Consumables: Stuff for mah belly in LA

As usual, one of the things I look most forward to when traveling is the eating out.  I try to explore new places, try different foods, and in general, move outside my culinary box.  While I didn’t eat anything bizzare this trip, I definitely had some pleasant dining experiences to share.

The first thing I looked for near the hotel is a non-Starbucks espresso shop.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Starbucks, other than the burnt beans, strong smelling breakfast sandwhiches, apathetic baristas, and the other customers.  I go there a lot and I know how to order something that I can drink down that gets me to wake up, but other than that, I try to look for better espresso whenever I can.  Seeing as the Bethesda/DC area has very few decent indie shops, I had high hopes for LA.  So I broke out the Yelp! app for my phone and started searching.

Score!  A decently rated espresso shop just a few blocks from the hotel.  Espresso Profeta is a very cool place, so don’t let their sparse web site fool you.  It shares a compound with an antique store in an old spanish-style compound with a shared central patio and is full of quaint character.  In fact, you’d think the place would be run by an older Martha Stewart-like lady in a flowered sun dress based on the decor, but the machine was manned by the young, urban, tattooed youth Ive come to expect from good espresso places.  The menu was simple with the basic drinks most shops have and a small offering of baked goods (which are NOT their strong point).  And that’s where the similarity to other espresso places ended.

I ordered my usual (small triple skim latte) my first time in–I ended up visitng the place for coffee about 7 times during my trip, which might explain why I didn’t sleep much– and despite the pretty foam decoration-thing some shops do, I wasn’t expecting much since I’ve been “burned” so many times before.  I sat outside in the sunshine and brought the cup to my lips, and as soon as the smell hit my nose, I knew that this was the real deal.  Rich coffee vapor filled my nostrils like thick chocolate syrup, and when I took my first sip, my lips and toungue started to tingle (are you guys getting turned on too, or is that just me? ).  I’m no good with the wine-like descriptions, but I’m going to try.  The coffee was rich and thick with wood and tobacco notes and a wisp of something almost cinnamon-like.  It was bitter, but in the good way, not in the “grimace face” way.  Post-sip, the flavor melted away perfectly leaving me with an almost citrus-y taste and a desire to drink more.  And I did.  This stuff was so good, so subtle,  that its the first time that I could actually experience the difference in drinking out of porcelain vs a to go cup.  It was sublime, and I kept going back.  The only down-side was that they didn’t open until 7 am on the weekends and since I was on East Coast time still, I was ready to start drinking it at 6 am.

For dinner the first night, I was in a middle eastern mood, so I broke out the Urbanspoon app on the phone, and gave it a shake and went with the first choice it gave me, a Lebanese place called Sunnin.  I read a couple of the reviews and they were all pretty consistent:  cheap, flavorful and a total dive.  Score!  I headed over there and it turned out to be a much longer walk than I expected (about 2 or 3 miles).  When I got there, I was skeptical.  It really did look pretty dive-y with that 50s white tile counter look, none to clean windows and a floor with lots of–character.  But it was packed with mostly middle eastern types, so i figured: nothing ventured nothing gained.

The place was tiny with about a dozen tables jammed together and the long counter.  When I first got there, there was only a counter seat open, so I sat there, which was lame.  The counter was abnormally high and even with the tall stool, when I sat down, the counter level was about shoulder height–not exactly comfortable eating.  Fortunately a small table opened up before I ordered, so I hopped to it and squeezed in between a couple on a date and a loud family with a quiver of little kids (who were all really nice, even after I’d accidently eaten one of their appetizers that had been placed on the shared table near me–I was hungry and there were no clear table boundaries!).  I ordered some kibbeh, a fried cheese/onion//cilantro/tomato dip and a kebab sampler.  Holy crap! I’ve never had such tasty middle eastern food before!  The kibbeh was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside with whole pine nuts breaking the texture up nicely, and perfectly spiced so that they were very complex yet delicate.  It was almost like eating a savory meat beignet.  The cheese dip was complex and full of pools of flavorful extra virgin olive oil.  It was almost like a Mexican salsa with slightly bitter, smoky cheese crumbles throug it.  And the kebabs (chicken, beef, and keefah(?)–a spiced ground lamb–or maybe it was beef.  I don’t know, i just know it was awesome) were perfection.  Well seared and juicy with several different spice rubs, including a tomato based one on the beef.  All of it was piled high on a bed of rice with a pile of cucumber salad and a mound of hummus and pita.  This was undoubtedly the best Lebanese meal I’ve ever eaten, and all for less than 20 bucks after tip.

