justJENN rants & raves

May the force be with you

2012-01-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

When the Discovery Science Center first announced its Star Wars exhibit I was skeptical. After all it's a loooong haul to Santa Ana from L.A. But the more I heard about it, the more I was interested.

Finally a friend of mine convinced me to get buy a 'family pass' to the museum. After all the Discovery Science Center does have an amazing annual Bubblefest that we like to attend - but what sold me was that family pass members could buy tickets to attend special "Jedi Nights."

During Jedi Nights museum members get the run of the place. Even though I go to a lot of amusement parks, I loathe crowds, and the pass allows you to not only see all the exhibits privately but they offer up some pretty cool special events.

On this particular night the kids got to make their own lightsaber holsters. Never one to pass up crafts, this was a big hit.

They also got to do Jedi Training. THIS was the winner. Seeing as how the Baby has been overlooked every.single. time. we went to Jedi Training at Disneyland (grr) this was a no brainer. And finally he got to swing lightsabers with the best of them!

The Star Wars room was fantastic. Not only there were scale models and costumes on loan from Lucasfilm but they incorporated science and learning into the exhibits.

There was a make your own Lego station where you could build your own lego ship and push it along a magnetic track - essentially teaching kids about maglev trains.

Along the same idea of 'floating' aircrafts - they even had a hovercraft you could drive yourself! Seeing as how we had the exhibits to ourselves, the Baby got to 'drive' this thing about four times without waiting. Hurray for the Jedi Pass!

There was an exhibit about prosthetics in our everyday lives with both Luke and Anakin's robotic hands on display.

There were also games and many more 'build it' stations. Outside they touted a 'Ride on the Millenium Falcon.' We couldn't pass that up, but at $5 a person, I'm not sure it was really worth it. Though I did get this picture:

There were plenty of droids and costumed characters on hand who all lined up for an indoor parade, where the Baby led the way of course. And when Leia asked if there were 'any Sith Lords in the house' the Baby jumped up and down and screamed, 'Me! Me!' Should I be proud or frightened? Hm.

A lot of kids who attended came in costume and it was awesome to see a lot of little girls too. Many of them dressed in white Padme outfits carrying blasters. Kids were also allowed to bring their own lightsabers and we took full advantage of the opportunity.

My one beef is that the only food for sale at the museum is Taco Bell and seeing how I am anti-fast food this does not fly with me. Since that's the only option available, I brought food with us.

All in all the museum was beyond what I could have hoped for. The kids had plenty to do were never bored. And of course the best part was being able to do it all uninterrupted. That's my kind of museum visit.

We will definitely be back and even after the Star Wars exhibit is gone, the kids will be happy to visit the Discovery Center for many more events.

The Star Wars exhibit runs from now until April 15th at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana.

The Breakfast Club

2012-01-21T08:17:00.000-08:00

Today is my SiL's last day with us. While we're sad, we're more sad that it's raining! *shakes fist*

Rain in L.A. is the equivalent of a nuclear meltdown. There's no point in leaving the house, the streets are flooded and the driving conditions are horrible. And that's just when it's about an inch of rain - this morning was a full storm.

So instead we sit. I decided to make her an early morning 'goodbye breakfast.' Breakfasts are big in our house, I usually do big ones on the weekend and sometimes we do breakfast for dinner.

There were brown sugar bacon twists...

...eggs (with the help of Darth Vader)....

...smoothies, of course....

...and pancakes.

It was a hearty meal and nice send off to the very helpful Auntie.

Ferris: The place is like a museum. It's very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything.

2012-01-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

I love collecting colorful, quirky art that has a great sense of whimsy. I have a lot of talented friends and artists that I love and I always like to support them by buying their prints.

But where to hang them all? In my bathroom art gallery of course!

A lot of artists have online stores and Comic cons and indie galleries are also great places to find amazing art.

Steamcrow has adorable monster/steampunk themed pieces, Cakespy has cupcake art (!), Ben Walker draws bears with guns (what more could you want), Serpethes little girl walking a giant octopus is one of my faves.

Mike Maihack draws a comic called Cleopatra in Space and you won't find a more gorgeous view of outer space. His art prints are beautiful and affordable. They run the nerd gamut from comics to faeries!

He also drew my favorite piece - Wolverine at a Tea Party! Speaking of - I have a whole wall just dedicated to Wolverine art. Yes, I love Wolverine that much.

So far my Wolverine fan wall features Mike Maihack as well as the talented Jason Ho who took on an amazing task of drawing commissioned art to support Help the Cheerleader. I've also recently fallen in love with JSalvador's Super Emo Friends. Superheroes and Star Wars all inexplicably sad. So sad and so adorable.

I love my mini art gallery and I'm always on the lookout for more great pieces!

Follow the leader

2012-01-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

My SiL (aka temp-personal Nanny) is in full effect, learning to cook and helping the kids with their schoolwork.

The Kid had an extra credit assignment and one of the options was to make a favorite recipe. The choice was easy: Neapolitan Mochi Bundt Cake. He's made dinner for me before, so the Kid is pretty comfortable in the kitchen. My SiL helped with holding up the bowl and little things here and there, while I took pictures.

The Kid followed directions step by step, cracking eggs, mixing the ingredients. The hard part was changing the batter into three different colors but he handled it like a pro.

...and tadah! A beautiful mochi bundt!

This is one of the Kid's fave cakes and I'm glad that he was able to follow my recipe and pretty much do all of the work himself. A tri-color mochiko bundt cake sounds (and looks) daunting but if a 7 year old can do it, come on!

Neapolitan Mochi Bundt Cake recipe here.

Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.

2012-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

My SiL is here from Hawaii and while she's 'vacationing' she is actually acting more like my personal nanny, which is much appreciated. She doesn't normally cook and so I'm showing her how easy it can be to make delicious dishes that don't take long to make.

We started off the week by couponing. I bought a 'picnic pack' of chicken: 3.5 lbs of drumsticks and thighs. The market had this on sale for 50% off - just $3, a bargain anyway but with my $1 off coupon the whole thing came to $2! And since we were going to use it for 2 dinners and the kid's lunches - it came to about 65 cents a meal! Quite deal.

First I had her use all of the chicken to make a simple dish in the crock pot (recipe here). A quick recipe with just a little prep and dinner is ready in 6-8 hours without even lifting a finger.

The next day the leftover chicken was used in Shoyu Gohan (recipe here). Again, a little prep and the whole thing is made in the rice cooker simple as that.

Two great meals, quick, easy and more importantly - affordable. Now that my SiL's got the cooking basics down, I'm going to take a long deserved nap...zzz....

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it

2012-01-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you thought I was joking when I said O.G. loves chocolate. For her birthday everyone bought her chocolate. I mean...everyone.

Six pounds of Sees candy.

I think that's what has kept her alive for 91 years.

Bug and Wish

2012-01-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

Back in the old days - um, last year when my kids were in Kinder - they taught the kids a tool for communicating, for solving problems, for direct resolutions. It was called..."Bug and Wish."

Basically it was two sticks, one with a 'bug' and one with a star or a 'wish' and here's how you use it: Say your brother takes your favorite Beyblade without asking (note: this is a purely made up scenario. Yeah, right) you can either resolve it by screaming, punching him or...

"It bugs me when you take my toys. I wish you would ask me first."

Huh. Interesting. At first I didn't think it would work but they kids really started using it to resolve their conflicts. My Aunt was over one day, saw the sticks and asked me about them. She thought they were genius communication tools.

Seeing as how my Aunt was my Secret Santa person, I made up some little bug and wish sticks for her. I simply printed out images from the internet, a yellow star and a bug (I happen to like Disney's Bug Life movie) and glued them to popsicle sticks. I even made a free pdf for you to download and try out for yourself, HERE.

I like to imagine my Aunt used her sticks to resolve possible holiday conflict with my Uncle:

"It bugs me when you won't help me put up the Christmas lights..."

Um. I'm not making any guarantees on these things.

Happy birthday to you...

2012-01-03T19:21:00.000-08:00

It's O.G.'s birthday week! Last year we did a HUGE blowout for her 90th, this year is a bit more low key. Chinese food and cake - those were her birthday wishes and I'm pretty sure they'll come true. As far as the Clippers winning a championship, that remains to be seen...

Because it's her birthday - if you order the O.G. Favorite Recipes comic-cookbook you will get an O.G. shopping notepad for free!

Happy birthday O.G.!

Turkey for me, turkey for you, let's eat the turkey, in my big brown shoe

2011-12-30T13:46:00.000-08:00

Oh, the power of social media. When I posted about the Baby's turkey birthday cake, I thought it was hilariously hideous but I didn't expect it to go viral!

Baskin Robbins picked up on it via twitter and contacted me. I told them it was fine - ugly, but fine. While my family was horrified they sure weren't horrified enough to stop eating it. In any case Baskin Robbins were very apologetic and sent me a refund for the cake!

Our family eats a TON of ice cream on the regular as well as getting an ice cream cake for every occasion so yes, we will definitely be going for it again - just...maybe not the turkey this time.

Big thanks to Baskin Robbins!

Man vs. Food

2011-12-26T23:16:00.000-08:00

Here's what the past two days has looked like:

Six different main dishes for Christmas: beef roast, pork roast, tri tip, two types of salmon and a ham. (Again - Ham courtesy of O.G.)

I provided a tree of cupcakes for our Christmas dessert buffet table. Red velvet, lemon and vegan gingerbread.

And finally, 190 pounds of mochi and four (yes, four) buffet tables. Mochi making 2011 recap, here.

Food heaven or food hell? Depends on how you look at it...

Have a holly jolly Christmas

2011-12-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last night we prepped for Santa.

A tray was thoroughly wiped down.

Chocolate chip cookies were made because Siri told us that's Santa's fave.

We plated everything and then went to sleep.

Santa is lactose intolerant, apparently.

Eight crazy nights

2011-12-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Hilary jokes that I'm part Jewish.

I had a lot of Jewish friends growing up, I've been to temple, been to seders and I especially love all the Jewish holiday baking. When I was a kid I even played Dreidel for gelt.

So it was fitting that the Kid came home from school with this:

A marshmallow menorah! I love it! Sadly those candles were gone in seconds. Marshmallows are one of his favorite things and I noticed the lights going out one by one as we walked to the car...

The Kid was trying to tell me all he learned about Hanukkah and the menorah but he couldn't remember the Hebrew word for servant which is also the name for the middle candle - "shamash." I couldn't remember either so he went with his new go-to for questions and asked...

...Siri! The kids have been asking Siri a lot of questions lately, it's pretty hilarious. Luckily she always comes up with the right answers, which is a good thing. So this week Siri's been working overtime helping the kids with their Hebrew.

Happy Hanukkah!

All is quiet on New Year's Day

2011-12-19T17:53:00.001-08:00

While most people are planning for Christmas, that's not even on my radar right now. No, I'm already moving on and looking ahead to New Year's Day.

New Year's Day in Japanese-American culture is huge. It's a giant food-fest celebration where traditional foods are eaten to ensure a good year. I've been looking through my past posts and none of those good luck foods has worked so far. What gives? But this year, this is the one - am I right? Hm.

In any case, it's always safe to hedge your bets and I'm already working on this year's menu. Each year it gets a little harder to pull off, could it be because I'm getting older...each and every...year? zzz I'm tired. I always say 'forget it' - then cut to me cooking for three days straight.

Take a look at how we celebrated in years past...

Oshogatsu 2011
Oshogatsu 2010

Do it for the children

2011-12-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a giftlist for kids - but let me tell you why it's good for adults too...everything's under $25!! Your wallet can breathe easy.

Harry Potter UNO game - $13
Man, I'm bad at UNO. Like seriously bad. The Kid beats me everytime to the point where I'd like to act like a child and throw a tantrum. UNO is a fun card game and with the added element of Harry Potter's magic, well - I'll totally win from now on, right? Hm.

A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song - $5
Starring Lucy Hale, this is a modern twist on the classic Cinderella tale - with music! What could be more fun! Great to watch over and over again and at $4.99 it's the perfect stocking stuffer!

Donkey Kong Jenga - $15
I know, is this giftlist for me or for the kids?? Donkey Kong takes me back to old skool days and well, the Kid asked for a Jenga game so this is Jenga, it's just 10 times better! Will Mario save the princess or will the blocks come tumbling down? It's all skill, baby.

Barbie: I can be an architect - $24
As a female architect myself, I think these 'career dolls' are awesome. I'll admit I never had a Barbie as a kid, I always coveted the Dream House. Hm. No wonder I chose the career path that I did...

Star Wars Heroes & Villans cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma - $20
I think you know how much I love cooking with Star Wars as my muse, and these cookie cutters are my all time fave. Very easy for kids to use and they give perfectly stamped impressions every time. Tons of fun in the kitchen! (Yoda green tea sugar cookie recipe, here.)

And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy

2011-12-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid my Uncle always bought us books for Christmas. We were typical ungrateful children and unwrapped his gifts to 'ohh....a book. sigh.' Hey, we wanted toys! Yeah well, the toys came and went but I always went back to the books, so he really did give us the best presents.

