Went to 2 weddings this weekend. We are now professional Wedding Guests - we dance, we mingle, we eat. The two weddings couldn’t have been more different and we had a blast at both.
The first was at the Beverly Hills Hotel and it was very stylish, tasteful and proper. The bride (my friend) looked Melania Knauss-gorgeous with her elegant bouquet of cala lilies and a blinding display of diamonds. The wedding was everything you would expect at the old school BH Hotel and more. One unique touch was that rather than table numbers, the tables were distinguished by names of the places the couple had traveled to - we sat at the New York table. When we sat down, there was a menu card (gold filligree print on cream paper) which set forth the entire meal: lobster bisque; pear-walnut-gorgonzola salad; filet mignon (for me) and ravioli (for Gigante); wedding cake and chocolate fountain! Anyway, I really enjoyed chatting with our table. Ironically, the bride sat me next to a person I have known for 15 years - but the bride had no idea we knew each other! What a fun surprise. I also enjoyed the drunks at our table. One was getting a little sloppy - he was hitting on the wedding singer (and striking out horribly), then he got a little depressed, then he got belligerent and started yelling at my friend's wife (things
almost got very interesting). Anyway, a great wedding.
From the home of the legendary Polo Lounge to the heart of Hollywood - the site of our next wedding. The way I would describe it was “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” . . . but Jewish. Our friends really had a blast planning this wedding and there were so many individual touches - it was just a really joyous happy occasion. The bride walked down the “aisle” (there was a fountain in the center of the courtyard) to Bjork’s rendition of “Moon River”. As soon as we got in the reception area, they started a Hava Nagila, and the bride and groom were hoisted into the air on chairs. PK and I held hands in a circle and clapped and stomped - FUN! Then, for the first dance, it wasn’t some bumbled through, sway side-to-side, hope th song is short obligatory dance. My friend (a former dance teacher) and her new husband put on a full routine. What made it even more touching is that he is NOT a dancer and learned an entire program just to make her happy since it meant so much to her. Awww. . . The matron of honor made a toast that had us all dabbing at our eyes. And the food! Wow. Hefty Old Town Buffet portions of salmon wrapped in filo dough. Mmmm. Had to leave early b/c it was a school night so we couldn’t partake in the festivities, but we left with the warm fuzzies afterwards.
Aaah love. Ain’t it grand!
Bears and Beasts
I am so pissed off about this country hick. Here’s a portion of the story from Dlisted (http://dlisted.blogspot.com/2006/08/dumb-ass-redneck.html):
Troy Lee Gentry is a member of the country duo Montgomery Gentry, most importantly he is a grade A dumb ass. Troy has been accused of shooting a black bear that was marked as tamed. Meaning the poor bear wasn't a threat and was down like that.
Authorities allege that Gentry purchased the bear from Greenly, a wildlife photographer and hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow in an enclosed pen on Greenly's property in October 2004. The government alleges that Gentry and Greenly tagged the bear with a Minnesota hunting license and registered the animal with the state Department of Natural Resources as a wild kill.
Gentry allegedly paid about $4,650 for the bear, named Cubby. The bear's death was videotaped, and the tape later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the animal in a "fair chase" hunting situation, the government alleges.
MoFo. MoeffingFo! I’m calling on everyone to boycott Troy Lee Gentry. Someone send me a t-shirt that says "Hunt Gentry. Cubby Lives!"
Something very strange occurred this morning and I find myself questioning everything I thought I knew about me. Much to my surprise and horror, I found myself dancing and singing in the car to Jessica Simpson’s new single Public Affair! Holy smokes! But strike me down Lord if that tune ain’t catchy. It’s Retro Madonna - like “Holiday” - in fact, I dare say she does Madonna better than Madonna does! I am not a Simpson fan. In fact, I can’t stand Jessica Simpson and I think she’s a ‘tard who at times looks likes a female impersonator (something about the butt chin she has). I think she really blew it by divorcing nice guy Nick Lachey. However, I am very very happy about the Lachey-Minillo hook-up. Nick & Vanessa Forever!! I’m going to go shoot my ears out now.
The Brentwood
Went to eat at The Brentwood for a little celebration dinner. The Brentwood is our Westside fancy place to eat. We're friendly with the maitre'd, and he always gives us a little extra treat - last night desserts were on the house! He's also very knowledgeable about the food - he likes to eat - and he's been mentioned in Zagats as a wine connossieur.
I looove The Brentwood. First, there's the vibe - Old School - mellow. I imagine Dean, Sammy and Frank ate at places like this. The lighting is really dim - I had to squint when I walked in the door. Low slung horseshoe shaped booths. Think Four Seasons NY (the bar area). It's small and intimate and though there may be celebs there - it's not a circus. (We did in fact see Mike Dunleavy the Clippers coach.)
We had a nice side booth where we could check out all the action - mainly consisting of counting the face lifts. I think I was the only one with my original face. So I started with the Frissee salad - which had pancetta, blue cheese and carmelized onions and Gigante had the Ceasar salad. We shared the crab torte - a huge hunk of crab meat - think the size of a can of tuna in a buttery creamy vegetable sauce. Mmmm. I hated that I had to share it with Gigante. We both had the same entree - Alaskan King Salmon and veggies. For dessert . . . blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream and bread pudding smothered in chocolate sauce. I'm not much of a bread pudding fan, but this is positively decadent. Very rich. And they threw in a couple extra scoops of ice cream.
