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‘Adventure’ Category

Monsters and burgers and pie, oh my.

March 16, 2010 by ms. xandra

You know that scene in Ghost World (aka Still My Favourite Film After All These Years Because I Remain an Angsty 17 Year Old At Heart) where Enid and Rebecca are in the diner and Melorra, that really irritatingly earnest girl who is exactly like every perky human that I hate (because actually I am a Cynical Old 76 Year Old At Heart) comes in and is like “this place is so funky”? HERE LOOK, I found you that scene in case you forgot – the part I’m talking about starts at 2:30:

This basically actually happened in real life the other day. We were at Pie ‘n’ Burger and this girl came in and she WAS Melorra and she said to the dude she was with “I love this place! It’s so…retro!” in exactly that perky, uncynical tone of voice that I so often fail to understand.

So anyhow, that was hilarious. And Pie ‘n’ Burger was basically a dream come true. Look at how photogenic this cheeseburger is! I honestly cannot stop looking at this picture.

And then I had a slice of butterscotch meringue pie (I KNOW, right?) that was so delicious that I forgot to take a picture. You will just have to go to Pie ‘n’ Burger and see for yourself!

And then we went to the monster park in San Gabriel! (See this post I wrote for Metblogs for further details.) Here I am conquering a giant cement octopus in the name of all womankind:

And here is Nikki, taming having just tamed the wild pink whale:

I love giant things made of cement. They’re the one thing I can actually be earnest about in this day and age.

Category Adventure, Awesome, Food | Tags: | No Comments
Once upon a time, I had a birthday

February 16, 2010 by ms. xandra

Some people may or may not have been whisked away by enterprising gentlemen for a weekend of birthday adventures.

Some of those adventures may or may not have included:

Chancing upon some Spudnuts in Santa Barbara;

Scenery of a jaw-dropping nature;

SOLVANG! Solvang is like a town in Denmark, via Disneyland. In Solvang, some people may or may not have actually seen Arnold Schwarzenegger (we totally did see Arnold Schwarzenegger in Solvang, and, ever the eloquent soul, my immediate statement was “that man’s skin is so taut his face looks like a fine saddle.” In case you were wondering, he and his retinue of bodyguards went to the Bit O’ Denmark Restaurant);

The Madonna Inn. Dreams really do come true, friends, and the Madonna Inn is basically the physical manifestation of all of my dreams. For the uninitiated: the Madonna Inn is a hotel near San Luis Obispo that was built in the 1950s, and every room is uniquely themed and decorated to be as kitschy as possible. It is WONDERFUL.

And we stayed in this room. The bed is ROUND. Some people may or may not have spent all weekend jumping up and down, excitedly, in the manner of a five year old, going “Circle bed circle bed! We get to sleep in a circle bed!”

And IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH, the next day we went to Ostrich Land. Did you know that an ostrich egg costs $40? This is upsetting, because my current dream is to host a dinner party at which I serve a single, giant boiled egg, which I will slice and serve to my guests like a ham. I am currently on a quest to source cheaper ostrich eggs somewhere in Los Angeles.

And then there was pea soup, at Pea Soup Anderson’s, a restaurant that proves that the best business model is to have cartoon character mascots from the 1950s, and be famous for one thing, even if it is a thing that most people probably don’t generally want (ie: pea soup).

And then we went dancing in the 1940s and it was so, so, so wonderful, and I wore my best dress and ate flan. THE END.

Category Adventure | Tags: | 2 Comments
Breakfasttime Adventure!

January 31, 2010 by ms. xandra

A couple weeks ago, the Estimable Miss VV and I arose with the sun (or, well, clouds, actually – it was SoCal’s semi-annual Rain Week – not as exciting as Shark Week, but just as wet) and ventured forth for a double-whammy of giant, round breakfast foods with holes in the middle. This was an exciting event, because it means that finally we have eaten at all of the former Big Donut locations that remain in SoCal.

First stop – Bellflower Bagels, a former Big Donut, repurposed in the only possible way in which one can repurpose a giant donut:

And then we got lost! But not very lost. Only a little bit lost. But it was lucky that we did get lost, otherwise we would never have discovered that Norwalk, California, is a secret mecca of totally great mid-century architecture.

We discovered, for instance, this total gem of an old grocery store, now a swap meet:

And the truly, truly glorious Cerritos College gymnasium:

More photos of the gymnasium, one of the bestest examples of 50s architechture that I ever did see.

We quickly found ourselves back on track, and donuts loomed large on the horizon!

A well deserved second breakfast, if ever there was one.

Category Adventure, Food, Los Angeles | Tags: | No Comments
Once upon a time, I flew to Canada!

December 13, 2009 by ms. xandra

First, Paul Gross was on my flight, and I was going to tell him about how Slings and Arrows saved our lives, but then he wasn’t at baggage claim, and so I didn’t tell him anything.

And then! I discovered that hip hop karaoke is not, in fact, horrifying, but is wonderful because it is not, in fact, karaoke: there is a live band that can miraculously play every hip hop track ever recorded, and instead of using a screen with scrolling words, the singers just memorize entire raps and also choreograph their own dance routines. Also, everyone is amazingly dorky but capable of totally throwing down. Dear musicologists: discuss.

