Ryan Gosling & Puppies

My female roomie sent me this Tumblr last week: http://ryangoslingvspuppy.tumblr.com/ to which I replied, "IT'S THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE ON THE INTERNETS!!"

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy.

Boston U: It will always & forever be MBT!

It's BU Spirit Day 2011!


(Has this always been an annual event?  If so, I definitely wasn't aware)


So in honor of my Alma mater, where I learned many important things (such as how to pregame enough that you won't feel how cold it is when you're walking to party at MIT in January, or how to maneuver a suitcase, a carry-on and a laptop bag on the T, or how to circumvent the "system" by sneaking guests in through basement windows), I dedicate this post to all my fellow Terriers!

To the girls of 18c, my freshman year co-conspirators of Warren Towers:  Those who would be reading this are still some of my closest friends to this day.  I'm seeing two of you in just a few weeks and I can't wait!  One of you lives in LA and every time I see you it's a super special TREAT. ;-)  You all are my besties and my life would be empty without you!  Those who definitely aren't reading this: oh boy, well, you certainly made that year interesting...  And to those who might be reading this: I'm sorry we haven't kept in better touch, but Facebook tells me you're living fantastic lives.  I hope our paths cross again one day - thank you for being part of such a crazy/fun/scary/awesome/intense/emotional/amazing year of my life.

To the 12c & fellow engineering boys, COM/Film/BUTV friends, Myles buddies, "Afterschool" friends, and FK4L:  I miss you all!  From ice cream sculptures in the Warren dining hall, to heading over to the Esplinade in the middle of the night to watch shooting stars, to handing out Mylar blankets at the Marathon, to shooting comedy sketches all over campus, to cocktails in costume with Blue Man Group, to Dunkin runs at 3am, to the unreal things our Hamilton kids used to say, my memories of times with you are the fondest.  I am so happy I've been able to see some of you over the years in New York, LA, Las Vegas, Boston (and a select few of you in all 4!) and San Francisco, though I do wish it could be more often.

To the friends I made on BU's Study Abroad program in Sydney, Fall '04:  I was recently looking through photos from our semester and words cannot even begin to describe how much I miss being in Sydney with you all.  I still consider that time the best four consecutive months of my life.  The dream of a reunion trip is still alive, let's make it happen!

And to my fellow LA Transplants:  Lesbihonest, I wouldn't still be here were it not for you.  LA is a tough place, but you guys make getting through the hard times worth it.  And seeing how much we've grown and collectively accomplished is pretty ridiculous.  I'm so proud of us!  Less than a month 'til Transplant Thanksgiving!!!

Most of my BU photos are buried on an external hard drive somewhere, but thankfully I found a few online to share:

Kenmore Square Sunset

view from my junior year room in Myles

Bay State Rd.

Boston blizzard!

abroad in Sydney

Great Ocean Rd., Australia

Terriers celebrating the historic '04 Red Sox win in Sydney

Bondi Beach, Australia (one of my favorite pictures of all time)

the BU "Beach"

campus & the Charles

Afterschool!

"home" for 2 years

visiting campus summer '10

Go Terriers!

Obligatory Halloween Post (not really my Best Thing)

Seeing as most people will be celebrating Halloween* this weekend, I figured it would be appropriate to post this today even though it's not actually Halloween (or the weekend yet, but let's pretend).

*I personally am not into the holiday.  It was never a "thing" with my family growing up as it's a pagan holiday (remember how we're Jews?) - my parents would take us trick-or-treating and would have candy out, but it just wasn't a big deal.  Later, as probably a 4th or 5th grader, my parents let me go with a group of girlfriends - no parents - for the first time.  Towards the end of the night we were attacked by a few older boys - they shoved us to the ground, ripped our costumes, stole our candy, etc.  A couple of the girls were pretty scratched/scraped/bruised up, and since then I've never really been interested in participating.

That being said, I love coming up with costume ideas for other people.

