Surviving Temescal Canyon

Today was a great day for summer weather to finally return (seriously, 65°F last week was dumb), because today was also a day off from work.  I've been meaning to go "hiking" (AKA walking on a canyon path) for awhile, so I looked up Runyon Canyon.

Yeah, no.  Runyon is known for being dog-friendly, and I am not.  Not going to hike at an off-leash dog place.  What other canyon have I heard of?...Temescal is the winner!

After lathering on sunscreen (I don't mind getting sun, but I do not want bad tan lines from my shirt) and driving all the way out there, I arrived just after noon.  I tweeted my location and choice of path, because maaaybe I watch too many 48 Hours Mystery about women who go missing as they go for a solo run, and are found months later all murdered and buried.  This way, they would know exactly where to send a search party in a few hours.

ANYWAY.

I'm kind of new at this whole "canyon trail" thing, and even though I read suggestions on Yelp, I didn't exactly know where to go when I got into the park.  I just kept walking straight, until the paved roads turned into a dirt path option.  There were a few signs for different paths, but I didn't know what they meant.  I just followed the arrow to the waterfall path.

The rest is best told through photos...

Random cool thing of the day

I saw the Google Street View car today.

Dos chicas walk into un restaurante salvadoreño...

Yesterday at 7:30am, my roommate sent me a text to ask if I wanted to go to a Cuban restaurant for dinner. Let me repeat: she asked me about dinner at 7:30am. (Answer: YES.)  I was looking forward to it all day, even eating a small lunch to leave maximum hunger for the ropa vieja con arroz y frijoles I planned on ordering.

Flash forward to 7:00pm, and the restaurant we had in mind was unavailable.  Thanks to some quick-thinking (and a smartphone), we soon found ourselves en route to a Salvadoran restaurant within three miles of our original destination.

We entered through a little hidden back entrance, which we thought was incorrect, but turned out to the the only way in.  Immediately, we could tell this place was authentic.  We were possibly the only English-speakers in there.  Our waitress came over and asked, "Spanish?" ("No...poquito...") I spoke enough Spanish (I can speak food) and she spoke enough English for us to order, after I helped my roommate figure out what the (100% Spanish) menu offered.

Our entertainment for the evening

Right in the corner behind us, there was a mic/karaoke setup—apparently Friday nights are live music nights.  The table just to the left was full of guys drinking and having fun, and they'd sometimes come up and join their friend at the microphone, singing what seemed to be well-known Spanish songs.  It was all very lighthearted, and they'd get up and laugh and dance.  Super fun atmospheric addition to the little thatched huts over the tables.

I ordered five pupusas (a combination of revuelta and queso y loroco), while my roommate eventually decided on pollo asado con arroz.  Um, delicious.  The curtido and tomato sauce were also perfect.  I've attempted to make pupusas at home before, and I know I'm doing something wrong—mine are still a good meal, but I'm obviously not making them like this.

Right before we asked for our check, the singing guys' table sent our waitress over to offer to buy me a drink!  We were the table right in front of their corner, so of course they would have noticed us paying attention and applauding.  So much fun.

It was a small place, and you could tell that a lot of people in there were probably regulars.  Our waitress was super nice with our attempts at each other's languages (lots of "Good?  OK?" and "¡Sí, gracias!"), and I ended up tipping her really well.  Thanks, La Fonda de Don Cuper!  You are excellent.

Sushi challenge preparation

I have been watching a lot of Man v. Food on Netflix over the last week or two.  Usually I'll stream an episode or two while eating dinner/snack...and consequently eat way more than any one person should.  You'd think that a show featuring such gluttonous portions of food would maybe help you eat less, as some of the selections are quite ridiculous (twelve pounds of burger and fries? five and a half pounds of pizza? triple decker loaded sandwiches?)...but it all just looks so good.  All of the food on the show looks so delicious, and it makes me hungry.

