Drink ‘n’ Dive

On a recent Sunday I went to a Chicks with Knives dinner that was just amazing. Not that the other two I have been to haven’t been amazing, but this time the group was a fantastic size and I just so loved it. There were only 18 of us, and the tables were close enough that you could heard some of what the peeps at the other table  were saying, but you could also have a nice conversation with the people at your own table.

I first found out about Chicks with Knives because of the fabulously halfway useless Daily Candy emails. But this one… this email was fabulous. I learned of something that I really wanted to take part in: a dinner club of people who enjoy good food that follows the SOLE principle. Sustainable, Organic, Local and Ethical food. I first met Rachael at an event downtown, where she and her bizness partner, Suzanne, were providing the apps for a loft shindig – I’m not sure what to call it. But it was great, and I vowed to go to a dinner. The first one was at a home in Silverlake that was amazing. The second one was mid-city and had yummy padron peppers (something I started after reading a tweet – weird). The most recent one was in Hancock Park and was I think the best. The entree was lamb, and I don’t generally order lamb, but I decided that it had been a long enough time that I needed to go to another dinner! Apparently this year is about expanding my food horizons.

I gave a friend at work the list of all the food, and she recommended some F&E wines – so, I brought four bottles of wine, obviously to share. The first course was an Autumn Chowder that consisted of butternut squash, clams and homemade chorizo. I could have been happy eating only that all night. But, knowing what I knew, I couldn’t fill up on only that. It was creamy to a good degree, and not overly heavy. The combination of flavors was just sublime. The salad was a persimmon, celery, red onion & fennel salad with La Tienda Spanish – amazingly light, but now I need to know what the dressing is! I’ve never had persimmons before this year, and now I’ve had them all the time in the last month. Rachael cut hers up very thinly, perhaps using mandolin (and now I know what a mandolin for food is!), along with the fennel. And the chorizo – wow – it added a great kick. In my spicy world, it could have been hotter, but mellow spiciness has it place! Crunch-tastic and full of flavor. Now I need to try to make it. But (hint, hint), I need the dressing recipe.

Oh, and now comes the piece de resistance: the lamb chop. It was gorgeous looking and this is when I wish I had taken a picture. But, I didn’t, so, you get to imagine along with me. It was on top of a puree of beans & eggplants, served with sauteed sweet peppers and I asked Rachael how to make it, because it was amazing. It took her days and days and I just don’t see that happening for me. If I do decide to make it, I’ll let y’all know. And then eat it all myself. For reals! I think with all the agony of making it, I would NOT share, nosiree bob. The flavor of the lamb chop combined with the delicious bean and eggplant yumminess was perfect. I’m not sure how to get all the complementary flavors together, but if I figure it out, I’ll be sure to let you know. I think in one sense, it’s better that only a few peeps have that talent, but I’ve gotten better. The buttermilk onion rings not JUST onion rings, but they were buttermilk battered Sweet Sierra onion rings. They were on top of the lamb chops and the flavor of those buttermilk rings may make me never again want any sort of onion ring that isn’t a CWK ring. It’s the principle, damnit. I was able to procure a picture, so you’ll get to see that too. Long blog post!

The desert was an amazing apple tart that was served with house-made vanilla ice cream – the apples were so flavorful and the whole shebang made me want more. That was the simple description, the complete description is this (again with the amount of time put into these meals – just no for me, but I will reap the rewards): the apple tart was a 24-hour apple tart with vanilla ice cream as above; candied walnuts with rosemary & dried apple sugar. I really enjoyed the apple dessert, mostly because it was delicious, but also because I wanted to go to Julian this year to get pie. Mass-produced pie from Julian. Instead, I got homemade apple tart by CWK. Yeah, that works better.

How could I forget the appetizer & drink? Amazing – me being a cocktail fanatic. So, here it is: the appetizer was house-made (HOUSE-MADE!) bacon jam served on a blitz puff. How does one even MAKE bacon jam? I will leave it to the pros. There were amazing picked candy striped beets (which I’ve recently made, and which I hope the beets in my fridge are, as opposed to yellow) and breakfast radishes with house-made butter. Yes, CWK makes butter. And then used the buttermilk for the onion rings. It was so sweet and delicious it makes me want to learn how to do it. And then I clear my head and come to my senses. The cocktail was called a 15 Cocktail. It had quince, clove, fresh lemon juice and 360 Organic Vodka with a lemon twist. The lemons were from a tree outside, so they certainly were local! It was tart enough to make this lemon girl happy and the cloves were just nice and spicy. Not hot, but full of spice, y’know? I’m game for trying it again. Only I’m adding my Voyager gin – therefore would have to change the spices, but the gist is there, right?