Here are some great reads for all different ages that will make fantastic gifts for the holidays! Oh, and thanks for all the books, Unc.

Yes Day - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I am a huge fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal - her "Little Pea" book is one of my all time favorites. "Yes Day" is right up there, maybe because it hits so close to home. I spend so much of my day saying "NO" to the kids, I know they would definitely appreciate a day full of YESes. This is a great book for kinder-kids learning to read or as a bedtime book. Tons of fun and totally cute!
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Star Wars Craft Book - Bonnie Burton
This book handily combines my love of crafts and Star Wars! Lots of great pictures and fun things to make from an Admiral Sackbar puppet to a large Jabba the Hutt body pillow. You don't need kids to enjoy this book but you do need to enjoy Star Wars, and who doesn't? So much fun!
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One Con Glory - Sarah Kuhn
Geek romance? Yes, it exists! One Con Glory captures all of it with great references and detail, all within the realms of comic cons and fandom. Great characters set within a story that leaves you wanting more - and hooray, it's soon to be made into a movie!
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O.G. Favorite Recipes
Ok fine, this is my book but it does make a great holiday gift. Comics+recipes+true anecdotes from a crazy 90-year-old woman, this comic is perfect if you're looking for fun recipe ideas with a sense of humor. Listed as one of Five Comics to Read by USA Today's Pop Candy!
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Legend - Marie Lu
I had the pleasure of hearing Marie Lu read from her new book Legend at a signing and was immediately taken by the storyline. I wasn't the only one - this book is already set to be made into a movie by the producers of Twilight. Legend is a young adult dystopian novel about two characters from different worlds in a futuristic civil war set in my beloved Los Angeles. How could I not be drawn to it?
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Draw Star Wars - Bonnie Burton
Another Star Wars book? Yes, yes! This one is great because my kids LOVE to draw and it's so fun and helpful to see a layout of how to draw the characters. But it's not just for kids - I've bought this book as a gift for many adults who love drawing and love Star Wars!

Teach them well and let them lead the way

2011-12-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm ready for Christmas! Bring. It. On. And while all of our family stuff is done, I'm now trying to appreciate the people who do so much for all of us.

Teachers are such an important part of kids lives - they work so hard for so little pay. My sis-in-law is a third grade teacher and it's hard work. I see her pay for things out of her own pocket, stay a little longer than she should, do a little more - and I can only hope that all those parents appreciate everything she does.

I made 24 cupcakes for the teachers and staff at the kid's school as a holiday thank you. While cupcakes aren't much, I wanted to send the teachers off on their last school week of the year with something sweet to show them that I appreciate all that they do for our kids.

Take time to appreciate your kid's teachers at the holidays - they deserve it! Also on behalf of teachers and my sis-in-law - don't buy them any more candles. Seriously.

You hear stories of old, of all princes bold with riches untold

2011-12-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

In this economic downturn it's odd that bookstores seem to be opening up everywhere. I for one, am happy. While I love buying things online I really enjoy roaming a bookstore and finding new, or in this case...old, things.

The Last Bookstore is located on Spring Street in the old Bank District of downtown L.A. The store has taken over the old Crocker Bank building, over 10,000 sq ft! Seeing as how it was once a bank, the soaring ceiling and spacious room and lends itself to feeling like a library from another era.

I love the way books are used as art for the walls and even the cashier desk. The books are truly more than just product and actually become a part of the interiors.

You can find old and hard to find copies of books but plenty of modern ones too, as well as cds, movies and magazines - all very affordable. Not only that they buy books too, which would really help me clear out my personal library.

The books are used (but in perfect condition) and therefore: cheap! We came here for one of our O.G. 'field trips' because I was looking for 1950s cookbooks and O.G. was looking for books on Japan. We both lucked out and found just what we were looking for. I can't wait to go back and see what's new....or old.

The Last Bookstore
453 S Spring St
Los Angeles, CA 90013

jive turkey

2011-12-05T00:08:00.000-08:00

The Baby's birthday was on Thanksgiving. In some ways this is worse than an Xmas bday because no matter what, you always have to eat turkey.

So why not go alllll out turkey-wise? I saw that Baskin Robbins was offering up a cake shaped like a turkey filled with ice cream. Hilarious! How can you go wrong? Uh...

Well when I got the cake it looked NOTHING like it was advertised and it was a pretty sad cake, birthday or not. Seriously. Does that look anything like >> THIS??

Luckily no one cared because hey, the thing was filled with mint-chip ice cream. I know. Kinda weird.

It was a good thing we had a kids party the week before - remind me not to get this cake again next year. (I probably will.)

LxL Craftacularstravaganza!

2011-12-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Friday night I will be at the LxL Craftacularstravaganza at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood!

Lot of geeky artists will be there to sell you those much needed nerdy holiday gifts! Stop by from 6pm - 9pm and shop indie!

Go go Power Rangers!

2011-11-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

Amid all the holiday-ing and turkey-ing last week, it was also the Baby's birthday!

We don't always do big parties, but this year the Baby wanted to invite friends from school, family it was a big deal. Then again, turning 6 is a big deal!

The party was at one of those indoor jumpy places which is fantastic because all the noise, mess, havoc is all in one place faaar away from home. Sure, jump to your heart's content!

The Baby specifically requested a Power Rangers birthday. If you remember that's pretty popular around here right now.

I am not a fan of junky party favors that you'll just end up tossing, so I try to give kids things that they can actually USE. I mean how many mini bottles of bubbles do you need? For this party I went to the Japanese 99 cent store and luckily found some Power Rangers coloring books!

I hate to say it, but yes I do buy the girl guests more GIRLY things because I know that as a mom of boys who go to girls parties - they really hate getting girl party favors. I don't blame them - so I got the girls strawberry shortcake coloring books instead of the power rangers ones. But the comics stayed the same for both and I was thrilled to hear one of the little girls LOVED that she got a comic book! Yay for baby geek girls!

I added in some scented erasers, pencils and comic books from our vast unread collection. All kids need comic books.

The kids know full well that whatever they ask for cake/cupcake-wise I will do. (This is my punishment for following though on elaborate birthdays past.) So when the Baby said Power Rangers cupcakes - I knew I had to come up with something great. Homemade Power Rangers lollipops made great cupcake toppers! (recipe here)

The Baby had a memorable 6th birthday and now I can sit back an put my feet u...what's that? The Kid's birthday is next month? sigh...

The set up

2011-11-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

When the Kid learns something he really takes it to heart. In school they taught him how to properly set a table. Awesome! I never learned that in school and I still struggle to remember which side the fork goes on.

He brought his template home and he was excited to show me how to use it on Thanksgiving. I happily ~~employed child labor~~ let him set the table for the holiday!

Napkins, plates. Spoon and knife on the right. Fork on the left. Cup on the upper right.

In the end we had a beautifully set table. The Kid even taught his brother how to eat with a knife and fork. Yay for manners!

Give thanks

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for family, food and mini gravy boats.

Pie in the sky

2011-11-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

Tis the season...for pie. Somehow my pie cravings kick into gear around the holidays - otherwise, I'm totally team Cake the rest of the year.

Luckily there's a cute little pie store in L.A. and by little pie I mean LITTLE PIES. The pies are seriously 2.5" in diameter and you know me, anything mini is my new fave.

Simple Things is a sandwich and pie store in mid-city on Third.

There are a variety of lunch items to choose from: soup, salad, sandwiches and of course, pie. Psst: if you get your pie ala mode, it's Fosselman's ice cream. THE BEST.

While the food was good it was the pies I was really after...

Every day they have different pie specials from key lime, peach, salted caramel to peanut butter pie. They tiny ones are called "Cutie Pies" of course they are! And because they are so small you can get a good variety to taste. The slightly larger pie (which is still small - approx 5") is available in most daily flavors as well. However a 'real size' pie takes 24 hours notice to order. But why buy a big one when a teeny one is so cute?

Of course packaging is everything to me and I was thrilled to see that if you buy just one cutie pie you get a teeny little pie box! Next time. This time I bought so many pies I had myself a big ol' pie bento box. The positive affirmation inside the box made me realize I had made the right pie decision.

I tried the chocolate cream pie, blueberry pie, and chocolate chip cookie pie - that one was more like just a cookie baked in a pie shell, not really for me. The key lime won me over for sure. It was the perfect tartness and sweetness - which is not always easy to accomplish with key lime pies.

I definitely satified my pie cravings but don't worry - cake is still my first lov e...

Simple Things Sandwich and Pie Shop
8310 W 3rd St, Los Angeles 90048 (At S Sweetzer Ave)

Ziggy Piggy

2011-11-21T00:12:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. O.G. hates turkey so she will be setting her sights on a Thanksgiving ham...

Let's hope it's a good one, without any fear

2011-11-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

This week has been awful and that's putting it mildly. So I'm going to get in my Delorean and go back to last week when life was simple.

This time of year O.G. loves to bring out her collection of Dickens Village houses. It's the one thing she collects and looks forward to every Christmas. They are expensive, so she only has a small set. She sets them up, lights them and stares at them for hours. It's her favorite hobby for the one month out of the year.

This was the first time the Kid helped. His Lego building experience surely came into play because this year there was much more road work, streets, activities - lots going on. I can see city planning in his future.

Now that the houses are up, we're ready for Christmas. Let's make it a good one.

Weasleys' Wild-Fire Whiz-Bangs

2011-11-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

I had a bunch of candies lying around that I was using for baking. The Kid asked if he could "use" them - as long as that didn't mean eating them, I was fine with it.

He also asked to borrow one of my cupcakes stands. He always has some crafty idea up his sleeve and I was looking forward to see where this one was going.

I wasn't allowed to look, but when I was finally called back into the room I was handed a wad of fake cash and told to make my purchases.

Turns out the Kid had made his very own "Honeydukes!" (You see, Harry Potter is still quite influential around here - Honeydukes & the Weasley brothers)

I was impressed with his display skills as well as the attention to detail on the sign. However $10 for a tiny lollipop is kinda out of my price range...

'My Favorite Book' contest!

2011-11-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've said many times how important reading is to me and to the kids. Around here, books aren't just for reading - they inspire!

Especially in the form of food:

Frobscottle from the BFG (recipe here)

Max's dinner from Where the Wild Things Are (recipe here)

Ready. Set. Grow! is First 5 LA’s family resource website for parents with young children offering fun and safe ways for children to be healthy, safe and ready to learn. This November, they’re encouraging a love of literacy with their annual Read early, Read ALOUD campaign.

This year’s slogan is “My Favorite Book” and they're having a contest all month long with book giveaways and a grand prize! You could win a library of 50 books selected by the Ready. Set. Grow! team and a reading tips bookmark!

To enter, fill out the survey on www.ReadySetGrowLA.org/contest and/or Follow Ready, Set, Grow on Twitter and post a Tweet with the contest hashtag: #myfavbook

Also, leave me a comment on this post to tell me that you've entered or tweeted and I will randomly select someone to win a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Read to Your Bunny! (you have until December 5th!)

Free books - how can you go wrong? Good luck and have fun reading!

Mochi Ice Cream

2011-11-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

In my last post I wrote about the new front house confectionery boutique at Mitsuwa Torrance. Within that space there is a tiny counter with a plain black storefront name: Mochi Ice Cream. While I would run towards those words anyway, that sign does not do this place justice.

Here what they have are more than just pieces of mochi ice cream. You can get that at any Trader Joe's nowadays. No, these are true gourmet confections.

I've never seen such a wide and strange array of flavors. Tea, apple pie, sakura - the list goes on and on. I tried to peer in and get a good look at the choices but the mass of ~~little old ladies~~ people sort of pushed me to the front of the line. Then I was stuck. I had to choose quickly since everyone was waiting behind me.

The only 'normal' flavors I found were mango, chocolate and green tea and seeing how much I love green tea, that's the one I went for. I'll have to be more adventurous with the other flavors when I have more time.

The mochi was incredibly soft, it almost melted in your mouth. Inside was a surprise, not your normal ball of ice cream, but almost a green tea bean paste surrounding a cream like center - as if the ice cream was a soft serve.

It was delicious and I definitely want to go back for more, but the tiny line is long and I highly suggest you make your choice beforehand, lest you become overwhelmed like me. I hope this new place sticks around for a while. I need to eat my way through every single flavor...

Mochi Ice Cream
Mitsuwa Market
21515 S. Western Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 782-0335

Sweet dreams are made of this

2011-11-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

In Japan, the bottom floors of department stores often have awesome food court-type eating areas. While we aren't lucky enough to have those here, the next best thing is the food courts inside Japanese super markets.

The Mitsuwa food court in the South Bay is home to the ramen house Santouka - a food blogger fave. And just recently they revamped the front of the market to house a 'confectionery' boutique - basically a sweet shop with a lot of imported Japanese items.

