Weekend/Week of Epic Proportions

I lead a blessed life. I truly do. I live in a place with the most perfect climate. It's been just Fall-y enough lately to make me comfortably feel like it's Autumn, and I have been riding a wave of non-stop awesomeness. Let's just talk about the last 6 days, shall we?

Saturday I woke up early-ish, and for the first time in quite a while Alex didn't have a meeting on Saturday morning, so we had a lovely brunch at The Village Idiot. Then we went to the Beverly Center to pick up his new suit from J. Lindberg (which he looks extremely handsome in). He went off to a screening of his film at the Arclight (!!!), while I did a couple errands. We met up with some of his friends at The Cat and the Fiddle for drinks. It was the bar's 30th anniversary, so there was free champagne! We had a tasty dinner at Loteria Grill. I like that place, but $9 for chips and guacamole seems a little steep to me.

Sunday morning I packed mimosa supplies and chocolate chip cookies, and met up with my Picture and the Frame bandmates at our friends Justin and Clarissa's place to take some photos in their pool for our album cover. The water was freezing, but I was having a great time until the waterproof camera proved not to actually be waterproof. We'll be trying again in a couple of weeks, much to Rickett and Mark's chagrin, I'm afraid. We were so close, but we didn't quite get there before the camera ceased to function. But the shots we got convinced me that it was, in fact, a great idea, and worth pursuing.

As Summer Wanes...

Yes, I know it's October, but I live in Southern California, so summer doesn't really end until about this time of year. This weekend was the first time in weeks it hasn't been ungodly hot. It's always such a relief when the heat breaks. The sun shines, but the air is cool. At the farmers market everything is in season, from peaches to pumpkins. Here's how I've been spending the waning days of LA summer.

Movie screening in Barnsdall Park with illicit wine and dinner from the Dosa Truck. The film was "Drive." Nothing like magic hour on the lawn of a Frank Lloyd Wright house with a curried potato burrito, a Bulgarian red, and a wonderful man.

Hanging out with some of my buds at Nick and Lindsay's new place.

My biggest achievement: finishing the move. It's official now - Alex and I really live together. There's no going back now. So long 503!

Given that I came upon this one night while I was moving my stuff out, I don't think I'll miss it.

I Know How to Pack it In

So much for a week off. It looks like I'll be working Tuesday through Friday this week, but I think that's probably a good thing. I've really got to shake off this laziness. And, you know, make some money. I had a nice extra-long weekend though.

Wednesday I went to yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. It was a wee bit challenging, but it felt good. I did a volunteer shift at KCRW for their pledge drive in the afternoon. It was fun. The phones weren't super-busy, but it was nice to be there and meet other KCRW members. And there were delicious macaroons!

Thursday I got together with Helene. She picked me up from the auto shop where I was getting my oil changed, and we went for a nice long lunch at Figaro in Los Feliz. I got the spinach and salmon salad, which was good, but the lemongrass dressing makes it look as though it's full of boar bristles. Not the most appealing visual. Helene got the steak tartare, which was delish! We talked about music and fundraising, and film and fundraising. We were going to go to a movie at Los Feliz 3, but the service was quite slow at the restaurant so we decided, rather than hurry, we'd just get  dessert instead. So we ate a light, fluffy piece of cheesecake and some chocolate mousse, and discussed why a mutual acquaintance of ours sucks. I was a little overstuffed by then. French food is a bit rich for me, but boy do they know dessert. We strolled around a bit, looking in the cute boutiques on Vermont, wishing we could afford to actually shop there. Then we browsed the shelves at Skylight Books, and I ended up walking away with Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door," a travel guide that's going to help me plan my next adventure. So far, Rick's gotten me through the UK and Spain, and hasn't let me down.

Friday morning I got up early. I liked my first volunteer shift so much, I decided to do another. I toughed out the early wake-up so I could be in the studio when "Morning Becomes Eclectic" came on. No magical opportunity to talk to Anne Litt or Jason Bentley presented itself, unfortunately. Afterward, I trekked back to the East side, and went to another yoga class, this time with Tony himself. Great class, but I'm still sore. I went to see my little buddy Greyson, and my bigger buddy Jessie. We walked down to Wrap Express (which is way better than the name suggests) and got lunch. I had a veggie plate that included brown rice, grilled veg, hummus, and some kind of garlic sauce. I got them to give me corn tortillas, rather than pita. They had something I'd never seen before: rose hip juice. It tasted like a less-sweet version of tamarindo. I liked it. Greyson made friends with a nice little boy named Nicolas, but then he got all cranky, so we had to hurry back to the house to feed the voracious little beast. Jessie got him down for a nap eventually, so we had a few minutes of undistracted time to have a grown up chat. Jessie's such a good mom. It's definitely not easy.

After leaving Jessie's, I went to a place I fear over all others: the mall. Alex wants a bathrobe for his birthday, so I'm trying to find him a nice one. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the mall? The whole place smells of the most cloying perfume. As soon as you get away from the smell, someone walks by wearing the wretched stuff. You can't escape it! At least it wasn't crowded, but I didn't find what I was looking for either.

I met up with April, her sister Allie, and Maree at Dtox spa in Atwater Village for their monthly happy hour. It was pretty cool. I got a great stress relief massage (the perfect solution to mall stress), and there was lots of free wine and snacks. The DJ wasn't so good, but oh well. After we'd all had our treatments, we went next door to Bigfoot Lodge, but we were all pretty tired, and April had to get married the next day.

