Monday, November 23, 2009

Paris In a Cup, 11/22/2009

Soup may not be everyone's cup of tea, but at our bi-monthly tea outing with the girls featured a welcome surprise... At Paris In a Cup in the historic downtown Orange, the soup's the thing, a perfectly satisfying demitasse of the stuff served with the miniature sandwiches...

The signature potion is baked potato soup with the classic bacon, green onion and cheddar cheese garnish... I would have gone for that, but the soup du jour, butternut squash with apple, just sounded too festive to pass up...



Hanging out with old friends is like putting on a favorite denim jacket... You feel comfortable, yet capable of almost anything... As part of the restaurant's first seating that day, we were the loudest, most raucous group - for a while... But then other groups of ladies began to rival our hilarity, fueled by the joie de vivre that comes from tea and sugar... But most of all, the energy that comes from being with friends who have seen you through some of the most awkward, significant, painful, and just fall-down funny moments of you life - and who still love you anyway.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Bagel Factory, 11/22/2009

The best discoveries are the ones you don't expect... Driving home from another busy Saturday of errands, I was wending my way home from King's Road Beads when I happened upon the Bagel Factory on Robertson and Cadillac in a neighborhood called La Cienega Hills...

As I usually am on a Saturday night lately, I was wondering which of my favorite eateries would be comfortable enough to indulge in alone... I have several dependable options, and in some of them, I'm comfortable enough to dine alone: Tender Greens, Pho Show, Junior's, Canter's - basically anyplace with a counter, although I rarely sit at them... I try to stay away from fast food although that scenario is most amenable to solo dining...

So I was really happy to see Bagel Factory, where I knew I could get real food quickly and without a lot of ceremony... In my carb-loving 20s, I used to pick up bagels for everyone at work, along with several tubs of cream cheese "schmears" like smoked salmon and herb and veggie... But I swore bagels off completely when some dietary pundit compared eating one bagel to eating five pieces of bread... I'm still hoping that is urban legend, but I kind of doubt it...

Sadly, I don't even have a photo from my visit to the Bagel Factory, as it appeared so unexpectedly and by the time I realized I had left my camera in the car, I was halfway done with my early dinner...But sometimes, you've just got to rely on memory to tell the story...

Of course, the main feature for me now is the soup bar where eight choices are featured daily... I was assured by a very helpful girl at the counter that the more popular ones are offered almost everyday, such as the chicken tortilla and the sweet and sour cabbage, which is what I had... The piquant and pleasingly full-bodied broth with its shreds of cabbage and other vegetables was very satisfying and perfectly seasoned - not too salty, not too sweet...

Despite the robustness of the soup, I was still hungry because I never had time for a proper lunch today... I also had the smoked whitefish and egg salad combo on a bed of greens with a toasted "Black Russian," a pumpernickel bagel with raisins and onions... The smoked fish was perfectly complemented by the hearty, lightly sweet bagel... Either I was absolutely famished or it was amazing... Or both...

Pho Ever, 11/18/2009

After the weekly "Lounge Lizards" get-together at work, Dylan and I decided to go get some pho... My workday stand-by and favorite pho spot, Pacific Pho Noodle House is unfortunately not open for dinner and we had been to his favorite pho place in Tozai Plaza (sorry, I don't know the name of it) several times, so I charged him with finding new, unchartered pho territory...



He probably was amused by the name, Pho Ever... But this two-month-old restaurant was truly a find... A Yelp-er says that the place is very cute... It is, despite the rundown strip mall where it is located... The wood-framed booths are really cozy despite the Korean bbq grills in the center of the tables... Dylan quipped that the place looked like the home of a Vietnamese hobbit... I asked our server, who turned out to the manager, if it had been a Korean bbq restaurant and he said that the grills were going to be put to use later for some kind of Vietnamese version of bbq...

But we were there for pho... I gave my default order, rare steak pho... Dylan got more adventurous with something called Spicy Hue Style Noodle Soup with Lemongrass... This included round spaghetti-like noodles, beef, pork leg (apparently with bone and marrow included), pork sausage, shrimp cake, and a partridge in a pear tree...