$130 for fruit jellies. What. While some of the prices are enough to make you faint, remember these items are hard to find and imported from Japan. There are a lot of other affordable options that are just too cute to handle...

Yep. An entire section of Hello Kitty omiyage food. Omiyage are gifts that you bring when you travel or visit friends. I am a collector of all things Hello Kitty and I have to say, I've never run across these before...anywhere.

Hello Kitty cookies, seaweed chips (?!) Pure treasure for a Hello Kitty fan.

But in the corner of the store was the best part. The biggest selection of gourmet mochi ice cream I have ever seen. More on that next....

Mitsuwa Torrance
21515 S. Western Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 782-0335

Buy indie!

2011-11-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be at two events:

Comikaze
Saturday, November 5
This is Comikaze's first L.A. comic convention and it will be held downtown at the Convention Center. I will be there Saturday morning from 10am - 1pm at the LxL booth #124

Royal/T's Holiday Trunk Show
Sunday, November 6
11am - 3pm
Royal/T is having a collective of indie artists sell their wares for the holidays! Support local artists and buy indie for the holidays!

Halloween spooks, outside my window

2011-11-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

It seems like Halloween came and went a lot faster than in past. Maybe it's just because I walked into Target this morning and it was like Christmas threw up all over the joint. It's not even December!!

Halloween is always at O.G.'s house. The streets are flat and the kids flood the neighborhood. It's very trick or treat friendly.

To get started I made a hearty Root Beer Pulled Pork on King's sweet bread and some mac salad and a few other things.

Even when it was still light out kids started hitting the pavement! Not wanting to be left behind, the kids scarfed down their food and off we went.

Since my nephew was just two, having him in tow was a little slower than normal - but it was all about the fun for him. He got tired after half a block so the kids picked up the pace.

We only went a few blocks this year but they seemed to gather even MORE candy than last year. Their haul contained a lot of chocolate as well as toothbrushes (there's always a dentist in the 'hood) as well as two VERY ROTTEN APPLES. Seriously? That's just mean.

Once home while the kids weren't looking, O.G. weeded through their loot and pulled what she wanted. Sheesh. Don't leave your candy unattended, kids.

...and the winner is...

2011-10-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Young Justice dvd is:

#2 Annika!

Congrats! Email me your address and thanks to everyone for entering!

Young Justice + GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Superheroes are big in our house. We read comics, draw comics, watch comics and even...eat comics.

Young Justice is on the Cartoon Network and is a fave show of the Baby's. Anything with Batman in it is an automatic favorite, really. Based on characters by DC Comics, Young Justice follows young superheroes: Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian as they work together to not only fight crime, but figure out life under their Justice League Mentors. Yep, old skool JL members Batman, Aquaman, Flash and Green Arrow make appearances in the show and watch over their protégés.

When I first saw the show I wondered how the Baby would relate because the characters were in their teens and quite frankly, VERY teen-like. You know - a little whiny, a little emo and a whole lot of attitude.

By the second season I think the characters were really flushed out and came into their own. With the addition of new team members there was more drama, more fight and more fun.

The Baby loved Young Justice almost instantly. The characters diverse personalities, scenes of constant action and color - is everything a young boy could want out of a superhero show.

His favorite character is Robin, I'm guessing because of his closeness with Batman and also because he is a leader. My fave character is Kid Flash because his humor lightens the show and he's reminiscent of the Flash character from Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Season One, Part One, one of my all-time favorite shows.

I think kids love the fact that with all the angst of school and friendships, the 'young version of our favorite superheroes are much more relatable in everyday life.

Thanks to Warner Bros now you can experience Young Justice too! I'm giving away one copy of Young Justice on dvd - just leave a comment on this post from now until Wednesday October 26th. I think you'll really love this series!

Here's how you can tell a show is popular in our house...

...you watch Batman while you are dressed as Batman. Apparently it really completes the viewing experience.

Young Justice: Season One V.1
Young Justice: Season One V. 2

**full disclosure: Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of Young Justice: Season One V. 2 for review.

Deus ex machina

2011-10-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

I rarely go to the movies. If I'm going to pay $14, it better be darn worth it. But O.G. had some free movie tix and baseball and Brad Pitt sounded pretty good.

When I walked into the theater I was shocked to see these crazy futuristic machines that looked like teleporters. In fact, they were soda dispensers! I was so excited, I love push button-y things! I must have shown my face cards because the theater worker handed me a little taster cup and told me to have fun. AWESOME.

Have you ever seen a 90 year old confronted with new technology? It's hilarious. O.G. couldn't figure out what the heck was going and much like her Wii bowling wasn't quick to get the hang of it. It was all too much trouble for some soda.

So she left me to it and I pushed every button known to man. I was happy to see these were Coke machines - I just came back from Seattle where apparently it's a "Pepsi town," uh, no thanks. If I was dying in a desert and there was a mirage of Pepsi I think I'd just move on. Sorry.

8 kinds of Sprite!
Raspberry Coke!
All kinds of juice!

It was nuts. Apparently there are 140 different drinks that come out of that thing. Very reminscent of World of Coke on the Vegas strip, oh so long ago. The machine was fun, crazy and downright confusing. I do miss human beings now and again.

O.G., she decided to just die in the desert. No drink for her. Just baseball and Brad Pitt.

Seattle - eats

2011-10-17T01:22:00.000-07:00

Oh come now, you didn't think I'd go on a trip and not eat my heart out, right? Well there was too much fun in the last post so I split my Seattle recap up and this one's all about the sweets!

On our whirlwind half-day of sightseeing, my friend Sarah and I packed in a lot of shops and also stopped by Molly Moon's ice cream.

Molly Moon's was already on my radar before I got off the plane. Homemade ice cream using local dairy, incorporating unique ingredients and flavors. That's my kind of frozen treat.

Sarah got the blackberry which sounded amazing but I have this weird habit of ONLY getting coffee ice cream whenever I visit a new store.

I don't know, perhaps it's the rationale of being able to say I've tried every coffee ice cream on the face of this earth so I know what the best one is. And this one was pretty darn good - nice flecks of coffee bean and a creamy base that was flavorful and solid, an all around amazing coffee ice cream.
Also I'm a sucker for things that are color coordinated, clean and modern. The store was immaculate and the ice cream superb. The smell of freshly made waffle cones didn't hurt either.

The second day of my vacation was actually the first day of the con so my schedule was pretty packed, but I managed to escape for a few hours. My friend Rhonda who is local to Seattle, picked me up and when she asked what I wanted to do I replied "Take me to all the bakeries you can fit in two hours." Yeah. That's a vacation to me.

First stop was Dahlia Bakery by Tom Douglas, a popular Seattle chef. If only I had more time I'd love to visit one of the TWELVE restaurants that he has, but for this trip just the bakery had to do.

Since I was still thinking about the blackberry ice cream Sarah had the day before - a Blackberry Lemon Meringue Tart was definitely the first thing in the case that caught my eye.

It was AMAZING. A perfectly crisp crust, light layer of blackberry and a perfect lemon filling, topped with soft, peaky meringue. You know when you eat something and you never want it to end? That was it.

We sat and talked as I digested but it was on to the next - Macrina Bakery. This place was tiny and PACKED. While the display case was small I could tell they knew their stuff. The cupcakes looked fantastic but since I had already consumed enough sugar for the day and I had no fridge in the hotel - there was no way I wanted to keep cream cheese frosting out for 4+ hours. I'm insanely paranoid.

Instead I opted for a chocolate chip cookie and I have to say, that Macrina chocolate chip was one of the best cookies I've ever had. Crispy yet soft in the middle, with the perfect amount of chocolate throughout.

Just when I thought I could take no more, I realized that Top Pot Donuts was a few blocks away. Oh man. You know, *I* know donuts and I had to try these. Honestly, when I walked in I wanted to stay forever. It was comfy, cozy and there were donuts everywhere. The vast array of flavors sort of threw me for a loop. There was no way I could eat a dozen...right? Gah, no - so instead I asked the counterperson for some 'donut advice' what would keep best (again, food spoilage paranoia) and what was the best tasting.

I ended up getting a cinnamon sugar cake donut and a maple glazed old fashioned - I knew if I brought them back to the hotel, Sarah had similar tastes and later that night after all the con panels we could taste test the donuts.

Even hours later I will tell you...the donuts were FANTASTIC. Wow. They weren't too greasy, wonderfully flavorful, cake-y and most importantly to me, much like the coffee ice cream base point - the maple was amazing. I always get maple donuts, something about the sweet deep flavor that seems to round out pastries in the best possible way and these Top Pot Maple Donuts were unforgettable.

Sure there was real food on this trip. Lovely sandwiches, Mexican street tacos even a giant...vat...of boiling cheese. Ugh. What happens at CheeseCon stays at CheeseCon. I even contributed to the sweet weekend by bringing Yoda cookies (recipe here) to hand out at my parenting panel.

In the end it's the sweets of the city that I always look forward to. You can tell how great a city is by the way they indulge and these Seattle treats were out of this world!

Seattle - sights

2011-10-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Seattle is one of my favorite towns and I have to say, of anywhere - I'd most likely move there. Rain up there isn't the end of the world like it is in L.A. and it's so easy to get around by both car and public transportation. I have a lot of friends who call Seattle home and with good reason, it's an amazing place.

I was visiting Seattle for Geek Girl Con and let me say, I LOVED our hotel. The Maxwell's theme was pineapple - I don't know why but it was cute. Nice, clean and it was a perfect location, right next to the Seattle Center where the con was located. But hold onto your hats, the best part? Everyday at 4:30 they brought out free pineapple cupcakes. I would like to live here, thanks.

My friend Sarah and I were there for the Con but we had just half a day to explore the city and even managed to take a public bus. You don't understand, this is quite the accomplishment for someone from L.A. I do NOT take public transport. But I figured it out and we headed to the first stop: Cakespy.

Jessie is a friend. Yeah you know she's been a good friend of mine...wait. No. Seriously. Jessie and I have been friends for years and I feel our friendship has only grown because it is centered around our love of cake and pastries. That's a solid friendship.

Not only is she an artist and entrepreneur, she also owns the cutest of shops in Capitol Hill. There are tons of her own creations on mugs, stationery and artwork but she also encourages and curates artwork from other lovers of all things sweet from all around the world.

You also can find many of my items from my stationery line here, and it was awesome to finally spend some time together in person!

Jessie recommended a few places for us to check out: Elliot Bay Books, little boutiques here and there, but of course I was taken with Melrose Market due to the fresh cheeses, meats and wares. Love that place.

As it were, we were here for Geek Girl Con so it only made sense to geek out and go to the EMP which had a whole science fiction exhibit on Battlestar Galactica. Pretty. Darn. Awesome.

There were full sized ships, costumes and props! I especially liked the behind the scenes videos which gave a lot of insight to the show.

By the end of the day we were beat. We headed back to our hotel...just in time for free cupcakes. A perfect end to a perfect day.

*next week - Seattle eats...

Geek Girl Con 2011

2011-10-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was in Seattle at Geek Girl Con!

I was asked to speak on a panel about parenting geeky kids, something I know quite a bit about. I talked about our After-Dinner-Art projects and encouraging kids in whatever they are interested in. Oh yes, and I did hand out homemade Yoda cookies to the very enthusiastic, hungry + geeky crowd.

I also spoke on another panel about running my own business. Since I have both an online retail business and a recipe blog that is also a business - I had a lot to say about the best way to promote through twitter and facebook. I was honored to be able to talk about juggling life along with long hours doing something I love.

I went to the con not knowing what to expect and by the end of the weekend I was shocked at just how much the experience touched me.

More than any other con I came away with a renewed desire to create, to become a better person. For the first time at a con - every single panel topic appealed to me and pertained to my interests. It was small enough to be able to walk and talk with my heroes and my peers and it really felt like the things that I did mattered.

I heard some people felt that the word 'Girl' made it exclusionary. I'd have to disagree. Geek Girl Con was all encompassing of all genres and no place showed that more than the vendor floor. There were video games, steampunk tables, artwork, jewelry and books. Things of all sorts of geeky nature that was of interest to every type of geek girl.

Not only was I lucky enough to speak on panels but I had many friends who also spoke on what they were passionate about. Geek girls in popular culture, Star Wars, Star Trek, Women in Fantasy and even a dude's panel about men who care about female characters and why they are important no matter what their gender.
There were women from television, movies, writers, artists - it was an amazing group of empowered women who all were just happy to celebrate our love of geek culture.

It was a fantastic weekend and I left feeling fulfilled and hopeful. Geek Girl Con was about camaraderie, creativity and support and I can't wait until the next one.

First family of superheroes

2011-10-06T13:39:00.000-07:00

School is killing me and I'm not even the one taking classes. No, between school, homework, nightly reading, art class, chess club, karate and swim - well, I'm exhausted. I'm tired just writing it. Let me take a nap I'll be right back...zzz.