I got to share F&E wines with newbies and I got to share dinner with a fabulous crew! I took my friend Nastassia, who writes her own blog at LetMeEatCake, and she then took a class from Rachael & LA Food Works. Y’all know that I’m a networker, so here I am, happy to have brought Nastassia & LA Food Works together. I only wish I could have gone to the Great Pumpkin cooking class – but my lovely god daughter Caroline needed to get baptized in Seattle, so I went there instead.

Now everyone who reads this blog (which is like 2 people right now) needs to get tickets to the next Chicks With Knives dinner. Or take a class, or just general join in the awesomeness that is CWK. Rachael tweets recipes at times, or her favorite find at the market – you can always find her on twitter: http://twitter.com/chickswknives

Maybe next time I’ll get to take pictures and then you can see the amazing food. For now, use your imagination.

I’ve been doing loads of cooking at home, but I’ve found myself in a rut. I was only really cooking zucchini at home, with home grown basil and farmers’ mkt squash and garlic. But, after a while, it didn’t seem very good any longer. Just this week I branched out, on my own, to other (yowza) stuff. My friend ML is staying with me for a little while, and I like to cook more for more than one, so it’s been good.

Monday night I cooked spaghetti squash (which is so damn easy: cut it open, pull out seeds and put it upside down in a pan in the oven) with a doctored up pasta sauce from work. I cooked 93/7 Angus Beef from F&E and then added a bunch of garlic and basil and then an eggplant marinara. I put that all over the spaghetti squash (once it had been shredded out with a fork) and tossed a little cheese in. And wow, it was good. And pretty darn good for us! So, I’ll have to duplicate that again. And that time take a picture. Because it was just too good lookin’ for me to pause. I even had some for lunch today. A friend thought I had added a TON of cheese. I said, “Nope, pasketti squash!”

Tonight, which is Tuesday, I made chicken escalopes (I’m still unsure of what that is) from F&E which were breaded, peewee potatoes roasted with s&p and olive oil and then I steamed Rainbow Chard and put balsamic vinegar and olive oil on it. It was simple and amazing. And I did take a picture of the plate all put together (and will try to post it soon). ML asked how much it all cost, and today we counted. It was $10 for the entire meal, from F&E and the Hollywood Farmers Market. For two people. So that is pretty good. Just about the same price as Pho! Anyway, wine was involved, so that increased the price. But not by much! I have some chicken and potatoes left over too. LUNCH! Rainbow Chard is such a great thing that I can’t get enough of it, so darn it, I don’t have any left. Not sure how steamed chard would be the day after, though. ML had never had it, and kept asking me what it was. Oh, how I love fresh chard. And I love to introduce it to people!

My friend Rachael of Chicks with Knives suggested a book to me, after I mentioned that I got caught in cooking ruts. It’s called The Flavor Bible and I got it in the mail last week. I haven’t even used it yet, but I’m feeling better about my cooking. Rachael came over recently and started my thinking outside the box by cooking a butternut squash + kale + mussels all over pasta dish. She taught me how to roast butternut squash, and I think I’ll be eternally grateful for that. Rachael also taught me that it’s okay to just toss things together and that chances are, it’ll be okay. Well, maybe for that I’ll be eternally grateful. But, whatever the case is, Rachael is rad. For those of you in the LA area, you MUST go to a dinner that Chicks with Knives throws. Or at least take a class that Rachael teaches. Here is the list of cooking classes, so do yourself a favor and go take a class.

WRONG.

As you know, or now will, I have been gardening all summer. Now I am a little concerned about my garden at this point in the summer, mostly due to the fact that SoCal is super warm now, and I’m not there. I’ve sent emails off to several people, in the hopes that my babies (my plants) will get watered. I just planted two different kinds of basil too! Here’s to hoping!

