Fall in Los Angeles can be beautiful. These images were taken in early October, but I just found them on my camera. Great sunsets and a slight chill in the air. Also sometimes you find Tori Burch shoes on the sand, that is until the model twirling in the water comes back and claims them.
Let me tell you my story before anyone jumps to conclusions. Last weekend I played host to my niece (a dear friends daughter). We have no kids of our own so occasionally I borrow other peoples kids. Well frankly I love my friends children....especially when we get to give them back. [sly smile]
So I had a house full of teenage girls. I proceeded to walk them down to the mall, who wouldn't like the mall, I did, even if my feet didn't. Upon returning home we chose a movie to watch. I so thought this would be the easy part, teenager girls like chick flicks right....answer here would be NOooooooo! Though we did settle on a chick flick, iRobot was a serious contender, sorry Spongy, next time.
Ok, so why the pictures? Well I have added additional counter space for my kitchen, thanks to Ikea, It's a better place them my counter tops covered in 1960's old ceramic tiles (not the cool type, see below), that are broken and uneven. I sacrificed a kitchen table for more flat workspace. So I thought I would share it's multi-purpose use.
During pauses in the movies I had the girls roll out pizza dough, two girls to each pile of dough. Then we put them on pizza stones, they chose their toppings, I bake.
After pizza's were in the oven we cleared the path for our art project that would start after the movie. I got this idea from Pinterest and was posted from the 700 Experience blog
Those who follow me on Instagram (itsweetsavory) know I experimented with this by myself during the week before. By myself was the key problem, you need to have a buddy. So each girl picked her color palate with the box of crayons I scored from the 99 cents store. Then we took some cardboard and a glue gun and glued the crayons onto the board, leave one inch of the crayon hanging off the cardboard. Now it was ready for some melting.
Speaking of melting, here's our last melted cheese and veggie pizza....Nice right. This was delicious. I made crust part easy and bought my dough from Trader Joes. Usually I make it myself, but I had too much to do. Toppings included cheese, obviously, tomato's, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, mushrooms and pepperoni. I don't really like sauce on my pizza and though others do, I didn't remember this part, so no sauce.
Back to the melting crayons. The girls perfected this part, they got tired of holding each other's crayons and figured out how to tape the cardboard with glued crayons on the wall behind. And yes I have splattered wax on my wall before I realized it and then we pulled up the craft paper and fixed that. Thankfully this is my patio.
One request I had made to a few mom's, was "have the girls bring a blow dryer", weird right, well that didn't happen so we had one blow dryer, mine. Yes I had to scrap off hard wax the next day. So,
not
complaining, because this was easy and the girls got creative. Some chose to cover the whole canvas and others just did one side and left white space below.
Here's one up close, great texture and color.
Have fun and enjoy your counter as much as I do. Enjoy!
This post is my entry into the Alt Summit Blog Carnival Contest sponsored by Wilsonart International, Inc.
Quick post on yesterday as we had a full day in Malibu starting at 7AM and ending the day at 5PM. Lots of adventures with great friends by the beach and in the canyons. L.A. offers such a variety of things to see and explore which is why so many of us live here, but Malibu has it's own culture. People run into friends on daily errands and coffee breaks. There is a more relaxed attitude here.
At one point we needed to make a stop at a restroom and we walked threw the camp grounds at Malibu State Park. No one there except the fallen leaves of autumn and me and Heather traipsing in our sandals to the restroom. After we made sure that there were no creatures lurking in the restroom we ran in and out as quickly as possible.
Zuma beach was lovely.
Malibu Kitchen for quick breakfast.
I guess we need to be Bob's friend if we want to park here.
Clouds were amazing this day.
Canyon's were so quiet and beautiful.
Take a ride thru Malibu Canyon and Enjoy!
Milo and Olive, a neighborhood bakery and pizzeria, opened almost a year ago in November 2011. I've been hearing great local buzz about this place and have passed it many times on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica. It's run by the team of Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan who are also behind
Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry
and
Sweet Rose Creamery
.
The
menu includes fresh baked morning
pastries
and
bread
, wood fired
pizzas
, farmers market inspired
salads
and small plates in a hip and warm environment.
Seats are readily available in the morning at the counter. This is always a fun place to sit and watch the tattooed cooks. I like to guess what they are making. At lunch, counter and communal tables are available. The pastries in front look mouth watering. First trip there I had a latte, eggs and bacon (a no carb day), so I'll have to go back to try what looked like the best sticky pecan roll
ever.
Simple exterior
Cool simple interior. I like the no fuss.
Next time round I shared a lovely fresh salad and a few pizzas.
