{tacos el gordo}

{Carne asada fries, al pastor taco, lengua taco, & carne asada tacos}

{Carne asada fries, al pastor taco, lengua taco, & carne asada tacos}

What's a trip to the West Coast without some authentic Mexican tacos? No where in New York {to my knowledge} has tacos as authentic as the ones I've had in California, notably El Chato Taco Truck and El Taurino in Los Angeles.

So naturally, during our week in Vegas, we needed to hunt down the best tacos. With glowing recommendations from friends, we trekked to Tacos El Gordo. Ordering was intimidating at first with Spanish flying across the room. Each meat was sectioned off, so if you wanted to order Carne Asada tacos, you'd have to go to a specific section, and so on. I wanted to try them all, so I went from right to left, with my al pastor {pork} taco first, a lengua {beef tongue} taco, and then finally my two carne asada {steak} tacos accompanied by my small {but still relatively large} helping of carne asada fries.

Tacos El Gordo was well worth the hype surrounding it. There was always a generous amount of meat in each taco, which was balanced out with the onions, cilantro, salsas, and of course, a warm tortilla. I wish I took some more pictures, but I was too excited about my carne asada fries, eep! Lastly, I got a guava juice pop, the perfect ending to my meal and perfect for combating the dry Vegas heat.

As one of my last meals in Sin City, Tacos El Gordo was the cherry on top of my perfect vacation. I'll be back for more al pastor tacos.

{zeds dead @ EDCLV 2014}

To say that I had a blast at EDCLV is a severe understatement. I'm suffering from festival withdrawals at the moment, so I'm dedicating my Music Monday post to one of my favorite sets from the epic three day festival.

Watching this set from the bleachers was one of the highlights of my experience at EDC. As I was talking to my friend, Marcus, about how amazing it would be to see fireworks from where we were all sitting {or for Jonathan, sleeping}, ....FIREWORKS. Hearing Lost You as the fireworks were erupting over the stage and festival had me feelin' some type of way. And then into Go Deep. Don't get me started.

But of course, it wasn't just the fireworks that made this my favorite moment at EDC the fact that all {most} my favorite people were there with me to experience it made it that much more special. Taking in these kinds of moments with the music that brings us all together is what makes the memories that much more special. So, so thankful for all the wonderful homies around me who made my EDC experience exponentially better.

Above and Beyond said it best: "Life is made of small moments like these."

Love you all.

{yesterday}

by Michael Marcelle

by Michael Marcelle

As far as I know, the only person ever to put Japanese lyrics to the Beatles song "Yesterday" (and to do so in the distinctive Kansai dialect, no less) was a guy named Kitaru. He used to belt out his own version when he was taking a bath.
Yesterday,
Is two days before tomorrow,
The day after two years ago.

Read more here.

My cousin introduced me to Haruki Murakami by recommending Kafka on the Shore to me years ago. Since then, his stories have become one of my favorites. I was immediately hooked after reading the aforementioned novel, followed by Norwegian Wood {this was made into a movie, starring Kenichi Maysuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, and one of my favorite models, Kiko Mizuhara}, A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, 1Q84, and currently in the middle of Sputnik Sweetheart. He writes with descriptions with incredible detail and thought, and this artistic writing is displayed in all of his work, from his novels to his short stories.