Anyway, my garden is all in pots, on my deck, and there are some veggies and some flowers. I want to do more veggies next year, including squash and more herbs, string beans (versus the bush beans I have now), and heirloom tomatoes. And I will take all I’ve learned this year, obviously, and hopefully grow more and better plants next year! When I started my deck garden, I got pots and boxes from OSH, along with dirt. When I went to OSH, I got all confused, because where I grew up, dirt is dirt is dirt. There’s no difference! But at OSH, there are so many kinds. And mulch. And compost. And this potting soil and that potting soil. Yeah, I was all kinds of confused. Some potting soil is for short pots, some for tall pots. The tallest pot I purchased is like 2 feet, maybe? So, I bought the dirt for 12”+ pots, and I bought some compost-type dirt, to mix in. That was my first round of planting. I thought most things were going okay, until my dad came for a visit in May. We re-potted everything. We used potting soil from Lowe’s for this, though. It was closer than OSH, and that’s where we went. Let me tell you, dirt is not dirt is not dirt. No, the Lowe’s potting soil and compost are NOTHING compared to the OSH potting soil and compost. The OSH soil holds water much better, and the plants respond better to it. I was over watering my peas, and because the soil is so much better in that box, they molded (yes, that part sucks). I removed the plants, but also dropped a few peas into the soil. They sprouted! On their own! I have now planted three kinds of basil in that box too. Again, I hope they’re all okay in the heat in SoCal!! The difference in dirt is pronounced enough that I have pictures of it.

In addition, I think that the compost from Lowe’s sprouts mushrooms. Weird. Not sure if I like them or not. I’m not going to eat them, though, that’s for sure! I do know that there are some of the horned worms in probably both kinds of dirt, and they like to gnaw on tomatoes. I probably incurred some bad karma when I chucked them out of the pots during repotting onto the street. (I’ll say Hail Mary’s later.)

All in all, if you have a choice of soils to use, don’t use Lowe’s. I think that dirt from my aunt & uncle’s house is probably the best, but since it’s not feasible for me to get a dump truck of their dirt delivered to LA, I’ll go with OSH. I will post pictures upon my return regarding the dirt. Lowe’s Dirt vs OSH Dirt.

For more pictures, my Garden Collection on my flickr page has the garden at different stages. I’ll update that with pictures of the garden after my return to Cali… hopefully not everything will be dead. Those pictures, I just realized, are very old. I will update them soon.

I have been a pretty big failure as a blogger in the last month and then some. I was scared of my blog for a little while. Mostly because I hadn’t updated it. I finally was able to update the blog, well, actually, my friend Rex updated it for me, a few weeks ago, or less, and now I’m back. So, I have to play catch up. Loads to discuss. And in the meantime, I’m without internet on the train to Seattle right now, so I am entering the blog in word and then I’ll transfer it later. The only person who’ll know anything is different is me. And I just admitted it to the internets. Oops.

Anyway, shortly after the last entry, (not counting the teeny one recently) I went to the Blogger Prom. It was a prom for bloggers, as the name implies. It was fun to see people whose blogs I read and whose tweets I respond to, in real life. I know the interwebs are real, but not real life. I tripped on the sidewalk the weekend before, coming back from my friend Mei-Lon’s house, and had a fun cast on my right hand. And my face looked awesome with the three scrapes and the giant horseshoe bruise on my chin. I looked like someone had beaten me up! Not super awesome, at all. I had a hard time wandering around and mingling and eating and drinking. I was super non-social for a time, as there was food to be had. It was comedy, though, watching a bunch of food bloggers see the food and then take pictures of it. They wouldn’t let anyone touch the cupcakes till peeps had all photographed it. I do admit, I have some of those pictures. The mini-cupcakes were so darling, though. Had to do it. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Sarah of TheDeliciousLife, Diana of DianaTakesaBite, Maya of ShopEatSleep, Sam Kim of LAist, HC of LAOCFoodventures and of course Caroline On Crack, Esther of E*StarLA, Lindsay of LAist, Tara of When Tara Met Blog and Natalie TheLiquidMuse. I had met Caroline, Esther, Lindsay, Tara and Natalie before, so it was definitely nice to see them again. The setting was the Andaz in West Hollywood, formerly the Riot Hyatt, and the view from the roof is beautiful. The event was in the event space + pool area on the roof. The pool has been beautifully redone, but the event space seemed to be just the same as it was in the past. I almost did an event for Jacob there, a few years back, but it seems to me that there isn’t much they updated in the room. Regardless, I would like to live in a corner of the pool area, that would be fantastic. Thanks.

I was invited to a party that Jo from MyLastBite was having, and it seemed that I knew quite a few of the peeps present – it’s an annual party, and her husband used to work at the DreamWorks, where my old work was based. So, I knew some of the people there. Made me laugh. And then I ran into someone who a friend used to date… um, it’s still a small world!! But, it was fantastic and jovial and just fabulous.

