Author Archives: j

zoom zoom

8.76 miles / 38.46 minutes / 13.5 mph average speed (tried to pick up my speed. it worked. but i was way pooped on the way home.)

Espresso profeta

If i’m going to spend $5 on coffee and a pastry shouldn’t i at least try to get a really good coffee at an independent coffee shop? Or go to coffee bean and tea leaf before i consider starbucks? Having a starbucks card for the past two years has warped my brain and twisted it in ways i cannot comprehend. I must untwist before i forget that ubiquity does not equal quality. In fact, ubiquity rarely equals quality.

Enough about corporate ubiquity and inequity…i ordered a macchiato northwest style which is a doppio wet instead of a doppio with 2 dollops of foam. The barista was nice enough to grace the espresso with a heart. No sugar, of course. That requirement was met by a loaf of white chocolate bread which looks like it comes from breadbar but i can’t be sure. The espresso was smooth, perfectly balanced by the milk, neither bitter nor sour. I may order macchiatos more often. I must admit, i never would’ve ordered one if i hadn’t had one at starbucks. Technically, starbucks is a better deal: for the same price you get 10 more ounces of milk. But it’s the difference between concentrated happiness versus diluted happiness. The caffeine is the same so if the coffee is better and you’re searching for fewer calories, isn’t it worth it? Besides, there’s also the pretension factor: starbucks’ macchiato is nothing like a *real* macchiato. I’m not just saying that because i’m here enjoying my drink; i’ve done my research. I *know*.

Birkenstocks

I just saw two people in westwood wearing birkenstocks. Omg. Are they back in style? Or is it just a summer thing? Or are wetwoodians completely fashion-dumb? I love birkenstocks but they are completely misplaced here in lalaland. As are tevas. It took me a few years to learn these crazy fashionista ways and i still have much to learn but i’m certain birkenstocks are a no-no.

more saddle

8.75 miles / 40.07 minutes / 13 mph average speed. snail’s pace, i think, but with labored breathing. gotta. get. in. better. shape.

search form

for most programmers, a search form is ubiquitous and easily implemented. they have been around since the beginning of the internet. lots of content management systems ship with them. they can be programmed in a variety of languages. i have just built my own personal custom search form using 2 languages: xslt (which i used to know in a very rudimentary way and now know much better) and php (which i know absolutely nothing about but have pieced together bits and pieces and produced a snippet of code that i didn’t find anywhere on the internet). i feel pretty proud of myself and am resting on my laurels for the rest of the night in celebration.

furniture. age. height. ergonomics

this post could be about any of the above or all of them at once. i am short. most kitchens, houses, and furniture aren’t properly fitted for my ergonomics. that’s okay, i’m not bitter. someday maybe i’ll pull a julia childs and have a custom-designed kitchen for my height. but then there’s m who is not as short as i am; therefore, she will need her own kitchen. this idea is not totally unreasonable as we could probably fully use two kitchens. we love kitchens that much. (which is also why it is completely absurd that our current kitchen is the size of a small closet and about as usable, too.)

here’s where i get to the age part: as i grow older, furniture seems to fit me less and less. i love my stua chairs, but they aren’t the right height. i love my fake saarinen table, but it’s not the right height, either, and combined with the stua chairs, nothing fits me at all. doing work on the sofa or in bed is a baaaaad idea. i’ve looked into standing desks here and here. somewhere out there in the internet ether is another desk i saw in an infomercial, but i can’t seem to find it right now. it kind of looks like this but not exactly. i have an adjustable herman miller aeron and an adjustable ikea table at my work office, and this is about as successful a work area as i have ever had. the only exception may be the low slung coffee table and adjustable office chair i had at the chicago historical society – it was a weird looking setup, but kept me from having neck, back, and shoulder strain as i sat on my tushie for almost 8 hours a day. i secretly enjoyed watching my co-workers crouch down to see what i was working on.

m has recently begun working standing up as evidenced in the photo below. who knew a coffee roaster could also be a desk? i have looked around and discovered that the sideboard, with which i have a love/hate relationship, is actually just about the right height for a standing desk (see photo). plus, i have the rice cooker and espresso machinery to keep me well-nourished. upon further investigation, the rolling cart, which has a breakfast bar in the back, is exactly 1/2″ shorter than the sideboard and is the *perfect* height for me as a standing desk. there is, of course, the issue of having to look down at my laptop, but the world isn’t perfect. perhaps an external 27″ apple cinema display will help…

coffee roaster as desk?

coffee roaster as desk?

sideboard as desk?

sideboard as desk?

Cut

Last night, kl very graciously and generously invited us to dinner at wolfgang puck’s cut and while i was in the bathroom, mr. puck came to our table, shook everyone’s hands and posed for a picture with the group. Typical. I can’t say that i really minded or was hip to the star gazing: i missed him a second time as he was wandering through the dining room greeting other guests and i was staring through the glass walls of his kitchen in his richard meier designed dining room. let’s talk about the decor before we talk about the food. The dining room itself is open, airy, unpretentious and welcomes you in a non-suffocating and completely un-steakhouse way (remember maestro’s?). i love me some richard meier and i love this dining room. The menu points out that adorning the walls is curated john baldessari artwork. Jonathan gold says that tom cruise dines here. I suppose i shouldn’t be surprised; the place is quintessential los angeles all the way down to the prices and how it is tucked away in the beverly wilshire hotel.

I didn’t try the bone marrow flan as jgold suggested, but i can see how he could like the sides over the beef and the austrian touches over the california ones (despite everything i said above-this is now about the food…not the decor). The highlight of my culinary exploration was my banana cream pie ( sorry, mr. puck; thank you, nicole lindsay). It was perhaps the lightest, least sweet BCP i have ever had and was accompanied by a surprisingly tangy and refreshing banana sorbet canele. I also had a taste of ml’s greek yogurt panna cotta and enjoyed that, too. I was not as impressed with m’s doughnuts (too much mascarpone for my taste). My second favorite was the macaroni and cheese with its perfect bechamel sauce that wasn’t too overpoweringly cheesy. I know what you’re asking yourself: why order mac and cheese if you don’t want to be overpowered by cheese?

And, now, the steak. I took our waiter’s recommendation and ordered the kobe-style 9 oz ribeye for $88 (that’s without sides, folks, and that’s exactly what you get-a piece of steak on a big white plate). M got the tasting menu: 4 oz prime sirloin, 4 oz kobe-style sirloin, and 2 oz australian waygu for $135. Here’s where i give you my disappointment and my bottom line: dear mr. puck, please tell your sous-chefs not to overcook and oversalt my steak and if your 1200 degree broiler is so special (your waiter seems to think so) then use it to impress me by cooking a perfect steak.

will i go back? perhaps. am i grateful for the opportunity to eat there in the first place? absolutely. cut is not a place i would’ve gone to by myself and the evening as a whole was memorable.

Here’s what m has to say: “i feel like i have a coating of beef fat on my face…is that wrong?”