Posted December 16th, 2008 by Meg
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I celebrated our anniversary at Sushi Masu. What a wonderful feast to celebrate two years together. Delicious.
I. Hot Sake
II. California Roll
III. Tuna Masu Roll
IV. Scallops wrapped in Eggplant and smothered with Special Sauce topped with Shrimp
V. Spring Rolls
VI. Mochi (green tea, chocolate, and red bean)
VII. Happiness
Sushi Masu
1911 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 446-4368
Posted December 5th, 2008 by Meg
The night before Thanksgiving my boyfriend and I were hungry, but didn’t know where to go. We didn’t want to drive far and we didn’t want to pay too much. We found ourselves at Pitfire Pizza Company in Westwood. Neither of us had been there before and had no idea what to expect. We walked in to a spacious restaurant and quickly realized it would be in our best interest to claim a table to sit at without the help of a server. Within first glance you can tell this place is listed somewhere on the internet as kid-friendly. Every other table was filled with a rugrat sitting in a high chair. Surprisingly, all the children in the restaurant were well behaved. We did get to hear one misbehaving child get his 3rd and final warning from the table across from us. Awkward, but amusing since we were only spectators.
Although they had interesting sounding pizzas and pastas (and later I found out they had a special pizza with pumpkin on it!), in order to share I had to eat one of the only two kinds of pizza my boyfriend prefers: cheese or pepperoni. I chose the latter. He went up to the register, placed our order, took a number, and came back to the table.
As you can see, or rather can’t see, there is not a plethora of pepperoni and those that are there are hiding under the cheese. It was a crusty pizza, but not crunchy more just..chewy. It was good and filling. I also ordered some Fiery Chicken Soup - chicken poached in a spicy red chile broth with red onions, hominy, topped with avocado, roasted corn and red cabbage. Sadly, it came out looking like it does in the picture - spilled over the sides and with a plastic fork. A plastic fork? (WTF.) With a mission statement starting with “Just because it’s a fast world doesn’t mean you have to eat fast food,” and promotion of organic foods in their menu, it made me a little concerned to find a plastic spoon in my soup. If you know me, you probably are aware of my anti-plastic stance. Or just recognize that I try to avoid using it as much as possible. Aside from the presentation of the soup, I found the taste to actually be very slightly spicy and delicious. It has been a long time since I have eaten anything with hominy in it and I found it to hit the spot.
In the end, my boyfriend and I enjoyed the food. We both are willing to come back again. A fun, relaxed atmosphere. Perfect for lunch or dinner. Also, I didn’t find out until the end, but they sell Auntie Em’s amazing cupcakes. I was surprised and excited to find that the cupcakes so close to my heart have made their way to the west side of Los Angeles. Of course they were sold out of Red Velvet, but it was okay because I was way too full from pizza and soup. Besides, Bigg Chill is just down the street.
Pitfire Pizza Company
2018 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 481-9860
Posted November 5th, 2008 by Meg
I was lost but now I am found. I’m sure I’ve led a lot of people to believe that I lounge around my apartment eating peanut butter (and frosting). But the truth is, I rarely eat peanut butter. I love the taste of it, but for so long have I have not included it into my meal rotation. At least that was until this past weekend. My boyfriend and I spent a lazy Sunday morning at one of our favorite breakfast places: JuJu (the cereal bar! remember?) I walked in sleepy eyed knowing that I wanted to change my bowl. I wanted more than just fruit, milk, and cereal. Instead of exponentially increasing my chances of adult onset diabetes by ordering the frosted flakes with chocolate syrup, gummi bears, and and chocolate milk, I chose this crazy concoction: Hemp granola, peanut butter puffins, bananas, blueberries, skim milk, and PEANUT BUTTER. I had no idea what to expect and was a little hesitant about the milk and peanut butter. But, when I saw the prepared bowl, I knew it was going to be okay. In fact, it was a perfect combination of taste and textures: yummy, chewy, creamy, crunchy, gooey, chunky, etc. I know some might consider me crazy, but… so be it. Peanut butter is amazing. If you don’t believe me, it’s okay because I have found others like me: Peanut Butter Lovers.
I’ve gone beyond just ordering it on the weekends. Inspired by my bowl at JuJu and by Diana Takes A Bite’s recipe, I went out and bought some peanut butter. Like Diana, I add the peanut butter to my morning oatmeal breakfast. She has a more developed recipe; I have lazily stuck to adding just bananas and peanut butter - for now. It has made a world of difference on elevating my energy. Also, in combination with the morning coffee, it has quite the thermogenic effect on my body, which is nice because it’s so cold in the morning these days!
JuJu Cereal Bar
1248 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 474-8571
Posted September 29th, 2008 by Meg
If you are willing to drive and hunt for parking, Westwood is a great place for ice cream/frozen yogurt. Diddy Riese is a popular place for their inexpensive but delicious treats. You wait in line (there is more often than not going to be a line), make your order, quickly receive your order and then pay. It’s fast paced and there is very little seating in the small establishment, but that’s okay because Westwood is the type of place you can wander around. They use Dreyer’s ice cream and have the following flavors: french vanilla, cookie dough, rocky road, mint chocolate chip, strawberry, chocolate, espresso chip, butter pecan, strawberry cheesecake chunk, peanut butter cup, chocolate chip, and cookies & cream. They make fresh homemade cookies everyday: chocolate chip, chocolate chip with walnuts, oatmeal raisin walnut, sugar cinnamon, white chocolate chip, peanut butter, double chocolate with nuts, candy, chocolate with white chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut. For $1.50, you can purchase an ice cream sandwich. In the picture above is one chocolate chip cookie hugging peanut butter cup ice cream while reaching over for it’s dissimilar friend the chocolate white chocolate chip cookie. Best friends forever. In the picture below is on the left two chocolate chip cookies and espresso chip ice cream and on the right is two chocolate white chocolate chip cookies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Cash Only.
