Carmageddon! - The Carpocalypse pt. 1

Thanks to the (surprisingly effective!) destruction of the Mulholland bridge, roads were clear this weekend.  Nobody drove, and LA traffic maps looked like this:

when they usually look like this:

Which meant Dylan's birthday went off without a hitch. 

We got to Pan Pacific Park early (10:30 am-- yikes), found a secluded BBQ, and set up basecamp for the day.  The weather was perfection and our picnic spot had a giant shade tree.  Shade trees are great for personal comfort- not so hot for photography.  **Shadow alert!!!** 

When the sun went down and we were all properly toasted- we walked home and chilled at the pad for a bit.  Then there were some hearty birthday toasts, and an expedition over to Farmer's Market for necessary sustenance- which appeared in the form of Cajun food.

Christy found a volcano-shaped apple pie, and we sang the customary song to our birthday boys as a high-speed pursuit was being broadcast live on the outdoor TVs. 

Without further ado- Dylan's Birthday BBQ:

Setting up Basecamp 1 was fun.

Then a guy and an RC truck started to kick up dust...

 

and a cousin arrived..

.

 

..and a brother and his wife <3

There were new puppies...

...and seasoned beggars...

...even a few MacGuyvers showed up..

to faciliate a bacon hot dog monstrosity.

(seriously... this thing is gnarballs!)

Hammock naps were had...

and frisbees were caught...

...marshmallows were toasted into s'mores...

..and renegade pups tried to sneak sips.

The sun was quite warm...

..but our trust sommelier provided the finest vintage for refreshment...

...which I secretly (wisely) gave back to nature.

We chilled at basecamp 2...

...until it was time to go home....

...for birthday toasts of apple juice...

..and power naps.

Gumbo and apple pie!

The birthday boys blow out the candles.

It was good times, good peoples, and good sunburns!
Here's to another amazing year of the Dyllanger!

EMI-otional Rollercoaster

So, I got invited to the final EMI Film & TV Thirsty Thursday to take place in Hollywood.  The department is being evicted from the tower and moving out to Santa Monica in two weeks (twooo weeeeks), and will continue to chug along indefinitely as members of the publishing office.

I don't know if I'm gonna go. 

I've said goodbye so many times, its starting to get ridiculous.  Each new goodbye hurts just as much as the first goodbye, yet- it feels increasingly more meaningless.  Aside from those that have already moved on (and Jake), I'm not particularly close with the remaining department.  Visits with them feel forced and fake and awkward.  I'm not 'happy' that their commutes will suck and EVERYBODY gets cubicles, but it does feel like karma has come around. 

I came up with a new metaphor for EMI: its like having a dear auntie with horribly unchecked type-2 diabetes who keeps refusing to change their diet and monitor their blood sugar.  They still ignore common sense/ medical warnings and chow down on processed crap and skip insulin shots.  You love them despite their refusal to help themselves... but as the disease progresses, you start to lose pity and wonder why they don't just change their ways.  My diabetic EMI has multiple limbs amputated, and still continues to operate same as ever.  They ignore the OBVIOUS signs and march forward towards death.

But what if I had one last chance to walk through the lobby and see all the gold records.... and take a few more pictures... and ride the elevators around one last time.... and remember how much I loved it there.  It might be worth it for that.

The true pity in this whole situation is that my beloved tower is also on its march towards death.  Its an icon that outlived its meaning, and no longer houses its peoples.  The recording studio is still functioning- but there is no way the studio could fill up all 12 floors with enough employees to make leasing the office space worthwhile. 
Next stop: Condo town.   I can only hope to be rich enough to move back in one day.

------------------------------
In other news- SPOTIFY!

I'm a member- find me and share playlists!!  I'm SkrillaT and I will be happy as a clam to swap new tunes witchoo! 

My music flavor cannot be wasted.

Manic Organic

I joined a CSA last week, and tonight was the pick-up for my first box of organic produce.
Err, reuseable bag, really.  There was a friendly farmer hippie at Fairfax High that loaded up the produce and answered such questions as: 'what are those...?"  and "you can eat that part of the onion?  HOWWWW?"

For those not initiated into the world of farm shares: CSA stands for community supported agriculture.  Basically- you cut out the 'middle-man' of a market give your money directly to a farmer, and they give you affordable organic produce once a week.  There are subscription based programs that cost a weekly fee, and there are true farm shares, where one purchases an actual share of a farmer's crop.  Purchasing a share often costs a lot up front- but guarantees you a close relationship with your farm and farmer.

I don't need another close relationship with anyone, nor do I have $$$$, so I'm getting weekly boxes from Tutti-Fruiti farms in Carpinteria.

Haul 1 consisted of:
1. 1 Bunch Rainbow Chard
2. 4 Cucumbers
3. 6 Crookneck Squash
4. 1 Bunch Carrots w/ Greens
5. 1 Bunch Dill
6. 8 Oranges
7. 1 Cantaloupe
8. 2 Tomatoes
9. 1 Avocado
10. 1 Bunch Broccoli
11. 1 Bunch Red Onions w/Greens

The chard looked like it needed to get into our bellies first (wilting-wise) so I made the following:

• 2 tablespoons margarine (or butter if you roll that way)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 very small red onion, cut up
• 1 onion greens from the red onion
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
• Tofu chopped up
• 10 cherry tomatoes chopped up
• 1/2 cup already opened in the fridge white wine
• 1 squeeze fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• Some shakes of the Kraft parmesan cheese (klassy!)
• salt, pepper, sriracha to taste

Melt margarine and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant- or longer, i don't care.  I know you do what you want anyway. Add the chard stems, onion greens and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften.  This took a while and Gonzo started crying. Annoying! Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until slightly wilted.  Add tomatoes and tofu.  Cook until it looks really fucking good. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt, pepper, balsamic if you're feeling fancy.  I know you are.  In fact- you're feeling so fancy, that you want fresh parmesan cheese.  Go ahead.  Use it instead.  But don't judge me for only being able to metabolize the green can.

