Small Dragon Balls, Flea Market, and Tennis
I forgot to update about Sunday. I was planning to bike over to Manhattan Beach and get breakfast at Uncle Bill’s Pancakes with ShopGirl, but I woke up too late. That was two blown bike appointments in one week. So instead, I went back to sleep for another two hours, then headed over to Arcadia/Pasadena with ObligatedGirl for another afternoon of newness.
First stop, Din Tai Fung dumpling house in Arcadia. In Chinese, dumplings are called Small Dragon Balls. Din Tai Fung is famous for infusing sauce into their dumplings, so everytime you put a Small Dragon Ball in your mouth you receive a wonderful blast of deliciousness. In New York's Chinatown they have a similar restaurant called Joe's Shanghai, but trust me, it's not as good. I’ve been to the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia before, as well as the one in Taiwan. Taiwan’s Din Tai Fung is a must-go restaurant if you’re ever traveling there. HalfFobBlabber introduced the place to me, a constantly packed, narrow 3-story restaurant that serves arguably the best juicy small dragon balls in the world. Efficient servers bring out stacked trays of steaming dumplings to eager diners in a stuffy but enjoyable atmosphere. Din Tai Fung in Arcadia is much smaller, not quite as good as the one in Taiwan, but just as packed. The small waiting area has a window into the tiny small room where 10 Mexican and Chinese workers stand side-by-side rolling dough, stuffing ingredients, pinching wraps. On a Sunday afternoon, the line was forty-five minutes for a table of two. After about thirty minutes of staring at the workers who returned our stares in kind, we couldn’t stand the wait anymore. We got our order to go and I tipped the lady a couple extra bucks because she got it super fast for us.
A quick drive over to Pasadena, and we parked and sat on the curb eating our delicious dumplings. We had two boxes of ten each: one regular, the other crab. The regular Small Dragon Balls were much better. Then we accomplished my new thing of the day when we entered the massively gigantic hyperbolic Rose Bowl Flea Market.
The Rose Bowl Flea Market is probably the biggest flea market I’ve ever been to in my life. Imagine a giant tailgate party, only with antiques, ragged clothing, and trinkets instead of barbeques, beer, and testosterone-laden excitement. It runs every second Sunday of the month from 9AM to 3PM and admission is $7. I talked with a seller of old music posters who told me he had been out there every month for about 12 years, but now he had an EBay shop (PosterXChange) and made a ton of money on that and didn’t need to come out anymore. I told him I’d visit his EBay store even though we both knew I wouldn’t. It was an especially hot day and ObligatedGirl succumbed to the mighty temptation of a $4 soda. My main mission at the flea market was to find an awesome wall clock. A month ago, I discovered the clock on my computer was an hour off. So when I thought I was going to sleep at 12 or sometimes 1, I was actually going to sleep as late as 2. No wonder I was so tired all the time. Anyway, I thought that was another insight into my stupidity, so I figured a wall clock would be the appropriate cure. I found one that was designed like the steering wheel of an old ship, but it was electricity operated and the seller said he didn’t know if it worked or not. I knew he was lying. I bargained him down from $20 to $12 (yeah still not a great bargain and not that awesome), and along with a Georgia Choir Gospel Music tape for $5 (because I care about black people) and ObligatedGirl’s $3 bling chain, we were set for the day. Next month, we’ll have to come earlier and spend more time trying to pick out the good deals.
Back in the Westside, I smacked ObligatedGirl’s ass. At tennis, 6-0. And I found out the clock doesn't work, but I can fix it. And that was my Sunday. How was yours?
Din Tai Fung
1108 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007-7508
Google Maps link
(626) 574-7068
Cost: $6.25 for 10 dumplings
Rose Bowl Flea Market
1001 Rose Bowl Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91103
Google Maps link
Second Sunday of every month, 9AM - 4:30PM
Cost: $7 general admission