Elmo

I really enjoyed the documentary "Being Elmo" about Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo. In the film he describes Elmo as being the personification of love. Whatever he is exactly Hank is hooked. One of Hank's favorite words these days is Elmo. He loves this guy. The other morning he wanted to be seated in his favorite chair next to his pal Elmo (this particular version of Elmo sings! So he is not for the faint of heart, in fact I resisted my family giving it to him but there's no denying his love for Elmo). I think you can see from this photo the feeling is mutual!

These Guys

A quiet moment in an otherwise action-packed weekend

I am so lucky to have these two guys in my life. I especially felt it this Sunday when we celebrated a very belated Mother's day. I got to sleep in, enjoy breakfast made by my husband, go to the gym, do this, and enjoy a delicious dinner of sauteed snapper with salsa verde all made by my Husband. All in all it was such a wonderful day and definitely made me appreciate these two guys a LOT. The only non-blissful moment was when my son, who likes to swim in his birthday suit, squatted down and went to the bathroom in our yard. I have convinced him that the pool is not a sensible place for such things but I have yet to teach him that anywhere other than the diaper or the potty is no good. In true hero form my husband took care of that as well.

Aqualillies

from the Aqualillies website

 I first stumbled across this amazing group of women in the pages of Vogue this past April. They channel Esther Williams and perform mostly in Los Angeles at Hollywood events, private parties, even Justin Timberlake's birthday party. They even do weddings! They are all lovely and in incredible shape. Synchronized swimming is no joke. If you live in LA (and soon other cities) you should check out the classes they teach. You can grab your favorite retro suit and bathing cap and learn to move like the amazing Aqualillies.

Los Angeles Sushi Rules

One of my earliest memories ever is sitting at the sushi bar with my father at Happy Sushi in Chicago my hands cupping the miso soup bowl, nibbling on shrimp and egg sushi rolls. I have always loved sushi. It is definitely my stranded on a desert island food. I crave it and frankly can't really go more than a week without having some sushi. There is ok sushi in my neighborhood but LA is teaming with melt-in-your-moth, ridiculously fresh sushi options. Someday before I die I will go to Ursawa. The omakase only bank breaking restaurant in Beverly Hills but in the meantime here are my favorite spots (***all of these are East side options because hey that's where I live, but I know there are amazing West side options as well).

SUSHI GEN
The first time I visited this place a regular sitting next to me at the sushi bar informed me that the owner/chef gets first pick along with only two other chefs at the fish market in LA. This ensures that he gets the freshest stuff around. I am not sure if this is true but I am sticking with that story. Everything here is so good. If you order omakase at the sushi bar you won't be disappointed but you will be expected to eat fried shrimp heads (you can ask for them in a soup if that helps!). This place has an incredible lunch special. There are always lines out the door which is a testament to how fresh and delicious everything is. Also it's right in the heart of little Tokyo so it's a fun little neighborhood to explore before or after dinner.

KAZU SUSHI
Kazu Sushi is situated on a stretch of Ventura surrounded by better known serious sushi restaurants - the original Katsu-ya, Nozawa, etc. For the life of me I cannot figure out why this place is not packed every night. Kazu is just as serious as his neighbors. There are no california rolls here. Only fresh and deliciuos sushi. If you go you have to get the blue crab hand roll. It is seriously life changing. I am not quite sure how I discovered this place. I think I may have heard it's George Clooney's favorite secret valley sushi spot. I have never seen him here (although I have seen other celebrities tucked away in this unassuming strip mall spot). This place is so good. You never have to wait and everything is so good. It's also worth doing the Omakase here. A bit of a splurge but everything is so tasty.

SUSHI IKE
For years this was probably our main go to sushi bar. I even crept in here quietly when I was eight months pregnant (I avoided fish with mercury in them just like I avoided my fellow patrons judgmental stares but continued to eat a little bit of sushi throughout my pregnancy). This place was tucked away in a strip mall in Hollywood at the corner of Gower and Hollywood BLVD and man was it good. Unfortunately Ike sold the restaurant a few years ago to open up a reservation only, omakase only spot in Pasadena. People have reported that some of the old chefs are back at the Hollywood spot. I still have yet to try the new Ike but I couldn't leave it off my list.

Kale and Coconut Smoothie Recipe

I have been addicted to the Kale and Coconut smoothie from Naturewell  in Silver Lake for a long time. We are talking a serious love for this shake. When I was pregnant I indulged in this amazing drink nearly every day. It's pricey but man is it delicious. I have tried a few times to recreate it at home. To be honest the main reason I wanted a Vitamix was so that I could make my own kale and coconut smoothies.I have pinned about this drink on pinterest. This is my dream shake but for some reason my home attempts are never as delicious. Today I found this video from the lovely blog http://lainbloom.blogspot.com/ with Heather's version of the smoothie. I am definitely going to try this version immediately.

