“You think that it makes you a good person to give and give and give. And it does. You are. But you have to look at who you’re giving to. Do they deserve you? No, really? Think about it. Do they deserve you? If the answer is no. If they aren’t matching or exceeding what you offer, there is no excuse.…I’m not giving you what you don’t have to give me.”–Bassey Ikpi
I woke up feeling like LeBron James. My stomach woke up feeling like Cleveland.
“You can deprive the body but the soul needs chocolate.” Truer words…
Saw this at La Brea & Exposition. Umm…the Super Bowl is in Texas. I hope they have a shuttle.
A puzzle for children: this is my accomplishment for the day. I went to college.
Could I have taken a better picture of Ramz on his 31st birthday? Yes. Did I? No. Such are the mysteries of life.
It’s getting so long!
Adj. Something that is improvised or extemporized
Bad Bad Things show at Molly Malone’s. I was going to post the laughably awful lyrics of the band that opened for them but, on second thought, whiskey and water.
Roasted eggplant with tomato, mini bells, mushroom broth, olive oil, parmesan and pecorino mmmmmm
With a dolly from the neighbors but mostly the upper body strength of a champion, moved the treadmill out of the garage to replace the elliptical.
Abbot’s Habit with Natalie
We came. We saw. We brunched. Hard.
You know when you remember something really funny?
Post-Marianne yumfest at Vinoteque with Tiffany. I now pray to the gods of four cheese tortellini and the port that is better than port.
Vanilla tea latté. The fact that this was the second one of the day is just…
Sometimes, like when I look at my bank account, I think going to Vancouver was a terrible terrible idea. But then sometimes a friend sends you shortbread cookies and maybe, well just maybe things aren’t so bad. 🙂
Just before heading to the airport
See what e-readers take from us? The ability to snoop on the intellectual/interpersonal/spiritual pursuits of families I work for.
Today is one year since my grandfather died and thus, the birth of a new tradition: pulled pork in honor of his North Carolina roots. (Not pictured: a sweet tea.)
Vincible
The fact that I spent a good 30 minutes apologizing and yet Bridezillas is a show is just…
Chillin’ at Eboni’s
My face at seeing the trailer for another Put a Black Man in a Dress movie. Dear Hollywood, STOP DOING THIS. IT IS OFFENSIVE.
Awww Mike. He was so adorable! And I agree wholeheartedly. Get off the damn phone!
Mormon baby shower. 100 Seeds of Change. Dogsitting. Crazy day of running around but I am stoked at how well things are going at the garden.
The best croissant in LA can be found at Amandine on Wilshire, a Japanese-run French bakery. (Don’t question it, just go.) Fun fact: Did you know that the beloved croissant got its start as the Austrian version of the “freedom fry”? Which is to say, it started as piece of propaganda, anti-Ottoman propaganda to be precise. #themoreyouknow
Please please please please…
10:30 appt, didn’t get seen until 12 for the doctor to give me a handout about children. Cool health care.
Ma professeure de Français sent me an e-card. (And I understood it!)
This Water Pig is happy to welcome the Year of the Rabbit! I killed a rabbit once. In New Mexico. Late night driving and singing along to Christina Aguilera. It came out of nowhere. I still think about it sometimes. Gung hay fat choy!
4 generations at the Tasting Kitchen
The BEST browned butter chocolate chip cookies.
If you don’t have anything nice to say about the Black Eyed Peas halftime show, then…umm…take a picture of the word love. (Almost.)
Jealous? Why should I be jealous that people who choose to embarrass themselves on TV get to go to Bondi Beach while I get to take pictures of it from home with my not smartphone?
May you go in peace to the recycling center.
Karaoke bar across from Chateau for Adam’s birthday (and awkward moments in Blackness). His Welsh friend told me that he thought I should be on EastEnders.
Oh just photographing and meeting Jamie Oliver is all 🙂
Incomprehensibly beautiful sunset on the way home from downtown
Yep.
Birthday girl flanked by a rocket scientist and an astrophysicist.
Sometimes you know you’ve arrived.
Les Canadiens et moi en Pismo Beach
I forgot to take a picture the day the Canadians got to LA but I did manage to get the storm they brought with them.
Mao’s Kitchen…in bed.
MY FIRST CSA BOX!!! 😀
Sometimes the dog you’re sitting runs off for 30 minutes and comes back with AN ANIMAL SKULL. In other news, look how great my homemade french tip came out!
Hotel for Selena’s going away show
21 came out yesterday which means that I have spent all of today listening to 21
Omnivore’s Dilemma at Coffee Bean in Manhattan Beach in the cutest shoes I own
Waiting in the rain for the secret Adele show. Her “friend in my mind” status was only strengthened.
All dressed up and nowhere to go.
Special off-the-menu treat at Vinoteque for Oscar Sunday
Left a water bowl outside for Rocky, the dog of a family friend, and the next day this came and died in it
Today is a day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
1 tbsp of vital wheat gluten for every cup of whole wheat flour MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
I’m like an animal whisperer.