Saturday was a big day. I got up early again, and Alex took me, ehem, the long way to First Entertainment Credit Union to open a savings account. He's ever so proud of himself. We tried a new place for breakfast - Modern Eats on Rowena. It was alright. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Picture and the Frame had a short but strong practice. Rickett hooked up his old guitar amp as a vocal monitor for me, and it sounded pretty rad with the reverb turned up.

I went to my voice lesson, then jetted out to Simi Valley for April and Loren's wedding. It was really really nice. They were very low-key about the whole thing. They really just wanted to have a party, but I thought they had a good balance of sentiment and light-heartedness. The bride wore apple green, which I loved! And interesting delicious (virgin) shrub cocktails were mixed up by Wunderbar.

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Santa Barbara to cash in a wine tasting voucher I got from Travelzoo a while ago. It was for Rideau Vineyard, which had a semi-obnoxious New Orleans theme, but really solid wines. I legitimately liked all 5 or 6 wines we tried, even the whites. Our guide was an older Irishman named Shay, who is basically Alex in 40 years. They were pretty much wearing the same outfit. He gave us a little tour of the vineyard and told us about the varietals they grow there (all Rhone), and the grafting of European varietals onto wild American root stock that saved wine grapes worldwide from extinction. Really! A bug that attacks grapevine roots devastated vineyards across Europe, but wild grapes from Arkansas were resistant to it. So even the finest of French wine grapes have American roots. Go USA. Way to be good for something.

This was my favorite part of the trip:

Ponies! Little teeny fat ponies!

AND little teeny mini donkeys!

After the tasting we went into the charming little town of Los Olivos for a late lunch. A little too late for me. I was already cranky. We had gazpacho at a charming place that used to be a hardware store, and still retains the name.

Those are garlic blossoms, by the way. No bigs.

We were still hungry, so we went down the block to Los Olivos Cafe for a second course. I was rather set on that place since I went there in 2008 with Nik and Nate on the way back from Outside Lands in San Francisco. It's not quite as swell when you can't eat gluten, but the tapenade was fab.

It took forever to get back to LA, but on balance it was still worth it for a beautiful day in the California countryside with my honey.

8/15/12 - My Back Hurts, but My Heart is Happy

Tuesday night marked the successful completion of my first episode of multi-camera sitcom work. I am pleased to report that I didn't screw it up. It was a busy episode with lots of (crying) babies. Another couple episodes, and I think I'll have a handle on this whole sitcom thing. An added bonus: the stages are air-conditioned, so I've been spared from the heat. Down-side: I've been eating too much crappy food! I ate Peeps, people. Peeps! And Abba Zabbas. I couldn't even tell you the last time I ate candy. What is the matter with me? Damn, it feels good to get a paycheck though.

The other big news since I last blogged is The Picture and the Frame have been in the studio with Raymond Richards: badass producer and awesome guy. He's played with and produced some amazing local bands, including Local Natives, and now he's producing our record. We tracked on Saturday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and heard a mix of "Are You Really (Gonna Be Mine)" today. It sounds so rad. I can't wait for you all to hear it!

More pictures after the jump.

Funemployment is Over

Yesterday was my last day of funemployment. I can't believe it! So much I planned to do that will have to wait til my next bout. I've been packing it in these last few days, by which I mean eating and taking lots of naps. I'm ready to work though, no question. Somewhere around a month ago I passed the point where I was getting things done in meaningful way. Inertia starts to set in when you don't have to be anywhere at a particular time. I'm looking forward to some structure!  Remind me of that in a few weeks when I start complaining about work, will you?

I plan to continue the blog, although I may change the name to more accurately reflect the alteration of my situation. Any clever suggestions?

Wednesday was all about preparation. So many tasks I've been putting off... but first I met up with Helene in Larchmont for a cuppa and a chat. Then I ran an errand for Alex that included stopping by Paramount to see him. I brought him some cobbler, 'cause I'm awesome.

It's amazing how much you get done when you know your time is limited. I did 4 loads of laundry, washed the dishes, watered the plants, read the script, washed my car, made my lunch for the next day, and even had time to watch the last (available) episode of "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

I got up at 5 am today. I haven't done that in a while! It's such a blissfully easy drive to Universal from my place. A girl could really get used to this. Everybody on the show seems very nice, and I like the other folks in my department. Things were a little squirrelly today, but didn't seem so bad to me. Of course, this was my first day on a multi-cam show ever, so I have no frame of reference. There's a lighting guy on the show that I've worked with on a number of things, but other than that, it's all new faces. I had a nice surprise at the end of the day: I ran into Rick, an effects guy at "Raising Hope," by the Backlot Cafe. Yet another person I miss from "Hope."

I had some ideas about doing something social this evening, but decided it was too hot, so I made frozen yogurt instead. These peaches are just off the hook! I blanched a couple of them, blended them up with a couple dollops of Greek yogurt, a squirt of agave syrup, and the last splash of sage vodka, and stuck it in the ice cream maker. Heaven!

Core temperature lowered. Time to sleep.

