The Getty and the Getty Villa

If you have friends or family visiting from out of town, the Getty and the Getty Villa should be on your to do list.

http://www.getty.edu/visit/

The only cost at both museums is $15 to park your car. With the <a architecture, the views, the expansive gardens and the impressive artifact, sculpture, photography, furniture, and painting collections you can spend days visiting both museums and still not see everything. There are also cafes at both museums. I highly recommend picking up one of their delicious chocolate chip cookies and a drink and sitting at one of the cafe tables on the veranda at the Getty. The view is absolutely breathtaking. The gardens at both museums are also stunning and warrant a walk through.

 

Here is a list of current exhibits at both museums ; http://www.getty.edu/museum/exhibitions/

The Pompeii exhibit at the Getty Villa is particularly interesting.

 

		Disegno: Drawing in Europe, 1520–1600 November 13, 2012–February 3, 2013
		Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance: Painting and Illumination, 1300–1350 November 13, 2012–February 10, 2013
		In Focus: Robert Mapplethorpe October 23, 2012–March 24, 2013
		Farewell to Surrealism: The Dyn Circle in Mexico October 2, 2012–February 17, 2013
		The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker and the Institute of Design September 25, 2012–February 24, 2013
		The Art of Devotion in the Middle Ages August 28, 2012–February 3, 2013
		Drama and Devotion: Heemskerck’s “Ecce Homo” Altarpiece from Warsaw June 5, 2012–January 13, 2013
		The Life of Art: Context, Collecting, and Display February 7, 2012–Ongoing

Rules for Life After 35!

Rules for Life After 35!

Even though I am not quite 35 yet, there were many items on this list that I could relate to. If you don’t already go to her site – http://www.oprah.com has some great self help resources. This item is linked on CNN but it is from her site. I was one of the few women my age that did not watch her show, but after going to her site several times and fighting just the advice I needed – I regret not tuning in now. I don’t have cable so I have not watched her new cable channel – O – quite yet. I know that it was struggling for sometime. If you watch the O Network, let me know if you have any recommendations of shows to check out.

Free Krispy Kreme Donut! Happy Halloween!

Visit any participating Krispy Kreme location and show us your costume and receive a free doughnut.

Dressing up as who knows who? A fairy, a goblin, or something that boos.

Wear your favorite costume to Krispy Kreme on October 31st to receive your FREE Halloween or Pumpkin Spice Doughnut. No purchase necessary.

Find a store near you- http://locations.krispykreme.com/.

Offer good for one doughnut per customer at participating stores on October 31st only.

Visit http://KrispySkremes.com/ to see all of our haunting delicious treats.

The Donut Snob

The Donut Snob

If you live in Los Angeles and love donuts then you need to check this place out! The Donut Snob is a purveyor of farm fresh donuts, and the owner, Janeen Gudel, uses the simplest combinations of the finest ingredients (including natural citrus zest, fresh berries, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, bittersweet Belgian chocolate and freshly squeezed fruit juice). You won’t find a pink donut with sprinkles here, and I am a-ok with that. I can’t wait to try the Lemon Lulu (A beautifully fluffy donut with a lemon zest glaze, fresh lemon curd center and fragrant, sweet julienne lemon peel topping.) I don’t believe she has a store front, but you can order them for delivery at $3.00 a piece or $36.00 for a dozen. If you try it, please be sure to let me know which donut was your favorite.

Motor Ave Farmers Market

This past Sunday, my husband and I checked out our local farmers market to get some eggs, a fresh loaf of bread for the week, and some veggies. The Motor Ave Farmers Market (located at National Blvd and Motor Ave) started last month and has been a welcome addition to the Palms neighborhood on the West side of town.

Palms is the oldest neighborhood annexed to the city of  Los Angeles. It was founded in 1886 and annexed to the city in 1915. Before it’s annexation, it was the cattle and sheep grazing land of  Rancho La Ballona. Now, it is predominantly a renters’ community between Culver City and Century City. Crime is a bit on the high side, but it seems to be getting safer by the year. Parking is a nightmare, but rent is cheap, many apartment buildings are pet friendly, and it is a great, central location to live in Los Angeles with access by freeway and public transport to the rest of the city.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palms,_Los_Angeles

The Motor Ave Farmers Market is still growing, but we have made it part of our weekly grocery shopping trip, and we hope other West siders will do the same. We love the Homeboy bakery stand – http://www.homeboyindustries.org/what-we-do/homeboy-bakery. We get our loaf of multi-grain wheat there every week.

The manager of the market stopped to speak with us yesterday, and he relayed to us that they need to double their attendance in order to keep the market going. I hope it catches on! Palms is starting to feel like a neighborhood – especially with the addition of the Palms mural project on utility boxes around town ;

http://palmsla.org/2012/07/palms-utility-box-mural-beautification-project/

Palms Mural Project

Check out the Motor Ave Farmer’s Market every Sunday from 9am to 1pm at National Blvd and Motor Ave

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/08/motor_avenue_farmers_market_ar.php

http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2012/07/farmers_markets_map_los_angeles.php

Produce Delivery and the Illusive Spaghetti Squash

My husband and I get our weekly fruits and veggies delivered directly to our door through a farm co-op called Farm Fresh To You. http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/ They have a store front in San Francisco at the Ferry Building if you are ever in the area. http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/index.php?cmd=retailstore When we first started the service several years ago, we went with the $44.00 a month More Mixed box which contained oodles of fresh apples, 2 heads of greens, beats, collard greens, or whatever else was harvested that week. It got to be too much food for two people, and we found ourselves throwing away heads of lettuce as the next order arrived. We cancelled for several months and then started back up again 2 weeks ago with the smaller / cheaper option of the $25 a week Small LA box. This is a far better option for 2 people with an onion, some apples, a few kiwis, a head of lettuce, etc. You can check in the days ahead of your delivery to see what will be in your box so that you can make grocery lists, and plan meals. You can also set up “Exlusions” through the settings page on the Farm Fresh website if you do not want a certain type of fruit or vegetable. For instance, we found that we rarely used the beets, kale, or collard greens so we added those to our list. The Farm adds something for you – if an item from your exclusion list is on the weekly delivery docket – and this week, in lieu of beets, we got a spaghetti squash.

I have never prepared a spaghetti squash before. It’s large, hard,  yellow, and quite frankly intimidates the shit out of me. After doing some reading online it seems that the spaghetti squash (an oblong seed-bearing variety of winter squash with flesh that can range either from ivory to yellow or orange in color. The orange varieties have a higher carotene content. Its center contains many large seeds. Its flesh is bright yellow or orange. When raw, the flesh is solid and similar to other raw squash; when cooked, the flesh falls away from the fruit in ribbons or strands like spaghetti) is an excellent replacement for pasta as it has noodle like strands of flesh that are often tossed with butter, cheese, and other vegetables. I am on board! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_squash

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/cooking/a/spagsquash.htm

Emeril Lagasse also has a great looking recipe here ;

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/herbed-spaghetti-squash-recipe/index.html