Another Weekend

Another weekend, another series of photos of my son prancing around naked in our backyard. I had a really lovely weekend. I saw an old friend from college who was in town with a girlfriend. I actually ventured to the beach twice in one weekend. Sometimes it's hard to remember we live in a city on the ocean because we are so far east. And I shot the first part of a really fun story on these amazing ladies. It you live in LA you should check out their classes. Also we planted two different kinds of heirloom tomatoes and some shisito peppers in our garden.Can't wait to report on their progress!

Hank

Aqualillies class at the Annenberg Beach House 

PCH

Hank

Dinner Light

Backyard Pool

PCH

Backyard Garden

Jalapenos from our garden a few months ago

This week has flown by. One of the things I'd love to do this weekend is to get some more vegetables to plant in our box garden. We've had some mixed results so far. Our gardener gave us a jalapeno plant when he first built the box for us and as you can see we had a LOT of jalapenos all at once. After thinking about jalapeno jelly, poppers, and other various recipes I am embarrassed to admit I sort of just let most of them rot. shhhh. We've also experimented with arugula (which was wonderful for a while but then seemed to just take over) and right now we are enjoying strawberries. I am not sure what we will get this weekend, but I found these inspiring photos on Pinterest. I don't think we will be at this level anytime soon but it's exciting to think about. We also have a pear, plum, and fig tree in our yard but I don't think we will see those fruit for a while. 

101 Cookbooks

Butternut Squash and Farro Salad 

I think I found my way to blogs mostly through weddings and food. When I was researching ideas for our wedding I started checking out blogs like Once Wed and Style Me Pretty  which in turn introduced me to several lovely and amazing bloggers. My other introduction to this world was through food bloggers. In a similar fashion you discover one which leads you to another and suddenly you have a bunch you are reading fro mtime to time. There are so many great ones but for the past several years I have always remained loyal to Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks, the first food blog I discovered. Her recipes are always seasonally driven, fresh and healthy. More than of my favorites recipes that remain in my weekly rotation (sorry Mike that I made that giant bean dish so many times!) I learned from her blog. Since falling in love with this recipe blog she has published two cookbooks. If you haven't visited 101 cookbooks you should.

Chopped Miso Salad

Limoncello Macaroons

Comforts of Home

The weather is warm enough these days and it stays light late enough that most days when I get home from work Hank and I can romp around outdoors, which is such a treat.Yesterday we spent the early evening hours running around outside and playing with our new Frisbee. I am not sure Hank grasped the concept of actually throwing it but he did have fun dropping it and picking it up.

We even took a video.

Philadelphia Weekend

Hank made a few business calls before we took off

We headed to Bucks County for a long weekend to visit my husband's family, checkout Mike's 15-year Penn Reunion (he is two years older but wow when did we get so old!), and attend an old friend's wedding. We had so much fun. Philadelphia is such a great town.Everywhere you turn there are incredible old buildings with the most beautiful facades and lovely old shutters. Every night people seemed to be pouring onto the streets, eating at sidewalk tables at cute little restaurants. One of the highlights was visiting a little working farm near where my in-laws live. Hank had a blast running around, walking through puddles, and saying hello to all of the animals. Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and a great mother's day.

checking out the sheep 

The Weekend

This weekend my step-father was visiting us in Los Angeles which always means delicious meals and lots of fun family times. This weekend was no exception. We enjoyed the glorious Los Angeles weather and visited the Zoo and road our local train at Griffith Park. 

One of the highlights was finally trying the restaurant Ink. This place did not disappoint at all. We decided to share everything and each dish was better than the next. I wish it wasn't so dark and I wasn't embarrassed to take photos with my SLR in restaurants. Instead I am relying on what I could find and I included a picture of a really interesting take on a raw carrot salad below. Everything was so good. I can't recommend this place enough if you are looking for a splurgy LA restaurant. My husband said top five dinners ever! 

Closed on Mondays

I am lucky to have a good friend who is a chef. Over the years I have cashed in on this luck by enjoying gorgeous dinners at AOC (where she worked for years) and more recently eating her delicious brunches at Canale (a brunch menu that has earned a LOT of praise and a devout following). These days my friend has two cute kiddos and for the most part she is devoted to raising her kids. She still cooks from time to time but now it's for a higher purpose. If you live in Los Angeles you should check out her incredible charity Closed on Mondays. Just about every month my friend Aliza and two other lovely ladies take over a restaurant (usually Canale) and cook massive amounts of delicious food and all of the money they earn goes to a food related charity (usually one that is for children). Last night was another triumphant dinner where I literally had the best lasagna I have ever tasted. Every dollar went to an incredible charity called Growing Great. They have even created a family happy hour from 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm where families can get their salads and entrees all at once to cut down on waiting time and hopefully avoid the dreaded dinner meltdowns. There were still quite a few (yes Hank I am talking about you) but the dining room was buzzing with families and kids all loving the delicious meal, and no one seemed to mind the occasional screams. Check out the website, like them on facebook, and go to their next dinner. You will not be disappointed. I don't have any photos of last night's deliciousness but here is the menu and a few photos from their recent events I found on their facebook page.