And then and then! We went dancing. Thank god, we went dancing. I haven’t been dancing in so many moons, and it was the best kind of dancing, ie: dancing to music from the 1960s.

And, happily, I caught up with all my best girls in Toronto, who came and hung out with me at (almost literally) a minute’s notice. I feel bad that I didn’t have time to see everyone, but it was a very last minute trip (a result of scheduling weirdness courtesy of Air Canada) so hopefully I will be back in the city again before I head back to Californialand.

And now: I am in Port Elgin, there’s a lot of snow (fun fact: I hadn’t seen snow for two entire years) and I think I’m going to grade some papers now, because it never, ever ends, does it?

Category Adventure | Tags: | 2 Comments
Unsurprising, really.

November 19, 2009 by ms. xandra

So, uh, the Vignette Pinot Noir Wine Country Soda?

Yeah. Pretty much just . . . grape soda.

In other exciting news: last night I said “I have a stomachache. I’m worried that it’s the flu, but hopefully it’s nothing.” Today I get to school and am informed that everyone has been told that I was diagnosed with H1N1 by a medical professional. So that’s pretty funny.

In other, actual exciting news: I have a dissertation advisor! Which is very exciting. We had a meeting today where I popped the question and then we just kept saying “I’m so excited!” and “This is so great!” over and over to each other.

Category Adventure, Food | Tags: | 2 Comments
Dear Cheerwine,

November 18, 2009 by ms. xandra

Oh, but you are tasty. Apparently, you are a bit of a thing in North Carolina, but I had never heard of you, even though I went to North Carolina for three entire days that one time. But anyhow, no worries, I still like you. Your particular cherry bouquet went so well with my spaghetti and meatballs tonight, which were particularly tasty spaghetti and meatballs because I made the sauce from scratch (although in a sudden fit of madness and hunger induced by spending too much time on campus today and forgetting to eat lunch, I decided it would be a smart idea to cook an entire pound of spaghetti, which means that there is now a week’s worth of leftover spaghetti sitting in the fridge, which is not altogether a bad thing). And the combination of Cheerwine and spaghetti went so well with an episode of X-Files (it was the one where they learn that smoking is bad for you – which, by sheer coincidence, happens to be set in North Carolina, home of Cheerwine), cause, damn, sometimes a girl just needs some Mulder and Scully time, you dig?

So, thank you, Cheerwine, for being an integral part of my pretty decent evening. Thank you also for coming in a neato glass bottle that I am going to put on my shelf of other neato glass bottles. Thank you to whoever invented this recipe for Cheerwine Cake, which sounds ridiculous, and which I will probably have to make this weekend, because now that I have found it, how can I not? And thanks especially for the weird optical illusion in the above photo that makes it look like the wine glass is hovering about two inches above the table.

Yours most effusively,

Alexandra A.

Category Adventure, Food | Tags: | 2 Comments
Vanilla Cream for what ails you

November 16, 2009 by ms. xandra

Friends, Romans, Countryfolk, this is what I am drinking right now:

It is pretty delicious. It might be a little bit too sweet for my tastes, but what is super exciting is the way that it smells like vanilla. This has got to be the most fragrant, aromatic pop (yes, POP, you crazy non-Canadians) I have ever had.

IN UNRELATED NEWS: I am on the lookout for a really good pattern for a slightly high-waisted, a-line skirt, so if any of my ladyfriends who know their way around a sewing machine have a line on one, let me know. I’m a fan of the A-Plus A-Line on burdastyle, but it doesn’t come in fat girl size and I don’t have the wherewithal to grade patterns up.

Category Adventure, Food, SCIENCE! | Tags: | 1 Comment
Soda-pop-a-go-go

November 16, 2009 by ms. xandra

Well, friends, my brain is about to fall out. I have spent all afternoon smashing my head against my exam list, and then all evening doing the reading for seminar this week, and I have some reading on British cultural history to do before bedtime, but I think it’s time for a soda pop break!

So, as you are no doubt aware, the fab VV and I hit up Galco’s Soda Pop Stop earlier this week. And, because, really, any instance of food and/or beverage consumption is really just an invitation to write a blog post, I am totally going to review some exotic soda pops! We bought nine different pops each, and I’ve been really good and have only been drinking one a day. So far, I’ve had the following:

Ok, well, VV and I tried these together and split them. She got the Cel Ray (celery soda!), I got the Mr. Q. Cumber (um, cucumber soda! Obviously). Dear skeptics: shut up right now because these vegetable flavoured sodas were amazing. Both were not too sweet and not too vegetable-ish but really nice and refreshing. The Cel Ray had a sort of V8-ish kind of aftertaste, and the Q. Cumber was really clean and light. And yes, of course, we did mix them together in the interests of Soda Pop Science, and I’d actually say that the Cel Ray Q. Cumber Cocktail was probably the best of the three. ALSO, IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: People in the know have informed me that you can get Cel Ray at Canter’s. Why didn’t anybody tell me you could get Cel Ray at Canter’s? I am so totally having celery soda with my next matzo ball.

