Paint My Life

When did my joy become some unclean disease that I learned not to speak of when you were listening?

I need to up my nerd.

I wish that I had been there. Just two hours away. So close and yet so far. Until then I need to up my nerd until I head out to comic con next year. There are so many obscure references I need to catch up on.

Figaro, Figaro, Fi-ga-roooooooo

This weekend I (finally) went to the little boulangerie a couple blocks down the street from me in Los Feliz called Figaro Bistro (used for this video apparently). On my second afternoon in Los Angeles I went walking around my neighborhood with one of my housemates and we passed this small cafe/bistro and it seemed that everyone sitting outside was speaking French. Obviously that meant this Boulangerie was the real deal and I have been waiting to go there ever since. I had a lovely, leisurely lunch with my friend Heather and we shared the caprese panini with pommes frites and I had an espresso.  I cannot wait to go back and sit outside and write with a fancy pen in a moleskin journal looking for celebrities and listening to the French language.

Soon after visiting this gem I was inspired to make lemon sugar crepes for breakfast with (unusual for me) whipped cream and some peppermint tea which I enjoyed while watching Downton Abbey. I've finally caught on to the obsession.

The inside of the restaurant

The view of the outside "patio" from my table

These photographs were displayed outside the bathroom.

Crepes.

what do legos, roofs, and death have in common?

Off of Hollywood Boulevard...not sure what they have in there, a little afraid to find out.

The view from a friend's roof of downtown. We decided this was a great place for parkour. Think Casino Royale.

STAR TREK!

Disney does it best. Beauty and the Beast out of Legos.

I have pictures of them all in this blog post. 

Fly Woody, fly!

Handprints of Tradition

This weekend I went with two friends to Grauman's Chinese Theater to see Christopher Nolan, whom some have said is the "Hitchcock" of our time, leave his handprints and footprints in the concrete outside. This is a long tradition which began when Fairbanks, Pickford, and Norma Talmadge stepped out of a cab onto some wet cement leaving their footprints outside of the theater. Sid Grauman, the theater owner at the time, liked the idea and made it a tradition for well-known people in the (film) industry to sign their names in cement with their hand and footprints. This weekend the cast of The Dark Knight Rises was present for Nolan's ceremony and I was fortunate enough to be standing on the right side of the theater on the railing when everyone arrived. It was a lovely morning (even though we had to wake up early to walk the mile and a half down Hollywood Boulevard) and we got lucky with our timing arriving just as they were stopping people from going in to see the ceremony. I also got some choice shots of the cast of Dark Knight as well as a signed poster with the autographs of Hans Zimmer (composer), Michael Caine, and Christian Bale. Some of my friends were able to get Anne Hathaway and Gary Oldman's autographs as well.

Church

This past Sunday I attended a Christian Church service different from all others. Reminding me of the Kinfolk Manifesto or JPBC's home groups more than anything else, here people attempt to get to the heart of community.  A group of artists uses a wonderful warehouse space to hold a meal each Sunday night and a small service afterwards. When I arrived I met people with a hug and warm handshakes, was escorted to a banquet table of barley and vegetable soup, vietnamese noodles, chili and rice, salad, and bruchetta. Small children played with a basket of toys on cushions on the floor while we sang, prayed, and talked with each other.  I look forward to adding this on to my normal Sunday service.  (Afterwards some new friends and I went to Syrup in downtown LA and had sweetened tea with large straws to suck up the fruit in the bottom and many different kinds of deserts).   

Avocado Pie

There is such a thing as avocado pie.  It is green and delicious and tastes a lot like a creamy key lime pie.  I highly recommend you try it as it is also one of the easiest deserts you will ever make.  Simply take 2 avocados, 1/4 cup lime juice, and a can of sweetened condensed milk and blend/whip/puree together, pour over a graham cracker crust, and refrigerate for about two hours.  Boom.  Deliciousness.

You might wonder how one discovers such a thing.  No, I wasn't just looking at pinterest. A friend of mine was talking about his love for avocados and mangos and I was telling him of my love of baking pies.  The crazy idea of avocado pie came up and a quick google search made the dream happen.  We were skeptical at first but with such easy directions and limited cost it seemed worth a try.  You should too.