I dropped Anto off at the airport to head back to Florida in the morning, and I picked up up my mom that same evening.
Anto and I did a mad dash of cleaning and picking up in preparation for the trade. After Anto took off, I ran around doing errands in preparation for my mom's arrival. I thought it would be nice to make her a nice dinner to celebrate, however, I was in such a scatterbrained state that I locked myself out of the apartment, and did not notice until I had arrived back home with bags full of groceries from 3 stores. At this point I panicked and started calling G on redial because he wouldn't pick up the phone. It turns out he was in the middle of a presentation at his internship. Luckily, he'd switched the ringer off, but the poor boy had to give his speech with a phone shaking like crazy on perma-vibrate in his pocket. Oops! (To be fair, I thought his presentation was supposed to have taken place that morning, but it had been changed at the last moment.) At least he was able to get home early enough that the groceries didn't spoil and I was able to get dinner out for Mom that evening . . . albeit a little late. (You would think I would have learned my lesson, but somehow two days later I locked myself out again!)
My idea was to have one evening to wait on my mom and allow her to relax. I had found a recipe for a dish called Chicken Marie Louise and figured it had to be done, as that is her full name. (well, Maria Luisa in Spanish, but her parents always called her Marie Lousie.) Predictably, however, Marie Louise could not allow herself to be waited upon. By the end of the evening she couldn't help but get up from the table to clean up and load the dishwasher.
The next day was my birthday, and luckily it went more smoothly than the grocery scramble of the previous afternoon. Mom and I had a wonderful day! We spent the day cooking together for my birthday dinner, but in between we also managed to get in a hike. There is a park near our apartment in Culver City that I had never had a chance to explore. We headed over and started the trek. A while later, we reached the top and took in the view! We rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch of Indian food at Samosa House.
My Mom, Triumphant!
I'm happy anytime I can get my mom to eat, but I was excited because she really seemed to enjoy it!
Back to the cooking. I wanted pabellion criollo for my birthday dinner. Pabellion is the traditional Venezuelan meal. It's a collection of dishes and can include any number of items. We made carne mechada (a stewed shredded beef dish, also known as ropa vieja), black beans, rice, arepas (little bread like things made of a white corn meal flour that are baked in the oven or fried), and empanadas, Venezuelan style.
Amy and SB's birthdays are right around mine, so we had planned to celebrate together, so invited them over and my mom and I made dinner for them and a group of friends. The food was delicious and drinks flowed freely. Everyone brought some alcohol contribution or another, and we had tons left over, which is actually kind of funny, because I had a huge argument over who was to purchase drinks, which clearly turned out to be pointless. I think a good time was had by all -- I know I did.
The party ran late, but I made sure got up early so that we'd be able to catch the LA Conservancy Art Deco Tour. Mary doubted we'd actually be able to make this happen. It was rough to drag myself out of bed, but I proved her wrong! And it was worth it because I really think she dug it!
After a much needed nap, we made our way down to SD. Suzanne was in town with Baby Bea and baby unveiling was planned for the next day. We know how smitten G was with Ms. B, so there was no chance we were going to miss a chance to see her. Plus, Carolyn wanted to get a chance to see my mom as well. That night we took her to The Fish Market, so that she could get to know a family favorite. It was quite cute because Carolyn and Mary were thick as thieves. They both enjoy having uncommonly deep discussions in otherwise very light situations when everyone else is happy to jibber jabber about random this and thats and banter about, so they were in good company. The next day at Ms. Bea's party Karen, Suzanne's mom, was added to this mix. I think it might be very dangerous were these 3 to all live in the same city.
Little Miss Bea was the belle of the ball of course, and quite adept at handling the pressures of so many fans and paparazzi for one so tiny. In fact, she seemed to have a natural talent for working the camera.
However, her fans had to have some patience as most of her time was taken up by her very proud Grandma and Uncle. Carolyn had her asleep on her shoulder for most of the morning, and once Bea was finally released, it was mostly to G, who monopolized her for a good portion of the remaining time -- not that I can blame him. The two had a very animated, albeit non-verbal, conversation where they each demonstrated for the other their wide array of facial expressions and their ability to quickly change them in a rapid-fire fashion.
As the lucky family of this emerging starlet, we were granted extra time with her, so Suz, Karen, Carolyn, Greg, Mary, and I headed off with her to dinner, before G, my mom, and I had to head back to Los Angeles.
Monday was my mom's last day in LA, as she was leaving early on Tuesday morning, and I'd say we really made the most of it. We headed off early to the beach -- more on that in my next post, but we had great morning as it was a beautiful day. Afterward, we stopped off at a little cafe I'd stopped at before with SB, and had a lovely lunch. Over sandwiches and coffee, and then continuing on through the drive home, we chatted and she told me stories of the family, and caught me up on what was going on with everyone.
Once we were cleaned up from our beach day, I took her on a tour of little hood, stopped for a pastry (I'm quite proud, I'm realizing I got her to eat quite a bit!) and then strolled some more.
Eventually, we decided to stop off for a happy hour drink while we waited for G to get home from work, so we dove into Akasha. She had a glass of wine, and I had lovely lavender lemon drop. My mom liked the spot, so we decided to stay for dinner once G arrived. We capped her trip by sharing a salad and an organic pizza. So proud, I was able to get one more good meal into her!
One more toast!Such a fun trip! Come visit more often Mom. I love ya tons!
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