Diddy Riese
926 Broxton Ave.
Westwood, CA 90024
(310) 208-0448
Posted September 23rd, 2008 by Meg
I have been going to JuJu Cereal Bar in Westwood ever since it opened in October, 2007. It is a cereal lover’s dream. They offer so many cereal brands, toppings, candies, and milks it would be ridiculous of me to post them all. However, I want you to know how many options this place gives you, so time to be ridiculous!
For $5.25 you can get:
Step One: (2 Scoops)
Sweet Cereals : Apple Jacks, Captain Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Coco Krispies, Coco Pebbles, Coco Puffs, Cookie Crisp, Corn Pops, Crunchberries, Eggo Waffles, Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini Wheats, Fruit Loops, Fruity Pebbles, Golden Grahams, Honey Bunches of Oats, Honey Comb, Honey Nut Cheerios, Life, Lucky Charms, Smacks, and Trix.
Cereals : All Bran, Barbara’s Puffins, Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, Cheerios, Chex, Corn Flakes, Fiber One, Granola, Grape Nuts, Kashi Heart to Heart Blueberry Oat Flakes, Kashi Golean, Kashi Golean Crunch, Kashi Heart to Heart, Kashi Puffs, Kix, Muesli, Mueslix, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Shredded Wheat, Smart Start
Special K, Total, and Wheaties.
Organic Cereals : Acai Apple Granola, Blue Corn Flakes, Cheetah Chomps, Crispy Brown Rice, Grape Nuts, Hemp Granola, Kashi Autumn Wheat, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Raisin Bran, Weetabix, and Weetabix Flakes & Fiber.
Hot Cereals : Organic Steel-Cut Oatmeal and Organic Steel-cut Oatmeal with Soy Milk.
Step Two (3 mix-ins)
Fresh Fruit : Bananas, Blackberries, Blueberries, Kiwi, Mangoes, Peaches, Pineapple, Raspberries, and Strawberries.
Dried Fruit & Nuts : Apples, Apricots, Blueberries, Coconut, Cranberries, Goji Berries, Mangoes, Pineapples, Raisins, Yogurt Raisins, Almonds, Flax Seed Powder, Peanuts, Pecans, Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), Sunflower Seeds, Wheat Germ, and Whey Protein Powder.
Sweets : Chocolate Chips, Chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate Pretzels, Graham Crackers, Gummy Bears, M&Ms, Malt Balls, Mini-Marshmallows, Nestle Crunch, Oreo Cookies, Peanut Butter Chips, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Sprinkles, Sugar Wafer Crumbles, Vanilla Wafers, and Yogurt Chips.
Dollops & Drizzles : Caramel, Chocolate, Condensed Milk, Frosting, Honey, Maple Syrup, Nutella, Peanut Butter, Whipped Cream, and Yogurt.
Step Three (Pour)
Dairy : Nonfat, Lowfat, and Whole.
Dairy+ : Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana, Organic Nonfat, Organic LowFat, Organic Whole, Lactose-Free 2%, Plain Yogurt, Plain Nonfat Yogurt, and Vanilla Yogurt.
Non-Dairy : Organic soy, Organic Vanilla soy, and Rice Milk.
My JuJu Bowl was composed of: Barbara’s Peanut Butter Puffins, Hemp Granola, Bananas, Blueberries, and Strawberries with Nonfat Milk. I never had either of these two cereals before. I chose the peanut butter puffins because I have seen them at the grocery store and thought they looked good. The hemp granola was recommended by the friendly guy behind the register. He said he pairs the puffins and granola often and that it was great combintion. And it was! I loved it and plan to order it again, but next time with organic milk. My boyfriend chose just Frosted Flakes with Lowfat Milk; boring! They also offer frozen yogurt (Plain and Pomegranate) that I have yet to try. Also, if you can’t figure out your own creation they have a huge menu of select mixes. I never have gotten a mix before, but the two that interest me most are the: Let ‘Em Eat Cupcake - Chex, Coco Pebbles, Frosting, Raspberries, M&Ms, Sprinkles, and Chocolate Milk; and Darker the Berry - Double coco krispies, fresh strawberries, Nestle crunch, Ghiradelli chocolate, and strawberry milk. They sound sugarific.
JuJu Cereal Bar
1248 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Get Directions(310) 474-8571
Posted August 12th, 2008 by Meg
oommate and I drove into Westwood on Monday. We naively believed that since it was the beginning of the week, traffic couldn’t possibly be bad. We were so wrong! Driving around the UCLA microcosm, searching for parking, we drove past the Mann Village Theater and noticed they were having a movie premiere. At first glance everything appeared to look like a normal Los Angles premiere, but then we noticed a large group of people holding protest signs. It was hard to read the signs while in the car, but one of them was simply the letter R crossed out; R. Immediately, I wondered why people wanted to ban the letter R. Life would be miserable without the letter R. Or should I say, miseable. Within a few short milliseconds I realized that these people did not really want to ban the letter “R,” but instead wanted to ban the use of a word that starts with R. Apparently they want this word to be banned so bad, they were not willing to write it out. I am all for protesting, and understand what they are doing/trying to say, but their demonstration failed in encouraging me to boycott the movie. If anything, their publicity stunt has backfired. I can’t speak for anyone else, but this controversy has sparked my curiosity. I am more interested in seeing the movie now than I was before I witnessed the protesting. I want to see the scenes that are being called inappropriate and judge for myself whether or not it crosses a line. I am going to see Topic Thunde.
