downtown l.a.- you're doing it wrong

i mean seriously. i thought maybe my three year absence would bring some new, fun stuff, but nope. it still sucks. my brother was in town, so i thought it might be a good time to explore a little. we went to the edison, which is this really cool bar downtown. cool, in that it looks cool, but that's where the fun stops folks. i have to say i just didn't get it. the place was HUGE, the music was too loud, the service was honestly the worst i've had in a long time. the food was okay only. the crowd/vibe- well i don't know, i guess it's the downtown vibe? odd mix of people. nevertheless i give you the edison, which i must admit had a very cool interior and a little fairy selling absinthe- how nice.





cool interior touches




and these were some of the most tasty wings i've ever had



i had the fish and chips- fish was awesome, chips=dumb. my friend got lobster corndogs, also unimpressive, but the sweet potato fries were real tasty and they had homemade blue cheese dressing, which was real, real tasty.



here is a picture of the worst waitress ever. this is how she was most of the night- hair twirling/flirting with bartender. it's been a long, long time since i haven't left a tip



and here is cute brother, most often can be found calm, cool and collective, unlike his sometimes high strung, bitchy sister

a street and district in NYC that is associated with drunks and vagrants!

oh sounds exciting! that is the bowery. i didn't actually go to "the" bowery, but to a restaurant in l.a. so named. i have always wanted to try it, but never had made it over. it was okay. i had the burger, which they are supposedly famous for. it was on an english muffin, which is different and not terribly impressive, but ce la vie! we took mimi and she was mostly good except for when i went to the bathroom she freaked out like i was abandoning her for all eternity. bless her critter brain. her are some fun pics:

malibu babies

welcome to malibu!

my friend jane is pregnant. although not really evidenced in this photo, it is true, she is.

her friends threw her a gorgeous baby shower in malibu. it was a sunny, lovely day with lots of yummy food. we had lunch outside. the couscous was my favorite.

and there were gobs of flowers!

and inside too:

jane admiring her new, fancy diaper bag

dessert table!

cupcakes!

wide shot:

robyn in front of dream house

it was a beautiful day and it was great spending time with old friends. oh and it was pretty.

velvet portraitures make me swoon

oh you think i'm kidding? well if you really knew me you would know that i take this type of art work very seriously. i've always wanted a velvet elvis or jesus or something real classy. oh you know how i love the kitsch. which reminds me my aunt's 1, 2, third husband was a bit of a...well let's keep this nice, knowing family reads this- so let's just say he was different and had an affinity for all things from the deseret industries (it's like goodwill, only mormon style). i have to hand it to him though, he found a jewel, a real jewel. it was a massive velvet landscape! this thing was enormous and it graced the living room wall, directly above the couch (as it should). i would have snatched it, but he ruined it. not by being a jerk or a weirdo, even though he was both of those things, but because he fancied himself a bit of an artist and felt that he could take creative allowances. he actually painted some extras into the awe inspiring landscape of whatever forest, who cares, it had velvet on it. that's right. he painted onto a painting. i hate him forever for that. needless to say that thing went right back to the d.i.

i digress, lest we forget i am being restaurant bloggy blog for a little bit.
after work a couple of us decide it's mexican food time, which usually means el compadre's for me (i'll blog about that one later), but i started getting a real craving for velvet wallpaper so off we went to La Velvet Margarita! when i lived in l.a. i always liked to take the young kids here for a visit, because in a word, it is: unique. the food is, let's be honest subpar, but who cares it's mexican and everyone drinks a lot of tequila beforehand anyway.

and this is what i'm talking about:


and that is why i love this place. completely %110 about the decor. from the flocked wallpaper, day of the dead decor, glass tabletops that make you want to do coke so bad your gums go numb, oh and cool vip room upstairs that i peaked into that looks like something jennifer lopez has in her jenny from the block mansion. no, no this place isn't so much about the food, i'm certainly not going back because of the green enchilada with tomatilla sauce. totally boring. the service was the best i've had since being back in l.a. from the valet, to the bouncer, to the host, to the bartender and finally to the waiter. velvet makes everything smooth.
oh and these guys are great too!

