I finally joined Yelp.com!
Yeah, took me awhile, but I’ve finally found my sweet spot. A group of egotistic, self-appointed critiques hobnobbing together to share honest, scathing reviews that will make any restaurateur quake in his/her shoes? Ooh yeah. I totally belong.
You know, this is something about human nature. We love to bitch. We love to gossip. And we love to share our experiences, both good and bad. And sometimes, there is nothing more powerful than the word of the common mouth. Take those companies hounding bloggers to review their products, for example. Now, how smart are they? They recognize that a stamp of approval from a group of average citizens can hold enormous clout, perhaps greater than a “professional” reviewer, who would tend to be less enthusiastic and personable. I, too, would much readily trust the opinion of a fellow blogger rather than glossy advertisements.
But at the same time, sometimes the words of the average citizen can be misleading. Because when you take away the professional objectivity and the legal restrictions, you’re left with raw human emotions and personal preferences…which might not always be right.
I’m sure some of you have experienced the negative effects of the human word first-hand. Ever been caught in the bull’s eye of a gossip scandal? Ack, not fun. Or perhaps you’ve done some talking behind somebody’s back yourself, too. Well, so have every human being on earth.
So one of my 2010 prayer topics is to be more prudent— to speak not out of rash temper, but to slow down and think for a few more seconds before speaking. That ties in with another more critical prayer topic of mine: to pray more.
I’ll admit it out loud: I’m a Christian (a pastor’s daughter no less) and I still struggle with praying. In fact, sometimes I just plain don’t like to pray. Perhaps some of you non-Christians might find it hard to understand, but prayer is integral in a Christian life. It’s an essential way to stay in touch with God, to communicate with Him and to preserve our relationship with Him. And personally, I’ve found that a day without prayer is just…so…human.
Human, as in: I think without the wisdom of God. I speak without the guidance of God. I act without the power of God. Everything, I do by my own selfish motivations and natural instincts…which isn’t good, since I am by nature a brash, vicious individual.
That’s why I’ve realized once again how desperately I need to recover my prayer life. Any Christians out there who would like to join me? I’m compiling a prayer list of all the people I want to pray for, and tee hee, a great number of you are on there. But in case I’ve missed you out, please send me an email so I can include you in with your specific prayer topic.
Anyway, back to the topic of Yelp. Once again, I was deceived. I believed what those reviewers said, and ended up with a rather disappointing experience. I’m talking about my trip to The French Crepe Company in the Los Angeles Farmers Market with Kathryn.
After watching Julie & Julia (three times), I’ve been craving French food. Specifically, boeuf bourguignon and French Onion soup. Oh, and butter, because as Julie Powell said, “Butter makes everything better.” Well, I’ve got tons of butter at home. Boeuf bourguignon is hell expensive. French Onion soup? Now that’s easy to find, and easy on the wallet, too.
Apparently, The French Crepe Company has good French Onion soup. In fact, people who were disappointed with their crepes still raved about their soup. And Kathryn picked the place as her top choice, so The French Crepe Company it was!
We went on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and as usual, the Farmers Market was packed. But with Kathryn’s super sharp eyes, we scored a seat within 5 minutes. Thanks, girlie!
Look! Evidence that it’s been rated high by our fellow diners: 
It took a while for our order to come, but meanwhile I amused myself by staring at this big-ass jar of Nutella: 
Oh. Em. Gi. Wouldn’t I like to lug this home?
When our order came out, I was immediately disappointed: 
Look at it. It’s TEENY!! And no bread on the side? Those darn yelpers promised me there was a basket of French bread on the side! This tiny appetizer portion of soup cost me over $8, too. I asked the employees where my bread was, and they gave me some attitude. “It’s in there,” they scowled. I scowled back. 
Whatever. At least there was like an inch thick of cheese in there. Seriously. 
Look at that cheeeeeeese!! The cool thing was that they broiled the cheese on top with a blow-torch. I’m not sure that’s the classic way to do it…but I don’t think it’s classic for French food to be served by Filipinos, either. Ah, only in L.A… 
Now, the cheese part I liked. The broth? Not so much. It tasted bland, which was annoying and suspicious because there were quite a lot of caramelized onions in there. So where’s the flavor? 
As the employees said, there was bread in there, but just a small slice. So basically, I had ordered a hunk of cheese with a drizzle of ditch water. Nice. Thankfully I’m a cheese-whore, or it might have been a very unpleasant afternoon for both the employees and me.