The crust was divine, and I'm a huge mushroom fan, so this, with the melted fontina cheese, was delish.
Prosciutto, Burrata, Arugula Pizza...so mouth watering.
These desserts were entering the room while we ate our lunch, I was dying.
Zoe Nathan has stated that she's using different grains to enrich the flavor of her breads. Well if this is any indication, it's working. It's a cornmeal cake with a blueberry jam, topped with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting and fresh farmer market blueberries, your going to die happy.
Please stop by and visit this place, you'll not be disappointed. Enjoy!
Milo & Olive
2723 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
During my four month hiatus from real life work, I was able to explore a few local shops. I came across an article about Choco Vivo, a chocolate shop in Venice. Anyone who knows me KNOWS I love chocolate. So I went exploring online first to their website. If you haven't read Patricia's stories on her blog you should go
. She is a true entrepreneur and someone who took a great leap of faith to do something she loves.
So I drove a mere 10 minutes to Venice and went looking for this tiny shop nestled on Abbot Kinney. I so wanted to meet Patricia, she sounded like me in her March blog posts, but she wasn't there that day.
I sampled a few of the chocolates. I've never really tasted true pure chocolate. It's all DARK chocolate no milk or soy lecithins added, so it's pure goodness.
Her stone-ground beans to bar method is mouth melting ecstasy. I tried the almonds to sea salt and the mayan tradition (spicy and delish). She also has chocolate butters and does a nice sampling on the First Friday's down on Abbot Kinney every month.
A must visit place when your on the westside. Abbot Kinney is the perfect place for this entrepreneur.
Beside's the great little store, she's also at these Farmer's Markets:
Tuesdays:
Culver City, 2 pm – 7 pm,
Sundays:
Mar Vista, 9 am – 2pm
Try some samples.
Loved the great packaging for my purchase.
Choco Vivo
504 Abbot Kinney Blvd
chocovivo.com
So after are three weeks of volunteer work in the blazing heat of over 100 degrees everyday, our friends treated us to a few days in Pismo beach. About 3 hours North of Los Angeles. We rented a house steps from the beach with a view of the Pier. I took tons of pictures so sorry for the picture overload below. These 3 days were thoroughly enjoyable and varied. Long walks on the beach in the morning and sunset, surfing, wine tasting, whale watching (unintentional), reading and cooking.
This is the first time she's used her board and had never waxed it.
SB showed the young teenagers how to surf and freeze in the cold water (wetsuits NOT optional.) In the meantime Bekah and I did the TJ shopping and then off galavanting to Laetitia Winery.
Sunflare on the Pier.
Here's the house we stayed in.
View at sunset from those windows.
Bench at Edna Valley Winery. When we arrived here we encountered a woman who drunkenly said "they have the best wines in there."
Lounging and wine tasting area at Laetitia winery.
View at Edna Valley winery. Gorgeous.
Ok so we talked the girls into going to a Loufa farm. I had no idea how loufa's were made, and I was pleasantly surprised by this whimsical and educational little farm. Did you know Loufa's grow on vines. I had no idea.
This is what a loofa looks like, kind of like a squash, from the squash family in fact. It dries out on the vine and then you take it out soak in water and peel off the harden skin. Voila a loofa, free of pesticides and ready to scrub-a-dub-dub.
Did you know there are at least 3 kinds of lavender. I didn't. The most used is English (which is kind of soapy smelling), then French (middle ) and finally Spanish. See what you learn at the loofa farm.
We drove up the road a bit and explored the other beaches, specifically Avila Beach. We found this lovely country farm. Included organic fruits and veggies. Also had kitschy kitchenwares. They grilled sweet corn and we ate it sitting on haystacks. Seriously country folks.
Ice cream stand in a barn. Delish.
Some fun photos below of our days lounging.
Random chair on side of road.
I am starting to love summer almost as much as I love spring.
One of my favorite flowers is the Matilda. They look like big sunny-side eggs. I took these images at the Adamson House in Malibu, but I see them everywhere now. Enjoy!
Many years ago when a friend was getting married she asked about taking pictures at a place called the Adamson House. I had no idea where this place was, then I was invited to a wedding here and well it's one of the most beautiful Spanish Revival Colonial houses on the west coast. Tours of the inside of the house are $7 (cash only) but you can walk the outside grounds for free.
The courtyard. This house is located just North of the famous Malibu pier, next to the lagoon.
Malibu Pier.
This just screams Malibu to me or one of those postcards that says:
"Wish You Were Here."
I just liked the blue umbrella on the beach and you can see this view from the grounds of the house.