Just kidding, there was no partridge in a pear tree... Actually, the shrimp cake came up missing too, unless it was a gelatinous cube that we surmised was some kind of Vietnamese blood pudding... Nevertheless, his broth was thicker than pho, and spicier without the addition of sauces or herbs...

My pho was the classic soup recipe, with unusually silky rice noodles and a very generous serving of rare beef, which cooked itself in the scalding broth... An unexpected spin on what would have been a pleasurable but predictable pho experience was the detailed training I received on how to best enjoy the beef slices ... Our server deftly poured a combination of hoisin and red chili sauce into a tiny dish and instructed me to dip the beef into it... I was so delighted with this flavor explosion that I forgot to add the dish of bean sprouts, basil, lime, and jalapeno to my steaming broth...

Another distraction was the appetizer we ordered, which Richard the server/manager swore was the best thing on the menu... It arrived, a colorful satay of beef with herbs and a bowl of fried shrimp crackers to eat with it...

The crackers made a cool sound, kind of like Pop Rocks candy exploding, when you spooned the ceviche-like beef onto them... They were good, but both of our soups had already bowled us over - no pun intended...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009



Chicken and Rice Soup with Sesame-Encrusted Ahi Salad, 11/05/2009

Props to Campus Dining's Richard, Chef Ricardo, and the staff at Club 1910 at CSU Dominguez Hills!... You're the best!...

Monday, November 9, 2009

Los Angeles Mission, 11/7/2009



(Photos: Shio Ramen at Santoka, 10/31/2009; below, Chicken Leek Soup and Tuna Melt at Clementine, 10/26/2009; )

Who says that there are "no seasons" in Southern California?... The year's last burst of summery heat has given way to an autumnal chill, graced with the indescribably beautiful fall light...

The cold is bracing, although laughable to friends in other, less temperate parts of the country... As the weather in dips to temperatures below 60, I dig out the wool coats and tights and look forward to more soup adventures...

Since I've returned to eating solid food again after the scourge of a cold last month, I regret that my initial zeal for soup has waned somewhat in favor of crisp green salads, my homemade quiche (watch this space for story and recipe), snappy, thin-skinned red grapes, and surprisingly juicy persimmons...

But I still look forward to the comfort of a warm bowl of broth... Which led me to think of those who don't have the luxury of driving for pho or even the simple means to open a can of something from Trader Joe's... I've been hatching this plan to help serve Thanksgiving dinner at the Los Angeles Mission since I started the blog, and last Saturday, I attended a volunteer orientation for the Thanksgiving dinner event on Nov. 25...

Armed with my sister's stainless steel commuter mug full of her high-octane French roast, I sped east on the 10 for the 9 a.m. volunteer orientation... When I looked up the directions to the Mission the street view photograph on the Website did not merely show a stucco and brick building... It showed a stucco and brick building with a line of people in front of it...

I could not help but compare it to the time I looked up my sister's house on Google and saw that the photograph used was one that was taken during their remodel, which took almost a year to complete... The photo was taken from an angle that showed off the outhouse that was provided for the construction workers during the project... It was on their front lawn for so long after the main work was done that it was several weeks after it was removed that I noticed it was gone...

We're hoping that the Google map people need to update their photos of the neighborhood soon... But I know that sadly, the line in front of 303. E. 5th Street is probably never going to disappear...

I drove around to the back of the building as the Website instructed, in order to get "safe, secure" parking... I felt a guilty pang as I remembered Jolene's admonishment that morning to "be careful" when parking downtown... I snapped at her with something to the effect of not going downtown to be afraid and suspicious of people simply because they were poor...

I should have been more charitable and cognizant of her concern then... I'm trying to understand more that while it's nobody's fault that they are poor, it's also nobody's fault that they are not... But at the same time, I cannot help but wish that all of us could at least be more respectful of everyone's humanity - and innocence until proven guilty - regardless of external appearances...

The parking lot was full... A beleaguered-looking volunteer informed me that the lot was full and that I could park at their auxiliary space on Maple... There were a couple of parking garages on that street and I could not tell which was theirs, so I chose one and forked over the $3...

