Went to Disneyland the Sunday of the weekend of the epic weekend visit from my epic friend, Curly Beast. We woke up at 6am in order to be good to go by 6.45. This wouldn't have been much of a crazy caper had we donned our nightcaps at, say, 8pm the night before. But silly us, we thought sleep was for kids.
In the spirit of food-lovers, we ate out the night before at the too-trendy-to-actually-classify-as-classy GEISHA HOUSE in Hollywood. Sushi and sake flowed like butter on a hot skillet skating towards the rim of the pan. And the sushi quality wasn't half bad. But I'll tell you what, after the fruity and flavorful "Geisha's Kiss" cocktail I enjoyed while awaiting our table, everything tasted good.
I'll admit, I was annoyed by the wait, especially considering that I pulled a connection to get an enviably good dinner time reservation for a party as large as ours, but once seated with a big bowl of edamame at my fingertips, I forgave and forgot. The restaurant was packed and our table location was bad--both of these factors perhaps contributing to why our service continued to be leisurely slow throughout the night--but our stay was peppered with D-list celebrity sightings to make up for the annoyance. But not like "Kathy Griffin" D-list, no sir. We saw "the girl who freaked out on Season something of America's Next Top Model when they cut her hair," as well as "that guy who's been an extra on a couple of episodes of LOST." Okay, yeah, it was more like E-list.
FIVE REASONS WHY GEISHA HOUSE DESERVES YOUR VISIT (ONCE)
1. It's in Hollywood and close to a number of local night-spotty attractions, from Opera to Crimson to Vice to...Cinespace.
2. The gigantic plate on which they will serve your sushi is an eye to behold.
3. The cocktails. All wonderful, delicious, lip-smacking good.
4. The noise. Go on an awkward date and you've got every reason to stop talking to that sucker.
5. D-listers! One guy at the table next to us wore sunglasses in the dimly lit dinner room all night and kept standing up and gyrating his hips. I wish I'd had a camera to document his complete unimportance for a lifetime.
After Geisha, we hopped over to OPERA but were denied entry (or, rather, we REFUSED entry, given the wait) and slid down the street to CINESPACE to pretend we liked it there. It was fun, but when Curly Beast and I finally ambled home at about 1am and realised we had to wake up in five hours...we kind of wish we'd stopped at sushi.
But Disney was a grand experience. While I'd been to the World, it was my first visit to the Land, but with my friend Disney (I told you she'd come back) as our guide, we raked through that park like...well, like a rake through some grass. Fourteen rides and ten hours later, we were primely positioned to watch both night fireworks shows. Our eyes were teary as we wished upon the stars and munched on treats from the Downtown Disney Confectionery and ached for the love of it. Or maybe it was from over-eating? Two weeks after the trip, I've learned that the most epic Disney ride of all, It's a Small World After All, was closed for our visit and has been closed for quite some time due to technical changes to accommodate the growing girth of Disney visitors...proving once again that obesity is an epidemic in America, blah blah blah, ho hum drama, same old same old. Anyway, is anyone up for some sushi buffet this weekend? Mmmmm.
FIVE REASONS WHY I FORGIVE DISNEYLAND FOR LOVING OBESE PEOPLE
1. The breakfast croissant sandwich I bought for six dollars!
2. The three Patina group restaurants on site--we ate at Naples and the caprese pizza was terrific. (And the "individual" size definitely fed 2.5 people. Maybe could have fed three, but we actually ate the second half of the third person.)
3. Everything inside the Blue Ribbon Bakery
4. Uuuuhhhh...more food?
5. Meeting Mickey, Minnie, Mary Poppins and Merlin...and running into Jason Schwartmann of DARJEELING LIMITED (which I have yet to see) and the band Phantom Planet like five times! D-list sightings be damned, we're up to A...minus!
THE RESTAURANT: http://www.dolcegroup.com/
THE THEMEPARK: http://disneyland.disney.go.com
mercredi 9 avril 2008
mercredi 2 avril 2008
I do well on sofas: brunch at TOAST
Last weekend, I had the joy of hosting a great friend here in Fire City; we'll call her Curly Beast. Curly Beast was scheduled to fly in at 10pm on a Friday, out at 9am on the Monday following, and since Sunday was already relegated to a full-day journey to our youth at Disneyland, we really just had about 24hrs to see the sights. Believe you me, we hit the ground running.
