Small Differences

We've been in Australia for just about 2 weeks, and so far, moving from LA to Sydney seems to be a case of magnification of small differences.

Culturally speaking it feels more like I've moved to Canada. I don't mean to make a direct comparison between the Canadians and the Australians, I just mean that it feels more like I've moved a few hundred miles up the road rather than to the other side of the globe. There are enough changes that keep you in a constant case of like 'oh, that's different!,' but really when you get down to it it really isn't all THAT big a change. Of course, there are the obvious big ones, like the cars driving on the other side. I hate to admit it's taken me this long to get used to this -- I don't remember it throwing me so much when we went to London -- but every time we go to cross a street, I look the wrong way towards the cars that are going away from me. Then there are all little things to notice, like here all the toilets have two buttons, a half flush and full flush, so can decide just how much flushing power you actually need and conserve water when a half flush will do. I find these little difference endlessly interesting and amusing.

Predictably, we have a lot in common in areas of entertainment. A lot of American music has crossed over, but different artists are more popular here. Apparently, Pink is beyond huge in Australia. As well, a lot of the same shows we have over there, you'll find over here as well. There are a good number of direct transplants, but in a lot of other cases you'll find a version of a show we have at home, just with an Australian accent instead. Throughout the day you can watch Australian Today, ET, and Idol, just to name a few. On the week we arrive, somehow, even the national news is similar. A conservative shock jock has made the headlines with offensive comments and a scandal has been uncovered involving a pedophile who raped a young girl -- in this case his own daughter-- kept her locked up for decades and fathered several children by her. We left similar nightmares and new stories back home. I have to say though that the international news if far more international -- I get a far better picture of what's going on the world here, than on the rare occasion I watch the news there.

I beginning to realize that shopping centers are becoming universal, and malls are malls, wherever you go. Here, however there is that extra similarity of them being Westfields, just as in LA. Just as with TV shows, some store chains have expanded out here, but maybe with a slightly altered logo. As well, for our home shopping needs, we headed to Target just as we would in LA. In some cases the things are familiar, but different. For example Woolworth's is alive and well here, and while the familiar Burger King Logo is everywhere, it's paired with the name Hungry Jack's Instead. Of course Mc Donald's is ubiquitous, and Starbucks has made it here, they're just on every other corner as you'd find them in States; actually, so far I've only seen them downtown in the CBD. However, I was very happy to find out that my Starbucks card is valid on this continent too. I find these demonstrations of globalization are simultaneously comforting and disturbing.

Still, there is plenty that is local and new to me to keep things interesting. Even at Strabucks, and every other coffee house here, you'll have to learn a new set of terms. Sure you'll find a cappuccino or a latte, but good luck finding regular drip coffee. For the most part, the Aussie's seem to have completely done away with coffee in this format. Instead, they seem to have gone the way of a lot of Europeans, deciding that if you're going to go for drip you might as well go with instant. (Starbucks is the one exception. They did offer "filtered" coffee.) For an espresso, order a “short black” for a single, or a “long black” for a double. If you want to add milk, ask for a "flat white" -- which is pretty much a cafe au lait.

We're also trying to get used to prices here. Toiletries are crazy expensive. Actually, goods in general seem to be universally more expensive, the exchange rate isn't really helping us either. There appear to be fewer options for any given product. I'm guessing this is all because everything has to be imported, but that's just a guess. Good quality meat seems to be cheap, but alcohol is REALLY expensive. Expect to pay $20+ for a bottle of any of your favorite spirits. Tipping at restaurants and bars is completely optional, which is nice because the price that's listed is pretty much the price you pay. No extra tax and tip to account for. It took me a while to get this though, and I'm pretty sure that I WAY overtipped the bartenders at the little dive bar Kate and I hit up our first week here.

I think that there are certain similarities one finds across international cities. To some extent, I feel like if you're used urban-life, moving to another major urban center, even in another country, is probably easier than being plopped into a rural area – or vice versa. LA to Sydney seems an even smoother transition, now that I'm here. Sure, I have tune my ear to a new accent and learn a few new terms – later today I need to go to the chemist, not a pharmacy – but there is a lot in common. The weather is mild, and thus there is lots to do outdoors. Generally, the lifestyle here seems to be similarly casual. There is a vibrant surf culture, although it is certainly more widespread than in Los Angeles. I'm anxious to buy a board and get a taste of it.

