Category Archives: Los Angeles

Bookworm

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This month, I’ve gotten into listening to episodes of KCRW’s Bookworm. From listening to public radio when I lived in LA, I was familiar with the program and the host Michael Silverblatt, but didn’t really tune in regularly. For some reason right now, though, the show has appealled to me. It’s been especially nice to listen to at times when I’m on my own at home. Some of the host’s questions are really involved and compelling, and it’s interesting to hear the authors’ respond. Very thought provoking. Today I listened to a recent episode with AS Byatt (pictured above) discussing The Children’s Book, which was particularly interesting to me because I just started reading this novel and, so far, am really enjoying it.

This week

Several days this week, I was laughing out loud on the bus as I was reading my way through the title essay in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace. The topic of the essay: luxury cruising.

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While we were on vacation over the holidays, I enjoyed listening to music on the radio…primarily KCRW. Normally in London, I don’t listen to a whole lot of music, especially current music. But this week, I decided to track down some new things to listen to. New to me, anyway. I’ve been listening to xx and Lungs and really enjoying both albums. It makes me wish I could have music playing in the background through more of my days.

Christmas holiday ’09

Here are some of the highlights of our extended Christmas vacation. Our camera has been on the blink, so we don’t really have any pictures to share. Just some great memories.

–The funeral service, and seeing family in Oregon
–Looking through scrapbooks and spending time with grandparents in both Oregon and California
–Spending the afternoon in Powell’s Books in Portland
–Observing the sea lions and enjoying a cannonball bowl of clam chowder at Mo’s in Newport, OR
–Ice skating with nieces and nephews
–An afternoon walk through the winter wonderland at Sundance
–Seeing a musical production of A Christmas Carol
–Eating Christmas Eve lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Idaho, followed by a drive through the country
–Great raclette and fondue dinners with family
–Four-wheeling through the snowy Utah hills with my brother
–Cycling along the coast and up Sycamore Canyon in Southern California
–On the first weekend of the new year, basking at the beach in beautiful 74 degree California sunshine!
–Shopping in Santa Monica
–Seeing Invictus and Avatar with family, as well as enjoying many old movies at home
–All the food, music, and fun with family and friends through the holiday season

We have loved our time back here in the States, and wish we could stay longer! Hopefully we’ll be able to visit again sometime soon.

Week in review

Brodacious made the best steak paninis a few days ago. We were trying to replicate the paninis we used to get at the Coral Tree Cafe in Brentwood, and I think it worked out pretty well. He also made some burnt caramel ice cream, which was excellent. And I don’t really eat more than a spoonful of ice cream because it tends to upset my stomach. But the spoonful sure was good.

We went to the cinema to see Virgin Spring, which was part of the Ingmar Bergman Directorspective going on this summer at the Barbican Centre. I felt like I was back in college at the International Cinema. It was great.

These were the highlights of a week that was otherwise consumed by busy, busy days at work. And of course all the non-stop news about the death of Michael Jackson.

Just a hard chair to park your pants on from 9 to 5

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This quote about desk jobs is one of many good lines from Double Indemnity that made me laugh. We watched the movie a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was brilliant. Gripping and full of snappy dialogue from start to finish. There should definitely be more movies like it. Also, it made me miss LA a little bit, with its talk about Los Feliz and other parts of the city I could picture in my mind.

Wahaca

We finally found a decent Mexican place in London! Mexican food is the cultural food of Los Angeles, and has proven quite difficult to find here. Then a colleague took me to Wahaca last week; it was fantastic. They even serve ‘churros y chocolate.’ Crazy, though, to be spending over £3 for street tacos that would only cost $1 in LA (that’s a 600% increase).

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