If I could bottle it up

The thing that I love about LA and that I am constantly surprised by is that it only takes about an hour separate yourself completely from the city. An hour will bring you to alien landscapes, plop you in the middle of the ocean, provide canyons for you to hike in.

When you land in Minneapolis, an hour will bring you to flat tracks of land followed by another hour of flat land and then perhaps some trees peppered by lakes then more trees and more trees after that. Not that this is bad, but the forests become dense quickly and do not offer a lot in the way of exploring.

A couple weeks ago I ventured north and west to Sycamore Canyon to try to catch some Monarchs rumored to be in the area. Nature never cooperates. That is what I like about it. We saw one Monarch. One. or perhaps it was a mirage.But then again none of us really stopped to survey the Sycamore trees for the firey orange butterflies or to smell the roses. We didn't need to stop because every step in the canyon offered an aroma therapy trip that not even the best of spas could recreate. Every breath in was

inhale-rosemary
inhale-wild sage
inhale-licorice
inhale-dill pickles??

I wish I would have bottled it up.

what you fear the most will meet you half way

I am a cautious hiker. I prefer when it is colder, when I know they are sleeping. I remember my 7th grade teacher telling stories of camping in the southwest and rattlesnakes on cliffs. I never wanted to camp in the sw.

Sometimes though you have to conquer your fear one bite at a time.





___/\/\/\/\/\>-<

dirty lie

What is the biggest dirtiest lie about mankind every told by Hollywood? Can anyone help me find the rest of this interview? I live adjacent to Hollywood and I want to know what they are up to.

Confession or Save Ferris

I am afraid of heights.

I remember back to the day that I walked the switchbacks at Bryce Canyon white knuckling so hard that I almost broke someone's hand. The thought of that glass skyway across the Grand Canyon is my idea of torture. It is not the fear of falling, but the fact that maybe perhaps that I can't stop my self from jumping.

But with the thought of the possibility of relocating looming, I did something that I never thought I would do. I rode the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier.

It was always daunting to me. It is large, so large that you can see it from Malibu at night, me being afraid of heights, it being old and rickety and run by carnies w/ really small hands. (or actually kids who look like they are in high school. I am not sure what is worse.) I couldn't bring myself to do it. And it is not like I hadn't been asked or begged to go on it before, for some reason Ferris wheels are romantic. I see them as a spinning wheel of death. (me being dramatic, but there is a certain passage in "Devil in the White City" that might make you change your mind about Ferris Wheels)

So when my friend visiting friends suggested we go on and I looked up at it and thought, this may be the last time you get this opportunity so I said "f-it, I am riding that Ferris wheel."

And I did. And I was so distracted by the view, the breeze that I didn't think about how high we were, how old it was, how warped the boards were on the boardwalk that was holding us up. We didn't get stuck at the top waiting for other riders to get on, so that was a plus.


And I didn't jump.

If I were you this Thursday

Downtown LA to me is like the Ocean, I always forget how much I like it there, until I go again. Then for some reason mysteriously I don't go again for months.

If I were you this Thursday, I would make visiting Downtown LA a priority during noon-9 for Artwalk

There is a great new space at 438 Main showing work about my favorite subject LA. The show is called Urbanica and it features this great photo series commentary on dating called "It lasted 16 outfits"

It is free and you might see me there.

festival of nations

I knew I didn't want to leave Los Angeles without trying Korean BBQ. The truth is that I never tried it because it was always so daunting. Well over 50 restaurants in a 5 square mile radius with names like Sa Rit Gol, Soot Bull Jeep and Chosun Galbi; I really needed a tour guide for a place I could take a 5 minute bus ride to.

That is a common issue with Los Angeles; I find that there are so many possibilities that you become paralyzed.

I finally found a more than willing tour guide and she chose Shik Do Rak, on 1st and Western and I don't think there could have been a better choice. New to the experience it was great to have someone to hold my hand through the experience.

I make it sound scary and it wasn't. You just need to be adventurous and not afraid to stuff as much as you can into a tiny square of rice paper - again the overwhelming possibilities.

When you sit down little dishes of things are placed across the table, Kimchi of various types (also a first for me) vinegar pickled cucumbers, fish cake (so good) pickled radishes, spicy pepper and peanut sauces, lettuces. You order meats which is always various and wonderful cuts of beef, although for the more daring and non-united states centric palates there are plenty of intestines, stomach and other "nasty bits" to choose from. We didn't choose to go that way. We chose Galbi, which you can see pictured as frozen curls of frozen beef and deckle which is a brisket, skirt steak cut.

There was also plenty of soju (not a first and a staple in most of the bars here that are prevented from serving hard alcohol-Angelenos know this) and this great potato noodle dish that is now calling to me from the refrigerator.


I have been thinking about Korean BBQ since I had Korean BBQ. It is just that good.