8/4/12-8/7/12 - Closing in on it

With the end of my funemployment fast approaching, I've been trying to fit in as much fun as possible. Sometimes it's just really hard, you know (sniff), when there's so much great stuff to do. Saturday, I planned to go to the I Shot Rock'n'Roll event at the Annenberg Space for Photography to see Raphael Saadiq and Band of Skulls. Well that was a total bust. I drove all the way over to Century City and waited in a huge line of cars for 15 minutes, only to be told when I was almost to the front of the line that the event was full. I get it, it's a free concert, but it was RSVP only, not to mention two hours before the event even started. Maybe don't take so many RSVPs. What's the point of an RSVP in that situation? I was one of probably a thousand or more people that got turned away (that were already there). This is the downside of all the cool stuff to do in LA: squillions of other people want to do it too. You have to show up hours before it begins, effectively dedicating a full day to your evening plans. I get really frustrated with that.

Rant aside, I was actually not too hideously bummed out. There was tons of other stuff going on that night. I called Alex to let him know what was going on, since he was supposed to meet me at the Annenberg, but he didn't answer...and then I didn't hear from him for an hour and a half, and he didn't actually show up until about 8 pm. By this point, I was hideously bummed out. So much for all the other stuff we could have done.

We ended up, after much chastising, going to Mo-Chica for a rather late dinner. I've been wanting to try that place for a while, especially after hearing the chef, Ricardo Zarate, talk at Evan Kleiman's panel at the library recently. I must say, it was a little hit or miss. The ceviche Carretillero was outstanding with big chunks of tangy seabass and a couple different kinds of corn. The causa de congrejo - a pretty little layered puck of mashed potatoes, avocado, and crab - tasted fine, but was rather uninteresting. Likewise, the papa a la Huancaina was beautifully presented, but ultimately sort of boring.

More about Mo-Chica and other exciting stuff after the jump.

8/2/12-8/3/12 - And the Hits Keep Coming...In a Good Way

I spent Thursday morning through afternoon rather quietly. I made quite a bit of progress on my travelogue. Then my glue stick ran out. A minor set-back. I blogged, which reminds me, I still haven't done the final chapter of "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." I'll get to that this weekend, I suppose. I did a lot of guitar/bass playin'. I've got new songs to learn, parts to write, and older songs to relearn, since I wasn't singing them before. I got a text from Alex informing me that when he called the night before, I had answered, "What the f*$k," and hung up. I have no recollection of this, but in my defense, he did call after midnight.

Helene came by to pick me up around 6, and we went over the the Hammer Museum for The KCRW Summer Nights/Made in LA event. It was pretty cool. I love the space. I'm bummed I missed the date with Chris Douridas and Poolside last week, but that was probably much more crowded than the laid-back scene DJ-ed by Jeremy Sole this week. There were some very enthusiastic kids dancing their diminutive butts off. There's some seriously weird "art" on display up in that piece right now. I didn't see much that felt resonant. Still, Helene and I had fun, overpriced drinks and all. Check us out in the photo booth.

More after the jump!

7/30/12-8/1/12 - Hitting the Ground Running

There is no rest for the weary. My amazing trip to Virginia kinda wore me out. Monday I had to get up at 3:30 am to get to the airport. I managed to sleep some on the plane, and then a little more in the gate at O'Hare. Then guess what? My flight got delayed again! Not too bad this time. I was back in LA by 1 pm, and Rickett was kind enough to drop everything and come pick me up at the airport. We had some Thai food and caught up, and then I crashed the F out on my couch. I had Sunken Ships practice at 8:30, not to mention other things I needed to do - like shower - so I couldn't sleep for long. So sad. I really could have slept from 4pm on through the night. But we had a great practice! So it was worth the effort.

Alex came over after work, but I was so tired, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep immediately after his arrival.

Tuesday morning I had my on-camera interview for the cooking show. Did I not mention I got a call-back? I got a call-back. I think I did okay, but immediately after leaving the room I kept thinking of more interesting answers to the questions. Oh well. At least I picked a cute outfit.

I spent the rest of the day getting myself together. Grocery store, tidying up, etc. I played my guitar a bunch, and then I had to take another nap. I'm so jetlagged! More after the jump!

7/23/12 - The Day Before Vacation

Things really came together in a good way. I'd been really wanting to see "The Dark Knight Rises" and to make peach gazpacho. When Helene messaged me to see if I wanted to see a movie and have a picnic in Barnsdall Park, all of a sudden I had a perfect opportunity to do both. It was kind of last minute, so I had to throw it together in a hurry, but I finally had some good ripe peaches, so I had a good feeling it would come out well. I looked at a few recipes for inspiration, but I definitely did my own thing. I would say I most closely followed this recipe,  http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/06/peach-gazpacho-and-ginger-peach-sorbet.html although it's hardly recognizable. I took a few peaches and blanched them to get the skins off.

Then I blended them with a couple of incredibly ripe heirloom tomatoes and a peeled cucumber. I added some raw garlic and onion, but I used very little since those things can be a bit powerful. I had so many jalapenos left over, I went ahead and threw one of them in. I also used a little bit of the dried ~nora pepper I got at La Espanola. The recipe called for balsamic vinegar. In the future, I think I'll use white balsamic, just because the dark stuff really affects the color in a not-so-nice way. After adding a left-over roasted red pepper and some ground almonds, I decided it was done. I garnished it with some avocado, and plated it up nice in a tupperware container to go.

