this is getting out of hand

Twice in one week?  And a mile each time?  Wow!  Way to finish February strong there, mister.

Here's looking ahead to a March that brings more swims (and maybe longer ones?) my way.

tiny miracles

An actual mile done.  Wow.  One day I may be a real swimmer again.

Oh, and yes, I did get a haircut.

Ladyhawk

It seems to be our time for getting out of Pasadena and trying new places (or going back to ones we haven't been to in ages).  San Laurel, Otium, Verse - recent efforts to leave our fair city have been successful.

The latest effort was another trip to West Hollywood.  A space that Van and I had visited 4.5 years ago, but now reimagined and reopened.  Friends, I give you Ladyhawk.

I have no idea about the name.  Van's friend, Nicole, whom we met for dinner was the one who recommended it.  I knew of it from Reddit and following Top Chef posts.  Ladyhawk is the creation of a chef on season 20, a man named Charbel.  I didn't see season 20, I admit - I gave myself a break from watching the show, and it is currently one of only two seasons since I started watching (season 3) that I haven't seen.

Ladyhawk is a hotel restaurant, and the hotel is cool and hip and sleek.  Everything that I am not.  We grabbed drinks from the hotel bar before the restaurant opened, and I have to say, I would go back for the hotel bar.  Nice place.

Things I liked about Ladyhawk:

• The service.  Our waiter, Jordan, was not the warmest, but he explained things well and checked in, and I appreciated that.
• The mezze platter.  Jeepers!  $110?  We should go back and make that our meal.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The half chicken.  The right level of salty, plus mint, plus juicy meat.
  
  
  
• The Lebanese milk pudding with passionfruit.  Good!
  
  
  
• The Rye Not digestif cocktail, a blend of rye and cynar and bitters.
  
  
  
• The Lebanese rose.

Things I want them to do better:

• The flank steak.  Run of the mill, and crying out for corn tortillas to wrap around them.
  
  
  
• The charred cabbage.  Please, people, make the cabbage the star.
• The baklava.  Dry, not cohesive in the sense that it wasn't really possible to get a bite down through all the layers.  Pretty, but not worth having again.
  
  
  
• Conrad's glass of California pinot.  An adequate wine stored too warm.  If he's asking for ice cubes to put in his red wine, it's a problem.

A good space.  Loud.  But definitely things to like.  I'd cautiously recommend it, and eventually go back.

and to go with the new tshirt…

Last Words!  Of course.  Saturday evening pre-dinner out on the patio.  Simple delights in life with these two.

new tshirt

A salute to the liqueur that is critical to my favourite cocktail!

A side note:  my laptop died on Thursday.  Fun, right?  A new one is on the way, so I will not be blogging much until I have that and it’s all up and running.

Leap Day (a week early)

It has been quite some time since last we convened the online happy hour group.  Early January?  Something like that.

Our once-a-month group got together this evening, and the theme was Leap Year.  I love that we pick themes and then interpret them as we will.  Mind you, tonight was pretty cut and dry, and most of us ended up with the same cocktail:  the Leap Year.

Gin, Grand Marnier, sweet vermouth, lemon juice.  A cross between a martini and a gin sour.  Tasty!  We caught up, enjoyed cocktails, and then had sushi when happy hour was done.

And then Van, the little girl,

Conrad, and I enjoyed a little couch time and television!  Fun times.

and finally... dessert

Courtney and Robert left this past Sunday afternoon, and - despite it being a holiday weekend - I've actually squeezed in a lot in recent days.  Hence the slow roll out of posts related to their visit.  It's now days since, and so, let's finish this off.  With dessert.

Well, photos of dessert.  But let's talk about the whole dinner experience.  As I am wont to do.

Van had suggested Verse for all of us on the Saturday night.  It was our goal on this visit for us to take Courtney and Robert to different parts of the metro rather than just stick close to home (though we did stay in two of the nights and dined locally at a handful of favourites in town).  Heading to Verse got us over to North Hollywood/Toluca Lake (I don't know the boundaries of these neighbourhoods, so forgive me if I'm inaccurate), a not-too-far drive away.

