Please sir, I want some more

and more we had, let me tell you.

I had every intention of being good this weekend. I cooked dinner AND breakfast and for those of you who know my eating habits, cooking two meals IN A ROW is not my usual. And I planned on cooking 2 meals a day.

Then it all fell apart.

Saturday Lunch:

Novel Cafe: I dig this place. Its in Westwood, has free Wifi, good food and both indoor and outdoor seating. Every time I've eaten here I've had something different and I've always been happy. For lunch I had the veggie burger. And, unlike most places, this one gives you the option of white or wheat bun. Nothing cancels out a veggie burger like a white bun...I mean, might as well have the real hamburger if you're going that way. But, encased in a fresh wheat bun, it was tres yummy.

Diddy Reese: Of course with all that healthy eating, we had to have dessert. I've been going to Diddy Reese since I was a kid. $0.25 for a cookie was the right price on my allowance. Yeah, we're up to $0.35 now, big spender. But, on this special occasion, I opted for a fresh ice-cream sandwich...$1.50, seriously you can't beat it. And, if you've never been there because you're scared of the line I have two suggestions for you: go early or brave the line, it only takes a few minutes and its totally worth it.

Saturday Dinner:

Fufaibo: I've blogged about it before, so I won't bore you again. But, there was some FANTASTIC people watching there on Saturday. For the Minnesota kids, lets just say we had two townies on a date. Yeah, they were special. We loved them.

Beard Papa: Ok, maybe you can eat somewhere on Sawtelle without stopping there for dessert. But I can't. Don't judge me.

Sunday:

Breakfast:

Ok, it really wasn't my fault as I needed to get new tires put on whtvr so our options were rather limited. But, I will tell you that I'm digging Liberty Tire. If you need tires, go there. My mechanic recommended them and really the boys couldn't have been nicer.

Lunch:

Lawton's: Todd and I walked by this place when we were down at the Convention Center for the Eukanuba Dog Show (yeah, I just realised that I forgot to post about that.) Anyways, we were on a hunt for pretzels and although Lawton's doesn't have pretzels, we made a mental note about this place. Boy are we glad we did. We popped down to the Aquarium with Steve and Melissa and after a few hours of staring at really pretty fish we were hungry.

Lawton's might not look like much as they're just a counter with no tables and chairs but the food is cheap and they make everything fresh to order. We were all super happy with our food...we had a veggie burger (yeah, me), fries, onion rings, hot dogs and fish and chips...we sat on the grass a few feet away and had an impromptu picnic...if you're in the area and chain restaurants scare you (as they do me), I highly recommend Lawton's!

Dinner:

Yeah, 'cause we haven't eaten enough yet.

Brasa Brasil just opened in Culver City. (I now have only one more restaurant to eat at in this mini-mall before I have it conquered.) If you're a meat eater, you need to try this place. All you can eat meat. Seriously. You start out with the all you can eat salad bar and sides. Both are quite good. Between the cheesy bread and the mashed potatoes, I was a happy camper. But then we come to why we go to Brasa....the food is Brasilian bbq which means that the waiters bring out meat cooked on what looks like a sword for you to yay or nay. We did a whole lot of yaying. Yum. And, if you have your table marker pointed to yes, the food just keeps on coming...bacon wrapped chicken, garlic beef, lamb, etc... and coming until you cry uncle. Granted, as some Yelpers have said, this is not Fogo de Chao. Duh. The 6 of us at (with tip) ate for about $150. Seriously, you can't do that at Fogo. And, like its neighbor Giovonni's, you can bring your own wine to Brasa and they don't charge you a corkage.

And then Monday lunch was Pink's (I had a Turkey dog...even that's good!) and dinner consisted of gramma's homemade Italian Wedding Soup and pasta with gramma's homemade vodka sauce.

Yeah, I'll be eating veggies and popcorn for the rest of the week....

More knitted stuff, with links for her pleasure

As I've talked about before, k8 takes fabulous pictures. And, lucky for me, sometimes stuff I've made for her beautiful daughter ends up in the frame.

Here's the blanket I made for the wee vampire. Isn't she just gorgeous? I love this picture. And, the blanket I made doesn't look half bad either. Its "Baby's first blanket" from Hollywood Knits Style by Suss Cousins. In general Suss's Hollywood Knits books (there two of them) are great for beginners. She writes her patterns clearly and there are no charts in sight. (As I've only been knitting for a few years, well written instructions are a must have!)

This is a great blanket for beginners as the only skills you need are knit, purl and single crochet. And, its a perfect travel project as you work on this in parts and then put it together at the end...nothing bulky to carry around.

I used a combination of Suss's cotton yarns and the always reliable (and inexpensive) Sugar'n'Cream cotton yarns. I'm guessing, if you did this in the Malabrigo organic yarns Allison is going to be carrying, this would please even the pickiest of new moms.

Trying new things

We all have our comfort zone. I know I do. When I go to the mall, I park in the same area so I can always find my car. You know, that sort of thing. So, since I'm getting out of the house again, I wanted to try a few new things, and try not to stick to the same things I always do/eat/whatever.

