downtown ojai - miscellaneous

downtown ojai consists of the main thoroughfare on ojai ave., where an arcade of shops and eateries line the street, directly across from libbey park.

the post office - a four-story spanish tower - is the city's most celebrated building and landmark.





since we arrived in the early afternoon on monday, we went in search of lunch options and settled on bonnie lu's - an old school country café whose motto is "good fixins served with a smile." the decor is quite charming and my super thin blueberry pancakes disappeared in seconds. we then made a beeline to the ice cream shop, where they make everything (including fudge!) homemade. next door is casa barranca for wine tasting and an art gallery, but apparently they aren't too fond of peeps bringing in ice cream as evidenced by their door sign...




our dinner search was an easy one - not only was it rated #1 in town, but my mom even heard of it - so suzanne's cuisine it was. it's a cute and romantic spot a few blocks away from downtown and run by the mother/daughter team of suzanne and sandra. since we were still smarting from lunch, ice cream AND wine/cheese, we skipped the appetizers and went straight for the main course. i opted for the misoyaki butterfish w/green caviar and she had the jumbo shrimp w/chili butter. dessert was this scrumptious pineapple/mascarpone cheese/strawberry concoction that was to die for...




suzanne's cuisine
502 w. ojai ave.
ojai, CA 93023
http://www.suzannescuisine.com/

meditation mount

word got back that meditation mount was a great place to enjoy the sunset, and seeing as we had a bit of a time window before wine/cheese, we hopped in our ride and drove about 5 miles to this serene and sacred spot. it's a bit difficult to find - as one must ignore the warning and 'do not enter' signs - but upon arrival, city life is but a memory.




on a typical spring or summer day, one can supposedly witness the celebrated 'pink moment' atop the ojai hills, but seeing as it was partly cloudy, we didn't have such luck. still, it was really nice to step back and enjoy the surroundings - some guests huddled up in anticipation of the sunset, others broke out red wine to keep each other company...




meditation mount
10340 reeves road
ojai, CA 93023
http://meditationmount.org/

stay - the lavender inn

since i'm off this week and heidi was able to take tuesday off, on monday morning we headed up to ojai, the first time for both of us. just a mere 72 miles away, ojai is a delightful small town (population: 8,000) located in ventura county. we settled on the b&b called the lavender inn and couldn't have been happier with our selection.



just one block away from downtown (i.e. ojai ave.), the lavender inn is a converted schoolhouse from 1874 and is just the 2nd building in ojai to be considered a city landmark. it has 7 rooms and an attached cottage, so for this trip we booked the craftsman room. however, they keep all of their available rooms open to view, so one can check out the respective rooms and their unique color scheme. the bottom two below are from our bathroom...




with all the rooms situated upstairs, the downstairs consists of the main living room (w/fireplace!), den (w/computers, books & DVDs), the dining area and kitchen. one of cool perks of your stay is complimentary wine & cheese everyday at 5pm. mind you, this is not something where they toss out a bottle of chardonnay and some kraft singles - it's the real deal holyfield. i counted over 12 types of cheeses (including goat, stilton blue, cheddar jalapeno & triple cream), different crackers, samosas & mushroom tarts right out of the oven, fig jam, etc., to go along with a few varietals from select ojai vineyards.




not to be outdone, breakfast is even better! served between 9-10am, tuesday's spread included a delectable quiche, fresh fruit, yogurt, applewood smoked bacon, sausage, warm banana bread and cereal to go along w/the prerequisite coffee, tea & OJ. you can nosh in the dining room or head outside, so we opted to eat on the patio overlooking the beautiful courtyard.

although our stay was such a short one, we had such a great time that it's yet another place where it's not a question of if we return, but when...

the lavender inn
210 e matilija st.
ojai, CA 93023
http://www.lavenderinn.com/

mount san jacinto - snow hike

sunday, february 20 - a few weeks prior we had plans to scale the peak of mount san jacinto on this day, but a snowstorm that passed thru on friday and saturday didn't help our cause. nevertheless, a gang of 5 of us brought snowshoes in hopes of getting as far as we could, time permitting.

meeting everybody in cypress at 6:30am (i woke up at 5am), we threw our gear in pam's X5 and headed for palm springs. we arrived at the tramway just before 8:30am, but the ranger told us they were still scraping ice off the cables, so we used this opportunity to grab some breakfast and some boots for heidi, since she was ill-equipped in her toms to make the journey. when we returned to the tram at 10:15am, it was all systems go.

even though we were one of the early arrivals, the tram was backed up due to the holiday crowd, so we were stuck with an 11:40am time. in ideal conditions, the roundtrip would take 5-6 hours, so we agreed to trek as far as we could until 2:30pm, then turn back so we while there was still daylight. to the left, a quick view from the parking lot...


with the pressure of us having to make time now off, it allowed us to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery and take in the winter wonderland of mount san jacinto. and we're off!




at about 2:15pm, we found a protected area amongst the trees - i even spotted an igloo! - and broke for lunch. this was a good time for me to bust out cookies from diddy riese that i picked up the night before for the group. taison also had a nifty thermos from REI that kept things piping hot, so all of us enjoyed some green tea in the snow...





we made it back to the ranger station around 5pm - right about the time they were assembling help to look for a missing skier who got trapped in the snowstorm and didn't make it back saturday night. luckily, he was found alive around noon on monday, so crisis was averted...