The kids have a lot going on but I STILL have them do After-Dinner-Art. I don't help the kids, they have to do the artwork themselves. The way I get the kids to be creative is to hand them a picture and say DO IT. I should be a life coach. Kidding. Really though the things the kids ask to draw are always crazy complicated. No one wants to just draw flowers? A cat? Hello? Bueller? Nope. It's always something big - so if they want to draw the ENTIRE FANTASTIC FOUR IN ACTION...well good luck.

The kids are pretty good with sizing and proportions and with comic book characters it's ok to be a little 'off' at times, it just gives the drawing more movement.

These were made as a gift for 'Uncle Paul' who loves Fantastic Four. The kids did pretty well considering I only gave them 15 minutes and said DO IT FAST. Again - you probably shouldn't hire me as your life coach.

Bowling for soup

2011-10-02T22:30:00.001-07:00

Back in the day O.G. was a great bowler, she even once had a perfect 300 game. As she got older she developed horrible arthritis which changed her fingers and made everything more painful and difficult. I don't think she's bowled in at least 40 years.

My cousin recently gave O.G. a Wii and it's amazing because now...she can bowl. Granted it's not the same - as O.G. will attest - but still I think it's pretty cool that she can at least simulate the sport she used to love. Hey, it's the future peeps.

Of course the kids are experts and have to help her figure how to use the Wii remote, she doesn't quite understand all the buttons and this and that, but she does like the concept.

The kids like to go over and challenge her (and I like to take a nap on the couch, frankly) and it gets pretty heated. Since they keep beating her she threatens to practice all night...if she could only figure out how to turn the darn thing on...

Mama's boys

2011-09-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was a kid, my mom would get sick for days on end. There was nothing we could do to help her but leave her alone. I could almost feel her pain just looking at her, it was so bad.

Now I'm the exact same age that she was when it started and I am going through the same pain. Some days I can barely stand up, and I see the same look of concern and wanting to help in my own kids eyes.

On those bad days the kids really step up. 5 and 7 years old is a wonderful age. Both kids can read, follow directions, darn near do everything themselves. sigh. They grow up so fast. The other day I was in too much pain to cook dinner or even call for take out.

The Kid got my phone, read my recipes and made dinner. He made Shoyu Gohan. Luckily I usually have a few of the ingredients prepped and chopped in the freezer at all times to make for a quick meal.

The Kid has always helped in the kitchen ever since he was little. He loves to prep and help cook, I think that's why he's so open to eating so many different things. Now all those years of being my littlest sous chef is paying off.

I helped him get some high stuff off the shelf, but otherwise he did most of the dumping of ingredients, pour and measuring of sauces and spices. I managed a quick pic of him in action before I went back to bed. Sure it's an easy recipe but he really did a great job. Not only that he cleaned up the table and helped the Baby with his homework. That Kid deserves a new set of Legos.

Shoyu Gohan (recipe here)

The claw

2011-09-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

It was my good friend's bday and I know she LOVES seafood. I had heard that the Catalina Kitchen at the Terrenea resort in Palos Verdes held a seafood buffet every friday night, and though *I'm* not a lover of seafood, I have a strange fascination with buffets. I love to see the variety of items that get put out, the more the better!

So I booked a reservation for us, and though it's a LONG haul it was totally worth it. While most people like to trek north to see the beauty of the Los Angeles coastline, heading south is where it's at. Gorgeous, quiet - and because it's so tucked away from the rest of L.A., the South Bay provides a perfect little getaway.

I had gone to the brunch buffet before which was fantastic (all you can eat donuts, anyone?) but the dinner one was pretty great too. There was a salad station, a hot station, seafood salads.

The service was outstanding, our waiter was Portuguese and since some of our dinner guests were part Portuguese they had a lot of fun talking about Macau, etc. All the staff was friendly and always checking to see how we were doing. Each table also got a dish of hot crab legs in the middle of their table so they wouldn't have to be bothered getting up to get more. A lovely idea. Again - me - not the seafood connoisseur, didn't really partake but the rest of the table went to town. Even all the kids who had a grand ol' time cracking crab legs like it was a sport.

There were plenty of other options for non-seafood lovers like me: skirt steak, pork loin, as well as paella and even pizza.

The stand out was a made to order sushi station - and while I'm a 'bad asian' I don't eat sushi, the rest of the people in our party went for it.

No, I was fixated on the DESSERT STATION of course. This thing was stocked to the nines. Caramel flan, Chocolate Pot de Cremes in All-Clad 1/4 cup measures of all things. Tarts, cakes, cheesecake pops - but what got the kids all excited (and me) was the ice cream station filled with toppings:

It was a fantastic meal and a fun time with good friends. The buffet was a great way to have a stress-free meal with kids in the party, everyone got their choices, and we could take our time. That's the way all celebratory meals should be - relaxing and full of delicious food!
Catalina Kitchen @ Terrenea
100 Terranea Way
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275

Reading Rainbow

2011-09-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again...homework time!
~Collective groan~ and that's just from the parents. My kids both have to do 20 mins of reading a night and while that doesn't seem like much, fitting it in with regular homework, after school classes, after-school sports, dinner, bath...it ain't easy.

This summer I signed my kids up for the summer reading program at the library and they read 40 books each. That's 80 books total! While the 2nd grade Kid is pretty set up with Magic Treehouse and Roald Dahl books, the Baby is just starting first grade and the transition between kinder and first is vastly different. Books need to be accessible, quick and most important: FUN

I like to have him read 'series' of books. The characters and overall rhythm stay the same which helps kids keep interest. I've done this many times before but I just love to showcase good books. So here are some of my fave series books for 1st grade homework reading. Let's start with Game of Thrones...KIDDING.

My absolute fave children's author is Mo Willems. Whenever he comes to town I try to take the kids to one of his readings. His pigeon books are a riot and very easy to read. He has a whole series of other books but the pigeon ones will always be my favorite.
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!

________________________________

Amy Krouse Rosenthal books are the best! The fun twists and turns - they are full of surprise and humor. My kids love these books and we read them over and over again.
Little Pea
Little Oink
Little Hoot

________________________________

"If you give a..." by Laura Numeroff is another series full of humor and fun. While the books are similar in plot, they always bring you back to the same happy place.
If you give a pig a pancake
If you give a cat a cupcake
If you give a mouse a cookie

These are all great series to start. While they are def easy reads they will help the kids branch out into longer stories and more advanced words. Reading can be fun and easy if you just have the right books!

In brightest day, in blackest night...

2011-09-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

When the kids draw they usually ask me to print out a picture as a reference. The other day we were drawing superheroes and the Baby said, "I REALLY need a picture of Star Sapphire." Um. In case you didn't know...THIS is Star Sapphire:

Uh...yeah. Well, the Baby is just really into Green Lantern and so he wanted a picture of her and Green Lantern and well - I just couldn't do it. Although I have to say I am curious as to what his version of THAT outfit would look like.

Instead I gave him an EQUALLY good Star Sapphire pic, the Batman Brave and the Bold version, whose outfit I much rather prefer. He used that pic to draw the two of them:

Since they were doing the Lantern Corps I printed out a pic of Daffy Duck as Green Lantern and the Kid drew his version. Not bad. Art class starts this week so we'll see if all of our summer drawing time has paid off.

Pigs in spaaaace!

2011-09-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

I love Korean BBQ. The marinated meat cooking, sizzling, right in front of you on an open grill, reeking up your clothes to high heaven - I love it. In L.A. there are tons of options out there for Kbbq from downtown all the way to the South Bay. Of course, Koreatown is where it's at.

My brother and I happened to be rolling through K-Town so we decided to stop by Honey Pig for lunch. I had heard a lot about Honey Pig, great things and not so great things, but it's always been on my list of places I've been meaning to try.

I will say that the reviews about the poor service were pretty spot on - however I tried to avoid this by going right at the 11am opening time on a midweek Tuesday. My brother and I were the only ones there which meant we were the only people to be waited on so it wasn't bad. But yes considering it was just the two of us in the whole joint, and the standard Korean restaurant 'waiter call button' was on the table, there still was lot of...waiting. Hm.

The difference between this place and other Kbbq places are the large domes that the food is cooked on, almost like a convex wok. The room looked like little spaceship landing pads, only the aliens were made of delicious kimchi.

Speaking of, the kimchi is thrown right on the grill and I've never thought to have it that way. It brings out so much flavor! My mouth is watering as I type this.

There isn't much as far as banchan (sides) but they do give you (chapssal) rice paper wrappers which reminded me of mochi SO much, how could I not love them. I used them to wrap my meat and grilled kimchi, but sometimes I just ate them all by themselves.

I have to say the meat was nothing special, I've tasted a TON of Kbbq and this meat was on par. The prices were as well - a little on the high side but as you'll see by the end of this, you get MUCH MORE than just bbq meat.

Honey Pig is known for their pork belly, which was good but again, nothing out of the ordinary. I will say I definitely went for the 'pork belly special' which is fresh, not frozen like the other pork belly selections - remember that. Go for the 'special'.

After near stuffing ourselves my brother tapped out into a meat-coma and the waiter said, "What about your third course?" What. Usually at this point in my Kbbq experience I go home and wash the smell out of my clothes, but excuse me - third course?

With all those crispy leftover bits on the space dome (which was still hot) the waiter added a bowl of greens, salted Korean nori (seaweed) and kimchi flavored fried rice. Combined with the leftover tiny pieces of beef and pork that we had just mostly consumed - OMG it was delicious. My brother wasn't having it - weak. I went for it, there is nothing more satifying than freshly made fried rice and I could not...stop...eating it.

They should have really called it a 3/4 course because it also came with a big bowl of spicy miso soup. Wow the meal just never ended!

And if the smell of the bbq meat, garlic, kimchi was too much - there was complimentary mouthwash in the bathroom! (This is not a good date place, obvs)

The food was great and so was the experience. I will def be back especially since I didn't get the prized PIG that they give away, but perhaps that's only at dinner when the supposedly bad service is in full effect. ~sigh~ You can smell me from a mile away but I'm still dreaming of spicy kimchi fried rice...don't wake me.

Honey Pig
3400 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
Koreatown

To all who come to this happy place - welcome!

2011-09-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

As a veteran Disneyland park go-er I was recently asked how many times I've been in my lifetime. Considering I've been going 3+ times a year since I was 2 and I go about once a week nowadays, the answer was...over 100. I know.

So here's an update of my fave Disneyland tips and tricks, esp since I happen to be going three times this week, alone. I KNOW. Crazy.

If you think Disneyland is a nightmare, you're just not doing it right. When my kids were younger and they had passes - I would take them every few weeks, and there are ways to make your Disney trip easy peasy. Honest.

People always ask me for tips on taking their kids to Disneyland - I have been working on this list for a long, long time. These are a few tried and true things that will make your day a whole lot easier!

I don't like lines.
Yeah. Neither do I. The absolute best way to take advantage of free reign in the park is to stay in a Disney hotel because they let you in one hour PRIOR to opening this is called 'Magic Mornings'. A select few rides are open, usually the ones for the kiddies in Fantasyland. If those aren't for you, at least youare IN the park and you have a prime spot for first choice of all the rides once they open up all the lands.

I know not everyone wants to stay in a hotel, in that case the optimum ride time is when the parades start, (that's where all the kids are). Same with the fireworks at night. Just skip the fireworks if rides are your priority.

If YOU love the rides, then get this: a lot of the fast rides offer 'single rider' which means you can go up to the front and ride while your spouse stays with the sleeping kid, then you switch off.

One more thing - Disneyland apps are your bff. From wait times to height requirements, it will save you a headache from running from one ride to the other. 60 min wait for Indiana Jones? Forget that, go eat a corndog. (the corndog line even has a wait time on the app!!) MouseWait is my fave.

Now this is the kind of wait time *I* live for:

My kids need to pee.
Anytime I can, I head back to Main Street to go to the Baby Care Center. (Next door to the Corn Dog Truck.) They have toddler sized potties, changing tables that are cleaned and wiped down after every use, baby food if you need it, a microwave, and a breast feeding room. I love that place because I am a total clean freak. Sadly, adults aren't allowed to pee there, so you're on your own. Hey, at least the kids are taken care of.

I want good food, not crappy park food.
Anytime you go to a theme park it's easy to get suckered. I am anti-hamburger/chicken nuggets/fast-food-esque things for my kids, so I am always looking for something better.

For breakfast: The Carnation Cafe on Main Street
Wow the breakfasts here are good. Just nice and homey and really tasty. Eggs, potatoes, and the cutest little Mickey waffles ever. There is a wait though, but it's worth it.

For Lunch: Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country
Disneyland is changing their food options and all for the better. The newly revamped Hungry Bear Restaurant across from Splash Mountain now has more (even vegetarian) offerings instead of the same old burger and fries (ugh, not a fan). Fried Green Tomato sandwiches, sweet potato fries - all make for new and out of the ordinary theme park food.

For Dinner: The Plaza Inn on Main Street
They have really big spaghetti and chicken dinners, that are large enough to share, which is great for your budget too. Also the dining is indoors, which is comfy at night.

