Larry's Birthday 2024

On Sunday night even though our City was mourning over fire damage and considerable loss, I did not want to let Larry's birthday go un-celebrated!  We drove up to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and dined at Shirley Brasserie.  

I do love the Roosevelt Hotel.  It's a part of Hollywood history.  The hotel has undergone massive restorations in the past 20 years and really looks beautiful. The lobby at night is a bit dark and scary, but I guess you could call it Hollywood Noir!

Shirley Brasserie is the fancy restaurant at the hotel.  There's a coffee shop on the street level, different bars, etc.  It's called Shirley Brasserie after Shirley Temple! It seems that Shirley learned her tap-tastic dance up those Spanish tiled stairs right outside the restaurant from Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.  The photo below is from the actual film, "The Little Colonel" (1935).

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Shirley Temple, "The Little Colonel" (1935)

We were the only couple in the entire, huge restaurant at first.  People started coming in a bit later. We figured that because it was Sunday night and the town was watching TV to see where the next flames would strike was the reason.  Luckily, our house is out of the danger zones.

Shirley Brasserie at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Dinner was lovely!  We started out with a Caesar salad and French Onion Soup.  I had the Duck Breast in Orange Sauce with Spinach for my entree and Larry ordered the New York Steak with mini-potatoes.  We topped off our meal with their Chocolate Mousse with Espresso Cream!

Everything was really delicious and I would definitely return to this elegant place the next time we have something to celebrate.  The atmosphere is sophisticated and serene!

The Magnificent Lobby at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Rosh Hashonah

Sundown Wednesday is the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays. Wednesday night and alll day Thursday we celebrate Rosh Hashanah which is the Jewish New Year. The following is from the Judaism 101 site. 

In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. There is one important similarity between the Jewish New Year and the American one: Many Americans use the New Year as a time to plan a better life, making "resolutions." Likewise, the Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year. 

It is customary during Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year, to start fresh and cast your sins into the water.  This is called the tradition of Tashlikh. This Wednesday, Larry and I will travel to the closest body of water to our house, the Ballona Creek flood channel, and cast our sins off!

Click to make larger.  So, THIS is how gefilte fish is made!

One of the many traditions during this holiday is to eat something sweet to make sure that you will have a sweet and happy New Year.  We dip apples in honey or eat some delicious honey cake. Sometimes, I will cook a simple dinner of roast chicken, noodle kugel (with raisins for sweetness) and carrots cooked in butter, brown sugar and a bissel orange marmalade.  The carrots are cut into little circles to represent coins to symbolize wealth in the New Year.

It's always good to review your life for the past year and think ahead to what you'd like to accomplish in the coming year. We all make mistakes throughout the year. The difficult thing is to try and correct those mistakes or to not repeat them. I'll give it my best shot! This year, my Cousin Lauren is having a Rosh Hashonah dinner at her home.  I look forward to having challah and honey with my cousins and her besties.  

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend is the kick-off for summer!  It is also a day to remember all the people who have served, and are serving, in the armed forces; our surviving veterans; and to honor those who have died in past wars.  Thanks, guys! Wikipedia's description of this day, Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 28th in 2018). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. women and men who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the Civil War), it was expanded after World War I.

Summer also means backyard barbecues, parties, the beach and vacations! We are experiencing some cloudy and cool weather here in Los Angeles right now.  We call it "May Gray," which leads to "June Gloom."  Eventually, we'll have plenty of sunshine.  Savor the coolness while it's here!

Photo by Nicole Houff

My local ukulele group, The CC Strummers are having their annual Memorial Day Potluck on Sunday.  It's always fun, full of great food selections and excellent conversation!  We are also holding an Open Mic with about 10 participants. Ukulele has changed my life!  I hope you also have a fun weekend planned. Try to stay out of traffic and just enjoy your current surroundings. There's a lot to be said for a home-grown holiday!

Happy Birthday Larry!

Today, January 12th is Larry's birthday!  I married the perfect man for me! I hope to have many more adventures and fun times with you, my sweet, handsome, smart and adorable Larry!

Birthday Week 2023

B-Day carnations (my faves) from Mr. Larry

I've been on a birthday roller-coaster since last week!  My actual birthday was on Thursday, July 20th.  We had lunch with Mollie and Jeffrey on Monday (Miolie's b-day is 7/23) at Bodhi Thai on Olympic Blvd. in BH.  Delicious! Tuesday, I finally passed my obligatory written CA-DMV test.  When you reach a certain age (ahem!) you are required to re-take this tricky test!  On Wednesday, some of the Ladies of the Uke took me to lunch at our fave place, Jackson Cafe.  