The next day I started something that I’ve done every Sunday after that, till this coming Sunday, when I’ll be in Seattle: make a trip to The Hollywood Farmers’ Market. Fabulous produce and food and coffee! I make the trip before church, or in place of it, depending on how I feel. Because I’ve made the decision to continue with The Bar Method (Oops, dropping a name where I haven’t told you anything about it yet. Bar Method is an exercise method similar-ish to Pilates. I love it, and my posture has gotten so much better since I started at the beginning of July. Oh, and my back hurts a lot less.), I will continue to get fresh veggies and fruit at the Farmers’ Market in Hollywood and cook at home. I know it’s shocking! At Jo’s request, I took some pictures of some squash dishes I’ve made. I’m getting more and more adventurous too! Very exciting.

I’ve spent more time at home in the months of June, July & August than I have in years, so I’ve been able to take more full advantage of all that LA has to offer in the summertime, and to keep the miles down on my car. Insane, I know. It’s been fun.

Due to a few peoples’ pictures and posts, I had started following a chef in LA, Ludo Lefebvre, who has a guerilla style pop-up restaurant that has since ended (tears). A few Sundays ago I was driving back to the South Bay from church and hanging out with friends when Ludo tweets his evening meal, and then that he has too much food for him and his wife alone. They invited anyone who was in the area to come over, if someone desired. I was a little shocked, so I said, “For real? I’m on my way to Hermosa.” And lo and behold, he invited me over. It was pretty funny, in that I was tweeting that I was heading to an unknown person’s house, and he was inviting an unknown person to his house. I got endorsements from two friends, Jo & Lindsay, so maybe Ludo & his wife Krissy felt better, but it was still a risk on both of our parts. It was fun, though! Sometimes in life you have to take risks… otherwise life is boring. At least by my way of thinking. They are lovely people and it was a fantastic evening.

The following weekend I went to LudoBites the pop-up restaurant with Jo, her husband Peter and a couple friend of theirs, who I had previously met at Jo’s Garden Jam party, Phil and his wife Katrina, and along with my friend Mei-Lon. LudoBites was at BreadBar near Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, that Ludo had up until 8/22. Ludo and his crew came in after that and made it into a highly sought after restaurant. Add a limited timeline/availability to the fact that it was AMAZING food, and you have a packed house. I was lucky to have gone once! I was planning on taking my friend Lisa with me to crash the last night of LudoBites, but the request was made via twitterverse to not have any walk-ins. I didn’t want to get onto a blacklist, so I went to AOC with Lisa instead. It was a great time, so nothing lost. In the meantime, Ludo has said that he submitted a proposal for a “real” restaurant, so I will wait to hear about that. And hope, and pray… and look over the pictures from my journey to LudoBites.

After LudoBites, we went to Comme Ca for cocktails, and my were they delicious. We had cheese too, and again, delicious. The cheese man (cheese sommelier?) went around the plate telling us about the cheeses, and when he got to one he just said, “This one is just a hot smelly mess.” Um, yeah, that is the one I loved. The cocktails were delicious, and I will go back and try more. I know I was supposed to write down what they were, and I forgot. I have to get back in the habit of bringing my notebook with me! Thanks to the Comme Ca website, here are the drinks I tried: Guadalupe’s Cup (tequila, cucumber, cilantro, black Hawaiian sea salt), Aviation No. 1, a Basil Gimlet and a Blooming Daisy. All except for Guadalupe’s Cup were gin based. You’re shocked, I know.

I was supposed to leave on the 27^th of August for Australia, but instead I decided to head to Seattle but to first have a mini-staycation in LA. My friend Lisa flew from Austin to hang with me, and that was super fantastic. I enjoyed just being able to wander and hang.

We went to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, made dinners at home, enjoyed happy hours, wandered through the neighborhood. And caught up ALL the way on True Blood on HBO. I was way behind, so much so that I had 8 episodes to watch! In addition, I got my bike all tuned up. So now I can ride it, knowing it’s all fixed and running. I do need a new seat, though.

Pictures to come… promise.

With my friend Rex’s help, I just recently got my blog software into this century. YIPPEE!! So, expect more posts soon. I have a backlog of pictures and blogs to post up here. For shizzle!

I haven’t posted about music in a while, so I thought it might be time. At Coachella time (it was earlier this year, it started April 12), or rather, pre-Coachella time, I was starting to look for those who had any new info on lineup additions. So, I started following a few people on twitter, more than I had at all before. I started following @certain_songs, @coslive, @ihearditon and others. I initially used them only for festival announcements, but now I stalk them for their music suggestions.