Miyako: Brigitta and I finally had dinner on Thursday. (My fault, not hers). She was tossing out various places to eat (one of the perks of Culver City living) and we both agreed on Miyako. It was the one place in that minimall I hadn't been yet. Despite the casual look of the place, the service couldn't be better. The ladies were just lovely. The food was quick, inexpensive and quite tasty. One word of advice, try to order what you can eat. I brought my extra tempura home and tried to eat it as leftovers. Yeah, that didn't work too well. But, I think if I was more careful to order only what I could eat, I would have been a perfect inexpensive meal.

Dupars: k8 and I finally had lunch on Saturday. (My fault, not hers). We were tossing out various places to push around the baby and we both agreed on Farmer's Market (one of the perks of Westside living). Upon wandering around Farmer's Market we decided Dupars would be a good place to try. Neither of us had been and there were waitresses to bring us our food...a definite perk considering the crowds at The Grove/Farmer's Market on a Saturday. Despite the casual look of the place, the service was quite good. Our waitress was lovely. The food was quick, inexpensive and quite tasty. We sat outside on the patio and watched the cars go by and gave us some room and an easy exit for when our guest of honor needed to move around. If you're looking for a reasonably priced place to sit and eat at the Grove/Farmer's Market, I'd definitely recommend Dupars.

Guelaguetza: Ok, this is the inspiration for this post. I had been to Guelaguetza years ago. I really didn't like it. I couldn't even eat the food I ordered. And I was hungry. And it just sat there. And I was sad. But, its been a few years and those wounds have healed. So, when famished and facing the decision on where to eat, with Guelaguetza's Venice Blvd. outpost staring at me, I thought how better to try to step outside myself than to give a second chance to a place I know is good but I didn't like the first time. If you're not familiar with Oaxaquenan food, read the website or go to Wikipedia or something. This ain't your Taco Bell Mexican. This is something completely different. And inexpensive. And they have Mexican Coke. And it was all good. I think if I were to go again I would like to go with someone who really understands mole and Oaxaquenan food. I think that would make all the difference.

Don't forget to exercise!

As my non-knitting readers may not know, knitting isn't just sitting in a chair. Oh, no, no, no. You may think you know since you might know someone who goes to a knitting group or class. That makes sense to you, the non-knitter. Socialize, brush up on your skills...perfect sense. But, as as the knitters who are reading this know, there is so much, much more out there...knitting charities, wars, Olympics, swaps and so many new and unusual ways to torture, er, amuse yourself with your needles and a bit of string.

Although I get to the Thursday meet up of the Weho S'n'B as often as I can, and I've been known to participate in a charity or two, that's about all the time I have. I'm too busy torturing myself with my own twisted ideas of what I can and cannot do on a set of needles in a given amount of time to try to conform to someone else's twisted ideas. For example, tonight I made the first 2 inches of something on circulars that, although I checked twice for twisting, somehow had twisted itself. So, I spent the last few minutes of my evening, frogging said project, to begin again tomorrow, hopeful not to twist again. (Knitters nodding, non-knitters wondering where this is going).

So, it seems, someone has unintentionally put it upon themselves to set up a sort of knitting exercise for me. For Christmas, Santa brought me yarn, Lantern Moon needles (which I'm sad to say, I broke tonight. Moment of silence....carry on) and gift certificate. I've already gushed about the needles (they really were lovely and their death was no fault of their own) and the gift certificate so I'm here to talk about the yarn.

The yarn is beautiful and was picked out so carefully I was touched. Seriously. I could see the buyer in the choices. It was so sweet. Sadly, I could not see myself. As many of us write, there are certain yarns that speak to us. I'm definitely in that camp. I dig reds and burgundies and purples, mostly in wool. That's just what talks to me. I also buy large quantities of wool in different blues because that's what speaks to the significant other, making for some excellent gift giving. But, those color or fiber choices did not talk to Santa. Although I was told I could easily return the yarn to buy whatever I want, I just couldn't bring myself to do that. It was such a kind gift that I knew I needed to figure out a way to not only use the yarn, but to use it on projects I would love. There were three yarns gifted to me. All three consist of 4 skeins in various colors and fibers.

First up, lilac ribbon yarn.

Ok, I don't do ribbon yarn. And I certainly don't do ribbon yarn with mohair in lilac topped of with a sprig of something black.

Wow.

I stared at the yarn.

It stared back at me.

As odd as it might sound, the yarn finally spoke.

SHRUG ME.

Yeah, like I'm going to argue with talking yarn.

I tore apart my knitting library and burned up the interwebs looking for the perfect pattern. I didn't find it. Such is my life. I settled on a pattern from One Skein Wonders and knitted it in one night. Yeah. When I put it on, I figured it might fit someone about 8 years old. Not the sort of outcome I had wanted for such a lovely gift.

So I did what any lazy knitter would do. I frogged the whole thing and used the same pattern but on needles 3 sizes bigger, and added 6 stitches. (What, you expected me to spend hours to try to find a better pattern. You're funny.)

Oddly, my laziness worked:

No, the shrug isn't lopsided. I am. But since I was in the little girls room taking pictures, time was of the essence.

