Blog Humbug

I'm still rather distressed about the events of last week involving Big Bad. It was really bad. Like walking out after five minutes because I didn't want to go further without a union rep bad. And having a $7K raise delayed for at least six months bad. And feeling totally singled out because other people have done a hell of a lot worse and never got reprimanded in this way type of bad. But I don't want to write post after post about his awfulness, especially during what should be a festive time of year. So indulge me in a bit of silliness. I promise it will give you great material with which to mock me for most of 2009.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of ice skating, both viewing it and participating myself. I'm also a fan of Twilight. Today my two hobbies became enmeshed after I purchased the Twilight soundtrack and listened to Bella's Lullaby.

That piece of music will totally be 'da bomb for my skating program next season!

I already have part of it plotted out in my head: use the first 30-40 seconds, cut out the next thirty, then edit in the final minute. One crescendo can be used for footwork into a really pretty spiral sequence. The final crescendo can lead into a jump or jump combination, followed by concluding in a scratch spin --- one of those dizzying, really fast, one-foot ones that get faster as the spin progresses. Like this:



It.will.be.awesome. :-)

I don't even have to worry about finding a costume since I have two skating dresses that will work for the music, both which have lots of silver (possible spoiler in the link if you haven't read the book or seen the movie) sparkles. However neither dress is the Twilight skating dress by Jerry's Skatewear. I haven't completely gone insane.

A Brief PSA

If you are over the age of 30, do not see a mid-evening screening of a PG-13 movie. You will feel as if you are chaperoning a high school dance.

Apart from that Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist was an enjoyable, although somewhat predictable, film. The soundstrack is pretty good too. However, you may not want to chew gum again for a while.

More Mozza Please

One of my dearest friends from the bay area flew down for a visit this past weekend. Since it was her first time visiting me since I moved, we had been planning our activities for a while. Well, we planned one activity around which the rest of the trip was planned: lunch at Pizzeria Mozza. Valerie and I are both Top Chef fanatics and a few seasons ago cheftestant Tiffani Faison created a divine-sounding salted butterscotch pudding for a challenge. Shortly after the episode aired I read that her dessert was inspired by the butterscotch budino at Pizzeria Mozza. The budino has been an obsession ever since.

There was ample 2-hour street parking just around the corner from the restaurant. We parked under an interesting tree that neither one of us could identify. Fruit? Flower? Any gardeners out there who can solve this mystery?

The graffiti on this dumpster seemed to raise a Law & Disorder appropriate question: What the hell happened here?! Did we stumble upon a popular baby dumping part of the city? :-/

From the corner of Highland & Melrose we could see the iconic Hollywood sign, albeit it through a thick layer of nasty haze.
Finally, we were inside the pizzeria. We had arrived a bit early for our 1:15 reservation and the restaurant was indeed full until our table was ready. We had waited outside because the restaurant was very full and standing space was limited. It's a tiny place. When I called at 10am exactly one month prior to make the reservation, I was number 4 on the waiting list of calls to be answered. Despite that, 1:15 was still the earliest lunch reservation I could get. They weren't kidding around. The place was packed with a mix of families, young & old couples and large groups of friends.

We started off with crisp breadsticks.

The wine list is extensive, reasonably priced and features Italian wines. You can either purchase a bottle or a quartino. I asked our waitress to recommend an easy-drinking white and ended up with a '04 Verdicchio di Castelli di Jesi.
Valerie had a '05 Montepulciano Quattro Mani.

We shared an appetizer of fried squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta. I've been obsessed with trying fried squash blossoms since I read A Thousand Days in Tuscany. I wasn't disappointed. The batter was light and crispy. And the contrast between the crisp exterior and the warm. melty cheese inside was wonderful. While we ate our appetizer, we noticed that the table next to us had ordered an incredible looking caprese salad with burrata and roasted tomatoes. I had a moment of appetizer envy, but since squash blossoms are a seasonal item (and yummy!) I didn't have any regrets.

Valerie ordered a pizza topped with prosciutto di parma, rucola, tomato & mozzarella.

I ordered the fennel sausage, panna, red onion & scallion pizza.
Both pizzas were great and on par with pizzas I have eaten in Italy. They definitely lived up to the hype that this place receives. In particular, the house-made fennel sausage was outstanding. If they sold that stuff I'd be buying it by the pounds.