Yum Factor: <3 <3 <3 <3 (four hippie hearts out of five)

Here is the process:

Raw Materials

Saute #1

Greens

All Ingredients

Taaaah Daaaaah!!! Extreme Heath.

This pilfered Harry Potter candy will counteract all healthy benefits of my dinner

Even though I'm super psyched on getting weekly organic produce, I'm still not 100% sold that the CSA program is right for us.  We have a tendency to get lazy with home cooking.  I will be testing it out over the next few weeks to make sure the amount of food makes sense.

NOW I HAVE TO WATCH INBETWEENERS.

John's 33 - Tiki Bash

It was the first weekend in June- which means only one thing:  John's Birthday

The bold and underline are meant to emphasize that this is always the real start of summer, and a real blow out bash every year.  Sadly, I didn't take many pictures (too busy having fun).... but at least I have a few:

**Update: I am a jerk and didn't get any pics of the birthday boy.

Shopping for the big day

We are the bosses of Tiki

Actually, D is the true boss of Tiki Swizzle Architecture

Garrett wanted me to take a picture of the meat grilling.  Of all people to ask, I was a strange choice-- yet, not.

Outside by the firepit

And- here is the hippie Dill update- as of Saturday, it looked like this.

Its growing!

Memorial Day Recap

This week went by unexpectedly fast.  Probably because work is taking up my whole workday.  End of year madness all around.

I meant to do a stirring write-up of how totally fun Memorial Day weekend was, but its getting less and less poignant every day I don't share.  So, let's do this:

--Friday started with meeting Aaron and Tatum for Sangria... and then formulating dastardly plans for MTGs (Mimosas To Go) that turned into MGTs (Mobile Gin & Tonics) that segued into The Hangover pt. 2.  Fun times. 
I thought it uncanny that Aaron refers to his mobile drinks by the initial letters-- because I do it too!!  Crazy relatives think alike!!!

Aaron standing outside CVS with his pilfered hot cups.

Important supplies for MTGs (note emergency jalapeno chips for later)

Assembly line

Enjoying the mobile fruits of our labor.

--Saturday consisted of working out and then going for an epic walk in the sun with Dylan and Gonzo.  While on the walk, we connected with James and found out he was eating brunch right down the street.  What a happy coinkydink!  So we met up and hoofed it over to SANGRIA PATIO! 
Because day drinking is tops. 


Tasty Tapas and Sangria

Gonzo wanted Tapas soooo bad.  Tapas are not for dogs.

 Then we walked to GameStop and bought my new obsession:

And we played it and ate pizza and drank SGTs (Static Gin & Tonics) until we were falling asleep.

--Sunday consisted of running 6.2 miles in 57 minutes.  Not totally bad.  Then we went to John's house and built underwater tiki furniture prototypes. 

--pics to come soon--

--Monday was another lazy day where I caught up on my plant caregiving.  Look! Peppers!



Jalapeno nubbins

And my hippie dill from Worldfest is sprouting!!!



Look at those little sproutlings!

 Then we went to Myriam's and BBQ'd in her beautiful green backyard.  Sadly, I have no pictures.



Dinner With Friends!

While I was in my bummed out state, I let some very important things slide.  Like (basically) life-long friendships.  Only bungleheads do dumb crap like that.  We've been friends since 4th grade!  We used to talk on the phone for hours and hours about important things.. like.. amusement parks and wicca and past lives and classical music and DUH! BOYS!  ALL the boys.  And discuss what absurd questions we could to boys over conference calls.  Then- we graduated to IMing each other for hours about... BOYS! and Smashing Pumpkins and all the best gossip (Kia let him do WHAT?!?! because why??!!!!)
Good times.

I mean- look at these pictures (all taken post-prank call stage):

Why am I always on the left side?

I missed Kim so much!!! 

Anyway- we got together for dinner on Wednesday night, and made magical food. 
I made a never-fails frittata (FRITATTATATATATATATA) :

BTW- Kim made that dress!  She looks awesome :)

and Kim made a cheesecake masterpiece.  It had cherries and strawberries and lemon zest and vanilla.  This thing was the truth:

I am seriously 500% happier now :)

Bring on the long weekend!!!

Fun and Fancy (i.e. FREE!)

We had a work event at Crustacean Beverly Hills.  The restaurant space is a two-story atrium set with dramatic lanterns and floral arrangements hanging down from the glass-roofed ceiling.  There is a gorgeous (huge!) fish tank that starts in the bar area wall and runs like a river through the floor of the whole 1st story dining room.  A little footpath-style bridge crosses the fishtank and connects the dining room to the front bar.  If you follow a narrow candlelit staircase, you find yourself in the upstairs 'opium den' and wine room. 

Most importantly- this place makes Garlic Noodles that are so on point, it brought tears to my eyes. 
Naw, I didn't really cry.. but I did have a lot of carbs.  And the 4th work-sponsored opportunity for lobster in the 2010/2011 school year. 
Go big, or go public school... amirite???!

Since I don't want to get fired, I won't share more details than that.  But- I took some non-descript pictures of how pretty the space was.



This guy kept me company during set-up.

Other fun tidbit-  the school jazz combo played the event and had an extended riff on 'Careless Whisper' a la Sergio The Sexy Sax Man .   I love when the kids joke in a way that is completely over their parents' heads. 
Keep it real, kids!!