Sunday, June 30, 2013

finally finishing the backyard to-do's

"Finally" is the word of the day today. I'm "finally" catching up on a bunch of blog posts I've been meaning to write for weeks. And they are mostly about things I'm "finally" getting around to doing after recovering from the end of my sabbatical and adjusting to only two days of free time again.

Since I have a house with big backyard, I always have something "to do" back there. Here's the stuff that's finally happening this week!

I am finally -- after 4.5 years of having paint chips rain down on my patio (because I'm 99.9999% sure the previous owners just threw whatever paint they had up there to make it pretty so the house would sell) -- having the paint on my verdana stripped and redone. My friend Lisa's handy hubby Vince (who does all sorts of remodel/construction/home improvement stuff) worked (and sweated in the 90-100 degree SFV heat this past week) to strip and repaint the main structure (with exterior paint this time. Woot!). And now he's painting new boards to put across the top to create more shade. This shows the two spacing options he gave me for the new boards... single width (left) or double width (right):



Seven of seven people surveyed yesterday chose the single width spacing for more shade, which means Vince needs to paint more boards this week. (Sorry Vince.) But it's looking super awesome and I can't wait to spend the summer out there under the new shade... when it's not 115 degrees outside.





Also in the finally department, my gardener brought me little pieces of bermuda sod (which is really hard to find since most people buying sod get marathon sod, which is green year-round) to fill in the dead spaces in the very back of my bermuda grass-filled backyard (aka: the area previously occupied by the "pony shed"). When it was placed, it looked like this:













But after watering it by hand every single night for the last two weeks, it's starting to blend in with its surrounding grass (since bermuda grass grows outward, not just upward and is good at spreading) and now looks like this in some spots. Others still need some more time/water to meld.









In the veggie/herb garden department, I "finally" have numerous peppers popping out of my jalapeno and habanero plants because, unlike my basil and sad sage, they LOVE the heat!

The jalapenos will make their debut on top of a taco dip on the 4th of July -- because what's more American than taco dip with jalapenos on top? ;)














And "finally," I "finally" gave in and bought the bright blue Adirondack chairs I've been looking at for two summers at Le Target and wanting to place in the shade of my giant orange tree. Here they are in their new home:

a meal at a mozza ... finally!

A few weeks ago my friend Katharine invited me out for a belated Birthday dinner and suggested we go somewhere on my list. I said I'd love to go to one of "The Mozzas" but really didn't feel like having a birthday dinner at 9:45pm on a Wednesday, since that appeared to be the only time you can ever get a reservation at either of the trendy establishments on the corner of Highland and Melrose. 

But lucky for me, I have really smart friends! Katharine emailed a week later saying she'd figured out the secret to getting a reservation on a weekend at a normal dinner hour. (I'd tell you what it is, but then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, now would it? Sorry. Yes, I know. I suck.)

Soon it was Saturday night at 7:45pm and we were being seated at Pizzeria Mozza, home of gourmet pizzas, delish sharable appetizers and a dessert menu to die for! But before the food, just a few notes... 

-- You can't slam these people for not having reservations. They have packed as many tables and chairs into their space as the fire marshall will allow. They literally had to pull the table back to let me slide into the booth side of our spot against the wall. So be prepared to get a good look at what your neighboring tables are eating (which is helpful if you can't decide what you want) and also for a pretty good noise level (although nowhere near as loud as say, the cavernous yet awesome Bottega Louie downtown).

-- Also, while waiting to be seated, we accidentally backed into the restauarant's private dining room. If you have a big group, this is the way to go. Although you won't get to see what neighboring tables order... or overhear their conversations (if you're nosey like that :)




And now, the food!

Course 1 - Antipasti

Everything looked delicious, but since we were having pizza, we decided to have healthy (okay, not fried) appetizers. First was this "Asparagus al forno with speck." Asparagus, proscuitto and cheese -- three of my favorite things --all baked together. Yum!


We also got an order of the "Olives al forno," which means baked olives for you non-Italian speakers. I've never had hot (as in temperature, not spiciness) olives. These came in oil with baked garlic too. After recovering from the burned tongue I got during my first bite (I wasn't thinking about the "al forno" part), these were great, especially with my Italian red wine.