What I expected of Verse was not what I experienced.  It was one open room, bar at one end and musicians at the other.  But the nice thing was that it was in an old sound studio, and there were still features in place that made the usual restaurant din (let alone live music) pretty bearable.  And oh, what I wouldn't give to go back to a nice, quiet dining room somewhere.  I always worry about Conrad being able to hear, and he did fine with this space, happily.  The trio playing were doing spins on songs that we found ourselves trying to name, usually successfully, and then marveling at how they were putting those spins on.

The drinks were good - I had a somewhat tart (which meant I didn't guzzle it!) cocktail called the M.A.A.D. City, then four of us shared a bottle of a 2013 Brunello from a terrific wine list before I capped my night with a glass of sauternes.  The menu was interesting.  And the food had us exclaiming.  I loved the kale sprouts, for example, and my pork with a chicken porridge had some great intense flavours.  Milk buns!  Who doesn't love those?

I think dessert won the night, though.  First off, because of the kind of ridiculous idea of caviar on cheesecake, we ordered it. 

Honestly?  Salt and sweet is great together, but neither the caviar nor the cheesecake were exceptional.  In short, a conversation piece, and we're glad we tried it, and it was fine, but not worth revisiting.  You know what I would revisit?  That French toast. 

The tall dessert in the photo with the strawberries on it.  In hindsight, their desserts were pretty basic, but that French toast was fantastic.  So nicely cooked.  We all were gracious about who got the last bite, but we all wanted that last bite as well.

Our verdict?  We'd go back.  And I hope we will!

And that, friends, caps off the Courtney and Robert visit coverage.  Onward with the week!

more rain

I think we've had a couple of inches or so in the last 48 hours.  Not anything like the early February drenching, and too soon after that one, but still, rain is at least somewhat welcome at this time of year.

I was at work earlier today and could hear the drumming of it on the building.  An intense downpour for a brief spell.  A few of us went and opened the door to watch it.  Yes, that's just how much we get fascinated by rain in SoCal!

morning walks about town

One of the many things that are great about time spent with Courtney and Robert is how nicely they fit into our usual morning walk habit (I say as I sit here, not walking for a second day in the row because I'm being wimpy about the rain we're getting again).  The first morning they were here, I met them at 7 for a walk, making sure we went by way of Starbucks so that I could enjoy a decaf latte. 

We met them every morning, though we gave ourselves later starts on the weekend.  And we tried to explore different parts of town without going too far afield.  Alas, the huge Pokemon event in town this past weekend meant no Rose Bowl loop for us.  Ah well.  We managed just fine, including a nice stroll around the Caltech campus

and neighbourhood.

And of course, we had to stop at Amara. 

Two mornings in a row, in fact!  Treating ourselves to churros and other deliciousness at breakfast.

In other news, my husband is a goof.

Disney Hall evening with C&R

Last Thursday was a busy day.  Courtney and I had some work to do together that day (part of the reason why she and Robert came to town), and when we finished, it was a dash home from work to the condo, barely enough time to freshen up, then hopping in the car for the five of us to head downtown for dinner and a concert at the Disney Hall.

Dinner was at Otium, a restaurant that had a lot of buzz when it opened years back and still seems to be popular thanks in no small part, I am sure, to its prime location up on Bunker Hill in among the museums and performing arts venues.  Conrad and I had gone there with friends several years ago, and while I recall liking the food, the service made me so angry that I had not wanted to go back again.  And so we didn't.  But Van had never been and was curious about it.  And when last we went to our Disney Hall standby, we found it had not come through the pandemic very well, and now it's dropped off our list (I won't name it - if you go there, you'll form your own impressions, and I dislike slagging restaurants in this blog for the most part).

Otium was loud, I cannot deny it.  That's awful for Conrad.  It's long been a problem, but now that he wears hearing aids, it's almost worse.  They amplify not just what someone speaking to him says, but amplify all the din surrounding him.  A sea of noise.  It was a relief to be at home the next night, I know.  But the Otium space is pretty cool.  And the menu has some good things.  I didn't get a photo of the bucatini, which was my favourite dish, nor of the chicken liver mousse, which was so smooth and silky.  I did photograph the beautifully cooked salmon collar, though. 

And it's not as if the other dishes were at all bad:  I liked the lobster ravioli

and the pork chop

and the shaved chicories. 

Everything tasted good, the service was fine, and we left satisfied.