I need a souvenir.
The best things ever are personalized. Biased opinion, here. Sure you can get Disney ears, but did you also know you can get anything personalized? Towels, tees, jackets - just bring your purchase to the Disney Clothiers store on Main St. NEXT to the Mad Hatter and they will embroider names for you for an additional charge. It's a unique gift esp for people bringing gifts back home.

Note: Did you know that if you break a Disneyland toy while you are there (I'm looking at you kids) or if your balloon pops (still looking at you, kids) Disney will replace it for free? Hey, whatever it takes to avoid crying is fine with me.

This could go under 'snack' too, but popcorn buckets are great. They cost a little more than a popcorn box, but that you'll just toss. These come with a lid so you can easily tote it all day. They buckets are collectible in the sense that they are always changing, but here's what I like, you can take them home, wash them, and they really come in handy for storing legos, crayons, any small toys. It's a nice reusable container.

The newest container is hard to find - a special R2D2 popcorn bucket!! This was put out to celebrate the opening of the new Star Tours ride. I love it since I adore Star Wars, but beforewarned. It costs WAY more than your average popcorn bucket, coming in a steep $15. You heard me. And yes, I bought it. Anything Star Wars, I just can't help myself.

I want something sweet.
Ok, this is my biggest secret of all, and I will probably regret saying this one, but the ice cream shop on Main Street is FABULOUS. If...you want to wait an hour and half for ice cream. I've done it. Don't. It's a nightmare and at the end you'll be too pissed off to eat. The secret is...go across the street. The Main St. Cone Shop is next to the lockers and has ice cream cones, sundaes and...NO LINES. Seriously. Your anger management therapist will thank you.

The park is also attempting new fun desserts that are certainly memorable and very Disney-fied. From mini pies to cupcakes they are breaking the trend of boring old cotton candy and ice cream. Just check out that Belle caramel apple!
Those are just a few of the questions people have emailed me about navigating Disneyland. If you have any more just let me know. I'm not an expert, just someone who goes...A LOT.

Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

O.G. went to the market and saw 'Earthquake Kits' for sale. She complained about their contents and I told her, "You realize...those are for CHILDREN to keep at school in case of an emergency??" Her response: "Ohhh. No wonder. I was thinking, why would anyone want to sit around eating raisins during an earthquake?" Good. Lord.

I told her I'd take her to the market to build her own earthquake kit and when I asked her what SHE would put in it, of course the answer was chocolate.

'Course the last time we had a major earthquake she ended up under the table. Yes - there are pictures because I am the best Grand-daughter ever. (Not really.)

I eat my candy with the pork and beans, excuse my manners if I make a scene

2011-09-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

The kids have been saving their money from christmas, birthdays, chores, lost teeth - it's all adding up. While the Kid went for the toys, the Baby went another direction:

"When I save up all my money I'm going to buy a pork chop from Lindy & Grundy."

Is that child a meat expert or what?! Lindy & Grundy is a locally sourced butcher shop. Their high quality meats are outstanding - I've written about them before (here).

The pork chop that the Baby is referring to is their 'smoked pork chop.' But yes, fresh, good quality food is not cheap and that's why the Baby needs to save up.

When Amelia sold it to me she said "it's like eating a bacon steak" she wasn't joking. Being smoked, the chop is slightly on the salty side but that smoky, almost bacon-y flavor definitely shines.

While our meals lately have been fruits and veggies with a side of meat - this pork chop took center stage. This chop was so full of flavor it was amazing. Since the chop is already smoked - here's the quick way I cooked it:

1. In a pan on high heat sear the fat on the edge of the chop. About 1 min.
2. Once that is rendered down place the chop on it's side for about 3 mins.
3. Turn over and cook the other side for another 3 mins.
4. Place it under the broiler for 2 mins until it's a nice caramelized brown.

This truly is the best pork chop known to man and I kind of want to hand the Baby money on the sly just so we can go get a few more. But he doesn't need my help. He tends to find money everywhere...

Rosita: I was thinking later, you could kiss me on the veranda.Dusty Bottoms: Lips would be fine.

2011-09-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a new balcony. There's something about a totally blank slate, some people fear it but I see so much possibility. But with a small budget *sigh* you can only do so much.

Stone or decking just wasn't in the cards, plus since it's an upper level balcony that would add a lot of weight and it wasn't something I was structurally comfortable with. No, my plan with this was to make it more warm by bringing the inside, outside.

I started by looking for indoor/outdoor rugs. They are generally durable and tough but also pretty. I needed a rather large size since the balcony is wide and long. A small size would look like a bathmat - i.e. ridiculous. I found a gorgeous rug at Crate and Barrel for $250 +10% cost delivery. Uh - excuse me? NO WAY. The rug was perfect but the price wasn't.

Then I found Martha Stewart indoor/outdoor rugs at HomeDepot.com. I have to say Martha Stewart has never steered me wrong and I found a rug almost identical to the expensive one. A beautiful beige weave with a black border, durable enough to be vaccumed or even hosed down. Unlike the expensive Crate and Barrel one, this one was just $79 PLUS a free doormat sized rug PLUS free shipping. I took a chance and ordered it. When it came it was more than perfect in size and color. Texturally it was soft and easy to roll up thank goodness, since my goal is to put it in storage when it rains.

Rain. Not conducive to lovely outdoor decor. Even tho it never rains in Southern California (Tony! Toni! Tone! shoutout) when it does it sure ain't fun. So while my balcony will most likely stay like this 10 months out of the year, I still need furnishings that I can carry in and out of storage by myself in the 'rainy' season.

I'd love to have a large table and chairs but budget-wise and heavy-lifting wise, forget it. So instead I looked for a 'conversation table'. A conversation table is basically a small height table approx 19" or so. Think of it as a coffee table but for the outdoors. It still allows you to entertain, and it is usually on the low end price wise.

I lucked out AGAIN at HomeDepot.com and found a great Eucalyptus conversation table marked down 50% to just $99. At 19" W x 39" L it was a great size. Once again free shipping was the offer and I took a chance - the legs were easy to assemble with no tools and it only weighed 21 pounds which meant I could carry it by myself.

Now when it came to chairs I happened to have these foldable teak chairs in storage that are over 10 years old. Here's where Phase 2 of this design will kick in so use your imagination. Since the canvas on the chairs doesn't match my new decor, I plan to recover them myself using a deep red canvas and also get a matching sun umbrella that will also be a red canvas. The red will be a perfect compliment to the black border on the natural indoor/outdoor rug. Stay tuned for Phase 2.

As far as accessories, again I like to bring the inside - out. White accessories like vases are a nice way to offset to dark wood outdoor furniture, and adding little color pulls the whole thing together. These artichokes look edible but are in fact candles and could also double-take as flowers. The white and the green bounce off the wood nicely.

There is still more to do on this balcony but for now it's comfortable enough that I use it a few times a day. I go out there to sketch, write recipes and even have snacks or a summer dinner in the evenings for the kids.

Of course I'm not the only one that uses my newly decorated balcony. I think this may be how it was intended to be used anyway...

Whip it good

2011-09-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have fond childhood memories of going to the Dole Plantation in Hawaii and having a cool and refreshing Dole whip - just after getting damn near heatstroke. (Wahiawa is blazing HOT in the summer.) The Dole Whip was lighter than ice cream and not as creamy as soft serve. Just plain ol' refreshing.

The only place aside from Hawaii that you could get such a treat was Disneyland, next to the Tiki Room. Luckily since I go to Disneyland so often it's readily available anytime but honestly with the tourist-y long lines it was rarely worth my wait.

Now Dole Whip is available outside of the island AND Disneyland! The small House of Dole Whip storefront is open in West Hollywood at Santa Monica & Fairfax with an array of flavors like strawberry and red velvet! My fave is and always will be pineapple. There's nothing like it.

While the flavors are available in machines against a wall like most yogurt shops, here you make your choice and someone serves you. It's an odd set up - I almost wish there was a counter so there was a clear separation of how you are supposed to order but no matter - the flavors and menu board says it all.

There are floats, smoothies and even banana splits all made with the Dole Whip. The kids love Dole Whip too because it's so light - like eating a fruity airy frozen treat. The Baby went for a double of Mango + Pineapple. A perfect treat for the end of summer.

House of Dole Whip
7901 Santa Monica Blvd. suite 106
West Hollywood, CA
Sun-Thu 11am - 10pm
Fri-Sat 11am-11pm

You say it's your birthday?

2011-08-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is an ACTUAL conversation that O.G. and I had way back in July. She said she wanted to eat Dim Sum - totally odd since she HATES Dim Sum which makes this whole thing even weirder.

I don't mind Dim Sum in general, but since it was *my birthday* shouldn't I get to choose??

But no, not an option. So that's exactly what our family did - go to eat chinese food. However I did manage to force her to change the lunch to August...although the date was nowhere near my actual birth date.

And yes, she actually said 'no presents'. Happy birthday...to me. Ugh.

There is a great disturbance in the Force.

2011-08-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Usually my birthday goes by without much fanfare and I have to say, I LOVE FANFARE. I love my birthday, it's my favorite time of year yet no one else shares these feelings...odd. Ha! Luckily this year my good LxL friends took my cause to heart and put together a mini celebration just for me - Star Wars style!

Ok, so maybe it wasn't JUST for me and it just happened that Star Wars Day at the L.A. Zoo fell on birthday weekend. In any case I say it was fate and no--I didn't tell my kids where I was going. D'oh. Normally the kids love the zoo but with record heat and tons of lines, I knew there'd be happier times to visit.

So just us gals, we set out to the Los Angeles Zoo to see stormtroopers and have a great time...on the hottest...day...of the year. Yikes. Seriously, the heat index was at about 100+ degrees. It was bad. As in mind-melty bad. I felt so sorry for the people dressed up, they must have been sweltering in there. This Tie-Fighter pilot all in black was truly feelin' the heat.

We got as far as the costume meet and greet and I'm sorry to say we headed back. We didn't see any animals, but then again there were signs everywhere saying 'it's too hot for the animals so they won't be coming out'. What the what. The animals were smart. I'm sure they had air-conditioned caves.

We went back to the theater and got a seating for the unseen Star Wars footage for the blu-ray release. It was a fantastic, there was a lot of behind the scenes footage, interviews, and sneak peeks at just some of the 40 hours of additional footage that will be on the release.

They also had Star Wars trivia (presented by Yoda) which was totally rigged with zoo animal questions. Man, can't a girl-nerd get a break?!

While we didn't win any prizes I got lots of nice gifts and for once I didn't have to bake my own birthday treats!! (As a baker, no one ever makes you cake. Ever. Boo!) Thanks to my good friend Christy I got custom Star Wars cupcakes for my birthday. The force was truly with me on my birthday!

Part of your world

2011-08-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

As you know I'm a HUGE Disney fan and go to Disneyland almost every week. So this past weekend was D23 - the Disney Fan Expo and I couldn't wait! I actually bought my tickets two years ago at the first convention - yeah, crazed fan for sure.

The thing is, this second year event was just...eh. Perhaps it was because no one knew what it was the first event so there was more room to walk around. This time? Insanity. My mom came along and she swears she won't go to another one. Mostly because we waited in this line...

...to get into a store. Yep, pay to stand in line and pay. That was the main complaint I heard behind me in line all day. Disney fans are tenacious and we'll stand in line for Disney no matter what, but it was a little grating.

But it wasn't all bad - especially when I came face to face with...

a TON of cupcakes for free! But yes, you also had to stand in line for them. Ho hum.

Didn't matter to me, cupcakes of any kind, I'll take 'em.

There were giveaways, panels and of course, more shopping. The best store was Mickey's of Glendale, which is actually the campus store for Disney Imagineering. There is NO WAY to buy these items unless you are a Disney employee, so the fact that they are now opening up the store and merch to fans is pretty amazing. There were great things there and virtually no wait. A win all around.

What really turned the day around was getting to see the Parks and Resorts presentation. (Yes, a 2 hour wait. Did you have to ask?) They revealed a lot of cool new things for Disney parks around the world including rides, resorts and lots of Imagineering information.

Since most of the stuff was never before seen people in the audience were snapping pics and taking video like crazy. I get it, but it was kind of disrespectful - sometimes it's nice to just sit and enjoy a presentation rather then being the 'first to break the news on youtube' or whatever. All in all, it was a great presentation and I'm excited to see what the future holds as far as themed entertainment.

While the day was a lot of waiting around, I still enjoyed being a part of the event. No joke, there truly is Disney magic and you can feel it when all the fans come together.

The Expo was fun but my mom and I left early and crossed the street and went into Disneyland for a few hours. We had dinner, walked around, and enjoyed the Disney-ness of it all. After all, she is the one who brought me to Disneyland before I was two years old and because of it I continue the love of Disney with my own kids today.

You look marvelous

2011-08-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Williams Sonoma stores offered a cookie decorating event for kids. For just $5 that went to Share Our Strength - kids got to decorate cookies made from the Marvel cookie cutters! How could we not particpate?!