The Brentwood, 148 S. Barrington Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90049(b/w Sunset Blvd. & Barrington)Price: $31 to $50Email:
foodcowest@yahoo.comPhone: (310) 476-3511
Hours of Operation: Sunday - Monday: 5:00pm - 11:00pm, Tuesday - Thursday: 5:00pm - 12:00am, Friday - Saturday: 5:00pm - 2:00am
Crazy Otto's Diner
March 5, 2006 - 43528 20th St W, Lancaster, CA 93534 661.948.6502
Total greasy spoon and totally packed. Otto's is a small place so be prepared to wait. Also, be warned - they close at 2:00 pm on Sundays. I ordered a veggie omelette that was STUFFED with cheese. Not just a light sprinkle - the cheese was oozing out. The portions were humongous. I have a big appetite and ordered the ½ omelette and couldn’t even finish it. Do not go here if you’re on a diet.
Porto's Bakery
February 19, 2006.
315 North Brand Boulevard ¤Glendale ¤ CA ¤ 91203 tel. (818) 956-5996 ¤ fax (818) 956-0696
http://www.portosbakery.com/*another Porto’s now on the corner of Hollywood and Magnolia in Burbank*
Porto’s website proclaims itself “Glendale’s Finest Bakery”. It’s a family-owned and operated
Cuban Bakery that’s been around for over 35 years. Valleyites flock to this pastry parlor par excellence, and a source told that one major studio department gets all of its birthday cakes at Porto’s. This place is packed. Always. Expect to wait - you can stare and salivate at the glass cases housing all the tasty treats while you wait in line. My only disappointment was that I was expecting Porto’s to be this cute little mom-and-pop place - old and kinda dingy but charming (think Follow Your Heart Restaurant), but it is actually very shiny and modern looking (think Coffee Bean but brighter, bigger and vaulted ceilings). Noisy too - like I said, this place is packed. With a large amount of Pinoy (I was told that it’s because Cuban food is like Filipino food . . . )
On this particular trip, we ordered the Guava & Cheese Strudel (a.k.a.
“Refugiado” and one of the top sellers). Delicious and only 60¢! We also indulged in the apple and
coconut strudels. Who has ever heard of a coconut strudel before!?! Mmmm. But my favorite - of course - was the “real” dessert (the pastries were just warm-ups) . . . another bestseller . . the
Tres Leches, a yellow sponge cake soaked with three-milk sauce - condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whipping cream and finished with meringue icing.
Porto’s also serves lunch, and my companion had the
Feta Sandwich (Greek Feta cheese, served with sliced tomatoes, onions, fresh basil, and olive oil on a French baguette). He has ordered the
Glendale Veggie Sandwich (roasted egg plant, peppers, and zucchini, with havarti cheese, hummus spread, lettuce, tomatoes, on wheat) on a prior occasion, but found that the Feta Sandwich at $3 is just as good as the Glendale Veggie at $5. Other House Specialities include fresh meat pies, potato balls, croquettes, chorizo pie, tamales, and more. I was encouraged to order the Roasted Pork Sandwich (
Pan con Lechon), which is oven roasted pork served with special Spanish garlic dressing (Mojo) on Cuban bread, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Pissarro-Cézanne exhibit at LACMA
January 8 2006.
LACMA: Pisarro-Cezanne and Other Exhibits. We viewed the Pissarro-Cézanne exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). These 2 artists worked together and painted almost the exact same subjects and in very similar impressionistic styles. The exhibit displayed similar paintings by each artist side-by-side, and at first I had a difficult time guessing which was done by whom, but my DH cracked the code and by the end it was much easier to discern a Pissarro from a Cézanne (Pissarro employed more realism than Cézanne). The exhibit is very crowded right now so I suggest waiting until it dies down or going on a weekday.
We took a quick stroll through the modern art, and I discovered a new artist:
Gajin Fujita, a youngster from Los Angeles, who has a small exhibit at the museum right now. Fujita was a tagger and mixes traditional Japanese forms/subjects (geisha, samurai) with modern techniques (graffiti and anime). His work is fun, bright and colorful. We ended the day by visiting two of my favorite landscapes, which are by a California artist named
William Wendt.
Is the photo on the left a Cézanne or Pissarro? What about the right? Answer after the link.
http://www.lacma.org(L-Pissarro; R-Cézanne)
4 Hour Hike - Santa Monica Mountains
January 21, 2006. Went on a hiking adventure Saturday with hubby and friend. It really was an adventure as we had never hiked this trail, didn't have a map and didn't know where it would end up. When DH and I did the shorter hike (1 hour loop) from the top of Hayvenhurst in Encino, we were told by someone that if we took the other path it would end up on Sunset Boulevard. DH looked on the internet and got a general overview of the area and off we went. I made sure to let many people know what I was up to in case I didn’t show up for work. We were also well supplied - our friend brought nuts and power bars, and DH brought cookies. We began the trail on top of the mountain range - the fire road - but we decided to take the trail down into Sullivan Canyon. It was beautiful down there - lots of trees with yellow leaves. Intermittently we’d ask people where the trail would end up . . . and we got about 3 different answers. We kinda just kept heading south/southwest. So we started from the top of Hayvenhurst in Encino and 4 hours later we ended up at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades! Our friend’s hubby picked us up and we headed for a late lunch at Gladstones (overrated if you ask me, but BIG portions and we were REALLY hungry). We’d definitely do it again. Turns out there’s many different ways to get over the hill and in particular, we want to end up at Will Rogers park.
