Jalepeno Martini in a mason jar from Palace Grill, Santa Barbara
A and I went to Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley for a weekend.
Some favorite photos:
Archive for April, 2008
Jonathan Gold’s 99 Essential Restaurants
April 19, 2008Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer of the LA Weekly food section, does an annual list of 99 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles. #81 of my 101 in 1001 list is to eat all all of them. I have a long way to go…
Abode
Alcazar
Angeli Caffe
Angelini Osteria
A.O.C.
Apple Pan
Attari (updated June 7, 2008)
A-Won
Babita
Bar Marmont
Beacon: An Asian Cafe
Bin 8945
Blue Velvet
Border Grill
Bulgarini Gelato
Caioti Pizza Café
Campanile
Canele
Casa Bianca
Chamea
Chichén Itzá
Chung King
Ciudad
Cora’s Coffee Shoppe
Cut
Daikokuya
Dino’s Burgers
Drago
El Huarache Azteca
El Parian
Elite
Euro Pane Bakery
Father’s Office (updated June 6, 2008)
Fogo de Chao
Foundry
Fraîche
Golden Deli
Golden Triangle
Grace
Green Village
The Grill on the Alley
Guelaguetza
Hatfield’s
The Hungry Cat
Il Moro
Jar
JiRaffe
Kagaya
Kiriko
Koi
Krua Thai
Langer’s
La Casita Mexicana
La Terza
Literati II
The Lodge
Los Balcones del Peru
Lou
Lucques
M Café de Chaya
Macau Street
Marouch
Max
Meals by Genet
Mélisse
Metro Café (updated May 2008)
Michael’s
Mimosa
Musso & Frank Grill
Noodle House
Nook
101 Noodle Express
Oinkster
Opus
Orris
Ortolan
Patina
Philippe the Original
Phillips’ Barbecue
Pizzeria Mozza
Pollo a la Brasa
Providence
Rajdhani
Royale
Sapp Coffee Shop (updated May 2008)
750ml
Simon L.A.
Sona
Spago
Square One
Tacos Baja Ensenada
Tama
Urasawa
Uzbekistan
Valentino
Village Idiot
Vincenti
Water Grill
Woodlands
22 of 99. Looks like I am flunking this one so far.
Silver Lake
April 17, 2008I don’t live in Silver Lake but here’s a pretty good rundown on the area from laist.com.
Poppies
April 15, 2008A and I went to see the poppies at the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve this past weekend. It. Was. Amazing. If you are in Southern California, try to make time to see them this weekend! They are at their peak right now and it’s supposed to decline pretty quickly. A few years ago and they were okay but were told if we had come 2 weeks prior, we would have seen them at their peak.
Here are some of my photos:
If you are looking for a place to eat around Lancaster, I highly recommend Tacos Si Senor! We come here every couple years when we go to see the poppies at the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve. We ate here twice in the same day 2 years ago. It’s off the same exit from the 5 if you are coming from Los Angeles, but on the east side of the freeway (you turn west for the Poppy Preserve) about 1-2 miles down the road. It’s on your left hand side.
It’s a colorful Mexican restaurant in a strip-mall (the grocery store that was there a couple years ago is now gone), serving tacos and more. The menu is overwhelming. There are photos of about 58 items and there are plenty more items that aren’t photographed. Everything we have tried there is great as as we remembered! They are known for their seafood (they even have fresh oysters). This weekend we had the fried tilapia, shrimp ceviche, and the 3 taco plate (we had chicken, carnitas, and carne asada). All were basically perfectly prepared comfort food (the tilapia was a tiny bit salty but I like salty). Nothing fancy just really good. Portions are generous. We were stuffed and had to take a full box home. There is a salsa bar and some marinated vegetables that we could eat all day. No free refills on drinks so I was limited to one Mr. Pibb but that was okay. They kept the water coming. It’s a local place, the service is friendly and fast. They have futbol games on. Some of the drinks come in traditional bottles. We came on a whim, looking for some unpretentious Mexican food, and Tacos Si Senor delivers. Plus, I love the name.
Based on memory, I think the prices were around: Fried Tilapia $7, Shrimp Ceviche $3.50, and the 3 Taco plate $5.50. They serve alcohol and take credit cards.
Tacos Si Senor, 1137 W Avenue I, Lancaster, CA 93534
Zimbabwe
April 14, 2008In a while, I plan to start writing about my travels, past, present, and future.
In the meantime, I have been thinking about it quite a bit recently and I really feel the need to make sure as many people as possible know what is happening in Zimbabwe. A and I spent a few days in Zimbabwe in September 2007 and for a brief time witnessed what Zimbabweans deal with every day. Zimbabwe is unlike any other place I have been to so far in my travels. Food shortages, 80% unemployment, crazy, crazy inflation (I’m talking 4 zeros every year and it changes literally every day), people leaving in thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, really low life expectancy in the 30s, Mugabe in general.
The money exchange people actually told us not to exchange our money…and their business is to make money off your money. People are desperate for dollars. It’s one of those kind of situations where if you go, you have to deal with giving the government money but at the same time you can kind of help out individuals. We paid $20 for a taxi once and knew we probably over paid. However, realized that that $20 could last our driver and his young son (who he brought with him in the taxi/borrowed-car-missing-the-inside-lining-headlights-etc.) probably a month. I often wonder what will happen to that boy. Will he be able to go to school? How long will he have to live in that kind of environment? How old will he grow to be? Will he make it past 35? Will he make it to the age I am now?
