Ablaze

Jen: Los Angeles has been having its share of summer wildfires. Last year, San Diego got the brunt of it; the year before was San Bernardino's turn. This time, it's close to our Beachy Keen home :(

One of the two recent/current fires hit my city, and soon to be Crystal's city. It's unnerving to be told by the news and authorities to get your prized possessions and animals ready for a possible evacuation.

Sadly, the current fire further in Los Angeles is still raging, and the lives of firefighters are being lost :( We have a constant reminder of the dire situation in the form of this surreal white cloud-looking smoke that can be seen for hundreds of miles.

Question of the Week 8-25-09

What is your favorite restaurant and dish they serve?

Crystal: LoL...I notice a lot of our posts commonly revolve around food. :)

My favorite restaurant would probably be based more around my favorite dish than vice versa....I go to a location for the food more than I do for the ambience, lol. :)

With that said...On the Border is one of my favorites because I LOOOVE their beef empanadas. They are right up my alley and I was so bummed to find out the one nearest me at the Howard Hughes center closed down....

My other favorite might be Chili's because they have the best chocolate lava cake that I've had to date...I'm always looking for some runner-ups...but I haven't found any that top Chili's yet. :)

Jen: I love Claim Jumper for the atmosphere, mainly because I tend to celebrate random accomplishments there! My favorite dish would have to be the Whiskey Chicken- chicken with a whiskey applesauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a biscuit with honey-butter. Yum!

I also love their Lemon Drops and carrot cake. In fact, they have one of the most fantastic drink menus ever!

Groupon

Crystal: OK, my new favorite website right now is http://www.groupon.com/

This is the absolute best thing to happen to big city, coupon-lovers since the Grocery Game and Google. :) :)

The basis of it is that a vendor can offer a coupon on this site (usually for 24 - 48 hours) for a deep discount (usually at least 50% but varies), and they can do this because mass amounts of people purchase it and it makes it all worthwhile for the vendor in terms of marketing and repeat business.

Some of the things that have been up there are like - pay $25 for $50 worth of food at xyz restaurant (usually more upscale or never-heard-of restaurants)....I bought two tickets to a wine tasting for $50 and it includes the wine and appetizers at a cute little winery in downtown L.A.

They also have coupons for massages, activities (I got one for a rock-climbing facility called Hangar 18), headshots for actors, sporting events, and the list keeps growing.

I'm definitely going to do something for Avery James Photography through this company in the near future...I just don't have the bandwidth in my life right now to take on any mass amounts of clients (or that's what I'm hoping will happen at least!!).

Bottom line - AWESOME deal financially, and you get to explore new places you probably didn't know about!

They have the program in several big cities...so if it's not in yours yet, just keep checking back. :)

Jen: So it's one sponsored coupon per day?

Crystal: Correct. Every day they have a new vendor with a new offer...although it depends on your city - some of the newer places they have this program for don't have enough offers to do it every day, but the L.A. area definitely does...and I think it originated in Chicago so they have tons there.
And then on the weekends they don't have any - so Friday's offer is extended through the weekend (obviously a better day to your ad because you get 3 days of advertising!)...

And you can subscribe via email so the new offers pop up in your inbox first thing in the morning...it's a great thing to wake up to :)

Question of the Week 8-18-09

What has been your biggest hair horror story to date?

Jen: I've had quite a few, but I think the whopper was when I had red hair and I told my stylist that I wanted to go back to blonde. She actually whined about how much work it was going to be, and when she turned me around to the mirror in the end, it was brown! I asked her what happened and she said said decided to go brown because it was easier! The worst part was that it was actually slightly green, too. I left the salon completely mind-boggled. I mean, who does that??? I let my hair rest for a few days and then marched back in there and made her fix it.

Crystal: You have definitely had some of the craziest hair horror stories...I know that much....that one is pretty bad though - the nerve of that stylist! How dare she call herself a stylist actually....

I don't have many hair horror stories...I did my fair share of dying my hair when I was young, but I played it pretty safe for the most part...I do remember something about doing streaks (maybe it was with you??) and having this giant white-blonde streaks in the front near my face and it looked horrible on me (blonde is definitely not my color)....and the last time I got highlights I said I wanted a light brown color and they were orangey-white....horrible.

I don't dye my hair anymore though. :) I'm just gonna keep it au naturale. :)

Theme Stores

Jen: I went to a restaurant called The Stinking Rose over the weekend. It is a garlic themed restaurant in Beverly Hills, from their drinks to their food and even to their dessert! As you go to leave the building, you'll find a little store that sells fun and garlicy souvenirs to remember your unique dining experience by!

It got me thinking about other randomly themed stores, such as the Purple Store at Ports O' Call Village in San Pedro, CA. Purple was my favorite color as a child, so this was a dream come true for me!

Do you know of any quirky stores?

Crystal: That sounds sooooo yummy! I love garlic! Although I don't know about garlic dessert...that doesn't sound so yummy. :)

And I've never heard of the Purple Store! I'm gonna have to go check that out though considering my love for purple. :)

I can't really think of any themed stores off the top of my head...just the popular ones, like the M&Ms Store in Las Vegas...LOVE that place!

Hmm...that's a tough one! I'll come back to this if I think of one. :)

Jen: I have no idea if The Purple Store is still around. I remember it from my childhood. As for M&Ms, blec! It's one of my least favorite candies! I have fallen in love with Palmers Candy recently, though. They always seem to have knock-offs of the popular brands, so maybe they have an M&M-like treat! If only there was a Palmers store!