The Spanish Colonial house was built in 1930 for Rhoda Rindge Adamson and her husband. What kept this house from turning into a parking lot (aghast) was the it has so much of the now defunct Malibu Pottery (Rhoda's mother Mrs. Rindge started Malibu Pottery). The tiles saved the house. You'll love the historical stories about the beginnings of Malibu, and the Rindge and Adamson families. Enjoy the lovely images from around the grounds, you'll see it's covered in gorgeous tile.
Pool house and pool.
Dogs get to bath outside, this is nicer then some of the inside bathtubs.
View from the visitors bathroom, literally from the toilet. There is a building to the right of the entrance where there are public restrooms.
When we were there for a wedding we weren't allowed in the house only outside. I'd heard the tours inside were special, so I have made it an effort to get there for the tour many times. I have no pictures inside of the house as your not allowed to take any....boo! But you'll love the tiled floor that looks like a rug, even with fringe. This is a great house that tells a wonderful story about one of the most beautiful area's on the west coast, Malibu.
Malibu Lagoon Museum
23200 Pacific Coast Highway
P. O. Box 291
Malibu, California
(310) 456-8432
In the past I have posted some of my favorite books and one of them that I read often, sometimes once a year is
Under the Tuscan Sun
.
My friend Nancy told me that Frances and Ed Mayes had published a cookbook and that the book tour was bringing them to the Getty Villa in Malibu. I was too excited for words, so I booked a reservation for four people to the Getty Villa, you need to do this on their
. They don't charge per person, but per car, so I assumed my friends visiting and SB would go with me. Alas, on that day everyone had different plans. I called Nancy at the very last minute to see if she wanted to go with me, as I had turned her on to this book and she had told me about the book signing. She already had plans, so I ventured to one of my favorite places alone. Before I get to my story here are few of the my photo's of the Getty Villa, which houses J. Paul Getty's antiquity collection (lots of statues).
Water lilies by the water fall.
A view of the cafe....best museum food I've ever had.
Beautiful tiled fountain.
This is the best view of the pool and if you don't know this balcony below is here, you'll miss it. There is a door to the West of the upstair elevators. Push the handicap button and the doors will open to this balcony and enjoy the view. It's not always open, but if it is, go...and thankfully this is still a well kept secret. There is hardly ever anyone out there.
A hipstamic moment.
I got there at 10AM. No one was there, it was so empty, a class of kids was in the amphitheater and hadn't scattered thru out the museum yet, so I really had the place to myself. I found the book store to purchase this cookbook. You can purchase it
.
At the bookstore they'd asked me if I'd reserved a book, I hadn't and became worried. But they'd ordered extra so I got my book and then hovered near the table and line in the shade waiting for Frances and Ed. When they walked by I recognized her right away and said "hello," like I knew her, really I've never met her but felt like we were long time friends.
Two gentleman went before me in line and had bought every book she ever published and had her sign them all, she kindly did so and chatted them up. This took a while, then they gave her embroidered tea towels, really how can I compete with this thoughtfulness. It did bode well for getting my personal first edition copy of
Under the Tuscan Sun
signed, which I had brought with me. When it was my turn I was so excited and had her sign the cookbook and asked if she'd signed my
Under the Tuscan Sun
copy. I told her and Ed I read this about every year while drinking a nice glass of Prosecco (she introduced me to this delicious bubbly wine). Ed said "Good for you!" The third person at the table happened to be the photographer. I had looked at the photographs and thought they were lovely so when I got to him I asked him if he'd sign his favorite picture. This is like asking someone what there favorite city was on a European tour, or your favorite pastry at Laduree. He couldn't find one of his favorites but described which one it was, it's the vegetables against the plastered walls of Bramasole (the Mayes home in Tuscany). Later on in the day I found it and almost went back to have him sign it.
It was only 10:45 by now and someone mentioned there was a lecture at noon, this series is called: Celebrity Chef Series: Frances Mayes (The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen) Author Frances Mayes speaks on the occasion of the publication of her first-ever cookbook. Mayes talks about how this cuisine transports, comforts, entices, and speaks to the friendly, genuine, and improvisational spirit of Tuscan life.
I wasn't planning on staying that long, but I thought I'd wonder thru the museum as it wasn't crowded and explore images I might want to take and see if there was anything new. I've been to this museum many times before and after the remodel. It's like being transported to Italy. Such a beautiful re-creation of an Italian villa. Below are some of the patterns, textures, and tromp l'oeil you'll see everywhere.
This is technically the entrance of the museum. Make sure to look up, the ceiling is beautiful.