Every year Boyfriend goes to a party his friends throw called Halloweenenigma.  It's kind of intense - there are puzzles to solve and contests to compete in, and the (very creative and resourceful) organizers shoot videos to get people excited for it.  This year the theme is internet memes, and the pre-party videos (there have been at least 2 so far) have involved their friend Chris getting lost in the internet.  Here's the second one:

Did you catch all the references?

In case you didn't...

So Boyfriend's idea (his friend is joining him and they're attempting to come up with something together) is to dress as the D*ck In a Box guys:

Meh.  I see how it could be funny, but it's so obvious and I feel like it's probably been done before.

Here are some ideas I've come up with:

• Christian the Lion - wear all gold/tan, a mane, and give people huge hugs after talking to them for a minute.

• Harry NOT Charlie - wear an "England" t-shirt, carry a green blankie, and stick your fingers in people's mouths.

• An LOL cat - wear any old kitty costume, but ALSO carry a cheezburger and wear capshunz:

• The ShakeWeight - either wear mostly white, but with black shoes and socks and black hat OR dress as the girl on the box and carry the ShakeWeight around:

• Homestar Runner, or better yet, The Cheat! - wear all yellow, maybe get some yellow face paint, and apply black spots:

• SALAD FINGERS! - dress like Salad Fingers, maybe get some green face paint, and carry around rusty spoons (if you get this reference we're destined to be BFFs):

• Peanut Butter Jelly Time - dress like a banana (maybe carry a baseball bat?) - so easy: 

 

• Double Rainbow - find a friend and both dress as rainbows:

• BadgerBadgerBadger - for this one you'd some friends - one dresses like a mushroom, another like a snake and the rest as badgers:

• Antoine Dodson - probably the easiest of them all as you only need a red bandana and a wife-beater (if you can get a little voice distorter to auto-tune yourself, even better!):

I could go on and on but frankly, I don't have the time!  Feel free to share your ideas in the comments.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, FOLKS!

I <3 Bootie LA - IMBT!

A few weeks ago I went to the BEST DANCE PARTY EVER called Bootie LA.

(BTW, This is another one of those times (just like this one) where I almost don't want to write about how awesome it was because a part of me wants it to stay "a secret."  But of course it's not a secret to begin with, and it kinda goes against the spirit of the party to not be inclusive.)

SO, at a dinner on a Friday night a couple of my girlfriends were talking about this amazing dance party they were going to check out the following night.  Neither had been before, but word on the street was that it was completely unpretentious (so unlike most LA clubs!) and that you basically just DANCE YOUR FACE OFF.

That was a completely accurate (if not literal) assessment.

The music was comprised solely of bootleg mashups.  As they say on their site, "Bootie’s DJs keep your brain guessing and body dancing with creative song combinations, celebrating — and satirizing — the many different forms of music. Mixing and matching every musical genre, era, and style into one big dance party where everyone feels welcome."

I've actually been holding off writing this post for a few weeks now because I wanted to include photos, and since I didn't bring a camera, I've been waiting on these guys to post theirs from the event.  There was only one of our group and it doesn't include all of us, but it's pretty rad anyway, am I right?:

More photos from the night here.  I'm in the background of a lot of the wide-shots of the crowd, but thankfully I doubt many of you will be able to make me out ;-)

In all the years I've lived in LA, I can only think of one other place similar to Bootie.  I think it was called World Bar (or something similar) and was situated right in middle of the madness on Hollywood Blvd at Sycamore.  It had multiple big rooms, each with different kinds of music, and ample opportunity to DANCE YOUR FACE OFF.  I think I even did a birthday "thing" there once (though a few friends over the years did too so I might be thinking of theirs).  However, a) there always seemed to be sketchy guys there trying to get in your pants (isn't that the worst?  When all you wanna do is dance with your buds and random stranger-dudes just keep moving into your personal space?  Ick.), b) there might have been a dress code (or we just felt like we had to wear heels and dress "hot"), and c) unless you got there at, like, 8 pm and had a coupon from LA Weekly, it was mad expensive (especially for being a poor early-20-something) and there was always a huge line.  I'm pretty sure it's closed now.

