tim merritt [dot] net

We landed in Los Angeles at midday Saturday almost a month ago, and this post has been languishing. So here’s a quick compedium of what we did our first few days.

Saturday:

• arrived, visited, fell asleep after watching Phoebe in Wonderland

Sunday:
• had terrific breakfast at Black Cow Cafe in Montrose: poached eggs with orange Hollandaise, bacon, and tomato on corn pudding, with cheddar jalapeno biscuits; a Montrose Cristo sandwich; and coffee coffee coffee
• walked through the Montrose street market, looking at odds and ends, some craft art, and some lovely produce, fish, and other foods with a picnic in mind for this evening at the Hollywood Bowl
• took a nap
• met with Marlene and her friends Kevin, Jean, and Tim
• ate like royalty before the show
• watched Janelle Monae, Chaka Khan, and Adele perform (a wonderful show)

Monday
• Ellen had to be at her computer at 5 a.m. local as she’s not officially on vacation until Wednesday
• I got a hair cut and browsed a bit while she worked
• more nap
• met with Bob Harris, friend from JD’s movie nights in Atlanta, in his Hollywood neighborhood (across from the Scientology Celebrity Centre, ooh la la) and had a nice meal
• took in an improv show at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade, artistic home of SNL’s Amy Poehler
• Bob took us on an impromptu walking tour of some sights in Hollywood, including parts of the Walk of Fame, the Pantages Theater, the Arclight Dome, Amoeba Records, and then, as a nice surprise for film buffs, a walk up a hill from Sunset Boulevard to see the Alto Nida apartment building, where William Holden’s character in Sunset Boulevard, Joe Gillis, lives before taking up with Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond

• after saying good night to Bob, we drove up Beachwood into the hills and found ourselves among narrow mountainous tracks, with incongruously expensive homes and cars above and below us on every curve, with rare views of the lights in the city below as punctuation

  A great start.

Serious Eats is a seriously fun food blog, and while they enjoy and usually write well about fine dining, they also know how to point readers and eaters to good inexpensive eats as well. My mother – a.k.a. Mom, a.k.a. Nana – is travelling to Montreal and Quebec City with a dear friend from Switzerland early next summer. 48 Hours in Montreal: A Guide to Eating won’t entirely be to their taste (they don’t worship quite as ardently at the altar of the pig, for example) but they should find some valuable ideas here and it the comments. I may travel there next year too, but whenever I do, this will be one of my key references.

Just leaving the beautiful Bridlewood winery. To us Georgians, the excellence of California central-coast weather is a constant revelation. Bright sunshine all day, but with the low desert humidity, frequent breezes, and the world’s largest air conditioning system – the Pacific Ocean – it stays wonderfully comfortable all day long.

The wineries here are among horse ranches, vegetable farms, some small private houses, and the lovely golden hills. There’s a lavender farm we have saved for a visit tomorrow morning before we return to Global Gardens for some local olive oils and vinegars. We have happy happy taste buds.

Room 349, Santa Ynez Valley Marriott, Buellton, California.