Through I Heard It On, I have found some great new music, and been linked to some great mixtapes, and have heard about new albums coming out, that I had NO clue about. I have been extremely pleased with all the selections, and the wide variety of voices I have heard on the site. So, not like you’ll see this, but dudes, I give you props! I Heard It On also led me to The Burning Ear, which gives you the ability to listen to music streaming. It calls itself “a music blog for people who don’t have time for music blogs.” It’s pretty damn good. I’ve gotten some great downloaded mixtapes off there. You can stream them, as well as some are downloadable.
Through Blair, aka @Certain_Songs, I’ve been exposed to more rock-ish music, due to the mixtapes he links to on twitter. And his CraigsList musical dedications. They’re super as well. He also got me into 8tracks – a great website where you can make your own mixes. Good times.

@coslive is mainly about festivals, or at least that’s what I use it for.

Last week, Indie1031, which used to be my favorite on-air radio station in LA, but is now online, had a free show at the Hammer Museum in Westwood (just down the street from UCLA). It featured Amazing Baby and Band of Skulls. I was only able to stay for Band of Skulls, but they seriously rocked the house. I had to do some recon for Blair (he’s seeing them later this month at Lollapalooza), and thoroughly enjoyed them. Just three peeps: a dude singer and guitarist, a chick bassist and a dude drummer. Fun stuff. If I hadn’t had to wake up super early to go to my class I signed up for, I would have stayed longer there, and then gone to the Rokken prom. As it was, I’m old and had to get to sleep.
I’ve also used twitter to start following/stalking/reading a variety of food and drink peeps from around the country. Now I have more followers than people I follow. How did that happen? But, I do enjoy it. Some people are finding it strange, but it’s also strange to meet people you’ve only “chatted with” on twitter. I did that at the Hungry Cat’s crabfest, and I have done it at a few tastings as well. Now I just have to meet a few more peeps and then I’ll feel better.

On a completely different note, I’ve been completely taken over by the Iranian election fiasco. I have followed several people on twitter who seem to be the true voices out of Iran. It is so painful to read and listen to news about. But, it seems that here in the USA, we are so completely ADD that the Iran election news, and the upheaval there, completely went away after Michael Jackson died. Oi.

For the 4th of July, (also a different note!) I purchased a home bar set, with a juicer and a shaker and all of that. It was super fun. I made drinks with mint, lemon, tangerines, grapefruit, raspberries and strawberries. I thoroughly enjoyed being the mix-master for the day. I tried to keep it as basic as possible, so that was fun. But, I know I need some heavy duty classes still, before I can toss stuff in the air, or into a glass, willy nilly. I wish I was better. The peeps I made drinks for really enjoyed the drinks, so I think that speaks well of my beginners talent. That made me happy. I made gin, out of Voyager, drinks for myself, and Vodka for two others, plus some random rum drinks. I want to try some better sipping rums at some point. Maybe when I get back to Seattle the next time I’ll have the courage.

That’s all I am going to put to paper for this morning. Paper, ha!

This week seemed like it was not ever going to end. It was rather full in addition.

On Sunday, I went to the Crabfest at the Hungry Cat, and oh man, was it ever worth it! They made some great drinks up, to complement the crab, and I’m hopeful they won’t completely discontinue them. Bring back the Bali Hoo and the Southern Tea. MMMMM, good stuff. I forgot my camera, so I fail on that one, but I felt overwhelmed for several hours on the amount of food I took in. I drank a ton of water afterwards, and tried to just lay low. But, I did garden on Sunday, as well as eat. My most up to date pictures of my garden are on my flickr page. I have my first real tomato sitting here on my desk. It’s a cute one that is in the set. And no, you cannot have it.
Session at church was on Tuesday and it went late. It was also after a work event I “got” to organize for my boss, who then asked me to stay to make sure everything went okay. I stayed for as long as I could, and after a frustrating start to the evening, it turned out okay. Our room was set with one long table, which was NOT conducive to chatting – which was what the whole goal of the evening was. So, that had to be changed. All in all, it sounded like it all went well – tick another “well-done” box!

The next day, I sent my boss off on a trip, and while it’s great to not have him here, it’s also more stressful trying to get him out of the office in one piece, with all his pieces – oh, and on time. So, now that he’s gone, I’m super happy! I’m about to leave the office on a Friday to go to a new product launch with colleagues. Good times.