The last dinner I had was at a place called Iso, a self-styled “fusion” restaurant.  I’m not really sure what they were fusing, but it seemed pretty straight up Asian to me.  I spotted it walking past earlier in the afternoon because it was full of people on laptops, and when I was wandering around later for dinner, I ran across it again and decided to give it a try.  The inside was reminiscent of Yoshimatsu in Tucson, with less action figures but the same darkwood panneling and seating.  I ordered an Oriental Chicken Salad and a Teriyaki RIce bowl (again, less than 20 bucks), grabbed my number and went to find a seat.  As before the place was packed, but I managed to find a small table, broke out my laptop and waited.  That’s when I realized the first appeal of the place:  they had fast free wifi!  My food arrived and it was good, but honestly, nothing too special.  But between the cheapness, the hearty helpings and the wifi, I would definitely return, and if I was a student, I’d probably live there!

That’s about it for the dining, other than a waaaaay over-priced lunch at the hotel, some excellent booth food at the festival and a breakfast at Denny’s–they kept me fed, but were not at all memorable (except for the price on that one lunch–yikes!)  I’ll post up my final installment either later today or tomorrow wherein our hero talks about the whole reason for the trip, the LA Festival of Books!

Los Angeles

I was in Los Angeles this past weekend on a business trip to the visit the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.  I’ve been to Los Angeles a bunch of times before, but this was my first solo trip and the first time I’d ever stayed in Westwood Village right near the UCLA campus, so I was looking forward to doing a little bit of exploring.

The flight from LA to DC is loooong–like 5 hours long.  Fortunately I had a comfy seat and my Kindle, so it went by quickly between reading and sleeping.  As has been my travel pattern lately, the plane arrived late and I had  delays at the airport and then the rental car agency.  After sorting it all out, i finally got on the road, and straight onto LA freeway traffic.  Good times.  As I understand it, there’s always traffic on the 405 so, I guess its not surprising, but theres nothing more disappointing then being eager to get on with a trip and landing smack in the middle of a freeway that thinks its a parking lot.  Fortunately, I didn’t have too far to go, so I was out on the surface streets and checking in to my hotel in a little less than an hour.

I stayed at the W in Westwood Village, just a couple blocks away from the UCLA campus.  I’ve stayed in W’s before and I really like them, though this was my first time in this particular one.  Fortunately, they seem to be pretty consistent–this one had the nice ultra-modern lobby filled with sharply dressed helpful staff that I’ve come to expect.  I start the check in process and the clerk tells me that I get a free upgrade to a “Spectacular Suite” from a “Wonderful Studio” (Being a Starwood member with points pays off again!  Ding!).  I’m not making these names up.  Check their website.  I head up to my room and as I soon as I get off the elevator, I’m filled with dread.  There are posters everywhere for something called Bandslam, a new musical/romantic comedy (I had to wiki it;  I’d never heard of it). and the floor is full of young Hollywood types rushing here and about doing what I’m sure to them are very important things.  I head to my assigned room noticing BANDSLAM signs on all the doors.  I’m apparently in the thick of Bandslam country.  *sigh*

I get to my room and there’s a sign on it too.  BANDSLAM! with the name Vanessa Hudgens beneath it.  “Great, ” I’m thinking, “I’m going to have to wait to check in before they clean the room.”  I go to put my keycard in the lock so I can dump my bags at least, and as I’m reaching for it, the door opens quickly and I’m face to face with an attractive young woman.  We both froze.