The A.J. Stephens Raspberry Lime Rickey was potentially one of the most delicious things I have ever consumed. I can’t even tell you. It was just so good. It was good because the raspberry flavor wasn’t that horrible fake-tasting raspberry, you know? And also the color is clearly amazing.

Of course I drink my Manhattan Special out of a martini glass. Was there ever any question, really? Anyhow, this was wonderful. As a pretentious coffee snob I feel qualified to make that assessment. I would seriously consider replacing my usual afternoon coffee with this, if it wasn’t full of sugar.

Fentiman’s Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger! I have no idea what a jigger is. Shockingly, wikipedia is being completely unhelpful in this regard and has provided a useless list of definitions of “jigger” that includes nothing that resembles soda pop, and one or two things that are kind of offensive. But whatever. This was good shit. It was slightly medicinal tasting at first, but that kind of went away. I really liked the bubbles in this, weirdly enough – they were really tiny and soft. And apparently Fentiman’s is not soda pop – apparently it is a Botanically Brewed Beverage, which makes it fancier. I also got a Curiosity Cola, which I think I’m going to try tomorrow.

Oh, yum. Yum yum yum yum. The Nesbitt’s Peach tasted like fake peach, like a peach Jolly Rancher, but not bad fake peach, you know? Like really, really good fake peach. And also, it is hot pink. No complaints here.

Stay tuned for reviews of: Fentiman’s Curiosity Cola! Vignette Pinot Noir Soda! Manhattan Special Vanilla Cream! Cheerwine! I will try to post them daily instead of in a big batch, but, you know, best laid plans and stuff.

Category Adventure, Coffee, Food, SCIENCE! | Tags: | 2 Comments
And then!

November 12, 2009 by ms. xandra

There was no school on Wednesday so we had SUPER ADVENTURE TIME!

First we went here, to Galco’s Soda Pop Stop:

And this is what we took home:

And then we went to Fosselman’s, for the best ice cream ever,

(flavours pictured include: lemon custard, banana heath bar, chocolate covered strawberry, cinnamon)

And then we saw a truly remarkable diner sign, so obviously we had to stop for dinner. Goody’s, home of the snooty burger (???) did not disappoint. I ate ten pounds of chicken pot pie with soup and potatoes and salad and bread for eight dollars and fifty cents. EIGHT DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS! For more old people food than you can imagine!

And then all of my dreams came true, for lo, we found ourselves at Bahooka!

Bahooka is notable for several things: a thirty-two year old piranha named Rufus, who eats carrots, absurdly over the top tiki decor; over 110 aquariums; and cocktails served in salad bowls, on fire.

And then we watched Gidget Goes Hawaiian, and my life was complete. (Lesson I learned from Gidget Goes Hawaiian: don’t talk to boys or restaurant heiresses will tell your parents that you’re a slut.)

Category Adventure | Tags: | 5 Comments
Walk walk walk walk walk

November 8, 2009 by ms. xandra

We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled dress blogging next week, I promise. I’m planning one post that will riff on the Gossip concert I went to, what, two weeks ago now? and another on my new favorite girl group song (a song that involves either what is either a reference to organized crime or a somewhat unfortunate metaphor).

Anyhow, today was wonderful and amazing because my friend Pauline and I walked to the beach from downtown, following Pico for about 15 miles. I love going for long, ridiculous walks like this because it is fun and exhilarating, and they remind me of how much beauty there is to find in a city has an undeserved reputation for being an endless sea of concrete.

Google maps very optimistically estimated that the walk would take about five hours, which is, of course, madness, because this figure doesn’t take into account important side trips that need to be made for important things like Ethiopian food and educational trips to pinata shops.

I am happy to report that there are no blisters to speak of: special thanks go out to Nexcare Flexible Clear First-Aid Tape, truly a godsend to anyone with feet, for preventing blisters that would otherwise have been inevitable.

I took lots of pictures, and I’ll post them to flickr or wherever when I’m less tired. But in the meantime, a few highlights!

The best place to go for a jet black bouffant.

Pinatas, all in a row!

Two wonderful things about this scene: the sign that could possibly say "Pico Disco," the large banner underneath it that reads "Going out for business."

Jingle Bell Furniture, for when furniture stores that make sense simply won't do.

Sadly, I do not have any pictures of the fabulous jukeboxes inside Jukebox Wurlitzer repair, because the nasty man came outside and yelled at us for taking pictures. (My mother said I should have played the Canadian card. "But I'm from Canada! We don't have Wurlitzers there!")

It's hard to see from the crappy angle, but the sign for this meat market features a pig being chased by a lady WITH A SWORD. Yeah!

Celebrity mural on a liquor store

Street art

I want to eat here someday. I'm sure the food will be terrible, but the decor is clearly to die for.

Apple Pan, my love, my all, shining like a beacon.

Rae's! Elton John shot some cover art here, I've eaten waffles with bacon baked into them here. Clearly an auspicious place.

The Santa Monica pier lit up at night

Dear Los Angeles: I heart you.

Category Adventure, Los Angeles | Tags: | 3 Comments

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