Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Little Rhino Heads West

After a crazy and oddly busy summer, last week Little Rhino headed out to L.A. to see Sister Rhino, her bf Blankenship, their two dog tag team of Stella and Chester, and my hs friend the Livee God (don't ask how the name Livee God came about). Rhino tends to only add a day or so to a long week when traveling (and employed) so, needless to say, this was a bold leap. However, with a good cushion of leave, a stable job, and my fantastic sister and tried and true hs friend to see, I knew that my timing was perfect for my escape. Until my key broke...



The morning of my flight out, I woke up at 6AM (on a Saturday) and realized I needed to clean the litter box before I left. With an utterly unglamorous task at hand, I didn't brush my hair or teeth (a very rare occurrence for a halitosiphobic). I just moseyed outside and half-awake wearing boxers and a big tee and carrying a bag of cat shit and pee. Sexy. More sexy, my building key breaking in the lock. That's right my at 6:15AM on Saturday morning, less than an hour before I planned to taxi over to Nat'l Airport, standing outside looking like a crazed gnome and knowing my breath reeks (worst part), my key full out breaks. AAAHH!! Luckily, I finagled the remaining key stub into the lock and scurried back in *whew*.

After a five hour flight stuck in the middle seat (grrr Alaska Airlines!!), I saw my sister!!! After she left for work, I quickly got myself situated in the kitchen and made my ultra-rich five-layer bars and an ad hoc garlicky Italian dip for that night's party. Between my food, Mota's mac and cheese, and some Crumbs cupcakes, I ate well at the party and I really enjoyed beer ponging with bf Blankenship... just had to stop eventually to balance out the Miller Lite with some solid food. Much fun though.

Sunday, I ran, Fit Wiied for the first time (thanx bf Blankenship), and then headed to the beach with Sister Rhino and her bf. Unfortunately, the temps at the beach felt more East Coast Fall than Summer bikini, so we aborted plan and went to Duke's (Sister Rhino tends to stampede when hungry). We all enjoyed sharing the nachos appetizer, but I gotta say my cocktail (forgot its name) beat out all the other food I ate there. Thankfully, I came home to another half...or so of Crumbs cupcakes...mmmm. They make a damn amazing Hostess cupcake-esque creation and a banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting an filling (verrry smart idea). Though, I think that sent me into a food coma. Sadly, I fell asleep an hour or so later and missed most of Jacob's Ladder. Is it bad that this has become a semi-regular occurrence for El Rhino?




The next day, Sister Rhino and I hightailed it to Vegas where we proceeded to eat and for me fancy-shmancy drink our way through Sin City. Highlight: Dinner @ Mesa Grill. Highlights with highlight: goat cheese queso fundido, cactus pear margarita, and fried squash blossoms ( :




Back on Wednesday, the two Rhinos headed to Pete's Diner and Bar for lunch after a co-worker gave Sister Rhino a lead on the city's best mac and cheese (she's a junkie). I ordered a salad with blackberries, salmon, avocado, and new potatoes to level out all the greasiness of some of my Vegas eats. Though I did sneak many a bit of the mac and cheese. It was heavenly cheesiness. Capping off the day, Rhinos and crew tailgated at a Dodgers' game with sandwiches from Phillipe's, birthplace of the French dip. Verrrrry tasty.



The following day, after a sisterly shared lunch at Brite Spot (I'd link to their website, but all the smileys scare me), I gathered up my belongings and headed out with the Livee (one of my last surviving hs friendships). Claiming that Sprinkles bested Crumbs in the L.A. cupcake wars, she drove directly to the store in Beverly Hills to purchase the proof.




Then, we headed to the g-store, so that I could assemble my supplies for our quesadilla dinner (per her request). I love examining new grocery stores and I'm especially amused my California g-stores because they sell liquor unlike Virginia's with the states generic ABC stores. I wanted to buy some just to buy it, but the Livee God doesn't really drink and I'm too cheap to buy a bottle for a single use, so I moved on to the bee-zarre pudding section... and took a quick pic.



As a pre-dinner "snack" when we got back to LG's, we sampled our frosting "shots" (mocha and cinnamon cream cheese). The mocha was all right, I'd rank the cinnamon cream cheese as one of the best frostings that I've tasted in my life....That's right. LIFE. After dinner, we cut each cupcake in half (researcher-style) and I sampled all of them (though only a smidge of chocolate). LG insisted that the banana bested the others. I agreed that the banana's moistness and flavor gave it an edge over the vanilla/vanilla cupcake, but enjoyed my pick of the coconut cupcake (white cake with coconut frosting) the most.



On Friday, LG decided Rhino HAD TO try In N' Out Burger. At her urging, I ordered the double double, but I decided to order it "animal-style" meaning more toppings and more importantly for this condiment fiend, more sauce. After waiting a while (considering it was fast food), I tried my burger. It was pretty good for a fast food, but nearly as messy as I expected or wanted my "animal-style" order. I sampled a few as well and found them kind of bland. I love the LG, but sometimes (okay a lot of the time), I wish she shared in my adventurous eating.



For dinner, after our day at the Santa Monica Pier (good times), LG and I went to Kitchen 24.. much like Brite Spot (and often compared to BS on yelp.com) a CA-style diner in Hollywood. LG claimed the lemonade rocked there, so I first ordered regular lemonade then spiked strawberry lemonade and then more lemonade (I was a thirsty child). I liked both, but after my other drinks during my trip, I found neither earth-shattering. After much deliberation and questioning the waitress, I ordered the home skillet, a real skillet coated in hash browns with sausage and two eggs nestled over top and toast on the side as well as a side of coleslaw. With some extra seasoning, I liked my hash browns (hash browns are hard to hate) and the accompanying sausage. For some reason, the toast seemed kind of lackluster more so than most toast and they only had strawberry jam (Rhino's least favorite). The coleslaw was pretty good, but needed more punch.



It would have been wise to stop after that big dinner (of which I could only finish about half anyway). However, LG raved about K24's chocolate chip cookie skillet ala mode and Rhino is never one to turn down dessert, so we soldiered on. I'll admit that the cookie concoction was decadently rich and damn tasty. Unfortunately, the combination of alcohol, chocolate, grease, and decaf coffee really beat up Little Rhino's stomach, so we were forced to desert the dessert.

Saturday, I left L.A. with many pictures, lots of souvenirs, and a slightly expanded waistline. Looking back, I very much needed my California trip and I'm glad I got in some relaxing vacation time before Fall and Grad School set in. However, I am happy to be back in home and itching to be back in the kitchen for more TNDs, miscellaneous baking, and singular sensation cooking.

Bonus pic: my new shoes.. replacements for the sharkies that beat up my ankles. Hoping for good karma ( :











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