$42.31 for a Full Tank of Gas and a Gas Pump Hose

While my hubcap story is hard to follow up, I may have surpassed that incident and reached a new level of car-retardedness this morning.

It was a routine gas station stop (at the sketchy sounding USA Gas on the corner of Barrington and San Vicente in Brentwood...."only" $3.27 per gallon by the way, which is sadly considered a good deal in today's high gas price world); I swipe my credit card, fill up the pump, smear my windshield with the dirty squigee, and continue on my way, when Kuh-RUMP!!

"No, not another hubcap-loosening pothole!!" I think. A quick look back shows the gas station grounds to be pothole-less. I figure another car must have made the noise and pull out onto the road. I drive along Barrington Ave in Brentwood for about two blocks when this motorcyclist wildly gestures towards me. I roll down my window and he tells me that I forgot to replace the pump back in the gas pump before leaving the gas station.

Mildly embarrassed, I thank him as I imagine the hose still laying on the ground of the gas station. I start rolling up my window while pondering if I should turn around to replace the hose back into the pump. He repeats "No, I said 'you left the pump in your car before leaving!'"

I pull over to find the pump still attached to the gas tank of my car and about 5 feet of hose trailing along on the ground; I didn't gun out of the gas station but had somehow ripped the ENTIRE hose from the main pump. . I wish I had my camera to capture the absurd visual of what I had just done. With as much dignity as I could muster, I unattach the pump from my car, close my gas cap and start gathering the hose to scoop it up into my trunk.

Fearing I was about to swipe the hose in a hose swipe'n'run, (seriously, what the hell am I going to do with half a gas pump?) the bike-riding good samaritan goes on to say "I witnessed the whole thing and followed you as you drove off, the owner wants me to tell you that he isn't mad at you but he just wants his hose back" and actually follows me back to the gas station to make sure I return the hose.

Already red with embarrassment as I cradle the remains of the gas pump in my arms and apologetically offer the torn remains back to the gas station owner. I notice the reproach in his eyes and a second layer of fiery blush hit my cheeks as I realize I've been mistaken as a sneaky attempted gas pump stealer.

Annual Ideal Summer Beach Day: BBQ'ing and Surfing @ San Onofre

We had our annual Ideal Summer Beach Day at San Onofre this past weekend. It's our typical 12hr day of surfing, bbq'ing, surfing, napping, bbq'ing, surfing and repeat at the San O State Beach just south of San Clemente. This is our 4th summer San Onofre outing, so we should have had it down, but without our usual access to our various friends' pick-up truck, grill or sun umbrellas, we had to get all our essentials from scratch this time.

Luckily, it's pretty easy--and cheap--to get everything you need for a full-on beach day. Besides an initial sun umbrella shortage panic, pre-beach shopping went without a hitch--6 Targets, Kmart, Sport Mart and Big 5 were all out, they've apparently moved on to fall stock...who knew trying to buy summer stuff in the middle of summer was considered way too slacker-late?

BEACH STAPLES:
Sun Umbrellas: $9.99 each at Savon OR go big like we did with the 10x10 beach canopy, also at Savon: $20
Grill: $15 @ Target
(Awesome Target also has a $15 dollar Boche Ball set which suckered me in)
Charcoal: $5 for Natural Wood Chips at Trader Joes, but in retrospect, I'd go the for the lighter fluid doused charcoal which although unhealthier, will actually light up so you can actually bbq)

While we trek down to San O every summer for its warm, slow-rollin' Hawaii-like waves to make us feel like better surfers, a huge part of our annual beach day is the food. Kristy (maker of juicy homemade turkey burgers, refreshing bean salad, bbq roasted corn and yams) is usually the resident San O chef but since she was driving down from San Francisco, the culinary duties were nervously passed down to me.