This is when you know it’s bad–and it was, in every sense of the word
I took this May 22, 2010 but a good portion of the day was spent considering a bridge I’ve yet to burn.
CSA pick-up day = guacamole with carrot and lettuce for lunch
Day 66 on Route 66
Oh.
Finally finished the tin of shortbread cookies Trevor sent me around Christmas which is fitting given how much this book extols the virtues of animal fat.
Drinking raw milk for my health
“Calamity makes cousins of us all.”–Saul Williams
Coffee table book reminds me why I’m not vegetarian: nature is not kind.
The infamous Tasting Kitchen brunch. We ate. So. Much.
Job excitement!
Noreen at the BG5 show she invited me to after successful probation day at Vinoteque.
St. Patrick’s Day and I almost forgot to take a picture. So this is my Inukshuk ring. I bought it at the Squamish Lil Wat Cultural Center in Whistler. It turns my finger a little green but I love it because of what it reminds me of.
Just a little research and development. I am reading about boston cream pie and Peruvian roast chicken FOR WORK. It is very important.
Walked Melrose from Gardner to La Brea to Fairfax, back to Gardner for a work project. (Fingers crossed)
Supermoon
DELICIOUS French toast soufflé at Little Doms in Los Feliz
No one ever believes me when I say I have grey hair. Trust me. It is all dye.
Worst Mexican I have ever had in LA. WORST.
When life gives you sour milk (and a glut of carrots), make carrot pecan spice cake and biscuits.
Lies.
After a long (not long), hard (quite enjoyable) day of work (eating new foods and looking up cool things), I was treated to one of the 2 new desserts: donuts and strawberry sorbet. Transcendent.
Earth Hour 2011
How cute is she on her way to brunch as I prep for lard making??
If I have to go to Orange County, I will go out of my way to rebel against it.
My new gps!
Don’t be fooled. This is warfare. Know the enemy.
An outtake from my farm visit. By the end of the day I had citrus coming out of my eyeballs.
Got these organic, fresh-cut roses from the farm yesterday. I wish I could capture how intensely wonderful they smell.
Walked to the Crenshaw Farmers’ Market and got my first up close look at the Catholic church in my neighborhood. Fun fact: Confession is from 4:30-5p once a week. I don’t know if that’s normal. Maybe it’s a way to subconsciously manipulate their parishioners into committing fewer sins.
Post-brunch stroll at Farmers’ Market and the Grove
The fact that we don’t all have Hepatitis A, E. Coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and Norowalk/Norovirus ALL THE TIME is a complete and utter miracle
Pizzeria Mozza for the first time with Erin. Madre di Dio it’s good.
I had to refresh on this for work. Wouldn’t it be nice if this worked for algebra and for real life?
The guy who does these, his name is Chase. He’s from Belguim. Most of his work is in Venice. We used to be Myspace friends. The end.
Vizzi Truck: Venison burger with maple-dijon sriracha aioli, charred sweet onion, queso panela, and bacon; white truffle popcorn; and a buttermilk cupcake with apple-pie filling. Life is delicious.
Me vs. Cherimoya. The cherimoya always loses.
When you forget to take a picture of the baby’s whose post-blessing lunch you went to or the iPad you played Angry Birds on or the bunny rabbit you colored with a 5 yr. old or the houseful of Mormons you spent the day with, you end with a picture of the doorbell. These things happen.
“And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
Venice.
Everything that looks like “highlights” is really grey hair which picks up henna differently
Just off Melrose, on the way to work
It doesn’t look like much, but this is the best parking spot ever!! The gods of parking smiled on us that Friday evening. (Too bad the gods of good movies didn’t.)
So many vendors. So much food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Soooooo cute!!
Just started taking an online class about food & culture and hellloo propaganda
My very first Sip n Swirl! Well technically, after my very first Sip n Swirl in which I attempted to sober up via kobe sliders and onion rings.
Taking Shawn around 3rd & Fairfax
Baby girl’s first gnocchi in butter sauce!
Spent Earth Day morning gardening for Thai
Earth Day weekend completely redoing the compost. It did not smell as good as it looks.
At Bubba Gumps on the Pier with Shawn and Eli and the Canadians before heading to Vinoteque and then out with the Brazilians in Hermosa.
I’ve never seen someone (Eboni) so excited about butter pecan syrup before
Housemade “beefaroni” for family meal. (I really love that it’s called “family” meal.)
So much for the road trip to Vancouver.
Skyping with Kelly, one of my Brazilian friends in Vancouver
The handful of us that were left at the end of the Royal Wedding watch party
It may not be the SeaWall but we sure like it
Marianne Williamson said it best, “I hope Bin Laden’s death brings a sense of justice to those who lost loved ones on 9/11, and I’m grateful to those in our military etc. who worked so hard to find him. I hope whatever destructive influence he still had is now ended. That being said, however, the celebrations outside the White House seem naive to me. Tonight is a night for sober and mature reflection, not glee.”
A little hippie first aid after the compost bin lid attacked: saline solution to clean the wound, honey to keep it sterile, and skin tone band-aids.
