31 August 2009

wine * food * photos

my usual dreamworks breakfast as of late:
cinnamon raisin toast w/ cream cheese & strawberries.

so, sadtimes because this past friday was the last friday night wine tasting at barnsdall art park, at least until next summer. but not to fret, they are having a beer garden this coming saturday followed by a screening of swingers. should be good fun. dan, nigel, kurt, mattJ and i headed downtown afterwards for some wurstkuche goodness. i had my usual kwak, mango&jalepeno and rattlesnake&rabbit. ah, i do adore going there.

dan and i took our bikes into cynergy on saturday to get a tune-up as well as pick up some new accessories (a specialized wedgie pack and knog gecko lights). then, to celebrate his promotion to leadTD, we made a special dinner of baked lamb shanks (with herb butter, rosemary, sage, hearty veg and white wine - which i made last thanksgiving) and roasted asparagus (with lemon, olive oil and parmesan). we went through a bottle of kung fu girl riesling while making dinner, and a bottle of 1998 chateau beausejour with dinner. such an amazing meal (if i do say so myelf).

sunday was pretty chill. went for a run in the morning, made breakfast at home and watched inglourious basterds - which was pretty mindblowing. on a more exciting note however, sunday night was my first photoshoot! not a big deal for anything, but i recently befriended one of the pourers from silverlake wine and he happens to be in a band that was in need of some pictures. luckily, rob let me borrow his off-camera flash and i got to play photog for the night and meet some pretty cool and talented people. i'll post a link to the pictures once i've filtered and touched them up a bit.

27 August 2009

franz-freaking-ferdinand

franz ferdinand @ the hollywood palladium.
(taken on palm pre)

after work we drove over to hollywood for the show. we got there an hour early so we grabbed dinner at magnolia on sunset, which is pretty much right across the street. we each had the cocktail special, a magnolia gimlet, which was really more of a hybrid of a gimlet and a mojito (but with vodka). i had the burger, and dan got the skirt steak. the food was simple but really fresh and good - perfect for a pre-show dinner.

we mosied on over to the palladium right around 8. i've never been, but it's really amazing inside. like an old converted dance hall / roller rink or something. the opening bands were neverever and the blood arm. both LA locals i believe, and pretty good. franz ferdinand finally went on right before 9.30p and played for about 1.5 hours, and oh-em-gee they are absolutely freaking amazing / awesome / mind-blowing and put on such a great great show. loved loved loved it, and them.

24 August 2009

the whole being-social-and-friendly thing.

it's all a blur.

eek, friday night was the second-to-last barnsdall wine tasting of the summer! more dreamworks people showed up this week, which made it fun. we ended the night with korean bbq at nam dae moon jip in ktown - so freaking good, and totally hit the spot too.

saturday was quiet. went for a run, stopped by the santa monica farmers market, brunched at anisette (croque madame and eggs benedict - amazing!) and watched miyazaki's ponyo. such a cool and fun movie - one of his better works, in my opinion.

nigel had a little poolside potluck/get-together at his place on sunday. it was fun and the food was tasty. afterwards, i met up with clara, lucasV's fiancee, at the bar at the W in westwood for a drink. i'm really trying to work on the whole being-social-and-friendly thing.. i've been pretty good about it i think, but it's still weird for me.

17 August 2009

JiRaffe.

whizzing on by.

mm, just dinnered at a place we just found in santa monica called JiRaffe (corner of santa monica blvd & 5th). it's french / new american with homemade pastas on the menu. we shared a purple peruvian gnocci with spot shrimp and pearl onions. i had the almond crusted rainbow trout and dan had the alaskan halibut. then we split the bread pudding for dessert. everything was really really good, but the gnocci was melt-in-your-mouth amazingness. just wanted to share. can't believe we never saw/tried this place before!

16 August 2009

something old, some things new.



after missing a friday wine tasting last week, we were back this week. we also finally tried the spicy pork dog from the let's be frank truck - and it was amazing! afterwards, we joined nigel and some work people at the left coast wine bar in glendale, and ended the night at the katsuya in the americana. really not my thing, but you could say it was a nice change of pace.

saturday started with a nice brunch at blue plate on montana - their blueberry pancakes are so good! we later biked down to venice for our first look at the new lemonade. i got the blueberry mint lemonade which was amazing - tasted very much like a refreshing mojito (minus the alcohol of course). we saw district9 - mindblowing - and then got dinner at sugarFISH in the marina. we each had the trust me omakase - very simple but very very fresh. definitely a great new sushi find.