I happened to get the new Marvel cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma as a birthday gift and they are fantastic. They are perfectly detailed and don't stick to dough. The best!

I've already made several things with them including mini Captain America hand pies! (recipe here)

For the event the kids got to choose two character cookies to decorate. My kids love Marvel and were excited to make their choices.

The Baby: Hulk and Iron Man.
The Kid: Iron Man and Captain America.
No Spidey love for these kids, I guess. My own personal usual complaint - where the heck is Wolverine?? I want an all Wolverine kitchen, thank you very much.

Williams Sonoma had everything prepared, from piping bags to sprinkles, as well as all the sugar cookies. It was a finely tuned process that went incredibly smoothly considering it was a ton of kids and a lot of colored sugars.

My boys decorate cookies a lot at home, so they had plenty of practice and did pretty well.

They had a great time and got to take home the cookies that they decorated and a free comic book. I hope the stores offer more of these events. The kids had a great time and it was for a great cause!

Boom boom acka-lacka lacka boom

2011-08-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well we finally made it to the new Dino Hall at the L.A. Museum of Natural History! Just when the kids are getting into Dino Power Rangers too, what a coincidence. (I make them learn things even when they think they aren't.)

Our goal this summer was to visit all the museums in Los Angeles, and while we went to many - this one they just keep asking to come back to. The Baby loves the animals and dinosaurs and the Kid loves reading about all the artifacts.

When we rolled up to the front the volunteer said, "Do you want tickets to the Butterfly exhibit?" HELLZ NO was what I think I said...tho maybe not out loud. Me trapped in a room with a thousand flying bugs? Nope. Did it last year and ran out of there as fast as I came in, leaving my kids behind. No - we are here for dinos and dinos only, thanks.

Luckily we had membership passes so that means we got front o' the line Dino Hall tickets. Yep. There are tickets, and waits, and long lines just to get into this new Dino Hall and you know what? Totally worth it.

The new Hall is beautiful, the clear panels, two levels that allow you to see all the large fossils and bones - it gives you a good gauge as to the monstrous size of these creatures.

I've said it before, I love the new modern direction that this museum is taking. The kids get so much more interested in learning when interactivity is involved. By having moving parts to feel and work with, the kids tend to get a better understanding of what is going on.

The biggest hit by far, and not just with my kids, was the interactive archaeology table. Man, kids were jostling each other for a position to 'grab' a virtual archaeologist and 'dig' (by tapping) to find the bones. We went back to that 'table' plenty - it was like the world's largest gaming iPad.

Even though we went on a weekday the museum was PACKED. Weekends are worse. If you do plan on going - and you should - wait til the schools get back into session. It's a great interactive new exhibit and the perfect way for kids and adults to learn more about the Dinosaurs.

Natural History Museum
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone: (213) 763-DINO
http://www.nhm.org/

Everybody comes to Hollywood, they want to make it in the neighborhood

2011-08-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's annual Children's Festival. Held on the Paramount Lot in Hollywood there was an array of kid's activities!

I was happy to see my friend Justin as soon as we arrived. He has worked the event for years, but this was our first time going. All set up in the Paramount courtyard were were dancers and performers, food and information booths.

On the grass were tables with all kinds of arts and crafts for the kids. You could paint, make your own masks, make puppets - but my kids? They just wanted to draw. What the! We do this at home EVERYDAY. Oh well. Why complain, it was a nice day out and at least we were drawing outside.

The best part of the day for the kids was seeing Daffy and Bugs from Looney Toons. While the Baby loves costumed characters the Kid notoriously fears them. But not these guys. The kids have been watching the NEW Looney Toons show and they are smitten. The Kid even asked me to take his picture with them! When I started rattling off the Looney Toons characters names, Bugs, Porky, Daffy - the kids stared at me bewildered. "How do YOU know their names, it's a new show!" Look kids, I've been watching Looney Toons waaaay longer than you guys. WAY longer. ~sigh

It was a fun day but the heat was getting to us. Before we took off, the kids were dying for balloons. What is that joy that a balloon brings?? Wouldn't you know it - in a typical childhood trauma moment - the car door flew open and the Baby's balloon got loose and flew up...and away. I remember that as a child, in fact I don't think a kid ever forgets watching those things sail away into the sky. Goodbye orange balloon. I hope you had a nice flight. Sadness.

It's morphin' time!

2011-08-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know how tides change but suddenly Power Rangers are big with the kids. Did you know there are over 16 different Power Rangers series?? WHAT?? I've been going through them on Netflix with the kids and I definitely have my opinions on which series are the WORST. Don't get me started.

As with all new faves around here it all ends up as inspiration for drawing. Not content with the array of Power Rangers series available, the kids decided to make up their own versions.

To avoid freakouts we follow strict drawing guidelines around here, basically the same ones the kids follow in their Art Class.

1. Think about what you want to draw. 2. Outline it out in pencil. 3. Pen is permanent. 4. If you get to 3 and mess up, DON'T FREAK I told you to work it out. There is no white-out in this house.

Keeping to those drawing standards cuts back on tears for all of us, and actually it gets the kids to work out design issues, since that's really what the drawing is about anyway.

Do you want a sword, what color is your outfit, can you fly? Important questions like that is daily speak at our dinner table.

Of course the kids developing their own Power Rangers wasn't enough, MOMMY HAS TO DO IT TOO. Man. Designing my own Power Ranger was way below folding laundry on my to-do list, but when your kids want you to be involved, you gotta bite the bullet.

So here's mine. Obviously my color would be pink and obviously I'd have a Hello Kitty bow. Obviously. Now back to folding laundry.

Marukai Kawaii

2011-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Back when I made the Hello Kitty Cookie Cupcakes, I got a ton of inquiries as to where I got the cookies. I found them at Marukai, a local Japanese market but why go to any market when you can go to a KAWAII one?

No, seriously - there is a new Marukai Kawaii store that ONLY SELLS CUTE THINGS.

Kawaii means cute in Japanese and that's no lie, everything in here is adorable.

Marukai Kawaii is located in downtown L.A. in Little Tokyo in the Weller Court on Onizuka St. (You can't miss the giant Space Shuttle monument honoring who the street is named after - Ellison Onizuka - the Japanese American astronaut who died on the Challenger.) The store is across from the main Marukai in the same plaza.

What you'll notice about the small space is that half of it is FILLED with Hello Kitty items.

There is standard stuff you can find at a normal Sanrio boutique, but look closely and you can find some imported hard to find items from Japan, as well as the Hello Kitty face cookies from Italy!

But it's not all Hello Kitty, there are tons of other kawaii items ranging from Domo to jewelry to household products.

Candies, toys, stationery - you name it. The store just opened but I'm guessing it will expand and have even MORE cute items in no time.

Oh and of course Lolita eyelashes. Should that happen to be on your shopping list.

This store is a treat and I wish there was one on every street corner. It's definitely worth stopping by if you're downtown in the Little Tokyo area!

Marukai Kawaii
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue

2011-08-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

We are city folk. And I like it that way.

Right now the 'goats' are back in town. Once a year the CRA brings in 100 goats to eat the grass on Angel's Knoll at 4th and Hill Street downtown, and man, is it a sight. It's supposed to be more environmentally friendly (though I wonder how much gas was used to cart them to L.A....) in any event it's a whole lot of fun to watch.

Locals cannot get enough of it, because it's so out of place for Los Angeles. The streets are lined with business men and women armed with camera phones taking pictures...of goats. Fascinating.

I get it - it's a novelty. In fact, I told O.G. about it while we were eating brunch in Santa Monica and she couldn't take it - she insisted that we HAD TO SEE THE GOATS. So off I drove from the Westside alllll the way to downtown just for goat watchin'. The things I do for that woman.

O.G. was thrilled and the kids got a kick out of it. Me? I've had my yearly goat fill. Let's just say you can guess how 100 goats smell, not all that great.

The goats are working fast. You only have 2 more days to see them!

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

Hertz Donut

2011-08-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to be asked to be a 'celebrity judge' at the Blogging L.A. Donut Summit 2011!

What qualifies me to judge donuts? I eat A LOT of donuts. Or at least I thought I did. Until I saw 40 dozen staring back at me...

Los Angeles donut fans brought a dozen from their fave local donut shops. This is the greatest idea ever - because L.A. is so big, there's no possible way you can drive out to all of these places to try so many donuts. So here they all were in one place, in pretty pink and white boxes, stacked, prepped and ready to be devoured.

I met my fellow judges, Shelley (The Fry Girl) and Billy (the 99 Cent Chef). Armed with clipboards and iced coffee, we were off!

I attacked the donuts with a plan, by going down the 'Donut Categories' list and trying to identify the winners in my book. Best glazed, best filling, most roundest.

I gave my best effort and found some really unique and lovely donuts I never knew existed. Did you know Philippes makes donuts? Yes - the sandwich shop! And they were lovely, beautifully round (design is important to me), not greasy, the perfect sweet bite. A wonderful cake donut that I plan to buy all the time from now on.

My other favorite was The Donut Man's peach donut. He's the king around these parts but I've never been able to venture alllll the way out to Glendora, from the Westside, that's quite a haul. Luckily someone brought them in and WOW, truly amazing. I didn't think I was huge fruit + donut fan, but the freshness of the peaches won me over and now I will definitely be making the drive, especially for his most famous 'Strawberry Donuts.'

So what was the one that stood out? The one that I still wanted to go back to even though I'd just eaten my way through a year's supply of donuts? Stan the man. Stans' Donuts in Westwood makes a peanut butter filled (!) chocolate covered donut. It's not as sweet as you'd think and the balance is damn near perfect.

Stan's chocolate peanut butter filled donut was the clear judges choice - all three of us agreed!

Judging a donut contest was a whole lot of fun! Perhaps it was the three cups of Intelligentsia iced coffee talking, but at the end of it all, after trying 40 dozen donuts, I STILL wanted to eat donuts. That is TRUE donut love.

Here's a complete list of winners, thanks Blogging L.A.!

Comic Con!

2011-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Comic Con was a big success! I have to say, being able to accept credit cards on my phone is the best thing ever. I look forward to the day when cash is gone forever. I also had a few meetings and the future looks very hopeful.

This year was one of the best times I've had at the Con, mostly due to all the friends and parties. I also followed my own advice and Purell-ed whenever I shook hands or touched money ($$ are gross) and didn't come home with Con Flu. Yay for good health!

The Day After Comic Con is like Christmas around here. I come home late, lay out all the stuff I got for the kids...

then in the morning it's like Santa came to visit!

Harry Potter, Power Rangers and Phineas & Ferb - as well as the ol' standbys Star Wars and Batman - are big right now. All the new stuff has the kids inspired and they've been drawing and creating while I'm...sleeping.

Now I need to rest up for Geek Girl Con...

Dolla bill, ya'll

2011-07-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

The Baby has a knack for 'finding' things. He's brought home twigs, rocks..used band-aids (what)....FINGERNAILS (double what). Yeah, he's like Nick from Family Ties, making trash out of treasure. Too old a reference for you? Guess what, I'm old.

So when we went to the beach and he said he was going to 'look for stuff' - I was slightly terrified as to what he'd find. Within minutes he came back with MONEY. I immediately sent him out to find more things. Next step: buy him one of those crazy metal detectors. Treasure is in our future. Or old fingernails. Ew.

Just play a bit of music and he falls straight asleep... I shouldn't have told you that!

2011-07-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

What I miss the most about Hawaii is the soft, delicious shave ice. I'm always on the hunt for the closest thing that will cost less than a plane ticket back to the islands. So when I found out about Fluff Ice, it was so different, I couldn't wait to try it.

It's the only store of it's kind and it's located in Monterey Park. Think: the softest, fluffiest shave ice you've ever had...but flavored! Yes, genius - the ice already has flavor frozen inside of it, so there are no syrup toppings. What a concept! The 'fluff' is chunky and flavorful and the perfect bite of cold, sweet, goodness.

It's rather large, the small is like a bucket and the large, well - is gigantor. There's more than enough to share IF you are the sharing type. There is a variety of toppings and since this was a special treat, the kids got strawberry fluff with mini gummi bears and mochi balls. Ew. Sweet overload.

I would suggest going more middle of the road with the regular milk fluff or chocolate fluff and some fruit toppings. Or there is always the Japanese standard: green tea fluff with sweet red bean and mochi balls. Mmm, you can never go wrong with mochi balls.

Way over in the SGV it's a long haul (like 50 miles round trip) from the Westside, but worth it if you're heading that direction, OR you are just sick of the summer heat and looking for something different and delicious.

I hope Fluff ice expands to more locations across Los Angeles, because it's a truly inventive and refreshing treat.

Michael Scott:Before I go to bed I lay 6 strips of bacon on my George Foreman Grill. Today I got up, stepped on the grill and it clamped on my foot.

2011-07-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

The Kid made this 'bubble chart' at school. I had to laugh because only my kids would know that much about bacon.