Course 2 - Pizza, Pizza

I was craving protein, so I went all out and ordered the "Bacon, salami, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato and mozzarella" pizza. Loved the crust, which was crispy yet chewy. And especially loved the sausage .... very flavorful.


Katharine went with something good she'd tried before, the "Squash blossoms, tomato and burrata" pizza.


Course 3 - Dolci 

We each decided to take home a slice or two of pizza in order to indulge in the dessert menu. Because, while the pizza is great, OMG, the dessert menu is amazeballs! Choosing what to get was a very difficult choice. We stared at other tables, used process of elimination and asked the waiter for his fave amongst two or three things, We finally decided on the little piece of salty/sweet heaven known as the "Bittersweet chocolate tartufo with olive oil gelato and sea salt." SO GOOD! And just what was needed to send me over the edge into food coma-ville. Can't wait to go back and try everything I didn't order! 



Tuesday, June 11, 2013

happy cup-iversary!

Exactly one year ago tonight, I was standing in the lower bowl of Staples Center with my dad watching this happen...



Sadly, I won't get to relive that experience again this season. The Kings' 2013 season ended last Saturday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals when the Chicago Blackhawks (who, ironically, ruined our home opener/Stanley Cup banner raising at the beginning of the season) beat them in double overtime -- the longest game in Kings history -- and eliminated them from this year's playoffs. The Blackhawks will now play the Boston Bruins in this year's Stanley Cup Finals, beginning tomorrow. (And by the way... GO BRUINS!)

Those who know me assumed that game was an extremely upsetting event for me. (I actually received condolence messages from multiple friends and coworkers.) But as someone who's been upset and disappointed for approximately 90% of my 25 years as a Kings fan, that was nothing. In fact, I was actually proud of them. Sure they were eliminated in five games. But they made it back to the Western Conference Finals the year after winning The Cup. Most teams who've won the Stanley Cup in recent years have been eliminated in the first round the next year. The New Jersey Devils, who we beat last year, didn't even make the playoffs this year. So to even make it to the Conference Finals was a big accomplishment. 

On top of that, after quickly falling behind 0-2 in Game 5, the Kings battled back to tie the game 2-2 in the 3rd. Then, with three minutes remaining in the game, the Hawks scored what many assumed was the game winning goal. But the Kings wouldn't go quietly, and with 9.3 seconds left in regulation, Anze Kopitar deflected a shot off of Mike Richards and into the net to send the game to OT. No Kings team of my first 23 years of fandom would've battled back like that. And yes, they were eventually beaten 32 minutes later when Patrick Kane finally got a puck past Jonathan Quick. But they went down fighting and that's all you can ask for... especially from a team that was too beaten up to realistically go much further. The Blackhawks were too good this year, and the Kings were hurting, bad.

In the playoffs, no one talks about injuries. But any Kings fan could tell things were not right with the team, especially the top lines. Hits weren't being thrown. Goals weren't being scored. Skating fast seemed reeeeally hard sometimes.

I was certain Kopitar had messed up his knee again -- that was the only way to explain his lack of goal scoring. But it turns out, he's the only top-line player who wasn't injured. Justin Williams had been playing with a separated shoulder since the San Jose series. Dustin Brown was playing with a torn PCL in his knee. Drew Doughty was skating on a messed up ankle for the last two series. And Robin Regher just had surgery today to repair his elbow that's been damaged since the start of the playoffs.

Considering all that, the fact that they beat San Jose in Round 2 was a minor miracle. So I can't be upset about losing to Chicago.

All I want now is for them to get healthy again so they can kick butt next year... specifically the Blackhawks' butts... and of course the Ginger Twins'. (Me, hold a grudge? Ha.)

And until then, I will enjoy not having to drive downtown twice a week to fight for parking spaces that haven't yet been vacated by downtown worker bees by the time nationally televised games start.

And I will watch this and remember the most amazing two months of hockey that culminated in the most surreal, amazing, fairy tale ending 365 days ago.



Happy Cup-iVersary LA Kings and Fans! It was an amazing ride... and I have no doubt we'll experience it again very soon :)