Be it faux-hawks, dancing, or the city of Florence, the cast members of "Jersey Shore" love to declare everything their "best thing". Here are some of MY Best Things.
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."
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.
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
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
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.
*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!
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:
