do the zombie

One day, I set out for a walk
The path soon grew quite dark
I saw my shadow runnin' faster
Hurry, slow-mo, comin' after me
After me

And it said
Do the Zombie
Do the Zombie, woah, yeah
Do the Zombie
Do the Zombie, woah, yeah

And zombie don't have to dance (sha, la, la)
And zombie don't dance at your command (sha, la, la)
But zombie don't have to wait (sha, la, la)
So come on (come on)
Do the Voodoo Shake

(Zombie lyrics, by Nellie McKay)

that's about all i have time for today, folks.
we were short at the restaurant, and like a dummy, i volunteered! because i love working on my day off.
what can you do? it's my restaurant, too, so i'm off to the rescue!

but first, i have to cancel my reservations at primitivo! bummer.

thankful in the city of angels

so i have a lot to be thankful for this year:

traveled to the other side of the world, and found there in the rich red soil my heart; left the city of my dreams, a passionate lover that i had to leave in order to move toward my future, now a magical reality; a bond that is ever strengthening with my little sister -- even hallmark cards are starting to resonate with me ... that's how much our friendship means, and now baby is here. fully named and all. it's a good year to be thankful, which is exactly how i felt this thanksgiving.

but working in food every day, spending a good deal of time there doing dishes, ETC., i was a bit apathetic about our dinner plans. friends from nyc were coming, and i really was starting to wish that i'd suggested going out to eat. but on wednesday morning, i sat down with a couple of magazines and the good old world wide web and let the inspiration flow.

here's what came of it:

Orange & Sage Free-Range Turkey (inspired by Real Simple)
(a 5 lb breast this year -- can you imagine???)
Dried Cherry & Maple Sausage Stuffing (inspired by myself)
Green Beans with Crispy Sage & Pancetta (Bon Appetite, December)
Roasted Cider-Infused Organic Carrots (me)
Cranberry Relish (me, see recipe below)

no butter, no cheese, no comfort-broccoli casserole. i felt a little proud. nate said it was the best meal yet, and that made all that last minute work worthwhile -- and now i have to confess that the whole meal took under two hours to prepare. so i highly suggest taking the easy route. check out real simple's Thanksgiving 1-2-3, and other such web articles for last minute tips to make your holiday a piece of cake.

and speaking of cake, i'm thinking 2008 is going to be a great year to open the bakery. right now, i'm leaning towards sparrow's soul or sparrow's song, or possibly just sparrow, but am willing to hear suggestions.

peace!

tis the season ... gobble gobble!

what? summer has ended already? some days it's still 90 degrees out. today, though, it's downright cold! Tinsel town is hanging its tinsel, so I'm trying to get used to the idea that thanksgiving is THIS week! i'm going to buy a turkey tomorrow ... that's one day before my favorite day of the year -- one in which i usually plan a menu a month in advance... though really, let's be honest: turkey, potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes of some sort, a green item or two, cranberry relish (see below), pumpkin pie, stuffing ...

some friends from nyc might come for dinner. also my uncle joe from long beach. he might bring a friend. the first friends i mentioned may have invited some people. so we'll entertain between two and six people. i'd be jus fine if it were just the two of us. i always am. there's something really swell about being with the one you love on holidays, something private and personal ... something, lasting.

next week he's going to see baby, who does not have a name yet, because baby is in the production process right now. doctors induced yesterday, i think around 4:30pm, est. no word on whether baby has left the cocoon, but i imagine it will be any moment now. i wish i was there. sigh ...

looking on the bright side, it's been a real fun month. just look:
horseback riding
driving around in a convertible
great movies (this month's favorite: No Country for Old Men ... no kidding, as good as the book!)
finding a great new coffee/furniture! shop (Marie et Cie, Valley Village)
brunches galore! (the alcove, b&d, fred's)
taking in the tree at the grove ( a little cousin to my mammoth friend in rockefeller center)

now it's off to work, but before i go i leave you with the top not so secret recipe for my cranberry sauce -- it really is something!

paula's flirtastious thanksgiving day cranberries:
simmer 1 16 oz bag cranberries on low until soft
add natural sweetner (agave syrup is good)
add 6 oz can of mandarin oranges (drain syrup or juice)
put half of cranberry orange mixture in food processor. blitz.
put blitzed portion and original portion together
add chopped pecans and orange zest
and if you'd like, a dash of cinnamon or zest of vanilla (depends on my mood)
voila!

eat turkey slowly. make as many healthy, fresh veggies as carb-heavy sides. drink copious amounts of wine, and always laugh at your in-laws' jokes. that's my thanksgiving advice. oh! and be thankful!

how now brown cowch

we went with brown this time, to avoid getting another white couch that will turn brown within six months. so our initial purchases included a dark brown entertainment center, espresso shelves, cafe noir couch, dark wood table with black leather seats and modern italian three legged chairs. the walls were bare and white, and with the new flatscreen, our new digs were beginning to look like a bachelor pad nightmare. nate was ok with it. i was climbing the dirty snowflake walls.

you'd think with our last experimentation with psychadelic orange in nyc that we'd learned our lesson. but we made another attempt at coral, and two hours after painting an accent wall in our living room, we plop down on the couch, now completely fabulous with $10 hot pink IKEA pillows and something $$$$ orange accent pillows from Antik (Sherman Oaks). What? You think I'd tell you what I spent? I'm trying to forget about it.