Kathryn ordered a plain crepe with strawberries and bananas: 
Dang, it’s pretty. I should have ordered a crepe too. 
Ah, well, it’s my fault for listening to them yelpers. And not ordering crepe in a specialized crepe shop.
Back to Kat and I. After our lunch, we went window-shopping. If there is anyone who might get me interested in shopping, it’s Kat. This girl is quite the Fashionista, and she shares the same interest in stores like Sur La Table. We also hit up Anthropologie. Interesting place that seems to have a fetish for roosters.
By the way, Kathryn is the sweetest girl on earth. She gave me a box of home-baked cookies: 
A very, very late Christmas gift, but she made sure those cookies were freshly baked! It was such a pleasantly weird feeling to receive baked goods, when usually it’s the other way round. 
My favorite was the red velvet whoopie pie. Ain’t it cute? 
I’ve got you in my prayer list too, Kat! 
And for those of you who would like to join me in my prayer list, let me know!
Question of the day: Do you pray? Or anything like it? Care to share any personal experiences with prayer?
Oh, and ever been caught in a gossip scandal before? Do tell! (Okay, this is gossip itself, haha)
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Oh I LOVE Yelp. I use it on two occasions – when I’ve completely hated my experience and I can be a bitter bitcher, or when I’ve totally loved my experience and can give the business a shout-out of love! Another avenue that fits this bill is writing detailed movie critiques on Netflix! Try it!
I’ve never had French Onion Soup! I like onions, but I’m kind of picky about them. I think a whole soup of them has always detered me in case they were TOO oniony. Don’t ask. hehe
I pray nightly, right before bed. (No, not the whole kneeling beside the bed in my nightgown ordeal) Like you said – just to check in w/ God and I feel like it keeps me grounded. It’s a meditative break for me to take the time to be thankful for the items I otherwise always take for granted (human nature I guess?), reflect on things I could have done better, weaknesses, faults, etc. that I need to work on in the future, and also to just ask for the safety and health of loved ones. Since it’s part of my getting ready for bed routine I rarely forget. Make it part of a daily routine – it’ll be easier!
Ahh gossip. I think that peaked in middle and high school. Girls are just plain evil, aren’t we?! Sadly now most of my gossip comes from family members about other family members. Usually hugely blown out of proportion and cleared up fast, but still amusing in the moment nonetheless (aren’t I wicked?!).
I do refer to Yelp before we try a new restaurant and I try to look for consistent comments. If people mention the same good/bad thing about a place, that may strongly influence our decision to go. But more often than not, we just go and decide for ourselves. I think a huge part of the problem is that rave reviews set us up for too high expectations. Still, it’s a helpful site.
As for praying, I can’t say that I do so very much. However, I do try to be ‘mindful’ – not only about what I say, but what I think. So often, I am horribly judgmental and critical of others, even though I never utter a word. I think that’s just as bad if not worse: it’s cowardly. In a way, I’ve contemplated being more patient, kind and generous but perhaps, because it’s not a prayer, it hasn’t worked. I’ll keep working on it . . .
I randomly came cross your blog a bit ago after reading something on yelp, and I just wanted to tell you that I really enjoy it. I like that you have a nice mix of restaurant reviews and personal recipes along with other thoughts. The reviews are helpful for me since I’m new to the LA area and really don’t know about any good places to go out to eat around here. Also, I need to spice up my cooking. Anyway great blog!
We’ve got a different version of Yelp here and I use it (and sometimes contribute) too. But…I tell myself that everyone has his/her opinion and those can be so different from my experiences!
I think you’re- again- so right. We have to ba careful with being to judgemental. It’s so easy, but can be so wrong and hurtful…
Anyway: love the foodie pictures and places you visited!
xxx Julia (Taste of Living)
Julie & Julia !!! I watched it too! On Mon!
good god, it got me all worked up wanna be cooking!
And yest i went cheese shopping! Hehe..
And u hv read my reviews..and seriously, most places tht are blogged to death n famous & recommended? Urgh. They do suck real bad. So yeah, i nvr bothered aft a while ;p
Me caught in gossip? LOL. I do try to stay out of fire. But yeah, a good example would be my too-blunt reviews of the food. Lotsa bloggers here are yakking behind my back abt me not givin face to the restaurants n etc.
Urgh wht the heck.
Now u knw what? I realized they started to be frank in their reviews too! LOL. Talk abt being hypocritical. They jz got no balls to do so in the first plc.
Prayers!