7/21/12 - A Birthday in Burbank

I went to yoga for the first time in a couple weeks. It was wonderful! But hot!

After that I went to the Silverlake farmers' market for peaches and tomatoes. I'm totes making that peach gazpacho before I leave for Virginia!

Then I went to the Edendale Library to feed my addiction to Spanish movies. The fun thing about the public library is that there's usually at least one homeless indigent hanging out outside, and yesterday was no exception. The fun thing about Echo Park is that I usually run into someone I know, and again, yesterday was no exception. I ran into none other than Geordie McElroy of  Blackwater Jukebox fame, and we chatted for a good while about music and related topics.

I went home for a bit to work on Sunken Ships material until my voice lesson. My upper register has been so f-ed up for the last couple weeks because of this lingering not-quite-sickness. It's super annoying. But Carla helped me work it out a bit. Next to my car, I found this:

Probably left by one of the homeless guys from the library. I'm pretty sure that's their personal motto.

Afterward, Alex came over, looking like he was going to a party on a yacht, and we had pie and coffee. Then we did something that will shock you: we went to Burbank, and not to shop at a chain store, we went there to hang out on a Saturday night! My friend Jason turned 30 yesterday, and his chosen venue was Burbank Bar and Grille. This makes sense. He's a red-blooded American. It was actually a lot of fun, and I took the opportunity to eat a sinfully cheesy plate of nachos. Then came the drama. Our waitress was confusing the bejesus out of us by demanding a credit card per 4 people, but not to pay the bill, just for security or something. I've never had to do that before. So we asked if we could just go ahead and pay. I don't even know how long this took because I left cash and bounced after a half hour. By this time the absurd cover band had taken the stage, and were playing disco hits with synchronized dance moves. It was just too much. Did I mention this place had a bathroom attendant? I can pump my own soap and get my own paper towels, thank you. I'm not tipping you for monopolizing them. Sorry.

That had should be a crime

Ah Burbank, I haven't missed you.

7/20/12 - Life's a Beach

Not much to tell about Friday, other than I had a great time, once again, with my girl Becky, down in the South Bay. I went down around noon, and we rode bikes up to Hermosa, where there was a volleyball tournament, and coincidentally lots of tall muscular guys strolling around. We took a look around, but decided we shouldn't ogle on an empty stomach. We had tasty arugula and quinoa salads at American Junkie, which sounds more like a place to buy jeans than greens, but the salad was good. We resolved to come back during happy hour.

We went back to the volleyball tournament, where games were underway. We watched a couple of matches, but wearied of the guy who kept loudly swearing every time the other team scored. It just so happened to be after 3 by that point. Oh look, it's happy hour! So we went back to American Junkie and took full advantage of their $3 dollar well drinks. I think I had three vodka lemonades. And grilled corn with cotija cheese and chile powder. I love elote! We probably could have called it quits at three drinks, but where's the fun in that? Becky knows everybody at Silvio's, so we went there for 1/2 price caiproskas. A watermelon mint caiproska really hits the spot on a hot day. JT, the bartender, had the most amazing color eyes I've ever seen occur naturally. I kind of couldn't stop staring because he was such a curiosity. Is that rude? Probably. 

Silvio, the owner, was there hanging out with some pals, and he came over and complimented me on my tattoo. My first unsolicited tattoo commentary! He hooked us up with some free Silvio's beer coozies. Go us.

After 1 1/2 caiproskas we were well tipsy and the tournament was over, so we BUI'd (that's Biked Under the Influence) back to Becky's where we chatted about work and boys and dreams for the future until I was in a condition more suitable for driving back to LA.

Nothing's wrong when you're at the beach.

7/19/12 - If you forget to blog about it, does that mean it never happened?

I realized with alarm just now that I'd forgotten to write my blog yesterday. So there was no entry for Thursday. I was so confused. "Wait a minute, today's the 21st, and my last entry is the 18th? What happened to Thursday, OH MY GOD!" It's traumatic, thinking you've been abducted by aliens, or perhaps glamoured by vampires into forgetting an entire day of your life. But then I remembered that I went to Jessie's on Thursday, where there were no vampires, only cute things like cats and a baby and Jessie.

Bebeh! This little dude fell asleep in my arms for about 20 minutes like a drunken koala. Cute!

That evening Rickett and I paid a visit to Raymond Richards, the guy who produced Local Natives' "Gorilla Manor." We drank bourbon, played his amazing guitars, and talked music. I tried playing upright bass for the first time! Not as hard as I thought! That guy has some seriously drool-worthy gear: plate reverb and tape echo and a Marxaphone and and and yeah...

7/18/12 - Cherry Pie and a Hangover

I woke up with a hangover. Too much fun with April the night before. I grabbed a coconut water, a scone, and my laptop and got back into bed, until, ehem, 11:30-ish. I chatted with Becky for while, then I made myself some tea and cleaned the kitchen. I spent a good long time going through my little song journal, playing my guitar and singing in my hoarse end-of-cold voice, revisiting a bunch of songs I've been neglecting for a while. I write some good shit.

A song I wrote in February. I was sad. Maybe you can tell.

I had to do something to get "Hot Knife" out of my head. Seriously, I'm obsessed with that song. It really grows on you.