#fromwhereistand
By noon I was still there so I went to see if there were any tickets left, they are free, they handed me one and I went into the auditorium. Bon Appetit introduced her, did you know they manage the cafe at the Getty Villa? This makes sense as the food is delicious. Her reading was poetic and painted many word pictures. I kept thinking how glad I was in this position to come on a Wednesday morning to the Getty Villa at the last minute and hear one of my favorite authors describe the Italian life she'd made for herself and how people thought she was crazy to start this venture, I was inspired and moved. After the reading we were allowed to ask questions. Not many went up, so I asked why she choose Cortona of all the places in Italy to live [she'd initially stayed there on her first visit to Italy as it was centrally located to where she wanted to tour, after that she kept coming back, so it seemed a likely place to set roots]. Someone else asked her about the difference in writing a cookbook versus her travel logs [much different, she hadn't realized the ingredients were listed in the order you put them in dish].
By this time it was 1PM and I was hungry, the cafe was making a few of the recipes in her book, so I went up there and order the crostini. These were so savory. The Pea and Shallot had a hint of mint, a surprising refreshing burst of flavor in your mouth. The other crostini was Pecorino and Nut (walnuts). Nutty from the walnuts and cheese with a tangy salty flavor.
Some of my favorite statues....and well, one that scares me to death, I use to dream about this "chicken lady" chasing me thru the ditches in New Mexico when I was a kid. Yes I know I need therapy.
A Siren...but I call her the "Chicken Lady."
For some reason this one reminds me of the statue I saw in the movie "The Saint". I believe the statue I am referring to is at Oxford, at least it was in the movie.
After this lovely afternoon I walked thru the herb garden and headed home. Funny thing was Nancy deeply regretted that I didn't talk her out of her plans (which I really couldn't have). She ended up having to drive down to Costa Mesa to get a signed copy of the books as the Getty Villa had sold out. It was a fun adventure for the day. I can't wait to have a few more.
Getty Villa
17985 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90265
(310) 440-7300
It's been a VERY long time since I went to Descanso Gardens. I was probably 10 years old, and well that's a long time ago. The gardens are in La Canada, and worth the drive for us Westsiders. The gardens were lovely and seeing as its spring most of the flowers were in bloom. Admission for adults it's $8 and $3 for children (5-12yrs old)
Tulips were breathtaking. I recently took a quiz about
"which of flower are you?"
Try it yourself
. I am a Tulip, which makes sense why I was drawn toward these gorgeous flowers. Personally Dahlias and Peonies are my favorite flowers, but there were none to be found that day.
Pink and pretentious.
White and purple color palate.
Art and Craft style building on the grounds. I believe you can rent many of these spaces for events. They are pretty spectacular and worth checking in to.
This is the house where the original residence lived. It's pretty amazing.
I wanted to be inside so much but they don't have the house open on Monday's. I made myself go into the house with my reflection on the window and the mirror inside.
Below are my images that are an ode to a few photographers I really admire.
An ode to Ansel Adam's Dogwood image.
Ode to Imogen Cunningham and Georgia O'Keefe.
My college photography professor would have a few unkind words to say about the above image, but I love it, so there.
Bridge with cherry blossoms all around.
Lonely Cherry Blossom tree.
The color palates everywhere were breathtaking.
The Lilac bushes were so fragrant, before you even walk into the area you are surrounded by the perfume in the air.
So many lovely Camellia's.
You must take a day this Spring and stop and smell the roses.
Descanso Gardens
1418 Descanso Drive
La Canada Flintridge, CA 91011
Near intersection of 210 and 2 Freeways.
20 Minutes from downtown L.A.
Since I've had this time off, and I must say thoroughly enjoying it, you may ask what have I been up to. LIVING is the best way to say it. I've been enjoying the city I live in, which I never do, especially when all I ever saw was my garage, the 10 Freeway back and forth to work and the parking lot.
So, unplanned I've actually been exploring L.A. Thru field trips with my friends kids, off with the Mom's during Spring break and my own spur of the moment decisions.
Here are a few smatterings of images I've taken via my iPhone along the way.
Banksy on the side of a building in downtown L.A.
Looking up on a cool Art Deco building with great lines.
Great old buildings and theater.
Flower mart....including the yellow ball flowers up top.
Here are a few from walking on the beach in the early morning.
SB makes fun of me for taking pictures of the bathroom structure....it's the one thing SM has done right down at the beach, cool architecture and appealing colors...the smell is still bad, but we can't everything.
Art Direction: SB Photographer: ME.
Images below are from a recent trip to Descanso Gardens, driving the freeway's with no one on it is a pure luxury in this town. All taken with Hipstamic on my iPhone.
itsweet & savory
Lifestyle blogger who loves coffee, architecture, local cultural interests, good food and travel stories.