Although we knew we'd be ordering the butterscotch budino for dessert, we didn't see any harm in ordering another dessert to share as well. We started Round 3 of our meal with a coconut sorbetto pie. Served in a chocolate crust and with salted almonds on the side, it tasted like an upscale, reinvented Almond Joy. Sometimes I feel like a nut, so I enjoyed this dessert.

The best was saved for last. I'm normally not a huge fan of butterscotch; it's not the first thing I think of when I think of dessert. But the budino was one of the most perfect desserts I have had in recent memory. The budino was thick and creamy without being heavy. The sweetness of the budino and layer of cramel is perfectly balanced by the flecks of sea salt. It's accompanied by shortbread cookies topped with pinenuts and rosemary, which are fantastic in their own right. The only remotely bad thing I can say about this dessert is that the whipped cream isn't necessary. It doesn't really add anything other than a nice aesthetic. We spooned off the cream so that we could fully enjoy the flavors of the budino.
In short, I can't wait to head back to Pizzeria Mozza. Deciding what to order was somewhat of a challenge because there were so many items on the menu I wanted to try. Not to mention that I could definitely have more budino in my life. Getting a reservations seems to require a bit of planning, but it seemed that walk-ins didn't have too long of a wait getting seats at one of the bar counters, especially towards the tail end of lunch (approx. 2pm).

After lunch we headed over to Amoeba Records. Valerie had certain CDs in mind that she was on the hunt for. I didn't have anything in mind at all yet I walked out with all of the following:

Clockwise from left: Death Cab for Cutie, Bollywood Dreams, Karsh Kale, Midival Punditz & Nirvana.

Shopping was followed up by watching the movie The Women. Certain aspects of the story riled up my inner feminist. But overall it was an entertaining movie and I lusted after many of the handbags, shoes and dresses worn by the characters. It was a good movie to watch with a great girlfriend.

Weekend Wrap-up

I can't believe it's already Wednesday and I'm just catching up on the weekend's activities! What can I say? It's been a busy week.

I started off Saturday morning by visiting my aesthetician Marina at Faces Salon. It took me two years and a few painful experiences before I found her three years ago, but ever since my first visit I've been a loyal client. It's a bit of a trek for me, so I usually try to make a day of it when I head out there. Often I end up shopping at The Grove, but this past Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting up with Weezermonkey, Insomniac and CBB for brunch at BLD. I ordered brioche french toast with creme fraiche and a berry compote. Look at the adorable log cabin inspired tin my syrup came in:

Yes, that tasted as good as it looked. I had also ordered a side of chicken merguez sausage. As Weezermonkey noted, it was tasty but a bit dry and crumbly. Since I had never had merguez sausage before I wondered if that texture was the norm. Nothing I subsequently read mentioned dryness, but almost everything I read mentioned that merguez is traditionally made from either beef or lamb. I'm thinking that chicken, while healthier, didn't provide enough fat to properly bind the sausage.

Brunch was so much fun. My cheeks were tired from all the laughter. And as if my immediate company weren't enough, I had my first celebrity sighting after six years of living in SoCal! Oscar winner Forest Whitaker was seated at a table nearby.

On the way home I snapped this picture of the Mel's Drive-In on Highland Avenue. Can you read that line of script underneath the Mel's logo? It says "celebrity bar". Although it's likely outdated (when was the last time you heard of a Lohan sighting at Mel's?), I thought it was a cute nod to that particular diner's location since I've never seen that designation on any other Mel's Drive-In.

Later the same evening Eddie and I headed out to OC to visit our friends and their baby boy. Is this a glimpse of the future?!

Sunday was quite the lazy day. I stayed in pajamas until about 5 o'clock. There isn't a new recipe to post for this week because Eddie and I went to the IMAX theater to watch this:

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, so all I'll say is that it was freakin' AWESOME. I usually get antsy during long movies, but the 2-1/2 hours flew by. I didn't want it to end. I never say that about action movies, but then again I think The Dark Knight is so much more than an action movie. The characters were so complex and the story delved into themes of good, evil, hope, mistrust and what it means to be a hero. Heath Ledger was phenomenal as the most twisted and disturbing Joker I have ever seen. I couldn't believe it was the same guy who was in 10 Things I Hate About You. It is such a shame that he left us so young, with so much talent he had yet to share.