On Wednesday evening, work held an event at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood (they do some red carpet shizzle for the Oscars there) to celebrate that the Hollywood store now has alcohol. Good thing they do – in Hollywood there are loads of alcoholics. But we all know that! It was super cool, and I got to meet some people I’d only met on the interwebs, so that was cool. And, on top of that, they are part of the bloggerprom committee. This will be the first prom I’ve ever gone to! Tara’s husband decided that I should get lucky that night… we’ll see what happens. It’s at the Riot Hyatt in West Hollywood, which has been renamed the Andaz. I like Riot Hyatt bettah! So, I’ll use that. Anyway, I’m completely off track from the true reason behind the blog post. Back to it. It was fun to meet people who I am “friends with” on tvitter and facebook, but then again, who amongst my like two readers, thinks that I’m not a people person? Right. None of y’all.

Thursday was a social at Ammo Restaurant on Highland in Hollywood (I did a lot of driving to Hollywood this week – yeeks! I’ll go back for a $35 prifixe dinner from Mozza, I’ll tell you THAT!). It was their “Juniper in June” Gin Social. My friend Ronak went with me, and we tried the three gins, and the three drinks they made with the gins. I think none of them compare to my favorite of the moment: Voyager. Y’all need to try that one. Find it how ever you can. And if you live in Washington State, go to your local liquor store. Deelish. I can smell the licorice root now! Anyway, here’s Ammo’s blurb from their website:

Bluecoat American Dry Gin – This classic American gin made in Philadelphia thumbs its nose at the London-style gins—hence the name “Bluecoat”—using organic juniper berry and organic American citrus peels to craft its flavor profile, resulting in a smooth, complex gin that needs no mixers.

Right Gin – Made in Malmo, Sweden, this gin was created for people who normally dislike gin. The spices sourced from around the world—Austrian juniper, Indian coriander leaf, Russian cardamom, Sicilian lemon and vergamont—blend together seamlessly to create a crisp, clean gin that is perfect for blending yet stands its ground solo.

Blu Zephyr Gin – Imported from London, this modern gin takes the classic London-style gin and refreshes it with a cornucopia of botanicals, most prevalently the elderflower and elderberry. Its fragrant sweetness is perfect for mixing creative cocktails, or for sipping on its own.

They’re all supposed to be small batch distilleries, so with unique flavors. My favorite was the Right Gin. None of them were as complex as I think Voyager is, but hey, not everyone can be as cool as Washingtonians! The Bluecoat was probably the most like rubbing alcohol that was there, but I imagine that if you put it with a citrus drink like I’ve liked of late, it would be fine. But, I would always prefer a drink made by Murray at Zig Zag Cafe in Seattle, with whatever kind of gin he chose, over a traditional gin martini with a twist. It’s a little less than rubbing alcohol ingested, but not that much. Ammo made a good cucumber martini – it seemed REALLY dark green, but it was good and refreshing. It had mint in it too. I just wonder if it had “enough” gin in it. Ha. Does any drink have “enough” gin in it, if you’re a hard drinker? Hmm. The other question we had was, “Is there a proper name for a gino-phile?” Like maybe “alcoholic?” Thoughts?

After the drinking, where I got Ronak soused, we hit up Westwood Blvd with her dad, and some delicious Persian food. About half of which I still have at home in the fridge. Oh yay! We went to Flame on Westwood Blvd, which has been reviewed in the New York Times, and was very good. I think that Ronak’s mother makes better food, but then again, I might be biased. Parental food is always better, I think, for the most part!

Now it’s the weekend, and now that my boss’ plane has taken off, I’m outtie! I was going to drive to Santa Barbara to hang with the ever fabulous Kristi, but she got sick and hasn’t gotten better. So, I’m staying here. Or driving to State Line to sit in the sun with B Money. Not sure which. But you’ll get the story, I tell ya, you will. All two or three of you who read this here blog. Maybe I need a counter.

I posted a very long post last week, and it was lost on the interwebs. I don’t know where it went! But it detailed the fabulous weekend I had before I went to Hotlanta, so I’ll recreate parts of it. Not all of it, but parts.

