Posted October 3rd, 2008 by Meg
Last Sunday my boyfriend and I stopped by the free Abbot Kinney Festival. I always thought that this part of Venice was a safe, trendy, hippy-wonderland; Little did we know that hours later this festival would tragically become gang related murdering grounds.
The event began in 1984, as an annual celebration of the diversity of Venice and homage to it’s founder Abbot Kinney, a tobacco millionaire who founded Venice in 1905. The event extends from Venice Blvd all the way up to Main Street, and also includes some side streets, bringing in about 150,000 hip, attractive people. Supposedly, there was a name change this year to Abbot Kinney Community Association in order to better reflect it’s goals. In my opinion, that doesn’t sound as much fun as the word ‘festival.’ But hey, I get it.
With a very low budget, we bought some tri-tip sandwiches and walked around looking at cool stuff. One cool tent/table we found was the I Heart Guts company. I was so in love with the stand that I forgot take a picture of their cute plush toys, but I want make sure the five people who read this blog, know about this place. It was created in 2005 by some amazing illustrator girl (power!) who just likes organs. (Mistakenly, I thought it was a guy that made these. But, now that I have found out the truth that a woman is the genius behind this, I like the guts even more!). I fell in love with the spleen plush toy and wanted to purchase it for my friend who unfortunately had to have her spleen removed two years ago. Sadly, the spleen is not up for sale, but will be soon! I really liked their t-shirts too, especially this one:
So check out their fun website. Buy something. For me. And enjoy!
Here are random pictures of the Festival (the NRA stand really stood out to me as strange and that is why I am putting it up here, imagine seeing this table next to green tables, Obama tables, hippy tables, etc. It just sort of seemed out of place.):
Posted September 2nd, 2008 by Meg
I have always been hesitant in defining what type of snacker I am: savory or sweet. That was until I found Mo’s Bacon Bar, which has helped me realize that I can enjoy the combination of both. More specifically, I enjoy chocolate with bacon or bacon with chocolate. It is a chocolate bar made with real applewood smoked bacon. The people at Vosges haut-chocolat are on to something big. It is the love child of two wonderful foods and this baby is delicious. Go to their website and find out how you can get your hands on one because you will not be disappointed. Also, check out their flying chocolate pigs. (If you are a vegetarian, try some of their meatless chocolates such as the Naga bar, it tastes like sweet Indian curry).
For those of you in Los Angeles, you can definitely find Vosges chocolates at Whole Foods, Intelligentsia, and Mel & Rose Wine & Spirits.
Posted August 10th, 2008 by Meg
On Saturday, my boyfriend (who is not the same person as my roommate) and I went to Scoops. It was my first time and it was pretty awesome. First of all, when we got there, the place was empty. I knew this was just luck and had nothing to do with the quality of ice cream. Also, shortly after we sat down to eat, a herd of people filled the room. I tried the flavors: Brown Bread (made from grape nuts), Banana Peanut Butter & Bacon, Guinness Mocha, and Thai Iced Tea with Honey. My favorite was definitely the Brown Bread, which is supposedly one of their most popular flavors. Even though they use grape nuts to make it, it is definitely a different taste than I expected. In fact, it made me wish I could just eat Brown Bread ice cream for breakfast everyday. I was slightly disappointed in the Banana Peanut Butter & Bacon because it seemed to be that each flavor was too subtle for me to distinguish. However, it could have just been that my palate was overwhelmed from such a variety of flavors. The Guinness Mocha was quite tasty, but seemed the most normal of the bunch to me. The Thai Iced Tea with Honey was probably the sweetest of my bunch, my second favorite, tasting like happiness. All and all, I would definitely go again, especially because of the rotating crazy flavors and the kind scooper that helped me was very accommodative, patient, and helpful while I made my my flavor decisions. 
Since we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by Intelligentsia. We parked right next to a store I had only heard about, The ReForm School, a pro-green gift-y store. It is a very adorable store with a lot of neat and innovative products. I had found out about it on the internet a month or two ago and was always interested in visiting. Inside, you can find everything eco-friendly from bags, clothing, furniture, local artwork, notebooks, to bath & body products. The store fits right into the Silver Lake neighborhood. I would recommend it to anyone that is on the hunt for clever and cute gifts. I just wish I had the money to buy everything. I really liked these fun, easy to hold Buddha Bowls, but do not have the funds to purchase bowls at this point in time. The website is just as cute as the actual store. The story of how the store started is one that I respect: two friends that just wanted to own a store that promotes green living. How awesome is that?
Surprisingly, there was no line at Intelligentsia, but the place was pretty full. My boyfriend got his usual Mocha and I just ordered a cup of coffee. The coffee I chose was Galapagito, a La Tortuga Micro-Lot from Honduras. The website describes it as greeting “the palate with a burst of crisp citrus and lush tropical fruit. The acidity peaks in the center of the cup and melds elegantly into a supremely well-structured finish of deep, dark chocolate and baking spices.” My (probably weak) palate did not find it as citrusy as described. I did enjoy the finish and found it very smooth. I would/will buy those beans in the future. To keep the mornings interesting, I bought a 1/2 lb. bag of Fazenda do Sertão, Brazil. These beans come from Carmo de Minas, a popular growing region of Brazil. They are characterized as:
Flavor: Caramel, sweet orange, fudge
Acidity: Balanced, dried mango
Finish Smooth, buttery, dutch chocolate
Yum. Apparently these beans were tested to become espresso, but the taste was filled with such amazing depth and complexity that Intelligentsia R+D changed their minds and let it shine as a coffee. Another interesting fact about these beans is that they are pulped natural; beans were pulped without fermentation. Pulped natural coffees result in a beverage that has the characteristics of both a dry-and a wet-(fermented to remove the pulp) processed coffee; it is sweet, but retains acidity. This type of processing can only occur in countries where there is low humidity, such as Brazil, who has popularized this method and apparently produces some of the best pulped natural coffee in the world. For more information on the differences between processing, check this informative site out, CoffeeResearch.
Scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Get Directions(323) 906-2649
The ReForm School
4014 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Get Directions(323) 906-8660
Intelligentsia
3922 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Get Directions(323) 663-6173
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