Heck, even Vegans buy my "Bacon Love" cards!
Here are a bunch of bacon recipes from the blog:

Bacon + Buttermilk Waffles
Maple Syrup Bacon
Chocolate Covered Bacon Ice Cream
Garlic Bacon Dip
Bacon + Egg Salad Sandwich
Bacon Wrapped Smokies
BLT - Bacon+Lemon+Tomato Pasta

Comic Con!

2011-07-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

This week I will be at Comic Con in San Diego! If you're going, stop by and check out some new product and pick up the O.G. cookbook/comic book. I will be in Small Press at table N-10 all week!

While I'm gone you can enjoy free shipping online as well as a giveaway at the recipe blog!

Expeliamus!

2011-07-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

You know, it's fitting that I'm on the 'Geeky Parenting' panel at Geek Girl Con in October. Because so often when I'm working, hear: "Hey Mommy come look," and this is what I find:

The boy who lived

2011-07-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

It is Harry Potter crazy town around here. The kids are SO into it, we're watching the movies (over and over) reading the books and listening to the books on tape. So yeah - we're ready for the big finale.

Luckily everyone else is on a Harry Potter high too and right now there is a Harry Potter Tribute Exhibition at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra. It's a pretty far trek, but totally worth it. With two floors filled with Harry Potter art from over 50 amazing artists, fans will truly be able to relive the stories through artist's visions. It is easy to see the subtle touches and love that went into these pieces.

The overwhelmingly large Voldemort sculpture that 'greets' you as you walk in is definitely intimidating, but it's his larger than life presence that makes the rest of the work so intimate.

There were pencils, painting, sculptures and even paper work. One of my favorites was this whimsical Harry + Hedwig made out of paper.

A lot of the art has already sold. All the pieces can be seen online, though it doesn't do them justice. The brush strokes, color and 'magic' are all a must-see in person.

The show runs until the end of the month and is definitely worth checking out - if not only to buy your House colored scarf at the Whimsic Alley pop-up shop in the front of the Gallery. (The Baby's been eyeing that Slytherin scarf for months...)

Harry Potter Tribute ExhibitionGallery Nucleus
210 East Main St.
Alhambra, CA
Sun-Thurs: 12pm-8pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-10pm

To be or not to be - that is the question

2011-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

In high school I took AP English and I remember one summer the assigned summer reading was the complete works of William Shakespeare. I really got into it - reading the plays over and over, the tragedies were flawed, painful - so very emo. Perfect timing for high-school.

The tales stay with you for years, they are so ingrained in our culture new renditions of the plays rarely stray from the tried and true formula. So when I heard that L'Enfant Terrible was going to do a series of Shakespeare tragedies for kids (?!) I couldn't believe it. Now this I had to see.

The Kid has developed and interest in Shakespeare from reading the Magic Treehouse books. So I felt like this would be the perfect time to introduce him to some of the plays.

The performances are through the month of July at the Bootleg Theater but my July is booked SOLID. So figuring out timing wasn't easy. Luckily I had one day free AND I won tickets from the great L.A. Story blog (my go-to resource for fun things to do with kids in L.A.!)

As you can tell by the titles, L'Enfant's performances are based on Shakespeare's most famous tragedies...but with a twist: King O'Leary. Titus the Clownicus. Macbeth the Monster. We chose to see Hamlet, Prince of Puddles. Hamlet?! The tragedy mired in death, delusion and betrayal? Just how was this going to play to the younger set?

I am happy to say it was FANTASTIC. The kids boo'ed Claudius and cheered Hamlet! It was funny, touching and whimsical - the actors gave such an entertaining performance. But how did the Baby (who's 5) and the Kid (who's 7) feel about it? They loved it. Every minute of it they were intrigued, laughing - enjoying the entire show.

On the drive home the kids were discussing the characters, the plot line - it was great to see. And they even asked if they could go back to watch the other performances! I'd say that's a successful intro to Shakespeare.

The plays run for the next three weeks through July 31st.

L'Enfant Terrible
Fun Family Festival of Tragedy
The Bootleg Theater
www.lenfantterrible.org

Party Animals at Royal T!

2011-07-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I attended the VIP party for the debut of the new Party Animals show at Royal/T Cafe. Royal/t, the shop+maid cafe+art gallery in Culver City is one of my favorite places and whenever they change out the gallery for something new, you know it's going to fun!

While I enjoyed their last 'Facemaker' show, it was sort of nice to see the screened windows go away. Now that the windows are open and the space is full of light again, the art can really shine for the Party Animals exhibit curated by Lindsay Scoggins.

The FoodLibrarian came with me to check it out. The show is an eclectic mix of fun and whimsy. As you enter, the first thing that you see is a GIANT, I mean giant - it is so adorable you wish you could get in there, roll around and have a tea party!

With some of my favorite artists like Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, KAWS, and Yoshitomo Nara there was plenty to see, and it being a Royal/T party - there was plenty of fun! A photobooth, A Tribe of Zebras dj-ing, a face painter + balloon animals, inspired cocktails and lots of food.

The Dim Sum truck parked out back and the maids wandered back and forth serving the treats. There was an assortment of snacks but what stood out was a crazy twist on dim sum called the Cheeseburger Dumpling. All I can say is that it tasted like a deep fried In & Out Burger - which believe it or not is a VERY good thing.

The show is fun and unique and since the kids LOVE Royal/T for brunch, I know we will be going back very soon.

Party Animals runs from July 7th - September 24th.

Royal/T Cafe
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA

Hot fun in the summertime

2011-07-08T00:40:00.000-07:00

Summertime. There's nothing better than packing up some Spam Musubi and kickin' it on the beach.

Spam Musubi recipe, here.

Ferris: The place is like a museum. It's very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything.

2011-07-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love museums and now that it's summer there's a lot more time to go. Luckily we are members of several musuems in the city which not only brings the cost down, but you get invited to special events and you're never bored on the weekend!

The Baby's favorite museum is The Natural History Museum in South Los Angeles across from USC. He loves animals - but here...the animals are no longer living. Oh well, there's still lots to learn...
I went here SO often as a kid on many a school field trip. While the main part of the museum hasn't changed a bit, same old dark hall o' taxidermied animals. Very reminiscent of Night at the Museum. I swear these things come to life at night.

Also still there - the huuuge bird exhibit. UGH. "Mommy hates birds" is the first sentence I taught my kids yet they still find it hilarious to drag me in there. Gross.

The museum recently underwent a huge renovation and I was pretty shocked. Perhaps it's showing my old age but man, it was amazing! Now the exhibits are interactive, with touch screens like iPads and on the spot answers. It was crazy.

Back in the day you weren't allowed to touch anything at a museum but now it's encouraged since they've obviously realized that kids learn more by being involved. Now the exhibits are bright and open and so much more inviting.

There's a whole touchable children's section with animal parts and dinosaur bones. The Baby LOVED this because for once I wasn't yelling at him to not touch stuff.

The museum is still undergoing changes, one of the big ones being the cafe downstairs. It was ok, but now that they've closed up completely it's just awful. Sad, dimly lit - it reminds me of the worst office lunchroom ever. Not to mention the incredibly unhealthy snacks at exorbitant prices.

Since ~~I'm broke~~ - I MEAN prefer healthier options, I packed our own lunches. Meat for the Baby, cheese for the Kid and whatever was left for me. Typical Mom lunch.

The sad lunch area worked out fine, since we were just eating quickly but I can't wait for the new Cafe to reopen.

Also coming soon is the new Dinosaur Exhibit which is supposed to be AMAZING. I can't wait and the kids are already asking to go back.

This bear doesn't stand a chance:

Natural History Museum
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone: (213) 763-DINO

We don't have no plastic L.A. friends

2011-07-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th! Eat something red, white and blue!

Broken Glass Jell-o Pie recipe, here.

AM2: Anime, Manga, Music

2011-07-03T07:18:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July weekend there were two anime conventions in town - the grandaddy of them of all: Anime Expo, and AM2: in it's debut year. Basically, the southland was filled with cosplayers.

The choice to go to AM2 was pretty easy since the entire thing was free. Free entry? Unheard of for cons.

AM2 stands for Anime, Music, Manga. All three were well represented. It was held in Orange County at the Anaheim Convention center, right across the street from Disneyland. There was relaxed parking, relaxed entry, the whole thing was...easy! While it was crowded, there was still plenty of room to walk around and a lot to look at.

The main floor consisted of a small vendor area filled with a good variety of items, from plush to cosplay clothes. Copic Markers had a nice booth for artists, filled with beautiful, drool-worthy pens.

Also on the first floor: a small stage where J-pop bands were scheduled all day, gaming areas, autograph areas, card gaming areas and in the very back, I'm talking long haul, no really...

....LONG haul...

there were food trucks parked throughout the day. It was BLAZING hot outside so it was nice that the long path was perfectly air conditioned.

There was also a carnival type area with games that were similar to what you'd find at a Japanese Obon, simple, yet tricky - the games paid off in tickets where you could buy prizes. That's all my kids needed to hear.

They had a blast shooting cans and getting bean bags through hoops - all for the payoff of the big prize table.

While *I* eyed the Manga Studio software, it was the kid's choice so we took home some Gundam models and Bleach trading cards.

I love the Anaheim Convention Center because it's so roomy. Upstairs were rooms for individual panels and even an arcade area. The kids were in awe of the Dance Dance Revolution game, an old skool staple.That's the Baby going nuts on a Dance2 machine with no money it in, btw. I thought it was hilarious that even without quarters, he could still be entertained.

In addition to the downstairs food trucks there were also the standard convention food vendors but the Con went a step further to incorporate the theme and they set up a maid cafe! An ani-maid cafe. A smart choice considering the heavy cosplay crowd. I didn't go in, but it looked like a Royal/T type pop up.

On the third floor was the big hall where they held concerts. Since the second 'M' stands for music, there were a lot of acts booked with performers that flew in from Japan. I'm not too familiar with these groups but the fans sure were. They packed the hall and enjoyed the shows.

It was heavy cosplay Con, with lots of people dressed as familiar (and not so familiar) anime characters. Steampunk was represented as well as LOTS of Lolitas. Petticoats and hair bows galore, Lolitas are where the $ are at.

AM2 was a small but comfortable Con, and for the price of FREE you couldn't go wrong. The Con staff - as well as the attendees - were polite and accessible. A nice change from the giant almost corporate Cons that are the norm now. I think they did pretty well for a first run and I have to say I can't wait to see how they step it up next year.

The AM2 Con runs through today, July 3rd until 7pm.
Am2 Con
Anaheim Convention Center
July 1 - 3

Star v. Star

2011-07-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at two exclusive *very geeky* pins that I'll have at Comic Con in San Diego. You can find me in Small Press at table N-10!

Dance without feet

2011-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Skrumps event at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood. The Skrumps are computer generated puppets designed by John Chandler from the Jim Henson Company. I got to see how it all worked when I visited the Henson studios last month - it's pretty amazing technology.

While there were no digital Skrumps to be seen there was plenty of hand drawn art! The event was all about the kids - not only was John Chandler there signing books and doing sketches but they had toys, raffles and refreshments for the kids.

Since the kids love drawing I think they enjoyed the process of watching John sketch the Skrumps. He did a sketch for each of the boys and The Kid, always with the keen eye for detail - pointed out that he forgot to draw the tail on The Mooch - nice catch!

The event was sponsored by Archaia - comic publishers of beautiful graphic novels, everyone's fave Fraggle Rock and they were also a sponsor of the League of Ladies event. A great publisher with wonderful books.

There's always lots to see at Meltdown, so many books and toys the kids were in wonderland. John was impressed that my kids could read so well, hey - all that summer reading is paying of f, I tell ya!

I like taking the kids to events where they can get inspiration for their own artistic ideas. I think it helps them think outside the box and become more creative.

Talk about creativity, the Baby was TOTALLY decked out - we were going to a comics shop after all. I don't care what you say -- there's nothing more intimidating than a 3-1/2 foot tall Batman walking down the street.

All work and no donuts make Jack a dull boy.

2011-06-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Best embroidery I've ever seen.

My Uncle LOVES mom + pop stores. I jokingly call him the 'Norm' of the Southland because like Cheers, 'everyone knows his name' when he drops into these places.

Like me, my Uncle loves little hole-in-the-wall places with interesting things and great food and proving that we are related - he also loves donuts. Remember my family visit to a donut buffet? Yeah, that pretty much sums us up.

One of his faves is Primo's Donuts in Westdale. Located on Sawtelle in West L.A., the storefront is so small, I've eaten in that shopping center many a time and never even knew it was there. If you read articles on the 'best donuts in L.A.' their name almost always makes the list.

Nondescript, clean and tiny - this little donut shop is a gem for locals. Not only are the friendly (!) - the counter lady has worked there for years - but the donuts are above and beyond and the coffee is always hot.

Here's the kicker - they are known for their 'Butterflies' donuts. Why this thing is called a butterfly is beyond me. It's not shaped like a butterfly, there's nothing butterfly-ish about it. It's a rolled dough with a touch of cinnamon, not quite a cinnamon roll, but flavorful.