Friday night straight from the aeroport, we met up with my boyz and partied til early morning, and though the Tanqueray in our veins (er, livers) told us to stay on the down-low, we woke up that hazy Saturday needing good eats. No time like post-booze time to try the mid-town brunchy hotspot, TOAST.
Despite Toast's mid-high ratings online (where its reviews OFTEN involved LOTS of caps, evidently to communicate only the highest order of TRUE LOVE), I was still a notch skeptical. There were rumors of celebrity sightings, long lines and longer waits that smacked of nightclubs I tend to avoid. But the eyebrows of everyone to whom I tentatively revealed our tentative plans earlier in the week went skyward in appreciation once I uttered the name of the restau. And then their eyes would widen, their mouths would drop open and they would speak in all caps: "Oh, I LOVE Toast. You'll LOVE Toast. You should DEFINITELY eat AT TOAST."
It was like hypnosis. And so we ate at Toast.
TOP FIVE REASONS WHY TOAST IS WORTH ALL THE HYPE
1. Exterior decor - outside, there are uncovered tables, tables under canopies, tables almost dumping into the street--but not in a bad way. And yeah, there is a long line but it clumps so happily between all these tables, it's less akin to a bouncer's nightmare than to a bunch of kids trying to see into a candy shop. Cute.
2. Interior decor - the chair situation inside varies from barstools and long-legged round tables to your standard connect-four to comfy, earthy-colored couches with low coffee tables buckled against them. It feels like your living room, if your living room were a cafe.
3. Wait staff - Friendly, jovial, helpful and knowledgeable about all the food--and not in a "please tip me" way, but as if they're your friends. Or my friends. They're not your friends. They're mine.
4. The egg scrambles.
3. The omelettes.
4. The never-ending hot coffee.
5. The generous fruit salad.
'Cause shouldn't eating be about the food?
the restaurant: http://www.toastbakerycafe.net/
(But early warning: arrive before 11am, or you might get so hungry waiting, you end up eating your arm before you get a table)
Friday night straight from the aeroport, we met up with my boyz and partied til early morning, and though the Tanqueray in our veins (er, livers) told us to stay on the down-low, we woke up that hazy Saturday needing good eats. No time like post-booze time to try the mid-town brunchy hotspot, TOAST.
Despite Toast's mid-high ratings online (where its reviews OFTEN involved LOTS of caps, evidently to communicate only the highest order of TRUE LOVE), I was still a notch skeptical. There were rumors of celebrity sightings, long lines and longer waits that smacked of nightclubs I tend to avoid. But the eyebrows of everyone to whom I tentatively revealed our tentative plans earlier in the week went skyward in appreciation once I uttered the name of the restau. And then their eyes would widen, their mouths would drop open and they would speak in all caps: "Oh, I LOVE Toast. You'll LOVE Toast. You should DEFINITELY eat AT TOAST."
It was like hypnosis. And so we ate at Toast.
TOP FIVE REASONS WHY TOAST IS WORTH ALL THE HYPE
1. Exterior decor - outside, there are uncovered tables, tables under canopies, tables almost dumping into the street--but not in a bad way. And yeah, there is a long line but it clumps so happily between all these tables, it's less akin to a bouncer's nightmare than to a bunch of kids trying to see into a candy shop. Cute.
2. Interior decor - the chair situation inside varies from barstools and long-legged round tables to your standard connect-four to comfy, earthy-colored couches with low coffee tables buckled against them. It feels like your living room, if your living room were a cafe.
3. Wait staff - Friendly, jovial, helpful and knowledgeable about all the food--and not in a "please tip me" way, but as if they're your friends. Or my friends. They're not your friends. They're mine.
4. The egg scrambles.
3. The omelettes.
4. The never-ending hot coffee.
5. The generous fruit salad.
'Cause shouldn't eating be about the food?
the restaurant: http://www.toastbakerycafe.net/
(But early warning: arrive before 11am, or you might get so hungry waiting, you end up eating your arm before you get a table)
dimanche 23 mars 2008
Amy Winehouse: BACK TO BLACK
I recently bought Amy Winehouse's second album, the Grammy Award-winning "Back to Black." I bought it, not because I particularly cared more for her music than, say, Lupe Fiasco's (If you are what you say you are...), but because I realised last week I have something incredibly in common with her. If you know me and you know her, you'll know what it is--and no, it isn't the crack itch. Once I realised we shared two initials, I decided I had to buy her CD. Sounds silly, but it's the absolute truth.
