This made me chuckle.

Seems Whole Foods Venice has a secret copyeditor. Or could use a real one.

P.S. Avocado, milk, ice, and a pinch of sugar are all the ingredients you need for an avocado smoothie. No need for "Coconut water, Coconut nectar, Agave" if you ask me.

Staple Foods

Today, nearly 80 degrees and sunny, seemed like a good day to be outside (especially after reading about the hazards of the couch). So I finally went back to the Sunday Santa Monica Farmers' Market. I had been once before with my parents who were visiting for the first time since my move. The first time was of course novel and somewhat overwhelming. Surrounded by piles of watermelon radishes, fluffy omelets in the making and organic cotton onesies, I felt not unlike a tourist at a gift shop with an inexplicable need for a lighthouse or lobster magnet. This time, however, I had shed my tourist goggles and was able to amble more or less unaffected under the winter sun and leave with some staple foods, like fresh bread (a classic sourdough boule and French baguette from Ca’d’Oro Bakery) and chicken (two legs, two thighs). Which means one less trip to Whole Foods, which is always a good thing.

Some days...

eating a microwaved Filet-O-Fish is okay.
you just want to untag yourself from Facebook photos.
Morning Becomes Eclectic is too eclectic.
you forget to mail your Netflix disc.
you remember to mail your Netflix but haven't updated your queue.
the computer screen is too bright.
time zones are hard.
all lowercase seems more appropriate.
you want to clean your Gmail inbox, which is impossible.
you just don't know.

Bacon can be very distracting

For an easy and delicious breakfast try making this sandwich, inspired by one of my old Houston haunts, Brasil. Fry some bacon, fry an egg—in the bacon grease, naturally—and set aside. Cut a couple slices of sourdough bread; in this case I used a sourdough bâtard—a thicker, wider baguette—from Whole Foods. On the sourdough, slather as little or as much mayonnaise as you'd like. Top with a bed of arugula, the fried egg, the strips of bacon, and thinly sliced red onion. You're done. This sandwich goes well with black coffee (in this case, a cup of some kind of Venice blend from Groundwork Coffee Company) but then again I can't think of any Western breakfast foods off the top of my head that don't go well with coffee.

I'm already thinking about different takes on this sandwich. Instead of mayonnaise, aioli (mayonnaise seasoned with garlic)…instead of bacon, swordfish…

Phoenix

Hollywood Bowl, September 18, 2o10

A flask for fall

Not only does my go-to liquor store have a great wine selection, it carries Recycle-A-Flask. It comes with a funnel. Here is the press release from the company's website, www.recycle-a-flask.com:

RECYCLE-A-FLASK IS MORE THAN JUST A FLASK WITH A TASK

Los Angeles, California – February 11, 2010 – Recycle-A-Flask takes the nation by storm and launches its recyclable flasks in stores across the country. The reaction so far – people love it!

Two things the consumer has been leaning towards over the last year – going green and saving money. Recycle-A-Flask achieves both goals. With its FDA-approved plastic, these flasks are safe to drink out of and are safe for the environment because it is recyclable.

With such a low price point, Recycle-A-Flask is very affordable for all types of consumers, whether a user is looking to fill it with alcohol, or even the hiker that needs a light, compact unit to tote juice or water.

Sure, it holds the same amount of liquid as does a metal flask and weighs slightly lighter, but if you lose this flask, it’s not such a big deal because it was so cheap and likely had no sentimental value attached to it. This is not a replacement for that metal flask with your initials engraved on it – well, it just may be if you got your metal flask confiscated – rather, Recycle-A-Flask is an affordable, usable, green-happy alternative.

Jarred Shiffman, President of Recycle-A-Flask and quickly becoming known in California blog communities as The Flask Man, says, “It’s just amazing – the feedback we’re getting from readers of blogs and magazines, store owners, even people I walk by on the street. People love to tell me their stories of how they use our flasks. It’s pretty exciting. Everyone from the college student going to a football game to a skier going up to Mammoth for the weekend – people are definitely imaginative and come up with an endless number of uses for their flasks.”

Recycle-A-Flask can be found at your local liquor store (and if not, it will be soon!) For a list of retailers who currently carry Recycle-A-Flask, check the company’s website at www.recycle-a-flask.com. Recycle-A-Flask, a division of 1966 Productions, LLC, is a California-based company.

I hope for your sake that your local liquor store starts carrying these soon.

Summer Show Wrap-up

Since Thursday is the first day of fall, I call this post the Summer Show Wrap-up. It is composed of poor quality concert footage taken with my not-so-smartphone for your viewing and/or listening pleasure. The first show I saw after moving to Los Angeles was Caribou, in May, at the El Rey Theatre, but I was too busy dancing to film it. So we begin with Night Gallery.

Night Gallery are my friend from high school, Adam Griffin, and his musical partner "Aaron-David." They were originally based in Chicago but Aaron-David has since moved to New York. While I don't write about music (I listen to it and recommend it and make the occasional mix CD) I will say that it has a heavy '80s feel and makes you want to wear thin, patterned shirts with shoulder pads and dance on your toes. Think The Knife, but released from the dungeon.

Dead Man's Bones is heartthrob (well that's what he is!) Ryan Gosling's band with Zach Shields. This show, officially called "A Special Evening with Ryan, Zach and the Kids" was one of the best shows I have ever seen. "The Kids," who, on this particular night, named themselves something like "A Warm Glass of Milk" are the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir. The venue, the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, was decorated like a high school dance, complete with streamers, balloons, and folding tables around the perimeter covered in baked goods, and popcorn and cotton candy machines. The audience was asked to be seated for the duration of the show, which included magicians and puppeteers and of course, Dead Man's Bones' spooky yet exhilarating tunes.

Then there was Leslie Feist on Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl, floating around on stage with her hands in her skirt pockets, singing "Two Weeks" with Grizzly Bear. This was followed by Phoenix, but like with Caribou, I was too busy dancing—on the bench—to film anything.


Night Gallery, Show Cave, June 20, 2010


"My Body's a Zombie for You," Dead Man's Bones, Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, June 27, 2010


"Two Weeks," Grizzly Bear with a special appearance by Leslie Feist, Hollywood Bowl, September 18, 2010