can't beat a glass table top

me and ups

and one final group photo!

tender lovin'

my first week back in l.a. john took me to this place he loves in west hollywood called tender greens. i fell in love. in fact i'm totally salivating just thinking about it. they have this great little schtick, very simple menu. they have 10 salads you can choose from as an entree or 4 hot meals you can choose from- the hot meals come with mashed potatoes and a side salad. you have your choice of grilled veggies, tuna, chicken or flank steak. all of the above cost: $10.50. nice! it's in weho so it's trendy:

nice, huh? oh and apparently everything is organic and stuff.
i had the tuna (duh), but you get the idea. it's solid, yummy, freshy food.

cousin and second cousin connection!

well saturday was a big day for me! i had some adventures in the OC and then back over to santa monica. my cousin katie is kind of amazing or kind of crazy. either way i sure love having cousin connection. i say crazy in a loving way people, jeez- like i'd really spill all the family secrets on the world wide web! anyhow katie and her husband hosted a slip and slide party. some of their friends and family with toddlers showed up, oh and me. katie filled up water balloons, ben mowed the lawn, i surveyed the activities. all in all it was a very productive afternoon for me. i really did have a great time and i was amazed by my cousin's abilities. she is constantly on the go, almost in a dizzying sort of way and if i didn't know her better i would think she was taking methamphetamines or abusing ritalin or something. but seriously. par example, after we spent a few hours being in the hot OC sun and playing volleyball, soothing crying children and actually heaving down the giant piece of plastic that is: the slip-and-slide. okay well actually i did none of those things, but both katie and bed did. i just sat in a lawn chair and did what i do best: chat and eat otter pops. so after all that, we go inside to discover that a mysterious urine spot has been identified and located on cousin's very cool couch. so katie proceeded to simultaneously spot clean the couch (which was a serious undertaking), give ruby a bath, clean the bathtub (when ruby accidentally used it as the toilet), vaccuumed and somehow provided me with homemade mac & cheese and a yummy avocado, cilantro salad.
katie working on the couch:
me hanging out with lulu!

cousin, still cleaning couch:
we were sitting on the pee-less side of the couch:
when everything was finally all settled we sat down and watched coraline (i love that movie so much). i had to head out as i had another place to be, so freshened up in the bathroom, when i came out- katie had ruby at the dinner table eating a full on meal. like i said, crazy.
i wanted to eat these little baby legs stuffed into this cool/weird moldable chair thing:

poopsy daisy

that's what happens when you go to hokusai in beverly hills and expect to have a decent experience. so here's the thing. i went once before with john and one of his clients. it was happy hour so all the appetizers were super cheap. i had shishito which are japanese sauteed peppers with rock salt. they were surprisingly tasty, although i thought they tasted more like okra then peppers- fine by me, i love some okra! and then i had these crab taco things, which totally underwhelmed me because it was just too, too much imitation crab and come on, nicki loves her crab, uh hem, real crab.

i mean it's your average sort of trendy japanese restaurant, right?

anjel went with me the second time on my suggestion. poopsy daisy. immediately i remembered the server from last time because he had forgotten my unagi, after being reminded still forgot and then when we asked for the check insisted on bringing it out and in a slap on the wrist kind of way still charged me for it, even though i told him not to bring it out we were ready to go. whatever. so here we are, me and anjel. innocents. some people know that i have experience with those who have substance abuse/dependence issues. i like to be their therapist, you know when i'm getting paid. i do not like, i repeat DO NOT LIKE it when they are my servers. he was so cracked out and speedy i could barely keep up. he was confusing and totally in my face. he wouldn't leave and kept "checking" in like we were buddies. ugh. the food was okay, but because he sucked so bad and overcharged anjel on her drink i changed my mind and decided the food was not so good. although actually i did like the calamari.
the best part of the evening was when anjel tripped on her own ankle and collapsed in the ditch between the sidewalk and my car. oh that was good! i laughed and laughed and couldn't even help her up because i was laughing so hard i almost threw up my teriyaki chicken.