Hmm.. its true. I got to step on on this. I do pray, but seldom..
mayb i shoud make it a weekly thing, like u knw those who goes to church weekly,.
I should go temple i guess?
But seriously i kwn we can pray wherever we are, but i forget!
the whole day jz whizzed past n ill realize hey, i havent prayed! and most days went past without me even realizing tht i havent prayed!
oh, yelp. I do look look for restaurants on that site. Haven’t had the cahones to join yet besides the fact that I suck at reviewing. Too bad about the soup. From the picture it looked decent.
I’ll be honest. I pray everyday just right before I go to bed. Have been doing so since I’ve been a child. I’m not praying because it’s what I’ve been taught to do. I pray because I want to. In recent year, I’ve found that it helps me especially in stressful times. It’s really helped me calm down and see things before they get out fo hand. Almost like meditating.
I do pray, but my new year’s resolution is to better my relationship with God. definitely working on this.
I LOVE CREPES! The one you got looks SO good!!
Have a great day girl!
Love,
Lexi
hahaha french food served by fillipino’s-only in LA…I LOL’ed at this! that soup does look ridiculously cheesey, i have to give them taht, but np bread…pshhh what is french onion soup with no doughy bread to soak up the goodness?!
as for praying, I am jewish and I go to temple on high holidays, where I do pray for a bit, but it is not really a HUGE part of em (Judiasm-yes, prayer-no)
Gossip is seriously the worst thing ever. Words can be so powerful, and really hurt. I have been in the middle of quite the gossip back in college and acutally found out some stuff that my ‘best frineds’ had said about me, and to this day I don’t look at them the say way. Sure, they can apologize, but when it comes down to it, they said what they said and can’t take it back and it hurt so much that I just had trouble associating myself with them. I choose to stay OUT of gossip and drama when i can!
Haha, I use Yelp ALL the time to find restaurants. Most of the time, I like what the Yelpers like, but there have been a few occasions where all I can say is “Blah.” I probably should join up, too!
Hmm, maybe it’s just the photo, but the crepe looks more like a tortilla?! It doesn’t look much like the crepes I’ve had before… Sorry your soup was subpar!
Blowtorch cheese is cool and all, but not without a hunk of warm, fresh baguette. At least you can go rant about it now!
The crepe does look good. Yes, after watching Julie and Julia we ordered the cookbook and have started making meals from scratch. Yes, that was our inspiration. We have purchased so many cookbooks and so many things look good. I think I have used Yelp once.
Oooh that red velvet whoopie pie sounds awesome!
Yeah that’s the way French Onion Soup is done. I love it! 
Yay for red velvet! That looks delish!
I do pray all the time – my family is pretty religious and that is how I was raised. Luckily, it stuck!
Never been caught in a scandal, you can pray for me, I believe in the power of prayer, but do not pray myself – isn’t a scandal!
I am a PK too! But the thing that I struggle with the most is actually going to church on Sundays. My dad just brought this up to me the other day. He was like “you know, I do have wonderful things to say every Sunday. You should come and hear me sometime!” Haha, oh, the life of a PK!
I think your resolutions are extremely valuable. I am always trying to be more prudent and not speak out of rash emotion. When you are such an emotional person, that is easier said than done, but all we can do is try!
Love you Sophia!
oh SNAP that crepe looks so good girl! sry bout your soup
there def is a TON OF CHEESE in thur! that prayer website is supa cool!
Me too, I’m a Christian.. and me and the above used to have private talks all the time.. I need to do more of that.. (is that praying)? I hope there aren’t rules to praying? Anyhoo… when you said your sweet spot… so sorry, I could not resists and thought of “sweet spot labs”… it just came to mind…
I am terrible at remembering to pray. Especially before bed. Usually people or thoughts pop in my head during the day, and I will do a silent prayer, but I really wish that I would remember have a dialogue with the man upstairs more often.
Sorry to hear that your French onion Soup was so bad.
I never got caught in a gossip scandal. It’s such an awful thing to do and I really try to limit myself to some minimal gossip.
I don’t pray because I’m not religious but I am spiritual if that counts
.
This is a great post. Thanks for sharing your less-than-perfection in the area of prayer. I KNOW that prayer works, that it plugs me into God (watch my blog, because I think that’s going to be today’s topic, too…hmmm maybe He’s storming the blogosphere!), and that there is nothing more powerful that I can do or give if it doesn’t begin with prayer. But do I remember do pray? Um, no. Because I’m silly. But thankfully God is good and graceful, and He’s waiting for me to turn to Him, and always ready to listen and build me up, even if that encouragement is invisible to the world. He is wonderful.