On Thursday, the big day, I was greeted with flowers and gifts from my Sweetie! After my online ZOOM ukulele class with Cali Rose (where the group sang "Happy Birthday" to me), Larry and I embarked on our b-day field trip.

6th Street Bridge View from the Street Below

First stop, the Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge. The original bridge built in 1932 was torn down in 2016 and replaced by 2022.  This is the longest bridge in L.A. spanning the L.A. River, The 101 Freeway and the I-5 Freeway. This bridge looks totally different from the original and the other bridges cross the L.A. River, which are Art Deco in design. It's a modern miracle.  The bridge was so popular and unique when it opened, that people were performing all kinds of stunts on it, driving too fast, getting into accidents, jumping off, etc.  It had to be closed numerous times for these knuckleheads!  It's been a year since the bridge opened, so we figured we'd be able to drive across without closures.  No such luck.  We got there and police activity had closed the bridge.  So, we drove around underneath and took a few pictures.

We head over to Al & Bea's  Mexican food stand on East 1st Street in Boyle Heights for lunch.  They make the BEST bean and cheese burritos!  I haven't eaten anything else there because the beans in those burritos are so flavorable, but I'm sure everything is good!  There's always a guy playing popular tunes on his guitar out front.  It's a pleasant and delicious time at Al & Bea's.

The famous bean and cheese burrito at Al & Bea's doesn't look like much, but it's divine!

On our way back home to Mid-City, we drove down to Whittier Boulevard (which transitions into 6th Street on the other side of the L.A. River).  The 6th Street Bridge was open!  We finally got to drive across.  A park environment will be built beneath and surrounding the base of the bridge in the near future!

Driving across the 6th Street Bridge, east to west

We stopped at home to rest up a bit before the next leg of our birthday field trip. Later in the afternoon we headed over to the newly refurbished Hammer Museum in Westwood. The lobby has been remodeled with some added gallery space.  We toured the galleries and generally enjoyed the atmosphere.

Yarn installation, "Uncertain Journey," by Chiharu Shiota in the Lobby of the Hammer

A crocheted man met us in the first gallery

Selections from the Hammer's contemporary collection

An entire room made out of particle board by artist, Roland Reiss

Mixed media piece by Noah Purifoy

For dinner, we tried out the Santa Monica branch of Bludso's Barbecue on S.M. Boulevard at 14th Street.  The BBQ was delicious!  The restaurant operations and staff could use a bit more time to get up to speed, but all-in-all it was a great experience.

I have a few more lunch dates this week and next!  Thanks for all of the cards, gifts and greetings!

Thanksgiving at the Office

Kevin's Perky Turkey Sugar Cookies

Happy pre-Thanksgiving to all! I hope you have a marvelous, stress-free day. Next Thursday. About 18 of our family will be convening at my cousin Carolyn's home in Valencia. We're all helping with the dinner.
If you want to contribute to your family's Thanksgiving feast, you can bake Kevin's easy Perky Turkey Sugar Cookies, pictured above. We used to have a progressive Thanksgiving lunch at my office. Everyone brought a dish.

Here's my interpretation of Kevin's recipe:
Get some of that Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough in the deli aisle of your supermarket...you know, the kind you slice down. In the cake section, pick up some squeezable cake frosting in white, orange and black. You'll find candy corn in the candy aisle. Bake the cookies according to package directions. Smoosh a bit of white frosting on the top curve of the cookie, smash in the candy corns. Draw in the eyes, beak and turkey gobbler neck with the proper color of frosting! Done! Proudly serve your Perky Turkey Sugar Cookies!

Another marvy recipe gleaned from a co-worker is Jelled Cranberry Mold. Rochelle brought this divine dish. As you can see by the photo below, I liked it alot.

Office Progressive T-Giving Luncheon

Rochelle's Jelled Cranberry Mold
1 large box cherry Jello™
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 can crushed pineapple (blue can with syrup)
1 cup chopped walnuts
Dissolve the Jello™ in 2 cups boiling (or very hot) water. Add all the other ingredients, mix well and chill...that's it!
Rochelle's tip: She usually switches bowls after dissolving the Jello™ since it leaves a grainy coating on the bowl. Next, she adds the cranberry sauce and uses a fork or spoon to really mash it up well (so you don't get chunks of cranberry sauce)...then the crushed pineapple and lastly the nuts.