My travelogue of Spain is taking a little longer than expected. I have the book now. I printed out the photos from Madrid - this time editing more carefully - and weeded through the ones from Barcelona. Otherwise, this book is going to end up wedge-shaped.

Just you wait. I haven't gotten out the ticket stubs and ephemera yet!

I've had 3 pounds of cherries in the fridge, just waiting to be made into something wonderful. So I finally got around to making them into a pie.

The lattice looks a little sad. I didn't have quite enough dough left, but I didn't let that stop me.

We had a Sunken Ships band meeting at 9 at Public House. It turned out to be trivia night, so perhaps not the quietest environment to talk business, but we are a band. We're kind of used to loud noises.

I was hoping Alex would be out of work by then so I could load him up with scones, but alas, more scones for me. There are worse things :)

7/17/12 - Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy

The direction of my day started with a misheard song lyric. I was listening to KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic while doing some errands. I love it when Jason Bentley is on vacation. Gary Calamar was filling in, and just killin' it with the playlist. So Fiona Apple's new song came on, and it took me a minute to decide if I like it or not. I decided I do. It's called "Hot Knife," and it starts, "If I'm butter/If I'm butter/ If I'm butter than he's a hot knife. He makes my a heart a ____________/something something bird of paradise." Now that blank sounded a whole lot like "cinnamon scone" to me. Maybe it's the connection with butter. Anyway, there I was, in my car driving through the construction on Rowena, and I started fantasizing about dense buttery scones dusted with cinnamon and sugar. So Fatty McGee here just had to make this manifest.

I settled on this recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/03/sweet-cinnamon-scones/. She calls for 3 cups of flour, which I had to substitute. I used 1 cup almond meal, 1 cup brown rice flour, and 1/2 cup each potato and tapioca starches. The joys of gluten-free baking. It gets colorful.

Wet and Dry

You want to roll your dough out into a disk. This is a big recipe. That's a big disk!

Your supposed to cut it into pie slices, but it was so huge, I had to get creative. I like my little pattern. It looks like something you'd see on a quilt.

See you in 20 minutes!

Scone + Earl Grey = BLISS

I was also inspired to listen to more Fiona Apple, and thanks to Spotify, I listened to her entire discography, including "Extraordinary Machine," which I had never bothered with before. Check out "Hot Knife" though. For real.

By the way, according to elyrics.com, the lyric is not "cinnamon scone," but "cinemaSCOPE." Whatever.

After cleaning up my scone mess, I made an attempt to do a little yoga, but I wasn't at 100% energy yet, so I abandoned the effort halfway through. I played my bass a little bit and did some goofy sounding vocal exercises. It feels funny, but it works!

I took the Metro Downtown to go to a talk at the Central Library. I love Downtown. It feels like a real city! And the Central Library is so beautiful. The event was a panel of chefs with restaurants Downtown, moderated by Evan Kleiman (who I love!). I showed up and swaggered on over to the door, only to have one of the staff ask if I had a reservation. I looked at the website (http://www.lfla.org/event-detail/747/Flavor-Forward-A-Taste-of-Downtown-LA- by the way) loads of times, and I never saw anything about reservations! And I was looking for that! She put me on the standby list at number 26. I figured it was a bust, but I hung around anyway, just in case. While I waited, I looked at the little exhibit in the lobby. They had all these cool old maps of LA. This one was my favorite.

I know it's a terrible photo, but it's so fun and colorful. There were all different kinds of maps from different times; from the 1870s through the 50s. It's interesting to see what's still around, and what's gone (RIP Ambassador Hotel).

As luck would have it, I did get into the talk, which made me very happy. Evan asks great questions. The chefs were all very different in their background, but seemed to share an enthusiasm for local seasonal food. John Rivera Sedlar was saying that his restaurant has just installed an aeroponic garden on their roof. How cool is that? Ricardo Zarate was very funny and cute. His story about working at a Benihana in London, speaking almost no English was great. I've been wanting to try his restaurant Mo-chica for a while. I guess I'm going to have to make that happen. In fact, his was definitely the cuisine I felt most interested in. Ilan Hall, chef/owner of The Gorbals, was interesting and funny as well. I've always thought the hype around his restaurant was a bit gimmicky. Bacon-wrapped matzo balls - good one, Ilan. I get it, you're turning the culinary world on its head with your diverse influences. I have to say though, after hearing him talk, I have altered my opinion. I'm not into the whole nose to tail meat thing, but I respect it, and I respect that he's doing something kind of adventurous and new. Not to mention, he was an early adopter as far as opening a high end restaurant in Downtown.

My favorite part of the talk was actually a question from an audience member: "What was the most memorable meal you've ever had?" The answers were so emotional and unexpected. Ilan Hall's was in the Phillipines, a numerous course tasting menu prepared for him and one other chef by a man who owns a chain of fast food restaurants. Judy Han's was at a small restaurant in the Horse Ear mountains in Korea with her family with trillions of fresh vegetable banchan. Patricia Zarate remembered getting a bowl of hot chocolate from a mercado in Oaxaca when she was backpacking as a young woman. Ricardo Zarate (no relation, by the way) told another great story of getting Soroche or altitude sickness hiking in the mountains in Peru when he was 16. A little kid took him to his mother, who fed him this transcendent soup that he can still taste in his mind, but has never been able to recreate. Evan Kleiman said it was the seafood from a little shack in Ensenada that she had on a recent trip with friends. This is why I love food. It's so much more than sustenance. It's love, it's memories, it's discovery, it's comfort. It was wonderful to hear what these well-known well-heeled chefs found most memorable. John Rivera Sedlar was not specific, but he said Tijuana for him is THE gastronomic destination. He later said Spain is the new Tijuana. Ironic? He's a funny guy.

