Day 54: Date with Seymour Cassel at the Golden Bull

Every couple of months Scott, Marika, Robb, Mark, and the boys and I get together with Seymour at the Golden Bull in Santa Monica canyon for dinner.  Tonight we toasted Seymour, who is about to turn 75, and Malina, Scott and Marika's baby who turned one a few months ago.  The Golden Bull is not trendy or cool - in fact it is so uncool that it is cool.  It's an old school neighborhood joint with steaks, fish, chicken and pasta.  The red vinyl booths are cozy.  They remind me of an Italian restaurant in town called Manzi's that I loved when I was 10. The waiters and the clientele are also not trendy or hip.  The combined age of everyone at our table (before Seymour got there) was lower than the age of the average patron in the Golden Bull.  Malina flirted with Aidan.  Beckett savored his iced tea and cheeseburger.  Robb, Seymour and Mark exchanged off color insults, I enjoyed the wine that Seymour brought, and caught up with Scott and Marika, who are amazing new parents.  Malina was the center of attention in the restaurant - grabbing at the photos of Seymour's grandkids, cooing at the other babies, and then handing them back to Seymour.  She loved the bread, the fish, and had a love/hate experience with the Pelligrino - gulping it down and then making the cutest sour face in the world.  We topped off our dinner with generous slices of chocolate cake -- the perfect ending to a perfect evening.

Day 53: Los Liones hike

(Parker Mesa Overlook/Topanga State Park)

My friend Autumn sent me a link to suggest ideas for my blog: the LAist posted their 14 most romantic make-out vistas, and the hike I took today that I was about to blog about was on there!  Serendipitous.  Kalli and I took our weekly hike up Los Liones, in Topanga State Park.  I lamed out a little over Christmas break, plus I had a cold for a week, so this hike really kicked my ass today.  It is a fairly challenging hike.  We love it because it's a gorgeous spot -- the hike is doable in under an hour, and it's a kickass workout.  We peak at this gorgeous vista, apparently a top make-out spot.  On a clear day, which today was, you can see north all the way up Malibu's coast, and south all the way to downtown, and the mountains beyond.  The air is clean, and it's an amazing way to start out the day.  Off to Starbucks for a zucchini muffin and a massive iced tea.

Day 52: Santa Monica Airport

I live in Southern Santa Monica, a few blocks away from Santa Monica Airport.  This private-plane airport is one of the defining landmarks in this neighborhood, giving Ocean Park it's character and charm.  Originally called Clover Field, after World War I aviator lieutenant Greayer "Grubby" Clover, the airport was the home of the Douglas Aircraft company.  The first circumnavigation of the world by air, accomplished by the U.S. Army with Douglas World Cruisers, took off from Clover Field on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1924, and returned there after some 28,000 miles.  The airport has two restaurants, and a nice little museum - the Museum of Flying.

My kids and I have always been fascinated by this place.  When they were little I sometimes drove to the end of Centinela, pulled up to the airport and Aidan and I just watched the planes take off and land while Beckett was asleep in his car seat.  As they got older they played in the playgrounds at Clover Park and Airport park.  Now they have baseball games and soccer tournaments here.  We take our dogs to the dog park.  We walk our dogs over to Clover Park and the kids can scooter or bike around.  Aidan, who is 11 and enjoying some new freedom, loves to take off with his friends to the park.  They scooter over, hang out, grab chips or a drink at the convenience store on Ocean Park and 28th street, and scoot back home.  Together, the boys and I like to bike over to the park, ride around the perimeter, stopping to admire the tiny planes that are parked along the north end of the airport.  There is something so romantic about these little single-engine planes.  I of course am thinking of Robert Redford, in all of his insane perfection, touching down to pop in on Meryl Streep at her plantation in Out of Africa, one of my favorite movies. How her heart lept when she heard that engine sputtering to a stop when he came to see her, and how her heart sank the day she waited and waited for that little plane to appear on the horizon.  He never made it back.

I have never taken off or landed here, nor do I intend to, as I have a deathly fear of these little planes.  My involvement at the actual airport itself has been limited to attending a Barney's New York sale, or an Adidas sale at the Barker Hanger.  Perhaps my favorite memory of the Barker Hanger is when Mark and I came here, must have been in the mid 90's, to se an INXS concert.  Great show, great band, great memory.

Day 51: Rosti

Mark and the boys and I went to our favorite neighborhood Italian joint for dinner, Rosti on Montana.  We brought a bottle of Rodney Strong and I had my usual: chicken Milanese with checca and potatoes.  Those Rosti potatoes - they are pan fried, or maybe baked, and they are crispy and delicious.  Aidan had macaroni and cheese, Beckett had spaghetti and meatballs, and Mark had balsamic chicken.  When we got home I googled Rosti Santa Monica and one of the first pictures to pop up was Aidan's!  Here he is with Ron, Alan, Henry and company (Aidan is on the far right) appearing in Big Tony Ragu's blog.  He was doing a blog entry on Rosti and took this picture of Aidan and the Schlessingers.  I did not know my son was googleable!  The internet is freaking me out a little right now.