Aaaaanyway, none of those "however"s were the case at Bootie LA.  Granted, we did still get there pretty early (9:30/9:45 ish?), but there was no line, the cover was only $5, and they gave us free CDs!  The only dress code that I was aware of was a suggestion NOT to wear heels and to be prepared to sweat a lot - I was in flip-flops, leggings, a comfy skirt and a tank top (over a sports bra - best decision EVER!).  And best of all, while one person of the group certainly enjoyed making a new friend (and by "friend" I mean tongues-down-each others'-throats-hands-down-each others'-pants-make-out-partner), we basically were free to just DANCE OUR FACES OFF all night without being bothered.

So much fun!

Since then, I have downloaded tons of mashup tracks from their best-of collection (and the CD they gave out that night) on to my iPod, and have been listening to them pretty much non-stop.  I also will stream tracks from their blog while I'm at my desk to drown out some of the more distracting noise around me.

My fave track so far is the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song mashup.

What's yours?

Can't wait to go back to Bootie for another night of DANCING MY FACE OFF sometime soon!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! It's EVERYONE'S Best Thing! (10/14 edition)

I'm going to be signing off for a little while as I'm going out of town (more on that in a minute), so I thought I'd do a little round-up of updates and fun stuff...

Updates (because I know you all are dying to know):

Our first Young Storytellers session went well.  There was one really blunt/funny little girl who directly called out one of my coworkers for being new (how did she know???), and was really disappointed to learn that she wouldn't get out of doing her regular homework by being part of the group.  I'm excited for this event tomorrow night (HBO got the mentors special tickets) and seeing what else the semester has in store...

I've been riding my bike to work a couple times a week!  I have a basket (thanks Nicole!), which I use to carry the uber-heavy lock and my purse, cute little flashing lights for the ride home at night and new handlebar grips which don't leave crusty black grossness all over my my hands (thanks Amazon!).  Each time it gets a little easier - especially locking it up - but I still get sweatier & more tired than I should be getting.

I finished reading The Hunger Games over a month ago, but I needed some time to process.  I was truthfully a bit underwhelmed by how it all ended.  It's definitely difficult to write about it without giving anything away, but it felt to me like the author took the "easy" way out in trying to resolve the stories of two of the main characters.  Also,one of those "resolutions" was uber depressing.  But I suppose it's kind of a depressing world to start out with, and the advantage of writing a novel (as opposed to a screenplay) is that you're not necessarily as pressured to provide a "Hollywood" ending (I write that as if I know.  I don't know, I'm just assuming).  It will be very interesting to me to see what Lionsgate does with it and whether they change anything.  I'm still a big fan of THG trilogy overall, I still think the first book was one the most interesting, different and enthralling pieces of literature I've read in years, and I will be counting down to March 23rd.

Terra Nova has been a bit disappointing, sadly.  I was really hoping for full-on mystery/sci-fi and it feels more like a family drama that just happens to be set in a world where there are dinosaurs.  They tipped their hand on what could have been an intriguing mystery in the first episode, the kids just kind of generally annoy me, and they chose to do an amnesia storyline just 3 episodes in.  What the what?  Not giving up yet, but I reeeeally hope they start ramping up the mystery and sci-fi elements and dial back the cheese.

I leave on Sunday for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah and I CAN'T WAIT.  I still have to pack, but if you know me at all you know it's physically impossible for me to start packing until the last minute.  I'm going to be working both shifts each day so I'm probably not going to be posting much next week, but I promise to write a nice long blog, complete with pictures of all the animals, when I get back.

Fun stuff:

THE AVENGERS trailer!!!  Click here to watch in hi-def or just press play:

All those exterior New York City shots (with the exception of the skyline/heli shots) were actually shot in downtown Cleveland!  So excited for this film.


This behind-the-scenes interview/clip of Martin Scorcese talking about HUGO:

My favorite kind of movies are those that surprise me somehow (which is why I loved MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and enjoyed 50/50 to name a couple from this past year).  I think HUGO will do the same.  It looks delightful and interesting and lovely and I can't wait to see it.  Plus, I love love love Marty (as you already know).