Crystal: I'm not a fan of plain M&M's, but I love the Peanut M&Ms and i LOOOOOOVVVEEEE the Peanut Butter M&Ms.....they are heaven. :) You should try them if you haven't already. :) :)

I haven't a clue what Palmers Candy is though...it doesn't sound very tasty to me though, lol. I all of a sudden got an image of the grandfather commercial with the butterscoth candies...Werthers I think...lol....don't know why, that's just what came to mind. :)

Question of the Week 8-11-09

Crystal: Better late than never I say :) :)

Hopefully by the end of this week and then for the next couple of weeks I will be able to keep up on this blog a lot more than I have been!! I should have a little more downtime....I'm looking forward to it!!

So the question this week is:

What is your favorite Etsy shop and why?? (Yes - it can be your own!)

Mine...currently, besides Jennifer's lovely lomo shop, is BeeLoveLee. I just got my pouch in the mail the other day and I am in love with it!! I use it for my makeup and it just makes me smile when I pull it out of my purse...I posted a blog about it before, but I hadn't seen any of the products in person til now...not to mention her prices are absolutely affordable!!! :)

Jen: I love The Black Apple shop on Etsy! I adore the art and they have periodic sales that keep me coming back for more!

This shop has had over 24,000 sales, so I'm not the only fan!

Crystal: Wow - that's a neat shop! It seems like it's right up your alley in terms of style. It reminds me of those books...uhmmm...what are they called???? The 3 little kids with all the bad luck or whatever....oh! A Series of Unfortunate Events....yea - the style reminds me of the art in those books. Very neat! :)

Cravings!

{Chicken Tikka Masala}

Jen: I've been craving Pakistani food for weeks now! I love the creamy curries and baked naan for dipping. Tandoori oven-cooked meats and honey based desserts. Yum! Joe and I are planning on picking up a huge order this weekend and stuffing ourselves until we never want to eat again (yeah, right!). What is your favorite "ethnic" food?

Crystal: So I'm confused...I didn't know that was Pakistani food...I thought those were all Indian foods...? Or are they similar and am I an idiot? I know that a bunch of us went to this Indian restaurant in downtown El Segundo a few months ago, and I was encouraged to try the chicken Tikka Masala, which I did...and it was sooooo yummy! I didn't think I'd like it, but I really really did.

And - because of that experience, last week I went to Fresh and Easy to get something for lunch and decided to try their chicken masala dish (pre-made, you just heat it up) and it was FABULOUS! And I typically get weird about microwaved chicken, but it was really good quality, not gross at all, and super yummy! I'm starting to crave it now actually! :) :)

My favorite ethnic food...hmmm, well I love anything teriyaki...I actually LOVE the Korean BBQ Beef at The Loft in Torrance...it's Hawaiian food I think, despite the Korean name being in it...?? It's soooooo good. And I love Kung Pao chicken from PF Chang's....and I loooove looove looove Mochi Ice Cream....yummm. So I guess my greatest influence and love is for Asian foods...although I think the ones I like are pretty American-ized...so not so ethnic....but I'd like to think they are. :)

Other than that, I'm not very adventurous with ethnic foods...if I didn't grow up eating it, I probably won't try it...........unless it's a pretty safe dish.

Oh - I just remembered, Carmen makes this absolutely wonderful Peruvian dish - I think she said it's called Chicken Pudding....it's basically a thick, chicken sauce/cream with bread and pieces of chicken in it with Peruvian spices....it is to die for!!!!! :) :)

Jen: Yum! Carmen's dish sounds lovely! I love anything saucy and dip-able. In fact, I bamboozled Joe into picking up Al Noor on his way home tonight!

Pakistani food is basically Indian food, just slightly spicier from my understanding. Indian cuisine also seems to have a sweetness that I don't care for too much. I've noticed that they use a lot of raisins.

Question of the Week

What is your most ridiculous and irrational pet peeve?

Jen: I hate washing cheese graters. Hate with a passion! Nothing will get me muttering under my breath like a crusty grater!

Crystal: That's a good one! I don't own a cheese grater - but I have in the past and I remember them being horrible....kinda like a colander if you get pasta pieces stuck in it or something - I always feel like I can never really get it clean and then I'm grossed out by it!

I have many pet peeves....a ridiculous and irrational one though...hmmmm....

Well I was talking about this recently, but I HATE to do things twice or backtrack at all...goes for everything whether it's telling a story to 2 different people (why I love facebook and blogs because i can post it once and just refer people to it), driving somewhere and then having to backtrack on the same road to get somewhere else - sometimes I'll purposely go the longer way just to not have to drive on the same road again...writing an email or blog only to send/post it and receive an error and then it's lost!! Most times I just won't rewrite it...I'll give up because I can't stand to write the same thing over again!

This probably bugs most people, but for me I think it's a little more extreme in terms of how it affects me, lol.

And another quick one - I hate when cars stop at a light and leave a whole car's length or two in front of them....for whatever reason it bugs the crap out of me...just move up! You're not gonna hit the car and you're already stopped, so I don't think the car length rule applies here!!

Jen: Backtracking seems like a pretty normal pet peeve, but with you I know it's different! Going the long way just so you don't have to take the same road twice is a little extreme- or OCD, lol! Isn't it funny how we're all crazy in our own wacky ways?! I embrace the crazy, though.