Day 50: Star in (OK, appear in) TV show!

My girlfriend Lauren is in town producing an episode of her show, Food(ography) for the Cooking Channel starring Mo Rocca.  She needed someone to take the keys from Mo, tip him a buck, be a bitch to him and drive off, so I happily obliged.  When Beckett and I first got to the Viceroy we got to go behind the scenes and watch them film a few scenes.  Beckett loved the scene in which Mo Rocca is sitting on a groovy yellow Viceroy armchair surrounded by two hulking twins (actual guys on the crew) posing as twin bodyguards.  As they stoically sit there Mo acts like a diva and throws his cellphone at one bodyguard demanding fish tacos.  Beckett thought that was great.  Thank god he stifled his laugh until after the director yelled, "cut!"  We snacked and shmoozed.  We got to hang out with Remy, the awesome pint-sized chihuahua who was shivering, even though he wore a chunky wool sweater.  Lauren ran a smooth ship -- it seemed like the crew was having a lot of fun too.

Then it was time for my part.  I wasn't nervous, as they are not paying me and must therefore have extremely low expectations.  The plan was for me to bring Mark's BMW to the set, leaving the mom car at home.  My only fear was that I would spazz out and not operate his car properly, which of course I did.  Apparently if one of the doors is open you cannot put the car in gear, so, ashamed, I had to have the valet guy at the Viceroy drive the car into place for the shoot.  I was being such a chick.  Mo wore a suit, sat in the Beamer and, looking into the camera said he has learned in order to be treated well at a place like this it's best to show up in a really expensive car.  Then as he gets out and I walk up, it is clear he is the valet dude.  He says to me, "Here you are, ma'am" and I have an attitude with him, hand him a buck, say, "here you go," and get in the car and prepare to drive off.  After a few takes I was really getting into it - I know my motivation - I'm a bitch and he is a peon.  It was awesome!  After three takes we nailed it.

Ever wonder how people and societies were shaped by food?  Take a look at cultural food themes by learning about the past, present and future of iconic, classic and tasty treats.  Cooking Channel, Sunday nights at 9:00 

Day 49: lemonade

If you hate to commit to one thing on the menu, and you prefer to try a bite of everyone's plate at your table, come to Lemonade for lunch, on the corner of Abbott Kinney and Venice Blvd.  What's not to like about a sleek, mod cafeteria that makes their own lemonade? They have 10 lemonade varieties, including blueberry mint, peach ginger, and my favorite- cucumber mint. If you order a healthy 3 salad combo, you can do half potions, which means you can try 6 different salads. My friend Lauren and I tried beets with pickled red onion and hazelnut vinaigrette, quinoa with cucumber, radish, ginger and orange vinaigrette, spaghetti squash, farro, pomegranate vinaigrette, braised fennel, bortolotti bean, arrugula, lemon, beluga lentil salad, fennel salad (I had the leftovers for dinner).  They have amazing stews and soups I have never tried, and several tempting desserts I would love to try -- all the more reason to return.  When life gives you lemons, go to Lemonade.

Day 48: cheap matinee

So I'm waiting for script notes, the kids just went back to school and I decide to sneak off to a matinee. OK, full disclosure, I am sort of in my pajamas...well they're more like sweats that I slept in.  Which turns out to be totally apropos at this theater. I am at the Culver Plaza Theater because it is the only theater in a 20 mile radius still showing "the Social Network." I have never been here, and all I can say is Wow what a dump! I hope no rats scurry by as I'm huddled here with my muffin and iced tea. The restroom is on par with the Chevron station. I began to wonder about the safety issue of being the only person in this entire movie theater, so I was thrilled to see another woman. We started chatting and I sat sort of near her, much relieved. She told me she only goes to movies on Christmas break. Apart from seeing the Black Swan, which she wasn't wild about, the last film she saw was "Crazy Heart." I asked if she is a teacher, and she said yes. She was very sweet and a little quirky- she could be played by Kirstin Wiig on Saturday Night Live.  As I sat waiting for the movie to start, my toes began to lose sensation.  My iphone read 57 degrees, but in the Culver Plaza Theater it was about 45.

On the plus side, after having gone to a 3-d movie with my son and his pal a few weeks ago and shelling out nearly $70 (including popcorn and slushies), I was thrilled that the movie only set me back $6.  My teacher friend in the next aisle said they advertised $5, so they recently raised their prices.  The movie was fantastic.  Before I left I asked the attendant if the bathroom had EVER been cleaned.  I mentioned that there was no toilet paper anywhere in sight.  As I left the creepy, deserted parking structure I realized L.A. is not designed for going to the movies by yourself.  In New York it's so easy and it never occurred to me to worry.  But those deserted parking structures could not be creepier.  I've seen way too many hours of procedural drama on television to know that all bad things happen to women in these places.  The only thing that might lure me back to the Culver Plaza Theater would be the $6 admission.  I will definitely park on the street, though.