Maybe it's the pretty topping that makes it butterfly-like. It's almost as if they scraped the bottom of the tray of allll the donuts and put it on top of this thing. Look closely and you'll see glaze, crumb, some strawberry bits. My inquiries got me nowhere. Whatever the name is and how it came to be, who knows - but it is delicious.

We obliterated a bunch of donuts - because that's how we roll - and kicked back in a glorious fried coma. The donuts here were great. Not fancy, not healthy - just the perfect melt in your mouth sweet treat. I'll be back soon I'm craving a Butterfly right now...

Primo's Donuts
2918 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 478-6930
www.primosdonuts.com

Detroit Rock City

2011-06-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Lately L.A. has become a hot dog hot spot. With new places opening every week it's hard to know what's good and what's hype. On the corner of Sunset and San Vicente, Coney Dog LA had a huge following before it even opened. A Detroit transplant, these dogs are well loved and with investors like Adam Sandler and Tim Allen, the opening was much anticipated.

Hot dogs, great. But I was more interested in the fact that they were carrying a full line of Faygo. I know Red Pop is a tradition but I can't pass up a Root Beer...ever.

Not only is there soda but a full line of beers including Strohs, a Detroit beer and this is the only place in L.A. that has it.

It's hard to get a chili dog to look good in a picture, let me tell you. The hot dogs were good, great snap, flavorful chili and man, do I love onions.

The real deal - Sanders hot fudge sundaes. My friend Hilary - who told me about Coney Dog in the first place, insisted that I get a hot fudge sundae. She was right, that is some damn fine hot fudge...the one drop I tasted.

The kids descended on that sundae like vultures. I'm lucky I didn't get my arm chewed off trying to get my one taste. But it was fantastic. I'm totally going back BY MYSELF to eat my own.

The place is new, clean, has great parking (a rarity in Hollywood) and is already packed with tons of Detroit natives. They were a little pricey for hot dogs, but seeing as how they are located on the Sunset Strip right next to the Whiskey and open til midnight - I see nothing but big business for them.

Coney Dog L.A.
8873 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA
www.coneydogla.com

laissez les bon temps rouler

2011-06-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been going to Downtown Disney and skipping the park entirely! Maybe it's the summer crowds, maybe I'm trying to avoid my crankiness - but there's lots of fun to be had right outside the park!

Since my family also loves Disney it was an easy choice to have Sunday brunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. They have a take-out space at Downtown Disney for quick meals, and the sit down restaurant is right next door.

It's a beautiful two story space, with lots of themed out rooms and a huge interior courtyard. It makes you feel like you've stepped right into New Orleans.

They offer a Sunday brunch with live jazz inside and second terrace seating outside. It's actually lovely to sit and watch the Disney crowds filter in on a Sunday morning.

The food here is great, creole (one of our family faves), warm, comforting and full of soul. Adults can order things like Gumbo, Shrimp and Grits - I chose the Crab Cakes Egg Benedict. Good lord was that rich, and oh so delicious! Definitely a Sunday brunch treat. Meanwhile, the kids were treated to their very own buffet!

The boys couldn't be more excited. They love to choose their own food and when it's a breakfast buffet, I know I'll get my money's worth. (Adults can get the kids buffet also for a slightly higher fee.)

They had the standard: pancakes, eggs and bacon - but they also had lunch items such as cheeseburgers, grilled cheese and some of the best cajun fries you'll ever have.

The kicker? They offered on the spot COTTON CANDY. *I* was dying let alone the kids, but I restrained myself since it was for the little ones. (I didn't even tell him to use that cotton candy to block his face, my cousin said he's probably just used to taking pictures like that now, ha!) Topping off a breakfast with cotton candy is not the healthiest end of a meal, but remember you are at the Happiest Place on Earth...or just outside.

The brunch also offers up magicians to come by your table and these guys are good - you have to be to do close up slight of hand. The kids were in awe, or perhaps they were sugar stunned by all the cotton candy I let them have. Hm. Who's to say.

On the regular menu they had some great desserts but one stood out: beignets. You simply can't have a Nawlin's style meal without them. Perfectly fried, warm and COVERED in powdered sugar they are one of my favorite things. Luckily the take-out next door also offers them, in a bag for you to shake violently and dust the puffy dough all by yourself. Just...if you're wearing black be forewarned.

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen is a lot of fun and has great Creole comfort food. It's a perfect stop before you enter the madness of the parks. And where else can the Baby have a cheeseburger in one hand...and cotton candy in the other. Yikes. Maybe we should go on an all veggie diet for a while...

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen
1590 South Disneyland Drive
Downtown Disney
714-776-5200
www.rbjazzkitchen.com

Your love, is better than ice cream

2011-06-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's hot. Not crazy hot, but hot enough. I predict a summer full o' ice cream...

Here are some of my favorite frozen treat accessories!
________________________

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (info, here)
My fave ice cream maker. The price is low and it's just the right size, not taking up too much storage space!
________________________

Wilton Ice Cream Sandwich Pan (info, here)
An easy way to make PERFECT ice cream sandwiches everytime. Neapolitan, my fave.
________________________

Wood Ice Cream Spoons from Webstaurant.com (info, here)
I love these spoons! They are so old-timey and make all your treats fun to eat!
________________________

Paper Straws (info, here)
These biodegradable paper straws are so fun and make your dessert drink adorably retro!

I love you. I know.

2011-06-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Last year 12 friends and I formed the League of Extraordinary Ladies. The goal was to bring other geek girls together who liked comics, sci fi - all the nerdy things we love. Our motto is 'ordinary women creating extraordinary connections.'

We decided to put together a meetup event, so that other geeky women (and men too) could come together and meet each other and hopefully form new friendships. Saturday night we hosted the event at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood and it was a huge success!

So many people came out, braved the traffic, drove for hours, Grant Imahara even flew in! Aw, that's love. All this just to show their support. It was truly heartwarming.

We had great sponsors, Archaia and ScienceFiction.com - who stepped up and made the event even better.

There were tons of giveaways: amazing graphic novels from Archaia, Think Geek and Comikaze Expo gift certificates, collectibles from QMx and even things from our own talented League.

I made a bunch of cupcakes for the evening, cookie cupcakes, red velvet, even cupcakes with the LxL logo (how-to, here).

The most popular cupcakes were the Princess Leia cupcakes (recipe, here)! After all, she is the ultimate geek girl and delicious as chocolate ganache.

Over 200 rsvp'ed on facebook, you never know what that means but in this case people totally showed up, in full force!

It was a fantastic night of great friends old and new and I hope that everyone's geeky friendships continue on. Now onto Comic Con!**

**I'll be in Small Press at SDCC again this year, table N10. Stop by. I'll have cookies.

Where troubles melt like lemon drops away above the chimney tops

2011-06-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Do you hear that sound? It's the sound of the last day of school and the first day of summer! Depending on how you look at it, it's either the sound of sweet butterfly wings...or screeching peacocks.

It's been quite a year and it's hard to believe it's over so soon. I don't know how teachers do it, I give them so much credit. It's hard work to have that much patience and be able to teach these kids all that they do.

As a sign of appreciation and a goodbye, I made cupcakes! I decided on something 'happy' so rainbows were in order of course.
I packed them all up and we gave them to the teachers. Here's to the end of a successful year...but now we have a jam packed summer ahead. Yikes. I need a vacation...

Rainbow Cupcakes recipe, here.

Hermione: Harry, there's a reason the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent. Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth, he could talk to snakes too.

2011-06-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

It's my fave time of year, time to sign up for the Summer Reading Club! As a kid I remember my mom taking us to the library every summer to start the Summer Reading program. We spent a lot of time in the library, maybe that's why my mom eventually became a librarian later in life. Hm.

I read a lot during the summer, the books I loved most had colorful imaginative illustrations. I also read and re-read TONS of cookbooks. Seems like I spent all my time in the cookbook/party planning section.

Now that the Baby is five and can FINALLY read, I feel like the door has opened up and we can do even more things. The summer reading program is fantastic because it encourages kids to keep up with their studies in the summer, but more importantly they get to explore new worlds through books and have lots of fun!

For the kick off party at the Library they brought in an animal expert who showed off a bunch of animals - one from every continent.

There were the usual cuties, pigmie albino hedgehog...

...and then the not so cuties. Legless lizard, anyone? Ew.

And the piece de resistance, a GIANT BOA CONSTRICTOR. You should have heard the squeals in the audience! When the animal expert asked who wanted to touch the snake, The Kid made a straight beeline right back to me as if someone had yelled 'fire!'- no way, no how. Meanwhile the Baby lined up as fast as he could and even started speaking Parseltongue. Er...nerd therapy, line one.

When the party was over we headed to the children's book section and picked out the books to start our summer reading. I got kids cookbooks and the Baby got a book on snakes...of course he did. Nothing like hearing your child yell across a quiet library: "Look mommy, it's eating a dead rat!" Yeesh.

**update to this post: the Kid woke up at 6am yesterday and ended up reading 14 books. It's going to be a lonnnngg summer.

Little Twin Stars

2011-06-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

My friend is having twins!

I think that's pretty awesome, I can't even imagine the shock it must be to take a look at your first ultrasound and see TWO babies. I got invited to the baby shower and immediately started thinking about a gift...

I decided to put together a pretty practical basket, I know late night feedings are going to rough especially with two - so I filled the basket with quick things to eat or make. Miso soup, salted seaweed and of course Oreos and chocolate, what else would you crave in the wee hours of the morn?

I soon realized she actually does need two of everything. Yikes! Double stroller, two high chairs, two sets of bibs - wow, it's A LOT. Having just one kid at a time you tend to take for granted that you can just do hand me downs for the next one - not when it's two at once!

I bought her the obligatory 'cute outfits' one boy and one girl since she's having one of each (!) and then went the realistic route and put in a bundle of plain ol' tees that will be totally messed up in no time.

The shower was held in the backyard of her sister's gorgeous home. The lunch was AMAZING, they really went all out. I love when people put a lot of thought into a party menu because it really is the best part of any event. Of course we played those familiar baby games...

Man, I lost horribly on the 'guess the baby food' game. It all looks the same to me: gross. But I totally rocked the 'celebrity baby names' and got 12 out of 15. Yay me!

It was a fun time and I'm so excited to see two little ones come into this world. The last part of my gift...Sleeping Baby Cupcakes! A sweet way for her to kick off this new life adventure!

Cypher:...this steak doesn't exist. I know the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. You know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.

2011-06-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Lindy & Grundy opened in April to so much fanfare I was wondering if it was even possible to live up to so much hype. Two female butchers, well trained, offering up locally sourced meat for all the food lovers of Los Angeles right there on Fairfax? I waited to see. I waited as long as I possibly could (er, a few weeks) and when I finally did walk through the doors I couldn't wait to go back.

Lindy & Grundy provide amazing high quality meats. Not only is it presented beautifully, but you can tell by the taste there's a whole lotta love and care that goes into this food.

Amelia and Erika are always friendly and helpful when it comes to talking shop. They not only have great recommendations but give you tips on cooking and serving the meat in the best possible way.

When I first went in Amelia told me how the smoked pork chop was like nothing I'd ever tasted, smoky, hearty, "like eating a bacon steak." Good lord, I'm sold. And she was right, I'd never tasted a pork chop so full of flavor and savory satisfaction. I immediately went back and bought more.

As an architect I love the clean, smart layout of the small place - rails start at the entrance and make their way all the way back to the walk-in so that full carcasses can be brought in and butchered down.

On a recent visit I brought my Uncle (who's a much better photographer than me) and Amelia and Erika kindly offered us a tour of the back. We didn't ask, we didn't want to get in the way, but they were proud of what they were doing and we happy to show us how everything produced.

Standing in a small walk-in surrounded by full hanging pig sides, well - that's an experience I wasn't expecting to have when I woke up that morning. It was surreal.

I love knowing where my food comes from. As you remember when the Kid recently thought that cheese came fully shredded in the bag (yikes), I just about flipped my lid. All those years of taking him to the Farm and cooking together didn't even scratch the surface of realizing just how our food is actually packaged.

I'll admit I wasn't always a fan of meat until I got pregnant and my tastes changed, and if you read their bio, even Amelia was a vegetarian for some time. When I do make meat dishes I always like to make sure I use the best. Good quality ingredients make all the difference in recipes.

Lamb chops, whole chickens, chicken wings, steaks, pork chops smoked and regular, they grind their own beef and make their own sausage. Everything here is fresh and if you don't get in there early, you're out of luck - they'll most likely sell out.

Lindy & Grundy does a great service by providing fresh, local meat and also giving their customers a great education. They are proof that loving what you do and really putting an effort into the food you eat can make all the difference in taste and quality.

True, their meats are pricier than you'd find at a regular market, but the price is worth it. Especially when I go to bed at night dreaming of bacon steaks...

Lindy & Grundy
801 North Fairfax
Los Angeles, CA