From last night's episode of "Jersey Shore":

• That was the best day of my life on the grill
• Comprimization
• We aquaintance ourself with him
• Burning your kuka in a jacuzzi: Meatball problems!
• Do sex (this isn't a new one, they just used it A LOT and it's still so funny)

My roommate and I are going to be very sad when this season wraps up - where else will we learn new jardon?


The craziest part of this clip is that HE'S DOING THAT ON A BOAT:

OK, a cruise ship, but still.


That's all folks!  Have a great week next week and don't miss me too much!  ;-)

Rant-y-Rant Thursday

Today I got an email from a company that sells all natural bath and body products that had the subject line "Retro Christmas" and had this banner at the top:

NO THEY ARE NOT.

We are not even half way through October.  It is ONE HUNDRED FRIGGIN DEGREES OUTSIDE (well 80 over here, a hundy in the valley.  Truth).  I realize we live in a consumer world, and I am a material girl, but back the F off.

___________________________________________________________________________________


I mentioned Variety HERE this past week.  For those of you not familiar, it is the entertainment industry's primary trade magazine (especially now that The Hollywood Reporter is only published on a weekly basis).  I think it's safe to say that every senior-level executive in town has a subscription, and everyone else finds a way to read it either before giving it to their boss, online, or by some other means.

Image source: guardian.co.uk

One thing you will notice almost immediately upon picking up an issue is the high frequency of abbreviations or slang in place actual words.  For some reason this really bothers me.  I understand that the purpose of the magazine is to convey a lot of information, a lot of it tech-y and repetitive, in a very in a confined space.  So I get it that sometimes truncating the text is required.

HOWEVER, when writing about a morning show, replacing "a.m." with "ayem" DOES NOT SAVE YOU SPACE.  Neither does writing "infopike" instead of "internet", "ducats" instead of "tickets", "tenpercentery" instead of "agency", or "horse opera" instead of "western".  And lesbihonest, those just sound ridiculous.

In case you're curious, Variety actually has an entire dictionary of their "slanguage" on their website.

Other people don't find this as irritating as I do.  In fact, some even find it endearing.  I think the only reason people like it is because it makes them feel like part of a special club for "getting" it.  Guess what?  Your club is stupid.

That is all.

Helping Kids: [hopefully still is] MBT

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

This is the mantra I will be using as I re-join the HBO Young Storytellers group this fall.  Our first session is today, and I'm feeling a bit apprehensive.  Let me start from the beginning.

HBO sponsors two separate mentoring program.  The first, in conjunction with Youth Mentoring Connection (website here), pairs HBO employees with "at-risk" teenagers for the duration of a school year.  The only stipulation in order for the young adults to participate is that they must be enrolled in school (be it high school, community college, a 4-year program, etc.).  The idea is to help them find confidence and enable them to break free from things preventing them from success.

This photo, from the YMC blog, is of my coworker Joanna with her mentee Markeshia

The second program, Young Storytellers (website here), pairs HBO employees with 10 5th-graders from Westminster Elementary School in Venice.  Over the course of  7 weeks the kids learn how to develop a story and write a screenplay.  The scripts are then performed by actors at The Big Show which is attended by their classmates and family.

Photo from the YSF website

So far, in my tenure at HBO, I have tried both programs a total of 3 times (4, including this fall).  Unfortunately, for a number of different reasons, the experiences thus far have been more negative than positive for me, which makes me really sad.  I've worked with kids essentially since I was a kid myself - I baby sat, I was a camp counselor, my work-study in college was at an after-school program at a Boston public school - and have generally found doing all these things to be fun and immensely rewarding.

In the case of the YMC program my mentee was just SO incredibly painfully, horribly shy* that I just never felt like I truly connected with her even after a full school year of sessions.  I did speak to the program leader about it, and she reassured me that even though I couldn't see the changes in my mentee, they were, in fact, happening.  So I gave it another chance the second year and willed myself to be patient.  Unfortunately my mentee (the same girl) had a more complicated school schedule the second year, and after just a few sessions she basically just stopped coming.  Because I was already feeling so disheartened I decided it was time to move on.  (P.S.  Nobody ever recites the second half of that W. C. Fields quote: "Then quit.  There's no point in being a damn fool about it."  That's kind of how I felt about the program at that time.)