The only bad thing about eating out for Thanksgiving is that there are no leftovers! I love these recipes so much, that I'll probably whip them up after the big day, along with a turkey breast, some yams, stuffing and creamed spinach for my sweetie pie! Barbie has the right idea.  Serve plastic food. No muss, no fuss!

Rosh Hashonah - New Year

Sundown tonight is the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays. Tonight and tomorrow we celebrate Rosh Hashanah which is the Jewish New Year. The following is from the Judaism 101 site.

 

In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. This name is somewhat deceptive, because there is little similarity between Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days of the year, and the American midnight drinking bash and daytime football game.
There is, however, one important similarity between the Jewish New Year and the American one: Many Americans use the New Year as a time to plan a better life, making "resolutions." Likewise, the Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year. 

It's always good to review your life for the past year and think ahead to what you'd like to accomplish in the coming year. We all make mistakes throughout the year. The difficult thing is to try and correct those mistakes or to not repeat them.  I'll give it my best shot this year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARRY!

Happy Birthday to Larry! This is a big one! This is also his second birthday during the pandemic.  Ugh! Will things ever go back to normal?

This year, we decided to take a short trip out to the desert to celebrate. We arrived yesterday. Today we will be cruising all the oddities in the tri-city area of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree and 29 Palms. On Thursday, we'll dip into Palm Springs to visit with friends and stop by the Palm Springs Art Museum.

This day belongs to you, sweet husband of mine. I'm so glad to have such an amazing person in my life! Thank you for always being there for me. May your special day bring you huge joy and true happiness! I'm thrilled to be celebrating you!

Last week Larry and I attended an exhibition at the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA) entitled, "The Obama Portraits Tour." Two portraits, one of President Barack Obama by Keninda Wiley and the other of Michelle Obama by Amy Sherald are on loan from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.  Both paintings are massive and are displayed together on one large wall.  Both portraits are excellent and totally different in style. Read about them HERE and HERE.  

In addition to the Obama portraits, there are a few large galleries containing many wonderful portraits by black artists throughout the years. This exhibit is called "Black American Portraits, Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art."  There are so many wonderful paintings included, along with sculpture, etchings, drawings, quilts, tapestries and more. I've wanted to see the Obama portraits, but this secondary exhibit is so worthwhile!

"Forever" by Bisa Butler (2020), Cotton, Silk, Wool, Quilted and Appliquéd Velvet

"Madame C.J. Walker" by Chelle Barbour (2019). Mixed Media Collage on Paper

I was awed by this collection, so I really didn't photograph that many pieces. You must see the show for yourself! Go during the week if you can, when the Museum isn't quite as busy.

Of course, upon our departure from LACMA, we took the obligatory photo in front of Chris Burden's "Urban Light" (2008).

Home Town in Postcards

This is a repeat of my blog from 2017. During July, I always feel nostalgic about my home town, Beverly Hills. This is the way it used to be when I was growing up. Sigh.

Wilshire Boulevard and Beverly Drive, 1962

Many childhood and teen expeditions were spent here on Beverly Drive. Hot dogs at Newberry's lunch counter, shopping at Lerner's, movies at the Beverly Theater and more.

The old / new Beverly Hills Library, 1965

This Library was replaced by a huge new complex, including the library, offices and a parking structure. Before the structure, above was built, the BH Library was in the City Hall building, across the street. I just LOVED the mosaics on the side of the building, representing books on shelves. I wish the mosaic had been saved.  Double sigh.

Memorial Park, across from the Beverly Hills Hotel

The Memorial Park is still here. maintained beautifully. It's a nice place to sketch, knit or read.

The Brown Derby, Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills

I only ate at this particular Brown Derby once. This corner is now part of the One Rodeo shopping complex.

The Electric Fountain at Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, BH

The Electric Fountain was a REALLY BIG DEAL when I was a child. My Dad used to drive out of his way at night just so we could see the lights change. It was refurbished a few years ago and is still spectacular!

I'm coming up on my birthday this month. I'm trying to look ahead into the future, however thoughts and images from the past flood my memory.