I knew the song "Rehab," but none of the others, and I only recently grew aware of the fact it swept the Grammy's with four wins (four right?). It's only 10 tracks long, but it was on sale at Target for $11.58, so I said, "SCORE! I still hate the radio, and I'm tired of my mix CD's!" and gave it a buy.
Upon first listen, I easily determined there were four songs that stood out, and I immediately grew skeptical as to why all ten songs garnered the win for album of the year. Four songs is less than half. And since my opinion on her music was obviously identical if not superior to the entire Recording Academy's, I couldn't see why they voted on her so favorably.
But much like the crack-album release of last year (Justin Timberlake's FUTURE SEX/LOVE SOUNDS, if you didn't know--not because he necessarily did crack, but because his music IS like crack), this album got better with every listen.
5 Reasons Why Amy Winehouse's BACK TO BLACK is worth repeat audio exposure:
1. The songs "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good," "Back to Black," and "Tears Dry on Their Own," not necessarily in that order.
2. The record is produced by Mike Ronson, who we (and by "we," I mean "I") also love.
3. It's her singing. No electronic gizmos altering her voice to make it sound like it's coming through a space heater. Sometimes there are warbles, but there's always emotion, and she's mostly all divine.
4. It's great driving music. It's great shower music. It's great cooking music. It's great lounge music. It's great eating, talking, hanging out and listening music. It's great music.
5. Even though she originally said "No, No, No," she did, eventually, go to rehab. And we should support that.
THE ARTIST: http://www.amywinehouse.co.uk/
I knew the song "Rehab," but none of the others, and I only recently grew aware of the fact it swept the Grammy's with four wins (four right?). It's only 10 tracks long, but it was on sale at Target for $11.58, so I said, "SCORE! I still hate the radio, and I'm tired of my mix CD's!" and gave it a buy.
Upon first listen, I easily determined there were four songs that stood out, and I immediately grew skeptical as to why all ten songs garnered the win for album of the year. Four songs is less than half. And since my opinion on her music was obviously identical if not superior to the entire Recording Academy's, I couldn't see why they voted on her so favorably.
But much like the crack-album release of last year (Justin Timberlake's FUTURE SEX/LOVE SOUNDS, if you didn't know--not because he necessarily did crack, but because his music IS like crack), this album got better with every listen.
5 Reasons Why Amy Winehouse's BACK TO BLACK is worth repeat audio exposure:
1. The songs "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good," "Back to Black," and "Tears Dry on Their Own," not necessarily in that order.
2. The record is produced by Mike Ronson, who we (and by "we," I mean "I") also love.
3. It's her singing. No electronic gizmos altering her voice to make it sound like it's coming through a space heater. Sometimes there are warbles, but there's always emotion, and she's mostly all divine.
4. It's great driving music. It's great shower music. It's great cooking music. It's great lounge music. It's great eating, talking, hanging out and listening music. It's great music.
5. Even though she originally said "No, No, No," she did, eventually, go to rehab. And we should support that.
THE ARTIST: http://www.amywinehouse.co.uk/
samedi 15 mars 2008
Staight men don't wear Prada: my Feb issue of GQ
Imagine this: a straight man wearing Prada. It's like a gay man wearing Sketchers. It's sweetly intriguing, but otherwise revolting. Not to be done. A straight man sporting Prada is like a straight man donning Dolce & G.
February GQ with Rachel Bilson on the cover = way too many Prada ads. And by "way too many," I mean the first one that's about five pages in. Too many slimly fit obviously viscose-blend cardigans. I'm over you.
Sure, you'll argue, "Is GQ intended for straight men? I mean, really. Really. (pause) No, really."
And you know, suddenly I'll realise...I guess you've got a point. The "Q" on the cover of the month of March is pink, after all.
Five reasons why GQ is still my favorite magazine:
1. There are no waif-like girls selling me their phony slim-down secrets. (I KNOW the recipe for the ultimate slim down, okay? It's a diet of Evian water and Columbian nose candy!)
2. Its writers are very obviously pretentious, left-wing, ex-frat boy alcoholics.
3. The intern who writes Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson's monthly letter is really witty.
4. The intern who writes the magazine's closer "Open Letter" is also a notch above droll. (Give that kid a RAISE already!)
5. The photo spreads are fabulous. Prada ads and all.
the magazine: http://men.style.com/gq
February GQ with Rachel Bilson on the cover = way too many Prada ads. And by "way too many," I mean the first one that's about five pages in. Too many slimly fit obviously viscose-blend cardigans. I'm over you.
Sure, you'll argue, "Is GQ intended for straight men? I mean, really. Really. (pause) No, really."