Following the panel, they had an opportunity to taste something from each of the panelists' restaurants. Mendocino Farms was a sandwich, so I skipped that. So was Homegirl, skipped that. Mo-chica offered a little montadito with I think quail egg and some kind of salsa verde. It was delish!

Rivera had a little bite of shrimp on a potato chip with some kind of spicy salsa/relish which was also really tasty.

I skipped The Gorbals offering - well for one thing it wasn't ready, but - mostly because Ilan had mentioned it involved bone marrow. I'm not down with that. Here's Ilan and his empty plates.

Feeding frenzy!

Above the fray

I love the city at night

After that, I walked down the the Library Bar, where I met up with April, and a gentleman who's name I don't recall who very generously shared his chorizo sliders and edamame with us. He was perhaps excessively flirtatious, but we let him buy us a glass of wine, and then we boogied out of there to get to the show. Yes, there's more. I'm a busy woman.

We rode the Metro up to Hollywood and Western. I'm glad the train is handicap accessible and all, but did the guy in the wheelchair really need to carry one of those catheter jugs of his own urine around unconcealed? Ah, public transit.

Turns out Harvard and Stone is awesome. What a great place to hang out on a Tuesday night. Yes it's full of hipsters, but those are my people, and I'm not ashamed of that. And the band was wicked good. Do yourself a favor and check out Herbert Bail Orchestra. It's like Arcade Fire meets Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes meets Devotchka. Yes!

7/16/12 - Sick day

Even the unemployed take sick days. I felt like garbage, so I slept in, checked out another Almodovar film from the library, and stayed home in my pajamas all day. You're jealous. I know. Alex inspired me by example to make a physical travelogue/photo album/scrapbook of my trip to Spain, so I spent a long time printing pictures. Two thoughts on this: 1) I hate the connotation that "Scrapbook" has now that "scrapbooking" is an obnoxiously commercial pseudo-hobby. 2) I don't know if there's something wrong with my printer, or if digital cameras nowadays calibrate their color for computer screens, rather than prints. I printed tons of pictures, trying to edit, and I still only got through Barcelona. I also realized I didn't have a suitable book to bind it all up in.Well that just had to wait because I was not leaving the house.

In between all this printing, I came upon a recipe for peach gazpacho. The recipe itself didn't seem quite on the mark, but I very much like the prospect of peach gazpacho, so I'll be trying that just as soon as I get my hands on some good peaches. Yummers!

I did do something in the kitchen (besides the dishes). I got a wild hair to try making some almond milk, so I blanched some almonds and put them in some water to soak until the next day.

I spent some quality time with my Hofner. I'm so happy to have it back, fully strung and unbuzzing. The G-string is ever-so-slightly different in texture than the others, but that instrument is still just so beautifully easy to play. I feel like I'm really crystallizing the new song. I've been messing around with the piano part at Alex's over the last few days, and I'm really excited about what's coming together. I was messing around with the preset instrument sounds on his keyboard, and I've decided the song may need strings as well. I'm out of control, I know. I can't wait to record it!

My loafing was interrupted by Alex around 6:30. He was home from work and wanted me to come over for dinner (aka make dinner). I was really loathe to get out of my PJs, but I decided maybe it was worth it. We walked to Trader Joe's and got a couple things. We saw this on the way home.

Yikes! What do you think their circulation is like? Better than LA Times? I'm surprised "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" would choose to advertise with them. Seems a little controversial. Seriously though, I hope this sign isn't a harbinger of the second coming of the Son of Sam.






Safely back at Alex's, I made some GF pasta with leftover Cantimpalo and romesco sauce, plus some baby zucchini heirloom tomato.

It was pretty good, but the Cantimpalo and romesco together tasted a little like mustard. Meh, not bad for a quick and easy dinner. And it was a pretty good companion for "Los Abrazos Rotos," yet another Almodovar film. I love them.

7/15/12 - Cleaning up

The unfortunate thing about making a wonderful dinner is that eventually you have to clean up after yourself. Usually I wait til the next morning, although it's always a nasty shock to sleepily stroll into a filthy kitchen when all you want is a cup of tea.

Ugh!

Luckily, I have an Alex. I patiently waited for him to sleep off his hangover, then I put him to work.

He did a beautiful job on what was truly a herculean task. He's the best. I made coffee and pan con tomate. And I dried.

After finishing the best coffee ever made, he skipped off somewhere, and I got dolled up to go to my friend April's bridal shower. 

The shower was absolutely lovely. April's sister, Allie, sure knows how to throw a good party. She made up a couple little games: April trivia bingo and "What's in April's Purse." I thought that was so cute and clever. My favorite part was that April wasn't sure about some of the answers to the bingo questions about her...well that, and the Babycakes cupcakes :)

I would have loved to go to Family Dinner, especially because it was the observance of Drew's 30th birthday, but alas, I have a cold. The last thing I want to do is get the baby or either of his tired parents sick, so I had to sit it out. Alex isn't afraid of my cooties though, so I went to his place, and we ate leftover Spanish cheese and Cantimpalo and watched "La Mala Educacion." It was a good movie, but whew, it earned its NC-17. I love Almodovar though. I feel like watching his movies is helping me learn Spanish. La buena educacion!