As one might expect, the international influences here are very similar to those found LA, with every area of Asia being represented here. However, I would say that there are even more nationalities of all kinds readily visible here. You can hear this right away from the sheer number of languages being spoken around you. So many students come here from just about everywhere to learn English that from moment to moment you might here a group speaking German, or Japanese, or French, or Indian, or anything else. I've don't think I've heard such a wide variety of Spanish accents since I went with my Venezuelan high school to our South American Model United Nations conference.

This multiculturalism is also evident when you look at the city through my favorite lens – food. There are so many different cuisines here! And it's not all just in the patchwork of ethnic enclaves you find in LA. On any given street you find a nice variety. There's lots of Asian food of all kinds of course, but there are also tons of Turkish restaurants and Portuguese grill joints with amazing new things to try.

We got these gozoleme at market in Bondi Junction one night. They're like big, stuffed Turkish crepes. Ours had meat, spinach, and feta -- oh, so good!

Our first dinner in the city was at an delicious little Hungarian joint where I had a very tasty goulash. It was cold out, and the goulash was warm, and oh man did it hit the spot.

And of course, there are the local specialties to try. We have already become devotees of the meat pie! I've decided that I must limit myself to one per week, otherwise I'll never loose this gut I earned in these last few months of no-holds-bard eating. But clearly there are so many yummy things to try here . . . I think our reduced budget might be my savior.

Mmmm, taste the yummy goodness!

So I'm quickly feeling pretty comfortable. However, I would love to meet more people, particularly Aussies, so that I can start to get a real sense of the place – rather than just a tourist's perspective. I just can't wait to get out and see more.

I think the Aussie's are wonderfully blunt. You can see this even in their signs and advertising. They are direct in a way you'd never see in hyper-pc US. Love it!

Settling into Sydney

On the whole, I have to say our move has gone as smoothly as one could possibly hope. The cynical part of me keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far it's been all good.

The information packet that G received from the school informed us that the best thing to do was to look for a place once we'd arrived. Being of an American mindset in terms of wanting to have everything as planned out and set up as possible, I was rather skeptical. However, everything else we read and everyone we spoke to said the same. So I booked a room for one week at a lodge recommended in the information packet for the two of us and our roommates, Kate and Dayton.

Meet the roomies: Dayton, Kate, and G, of course

We all arrived in Sydney early in the morning, and made our way to the Sinclair's at Bondi. Sinclair's is a place where students come and can stay for extended periods of time while they come to study at one of the universities for a semester or while they learn English. Other travelers-- such as ourselves-- looking for cheap and simple accommodations that also happen to be clean and safe, stop here for shorter stays as well. In essence it is a boarding house- a type of place I'd only read of existing in the US in books like Little Women -- i.e in times long by. It seems to me that places like it abound though, as do hostels of course, indicating to me that this is a culture that likes to travel and welcomes travelers in turn.

The Sinclair's is located on a very residential street in an area called Bondi Junction. It blends right in with the other houses around it, with the exception of a small sign that tells us we've arrived at the right place. The lodge manager, Otto, comes out to greet us and before he's even introduced himself, he is teasing us about the amount the luggage we've all brought. It didn't seem all that bad when we left.

We had 2 large suitcases each, plus carry ons. At home this seemed a reasonable amount for 4 months, but Otto declares right away that this is most luggage any group has ever arrived with. Sure enough, once we get it all to our room, the bags do occupy most of the space.