And you know, suddenly I'll realise...I guess you've got a point. The "Q" on the cover of the month of March is pink, after all.
Five reasons why GQ is still my favorite magazine:
1. There are no waif-like girls selling me their phony slim-down secrets. (I KNOW the recipe for the ultimate slim down, okay? It's a diet of Evian water and Columbian nose candy!)
2. Its writers are very obviously pretentious, left-wing, ex-frat boy alcoholics.
3. The intern who writes Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson's monthly letter is really witty.
4. The intern who writes the magazine's closer "Open Letter" is also a notch above droll. (Give that kid a RAISE already!)
5. The photo spreads are fabulous. Prada ads and all.
the magazine: http://men.style.com/gq
lundi 10 mars 2008
Movie of the Moment: STEP UP 2 THE STREETS
09march08
STEP UP 2 THE STREETS
Five reasons why:
1. The tag line, which has two dangling prepositions. Count em: "It's not where you're from. It's where you're at."
2. The lack of a colon in the title, leaving the viewer/reader to question, "Is the title 'Step up 2: the streets' or 'Step up TO the streets'?" We may never know.
3. The deeply intriguing and emotionally riveting plot.
4. No, now here's a real reason: the dancing. It is sic, and I am jealous. Who needs a plot when you're pop-and-locking in the rain?
5. "Boots with the fur." Those four words really say everything I mean to say.
the plot: Dance...then rain...more dance....
the thought: I really don't have one.
out of five: 5/5!!!!!
the movie (4.9/10 stars on IMDB): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023481/
STEP UP 2 THE STREETS
Five reasons why:
1. The tag line, which has two dangling prepositions. Count em: "It's not where you're from. It's where you're at."
2. The lack of a colon in the title, leaving the viewer/reader to question, "Is the title 'Step up 2: the streets' or 'Step up TO the streets'?" We may never know.
3. The deeply intriguing and emotionally riveting plot.
4. No, now here's a real reason: the dancing. It is sic, and I am jealous. Who needs a plot when you're pop-and-locking in the rain?
5. "Boots with the fur." Those four words really say everything I mean to say.
the plot: Dance...then rain...more dance....
the thought: I really don't have one.
out of five: 5/5!!!!!
the movie (4.9/10 stars on IMDB): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1023481/
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY
I'm not made of roses, cotton candy, puffy white clouds and swan feathers; mostly just blood, guts, water and bile, but you know, I'm still a girl, and every girl at one point falls for a girly movie. The Frances McDormand/Amy Adams starrer MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY, was my girly movie of the day (and probably the week...nay, the month).
The story revolves around a nanny turned "social secretary" in late 1930s London. The country is about to go to war, but all a startlingly flighty wannabe actress can dwell on is how she's hoping to get her first big break. Just like Hollywood, really. And anyone who's thinking of Hollywood, life in it or around it, should probably see this movie. No, honestly. It starkly depicts the caste system of the performance elite--didn't you know that was the director's hidden MO? Club owners rank above musicians but below lingerie designers and, apparently, true loves. And if you didn't know that, now you do. Luckily, this film let's you laugh while you figure it all out. Take notes, kids; the exam counts for half your grade.
plot: "Nanny dearest saves the day!"
thought: It's British. Everything to love.
in five: 4/5
highlights: "Pushing Daisies" star Lee Pace puts on a (73% successful) British accent! He's so dreamy! Tell that man to make me a pie!
the movie: http://www.filminfocus.com/focus-movies/miss-pettigrew/movie-splash.php
The story revolves around a nanny turned "social secretary" in late 1930s London. The country is about to go to war, but all a startlingly flighty wannabe actress can dwell on is how she's hoping to get her first big break. Just like Hollywood, really. And anyone who's thinking of Hollywood, life in it or around it, should probably see this movie. No, honestly. It starkly depicts the caste system of the performance elite--didn't you know that was the director's hidden MO? Club owners rank above musicians but below lingerie designers and, apparently, true loves. And if you didn't know that, now you do. Luckily, this film let's you laugh while you figure it all out. Take notes, kids; the exam counts for half your grade.
plot: "Nanny dearest saves the day!"
thought: It's British. Everything to love.
in five: 4/5
highlights: "Pushing Daisies" star Lee Pace puts on a (73% successful) British accent! He's so dreamy! Tell that man to make me a pie!
the movie: http://www.filminfocus.com/focus-movies/miss-pettigrew/movie-splash.php
samedi 8 mars 2008
How I got so full: Lunch at bld
The owners of the classy westside number GRACE recently (I think it was recent, anyway) opened a diner of the upscale variety two blocks up the street that goes by the name bld. The hosts are kind, the windows are wide and clear and the clientèle is pretentiously unpretentious--but in a good way. "Bld" isn't some sucker's shorthand for boulevard without the "v," it stands for the three mainstay meals that comprise the bld menu: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Simple, to the point. Good (and bad) for me, they serve breakfast basically all day. And dammit if I don't want to eat breakfast all day.
