broadcasting from the san gabriel valley

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Star Sightings of a Different Kind


Since moving to Los Angeles just over a year ago, I can count on my hand the stars that I have seen thus far. Jemaine of Flight of the Conchords fame. Kiefer Sutherland. Dustin Hoffman. Oh. And the girl from the Office. However, last night put a whole new meaning to the term star sightings.

After a satisfying dinner of sushi and Yogurtland, Kathy, David and I headed up to the Griffith Park Observatory to their monthly 'Star Party.' At the Star Party, amateur astronomers bring and set up their telescopes for public use. Free. Out of their love for all things planets and stars. Knowing that the line for the Observatory's telescope is pretty long, I have never been up to the park at night. Waiting in line to maybe, possibly get a gander at the stars has not been high on my list. So this Star Party, with plenty of available scopes, was something that I have been wanting to check out since hearing about it.

There were a variety of scopes set up for use. Which kinds they were, I couldn't exactly tell you. But if questions arose, the owners of the telescopes, standing proudly next to their babies, would answer them for you. Through chatting with the owners, I learned that I was looking at the Moon, Jupiter and a cluster of 25,000 stars about a bazillion light years away....respectively. We even got a close up glimpse at one of the raging wildfires nearing the city lines of Los Angeles. In addition to the scopes that were set up was a man who was playing a theremin. He provided a perfect score to the ending of the evening with a montage of Star Trek melodies. Then we boldly went where no one went before........drumroll..........and drove home.

http://www.griffithobservatory.org/pstarparties.html

Friday, August 28, 2009

Poodlecamel


A new breed of dog has been unearthed.....the Poodlecamel. A bit of google searching and you also may come across such strange crossbreeds such as the Bisonoodle, Cock-a-Poodle-doo and even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Poodle. I dare you....take a gander.....

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ra-Ra-Ramen

Ramen! I belong to the percentage of folks who are all too familiar with the infamous 'cup o' noodles.' Many cups in my day were eaten. For the cups were a luxury dinner in comparison to the ramen in the shrink wrap sans cup. I decided to step it up in the world of ramen...which may I add, have not eaten since my 'cup o' noodles' days. I took a trip to Little Tokyo's famous DAIKOKUYA ramen, a ramen shop known for big lines and even bigger flavor. Kathy and I headed out last night for an early dinner at 6:30. Luck was on our side as we rolled into a metered space (free after 6PM) not too far from the soupy haven. As we walked up, we caught sight of a small crowd. Destination found. After a wait of about 20 minutes, we were seated at the bar with a full view of the soup kitchen.

To give you an idea of the amount of soup served, behind the counter were two giant cauldrons that were being supplied with a constant flow of water from the tap. Steam. Spice. Heat. Flames. I was captivated. I asked the server if the soup was spicy...because I am a heat fiend...and he brought a variety of oil, flakes and sauce for when the ramen arrived. We didn't have to wait but 7 minutes and two steamy hot bowls of ramen were brought to the two of us. The ramen was awesome! Pork. Noodles. Hot sauce. Bamboo shoots. More hot sauce. A hard boiled egg and to top it off, the rest of the hot sauce. It was amazing. The ramen gave my favorite Pho at Pho Cafe a run for its money............

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Dog Days of Summer (and Summers Past)

There is something magical in the world of dogs. Something that I, a certified dog person, can not find in the world of cats.....no matter how hard I try. In my current apartment, much to my dismay, dogs are forbidden. Forbidden due to their alleged noise....yes...which I'll admit, does happen. However, the argument loses merit when noisy neighbors play loud music and chat loudly in an all too echo-y courtyard during hours when people should be sleeping. When I asked the landlord about dogs, it was mentioned that "well no, BUT you can have cats!" Cats. A consolation cat. No thanks. Instead I have pre-awarded myself with a trip to the animal shelter as my graduate school graduation gift in May. Until then I suppose I can spend some quality time with some canine friends...........

Little Sadie. We both look a bit chubby in this photograph!

Chi Chi!!!!! A trip to SkinnyGlassesGirl's home is always a treat with this little one to hang out with!