7/14/12 - Preparo La Cena

I didn't do much of note for most of the day. I went to the Silverlake farmers' market and got some lovely heirloom tomatoes from Tutti Frutti Farms. I impulse-bought a head of elephant garlic. I had to! It was just so big!
Then I went home and cleaned the house. That's the trouble with having guests - you have to clean up before they come, and then again after they leave. I guess it's worth it in the end. It did feel pretty good to have the place looking so ship shape.

I was running a little behind getting dinner ready, so I laid out some aperitivos: tetilla and manchego cheese with dulce de membrillo (aka quince paste), sliced Cantimpalo sausage, and jamon Iberico with crostini. It was a nice little spread of goodies from La Espanola. I was particularly excited about the jamon Iberico, a cured ham made from acorn-fed Black Foot pigs. It's expensive, but I sprung for a small amount just to try it. It's pretty tasty, but I think next time I'll stick to the Serrano. It's not so different.

For dinner, I made tortilla de papa y chorizo with romesco sauce, Catalan-style spinach, and pan con tomate.

Turns out tortilla Espanola is pretty easy to make. I may have let it cook too long on one side, but other than that, it was a breeze. I followed this recipe (kind of), but I felt like their directions made it seem difficult, when it was actually anything but. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/r/tortilla.htm

The romesco sausce turned out awesome. That's another thing that kind of sounds complicated, but isn't. You basically just put all the ingredients in a food processor. Done. If you want to follow a procedure though, here's the recipe I used. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/romescosauce.htm  I will say that some other recipes call for smoked paprika and/or nora (I wish I could get the ~ over the n) pepper, and I heartily suggest adding both, to taste. Forget measurements. Some even say the nora pepper is the secret to perfect romesco. I used piquillo peppers to supplement the roasted red pepper, but that's probably not necessary. I just figured since I had aquired them, I might as well go for it.

Espinaca Catalana is spinach with apples, pine nuts, raisins, and shallots. http://spanishfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/romescosauce.htm It's pretty good, but I think next time it needs a little citrus or perhaps a more flavorful green to add some kind of contrast to the sweetness.

As for the pan con Tomate, it's hard to go wrong with bread browned in olive oil, spread with delicious ripe tomato.

Brice with the spread before him, soaking in the ambience.

So the meal was great and all, but the part I was really excited about was dessert. I think I may have mentioned yesterday how over-the-moon I was to find mato del Pirineu at La Espanola. I discovered this exotic little dairy wonder when I was in Barcelona at a diner called La Granja Viader. They serve mel i mato, Catalan for "mato and honey." 

That's me in Barcelona with a hefty slice of mel i mato for breakfast. I'm a little overwhelmed.

So here we go, the highlight of my evening, my very own mel i mato, with fresh fig.

Hot. Damn. 

We finished off the evening with some bourbon. Some of us more than others. In fact, Alex is still sleeping. A good time was had by all.

7/13/13 - Knocking it Out of the Park

It was a big day. I harassed Rickett into getting out of bed and going downtown with me to see Thao and the Get Down Stay Down play for free in California Plaza at noon.

We were going to grab lunch at Starry Kitchen, but they make all their noodle dishes with linguine noodles, so that kind of knocked out all the options for me. Seriously, what kind of Asian restaurant uses Italian pasta? Kind of disappointing, really. We got salads from Mixt instead. Their salads sound good, but boy are they stingy with the goodies. Lots of greens, not much of anything else. Thao was great though. I really enjoyed her and her band.

After that I kidnapped Rickett away to Harbor City, where I was finally to visit the Shangri-La of Spanish food in Los Angeles: La Espanola.

What? Doesn't that look like Shangri-La to you? Ok, so it looks like an industrial park. That's mostly because it is, but inside...

Inside is this charming little market with all manner of olive oils, wines, olives, almonds, and cheeses from Spain, as well as a huge selection of Spanish-style sausage made right there in the building under the label Dona Juana.  It almost brought tears to my eyes, I swear. I was greeted in Spanish, which tickled me pink. I'm such a sucker. 


I was sorely tempted to buy a lot of things, but I edited myself. I ended up with a modest haul of jamon iberico, crushed nora pepper, cantimpalo, queso de tetilla, and the thing I'm the most thrilled about: mato!

I was so thrilled about mato, that I bought two. You may wonder what mato is. Hell, the guy at The Cheese Shoppe next to Trader Joe's didn't know what it was. It's not easy to find. Mato is a soft Catalan farmers cheese with no salt, no tanginess, just the natural creamy sweetness of the milk. In Cataluna, they put honey on it (mel i mato), and I'm telling you, it's to die for. I cannot wait. Tetilla cheese is kinda fun, mostly because its name means "little breast," referring to the shape. The top right of the above photo shows about an 1/8th of said breast. I am very very excited to make Saturday night's dinner.