Stocking up at Trader Joes, Ralphs and Vons, our cooler was filled with homemade feta/sundried tomato/olive stuffed turkey burgers, seasame buns, condiments, fresh lettuce leaves and sliced tomatoes to garnish the burger, corn & sweet potatoes for roasting, chilled watermelon, strawberries and grapes, pita chips with artichoke-parmesan dip, Kristy's three bean, daikon and tomato salad, marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers for s'mores and thermosed mexican hot chocolate (which all worked out to be roughly only $15 per person). Yes, did I mention a huge part of our annual beach day is the food?

We started the day late so didn't get there until 11:45am (and the actual beach till 1pm--tip: get there early, the policy is one car leaving, one car entry which is fine if you arrive like we normally do at 9am, but be prepared for an hour wait if you arrive anytime after). The permanent thatch umbrellas and bonfire pits were already taken but we quickly set up our beachside camp along the strip of sand about 20 steps from the water's edge. Motivated by hitting the surf (Kristy and I) and hitting the magazines while laying in the sun (Chaya and Chrissy), we contructed our beach canopy in 10 minutes. With dusty cliffs blocking the view of the freeway and a mellow beach vibe full of old-timers riding 15ft longboards with their grandchildren, bonfiring families and friends and warm, gidget-friendly waves, San Onofre feels like a throwback to a '60's era Annette Funicello Disney Movie type beach.

We lazed away our beachy afternoon in the water, snacking on our bbq eats (I must brag my turkey burgers were surprisingly really good) and lolling about in the warm sun and stayed for the 8:30pm sunset before ending our Ideal Summer Beach Day until next year.

San Onofre State Beach
Basic Info: http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/foghorn/ca_beach3.htm
Surf Info: http://www.surfline.com/travel/surfmaps/surfspot.cfm?id=556
Cost: $10 Entrance Fee, Gas from LA, elaborate bbq spread, cooler, sun-umbrella's etc=$35 per person.

Tressed for the Runway: Pubic Hair Fashion Show

Every once in a while, an event will come up that's just too intriguing to pass up. And even better, when you go with all your high-expectations, the night actually holds up and exceeds set expecations. Last night's under-the-radar body art fashion show was one such event.

Artist Stefan Monzon's fashion show-style human exhibit IT'S WHAT'S ON THE OUTSIDE THAT COUNTS promised to be all about pubic hair coiffeurs. Yep, that's right. A high-style couture-conscious runway show with models sans designer duds 'dressed' down below. Complete with hair extensions and embellishments, and 'set' for the runway with holding sprays and gels. Definitely too good to miss.

The event was held at California Market Center in downtown L.A.'s fashion district (site of other more heavily-clothed runway shows during Fashion Week). This being a show where the audience would probably liked to be slightly liquored up, the smart organizers had an open bar with wine/beer/appetizers for 45mins prior to the show, giving plenty of time for the mish-mash of artsy peeps, hipster dudes and dudettes and a very, well, surprisingly normal crowd to get their drink on.

And the show...to strut-friendly DJ beats, one by one, the nude yet very 'decorated' models walked the catwalk with the 'down below decor' getting more elaborate with each outing. These weren't some fancy stencilled Brazilian wax-type grooming job, but artistic, full-fledged 3D hair sculptings, that:
SMOKED (model #1, a sassy Rosario Dawson lookalike with matching gold nipple rings and a smattering of sexy tattoos strutted out with a multi-colored dyed hairpiece embedded with a smoldering incense stick)
INVOLVED PUPPETRY (a Medusa-esque model came out with coiled-hair snakes slithering from her netheregions and underarms, with the help of attached strings which she manipuated down the runway)
FEATURED A PIRATE (MAYBE) (a straw-like figure holding a sword that may or may not have been a pirate attached to the frontal area of a brunette)
AND ENDED WITH LITERAL FANFARE (the last model's 4ft peacock feathers fanned in and out like an accordian as she spun down the catwalk in all her teal-green glory)

Other notable 'pieces' included a blonde with a blue trident and matching thunderbolt tattoo and a leggy, double-blonde wigged model with mermaid-like hair down to her waist...and also hair down to her knees.

After the pube-spectacle, we contemplated the Downtown Standard and Golden Golpher bars nearby, but hunger got the best of us and my date for the night and I ended up grabbing sushi (post-pubes sushi...refraining from any jokes of poor taste here) and pie on the way home instead.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the show, no cameras were permitted so I don't have any accompanying photos.

Feeling Happy in Venice: Chaya Venice Happy Hour

I really like Chaya Venice's menu during their regular hours, and have been wanting to check out their 5-7pm sushi happy hour menu--when both their prices and wait for a table are significantly reduced--for a while.

A couple weeks ago, after working up an appetite biking around the Venice canals, my friend Andrew suggested to bike north to Chaya Venice. While not stuffy, the restaurant and bar--located on the Venice/S.M. border of Main Street & Navy--is definitely more Santa Monica stylie than Venice boho, but happy hour inherently has a level of casualness about it and we felt totally comfortable bursting into the restaurant at 6:55pm dressed in our casual hoodies and shorts. We got lucky with two seats at the sushi bar with 4 more happy hour minutes to take advantage of.

The happy hour menu is concise (a dozen roll and appetizer options) and super-cheap (nothing is over $4). We ordered spicy tuna tartar, edamame, albacore sashimi salad, chef's special roll (salmon and asparagus inside-out roll, which was ok but would have been better if it was raw salmon instead of baked) and Andrew recommended the potato leek miso soup. I wouldn't have normally picked out the soup from the menu, but it ended up being my surprise favorite. Filled with chunky starchy japanese potatoes and leeks, the flavorful soup was both hearty and refreshing. And the spicy tuna tartar was also tasty enough (enough kick, not too mayonaise-y) to warrant another order.

(Both dishes are way more appetizing-looking than how I captured them with my poor camera skills)

Our entire meal plus a bottle of hot sake ($12) cost $36 inc. tip for the both of us (...that's maybe the cost of one appetizer and one main during regular hours.) Happy Hour indeed! The only complaint is that it could be an even happier hour if Chaya Venice also included drink specials to go along with the discounted sushi.

Cheap high quality sushi--needless to say, I'm hooked. My only problem is finding other non-office minded friends to enjoy happy hour with at a time when you'd still normally be just leaving work....enter my felllow freelancer friend, Carrie. Although we've each managed to fit in a multi-week overseas vacation with some extra carefree weeks at home to spare, we still fear that constant tick of the office clock lifestyle looming closer, so our current plan is to take advantage of early happy hours while we still can.

We each got a raspberry mojito ($9) while we waited for a seat. We got pretty much the same as what I ordered with Andrew, minus the chef special and plus the spicy tuna rolls and I also introduced her to the potato-leek soup (which also pleasantly surprised her).

While there aren't happy hour dessert specials, their Banana, Banana, Banana ($9) is worth ordering regardless. Consisting of three different forms of sweet banana (chocolate-dipped frozen banana sitting on homemade banana ice-cream with fresh berries on top of a warmed banana tart), the dessert really is three times the pleasure without crossing over to banana overload.


This time, our non-HH additions (raspberry-mojito's and triple banana sensation) added happiness to our happy hour at a still very reasonable $60. Mmm, so much good eatin' to be had before 7pm!

Chaya Venice
110 Navy St, Venice
310/396-1179
Happy Hour: Everyday 5-7PM
www.thechaya.com

Independence Day S'mores: 4th of July Bonfire'n'Fireworks at Dockweiler Beach

4th of July really is all about BBQ's, beachtime and fireworks right? Having s'more's around a bonfire doesn't hurt either.