One room, 4 people, 1,000 bags = MESS

Once all the luggage is out of the way, Otto gives us a tour of the place. He is a self proclaimed Cambridge educated gentleman, full of opinions and information that he readily shares. He is quite the jokester and full of stories of his accomplishments and professions --- some that may have been in the gray areas of white collar legality. In short, a wonderful character and he makes us feel welcome right away. On Wednesday nights he prepares a big dinner for any of the lodgers who might want to attend (for a small fee to help cover the expenses.) Alcohol is byo. We join him for the spicy thai-style stew he prepares on our second night in Sydney. Also in attendance are a couple of Swedish boys who have come to study and improve their English and who have also just arrived in the city, and an older Australian couple from Adelaide who have come to town to visit their daughter and new grandson. It might seem like a odd mix, but soon enough everyone is engaged in lively conversations and having a great time. This might have been aided by the fact that everyone had brought several bottles, and the vino flowed increasingly more freely as the night progressed. In an clear demonstration of stereotypes, we are clearly the loud Americans. We banter and laugh louder -- and perhaps more obnoxiously -- than anyone else. This is a trend that will continue pretty much anywhere we go. This night, however, this fact also seems to have been smoothed over by that freely flowing vino and by the end of the night, everyone at the the table was great friends.

Meet Otto

Our first couple of days are spent dealing with setting ourselves up. First order of business is phones, as we'll need these to call places about apartments. This meant spending a lot of time hopping around cell phone vendors at the mall of all places -- not exactly where I expected to spend my first days in a new country. Moreover it's a Westfield. These shopping centers blanket Southern California, but it's an Australian company, so many of the shopping centers are Westfield here as well. And hopping from cell phone vendor to vendor is the best way to gather info on the various plans, so that's what we do. Cell phone plans are calculated differently, so it takes us all a while to navigate the ins and outs, but we're set up with pre-paid phones from Vodaphone pretty quickly. We get the most inexpensive phones we can get. This means my phone is a cheap piece of crap that gets poor reception and every text takes me a half hour to type. Spoiled girl that I am, I really miss my iPhone. The cheap piece of crap will serve though and it only has to last 4 months after all.

Once we're set up with phones, it's time to get to work looking for an apartment. We have less than a week, so we really have to focus. The four of us scour the Australian real estate rental sites - domain.com.au and gumtree.com.au were the most helpful to us . We make loads of phone calls over about 2 days. We're told that finding a decently priced furnished 3-bedroom apartment is difficult, and for a little while I got a little worried. However, we book as many as "inspections" as we can over about at day and half and we quickly see a couple of apartments that would work pretty well. The fourth apartment we see is PERFECT. It's a townhouse actually, with rooms distributed exactly as we want so that we can divide the rent in a way that works for everyone -- one tiny one for Day, a slightly bigger one for Kate, and a "master" for G and I. Bonus, it has an amazing kitchen and a small yard. It's in an area called Kensington which is right next to UNSW, where the other three are studying. For myself alone, I would have of course preferred to be slightly closer to the beach, but this is actually a pretty central neighborhood making it easier to get to other areas of town. It is also clearly convenient for G, Day, and Kate, and it is otherwise completely perfect for our purposes. We were all in complete agreement right away and took it on the spot.

With our apartment hunt cut short, we cancelled the rest of our inspection and now a good amount of free time before us. We celebrated by heading down to Sydney proper. We walked around Circular Quay downtown in the Central Business District, and we caught our first glimpse of the opera house.

We took advantage of Bondi over the next couple of days and got in a couple of good beach days. The weekend weather was gorgeous and warm. There been have a lot of chilly days since we arrived. (In my excited for another spring/summer, I kind of forgot that it's actually still the tail end of winter here, a detail I'd nearly overlooked. Luckily, G looked at the weather a couple of days before we left, and I packed a couple of sweaters, which I've been very thankful for. ) However,that first weekend the sun was out and it was perfect weather for reading and lounging on the sand.

Our first week here we were still adjusting to the time change. I was waking up most mornings at around 6-6:30, the others just a little after, so by the evening we'd be pretty tired. Still, Kate and I made it out to a dive bar one night and played some pool with some crazy Irish blokes.

At this point in the evening, Kate things we're going to hustle people for beers. Little does she know how bad I am. Her plan results in me buying other people drinks. ;-)

Tuesday was move-in day and we were all pretty excited. I have to say that all the roommates seem to get along pretty well. We shared one room between the four of for a week and we didn't kill each other -- I think that's saying a lot. Nonetheless, we still obviously couldn't wait to have our own rooms and space to spread out in and so we arrived at our new digs early in the morning.

