompun played host to a stand-out time that, in my opinion at least, saw me begin my transition from goofy adolescent to a lightly less goofy adult. When asked by my ladies where we ought to go for dinner -Sompun’s glorious food not withstanding- I knew that this had to be the place we went, if for nothing else than me wanting to see another such moment arise.

Missing from the pictures, and I guess my general account of the evening, is lovely Leah, who obligingly played photographer during our little reunion. But her advice is up there with the rest of them, and her presence will be more than welcome at our next love fest.

EXCLUSIVE: Cambodia Town’s Food Goes Beyond Fusion

By Massiel Bobadilla

LONG BEACH –“Cambodian New Year? I’m Vietnamese,” said 62-year-old manicurist Anh Thi Dinh before adding, with the subtlest bit of sass, “What do you know about that?”

For Dinh, as one of Cambodia Town’s non-Cambodian residents, the holiday represents little more than background noise to a busy day at work.

Cambodian New Year will fall on April 4 this year, and Long Beach’s Cambodian Coordinating Council will celebrate with their sixth consecutive festival and parade.

Photo courtesy of the Cambodian Coordinating Council

“When the parade comes by, the streets are full of people, so we get a lot of business,” said Dinh, who works at the Kinh Do Design Hair & Nail salon on Anaheim St., “but you know, we always have a lot of people. I don’t notice either way.”

Southern California is home to dozens of cultural enclaves –Little India in Artesia; Little Ethiopia in the Fairfax District; Chinatown, Olvera Street, and Little Tokyo in Downtown L.A.—all of which boast their fair share of kitschy architecture, delectable smells, and the feeling that you’ve just fallen out of your own world into a new, pleasantly surprising one.

Long Beach’s Cambodia Town is none of the above. It is an amalgam. Though Long Beach is home to the largest population of Cambodians outside Cambodia, the one-mile stretch along Anaheim Street is hardly one unbroken, homogenous block straight out of Phnom Penh.

Cambodian clothing stores sit next to Mexican meat markets. Thai jewelers are in the same strip malls as Vietnamese markets. The banners say ‘Cambodia Town,’ but the streets reflect a little extra.

It is a literal –and perhaps, metaphorical—fusion that works its way into all aspects of life in Cambodia Town. Take, for example, the case of the highest-rated Cambodian restaurant on Yelp: Siem Riep.

Situated next to a boisterous Mexican bar on the corner of Cherry Blvd., Siem Riep doesn’t even bill itself as exclusively Cambodian. “Cambodian! Thai! Chinese!” reads the mini marquee outside.

In theory, one could experience all three cuisines at once if they ordered the chicken and broccoli (Chinese) with the lemongrass chicken skewers (Cambodian) and washed it all down with a Singha beer (Thai).

However, the cultural fusions of Siem Riep stretched beyond their culinary masterpieces. While the televisions softly crooned Cambodian music videos and the walls of the restaurant were plastered with images of Angkor Wat, two giant, golden dragons hovered over the dance floor, encircling banners calling for a ‘Happy Chinese New Year,’ and a wide selection of Thailand’s best liquors were proudly displayed over the bar.

“Everyone comes here, not just Cambodians,” said owner Alex Be. “The neighborhood is really diverse, so when something like Cambodian New Year comes around, you see them all come out. Blacks, Mexicans, Anglos…they’re all out there with us.”

Though headlines about racial tensions in Cambodia Town crop up in the news from time to time –and Dinh herself may have even harbored a little silent resentment—Be maintains that, for the most part, Long Beach’s estimated 20,000 Cambodians should be able to peacefully celebrate the coming New Year with their neighbors.

“[The festival] means a lot to a lot of people,” said Be. “My parents loved seeing it. I love seeing all those people come together. But I really love that the parade route goes right in front of our restaurant. It’s great for business.”

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The Sixth Annual Cambodian New Year Festival and Parade will take place on Sunday, April 4th. The parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. on the corner of Anaheim St. and Junipero Ave., and the festival will begin at noon at the El Dorado East Regional Park.

For more information, call 562-316-9099

Food is Love: A Guide to My Affair with L.A.

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I always have been -and likely will always be- and out and proud Angeleno. I was born in Hollywood and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, but life was not complete if I was not making routine treks into the city with my family (mostly for food, but always for love).

Over the years, I gradually began expanding and adding to that first culinary infatuation. Now, I can’t visit any of my favorite spots without calling to mind the things that first made me…a Massiel.

So browse through, and take my word for it: I wouldn’t recommend them if they weren’t good!