Beach-bunny buds, El and Jess and myself were highly prepped for our bonfire'n'fireworks plans at Dockweiler Beach by LAX. Armed with our backpacks full of marshmallow's, graham crackers, skewers and a thermos of cranberry-vodka, we skated our way north from Manhattan Beach boardwalk at sunset to meet our friends who had already secured a prime firework-viewing fire-pit spot at the beach.

Ahh, toasting marshmallows by the glow of a blazing beach fire while watching fireworks--even forgetting the all-important chocolate for the s'mores didn't put a damper to our night. Well, not too much of a damper for us dessert-perfectionists.

(To busy watching them to take good firework pics)

As the fireworks and supply of cranberry-vodka ended at 10PM, we came to the sobering realization that we had no way to get home. The unlit path was too dark for us not to eat it on our wheeled transportation (skates, blades and skateboard) on the way back, so we walked. And walked. And consoled ourselves that all this unexpected exercise (or 'death mile' as Jess called it) more than negated the multiple s'mores we had inhaled earlier. Oh, then we walked some more.

50 minutes, 2 miles, and 3 pairs of tired and dirty flip-flopped feet later, we finally made it to the northern edge of Manhattan Beach. We spotted a cab and blissfully watched the 30 more blocks of walking we didn't have to do go by as we rode back to my apt.

Ah, the end of a lovely beachy, bonfirey 4th of July. Well, not quite. We bust out the forgot chocolate along with the other ingreidents and fire up my gas stove so we could finish off the night properly with proper chocolately s'mores. mmmm....

Marshmallows: $3.35
Skewers: $1.99
Cadbury Roasted Almond chocolate (a little thick but tastier than Hershey's and the nuts add a twist): $1.68
Honey Graham Crackers: $2.98
Cab Ride Home: $6

Ah, lovely beachy, bonfirey night for $16 even.

Beck...& Bugolgi: Finding Post-Concert Eats Near the Wiltern

Chrissy and I went to see Beck at the historic Wiltern on Wednesday night. Several weeks ago, I had logged on ticketmaster at exactly 4.00pm with multiple windows open desperately trying to score precious pre-sale tickets before they sold out. After 7 carpel tunnel-syndrome inducing minutes of hitting the 'best available' button over and over again, I got through and got the tix.

That was the easy part.

The hard part was now that I'd acquired the tix for the 8pm show, where, oh where to have dinner walking distance to middle-of-nowhere Wiltern along Mid-Wilshire?

Sure, there's Denny's next door. Ha! Never! (yes, I freely admit to being an anti-Denny's snob) and on the other spectrum, the operatically snazzy Opus attached to the Wiltern (but really, which Wiltern concert-goers want to pep up for a concert with dignified, white-tableclothed, 4-star eats beforehand?) Being thisclose to Korea Town, we decided we should take advantage of some kim-chee'd delights. There are scores of potentially really yummy Korean restaurants nearby, however, to unintiated K-Towners such as myself and Chrissy, who knew if 'Young Dong' or 'Bok Duk Bong Bakery' (restaurants that came up on citysearch.com with no additional helpful descriptions) were good choices or not?

Our hemming-and-hawing resulted in us switching to post-concert dinner plans instead me and me having to buy a white peach at the Ralphs next door (which I snuck in for a healthy concert snack) before rushing into the concert. Late-night dinners usually isn't a prob since many K-Town spots are open 24hrs or at least until 2am. We decided on BCD Tofu House, a proven spot post-clubbing spot we've tested before at 2am, a couple blocks away. In addition to their bbq'ed meat dishes, they have this tasty tofu, veggie and meat filled spicy kim-chee soup so hot you're given a raw egg to drop in (which cooks in a second).

Alas, for some reason it was closed, we wandered into a random spot called Speedy Zone, a random tented late-night spot about 5 blocks W of the Wiltern, north side. (Clean and good food but hole-in-a-wall enough that I can't find any more exact info listed on google, yellowpages or 411 on it). Each table came with a 'cook-it-yourself' bbq grill. We ordered the bugolgi (grilled garlic beef) we asked if the waitress could cook it for us, then felt immediately guilty at our laziness while watching her grill our meat for us. One order of the heaping plate of raw beef accompanied with a bowl of rice and the usual sidedish suspects (glass noodles, pickled cabbage, seaweed, friend tofu) was more than enough for the both of us. $17 for everything.