the coral we chose this time was just right. we're still looking for that special something to round out the room and take the focus away from the mighty TV, but for now ... it's inspiring and fun (and just a little girlie ... more reasons for why my nate takes the cake!)

speaking of cake, i just celebrated 33. who me, ashamed? look, if you squint, i could pass for 23. that's all i'm sayin'. if you squint, which i've obviously been doing a lot of since landing in sunny california. for my birthday, nate sent me to bliss, a spa at the W, where my esthetician told me emphatically, STAY OUT OF THE SUN. ok, ok. sunglasses, check. sunblock, check. sweet billowy hat? i'll get to it.

my birthday cake this year was made by the lovely laura, a co-worker's girlfriend. chocolate cake, chocolate icing, fresh strawberries and purple pansies. it was dairy free, and one of the yummiest cakes. we celebrated early, since i had to work on the big day. it's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since we first came to LA and I pouted about having to wait to move here.

now i miss ny. go figure. but tonight i walked my dog in our neighborhood (the prettiest place i've ever lived) wearing capris and a thin shirt. i feel like holly golightly most of the time. that's how i know whatever path we're on now is a good one.

here's my advice for the week: happiness is a choice, no matter where you live. so paint your room orange or green or black, but don't wait for good things to come. go get 'em.

darjeeling feel good movie of the week

except for the two hours i spent watching darjeeling limited, and for the time that i've spent eating, i've mostly slept off exhaustion for the last 24 hours. last night, nate and i went to see our friend matt at spanish kitchen, and were seated in a quiet little spot off the veranda area. we'd finished our tastilicious margaritas and $2 tacos by the time the playboy bunnies showed up to provide us voyeuristic entertainment. i was too curious to be jealous, though matt said i might want to get nate out of there before they arrived. pish posh. what do i have to worry about besides shiny hair and boobs (both being shiny)? i can't help but wonder sometimes how girls like that tell daddy about their new job -- for the first time, that is. is he proud? is he embarrassed? because even if i did have shiny hair and titillating teets that I were playboy quality, i don't know how i'd break it to dear old dad. and i think he'd probably disown me -- at least for a little while -- or cry. and the crying thing would probably be worse.

anyhoo. playboy bunnies. a great diversion from more grave matters, like the smokey cloud of haze looming over hollywood, where it's currently 98 degrees.

diane ackerman has gotten into my head!

she didn't really. she's just who she is, and damn her for that. several years ago i read A History of the Natural Senses, and thought, "I want to write like this someday!" but alas, i've twiddled my thumbs because i've only wanted to write what i want to write instead of being a gun for hire so haven't advanced -- not a big deal when you're working on your craft. but a word for the wise: do your homework before beginning a project. it might save you from copying someone else's work.

every time i pass the sinai hospital in beverly hills, jealousy hits my heart like a brick because i didn't become the doctor i'd wanted to be when i was in grade school. second grade hit, i decided to be a writer and boom! all hopes of earning an md vanished! then earlier this week it hit me. it's a ittle too late for med school but maybe i should be writing about my obsession with the brain. i'll do for the brain what ackerman did for the senses. however, before i begin this endeavor of combining medical research with poetic prose, smart girl that i am, i google diane ackerman. her prose illuminates scientific and natural elements like nothing else that i've written (besides mary roach - another writer whose taken my obsession with physiology to another level). but i've been a little out of the literary loop, i see, because in 2004 she published An Alchemy of Mind -- pretty darn close to my idea. so close in fact that it would probably be plagarism for me to attempt to write it. and besides, Alchemy is now on my TO READ list. now i don't know whether i should feel flattered that i'd share an idea with such a beautiful writer or depressed because it's too little, too late.

ah well. i'll crawl back into the world of fiction and emerge with another idea soon enough -- probably right after someone else publishes something with the exact same content. lerg*^!

if you can't stand the heat, get out of hollywood

they say that no real angeleno actually goes to the beach, but with temperatures rising above 100 degrees this past week i did what any other level-headed new yorker would do, threw my sunscreen and towel into a carry-all (made by shannon orr, fabulous owner of seo designs), and drove out to the ocean, where it's always 10-20 degrees cooler than other spots in Tinseltown. the waves come right up to greet you, and on saturday in malibu, dolphins raced north and showed off for the good part of an hour. braving labor day traffic, we spent the holiday enjoying a nice california cabernet blend from edna vineyards with friends at a house on a cliff overlooking the waves.

the pacific is a happy blue, just blending with the sky. so what nate and i both lost our brand new shades to the tide's pull, we're a giddy reflection of the ocean's hue.

The Special Occasion

In Sideways, Virginia Madsen's character says something about saving an amazing bottle of wine for a special occasion. She says - and I'm paraphrasing: Opening a great bottle IS the special occasion. And so it was last night, when my husband, Nate, and I opened our Le Gode, a '97 Brunello from Montalcino. Maybe because we've been in LA now for only two weeks, but life seems like it's there for the taking, and the Le Gode taking up dust on a shelf was ready to be corked.

It was beautiful, nuanced with tobacco and chocolate and cherries, with very little acidity. My mouth waters. Paling in comparison was the 2001 Chateneuf we opened last week. It was perfumey, a little musty. Maybe we opened it too early or perhaps too late, or maybe the heat had gotten to it. But the Brunello, oh the Brunello. Now there's a wine to make my heart sing.

And now, we've slowly gone through our little collection, but the adventure continues. I can't wait to see what we find next!