Actually, before we moved in I really thought this place was too good to be true. It was available for move in on the exact day we needed to move from Sinclair's. We paid cash for the deposit on the spot, but our landlord, Corey, didn't have a the proper paperwork on him as he did not expect to have takers so quickly. Moreover, he actually showed us his grandma's place on the same property, as it is nearly identical, and the previous tenants had not moved out yet. Which brings me to the point, his grandma, who everyone actually calls grandma, is this adorable older woman with a dog named Zuzu, who offered us candy on our first visit. Part of me thought that this was all too perfect, obviously a scam, and surely, when we arrived with all of our gear, we'd certainly find we'd been taken for a ride and have no place to stay.

Luckily, that wasn't the case, and the place was in fact here and open for us when we arrived. Corey is not a grifter ready to take our money and run. He's actually a pretty nice guy. The worst I can say is that he can be a little flaky and things don't always happen when he tells us they will. On the other hand, Grandma has come by a couple of times to give us things she thought we might need and Corey does seem to try to help us with stuff whenever he can. He even had his brother drive us to some stores so we could but stuff we needed and get it back here.

Shots of our new digs before most of our furniture came in.

So at this point we're pretty set up. This past week the other three started classes and spent all the rest of our time running around getting the home basics that were missing. The last step is getting internet we can use in the house. They calculate this differently here as well, so that's taken a bit of time. Plans here go by gigs, rather than the flat rates we have in the states -- so you pay for however much you think you'll use. I have no idea what we use on a regular basis, so we're taking a guess. In any case, that should be good to go within the next couple of days.

With the home base set up, we can turn our attention to the important stuff -- exploring Sydney and having adventures.

That's right Sydney, we've arrived! Watch Out!

Leavin LA

By the time my mom left, I had about a week and half left before take off.

As you can imagine, most of this time was spent running around doing errands and packing. Just figuring out how and what to pack for 4 months was a little daunting. There was also a lot of cleaning to be done as I wanted to leave the apartment in decent condition for Lil Miss Amy. It funny how I’m willing to have G and I live with a lot more dust and grime than I’m willing to impose on anyone else!

There was time for some fun stuff. I got in a few “last” drinks and dinners. Got drinks and delicious tapas at The Street with Gina. Had a nice dinner at our place with Sidd and Rashmi. There was a last round of Book Club and Todd and Katy were nice enough to hold a pizza and board game goodbye party for us with the rest of Supper Club.

There were lots of lunches too. Melissa, Amy, and I had a lovely time at Cafe Midi.

I managed to cross one more item off my Bucket List: Burgers and beers at Father’s Office. (Actually this one was on both mine and G’s lists.) FO has one of the best burgers in the city. They top their big juicy burgers with caramelized onion, bacon, and Gruyère. They are rather Nazi-ish about this burger — absolutely no substitutions and heaven help you if you ask for ketchup to go with your fries. Luckily, I love the burger just as it is and would not change a thing. They also have a fantastic beer selection. G and I once fell in love with a Belgian beer we tried in Toronto — Trappistes Rochefort. We were told it was a very small production and very hard to find elsewhere, so we thought it would a one time thing. Thus, we were extremely excited to find featured on the FO menu. Actually, they have a few from this Monastery/Brewery — I am partial to No.’s 8 and 10. They are pricey beers, but they are tasty.