The remains of our 1am dinner. (I had my camera to take pic's of the delicious-looking food but we were too busy eating and forgot until we were done.)

BCD Tofu House (with their great tofu side dishes, tender beef and hot kimchee soup) would still be my top pic for my next Wiltern outing. but Speedy Zone was good, and while not amazing, still a solid choice over the corner Dennys for pre or post-concert noshing.

Oh, and Beck? His awesomeness doesn't need a concert review, I've seen him 3 times and he always puts on amazing live performances; Beck's show involved elaborate mini-Beck dancing puppets, bear costumes, a honky-tonk version of Travolta/Newton-John hit, "All That I Want' with Cia and two encores covering everything from 'Loser' to 'Lost Cause' to Guero's 'Girl'...in other words, a perfect combo of crowd-pleasing favorites, melancholy acoustic solos and dance-happy new tunes.

Thanks again for the Beck concert birthday present Chrissy!

Sandy Downdogging: Aaron Reed's Sunset Beach Yoga Class

I have been in quite the vacation mode for the last month...first literally, for just over 2 weeks adventuring among Mayan ruins and Caribbean waters (Belize and Guatemala) at the beginning of the month, and then spending the last 2 weeks accomplishing the mellow mindset of a prolonged, post-vacation high--but not accomplishing much else (ahem, hence the one month blog break)

Anyway, today I did my part to cling onto that after-vacation buzz by taking a free sunset beach yoga class. I found the flyer after my flow yoga class with music (more Jack Johnson and Sade, less New Agey gong & sitar music) at exhale spa earlier in the week (Monday's activity to simulate a vacation mindset).

The idea of downdogging while watching the sunset sounded lovely. So did the $0 cost. (Vacationing more than working has its price)

View While Downdog'ing

Kristy and I arrived to the yoga 'studio' at the patch of sand where Rose Ave meets the ocean in Venice at 7:30pm. Taking advantage of the beachy elements, instructor Aaron Reed had our 30 person group of beachside yoga'ers start with light stretching on our beach towels, folowed by back and forth pacing along the water's edge while inhaling and exhaling to the rhythm of the waves' ebb and flow, practicing basic poses such as pigeon and triangle pose while utilizing the incline of the sand to help aid our postures and picking up sand and dribbling it between our fingertips while performing sun salutations.

At the mercy of Mother Nature, a few of us got our legs wet when caught out in downdog pose by a big, fast-moving wave and the class ended prematurely just before 8:30pm when the fading last light disappeared after sundown.

Although you can choose to cool down with a night ocean swim, since we didn't exactly work up a sweat during the class--it's more a scenic mental break with body movements for an hour than a tough workout session--Kristy and I skipped out on the post-yoga skinny-dipping session and grabbed dinner instead (Musha--yummy Japanese pub-style food on Santa Monica & 5th).

The beachy environment was a beautiful way to enjoy yoga, and the class definitely gave me enough of a mental holiday to stretch out my waning vacation high for one more day.

You too can enjoy practicing sun salutations to the actual sun while watching it sink into the Pacific! There are two more classes this summer for Aaron's 5th annual Beach Yoga summer series.

Thursday, June 29th, 7:30pm-last light
Wednesday, July 19th, 7:30pm-last light

Just show up at the water's edge at the intersection of Rose Ave and the Pacific Ocean in Venice. No yoga mats necessary, bring a beach towel to sit on so sand doesn't go in uncomfy places as you stretch, a hoodie to counteract the chilly beach breeze and an optional bathing suit underneath your regular yoga outfit--prepare or go bare.

For more info, you can contact www.exhalespa.com