Descanso Gardens

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

here

. 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.

Exploring

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.

Huntington Library & Botanical Garden

Recently my mom was in town which was nice. We spent one of the days playing at the Huntington Library. This is an amazing place. It's not just about books. Although they do have the Gutenberg Bible (c.1455), this was so different then I expected, smaller and more colorful, I didn't expect to be an illuminated manuscript.

But the best part is the gardens, and lots of them, deserts, roses, lily ponds, frogs, Japanese and Chinese gardens and an Australian jungle. Amazing. But there is more... they have a fabulous art collection. My favorite was the portrait gallery. Enjoy the day and make a reservation in the tea room for a lovely way to finish the afternoon of roaming the gardens and libraries. Be aware....a bit of a picture overload. I just couldn't decide what I liked the most, so I inserted all my favorites.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108

626.405.2100

Fourteen Years and Osteria Mozza

So it's another Anniversary celebration. Only this time my wedding anniversary. Yes it's been 14 years, yes we were pups when we got married. This past year has been particularly tough for us. The times we live in, the economic issues, just life in general have made it hard. But we are best friends and we make it work with lots of hard WORK and some serious praying.

So here's how our week started off. Apparently I was a little bit grouchy the other day about SB's non-enthusiasm regarding dinner at Osteria Mozza. Seriously, he's a foody, you'd think he'd love this. But he's also practical and not the romantic, planning type. But FOURTEEN years deserves a nice dinner at the very least. So when I got home Wednesday afternoon, the above flowers were waiting for me. With this note:
I asked him "why the Tinman sign off?"
He said: "I wanted you to know that I have a heart."

And he does, the best man ever. He makes me laugh just about everyday, cooks just about every night and cleans (does the dish's, our laundry and scrubs the shower) all while working hard in several jobs with multiple responsibilites. (And yes I do work a 40 hour work week and put in 70 hours of monthly volunteer time, not a lazy wife, we're just a busy couple). He is my best friend and I appreciate him more than words can say. Now enough of the mush...let's get to the eating part.

We did make it to Osteria Mozza. And it was well worth the wait. As it was a last minute reservation it was either 5:30 or 9:30 on a Wednesday night. We choose the old folks hour of 5:30 which was perfect, except the L.A. traffic, which is never ideal.

It took us a long time to figure out what we wanted to order, the menu is daunting. I asked what are Osteria's specialities. We pretty much ordered them all.

The staff recommended the Grilled Octopus with potatoes, celery & lemon. I'm not a big tentacle person, but SB wanted this. And it was perfectly grilled with a lemony flavor. Unexpectedly delightful to the my untrained palate.

Burrata with grilled asparagus, brown butter, guanciale & Sicilian almonds. Who doesn't like bacon and brown butter. YUmmmmm.

I ordered Orecchiette with sausage & swiss chard. This was rich and the bread crumbs added a perfect crunchy texture. I took my time eating this and drinking the red wine which I order by the glass and you get a 1/2 carafe which really amounts to a glass and 1/2.

SB orderd Pan Roasted Halibut con pepe verde, which tasted like it was basted with wine and lots of capers.

The finale was the Bombolini which was fresh made donuts rolled in sugar served with mountain huckleberry compote and vanilla gelato. The little candle was for our anniverary. Props to "Open Table" for actually sending the note to the Maitre'd that we were celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary.

Osteria Mozza
6602 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
1.323.297.0100

Orange You Glad It's Friday

Many years ago I painted my kitchen nook orange. Immediately the conversation place in the house was the tiny kitchen nook. I loved it when I painted it with Sanre and still do. Here's to one of my favorite colors....