When I hit the sidewalk, I was nearly bowled over by the stench of urine that permeated the street... I held my breath and hurried along, clutching my notepad and my mug of coffee... I saw another woman who clearly was there for the volunteer orientation rushing ahead of me... She wore some nice but frivolous sandals, totally unsuited for walking on these mean streets... And she also had her stainless steel commuter cup in hand...

I asked her brightly as we entered the courtyard of the Mission if she was there for the Thanksgiving event... She patiently said, "Whatever they need"... The lines of people from the photo no longer circled the building, but the courtyard was full of men waiting patiently for whatever services the Mission had to offer them that day... We entered the lobby of the building after being directed by a man at the door to one of the chapels for the orientation...

I did not know that the Mission provides a program for those suffering from poverty and homelessness due to addiction and abusive environments... A "graduate" of the program was giving a testimony in the chapel to the audience of hopeful volunteers and guests who were to take tours of the facility... A second man described the Mission as "a place of refuge, a place where the storm stopped"...

If the Mission helped stop the storm for some of these people, it only stirs it up for the armchair activist... Those of us who had eagerly called, emailed or shown up that morning to sign on to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless with the likes of Mayor Villaraigosa and Hollywood celebrities were quickly put in our place...

"Think of the guy who comes in here when the papparazzi is gone," chided the woman giving the orientation, good-naturedly but firmly... "You can come back in January because no one will be here to help"...

The Mission was full to capacity of volunteers for the Thanksgiving event... It didn't matter that I had signed up online earlier that week... I realized that we not only have a problem with poverty and homelessness in our city... We also have the issue of too many people who try to help when it "counts," that is, when other people can see it...

Living in a city like Lost Angeles, particularly on the Westside, one is exhorted to care 24/7, and to sign up for every cause du jour... Not that I'm opposed to any of doing good in general, but it seems that some people jump on the bandwagon to help certain populations on certain occasions because it's the holidays and it's "the right thing to do"...

I wonder if my own motives are so pure... I wanted to volunteer for Thanksgiving because I thought it would give my stories of soup and comfort more relevance... "So this girl drives around eating soup and eavesdropping on conversations, so what?"... I wanted to give readers a real picture of what it's like not to be able to walk into a restaurant and order soup or anything else for that matter...

Everyone I know bemoans the current economic situation... We are all having to pull our belts tighter and I realize that for each person, it's all relative to what they are used to... But very few of us, at least in my acquaintance, have ever had literally zero... No stainless steel coffee cups, no hot coffee, no coffee maker in the kitchen...No kitchen, period...

The last tour group was escorted out and I left after turning in my application and deciding to see if I could get registered for the December 24 event... I realize halfway down the block that I forgot my coffee cup under my seat in the chapel and go back to get it...

As I leave the chapel again, I am told to watch my step and "God bless you," by a man, probably a resident in the program, who is mopping the tile in the lobby... I need to use the restroom before the long drive ahead and am directed to a facility in the back of another chapel where three or four men was watching a biblical epic dubbed in Spanish...

As I try to duck my way out of the darkened "theatre," a couple of voices say "God bless you" in the dark as I pass... I try to smile an acknowledgment in the general direction of the voices since I can't see a thing...

I think about all the times that I nod or say "Hello" to people at work in the halls or passing on the street... There are times when I don't give that small acknowledgment of humanity and think that it doesn't matter...

This morning, while glimpsing the world of the Mission on a Saturday morning, on my way to other things, I am the one that is being helped. My metal cup is a symbol of need, like the kind used for begging... I suddenly see it as kind of a signal that I need to slow down and drink a cup of coffee like a civilized person once in a while, at a table... If I am very lucky, it will be in good company... And I'm being reminded that my ill-perceived lack of time is no excuse for a lack of civility, of appreciating my fellow man or woman...

I am being reminded that yes, it does matter.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Larry's Vegetable Soup, 11/1/2009

After bullying Larry into starting a blog, guess what his first post was?... A recipe for fabulous-sounding vegetable soup from scratch!...

Almost makes a girl want to visit Seattle and blow off this lovely sunny weather on the first day of November in La-La Land in favor of cold wind and rain... NOT!...