LA Bucket List #5: Yamashiro

G and I have been going to Yamashiro for years. It is one of our favorite places to go on special occasions because of it's romantic Asian inspired decor and old Hollywood glamour. Above all, because it's nestled into the Hollywood Hills it has hands-down the most gorgeous view of the City of Angels of any restaurant I have been to yet. While it's wonderful to come here and go all out with a fabulous dinner, but it is also possible to come enjoy the view with cocktails and appetizers in their bar. Actually, you now have the choice of two bars - one inside and one outside.

Sometime ago I heard that they'd started a movie night series. On Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m. the restaurant screens classic comedies on the back wall of the center courtyard, just beyond their beautiful Japanese Garden. Slated for the evening I went with the Culture Clubbers was Airplane – which I was excited to see again since it had been years. We had a lovely table almost directly in front of the screen, with the one unfortunate flaw of also being directly in line with a tree in the garden perfectly set to bisect our view. It turned out not to be a big deal, since predictably, we didn't really pay any attention at all to the movie and chatted, ate, and drank right through it. Oops.

After a couple of cocktails and much food was consumed, we took the traditional walk around the garden that wraps around the restaurant to take in the full effect of their view. G ended up having to work late, and this is the point when I missed him most. This is usually the most romantic part of the evening. The garden path is narrow but any point it is fairly well hidden from the general view. Between the lovely garden and the fantastic skyline, one can't help but sneak a clandestine kiss or too. No G on this night though, but since Kevin couldn't make it out either, Heather and I took the romantic walk together instead. No worries boys, there was no smooching this time.

Meanwhile, the fantastic Japanese pagoda inspired Marc to do an impromptu photo shoot of Johanna, whose outfit this particular evening coordinated perfectly with the color scheme.

I may have also had a photo shoot with Marc earlier in the evening.

We capped things off with a final drink at the outside bar. (Well, actually, I had water since I was shortly going to have to drive down the very winding road down the hill from the restaurant, but let's pretend I was holding some fabulous cocktail.) This bar is a newer addition to the restaurant's many beautiful spaces, and is set up as a lounge with a more modern aesthetic. This bar overlooks the pool area.

I had always wondered if this pool was ever still used, or if it was completely shut up now, a mere relic of the days when Yamashiro was still a private residence. Our bartender let us in on the tip that they now open up the pool on Sunday's and hold open BBQ's.

Ah ha! . . . a reason to come back once I return from OZ!

As if I needed one.

LACMA: A Study in Food Trucks

This week I’ve rekindled a love affair with food trucks. I’ve always loved vendor food. I can think of many sporting events and carnivals of various types that I’ve attended specifically for the vendor food. For some reason, however, I had begun to neglect these valuable purveyors of flavor in recent history. A new wave of creativity in food trucks have put them somewhat en vogue in LA and back into the forefront of my mind. Hurrah! What’s not to like about cheap and tasty eats?

More specifically, however, this week I’ve been taken with the combination of Food Trucks + LACMA. There always seems to be a decent selection of food trucks around this area, probably because there are various large businesses, such as Variety and SAG, in this area, not to mention the foot traffic from visitors to the museum.

LACMA is not at all far from my office – a fact I have not taken nearly enough advantage of in the years that we’ve been here. On Tuesday, my coworker, J.P. noticed on his Twitter feed that several trucks he’s been following were in the area. We ended up choosing one called Skewers on Wheels, another Mexican Asian fusion truck, but at least they're mixing Mexican and Japanese, rather than just doing another Korean/Mexican mix. DELISH! We started out sampling the chicken and meat skewers. Both were very tender and served with a light teriyaki glaze. Every now and again we did encounter little bits of gristle, but overall very tasty. They are served with a small serving of spicy coleslaw. You really can’t beat this at $2 a pop. We also sampled the carne asada tacos which were also very tasty. The guy running the truck was REALLY nice and enthusiastic. On top of the already super reasonable prices, he knocked a few bucks off the total. I think they might be new and are still trying to make a name for themselves in this new world of Tweeting Trucks.

Since we had time left over, J.P. and I decided to cross the street to LACMA and take a walk around the grounds. They have a surprising amount going on outside the museum for which you don’t even have to pay the entrance fee. On the plaza, in between the ticket booths, you are confronted by what looks like a massive curtain of lanterns.

When you get a little closer you realize the curtain is actually made up of hanging Tupperware. It’s bright and colorful and completely coaxes your inner five-year old to run and play, and weave in and out of the hanging plastic. And you’re completely encouraged to do so!

Another installation in the park in back of LACMA is comprised of chain link fences covered with brightly colored plastic “trash” and you are invited to add any plastics you might have to the display. All we had was our plastic water bottles, but hey why not? Better here than in a landfill. Both pieces, which are a part of the current exhibition on Korean Art, are called HappyHappy, by Choi Jeong-Hwa and they really are. Who knew trash and Tupperware could be so much fun!