Book: One Skein Wonders
Page: 57
Pattern: Shrug This
Needles: 13 (pattern calls for 10.5)
Stitches added to pattern at cast on: 6
Pin: Dominique Cohen for Target (yeah, like I was going to do buttons after knitting this twice)

So that was my workout for the week. I'll tackle the other two yarns later.

Don't worry, I'll bore, er, tell you all about it.

New Year, New Challenges

Last month, I received an email from Steve asking if I'd be interested in participating in a group sort of project 365. I had tried to do this on my own but failed miserably.

But.

As a group.

This could be interesting.

So far, I've made it everyday. And yes, I know we're only a week in but I think this will be similar to my boot camp workout days. When you know people are waiting on you, cheering you on, watching your progress and might point and laugh if you fall behind, well, that's one hell of a motivator.

Works for me.

The link is up on the right. Check us out. The only thing we have in common is Steve. Some of us are friends. Some of us have never met. (Mental note, ask Steve who some of these people are.) But, for this year, we are 366:2008.

Back to the knitting talk

Not that I ever stopped talking about knitting, I just couldn't post anything. All projects were going to be gifts so I couldn't exactly chat about them.

Of course, in the mad rush of Christmas, I didn't take pictures of most of what I gave. But, as time goes on, I'll try to post shots of the gifts "in action." I mean, remember the picture I took of the Baby Brunhilde hat. Hot, right? k8 took one so much better (not that its any real shock since she's got mad photo skilz)...but my point still remains in the power of action shots.

Ok, here's how I spent my Saturday afternoon/evening.

Catherine made this hat first. As a general rule, Catherine makes cool stuff. Poking around her projects one night on Ravelry I found the hat. The hat changed my life. All through my Christmas knitting I was jonesing to make the hat. I needed the hat. And now the hat is mine.

Funny thing about the hat...For Christmas, I was lucky enough to receive yarn, needles (Lantern Moon!) and a gift certificate to Suss Knits. (More about that yarn in another post.) Today, I treated myself to that gift certificate. As I walked through the store and stared at the nook o' yarn, I kept going over and over what did I need or want...and I was struggling.

As luck would have it, I'm absent minded enough to accidentally buy the yarn for the hat. The alpaca yarns (on the top shelf about six feet up no less) kept calling me so I bought skeins in black, gray and white, thinking I would make myself, or others, nice hats or scarves, weight appropriate to our SoCal winters.

Yeah, I needed white for the hat.

That occurred to me when I was driving home.

I think that was the first time I've smiled while coughing this week.

Haven't see the Ark yet

but I can report there is water falling from the sky at a quick pace.

Weather people have been forecasting the second coming of Noah for the last few days. He was supposed to be here yesterday in the first of three storms that were all supposed to meet up together. But, Noah's late to his own party. Instead, sadly, we had all these newscasters scattered all around the city in rain gear with no rain. So, they all had to cover the Britney meltdown. I'm sure that's why they all went to journalism school and put in the long days they have over the years.

But I digress, RAIN RAIN RAIN. Most people, those not from L.A., don't think we have seasons. But, we do. Spring, Summer, Fire, Flood. Obviously, right now we're starting flood. Once everything burns then it gets wet and falls down and that's not good. Then you have people who can't drive on a good day but put some WATER in their way and all hell breaks loose.

But, the rain also brings drama to Chez Radomile. When you live in a house built in 1927, it has its quirks. But, more importantly, when you have two greyhounds accustomed to dry weather and a large backyard at their beck and call, its an even bigger issue. Jane feels the same way I do about restrooms, they should be clean, private and warm. So yeah, her little wet square of grass in the backyard isn't doing it for her right now. As luck would have it, I'm only out of the house for a few hours a day so I can talk her through how to be a dog and actually use the little girls room when its wet out. A mother's work is never done.

So for all the SoCal kids, I hope you're keeping dry and warm.

So for all the non-SoCal kids, I hope you're keeping dry and warm. I guess there is weather in places other than L.A., eh?

Good Enough

I try to keep this blog sunshine and moonbeams but I can't be adequately thankful for this past year without being completely honest about how this past year ended.

Its been an incredible year filled with a new job, new friends, travel, love and really just about anything a girl could want.*

Christmas held family and friends, even a logical sighting at Xian (the only yummy restaurant open in Beverly Hills on Christmas) and more gift cards and knitting books than I can still wrap my head around.

My birthday began at the Bel Air Hotel where we sat next to the Divine Miss M but ended almost going to the emergency room. I didn't go...I'm lucky to have the only pulmonologist on call during his vacation and he walked me through the medications needed to breathe again....medications I hate and will tell each and every one of you not to take unless its those medications or the hospital. But they work. And I blog now after 36 of the toughest hours I've had all year.

Therefore, I begin 2008 humbled and grateful for all that I have.

To my loyal blog readers, I thank you. I hope your 2008 extraordinary.

XOXO,
Jenna

*I must admit, I am still waiting for that Mini Cooper to appear in my driveway, with keys and a title in my name.