foodie heaven

i've found foodie heaven, here in la~ most of my friends know that i dog on the la [fine] dining scene and gripe about how there is nothing worth trying here a second time. last friday, a friend took me to the bazaar .. the jose andres restaurant inside the SLS hotel, beverly hills. before we get to the good stuff [the food!!] let's take a look at what the hotel lobby looks like:

WAIT .. i can't even find decent pictures of the lounge and bar centro. the pics from the site are so tiny. i don't think you will be able to get a proper feel of the space with those things. my take on the interior design: a study into the mind of a deranged genius. i am not the biggest fan of phillipe starck .. but the man is a crazy sort of genius, i will admit. none of the chairs matched. there were long cabinets of oddities projecting diagonally across a room, with another table running cross-wise beneath it. the whole place was covered in mirrors .. i actually felt like i was in a house of mirrors. the store/shopping area to me was off-putting .. on the way to the bathroom of all places. maybe a bit too much sensory stimulation for someone like me. but i can see how many might be taken with it and find things interesting. it seemed as though everything was well-thought out, as can be expected from a world-renown designer. still, too over the top for my taste.

now .. let's get to the good stuff. the food. simply amazing experience. it wasn't that each and every dish was something to die over. it was the overall experience. the order in which the foods were served, the building up of the tastes, leading up to the meat entree near the end of the meal and then ending with a trio of desserts. the cotton candy foie gras. the perfect little bubble of mozzarella balls in the caprese salad. just a delightgful adventure for the tastebuds, the eyes, the nose .. sensory stimulation done RIGHT .. not OVER the top, like the lounge. here are pics.

[cotton candy wrapped around foie gras, rolled in corn nuts]
[american caviar cone with salmon and dill creme]

[jamon iberico and tomato toast]

[tuna sashimi rolled in avocado, topped with corn nuts and olive oil]

[mini foie gras burgers topped with apple honey jam]

[sea salt rolled baby potatoes served with cilantro? parsley? pesto]

[round two of the cotton candy foie gras]

[philly cheese steak]

[cous cous with pomegranate and pine nuts]

[caprese salad with peeled baby tomatoes, micro basil and tiny mozzarella balls]

[langostino served with toasted baguette crisp,
served over bed of seaweed and broth of langostino]

i don't have the pictures of the lamb, the crab with strawberries, raspberries and edible flowers, nor any of the desserts. darn.

i am getting hungry again, needless to say.

spring has come .. and gone!!

oh my, but it has been a while, hasn't it?!!? spring has come and almost gone by now!! and i realize that i actually never updated the last post with more pictures! well, things have been sort of busy .. what with me trying to get the website up, once and for all!!! thankfully, i am not doing it alone, but with the very helpful guidance of my friend super dave. [thanks dave!!]

in the meantime .. here are a few snaps from my niece's 1st birthday party that we had for her back in april. the overall feeling of the party was one of organic growth, life and spring. the location is orange hill restaurant in the city of orange, in orange county. i know, lots of oranges in that sentence! ha.

[cherry blossom mini-tree centerpiece with spongy moss, ornamental
balls, photo, butterfly and bee ornaments; real tree bark base.]

[butterfly ornament detail from centerpiece]

['dduk' and cake table; floral arrangement of lavender and

pale orange roses, irish bells and cabbage rose.
heart and star shaped balloons in pale pink; round balloons
in white, silver and lavender.]

a ranch bday party

a party on a ranch calls for lots of great food [juicy succulent bbq, anyone?], comfortable atmosphere and lots of sunshine. we had mostly all of those things on saturday at the song ranch [minus the plenty of sunshine]. decorating for mr. song's 60th bday party was a lot of fun. i got to climb up trees, hang things from the branches, get bark dust strewn all over my face, and come face to face with many of mother earth's creepy crawly creatures. not to mention the fact that i got to make many fluffy citron-hued tissue pom poms! they took a while to make at first, but after a few, i got the hang of it and production was in full swing with my helper jean .. it only sucked a little bit when i cut my fingers with very sharp utility scissors.

the ranch itself is such a beautiful place to have a party. it is a working horse ranch, with a couple of dogs running through the premises to keep the wild animals that come down from the mountains at bay.

here are a few snaps of the ranch:

[one of many ancient oak trees on the ranch]

[succelents native to the ranch]

[catalina the 3 year old female horse]

[valor, the older male horse]

[camellias in bloom]

tomorrow i will post full recap photos of the party. but here is a preview ..

more to come tomorrow~

new hobby: calligraphy

i'm developing premature rheumatoid arthritis via my latest craft/hobby/venture: calligraphy. my achy shaky hands have produced rather mixed results thus far. but never fret dear friends~ i will perfect at least ONE script by the month's end! here, i practice writing guest names for the party coming up on saturday. you know what's funny? i am a true stickler for proper spelling and grammar. but because i am OVER concentrating on the form of the letters, i find myself frequently misspelling words as i eke out the calligraphed words. case in point, you can see that i wrote the word "lacey" .. and right next to it, i attempted to repeat the same word but ended up with "lae." i stopped myself when i realized i was going down the wrong path! ^ ^ calligraphy takes serious concentration and a steady hand, that's for sure!! all those books i was able to check out from the los angeles public library have been very helpful! this is one hobby that you don't need a video or personal tutorial on. i also stumbled upon a great calligraphy studio by laura hooper. she is frequently featured on some of my favorite blogs. truly beautiful work! every craft, whether it's calligraphy, floral art or interior design, is a true labor of love and dedication.

cheeseburger cupcakes

sheer genius!! cupcakes that look like mini cheeseburgers~ from twig & thistle.

update

it has been quite a few [busy] days since my last post. i've been working on finalizing the logo. business cards will soon be printed and the website will enter phase one.

yesterday i was at a job site looking for design direction and color inspiration. i found it everywhere .. from the succulents growing abundantly on the premises, to the wrought iron horseshoe towel hooks and the vibrant colors of the compound's bungalows. shopping resulted in a lot of crisp white and citron. those colors will coordinate beautifully with the sunny lemon shades of the table setting, along with the fluffy cream and verbena hued flowers of the centerpieces.

this week's task at hand is to master the art of tissue paper pom-pom making. wish me luck! i will post results of my craftiness.

let's file this under: are you kidding me?!!?

next time you run out of gift ideas for your pops, gramps, bro, boyfriend, husband, guy pal, well, just look at what you can get them - a big ol ugly mug of carnations and fake ice cubes! the poor schmucks!!

seriously. this piece of nastiness could be yours, for the price of $36.95! that's about $36 more than you should be paying for anything that resembles something like this!! i kept the .95 cents in for the price of the white carnations. the acrylic beer mug .. yeah, i wouldn't take that even if someone gave that to me for free.

the product description from the "flower expert" website says: toast any occasion, from St. Patrick`s Day to birthdays to Father`s Day, with this amazing arrangement! Approximately 8 inches h x 5 inches w. This selection may contain: carnations and acrylic beer mug.

is this a guy's version of what a flower arrangement should look like? what is that gold liquid looking stuff in the mug anyway? are those ice cubes?

sooooooo weird. let's please file this under: are you kidding me?!!?