Lock Lovin

Let's do our hair! 

For the past few months I've been working a job that I need to have my hair out of my face for...let's just say, there's only so many times you can put your hair in a side braid before things start to become repetitive. (BUT, I can speed braid like nobody's business.) To keep from pulling my hair out (zing!), I've started to get a bit more creative. Here's some hairspiration from jointhemood for those of you who want to add a little pep to your hair routine!

Melon Bagging

Los Angeles continues to amaze me. I swear I've accumulated such a good restaurant base in the past few months. I want to put them all up here, but then I think maybe that's useless to you not living in a 20 mile radius of me. (If any of you live here/visit here and want a good recommendation, just send me a note!)

But today, unfortunately, I cannot help myself. It's just a tiny little recommendation--a snack, if you will. 

If you ever go to Los Angeles and you see the men on the side of the road with the carts filled with various chopped-up fruits--STOP YOUR CAR. There are some yummy things to be had! Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Mango, Pineapple, Oh my! Especially if you are like me, mostly just buying produce for yourself to eat, it's a great way to get all the things you want without having to buy a whole big watermelon or cantaloupe or the like. 

Note: The fruit man told me to check and make sure that your particular fruit cart has a license, because to him, that made a difference in quality. I don't know, I've only been to one (his), but I'll take his word for it. 

Also, a fun tip that I learned from my Mexican friends that I saw again at the cart--putting chili powder on your melon-type eateries. Makes a big difference and it's fun to have that flavor profile in the midst of sweet fruit (especially the mango, I have to say).

Hope you guys get your servings of fruit in a fun way this week too!

Striped White

jolene--The White Stripes

How he found his body

For those of you who haven't pursued artistic endeavors, you might not know what it's like in the middle of an artistic process. Despite being fueled by artistic juices, there is a surprising amount of mental work that goes into the final product. In this video, Stephen Petronio, choreographer of the Stephen Petronio (dance) Company in New York, talks about his approach to creating the piece of dance art entitled The Architecture of Loss and getting his start in the dance world:

Making the Moose

Go to the beach. 

Don't mind being alone. 

Cook for others. 

Buy that thing you've been wanting. 

Enjoy your independence. 

Give yourself a makeover. 

Clean your home. 

Take a nap. 

Send those 'Thank You' cards.

Get happy.

The Great Burrito Hunt

 

Since moving to California, I have set about looking for my new top restaurants. I like to find places that I can go to again and again. I need craving satisfying restaurants, if you know what I'm saying. I recently found a cool Mediterranean cafe in Van Nuys called Lusy's. Excellent pita bread. Great chicken shawarma. Check it out.

***SIDE BAR: I need to take a moment to extol the virtues of the Yelp app. My cousin recently introduced me to its wonders and I've used it every day since. It was just what I was looking for in other food/restaurant/laundromat/gas station recommendation apps. I've found so many great places through it.

But since moving here, I have not been able to find a Mexican food place that compared to the ones in Arizona. (If you didn't know, AZ has truly great Mexican food. For cheap. Look it up.) So I've tried various places around town, but none had comparable homemade tortillas or the right bean consistency or the correct cheese usage. I should mention here that I judge a good Mexican food place by its bean and cheese burrito. I figure, if you can't get the easy stuff right, you're not gonna get the hard stuff right. 

Same goes for kissing and sex.

So yesterday I decided to solve this problem--HOW TO FIND A GOOD BURRITO IN THE BIG CITY. I decided to go to all the hole-in-the-wall Mexican food places I'd been curious about, pick up a burrito, and let my taste buds do the judging. I had intended to go to 3 or 4 places, but quit out after 2 places. It was all smelling so good and the burritos were getting cold, after all. 

First up was Tony's Mexican Grill. Got great reviews on Yelp (4 out of 5 stars from 160 reviewers--not too shabby). Had its own parking lot, which is a game changer in Los Angeles. Got the bean and cheese burrito to go. Normally their burritos come with avocado and pico de gallo inside, but I like my burritos plain so I got those on the side. It was looking good so far for Tony's. Also, it had a salsa bar that you could take salsa from to your hearts content. I've been to places where they allot you a certain amount of salsa cups. Not cool. Not so at Tony's. They had three bean choices: black, pinto, and refried. I got a half and half mix of pinto and refried. The burrito was ready in a few minutes and came with a bag of chips. Excellent touch, Tony.

On to the next.

Second up was Burritos El Chavo. It also had its own parking lot, but this one was pretty cramped. Only a few spots. I had to move my car so people could get out. It was a whole thing. Here, same deal. Got the bean and cheese burrito. Was ready quickly. However, no chips on the side, like Tony's. Hmpf. Also, no salsa bar. They gave two little cups of a pico de gallo-style salsa which was fine, but I like a little variety in my salsas. 

Now for the taste test. 

Tony's was first. Great first bite. Smooth bean consistency. Very buttery (probably lardy, but buttery sounds better). Nice flavor. Topped with their red salsa, Momma Like. It's a little smaller than I would like a burrito to be, but I've noticed that's typical of Los Angeles burritos. Arizonans like their burritos big, I tell ya. The tortilla was nice, clearly not store-bought or other such nonsense. It came with a mixture of yellow and white cheese. But the yellow cheese gave a nice strong cheddar taste to the burrito. I enjoyed it heartily. The chips--excellent. I can only imagine how much I would enjoy having a batch of Tony's nachos. 

Now for El Chavo. Immediately I'm getting a smoky flavor that was not present in the previous burrito. This is a little heavier of a burrito. The beans were thicker, definitely more chunky. They used a white cheese and it left a nice amount of grease in and around the burrito. This was nice. This tortilla was perhaps a touch thinner. And not in a bad way. It was light like a feather. However, the salsa was not impressive. Almost flavorless. No kick at all. You could've given it to children without worry. That's not a compliment. I found myself using Tony's salsa on my El Chavo burrito. What a mess. But the burrito in and of itself was tasty.

Now for the decision. I'll leave suspense out of it for today. Tony's is the clear winner here. Not only was it better than El Chavo, it was up to the task of being my new Cali burrito spot. 

It could stand next to my favorite Arizona burritos and hold its head high. 

Congratulations Tony's Mexican Grill! You've gotten yourself a new repeat customer. I know I just had it yesterday, but I've already been craving it for dinner. I might be having Tony's again today, folks. That's when you know you've found a winner.

Questions and Answers