I am a non-christian, Hindu to be specific and prayer is an integral part of our life. I was just ashamed of myself a few days back when I had no inclination to pray. When I got my senses back, I realized that while praying made me complete and at peace with my inner self, God did not forget me in a few days. He was standing there just like a loving parent waiting with his arms wide open. Prayer is always the highlight of my day.
Looking at the crepes and the nutella jar, makes me want to go back to Paris again
hey sophia! oh god, whaddup with that soup? tisk tisk, people these days. that crepe looks fabulous as well
your friend seems so nice! that red velvet whoopie pie, oh my gosh, droooool.
i pray occasionally actually (mostly when im in church!) but i should a little bit more. i once and a while just thank GOD i have gone on such an amazing recovery journey at such a young age. when i was in seventh grade i occasionally gossiped and most of the time got away with it! i NEVER gossip anymore, its sooo mean. have an amazing thursday xoxo soph ♥
Yes, I pray almost daily. I sure do wish I could get to the point it was like breathing – constantly going on. I am not there yet though.
I used to gossip all the time, I mean, I’m a girl, that’s normal, we are SUPPOSED to do that. PLus, I went to an all girls school, so gossip was in the job description. I don’t pray, but sometimes I want to. I feel bad praying because I don’t go to church, and I feel like I only want to pray when I want something or when I want something for someone else. That’s just not fair. Nick and I have talked about how we want our children to go to church, but he’s catholic and I’m Christian, it’s awkward. Oh well, we’ll figure it out.
So this group you juiced is new to me. But it sounds like it’s RIGHT up your alley! Sorry the soup wasn’t as fantastic as you had hoped, but those crepes look KILLLLER GOOD! Sorry, I know you didn’t get one, but hey, there’s always next time!
I tend to fall off the prayer thing a lot too…usually I just forget, which is horrible because forgetting about God is the last thing I want to do
One of my New Years Resolutions=go to church more.
OMG that soup! I haven’t had it since I was in Paris a few years ago. I figure I’ll wait for the real stuff, instead of being disappointed.
oh french onion soup is perfect for this kind of weather! sorry yours was kind of disappointing. try to make it at home, it’s not hard! and you can have all the bread you want on the side! no snooty waiters!
a bientot!
The Paris Food Blague
I LOVE a good crepe. Sorry that soup turned out to be such a bummer – wouldn’t you expect the FRENCH onion soup to be good at a FRENCH restaurant?!
I saw one of those huge jars of nutella when i was in paris… was so tempted.
French onion soup is my fav! I have yet to have a bad bowl of it! heaven in my mouth
and yours looks INCREDIBLE!
I’m also a Christian and value prayer alot. It’s something that I tend to forget about at times and rely heavily on in other times. I wish I was more consistent and it’s encouraging to me that you’re making that attempt. Work it!
That French onion soup looks gross! The broth is nearly clear! It should be waaay more brown. haha
Of course I’m on Yelp as you know but actually I don’t use it all that much. Sometimes I look stuff up. But I tried posting a review linking to my site and they said it was “promotion” or whatever so I had to remove it. I’m not going to publish my 5 star reviews there but I was going to perhaps post some reviews of local DC places (but we don’t go out here all that much).
That red velvet whoopie pie looks so good!
I use yelp all the time, but it can definitely be misleading!
I’m not religious (I suppose you could call me a secular humanist? or something like that), but I’m trying to curb my tendency to be judgmental and to think mean thoughts and/or gossip. It makes me feel quite ugly to be down on others, and yet I find myself doing it too often.
I so admire your constant push for self improvement. I’m not a religious person, it’s not that I’m not open to it, I just don’t know what I ascribe to it. I need to do some dogma shopping around, if you will. I don’t know about my faith in a specific vision of god, but I do believe in something, so I should try and pray or even just meditate. I will definitely include you in my [attempt at] prayers!
I’m a yelp freak. I have a yelp app on my phone and if I’m in a new area I definitely hit up yelp to see what I should try.
I’m sorry your soup was a dissapointment : ( I too was so inspired to eat French after watching Julie and Julia, except for that jello-y thing she had to make in the middle – yuck!
I admire your dedication to your faith, Soph. At this point in my life, I have decided that organized religion is not for moi, but I find beauty and comfort in what I do believe and I find inspiration in others’ faiths as well. I know in my heart there is some higher force (whether it comes from within us or outside of us) that has the power to keep us strong, sane, and kind to one another.
<3333
hmm i’ve never had a crepe, they look fab!
as for prayer, i’ve tried it..but its not something i do on a regular basis, i prefer being mindful and practicing it through yoga.
mm those baked goods look delicious!!
xoxo
I joined Yelp too…last summer…but I’ve kind of forgot about my account, I think I reviewed one cafe where I had an amazing dosa and that was the end of it.
Sorry that you’re Soup de l’oignon wasn’t up to par…like you said at least if was cheesified to the max!
i don’t pray as much as i used to….
sorry about the french onion soup. you’re a cheese WHORE? hahaha. i’m not. i don’t do cheese….sadly. =D
and sorry about the banana picture freakin’ you out. i guess me and some other people have a dirty sense of humor.
I love the French Crepe Co…used to go to the Farmer’s Market every day when I worked next door at CBS. That place is expensive but their crepes are good!
I try my very best to stay out of gossip but sometimes it is inevitable. Luckily it has never led to anything terrible!!
I never had this red velvet whoopie pie, I did some research on the net, now I can understand why like it.
Oh I looooove Julie & Julia!! It’s such an adorable movie with delicious looking food. Have you ever seen Waitress? It’s another super cute movie about PIES. So if you watch it, make sure you’ve got a pie on hand
Crepe are so easy to make I usually never order them anywhere. Except in France.
sorry about the soup! sometimes, it’s amazing, but it can be so “blah” too!
and you’re not the only one that has problems praying sometimes. We ARE human, and that’s part of it. That’s the reason we NEED God and his strength and wisdom and grace and mercy.
red velvet whoopie pie? lucky you!
I actually just randomly discovered Yelp yesterday. Weird that you posted about it today!
How have I not seen Julie & Julia yet!? I think that qualifies me as a horrible food blogger. I’m going to go out and rent it for this weekend and then probably eat my little heart out at Au Bon Pain.
I’m sorta going through a spiritual dry spell right now. I’m working on it.
That crepe DOES look delicious…far more than that bowl of cheese and onion gook
I rarely use Yelp unless it just comes up when I’m googling some restaurant, which may be either wise or foolish of me, but on the other hand I know I’d appreciate your opinion there if I came across it! Totally love your writing.
I do pray nightly (if I can manage to before I fall asleep) as a holdover from my childhood habit, but sometimes I feel like it’s cheesy. I don’t feel like I pray for the sake of praying, but sometimes I also feel like I don’t have a right to when there are still so many questions I have in regard to my own faith. In the meantime, I will think of it as positive good-vibe-ing and intention-ing, which has to be worth something for both mind and body.
Yum, that cheesiness looks so good! And how awesome that you could let “Julie & Julia” inspire you to seek out the soup!
While I’m not religious, I have prayed before, more as a connection with something bigger than me. I like to take a moment to say what I’m grateful for, mostly because I think it sends out positive energy. I know, it sounds hokey. I rarely pray to ask for anything, more to express that I hope someone is safe, or feeling better, or whatever.
As for gossip, I think it’s a very human thing to dish about others. We love it. I wander to celebrity gossip sites occasionally. It’s like a guilty pleasure. Some of the blog world is gossip-y. There are many food-only blogs that don’t interest me so much anymore, but I still read, thinking maybe they’ll share something interesting from their personal life. That’s gossip-y, right? I don’t really blab about others anymore. Larry is my main companion and it totally bores him. Ha.
omg i love red velvet whoopie pies! had my first one last christmas and it was delicious!!
I am always wary of yelp comments. I’m a menupages kind of girl myself.
I loved Julie and Julia. Definitely one of my favorite movies of all time. It made me want to eat lots of butter. And drop out of medical school to become a chef. LOL.
I’m sorry your french food experience wasn’t up to par. At least you got to hang out with a cool chick and got some fantabulous looking cookies!
Well.. at least the cookies were good. Right? Even if the Onion soup was a major disappointment. I think you should’ve hounded them for some more bread..
I’ve never been caught in a gossip scandal. I guess because I’m pretty laid back and for the most part, don’t take part in gossip. Well, I try not to but I AM human after all.
i think you’ll be a great addition to the yelp community, i always love reading your restaurant/food reviews! so funny about filipinos serving french food, that is so CA/LA!
Omg my mouth is watering looking at those cookies! I would love a cookie right now…like NOW
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