Outside the restaurant, we took a couple of photos of the neighbouring Broad Museum,

then headed the block over to the Disney Hall.  I love that space,

and I can't wait for more concerts there this year.  We had a Schubert symphony before the intermission and a Beethoven one after.  I preferred the latter and drifted, eyes closed, during the former.

Van drove us all home, and that was an excellent Thursday under our belts.

Hello, I'm back!

Goodness, a wee absence this past week.  Courtney and Robert arrived in town last Wednesday, and we've been enjoying their visit.  I haven't turned on my laptop since I left work on Thursday.  Hooray!

So I'll catch up and post more in days ahead while things calm down (and tomorrow, when I have a holiday, will be a good day to blog).  For now, here are photos from brunch at Agnes before we took Courtney and Robert to the airport.  A tasty green tomato BLT with fried egg for me, plus a glass of an orange wine made from Pinot gris. 

I should take a nap.🤣

Nice to see you again, though.  More to come!

this swim brought to you by the letters M, E, and H

At some point I will post an entry that raves about what a great swim I had, how good I felt in the water.

Today is not that day.

Meh.

Ah well.  Better than no swim at all, right?

Bridget came to town

One thing I've noticed in my now eleven years in southern California is that people come to visit.  Well, not necessarily to visit me/us, but also that.  No, they come to visit SoCal, and we benefit from seeing them.  That was not often the case in Chicago and almost never in my two years in Montreal before that.

Bridget is the latest on that list.  I've known here for, oh, thirty years, since she lived in Terrace and I was in between degrees and cooking at the restaurant.  We reconnected years later when I lived in Chicago and she was in the Milwaukee area.  I think I last saw her in about 2012 when she came down to see us and go to see Noel Gallagher in concert with me.  She's vacationing in southern California this week, having arrived yesterday, and before heading to Santa Barbara tonight (I'm writing this on Monday night before bed, but I'll publish it on Tuesday), she had dinner with Conrad, Van, and me.

Ah, so good seeing her.  Lots of familiar old names came up.  And hey, look at us, both well into our 50s and looking it. 

We met up at Perle, which I hadn't been to in a while.  Good food, as expected, though the gap between the first course and the mains was a little long.  I had some oysters to start and then had the choucroute. 

Tasty, and it didn't feel too rich or heavy.  The four of us split the chocolate souffle

and the tarte tatin for dessert. 

A bottle of red wine for the table, a decaf to finish for me, and that was a lovely little Monday night meal.

We showed Bridget the condo after that, then I walked her back to the parkade so she could reclaim her car and hit the road.  Safe driving and an enjoyable rest of the vacation to her!  I hope we see her again before too long.

an anniversary dinner of sorts

A year ago, we returned from a fantastic trip to South America with our neighbour Natasha, her friend Marina, and some others.  Chile and Argentina for almost two weeks - wow, there was some fantastic scenery.  Some good food.  Some lovely wine at one winery.

We've barely seen Natasha these past couple of months, and its been ages since we've seen Marina as well, so it was nice to see them both last night as the Pasadena members of the trip got together for dinner here last night.  Reminiscing a bit, catching up on the year since, drinking Chilean wine, and having a good evening of it.

Van arrived early, so the three of us enjoyed a cocktail made from a gift Allison sent us for Christmas, clove and rosemary gimlets. 

I vacillated between thinking the clove was too much and enjoying the drink, but Van rather liked it.

Natasha and Marina are both Russian, so I found a way to incorporate caviar into the dinner.  I made a puree soup to start, parsnip and cauliflower.  Into each bowl I placed a seared scallop, then garnished it all with chives, creme fraiche, and a little caviar.

For the main course, I marinated halibut in chermoula, baked it, and served it with some reserved chermoula, a bit of cous cous, purple carrots, and green beans. 

I hadn't done the recipe in some time, and it was good to revisit it.  I thought the fish cooked up nicely.

Dessert was a recipe I used back in November and decided to do again:  wild rice pudding with a caramel sauce. 

As I did back then, I also made a raspberry sauce for people to enjoy, but I stuck with caramel only.  I have such a sweet tooth.

The Chilean wines were good, and the evening was a success.  We have one more bottle of wine from the trip in the wine refrigerator, and one day we'll open it and enjoy.  I'm just glad, though, that we were able to get together and have a nice quasi-anniversary dinner together.