“Do you come with the room?” I said. ” I didn’t think I had enough Starwood points for that kind of thing.”  She just looked at me, horrified, clearly unsure of what to say.  I guess I must be pretty intimidating–6’3”, tired looking with wrinkly clothes from the flight.  I quickly say “I think they gave me the wrong room.  Sorry to disturb you.”  I backed away slowly, just waiting for a scream or security people to show up and tackle me.  Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened and I returned to the lobby.  When I told the front desk what happened, she just about passed out–not because she was worried about my reaction, I’m sure, but the “poor” celebrity that ran into me.  she apologized profusely, threw more Starwood points at me and drink coupons and then proceeded to upgrade me yet again to a corner Fabuous Suite.

And Fabulous it was!  The walls of each room were dripping with modern art and plasma screen TVs (There were 3 giant wall hanging plasma TVs, so I pretty much had a screen in every room in every direction I was facing except the windows.)  You’ll be disappointed to know (or proud maybe?) that I never turned any of them on.  The living room/office/lounge area was plush with low orgy couches, thick shag carpet, and a large crystal and chrome desk (Their interent still sucked, by the way.  Broadband my ass.).  The bedroom was spacious with a super comfy king-sized bed, soft ceiling hangings, more closet space than I have in my entire house and a giant mirror over the bed (Not on the ceiling, you pervert!  At the head of the bed.).  The bathroom was pretty excellent as well-all marble and granite and glass with a huge shower.  The wall that the bathroom shared with the bedroom was made out of translucent glass which would have made me paranoid, but since I was alone, I was pretty calm about it.  All in all, it was probably the second nicest hotel room I’d ever stayed in, and other than the internet, it was awesome–friendly and helpful staff, great location and lots of amenities.  To my knowledge, the only nicer hotel I’ve stayed at was a suite at the  Parador Baiona in Spain, but that’s a whole different level of hotel in a centuries old converted fortress perched on a rocky cliff by the sea.

Time for me to go to a doctor appointment, but I’ll write more later!

St. Mary’s City and College

We went down to St. Mary’s last week for a couple of days.  Trenna was invited to be St. Mary’s “Visiting Ethnographer”, where the anthro department invites down anthropologists to give a public lecture and teach classes based on their work.  In this case, Trenna’s stuff was about her dissertation where she followed the lives of homeless people in Tucson.  You can get the full text here.

We were only there for a couple of nights, but we had a great time returning to our alma mater and meeting some of our old professors.  It was especially great seeing Bill Roberts and Iris Ford two of our teacher’s from back in the day.  Unfortunately, neither of us had as much time as we would have liked–Trenna with her teaching and lectures and me with work (the double edged sword of working “from home.”  Since I can work from anywhere with an internet connection and cell phone service, I usually end up working everywhere ), but I did have time to walk around and check stuff out.

Wow, the college has totally changed!  The cafeteria has been totally upgraded and expanded with actual cafe’s and restaurants!  Buildings that used to be really old and musty have been fully remodeled and there’s all new housing and athletic complexes.  Fortunately, good ole Dorchester is still the same and Historic St. Mary’s City is pretty much intact as well except for the new church they built on the site of the original church from the 1600′s.  The two days we were there were perfect: warm, sunny and with a breeze, so between work sessions, I strolled around and took some pics.  You can check out the set on my Flickr page here.

Zoo Trip!

We went to the zoo again a couple of weeks ago.  Its a perfect place to take Celsita since she can run around pretty safely and she loves checking out the animals.  And it was one of those “Friends of the National Zoo” events that lets members in early before the park opens to the public which seriously cuts down on the crowds.  We were hoping to see the new baby gorilla, but he and his mom were hiding out.  I got some pics of some of the other critters, though.  You can check out the set on Flickr here if you’re interested.