*There would be sessions during which we'd go around the room and everyone would be asked say something in front of the group.  EVERYONE would do it, even if they just jumped up and mumbled something really quickly, but when her turn would come around she would shake her head, stare at the floor, grip onto her chair for dear life, and simply refuse to open her mouth.

When I decided to try the Young Storytellers program, I was a little weary but hopeful nonetheless. These kids were a lot younger, the program had a specific end goal, and it was only for one semester (as opposed to a whole school year).  I was paired with an adorably sweet girl... with the worst case of ADD I have seen in 15+ years of working with kids.  She could not stay focused on anything.  I would ask her a question about her story; she would begin to respond and would interrupt herself to ask me a question about where I got my bracelet.  She also missed at least 1 if not 2 sessions late in the program - which was hugely problematic as we only had one more week before the script we were supposed to be writing was to be preformed.  I just didn't have the skill/authority/assertiveness/strong enough bond with her to keep her on track.  The program leader had to step in and basically stand over her as we scrambled to finish.

In both programs it might simply have been a case of being paired with the wrong person.  Putting an extremely shy person with another somewhat shy person* doesn't necessarily work well.  And conversely putting an extremely all-over-the-place person with a somewhat shy person doesn't necessarily work well either.

*Yes, believe it or not I am inherently quite shy around new people.  When I switched to public school in 9th grade I discovered it was something I could overcome if I worked hard at it (and it was soooo worth it to try my best to do so), so I have been, ALL THE TIME, ever since.

SO.  I am giving Young Storytellers one more shot, but of course, a part of me can't help but feeling just a little bit anxious.  I have already spoken to the new leaders of our group (one of whom happens to be Boyfriend), and have asked that they help me by paying close attention to the personalities of the kids.  I just need to NOT be paired with an extreme personality-type.  The good news is I'm also feeling pretty optimistic and a little more confident - I know what I'm getting myself into and I know the leaders have my back.  Fingers crossed this will be a fantastic and rewarding semester!

If you or someone you know would like to get involved with Youth Mentoring Connection or Young Storytellers, please click the links above for more information.

Hollywood Blvd (minus the "characters"): A Classic Best Thing

Peter Bart wrote this very interesting article which I read in yesterday's Variety.  It brought back floods of memories from the three and a half years I lived behind "the Blvd":

• The first time I saw the block being prepped for the Oscars (so exciting!)
• The first time I saw the title & posters of a movie I worked on plastered all over the marquee at the El Capitan (also so exciting!)
• Working & attending premieres & parties at Gauman's, El Cap and The Roosevelt Hotel
• Altering my plans/driving routes to avoid the traffic clusterf*%&s caused by those premieres
• Realizing that the Santa/Christmas play area was actually a Scientology recruitment area
• Shlepping coolers of snacks and wine through the madness, up Highland, to the Bowl
• Hiding beverages in the bushes of the Roosevelt before going inside (and then maybe or maybe not retrieving them later)
• Getting pizza at 2 am with my neighbor (and now roomie) on the walk home from the clubs
• Finding a fly baked into my cone at the gelato shop (why do so many of my memories involve food?)
• Free concerts thanks to Jimmy Kimmel's outdoor musical segments
• Dodging tourists
• Dodging street performers
• Dodging those annoying/terrifying characters (seriously - Spiderman would climb on the scaffolding in order to be more in-your-face).  If you don't believe me READ THIS!

I could go on and on. 

