apala social

On September 20, 2008, APALA held its 3rd Southern California social. I was so glad to finally be in LA to attend one. (I had seen emails on the listserv about the two other socials, as well as those held in Northern California, and I was envious.)

This time around, we met for dimsum at Ocean Star Seafood Restaurant in Monterey Park. There were over 20 people in attendance. I thought that's quite a lot of people. While the attendance was great, it really made it difficult to socialize. We were seated at two round tables, so we could really only talk to those at our respective tables. After lunch, some people had to go so there wasn't time to socialize with them. We did manage to get this group shot outside the restaurant, though.

A few of people stayed to get some dessert at Beard Papa's. They are known for their cream puffs, but people also got some of their boba. (I wanted to try their ice cream-filled puffs, but I didn't.)

I really didn't get to stay too long afterwards, which is a shame. I really would have liked to talk to the people there more, especially since some were coming from Santa Barbara and San Diego. I think, at least once, we should have a social at someone's home. That way we can actually mingle. We'll see.