My first birthday present: a pair of gold earrings from Erin (and not from Tiffany)
It doesn’t look like much but folded inside are chapter ideas for the (soon to best-selling) book!
Feliz Cinco De Me-o
First Friday for the Vizzi truck. Madhouse.
Sometimes I get a little obsessive…
I was 4. She wasn’t.
Pajamas. Bethenny Ever After marathon. Kettle corn. Sparkling wine. (I know, I know, should have been a Skinny Girl Margarita; I did not plan well.)
C’est officiel.
What a day. Vancouver, Ireland, the Facebook feud, and potentially Sierra Leone?
When you realize that you forgot to take the day’s picture right before you go to sleep so you take one of the painting and dreamcatcher that hang above your bed.
A small peek of my handiwork after 4 hours of gardening.
Pages 2 of eleventy, notes for the first chapter. (I’m really gonna write a book.)
Go Canucks!!
The result of Noreen’s vision board party
Hello.
Outside the John Fluevog store on Melrose
Bad Bad Things win 1st round of Battle of the Bands at Rusty’s on the pier
The end of the phone fiasco
Stole a shot from set the day I worked as a stand-in. (Hopefully, I can replace this with the pic that the dolly operator took.)
Serenade during brunch at Saddle Ranch
All of the hours later–FINALLY DONE
“To the woman who saved me before I knew I was drowning–I simply can’t thank you enough for all of your hard work + friendship! Your energy and work ethic is infectious and I’m so honored you are part of the VT team! Cheers to a productive week! ❤ Erin"
If only you had seen the before! This was a tangled mess. I LOVE unknotting things. 🙂
The road rage blocker
Girls’ night Italian feast
On the way to the airport
It’s blurry (obviously) but a stolen shot inside of [name redacted]
Lettuce, arugula, spinach, tomato, smoked gouda, boiled eggs and then a dressing of apricot, strawberry, cilantro, honey, lime, balsamic & olive oil
It seems really mysterious and seductive; I really just forgot to take a picture that day
Homemade pizza with homemade tomato sauce! Not pictured: puff pastry
A glimpse of the office
Partway through making the lavender popcorn (!!) press kits. 🙂
Last day tutoring in the Hollywood Hills
Had a mini-freakout because I couldn’t find the Hollywood Sign
Leftovers from making the vision board
Yesssssss! (Though truth be told, it was a bit sour for my tastes. Nothing a squeeze of agave couldn’t remedy.)
Nutella & strawberries is the food of the gods
I wish I could have gotten a better shot of his face, but this dude did not strike me as the Twilight Saga demographic
Long day at work
Summarizing the Dhammapada for book research
And…..drunk!
Second time cooking a burger and I realize I cook like a vegetarian
Volunteered in my old drama teacher’s class. Me, the acting coach.
I didn’t take this, but I love this image from the riot. Like a modern-day sailor and the nurse.
Spending the afternoon looking at vineyards is proving to me that I am going about my life in the entirely wrong manner.
I wanted to get my hippie hair but I gave up after half a dozen tries. Also, later on that day TiRon called me to commiserate on how America is lame.
I am my complete annoyance with the mainstream Black hair care industry
“I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.”–Walt Whitman
Who needs to go to work when you can just go to the beach instead?
My car was filthy. FILTHY.
Between x-rays and throwing up, I saw this in Culver City.
Just a little famousin’ on the famous box
Surviving our 10 yr. high school reunion
Satan in a Sunday hat!
I got this on Day 120, when my bike attacked me at the beach. My third bruise (the first two coming from a car accident and chair dance). I don’t bruise easily but I sure don’t heal quickly.
Gorgeous flower in the alley behind the restaurant.
Sal’s bday show at Piano Bar. It was packed like how the Libra Room used to be.
I can’t even tell you how many of these little bags I made.
Considering how hot it was outside, this looked like hell on Earth.
Oh, you know, just DEER!
It was all delicious but that pot de creme….Jesus.
Oh America. There’s nowhere else in the world that my particular slave mix of West African, Native American/First Nations and Irish could have come together quite the way that it did–even if they weren’t particularly happy about it at the time. All’s well that ends well! 🙂 (Besides, who wants to sound like a Canadian?)
Happy would-be 35th birthday.
Late night moon gazing after leaving work.
I have no idea what this is but it was hanging over the intersection at Lincoln & Venice. Weird.
Low-carb friendly family meal 🙂
Passing around Peruvian food on my training day for my new food tour job.
No Reservations at VinoCinema. (That spaghetti looked sooo good.)
Sending my baby off to the doctor
Me actual going to bed on the same day that I woke up? This is remarkable.
Oh Melrose…
Spaghetti and coconut biscuits for the carb-challenged
Oh, you know, just a film shoot at my house
Eat Real Fest Day 1
Eat Real Fest Day 2
This is my face when I’m writing articles
Breakfast on Day 1 of the carb intolerance test
Almond meal “fried” chicken. Carb free might not be so bad.
On my TWO HOUR trek from Santa Monica to West Hollywood. I thought the sign was interesting.
At the end of the day…
Chris & Zora’s love lock on their 35th anniversary.
