Angela Wong

Restaurants for Foodies in LA

I recent went to couple of notable restaurants in LA and they are really noteworthy. Both of them are related to Chef Thomas Keller from French Laundry.

Bouchon in Beverly Hills -

Under chef Rory Herrmann (formerly of Per Se), the kitchen turns out classic French bistro dishes tweaked to Keller's modern sensibility. The scene is the usually Beverly Hills celeb vibrant hangout. A huge metal counter top bar is filled with singles (or alike) – interestingly more women than men. I went with 2 girlfriends celebrating one of their b-day. The Seafood Platter, I think was just ok. The Sea Trout is full of fresh sweet flavor. Special for the night is the 8 hour slow cooked Lamp Shank – omg – it’s so velvety melted in your mouth. The Flat Iron Steak is just heavenly. Overall, superb food and I would just criticized a bit about the crowed tables setting of the restaurant that if you are looking to have a romantic quiet evening – this is not the one.

Red Medicine –

Chef Jordan Kahn (former pastry chef from French Laundry) is just a genius. He uses the concept of Vietnamese cuisine and turns his dishes into iron-chef masterpiece. Every dish that he sculptured (literally) is a piece of art and sumptuous favors. My favorite dish is Chicken Dumplings,

forgot the name of this dish but is some sort of

salad wrapped in daikon skin (see pix), the large portion of their special SNAKE RIVER FARMS AMERICAN WAGYU BEEF BRISKET,GLAZED WITH PALM SUGAR & FISH SAUCE – I have never had brisket that yummy…

I am going to Wolfgang Puck’s new WP24 in Ritz Carlton tonight and let’s see what whether it’s noteworthy. Hope you enjoy a little food snippet.

"Don't Read It. Live It" - that's the topic of my devotional this morning. The Bible gives us all we need to live our lives for God each day; but it won't help if we just read it and don't live it or even don't read it!

This principle applies in all sort of areas in our lives. How many of us started our new year off with new resolution or new plans - all geared up and hyped up in our "heads" and then guess what, we DO NOT LIVE IT.

So when it comes to real estate, we can all ask the questiions:

1. Do we treat our business as real business instead of a hobby or part-time add-on?

2. Do we quickly set a plan/goal in the beginning of the year and thought we achieve the goal without a solid plan of carrying them out?

3. Do we hype ourselves into learning all the things in the webinars/seminars and then the minute we finished with the course, it's all behind us?

4. Do we set up all social media accounts and did not even bother to act on them or even look at them afterwards?

5. Do we remember when was the last time we actually check our own websites?

6. Do we remember when was the last time we warm calling our past clients?

7. Do we prospect diligently every week?

8. Do we caravan listings every week?

9. Do we treat each other with respect and integrity in our business

10. Do we set aside a day from business to focus on our personal lives?

Let's Live It !!!

Thanks to Margaret Woda's Post of 'What I learned by tracking my blog topics for a month'. I do my business analysis at the beginning of the year to track where my transactions came from. It helps me to focus on different areas where I should spend my marketing and time and target them accordingly. Most importantly, to keep myself on track with my yearly goal.

Here are catagories: 38% from corporate relocation. 23% from past client's referrals. 15% from repeat clients. 24% from virtual (youtube, social media, personal websites).

It does not take a genius to figure out where real estate marketing trend is leading to : virtual marketing - it's growing HUGE and unless we keep on learning and be diligent in practicing the tools, otherwise we would fall behind instead of stay ahead of the game.

Some of the new marketing ideas that I am implementing this year:

1. A brand new personal website (can't wait to see it when it launch in about 4 weeks) with all the bells and whistles of the latest technology and user friendly site.

2. E-correspencce to my farm.

3. Custom Angela phone apps for my clients.

4. Gravatar for all my blogs subscription (still need to learn from the IT director in the office).

5. Ipad presentation.

6. Taking as much Webinars as possible to enrich myself in all the latest tools and technologies.

It's surely exciting !!!!