Anyway, every episode concludes with a food challenge—eat this large portion in under an hour, eat this entire super deadly spicy meal, etc.  I need to do that.  A quick Google search led me to a list of a ton of challenges in Los Angeles.  I think a spicy challenge would be easier than a quantity-based challenge, and so I have chosen my first challenge: Yagumo's Number 10 Ninja Hand Roll Challenge.

Today I began "training" for my challenge. Their hand rolls can be made any level of spicy (1-10), and the menu recommends not ordering anything higher than a 5 if you haven't tried their spicy before.  I ordered a #5 and a #7 Ninja roll (and a #3 spicy tuna, and a tuna cut roll to round out my sushi feast).

Not the first time I've been given two pairs of chopsticks on the assumption that this quantity of food has to be for two people

I started with the #5 roll—not bad.  This could be my usual level for a good, solid "spicy." The heat did linger a bit, but I went right into the #7 next.  And...wow.  That's spicy.  I finished it easily, but the heat lingered even more than the previous roll.  I finished my glass of milk. went back to the kitchen for more, then resorted to a shot glass of coffee creamer, because nonfat milk wasn't cutting it.  However, after about six minutes, it was tolerable, and the pain was gone after twelve minutes.

I can do this.  Working my way to going in for the #10 challenge sometime this summer.  Next week: #7 and #8.

(Also, I think this qualifies as "sushi in the valley," as I picked in up in Van Nuys. Another "10 Things in L.A." completion!)

10 Things in L.A. - Third Street Promenade

After last weekend's partial attempt, on Friday I did Third Street Promenade for real.

There's actually not much to it, if you're not really looking to go shopping.  It's set up in a way that reminds me of Disneyland's Main Street USA.  Really, any closed-off fake street reminds me of that, though.

There's some cool intersections with a real street, where, on the crosswalk light, everyone mobs the intersection and walks right across the street (and not just the crosswalk).

But basically, it's a lot of shops in a row.  The real appeal I think is in the convenience and the "closed off" factor.  Otherwise, it's just an outdoor strip mall with your average Banana Republic, Chipotle, Old Navy, Forever 21, McDonalds, and other stores and restaurants.

But I did really like walking in the middle of the "street."

Cocktail farewell party

As far as my 10 Things to Do in L.A. list goes...I'm going to call this "partial completion."

One of my coworkers is moving to England this summer. Her fiancee's visa expires soon, and due to complications and legalities, they can't extend it right now. So rather than fight the system, they're both going to pack up and move back to England.  As the fiancee is leaving is two weeks (to set up a home base over there; my coworker will follow about a month later), they held a going-away party this weekend.

So Friday night, we took over the upstairs private room at Monsoon. (That's on Third Street Promenade, so partial completion!) I've been there before for staff holiday parties, and it's always a good time. The food at our holiday parties was always excellent...but this was more of a cocktail/dance party, so I missed the noodles and salmon goodness this time.

I finally got to wear my favorite summertime dress that's too dressy to be a normal summer sundress, but not dressy enough for formal things. It's a nice in-between, summertime cocktail dress, and I didn't even care that it zips up so tightly that it's hard for me to breathe. (Okay, I cared a little.) I actually wrote about buying this dress last year, and my love for it has only grown.

Aside from my dress joy, the rest of the party was great too! I originally coordinated with a coworker/friend so we'd meet out front and arrive at the same time, just in case no one else we knew was there yet. It ended up not being an issue—I easily bounced between groups, as the room was filled with familiar staff and members. (Perks of working at a fitness facility: 1-Daily friendly interactions with not just staff, but also dozens/hundreds of members. 2-Attractive crowd.) So easy to mingle, and as someone who is usually awkward with groups of new people, I really appreciated the familiarity!  I did have my "anchors" that I would return to more often, but overall, I branched out from my normal routine of sticking solely with one core group.

For the sake of my "Things in L.A." list, I'll return to the Promenade another time to fully complete the task. But it was a successful night regardless.

With one of the guests of honor. She's tiny and makes me look like a giant.