Puppy Bath!

I don’t think I mentioned it, but Cordy is quite the water dog!  She’s already tried to hop into the shower with me a couple of times, and whenever we give Celsita a bath, she’s always trying to jump in it.  Fortunately, this makes her really easy to bathe, and since she’s so tiny, we can do it right in the kitchen sink in less than 5 minutes.  Not sure how much that will change as she gets older and, strangely, despite her love of water, she can’t stand the rain.  Go figure–maybe its a temperature thing.  We’ll see when the summer rains roll around.

Its so cute when she’s wet.  She looks a lot like a wet rat, or possibly a Mentat caught in the rain.  Either way, she’s pretty happy about the whole thing, despite her pathetic appearance.

Daddy-Daughter Gardening 2: Now with more Mom!

This weekend was pretty much perfect: 70 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. On Saturday, we went to Michael B’s birthday party which was a ton of fun. They even had a moon bounce set up in the backyard! I had no idea those things were accessible, and I’m really thinking about getting one to permanently add to the yard. That said, it probably won’t happen since Trenna is much more grounded than I am and doesn’t support my whimsical needs. Damn her!!

Celsita was pretty freaked out when we first got in, but after she saw what you could do, she got really into it and bounced around a lot. Here’s a pic of her getting ready to hop around:

We spent Sunday working on the garden.  It was supposed to start raining for a couple of days (And it is, in fact, raining.  And its a nice gentle rain too.  As a newly minted gardener, this pleases me ), so we figured the timing wouldn’t get any better than this.  We started with a trip to the nursery/garden supply center.  Holy crap!  Those places are awesome, especially when you’re planning on planting stuff.  So many things to buy, from statuary to plants to equipment.  I think we showed an amazing amount of restraint and only left there with some bags of planting soil, a couple of tools, some seeds, and a few baby plants to stick in the ground.  If only we had unlimited funds!  I was imagining a full garden conversion, and maybe that will happen over time, but since we’re mostly inexperienced, we tried to keep it simple.

The 4 or us went at it–Celsita and Cordy were there in a supervisory capacity– and within a few hours, we had most of the stuff planted.  We didn’t put the baby tomatoes and strawberries into the ground yet since, according to the nursery folk, they are temperature sensitive, so they’re sitting in an indoor window sill right now at Grandma’s for another week or two until the temperature at night stays in the 50′s.  Along with the stuff we bought, Grandma gave us a few plants from her garden that she was cutting back on.  If her garden is any indication, they should do really well at our place too.

Here are some pics from what we did.  I suck at plant names, so most of them won’t have that info, but I’ll try and find out what they are in the future and append them here.

These are some flowers that Grandma planted in our yard last year.  They’re really pretty and blossomed about a week ago.  Supposedly they’re perrenials so we won’t even have to worry about replanting them.  Gotta love that!

This next pic is a tree/bush type thing that originally started in Patricia and Roberto’s yard.  Mom took some cuttings and put them in her yard and along the path that borders the end of the street, so now they’re growing everywhere.  She yanked one up for us to plant in our yard, so now it’s got a prominent place in the corner of the yard.  They’re very robust looking, and when they blossom, they shoot out a cluster of white flowers that’s about a foot long from the top.  When this one blooms I’ll follow up with a pic of them.

Here’s our little herb patch, or the first one I should say.  Given how much I cook, I’m probably going to be hitting these pretty hard, so I’m thinking we’ll  have to set up another patch eventually.  At the moment, we’ve got Thai Basil, Sweet Basil, Italian Parsley, Rosemary, Oregano, Mint and Thyme growing.  I’m really hoping these take off well and they’re supposed to be pretty hearty so I’m optimistic.