V-day, part deux?

not to be outdone and right on the heels of valentine's day, the following e-mail managed to get thru my junk filter and appear in my inbox:

"Good day!!! I am Tatyana . I am 28 y.o.. I from city Cheboksary, it near 700 km from Moscow. I seen the announcement that there is possible to get relationship with the man on the Internet. It was very interested by me ,I have filled resume, and now I want to meet the person which is getting acquainted with me. Im the beautiful girl. I live with my mum and very much I don't have man's attention. I want to search men serious relationship. If you interested in me I will tell you more about myself. If it is interesting to you, write me please on my e-mail: tatyana8855@rambler.ru. It will be very good if you answer me. Your Tatyana."

i'm spoken for at the moment, but any eligible bachelor (or bachelorette for that matter) is welcome to contact tatyana directly. and nope, i won't be offended in the least...

eats - church & state

valentine's day came february 12 this year, as i took the girl out for a surprise dinner at church & state. it's a bustling french bistro with a lively dining room (four-tops and communal seating are in the center, with the cozier tables of 2 lining the perimeter), located on the outskirts of downtown.



since i took the painstaking effort of making her gift, i hit up the restaurant prior to our reservation to inform the maitre d' of my nefarious plan and slipped her some incentive to have them deliver the gift to our table when dessert was to be served. everything seemed to be in place, so i picked up heidi from her tea class and arrived at our destination for our 8:15pm reservation. as we were waiting to be seated, she caught a glimpse of my gift (unbeknownst to her that it was actually hers) on the front desk and remarked how pretty the wrapping paper was and how lucky the maitre d' was to get a gift. aghast, i mumbled something incoherent like "yeah, anyways i'm starving, can't wait to eat!" haha.

since there were a plethora of tasty treats to choose from, we carefully pared down our selections to the following six including dessert:

* tarte flambée (think wafer-thin flatbread) w/caramelized onions, bacon lardons & cave aged gruyère
* belgian endive, watercress, fuji apples, blue cheese, walnuts & vinaigrette
* braised pork belly, frisée, butternut squash & cherry gastrique
* sautéed diver scallops, yukon gold potatoes, diced leeks & smoked potato-leek chowder
* short rib, celery root & au jus
* chocolate/coffee custard, crème chantilly, sablés cannelle cookie





and here's a peek at her gift on the shelf above our table. the wrapping paper is a gorgeous (if i say so myself) handmade silkscreen of yuzen strawberry plum blossoms on a striking black background...



church & state
1850 industrial st.
los angeles, CA 90021
http://www.churchandstatebistro.com/

upcoming 2011 film releases

perusing this month's issue of GQ magazine, writer mark harris brilliantly constructs the current state of cinema and what we can expect this year and next.

here's a choice excerpt - let's see how many can correctly guess which films he's referring to.

winner gets a pat on the back from money B:

"let's look ahead to what's on the menu for this year: four adaptations of comic books. one prequel to an adaptation of a comic book. one sequel to a sequel to a movie based on a toy. one sequel to a sequel to a sequel to a movie based on an amusement park ride. one prequel to a remake. two sequels to cartoons. one sequel to a comedy. an adaptation of a children's book. an adaptation of a saturday morning cartoon. two sequels with a 4 in the title. two sequels with a 5 in the title. one sequel, that if it were inclined to use numbers, would have to have a 7 1/2 in the title."

eats - front page jamaican grille

saturday brought about a gauntlet morning run in downtown, followed immediately by basketball at UCLA, so i was feenin for a good lunch. kyle and i paid a first-time visit to front page, a jamaican joint near LAX that hit the spot. for real.



it's a relatively sparse operation, with a husband/wife team manning the big counter up front and maybe six metal tables of two sprinkled about the dining area. and if you eat there, the food is served in to-go boxes with plastic utensils and paper napkins. but all that doesn't matter once the food arrives - in this case i ordered the jerk chicken, which comes red beans & rice, mixed steamed vegetables and fried plantains.

the chicken is marinated and smothered in their homemade jerk sauce and grilled to perfection. the result is robust flavor and fall-off-the-bone tender. the pious man sitting next to us greedily eyed our jerk, then settled in with braised oxtails, which had us doing the same.


i've heard that the curry goat, roasted red snapper and the volcanic reggae wings are also can't misses, so the fact that i only have one stomach was troubling indeed. i did bring home a curry chicken jamaican patty and got hooked up with some of their homemade hot sauce, which they are planning to bottle and market. a return engagement is already in the works...

front page jamaican grille
1117 w. manchester blvd., #C
inglewood, CA 90301
http://frontpagejamaicangrille.com/