The next day was another gorgeous LA day, and I took myself on a stroll at lunch. I wound up by LACMA again and I ran into the Kogi truck with absolutely no line. Well, of course I couldn’t pass that up! I ordered the day’s special – a BBQ pork quesadilla with caramelized onions and spicy salsa verde. This may be the best item I’ve tried so far, but I have a lot more ground to cover.

I plopped down with my treasure at a picnic table near the tar pits and feasted on my quesadilla and read a good book. I ran into a fruit cart on my way out and bought some for my walk back to the office. I was a happy girl strolling ing in the California sun with my giant bag of fruit.

You’d think I would have had enough by now, but you’d be wrong. Today is an even more perfect day outside – a few degrees cooler and there’s a light breeze blowing. Heather and I made a plan to grab another food truck lunch and stroll through exhibits at LACMA. Unfortunately, it took a little longer than expected for her to make it over on her bike, so we didn’t have time to go inside. This time we grabbed lunch at Green Truck , which is all organic. The women in charge were about to leave but were nice enough to stick around a few minutes longer to serve us lunch.

It turns out you can get healthy eats at the food trucks. After the last couple of days, I thought that might be the way to go and I ordered a quinoa tabouli salad with mixed veggies and chicken. I would have liked a little more dressing on the mixed greens and I’m not a huge fan of raw mushrooms, which were very present on this salad, but the beets on the salad were delicious. On the whole it was perfect summer food – very light and refreshing, but satiating at the same time.

Heather had a tasty looking chicken pesto wrap with a side of fries – of course I snagged a few of these.

We took our lunch over the picnic area again and found a shady spot. Afterward, while we didn’t have time for LACMA, we did have time to stroll around the top of the Page Museum where we could glimpse down into their coy pond. Another amazing lunch hour!

I’ve never been here and will make a note to come back. Actually, there are so many little museums in the vicinity that I’ve never been to -- – a new museum and a lunch truck for every day of the week. I may have to make a project out of this when we’re back from Oz, especially if I can arrange a few days as gorgeous as today.

I finally gave up my long holdout on Twitter and JP set me up just so that I can follow the food.

LA Bucket List #4: Salsa dancing at Zabumba

So Zabumba. Terrible food and the drinks were almost as bad. Actually, they have the dubious distinction of having served me the worst Kibe I’ve ever had.

But I REALLY wanted to get at least one night of Salsa dancing in before we leave LA, and I had heard that this place was much more chill and laid back than a lot of the more showoffy, pretentious salsa spots in Los Angeles. Plus, I wanted to be able to show the non-dancers of the crew a few steps without having them feel too uncomfortable. For these purposes, this spot proved kind of perfect. There were very few people on Thursday night and the floor was pretty much wide open. The groups who were there could dance really well, but no one seemed to be trying to show off, and they didn’t seem to care that a bunch of newbies had taken over their floor.

A couple of guys even took a couple of us girls out for a spin. I must say Miss Heather held her own very well when escorted to the dance floor by one of the regulars. Mostly, I gave our guys mini lessons (I think Kevin was doing quite well. Definitely on his way to getting it. I’m not convinced Marc is really trying.), and I danced with Johanna while constantly fighting over which of us was leading. Me damn it!

I did squeeze a few dances out Mr. G. This is an ongoing struggle between us. Many, many years ago I forced a drunken promise that he would someday take salsa lessons with me. I reminded him about it for years. When we ultimately decided that we were going to get married in Medellin, he finally gave in. We ended up taking lesson at a place called La Granda in Alhambra. Their lessons are really good and very effective, however, their style might be described as militaristic. I think this drill sergeant style may have permanently killed the joy of dancing salsa for G. He now tolerates it from time to time for my sake. The fact that he doesn’t like it is all the more heartbreaking to me because he’s actually really good! The white boy has rhythm. He actually passed the first dance level much more quickly than I did. (Yeah, there were tests.) This is much more painful to me than if he really sucked, then I might be able to understand a little better. I still contend, however, that sometimes when he forgets that he’s supposed to hate it, he actually kind of likes it. I catch a glimmer in eye from to time that suggest he is actually having a good time.