To tide myself over/wallow in my Spain-o-filia, I watched "Volver." I still love that film. Alex doesn't like it, and I just don't understand. Have I mentioned how much I love the production design? I enjoyed trying to understand without reading the subtitles. I'm just going to have to watch more Spanish movies. Maybe it will improve my language skills.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Alex and I went to the Skirball Center for Into the Night: Playtime, a sort of grown-up game night. It was really fun. We met up with Franco and Helene. There was a craft area where we took silly photos, then decorated frames for them.

 There was a video game lounge with games created by UCLA students. There were also some people walking around with arcade game consoles on their backs. There was an over-sized board game area with big Jenga, Connect Four, Chinese and regular checkers, and Twister (which was actually regular sized). My favorite thing though was Sea Wolf. I love that band. They played a couple of new songs, and that made me a happy happy girl. Geographer was good too, but they can't beat Alex Brown Church. ABC, you're my FBD.

7/12/12 - A Game-changer

The day started out ordinary. I listened to the mix of "Are You Really Gonna Be Mine" on my computer, then through my headphones, then through an external speaker. It sounded good except for my vocal performance. I could definitely do better. That was kind of bumming me out, and I was already feeling a bit low. But no time to dwell on these things. I had to get on the road to Fullerton.

What on Earth would I go there for? Well, my cousin, Ben, is coaching a soccer camp there, and since he can't really get off campus, I decided I'd just come to him. The drive wasn't bad. It was smooth sailing right up until the exit before on the 57. I listened to the song on repeat in the car. Definitely not digging my vocals. My mood started to take a nose dive. Fortunately, as I was waiting for Ben's group to break for lunch, I got a call for work! Now these things are nevercfor sure until you sign a deal memo, but I have a start date, and that makes me very happy! Game-changer! With my outlook much improved, I went on an unusual culinary adventure: a college dining hall. Cal State Fullerton calls their's The Gastronome. It was pretty decent. The salad bar was solid. There was green and Earl Grey tea available. The dessert station had a very tasty coconut pudding and some fully ripe plums. I noticed an impressive waffle station, and felt nostalgia for my days at William Paterson when I ate waffles for almost every meal, because everything else at Wayne Hall was gross.

It was wonderful to see Ben, and get a chance to catch up. We talked soccer, politics, music, movies, and chatted about his wedding plans. His will make my 4th wedding in Wisconsin in about as many years! We went into the dorm, and I met a couple of the other coaches. Then we took my car off res to a convenience store for Vitamin Water, Gatorade, and various other specialty beverages. It was about time for Ben to get back to the kids, so I headed back to LA.

I picked up my basses at The Fretted Frog. The fiscal damage was mitigated somewhat by the discovery of a lone flatwound G string that meant I didn't have to buy a whole new set. Fixing the intonation on my Danelectro proved to be a bigger job, and the bridge had to be modified, but my new pal Colin didn't charge me extra for it, bless him.

I was right next to the Edendale Library, so I decided to pop in and check out a couple of DVDs. You'll never guess what I got: "Volver" and "La Mala Educacion," both Almodovar films, both in Spanish. I'm on a kick, what can I say?

My friend, Bowling, is moving and getting rid of some stuff, so I took his microwave off his hands. I've been assured this microwave's dedicated popcorn button is perfectly calibrated. I'm sure it's better than my current model, which has a knob...and that's it. The trip was made even more worthwhile by this photo opportunity.

David poses in front of the Decepticon Ambulance

That was about it for the night. I was going to go to the KCRW thing at the Hammer Museum, but everyone I know has a "job," aka "somewhere to be at 7pm on a Thursday." It was (strangely) raining anyway, so I just went to Alex's and watched him make an omelet. I promise the next day will be more interesting.

7/11/12 - More rock'n'roll

I got up kind of early (for a bum), and went to yoga class - my last one in my Groupon. Serious sad face. I love going there so much. After yoga, I went by The Fretted Frog with both of my basses. You may recall a couple weeks ago that I broke brand new string on my brand new Hofner. Fortunately, I knew my local music store had the strings because a human being called and told me so. Unfortunately, for some reason they were closed for two weeks, so I couldn't get it taken care of until now. My Danelectro just needed some intonation adjustment. It's weird to have both instruments in the shop. It's not like I have a show in the next couple days, but it still makes me nervous. Like, what if there's some sort of bass emergency? I can't imagine what that would be, but you never know. You never know. Maybe it just feels weird to have that chair in my living room actually available for sitting in.

There she is! The bass, I mean.

I played some guitar and thought about vocal melodies for "Are You Really Gonna Be Mine," since we had studio time booked later. I looked into a couple of music licensing companies, then decided I better get a lawyer's opinion on the contract before agreeing, so I sent it to Anna. I'm still on a Spain kick, and I'm really in the mood to cook some Spanish food, so I looked around a bit for recipes. I think maybe I'll do a Spanish meal for my next cooking video.

I showered and did some vocal exercises (which I'm sure my neighbors really enjoyed). Then Rickett came over and we went to our recording session. We ended up doing a lot of mixing, comping my vocals, and figuring out the texture of the various guitar parts. Christian, who's studio we were using, was super nice and accommodating. And he has some really cool toys. Anyone ever play a Moog Taurus? Awesome!

After consuming about 1/2 a pound of almonds between us, we got down to recording back-up vocals. It didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, but I think we ultimately got something good. We finally left around 12:30. Poor Rickett had to work early, but you know, that's rock'n'roll, baby. Sometimes you gotta go to work tired.