Ahh, Vinny. a dog that needed to move to a family with multiple dogs. i am glad i could have given him a home for awhile and helped to move him forward to his forever home!

rip little Giggles. 10 years of amazing.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The intamacy of handwriting....


The other day I was chatting about how rare it is to see a persons handwriting these days....and when we finally do, how shocking it can be. I think that shock stems from the fact that we are now conditioned to see typed perfection avec or sans serif. We receive notes, emails, texts and tweets from our friends and lovers in typed form. On average, when out at a bar you have a better chance of borrowing a 300 dollar iPhone from a friend rather than a 50 cent pen. With all of that, handwriting has gained a sort of 'intimate status" in my mind. Thinking back to some guys I have dated, I can describe in detail their underwear but when it comes to their handwriting, it was never seen. I may be able to recall a hastily scrawled credit card receipt or two, but that does not count as handwriting in my book. When I received a mix cd a couple of months ago, I remember being captivated by seeing my name, handwritten in Sharpie, on the silver disc. I also remember really wanting to see more.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

My life through meals and various beverages.....

A: Over the past couple days, I feel as if I have been on a culinary voyage that consists mostly of coffee. Since the opening of the Intelligentsia in Venice, my visits went from occasional to habitual pretty quickly. So much so in fact that when I was on the Eastside today, I went out of my way, bypassing both Chango AND Starbucks to my beloved Intelligentsia on Sunset. In all honesty, I have to say though that I prefer the Venice location. At first the personal barista concept was a bit much for me to handle. However, after the 3rd visit or so, I was sold. And the design and layout? Stellar. Take a peek:

B: Over the weekend, Kogi was visited. I decided that a Korean/Mexican Fusion would be the best thing to ease me back into eating Mexican food. After the month spent in Mexico, tacos, tortas and chilaquilles have been banished from my diet....by choice mind you. Because yes...you can really have TOO MUCH of a good thing. So 2 weeks home and I decided I was ready. I broke my vow with 2 spicy chicken tacos:

C: On the same day of the Kogi visit...and the morning walk to Intelligentsia, Nathaniel and I went on a visit to Mozza. Prior to taking off from Phoenix, Nathaniel was presented with a 150 dollar gift card for the LA hot spot. I happened to be the lucky co pilot for this journey. We sat down for an early dinner with our good friend gluttony and drank a bottle of wine, ate mussles, salads, breadsticks, pizzas and desserts. Oh. And lets not forget the coffee. I was the recipient of a spicy salami and red pepper pie which was more than delightful:

D: So after not eating for 24 hours post Mozza, I started to get hungry. Finally. Nothing notable was had until this morning. After watching episode after episode of MAN V. FOOD, I had a real hankering to go to Phillipe's: Home of the Original French Dip in downtown L.A. (or for you Twitter users, dtla) Today,after skipping breakfast, David and I went to try the place out. I ordered a single dip beef with a side of slaw. After taking our trays to a nearby table, I decided to put the slaw on the sandwich wih a tiny bit of their special HOT mustard. Delicious. I am already thinking about when I can go back......


Figure A: http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/

Figure B: http://www.kogibbq.com/

Figure C: http://www.mozza-la.com/

Figure D: http://www.philippes.com/

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Free Entertainment

So in the midst of having close to zero money and one month before the paychecks start coming in again, I have been hunting high and low for things to do that are free or require very little money. Living in LA makes this a challenging task. Add in the fact that I do not cook and there is now an equation that even John Nash would struggle to solve. Eating aside, I have found a few free things to do here that include routine visits to the library to get dvds and books, walking to the beach and most notably, spending hours a day on the internet playing scrabble and.......drumroll.........

.......perusing Craigslist. The rants and raves? Man. The missed connections? Good stuff. But the highlight thus far has been the 'Best of' in which readers can vote for their favorite posts from any of the aforementioned categories. This one particularly struck my fancy. Perhaps it was just the hunger or maybe the bold use of CAPITAL LETTERS. Either way, this little gem put a smile on my face:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/bos/1096925002.html

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Aloha?

If you find the aloha, send some my way.......

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/hnl/1219109287.html