Took a "work lunch" on Thursday with two fellow cube-dwellers, who we'll call Connecticut and Local (obviously based on the places from which they hail). They both went the lunch route, ordering the tuna melt which came with a healthy-portioned side salad. I thought they had ordered salads and gotten bread smeared with tuna on the side. Boy, was my face red. What do you mean that salad wasn't the meal?
I, however, opted for breakfast and got the menu item "eggs as you like them." Nice. Because that's JUST how I like my eggs. That's right, I like them as I like them. Scrambled, that is. The waitress recommended the thyme-seasoned fingerling potatoes and the famous bld brioche bread to round out the $7 meal. But when the eggs came, bld's "generous" portions appeared before me, monstrous. It had to be five eggs scrambled there on my plate. And in some fight with nature to consume them all, I went at them like a beast.
The potatoes, I wouldn't take again, but I don't blame them: I hate potatoes. The bread was nothing to write a blog about, either (though I'll mention them briefly here for posterity's sake). But the eggs? I'm still feeling those eggs. And after falling prey to the chessboard of food options at a friend's place hosting a poker night this evening, I'm too full to think straight. Typing hard it is. Too hard for to continue me.
Wait. Let me get it together.
This friend (who we'll call Disney--name surely to be explained in a future post) cooked, baked, simmered and sifted every type of edible good I could think up to eat if asked quickly with a twenty-second window to respond. And I ate it. I ate it all. And now, hours later and hurting from the inside out, I have to ask myself: how did I get so full?
I blame the eggs. Next time, bld, I'm having the soup of the day. Those eggs were delicious, but there's just no need for so many. Another thing to skip: the chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Despite what the waitress will say, they're not that big, and they taste just like Nestle Tollhouse--probably because they are. So obviously, I learned something I already knew about myself that day: portion control is not my strength. Let's see if I have the motivation to run it off.
the restaurant: http://www.bldrestaurant.com/
(not up as of publish date, but has been claiming "coming soon" for the past two months)
Took a "work lunch" on Thursday with two fellow cube-dwellers, who we'll call Connecticut and Local (obviously based on the places from which they hail). They both went the lunch route, ordering the tuna melt which came with a healthy-portioned side salad. I thought they had ordered salads and gotten bread smeared with tuna on the side. Boy, was my face red. What do you mean that salad wasn't the meal?
I, however, opted for breakfast and got the menu item "eggs as you like them." Nice. Because that's JUST how I like my eggs. That's right, I like them as I like them. Scrambled, that is. The waitress recommended the thyme-seasoned fingerling potatoes and the famous bld brioche bread to round out the $7 meal. But when the eggs came, bld's "generous" portions appeared before me, monstrous. It had to be five eggs scrambled there on my plate. And in some fight with nature to consume them all, I went at them like a beast.
The potatoes, I wouldn't take again, but I don't blame them: I hate potatoes. The bread was nothing to write a blog about, either (though I'll mention them briefly here for posterity's sake). But the eggs? I'm still feeling those eggs. And after falling prey to the chessboard of food options at a friend's place hosting a poker night this evening, I'm too full to think straight. Typing hard it is. Too hard for to continue me.
Wait. Let me get it together.
This friend (who we'll call Disney--name surely to be explained in a future post) cooked, baked, simmered and sifted every type of edible good I could think up to eat if asked quickly with a twenty-second window to respond. And I ate it. I ate it all. And now, hours later and hurting from the inside out, I have to ask myself: how did I get so full?
I blame the eggs. Next time, bld, I'm having the soup of the day. Those eggs were delicious, but there's just no need for so many. Another thing to skip: the chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Despite what the waitress will say, they're not that big, and they taste just like Nestle Tollhouse--probably because they are. So obviously, I learned something I already knew about myself that day: portion control is not my strength. Let's see if I have the motivation to run it off.
the restaurant: http://www.bldrestaurant.com/
(not up as of publish date, but has been claiming "coming soon" for the past two months)
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