Poopie Sauce

There is a sad new trend occurring on Ventura Boulevard. The Baja Fresh at Coldwater and the La Salsa at Laurel Canyon have both closed their doors. These were two of my favorite quick fixes for lunches and solo dinners. And the sole reason for my continued passionate patronage of these joints was their salsas -- particularly the medium spicy, dark colored, fire-roasted, zesty, tangy salsa.

When Jackie used to work at the office, she would pick up our lunches and she nicknamed my beloved condiment the "black poopie sauce." With the frequent visits to both eateries and the imperative component to the meals, the name stuck.

Trader Joes, Ralph's, Pavilions sell salsa, but nothing nearly as sassy as the black poopie sauce. Something similar was sold at Whole Foods, but bizarrely has been discontinued. So, how do I get my fix? Yes, there are other Baja Freshes and other La Salsas, but it seems frivolous to take a trek for salsa. So what is the other option? Make it myself, of course!



With some encouragement and assistance from Tony, my salsa turned out EXACTLY like the Baja Fresh salsa. Fresh from the blender, it is a little frothy in this photo, but that passed and it was delicious. We dipped chips into it, slathered chicken soft tacos with it, and I, personally, loved just looking at it. It's just a little thing, but I know that even on the worst of days, I can create a rainbow with some black poopie sauce.

Conversion Complete

Although I have painstakingly tried to resist, I finally succumbed to peer pressure and fully converted into an Apple girl -- 13' Macbook, iPhone, iPad, iTouch, and iPod. Bye bye Sony Vaio. Later Blackberry.

I haven't spent enough time with everything to fall into the inevitable love-fest that you all are in, but my machines are being synched up on Tuesday, and I am ready for a life changing moment!

One thing I do love already -- the camera on the iPhone. ("No duh," say you Apple junkies.) Here's the first photo taken moments after purchase at the Apple store at the Grove. And away we go. . .



P.S. Thanks to Tony for my computer and to Dad and Terry for the new phone and accessories aplenty!

New Years Resolution

This quote was sent to me in September and I was inspired by it. Now I am making part of my New Year's Resolutions list.

Choose Life over the other stuff. Get out of your head. Live. Dress up. Eat. Touch people. Help out. Give up. Love people. Give your best away. There's more. What's the problem? Relax. You're going to die. Throw a party. Eat off my plate. Sing to me. Meet me in the bedroom. Get a massage. Give one. Let your amazement out into the room. Pry open the box you hide your joy in. Be a poem.

2012

Hello lovely readers,

I want to thank you for sticking by and checking in even though there have been no new entries since (gasp!) September 2011. The site has averaged about 18 hits a day and you mysterious and loyal 18 are my inspiration to start blogging again. I also get some pleasure while writing entries and looking forward to creating many posts in the future. As usual, I do not guarantee that the posts will be riveting or interesting or even good looking. And that's why I love you readers so! Stick around -- I might sneak something good up here.

And away we go. . .
Tony, a graduate of a culinary school, cooks nearly every meal for us. Everything he does is scrumptious so why take a chance by taking turns? And this allows for me to really bone up on my prep skills and table making savvy.

On Friday night, I was feeling ambitious. I found an easy recipe here and decided to give it a go.

On the left is my chicken, on the right is the recipe's photo.
















And mine tasted great! It gives me encouragement to cook more, but then again, my next culinary foray could be more like a "This is awful, let's order a pizza!" moment.

City Girl

I live in the city, and so it is especially cool to look out my window while getting dressed in the morning to see this:





Hope the little guy had a good breakfast and comes back soon!

Got a moment?

Tony shared this cool website with me. It takes only a minute and will probably make you smile.

Draw A Stickman

Ingrid & Steve's Wedding

I know whatever I post about the wedding will not give it justice. There are literally thousands of beautiful pictures on Facebook. In the photos I have seen of myself, my smile is all gums -- something which only happens when smiling too hard! I was so happy, that gummy smile felt natural!

The whole day -- ceremony, cocktails, reception, dancing, post-party, post-post party were utterly flawless. Ingrid and Steve looked blissfully in love and the guests danced and laughed the night away.

Here is a video that captured the event.

Ingrid + Stephen from Kiss The Bride Films on Vimeo.

Congratulations you two!! The wedding ceremony and reception was a HUGE success and hopefully a sign of your future ahead.

Rehearsal Dinner

Thursday was Ingrid and Steve's rehearsal dinner. It could also be titled Night 1 of the Ramamura Celebratory Party Marathon!



The rehearsal dinner was held at the Greek restaurant, Thalassa. Steve said he likes it because the service is excellent. In fact, he adds that it seems like "there are busboys hiding in the plants waiting to fill your water at just the right time."





The food was also extraordinary, but best of all, it was a superb warm-up to a big weekend ahead!



PS How H.O.T. is Ingrid?!

September Babies

I must get along well with Virgo's because I've been invited to a bunch of birthday celebrations recently.

Here's Leni Kulzer's party -- an outside, sit-down dinner for 40 (gasp!)in her backyard. Extraordinary evening with her sophisticated, classy, and witty friends. Here is Robert bringing Leni her cake -- unfortunately her back was to me, but you can see her hot Galliano dress.



And below are fellow revellers Dom, Carmen and Karina.



Later in the weekend was another backyard party, but of a totally different kind. It was Piper's 2nd birthday. Even upon entering, you could tell there would be major merriment.



Pony rides, a petting zoo? My inner child rejoiced, although the chickens would only let me touch them if I cornered them. Of course, that's how my interactions with many humans go too!



Here's the birthday girl with her Daddy. Poppie was being the perfect hostess, so I didn't get any photos of her -- boo!

Serving Basics

Oh please let this sign be up at every restaurant I've ever eaten at. I would think that these are extremely obvious and any server with a moment of training would have these 6 Do's & Don't nailed. But seeing this big sign makes me wonder what else a server would need to be taught or be reminded about with a 4 foot poster. . .