As I'm guessing all transplants with Hollywood dreams do, I felt excited and inspired when I first visited the Walk of Fame.  Seeing the names/stars of all my Hollywood "idols" and believing it would be me one day was just so super cool.  Sadly it lost its luster as time wore on and I started to feel a little bit of pity for the tourists who came there expecting...  well, something more.  But I am very glad to hear that "Iris" is having a positive effect on the area.  I hope the renovations bring new life & energy to Grauman's, and I will definitely head back that way to catch the promised documentary.  In the meantime, here's a couple old pictures from The Blvd that I managed to dig up:

my very first time on The Blvd (with an In-N-Out beverage of course) - posing with Marty Scorcese's star on the Walk of Fame and avoiding the Storm Trooper a few feet away

aforementioned Oscar prep

Maybe one day someone will blog a photo of themselves posing w/my star....................  ;-)

WANT.

Having a case of the Mondays?  Watch this and I promise you'll feel better:

I want one so badly.

Graduating from "Best Thing" to "Best Day of My Life"

image source: mtv.com

On last night's episode of "Jersey Shore," the boys went to Sicily to meet Vinny's Italian famiglia.  Vinny's uncle's brother's father's nephew's brothers dug up some old family photos which featured a 13 year-old Vinny who, by the way, LOOKED EXACTLY THE SAME.  This delighted Pauly D so much that he took a picture OF the picture with his digital camera and declared:

"This is the best day of my life right now, in this camera."

Pure gold.

Discombobulated Thursday: Apparently IMBT

I'm kind of all over the place today so I apologize in advance...

Everyone's been posting Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement address.  If you haven't already watched it, you should.  It's inspiring.  And sad.  But also happy.  Here:

If, like me, you're now curious about the Whole Earth Catalog he mentioned, here's their site.

This is also fascinating.

And finally, did you hear about this?  CRAY-CRAY.

Our family's first computer was an old school Macintosh that my dad built himself.  It took actually-floppy floppy disks.  My current MacBook Pro and iPod have traveled the world with me.  33% of YOU, the readers of this blog, are viewing this on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

We'll miss you Steve.



Completely unrelated, and because I think we could all use some joy, check out this crazy awesome (but maybe a little creepy) new Florence + The Machine Video:

Also, in addition to it being my BFF Lisa's bday, yesterday was also Kate Winslet AND Guy Pearce's birthdays!  Both!  On the same day!  Why is this a thing?  Because they're our prize Emmy winners, duh.  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the both of you <3

Lastly, I WANT TO BE THIS GUY:

Seriously, why can't that be my life?

IMBT Birthday Shoutout: My "Twin", Lisa!

Remember those aforementioned "best friends ever in life for all time infinity times infinity" who live in New York?  One of them is having a birthday today!  So I am dedicating this post to Lisa, my "twin" because we are so much alike in so many ways (except for looking nothing alike), in honor of her special day.  Lisa, I hope you have a fantastic birthday filled with lots of hugs, laughter, champagne, kitty snuggles, lemonade, and Hershey's chocolate.

Lisa and I met when she was moving into the room next door to me my freshman year of college.  She was so shy and quiet at first that I actually thought she might have been from another country.  But that didn't last long.  I've said a million times that I wish I had kept a journal in college in order to remember better now (and in the future) all the craziness (and let me tell you something - it was CRAZY that first year.  But I'll save that for another post).  We continued to live together our sophomore and junior years and would probably have done the same for senior year had I not spent that year abroad.

Since then we've managed to see each other once or twice a year, have been bridesmaids together in our BFF Laura's wedding (she's the Moe to our Larry and Curly), have traveled through England and Ireland together, and have continued to be there for each other as best we can living on opposite coasts.  Through the break-ups, break-ins, getting fired, getting hired, losing friends, losing family, and all the little stuff in-between our friendship has lasted.  And for that I am truly grateful.  Love you Twin!

at Fenway cheering on the Sox

with some of our best college buddies in Boston

wine tasting near Santa Barbara

after scoring 3rd row seats for "Rent" on Broadway

Laura's pre-wedding girls night out in Bath, England

being normal at Laura's wedding

where's the Queen?  in front of Buckingham Palace in London

being normal with the guard

on the plane to Dublin

making friends in Dublin

obligatory pints after the Guinness brewery tour

last summer in NYC

Can't wait to see you in just over a month!