I saw Drag Me To Hell, partially due to my boss’ recommendation, and partially due to a blogger I read, CarolineOnCrack, having seen it and enjoying it. So, I chose to see it at the ArcLight in Hollywood, mostly because I feel that the quality of viewers is better than at some other theatres. This time, though, it was not the case. A woman who sat on the other side of me and my friend was walking through the people and didn’t care. And when she sat down she was talking, so my friend and I looked at her. Her response was “REALLY? Really? Really?!?” Oh, people, c’mon! Get a clue and don’t be RUDE! But, the move was quality horror – and I can’t completely even call it horror, I don’t think! The music buildup to each jumpy moment was great. And made it a little less of a horror movie. But, apparently, if you’ve seen Evil Dead, you’re all set for this new Sam Raimi. Now I have to see it! I thoroughly the movie, and have recommended it to a few people – most of whom say that there is no way in hell they’re going to see it. But, I tried!

The following Saturday I had to drop my car off at the mechanic, where he let me pay 1/3 of the ultimate cost and now I’ll have to pay the rest tomorrow. Boo. But, it’s better than on that day! So, if you have a Honda or an Acura, please go see Stacey at Affordable Care of Hollywood. Good stuff. My friend Jessica walked to Intelligentsia from Los Feliz (even though no one walks in LA), which is apparently close to 3 miles RT. But, it was a great morning walk to take, and I even ran into an old friend from high school. I do wish there were an Intelligentsia closer to me in the South Bay. Oh well. Venice will have to do for now. The South Bay isn’t hipster-enough!

I had dinner at a friend’s house, where she set a pig to cookin’ at 6am – yay BBQ!!! And then two friends and I went over for dinner. Good times – apparently it was dry rub BBQ. It’s all good to me! On Sunday it was a typical church day, but it ended with gardening (pictures coming soon, promise!) and an amazing sustainable supper club dinner hosted by ChicksWithKnives. It was absolutely amazing, and I highly recommend you find a dinner and attend one. They’re all over SoCal, and soon will have one in San Diego. GO! They even had a vegan one recently. Just do it, and go!

I had to go to Hotlanta for church, the national craziness, and I started that trip after my first harvesting of Swiss Chard. It was great, with pasta and sausage and mucho garlic! It’s strange to me that now I can sleep very easily on planes. I was asleep within 10 minutes, maybe even 5, of pushback from the gate at LAX. And I woke up when we were taxiing to the gate at ATL. Good skill to have. I got to see my friends in the Presbyterian Health, Education & Wellness Association, along with my step-mom, and it was great. Doing the work of justice is always a balm to anything I’ve got going on!

But, as with any conference, there had to be SOME time to getting away from the convention – there were 1500 Presbyterians doing stuff at this one hotel! So, I called an old friend of mine who now lives in Atlanta and he and his girlfriend came to get me and whisk me away. I had asked several beverage mavens and the twitterverse about fun drink places in Hotlanta, and one of them, Natalie (aka the Liquid Muse) has a friend who saw my plea for beverage houses in ATL and took pity on me. He asked some friends and came up with the following list: (BTW, how flippin’ COOL IS THAT?!?!?)
Drinkshop (W Downtown)
Room at 12 (Centennial Park) or Lobby at 12
Beleza
Trois (on Peachtree)
AJA (inside the Alliance Ctr)
Market (inside the W Buckhead)
Craft
Whiskey Blue (on top of the W)
Nicolai’s Roof (on top of the Hilton)
Leon’s Full Service (Decatur)
BLT Steak
Ritz Carlton bar – Buckhead
Leopard Lounge
Mood Lounge
Serpas

Some of these will depend on the bartender working that night (like mine), but all are top of the top.
There is one “dive/neighborhood bar I wanted to add as well that is a staple of Atlanta, which is Manuel’s Tavern. Nothing spectacular other thatn it is a great old long standing neighborhood hangout. The atmosphere is grand. Tell her to have a great trip.

I tried out Trois, and wow, YUMMY drinks! The bar is downstairs, and we got drenched on the way into the restaurant (one of those apparently typical Southern downpours, that happen briefly with thunder and awesome lightning, and then they go away – and leave the mugginess there). Now I have a list of places to visit when I go back.

I convinced my friend Richard to get a gin drink, after he protested thusly: “I hate G&T’s.” I apparently was able to sway him with the fact that all the awesome drinks that are out there now, with gin, are pretty well just awesome. If you mix gin with fresh fruit (mostly citrus), how can you go wrong? So, that was a coup. It was great to get away from the conference and to just kick back. On Saturday night my friend Leah and I both went out with Richard, as there is only so much of a conference, perhaps, that one can take. We went to a really cool part of Atlanta, called the Highlands, and had tapas and mojitos. Oh yes, good times. And Saturday I was elected to the Board of Directors for PHEWA – so now I am apparently important. To someone. Is it important to you?