Realizing fairly last moment that we had a Saturday free, we concocted our plan to go get our burgers. On a whim we thought to invite the SD/SC contingent. (A bunch of Greg’s friends from high school went to USC. When we moved here we got to be friends with their friends and roommates.) Now, this is a notoriously hard crew to schedule. Getting schedules to match with one or two of them is like trying to catch lightening, so we weren’t expecting much of a response when we sent out a last minute email the night before on a weekend. Somehow, a whole slew of them were able to make it out — we got Gino, Matt and CJ, Josh and Betsy, Andy Barre * and his date. My friend Dorothy and her husband Collin also came out. Dot was the ring leader in our theatre group in college. She directed all the show Carrie, Naomi, and I worked on all the time. She moved to LA just in time for me to leave, but I hopefully they’ll be lots of chances to hang out once I return. With so many people, it was a lively time, although wrangling enough seating for everyone. Ever daring, Josh and Betsy brought a large tupperware full of ketchup. I think they may have crossed the line a bit when they loudly proclaimed the ketchup’s presence offering to everyone in the general vicinity, seeing as how a waiter came over and quietly advised me to keep it under wraps. That said, while I’m usually quite partial to the aioli mayo they serve, contraband ketchup does seem to taste better than the regular variety. Matt and CJ continued the party with us for a while and helped us do away with a couple bottles of wine that needed drinking back at our apartment. (Sadly, no pics to share of the burgers or the friends this evening.)

Brady came to town, rounding out my parade of out of town visitors. He didn’t stay with me, but we did get to spend a fabulous day together before he headed to see Liza at the Hollywood Bowl. We grabbed brunch at the S & W Diner with G before heading off for a beach day. We loaded up the surf board and made our way to Venice Beach. For some reason, I chose not to use the board straps I had purchased, but instead we stuffed the boards in the car with us in the most uncomfortable way possible. Of course, by the time we got to beach it was way too late for surfing and the waves were crashing at 90 degree angles. It was clear to me that I wasn’t going to be catching anything that day. I thought I would at least try playing with the bodyboard near the shore, but the waves were crashing with such force that I got quite beating. I was dragged about the shore so much that I ended up with mounds of sand in places sand should never be. Ah well, it was lovely beach day all the same. We grabbed a couple of beers at one of the cafes and the boards did end up serving a purpose by giving something to lie on while we napped on the beach.

Somehow , I didn't take pics that day. Here is an old one of Brady and me.

The Tuesday before I left, Marc took me out to his Grandma’s place in Chino and we spent the morning learning to make Prok in Chiles Verde. Delicious! I don’t have any pics because Sra. Maria is a bit on the shy side, but I think I’ll try the recipe as soon as were back in LA and will put it up on Cooking Off Book.

Somehow, Marc was not sufficiently full after the chips with fresh salsa and the enchiladas his Grandma served us in addition to the Chiles Verde. He had ideas about stopping off for hot chocolate at a little shop he’d heard about in Eagle Rock. Of course, it was very difficult to convince me we needed to go, and somehow we found ourselves at CaCao Mexicatessen. Even with the heat outside, I GREATLY enjoyed my Mexican hot chocolate spiked with cinnamon and chili powder. MMMMM!

I finally got G to The Edison! After a summer long love affair with the place, I had to go one more time to bid the place adieu and I was really happy he finally got to see it. The CC’s obviously came too, for one last hurrah for the summer, and Ariana and Jen from my book club came too, so it was a nice size group. You’ve heard enough about this place by now, so just enjoy the pics.

After that Wednesday, G cut me off from planning any further outings. To be fair, I do have a tendency to overbook us and there was still a lot of packing to do. However, by Saturday night we were prepped enough that we could chill out a little. Marc and Kim came over and we ordered a pizza. I was very happy to get the time with Kim. She tends to have a lot of very real things in her life that keep her crazy busy. It’s all totally legit, but during these periods of crazy times I tend to feel like she’s one of my best friends in LA that I never see. The summer had been one of those periods, so I was very excited to be able to have some good hang out time with her on my last night in the city.

And then the day had arrived. Time to finish the cleaning and stuff the final bits into our suitcases. G’s parents came up from SD to take us to dinner — a delicious stop at Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken — and then they drove us to the airport … in two cars … all of our luggage wouldn’t fit in just one.

But just like that we were off. The first part of the Nearly Endless Summer was over, and we were on our way to Sydney for part two.

Surf Report: Try and Try Again

So, you might be wondering whatever happened to the surfing. Still at it . . . or trying at least.

Early on in the surf lessons I felt I was making slow but consistent progress. In June I was going to the surf school in Huntington Beach with SB on fairly regular basis, and each time I went I made a few baby steps of progress.

