1st Annual Food Truck Fest

If you have a short attention span here's my recap of the 1st Annual Food Truck Fest.

Holy bad planning Batman.

If you have a slightly larger attention span, I'll expand.

Ok, so if you've been here before you know I have a deep unexplainable love of the food trucks. I find it obvious, even if most of the people in my life think I'm crazy - good food, cheap and in not huge portions. Seriously, its like a dream come true for a foodie girl who doesn't cook. So, imagine my glee when one of the creators of Unique LA (one of my favorite events) teamed up with another person who does this sort of thing to create the 1st Annual Food Truck Fest AND she was going to have some Unique LA vendors there too. WIN!

I was able to control myself and not buy the $30 VIP tickets. (Yes, I did strain my shoulder patting myself on the back, thankyouverymuch.) But, I did jump at the $10 pre-sale tickets. Duh, an extra $5 so I don't have to stand in line. Easy. So, in true me fashion, Todd & I left at 10am for this extravaganza. It was set to start at 11am but since I didn't know exactly where I was going or parking, I felt a little extra time wouldn't hurt.

We scored $5 parking right across the street from our pre-sale entrance. However, when a group of us were wandering, looking for the pre-sale entrance, we were all a bit worried of what was to come since there wasn't a sign. Seriously, no sign. We didn't need a big one, just something that said "Pre-sale Entrance" or "Bike Valet Entrance." We're not picky. We just hoped for a sign.

Being the bright people we are, we figured out which unmarked gate to stand at. And we stood. And I stared at the volunteers on the other side of the big black padlocked gate. And I relayed their announcements to the waiting pre-sale masses. And we waited. After the fire marshall did his walk through, at 11:20am, we stormed in.

First up, Ludo Bites. Ok, all you Top Chef people know this dude. I've read about him but, uhm, yeah, we got in that line first because we knew it would be the longest. And, let me tell you, this was the best planned truck of the bunch. They served ONE THING. Freakin' brilliant for this crowd. $5 = two balls o' fried chicken. It was good. It didn't change my life, but it was good.

Komodo. Yes, those of you who are subject to my tweets know I've been hunting the elusive Komono for weeks. And by hunting I mean I've been waiting for them to show up within 5 feet of wherever I am. Finally! Todd & I accidentally double ordered at this truck. But, neither of us minded. I would totally go there again. They weren't serving burritos on Saturday (tacos only), but I hear the siren-song of the burrito. It must be mine. Yes, their "signature" taco had beef and guac good enough for me to wistfully dream meeting them again in burrito form. Not that the chicken didn't rock my world. It did. Twitter. Web.

QZilla. I don't think these boys knew what they were in for when they signed up for this event. Don't get me wrong, they had the best potato salad I've ever had IN MY LIFE. Yeah, it was that good. But if they had known what they were in for, I think they would have modified their menu just a touch. But holy crap, the potato salad? And their smack'n'cheese was darn tasty too. If you held a gun to my head and told me I had to pick a food truck that would appeal to EVERYONE I knew, foodies as well as picky-non-adventurous eaters. This one would be my choice. Besides, I'd be able to have their potato salad again. Twitter. Web.

Cool Haus. What? Why am I mentioning a truck I've already blogged about? Because, they get 1st runner up for proper planning for this event. Though I didn't understand the menu (thankfully Todd was on hand to explain it to me in small words), their plan of having mini-ice-cream-sammies in groups of two with pricing to mix & match the twosomes was freakin' brilliant. These ladies rock my world again, first with edible wrappers (with advertising no less) then with fabulous ice cream sammies and finally, their fabulous handling to this event.

But wait Jenna, why are you talking about trucks you've already had. Why are you not regaling us with tails of Japanese hot dogs and other trucks you hadn't yet tried.

I'm so glad you asked that.

Uhm, I think the THOUSANDS of fans on the Facebook should have tipped off these crazy kids that they might be over their head. That the 30 or so trucks/vendors they had might not be enough to serve the masses. Yeah, we were there for about an hour and a half, walked the whole space, ate, got our free drink (pre-sale tickets AGAIN FTMFW!) and knew that if we got into one more line, it would be at least an hour before we would get food. And really, I don't roll like that.

I felt bad. I was full, Todd wanted a hot dog. And really no one should attend an event like this and leave wanting a hot dog. That's just cruel. There are Japanese hot dogs just steps from us and yet the wait would have been an hour. Yeah, event fail.

With our positive attitude and love of the food we had already eaten, I promised Todd a hot dog for Valentine's Day and he was fine with that.

Quilting Gone Wild

Nothing says Christmas like February!

It's raining, it's pouring, the two greyhounds are snoring. I'll be spending the weekend sewing, staring at the kitchen ceiling and spending time with friends. And in the spirit of friends and projects I bring you the pajama quilt.

Anyone out there who has any skills (computers, cars, knitting, sewing, etc...) will understand how this quilt came to be. I was sitting with my mom in the kitchen of our adopted family, eating dinner, decompressing from work when I heard the following words:

"Hey, could you do me a favor?"

Uhm, ok.

"Lexi has all these pajamas that she can't part with so I thought you could make something out of them."

Uhm, ok.

"Here's the bag."

Uhm, ok.

That bag sat for about two months in the same spot in the entry hall. I didn't move it. Mom didn't touch it. Finally one Saturday I opened it up, spread it out on the dining room table and saw what I had to work with. I moved the feetie pjs around like fabric swatches trying to figure out what would match what and what I could actually do with them.

And, in case you ever wondered, size 2T & 3T pjs don't give you a whole lot of usable fabric. You have to cut off the zipper, the cuffs and the feet. And, again, in case you were wondering, cutting up a small child's old pjs feels oddly rude. I mean, I was asked to do this, but I still felt like I was punching a teddy bear.

Without further ado, I present you with...

The pajama quilt! I have to admit, doing projects like this make me feel a little less odd about quilting. I mean, when you think quilting do you think of a fabulous 30-something who wears 4 inch heels on a daily basis. Sorry, off-topic, just something I think about.

Here's a close up:


Yes, this wee lady has a thing for dinosaurs. She LOVES dinosaurs. And Shamu.

For the back I just did a piece of baby blue minky fabric. For those of you who don't hang out in kids stores or fabric shops, this is minky:

You've seen the super soft nubby fabric. Yeah, this is it and its called minky (minkee? minkie?). I said I worked with it, I didn't say I knew the proper spelling of it.

I'd love to show you a picture of Lexi with her quilt but she was sick on Christmas so this had to travel to her house with one of Santa's volunteer elves. But, I did receive a plethora of texts about the quilt so I deem this project a success!