Or that’s what I have to believe, because I LOVE TO DANCE. Really and truly, I LOVE IT – all kinds. The styles I don’t know, I wish I could learn. I have no shame on the dance floor. I can think of no other place where, as a general rule, I feel less self-conscious than on the dance floor. I don’t know why this is. While I’m a decent dancer, I’m not particularly good, but I am usually completely comfortable in this setting. I rarely need liquid courage to help me get out, I’m often very happy to be the first on the dance floor, I am pretty ok with making a spectacle of myself, and I don’t really care that after dancing for a little while I generally look like a sweaty tomato with frizzy hair. I am also totally aware that I am a queen of the subconscious goofy dancing facial expressions. So be it. Dancing just makes me feel really good. I completely understand why maenads, nymphs, and witches are all so often depicted as dancing. I get a complete lightening of the spirit and a feeling of revelry. I feel this most with the latin dances.

(Somehow, although I'm a Latina woman, I manage a pretty consistent White-man's over bite)

I felt so good after going out dancing that night that the feeling easily carried me through the minor hangover I had the next day. After a few minutes of grogginess I got up popped two Advil and went for a run. The memory of the good feeling even carries me through the pain of seeing my protruding gut in these pictures Heather took. All worth it. I had a great time!

And so I think it was across the board, to some extent. I think the girls all had a blast. (Full disclosure, I guilt tripped Johanna into going when she tried to cancel because she’s a very good dancer. Even so I think she had good time once she was there.) The guys were good sports and tolerated us (and by us, I mean me), the bad drinks, and the food. They went along for the ride, and they certainly get credit for that.

Here’s to hoping that someday they’ll love it almost as much as we do!

(I think there might be a reason that images of dancing revelries more often than not consist of women, even going back to antiquity.)

NYC Beyond the Bea – Rapid Recap

When NYC wasn’t about spending time with little Bea, it was about friends and food – as it always is. Sadly, however, we actually kind of got caught in the moment and didn’t take as many pictures as we normally do. I’m left with little for illustration this time.

Family time was feasting time. Our first night in the city we had a beautiful dinner at a little place near Drew and Suzanne’s apartment called the Paris Commune. Wonderful ambiance and a fantastic deal! They had a $25 prix fixe 3 course menu option. My favorite course was the stuffed walnut crusted brie with caramelized onions. MMMMMMMM!

Subsequent gastronomic blowouts lead us to a pub lunch at The Spotted Pig. I had a lovely prosciutto & ricotta tart, but G’s burger with its heaping mound of shoestring fries was superb. We slurped spicy Thai noodle soups at The Nooch in Chelsea. And we capped off this trip’s eating tour with BBQ at Hill Country and some of the best damned mac and cheese you could want.

In between face stuffing sessions, we covered the town catching-up with friends. First off, we stopped in to see old co-workers of G’s in midtown. (We never lived in the city but he worked closely with the NY office at his old company). He was paraded proudly around the office by one of his old bosses. I was a very proud little wife.

There were many, many drinks had throughout the city. There were beers with Mike and Dan in a great dive bar with a great back patio in Brooklyn. We tried to get pizza afterward, but we were a little too late, having come up with the idea 15 minutes after the closing of nearest pizza joint. I still have an unmet hankering for NY Pizza.

On Sat, I ended up roaming around the city for a bit. I woke up with a bad sore throat and was sequestered from the baby. It ended up being allergies, but better safe than sorry. I didn’t want to be responsible for getting a 3 week-old baby sick. I love walking around the city though, and it gave me the chance to meet up with Lu. She gave me a tour of her apartment and her neighborhood and we got coffee drinks at Cafe Lalo. Apparently, this was the coffee shop featured in a scene from You've Got Mail where Meg Ryan waits to meet the man she's been falling in love with via email, who is actually Tom Hanks, unbeknownst to her. Ok movie, enchanting coffee shop. This was a bitter sweet afternoon in a way, because while we had a lovely time, it also made me wish we lived closer together.

We caught up with lots of old friends from all stages of our lives over many glasses of wine at The Otherroom. Pierre and Dan represented G’s high school years, Lu represented mine. Mike D spanned the high school and college years, along with his girlfriend Celeste, who I also knew in college. For me this one of the best parts of visiting NYC -- we get the chance to see so many people we love and don’t get to see enough of. Very often we also get to reconnect with friends we haven’t seen in years. G’s college roommate Glenn also came out with his lovely girlfriend Annie. We hadn’t seen him since college, although we’d get news of him through the grapevine. They had a chance to catch up and it seemed like not a day had gone by. We ended up bar hopping with these kids across the city late into the night– from the West Village to the Upper West Side. I felt like we had some great new, old friends.

Like that unscratched itch for NY pizza, I’m also left with a general hankering to explore the city as a whole. I haven’t had a chance to just roam NYC aimlessly in years. My mom and I stopped off in the city before heading out on pre-college exploration tour, and we walked up and down the city for days traversing hundreds of blocks. I loved it. As much as I love LA, there is nowhere like New York to just get lost and explore. There is a good chance we’ll be back early next year, and I have my fingers crossed in hopes that’s I’ll get the chance to do just that.