When I came home, my friend who was going to water my plants FORGOT. So, my tomato plant looked so, so, so, so very sad. After drenching the pot with water on Sunday and Monday, I am happy to report that she looks beautiful again. So, HAPPY DAY! I think my friend might have been taken out back and hung out to dry if they’d died after all the work I’ve put in. I have had to prop up one of the branches of the tomato plant, due to the fact that it has 6, I think, rather large green tomatoes on it. So, it’s not standing up very well. I tied it, but it needed a prop. My beans have turned out not to need the trellis my dad and I built, so I took some of the bamboo from that, and propped up the end of the tomato branch. Here’s to hopin’ it works! I will post pictures, PROMISE!
Everything that’s coming up and either bearing fruit, or flowers is:
Peas, beans, cosmos, four o’clocks, marigolds, bachelor buttons and morning glories.
The ones that have been flowering since the beginning are flourishing, as they came out of ponies, but they are pansies, petunias (they’re LOVING the sun!!), alyssum. It’s great. I love my garden!!

I went to Beacon in Culver City for their 5th anniversary menu – a bunch of things for 5 bucks – with some friends on Tuesday and it was well worth the $40! Two glasses of wine and 4 small plates – oh yes. Good times. I may just have to go back there for “real” plates sometime. It made me hungry for a Father’s Office burger, though, due to the fact that Beacon is across the street from the Culver City Father’s Office location. Dang. I’ll have to go back there and get a cider and a burger soon! After I go to the gym every day for a week!

I have cheered a friend on, with her workout / get healthy regimen, and now I need to stay on it! Anyone interested in working out “with” me? Even if you’re far away, we can keep in sync with one another. Let me know if you’re interested!

This weekend is shaping up to be more inexpensive – except for a bridal shower on Saturday and the Hungry Cat’s Crabfest on Sunday. I am very much excited for crab fest!!!

Just because I can, I give a shout-out to my friend Becci’s daughter, and my fake niece, Molly. She graduates today! Congrats, lil one!

I haven’t posted in far too long. But, hey, I’ve been busy. Well, not exactly. My garden has turned a little yellow, and apparently “vein-y,” and I was worried about it! My dad is here for this weekend, and we spent 2+ hours replanting some stuff. He was worried about my pansies (sweet, sweet plants!!) and said that they wouldn’t last in the full sun that they’re getting. I was more worried about the HOLES in them that some damn creature was leaving. But, we repotted them, and added a lot more dirt, thinned out the cosmos and what we think are bachelor buttons and then repotted other stuff too. Tomorrow I will get another pot for the cucumbers, more dirt and some fertilizer for the plants. I was worried that I was failing big time, but then I saw the roots for all the plants I started FROM SEED (!!!!) and I wasn’t too worried. My dad was impressed with that part of my green thumb. I am pleased with what I’ve done so far, and tomorrow we’re going to skip Star Trek (I am sad about that) and do some more gardening. Have to put some structure up for the beans and peas and repot the cukes.

Today I also went to a family friend’s, Springsong, graduation from Pitzer College in Pomona. I felt like I was seeing a continuation of my high school. It was funny though. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t there (at NWS) any longer, but WOW, it was funny to see. I am so glad I did go to a larger school, even though I did end up seeing the same darn NWSers than I did in school. I just could avoid them at UW, instead of at Pitzer, where there wouldn’t be a chance of that!! Anyway, it was moving, and Springsong was the speaker. I think forward to a time when my children will do that. Of course, those children are imaginary at this point… We had lunch at the house where she’s been living this year, and the power was out, so they made do with what they could – and ordered Buca. That worked for me, mostly because I didn’t have to dwell on the menu, and the differences that have been made since I started going there, 11 years ago…

All in all, it was a great day to hang out with my dad, even if it did start early. I have been going to the gym a lot this week, and tomorrow will be no different. I’m headed there again. It’ll just be later than the earlier part of the week. Thank gawd.

I’ll post pictures of the garden soon, provided the trauma we inflicted today didn’t kill the plants, PROMISE!

I’ve gotten my garden started – and here are some pictures. I will write more later, but I wanted to get the pictures out there. I’m planting beans, peas, cucumbers, chard, tomatoes, lettuces and… oh, and I’m trying to get basil and cilantro to grow. It doesn’t seem to be working. Sad. Anyway, here they are.

Noelle’s Flickr Garden Set