The planting I’m most hopeful about is the raspberry bush that Grandma gave us.  Besides the fact that I love raspberries, Celsita loves them even more, and just thinking about going out there with her and picking them makes me grin.  That’s assuming the squirrels, birds, mice and other beasties don’t get to them first.  I’ll probably have to cover them in chicken wire to protect them, or maybe I’ll just sit in the yard with a rifle guarding them all day.  I guess the chicken wire makes more sense.  That’s assuming they even grow and come to fruit this year, which they should since they do pretty well in Grandma’s yard.

This next pic is another plant that Grandma gave to us after a cull from her yard.  I know nothing about it except that its a perrenial and blooms with lots of pretty flowers—though I don’t know what color they are.  Oh well, surprises are nice

We finally got a hanging plant for the big “garden spike” spike thingy that has the bird feeder on one arm.  I actually got this at Giant a couple of days ago.  It was cheap, had pretty flowers, and no name on it.  I’m not expecting  it to survive for long, but it looks nice for right now.  I think in the future I’d either like to stick another bird feeder there or possibly a viny plant that will grow downwards, making a little leaf waterfall type of thing.

We also got a little pine tree of some sort from Grandma.  It was looking pretty rough, shedding lots of needles and looking brownish, but it should spring back now that it’s out of its teeny pot and in the soil.  We put it next to the azalea and other random bushes right near the AC unit in the back.

And finally, my favorite baby tree has gotten most of its foliage back from the winter!  It’s the Japanese Maple that’s on the upper tier of the backyard, and I just love its shape.  It almost looks like a bonsai, though it’s too big for that.  I’m not sure if this tree came with the house or if Grandma and Grandpa planted it, but either way it was here when we arrived.  I have goofy dreams of sitting beneath it when I’m old, drinking margaritas–or maybe sake would be more appropriate. If you examine the picture closely, you might see our little yard friend, the garden gnome.  Yeah, I couldn’t resist

That’s about it!  I’ll update as things change and I’ll post some more pics in a couple of weeks when we plant the tomatoes and strawberries!

Giggle Fart

Just listen.

gigglefart

Glossolalia

Glossolalia

n.

1. Fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes.
2. See gift of tongues.

Celsita has been doing this thing the last couple of weeks where she babbles in complete sentences and looks like she is genuinely communicating.  Other than a couple of words (Mommy, poppy, poopie, no, puppy) its all gibberish, but she says them with such sincerity that you’d think she was speaking to you in a foreign tongue.  I finally managed to cobble together a recording setup–iPhone apps ftw!1!–and I captured a minute or two of her doing it.  The sample I caught is by no means her best, it was just the first that I managed to record.  Now that I have a way to record her, though, I’ll keep at it until I get better ones and post them here.

Give a listen:

glossolalia

Cordy and Goliath

Celsita, Cordy and I went for a walk this evening after the rain stopped, and we ran across a nice couple walking their great dane.  While I’ve met great danes before, this one seems to be particularly huge, but she’s really friendly and kind of shy.  Cordy, of course, was enthusiastically eager to  play despite the fact that the great dane probably poops bigger than her.  They sniffed and licked, but didn’t really play as such.  I think the great dane was a little shy or nervous about stepping on her.

Anyway, it made for an amusing pic.

Some Remodeling

Just wanted to give a head’s up to anyone that checks in here occasionally:  I’m going to be messing around with theme and the sidebar widgets, so the look of the site will change periodically over the next few days or weeks, until I find something I totally like.  I like the current theme for the most part, but it doesn’t behave very well with the sidebar widgets I’ve been experimenting with, so I’m going to see if some other themes and layouts help.

If you see one you like, post here or contact me in some way and I’ll consider using it, assuming I like it too.  If you’re familiar with WordPress, I’d be happy to receive some suggestions of any sort, like themes, plugins, widgets, etc

So if stuff looks different or the site is broken at some point in the future, that’s probably what the deal is.