People sell things on the side of the road because there are few jobs. Although some of the sellers can be intense (they will follow you for a while, which at times made me uncomfortable), this is something they have to deal with daily for survival. If you don’t want to buy what they are offering, sellers may even offer trades for your clothing and or shoes. They want goods. I would have given them my shoes but unfortunately, I had more places to go and I still needed them. Next time, I will bring extras.
Like so many people around the world, Zimbabweans want to live, love, and raise their families. The people are wonderful and the country has many parts that are or once were beautiful. They really can’t speak out much about their government and it seems that this current election process is a prime example. It’s a sad state of affairs.
- Latest news on the recent Zimbabwe elections.
- Frequently updated website with articles on the Zimbabwe situation.
- Zimbabwe facts and figures.
Zimbabwe needs to have fair elections. I’m not saying I know which way the elections will go but so many people are suffering and they want change. They deserve to have their votes counted fairly. I strongly urge each of you to contact your President, Senator, Congressmember, and the UN to help ensure fair and democratic elections.
Contact:
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President: comments@whitehouse.gov, (202) 456-1111
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U.S. Representative to the United Nations: Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad, usa@un.int, (212) 415-4000
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Representative: http://www.house.gov/
5:30 am
April 10, 2008I woke up incredibly early today. I had some wine with friends for Wino Wednesday last night so I’m not sure why the early wake up but here are some things I did in my 3 hours:
- Read some articles in Nylon
- Listened to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
- Saved March and April photos to my laptop and burned them onto dvd
- Rifled through my statements and receipts for tax season
- Thought about going for a jog/walk but since A was not awake, there was no real motivation for that
I wanted to go through more clothes for the clothing swap but I already have a ton ready and taxes are urgent. I really need to purge my stuff but it is very hard for me. I’ve been reading some good articles on uncluttering and it is motiviating me little by little.
I am so excited about this weekend. The poppies and wildflowers at the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve are at their peak!
South side of Kitanemuk Point, Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve, Lancaster, CA
I’ve been painting…
April 9, 2008Meet Silvia and Audrey…
Sylvia
Audrey
Websites I like…
April 8, 2008I’m posting up some of my favorite websites and blogs right now, for anyone who might be curious:
creative inspiration
www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com
funny
www.stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com
Aghhh!!!!!!! I was just checking the postcardsfromyomomma site and can’t stop laughing at this one!!!!
HELP!
The news is out! Dad bought me a Webkinz. It is reallly well designed and is the biggest craze I’ve seen in a long time.. It is comparable to the tamgachi and beani babies of your early youth. Every first grade through 5th grade student has one. They are awesome, yet a bit addicting.
I need your help. I can’t make enough money to feed my Webkinz. I have failed at three jobs so far. Please do not check my resume. My Webkinz has survived on pudding which is the sale item.
Please tap into my account and do something about it. Remember, I can get kicked off the site if not used appropriately. No mating of Webkinz. Any ways here is the information you will need.
www.webkinz.com
username #######
password #######
Thanks, Gotta go and make some real money.
Love,
Mom
P.S. Don”t give my password away………seriously
travel
#3 Go buy nothing tangible/permanent for a month
April 8, 2008(accomplished Apr. 3, 2008)
I buy way too much stuff. I know this. Everyone knows this. I wanted to freecycle for a year (or at least a long time) but I started off with a smaller goal…one month. I did it the entire month of March 2008. I could by food and eat out but anything that was an actual thing was off limits. I allowed myself to go to shows and I did get some iTunes but these are things that don’t take up physical space. I’m trying to be better to the environment and producing waste is one of the problems I hoped to limit by doing this. It worked for a month but it was hard going. I’d like to try this again for a longer term, after I get my digital SLR. If I want cds or dvds, I can check out them out from the amazing Central Library. Thanks to A for reminding me that they have an outstanding collection of music, dvds, and of course books! I think I will continue with Netflix until I get tired of it, which should be pretty soon. Since it’s a shared system, I’m not owning anything. As for my clothes, they are out of hand. I will get no more new clothes, I simply have way, way, way too many. I’m planning to just wear out all the ones that I have. I have enough to clothe a small city. I will be having a clothing swap with R soon and hopefully will get rid of more than I bring in!
#68 Go paint my dog
April 8, 2008
Minky
(accomplished Mar. 29, 2008)
For the past several months I’ve had a yearning to paint. I’ve never ever painted before except for paint-by-numbers ones when I was in third grade (and which I actually really want to do again). I think the desire started because I was seeing my mom take art classes and because I check Elsie Flannigan’s blog and her work has been inspiring me. So I just did it. Went out and bought supplies (I probably should have borrowed, plenty of people have some that they were willing to let me use theirs, but it was a spur of the moment, “I just can’t take one more second nto doing it” kind of situation). I really wanted to paint Mink as she is getting quite a bit older and thought it would be special to have an homage to her. It took a couple of hours and it’s my first one ever but I’m really happy with it. I actually didn’t think I was done when I took a break from it but after seeing the dried product, I think I’m going to leave it the way it is except to touch up some places where the paint was sparse. I’m already dreaming up other ideas!