Restaurant Week: IMBT

Yesterday I went to lunch with my boss at Susan Feniger's Street.

image source: gourmet.com

It was amazeballs.  

We took advantage of the semi-annual DineLA Restaurant Week, during which restaurants all over town offer special 3-course prix fixe menus.  It's a great chance for people like me, who want to taste EVERYTHING but can't really afford it, to try highly-rated places without breaking the bank.  More about Restaurant Week in a bit.  First, here's what we ate**:

The first dish brought to our table wasn't on the menu.  Basically they was like savory rice-crispy treats with all kinds of interesting spices and currants in it.  It was like nothing I'd ever tasted before.  The waiter described them more accurately, but I couldn't remember most of the details.  However, there's this little website called Google, which helped a find a picture and this recipe:

image source: thisisgonnabegood.blogspot.com

We also ordered the Honeydew Cucumber Mint Coolers (described as having a touch of fresh citrus and agave), which were just lovely and the perfect accompaniment to our lunch on the patio.  We then shared all three of the following appetizers (bonus! - we didn't know we would get all three):

Angry Eggs
 deviled eggs with Malaysian hot chile relish topped with green sriracha

*Perfectly creamy, perfectly seasoned.  The green sriracha provided a great little kick.

Burmese Melon Salad
 fresh seasonal melons, toasted coconut, peanuts, lentils, fried onions and gin thoke style ginger dressing

*This was the most interesting, surprising and delightful dish of the day.  It was so tasty, lots of flavors, refreshing but also substantial.  I don't even usually like coconut, peanuts OR lentils, but I kept piling it on to my plate.

New Orleans Laundry Day Fritters
 soft red bean and rice cakes fried crispy; served with crystal hot sauce cream and scallions  (non-vegan version with andouille sausage crumbles available)

*Yummmm.  Who doesn't love something deep fried and served with a cream sauce?  I'm glad these were small because I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself.

For my "main course" I chose the following:

Tunisian Chicken Shawarma Wrap
 braised chicken with olives, African peppers, currants, and smoked paprika. Wrapped in warm lavash with harissa tahini ketchup, tomatoes and lettuce

*This was, again, very tasty and filled with all kinds of flavors new to my taste buds.  However, after all those fantastic and surprising apps, this didn't knock my socks off.  That didn't stop me from taking half of it home though ;-)

And for my dessert I selected:

Egyptian Basbousa Cake
 with lime curd, whipped cream, and fresh berries

*WOWZA.  So so delicious.  My boss said, and I agree, that lime is totally underrated, and we both though this dessert was wonderful.  If I wasn't already so full I would have licked the plate clean.

What a truly fantastic meal.  So many new and interesting flavors.  And we certainly got the full international street food experience thanks to the Restaurant Week menu.

For a list of all the participating restaurants, their special menus, prices, and more information you can visit the DineLA Restaurant Week website by CLICKING HERE.  I definitely hope to hit at least 1 or 2 more before it ends next Thursday.  And if you've been/are going, tell me about your experience(s) in the comments!

**I've never written about food before so I apologize if my descriptions/reviews aren't up to par yet.  I'll get better with practice, I promise!

The Return of the Bluths!

If you haven't already heard, "Arrested Development" will be coming back to TV with 10 episodes in addition to the highly anticipated feature film that has been in the works for a couple years.

image source: Huffington Post

YAYYYYYYYY!!!  I loved this show when it was on the air: the next-time-ons which had absolutely nothing to do with the next episode, Gob's illusions, Maeby and George-Michael's creepy cousin romance, Tobias' neuroses (see below), I could go on an on. 

image source: stripersonline

I just really hope they bring back the stairs truck - I once got to "drive it" (sit in it and pretend) on the Fox lot - it was a little stinky, but so fun!  I have a picture of that somewhere, but I'll have to dig it up later...  Anyway, if you're STILL not excited (which I find hard to believe), check out this hilarious blooper reel (language NSFW) which should get you back into a silly Bluth-loving mood: