somebody had a birthday

Hey there!  Van and I got back from Santa Barbara late yesterday afternoon, and there was only time to unpack and then turn around and head out to dinner.  Somebody, you see, had a birthday for us to celebrate.

So, more to come from Santa Barbara and such.  Stay tuned! 

yet another reminder

Sitting out on the patio of our hotel room in Santa Barbara, giving the Little Girl some love.  Sure feels like a good time to remind y’all that Olive is just the cutest, sweetest girl ever.

Friendsgiving dinner out

Happy rainy Friday morning!  The rain should taper off in a little while, or so I hope.  Van and I are heading up to Santa Barbara after work today so that we can go to a concert there and then enjoy a day up there tomorrow before coming home to Conrad (who is in Chicago right now) on Sunday.  An inch and a half since yesterday morning!  Goodness!

The rain (and the chilly weather - yes, chilly for us, but live here for a year, and you would agree) didn't prevent us from making it to Julienne last night for another of their Thursday dinners:  Friendsgiving.  There was protection from the rain and some heaters on blast (Van and I each had to remove our sweaters).  A nice night.  We're not doing US Thanksgiving this year, so it was my one chance to have a turkey dinner,

and it was enjoyable.  Some freshly baked rolls,

a salad (that I didn't photograph), and then the turkey meal.  I won't gripe about cranberry on my plate - I don't HATE cranberry sauce, but I never eat it with my turkey.  Van opted for the swordfish, which is a great option - I've really enjoyed that one before.  Pumpkin cheesecake for my dessert,

an appropriate meal ender.  He had a glass of Lambrusco,

I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir,

and neither of us could finish the very generous portions.  Sated, we headed back up to his house to rescue Olive and feed her, then have a chill evening on the couch.

third weekend in November

Herb Alpert aside, how was the weekend?

Well, wet. 

This was Friday morning, before the rains really came.  I don't know the official amount for Pasadena, but I believe that over the course of late Thursday to early Tuesday, downtown LA got about 3.5 inches.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's an extraordinary amount for November even if November is part of our rainy season.  Yep, we got soaked.

Saturday was a quiet day, and I was showing Conrad my ideas for doing some redecorating around the condo in the new year when I got a call from the massage place.  Late for my appointment!  Yikes.  I had completely forgotten it, I blush to admit.  I headed over their as quickly as I could, had at least part of the appointment, then stopped in at TJ's for groceries and - hooray! - picked up the first poinsettia of the season. 

That brightens things nicely.

Van came by that evening, and the three of us braved a lull in the rain to head for an overdue dinner at Maestro.  Good to be back!  A Mezcal Campfire

to start my evening (and a Sancho Barrel Aged to end it). 

The three of us shared the roasted beet salad,

birria tacos,

and the tamal poblano

before finishing with the Oaxacan chocolate tart. 

And it was all so good and welcome.  We said hello to familiar faces, we had our own conversation flowing, and we ignored the brisk temperatures rushing in every time the door opened - we had the table closest to it!

The evening ended early, and then it was on to a rainy Sunday.

Actually, it wasn't super rainy when we got up on Sunday.  In fact, it was fine enough for a bit of a walk, ending with breakfast at Amara. 

Another welcome thing!  Conrad had packing to do, and I ended up making some banana bread loaves.  And then it was 2:00 and time for an online happy hour to catch up with Rick and Dave in Kentucky.  I was making South Side Royale cocktails,

the classic gin sour with mint recipe dolled up with some champagne.  They went down nicely.  After a leisurely couple of hours with the guys online, I worked to get dinner on the table, a chicken I had been roasting for some slow while. 

It will be leftovers of that for me this evening!

I looked at some travel arrangements for the new year after dinner, and that was that.  Sunday wound down, and the third weekend in November was over. 

Herb Alpert, plus dinner out

Last night was a special enough evening that, rather than lump it all into one weekend update, I want to talk about it on its own.  Dinner and a concert.  Ah, but so much more.

Conrad and I headed to Van's late afternoon, dressed up a little pretty.  We said our hellos and goodbyes to Olive,

then we were off to Hollywood in the rain.  We parked at the concert venue then walked along Hollywood Boulevard to Musso & Frank Grill.

OK, so here is what you need to know:  Musso & Frank is truly an institution.  The oldest restaurant in Hollywood, it dates back to 1919 and has had a family line of ownership since 1927.  It is proudly old school - waiters in red velvet tuxedo jackets, for one thing.  The menu is a thing of beauty. 

Consomme?  Chilled consomme?  Grilled lamb kidneys (next time, I swear)?  Not a hint of fusion on the menu.  Famous for its martinis.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE places like this.  Bonus points if the food is good.

Friends, the food was good.  Also, generous.  Oh, the cup of clam chowder I started with us very average, could have been, well, more clam-y.  But it was fine.  The martinis - we each had one, made with Nolet's - were good and came with side cars so that much of your cocktail could remain chilled until you were ready to pour it. 

Awesome!  And best of all?  Liver and onions! 

I unapologetically love liver and onions, as does Van (Conrad does not).  Van and I each had an order, and we really could have shared one order.  Wow, that was substantial.  No, I could not finish it.  Conrad had a petit filet mignon, and even that was big.  We dined heartily, loading us up for the rainy two-block walk back to the Dolby Theater.

The walk was cool.  Hollywood is tacky as all get-out, truly, though there are little glimpses of show biz and glamour. 

Still, it is cool to see the stars as you walk even if it's bloody slippery in the rain. 

Umbrellas definitely needed this weekend! 

We headed into the complex where the theater (which is the site of the Oscars) was located, past an ice cream shop advertising New Zealand style ice cream, which left us with questions, for sure. 

And then on into the theater and to our seats. 

A little wait, drinking in the sights of the auditorium around us,

and the show began.

A crack ensemble - the current iteration of The Tijuana Brass - took their positions on stage, and then the man himself, Herb Alpert, came out. 

90 years old.  Toting his trumpet.  The crowd roared its approval.  And then we were off.  Alpert was great.  He had good stories and stage banter.  He had sage advice.  He can still blow a horn.  He and his band went through a number of hits, and I realized that even if I knew the names of only a couple of songs, I was familiar with a lot more of the music than I would have guessed.  He brought out his wife, and she sang a medley.  There was vintage footage interspersed and showing during the songs.  It was two hours without intermission, and it was a damn fine show.

That makes the second of three Fridays in a row of going to see live music, and wow, was I glad we did this one.  And I definitely want to go back to Musso & Frank, concert or no concert.  All that, plus much needed rain.  A highlight of the month, for sure. 

this past November weekend otherwise

Other than the concert, Peter, how was last weekend?  Let's check in quickly before this weekend starts.

It was actually a pretty low key weekend, to be honest, and there's not a lot to share.  Oh, I made a nice dinner of short ribs and pea puree on the Saturday for the three of us. 

The leftovers were tasty, too!

Conrad and I had a lazy start to Saturday, mind you.  A walk for me, then Van made us all breakfast.  Groceries on the way home, tidied some things around the condo,

then into the kitchen with me.  Our dinner was good, we watched a little television, and that was our Saturday.  Nice.

Sunday started out with a sunny morning for a walk

followed by breakfast at Amara, which I didn't photograph for a change.  More things done at home, but the real fun was our monthly online happy hour.  And you would think I picked the theme given what a fan I am of the show, Archer, but no.  Rachel and Chris chose the theme, and I ran with it.  As I tend to do now, I made multiple drinks to try before settling on any of them. 

The winner?  The Gillette (as in the character Ray Gillette).  Essentially a gimlet but made with Old Tom gin.

It was a very warm day on Sunday, hitting 87.  Conrad and I sat outside, enjoying refreshing drinks and the company of our happy hour gang.  After we were done, he and I enjoyed a charcuterie board for dinner, watched the finale of the Great British Bake Off, and called the weekend a success.

And now the new weekend is about to begin.... 

Friday night concert downtown

For a year that started out with us going to very few concerts, we sure are ending it with a bang.  Three Fridays in a row this month with concerts, three concerts again in the space of 8 or 9 days in December.  I sit here listening to some Samara Joy Christmas music knowing we have tickets to see her in the New Year as well as Dan Mangan.  Lots of shows to go see.  Yay!

Last Friday Van and I left Olive in the care of Conrad (and both of them were very very fine with that)

and headed into DTLA, first to Joyce, a restaurant I had been to before and liked.  Joyce was already in the holiday spirit what with Christmas decorations up, and their drinks menu

was themed to tie in with that.  I opted for the Sketches on Christmas and liked it. 

Van and I shared the food, and it came out fairly quickly.  The cornbread was great,

the watermelon salad also (and different than what we expected - that was fun to see set down on the table). 

I didn't photograph the shrimp and grits, and I did like then, but I think the real star was the fried Cornish game hen. 

Three pieces plus biscuits, it was a nice play on what you would get at a fast food chicken restaurant.  Rather than get dessert, I opted to go not-sweet and ordered the Mother of Pearl Martini. 

It was interesting, and a generous pour, but at a certain point it tipped over into too funky, and I didn't finish it.  And that was fine!  Just enough food and beverage, and with that dinner done, we headed through DTLA

and over to The Novo on foot.

I liked the venue.  Van had got us VIP seats, which meant a lounge upstairs and great seating at the front of the balcony.  It was odd to me, though, that they didn't monitor the experience well.  Anyone could come up to the lounge, no gatekeeping of that.  Moreover, the ushers didn't monitor seats and tickets, and so there were folks who were squatting in prime seats who had to leave as more people with the correct tickets came along.  Like us.  It was strange that that happened, but not a real bother otherwise.

Van and I stayed in the lounge through the opening act, Bay Ledges. 

There were screens set up, and we could watch it there.  We didn't know him or his music, and honestly, it was a little dismal.  One guy on stage singing along to his canned music - he was doing what he loved, and I admired that, but I wasn't into what I heard.  I gave it a listen the next morning on a walk, and no, it didn't grab me.

The main act was what we were there for, or Van certainly was.  Leisure, a collective from New Zealand who have put out a handful of albums.  I'm not sure how Van stumbled on them, but he seemed to know a bunch of the songs.  I messaged Dion and Minna in NZ after the show, and they had never heard of Leisure.  Anyway, I have to say that they were tight.  I mean, they were playing so well together, there were no lags, no fumbling around.  They had coordinated outfits, they swapped lead on the songs, and it all went together so well.  I was impressed by them as a band.

But...

The sound!  It's not a big venue.  Not tiny, but not big.  That sound was so so loud.  And I swear it got louder by the end.  I was plugging my ears with my fingers during the last song.  I could feel the bass hitting my chest.  It was too much.  And it meant that the singing got lost in the mix.  A lot of the singing - and singing duties were shared - was softer and higher than I would have guessed from five men, and ultimately, I could hear the singing but not understand a lot of it.  And that meant that a lot of the music started to sound the same to me.

How would I classify the group?  Retro-soul/funk/pop?  In recordings, they sound kind of chill-out and lounge-y, sort of dance-y.  In live performance?  They came across as 90s white funk and made me think of Jamiroquai very vaguely.  I didn't have a better point of comparison.  Anyway, as the set went on, I continued to admire the group, but I was enjoying myself a little less.  A shame.  I think that better sound would have gone a long way toward me having more fun.

The show over, Van and I had the walk back to where the car was parked, a thick fog settling over the city as we made our way there and then on to home. 

One concert for November done.  Bring on the next!