Then July came. In July, we were in town for one weekend out of the entire month. First a trip to SD, then Duluth, then NYC. All wonderful trips, but no surf time. The first couple of weekends back in LA, I was eager to get back out again. However, this was not to be.

SB and I made a date to head down to HB for a practice session on the first weekend we had free. However, low and behold, SB who was also newly back from a round of traveling herself, got sick and had to cancel at the last moment. Ok, no matter, I tell myself. I'll take myself down there and practice on my own, and I'll be the super independent woman I try to pretend to be, and am every now and again. Huntington Beach is kind of a far drive, though, so Independent me had to compete with Lazy me, and with all the talking myself up going on in my head, I got a bit of a late start. I also made one wrong turn on the way down. This one wrong turn cost 30 min. just because I couldn't find a place to turn around. Finally, I make it to the beach, only to encounter a long line of cars battling their way into the beach parking area. Another 30 min. Once in, I have to deal with actually finding a spot. I had never had trouble finding spot at this beach before - granted usually we're there a little earlier-- but I had not anticipated this problem. Turns out there was some volleyball tournament or something of the sort. Another 30 minutes of driving around -- no spot was found. I had to be back in LA in another hour, so I had no choice but to turn around and head back. So much for Ms. Independent.

The next weekend we had actual surf lessons scheduled. It was my first time out in over a month, and I felt like I was starting over nearly from scratch. Additionally, SB and I got into a big argument the day before (happens all the time) and I felt all negative. I was still annoyed - with her because of our argument, and with me for losing my temper and going into bitch mode. I think the negativity was affecting me, and I had a little knot in my stomach the whole time. Whatever the problem, me and the ocean were clearly not going to be one that day. Eventually, I got out and figured I'd just enjoy the beach. I drove myself, as there was a chance I'd be meeting my friend Julian, who briefly in town that weekend. I didn't end up seeing him, but since I wasn't on any real timetable, I just wandered around. For a while, I just sat on the beach and watched the surfers. I watched a bunch of kids learning to surf. I felt a little envious of the fearless little boys -- as little boys tend to be fearless -- happy to just get out there and try anything without the slightest care for their mortality. There was one little girl getting lessons from her dad in the white water. She wasn't quite as fearless as the boys, but totally happy looking goofy falling over a hundred times over, and completely determined. I identified with her and figured that what I would have been like had I learned when I was younger and how I should still be. I ended up just walking along the beach taking it all in -- the beauty of the waves, young hotshot surfers, old time surfers with van converted specifically to fill all surfing needs. Then I went over to the main shopping and boardwalk area of HB and walked around some more. FInally, I just plopped down on a grassy area near the beach and read for a while. Maybe I didn't have a great surf day, but it was an wonderful morning.

I also pretty much decided that to get any better, I was going to have to practice more, and to do that I would need my own equipment. I bought board straps for my car and borrowed Amy's foam board. I dragged Anto out with me one day while she was with me and we went to a surf shop that was recommended to me, Action Water Sports. They were super nice and helped me find a reasonably priced suit. Actually, she said it was one of her favorite parts of the trip. The superhero appeal of the wet suit made her want one too. Now I was all equipped . . . but now my time had nearly run out!

I did have time for one more lesson though. Weeks before my mom came, shyly mentioned and interest in taking a lesson with me. I latched onto this and ran with it. Although she became more hesitant, I immediately booked a lesson for the two of us and held her to it. It was awesome. We both sucked . . . but it was awesome!

I was so proud of her for getting out there . . . even though she occasionally tried to get up an upside down board. . . I was so proud of her. I thought she was brilliant. I also now know where I get my habit of laughing hysterically whenever I fall! Seriously, one of my favorite memories ever.

So limited luck on the actual surfing aspect of surfing, but so far I've got some great memories of just the trying. Seems a good enough reason to continue. We'll see if I do better in Australia.

If I never get any better, well, at least I have a great superhero costume to wear at Halloween.

Momma Mary Comes to Town

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.

Birthday Girls!

Birthday girls + Jo - I just think this a beautiful picture :-)

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!