Missing College

Today I miss college. Not the work. I don't miss the work at all. But I miss being able to stroll about the beautiful campus when I needed some alone time or just some time to appreciate the beauty of the place. I miss curling up with a cup of tea on our blue couch in my senior house, watching the gray sky outside, waiting for the casserole I'd made for dinner to finish cooking. I miss riding my white and blue bike around campus with big red (my cello) strapped firmly to my back going to orchestra rehearsal. I miss orchestra. I miss coming home to see M and J and S listening to The Bugle over a glass of wine while N plays his guitar somewhere in the house. I miss the snow and the cold. I miss snuggling on the couch. I miss the late-night thesis parties with M and N - parties that started with us drinking tea and then coffee and then wine. I miss J's poached eggs in the morning over freshly toasted english muffins smothered in butter. I miss N's perfect eggs sunny side up without the broken yolk. I miss N's grits. I don't miss the grits sticking to the pan. I miss seeing the toddlers from the Infant-toddler Center next door walk by our house holding hands all bundled up as I have some morning coffee. I miss late-night editing room insanity sessions with DV, KP, and JB. I miss the film stockroom. l miss playing the Steinways in the practice rooms in the music building. I miss the sweet potato fries from the cafeteria. I miss the ethiopian tofu over arepas from Twisted Soul. I miss D's squash and kale soup. I miss drinking Manhattans and Gin Fizzes and Mojitos on Friday nights over Apples to Apples or Scrabble. I miss climbing out of my window with my laundry because the laundry room was only 2 meters away from my room. I miss my lovely, huge room at the end of the hallway in our house - decorated with film posters and my b&w photographs. I miss the smell of S's eggplant curry after a long day at the college. I miss J's fresh-baked whole-wheat honey bread with butter at 2 am. I miss the smell of the maple syrup being cooked on our stove in the spring. I miss sitting on the log over the creek behind our house with N - the log I was finally able to cross on my own at the end of the year. I miss our real Christmas tree / Hanukkah bush / Animist tree / Daoist tree / Agnostic Tree / Pagan tree decorated with Stars of David, and Christmas ornaments and scrunchis and beer bottle tops and lights. I miss eating M's matzo during passover. I miss having Kit Kats and Reeses mini peanut butter cups for breakfast for a week after Halloween...well, maybe not that one...that one was pretty bad. I miss brie and crackers every Friday. I miss J's fish tacos. I miss M's tuna croquettes. I miss the epic parties we threw - Halloween, my birthday... I miss our log table on the porch. I miss eating dinner on the porch while enjoying the sunset and the fine company of my beloved friends.
Maybe I just miss my friends.
Just wanted to say: I love y'all to bits, and miss you like hell.
Peace!

Categories: college, D, DV, foodie, graduation, J, JB, KP, M, MJ, N, New York, S, tea

The Best Food in LA

So, for anyone out there living or going to LA and concerned about where to get some good, not too expensive food, here's some good suggestions:

(1) Neptune's Net (42505 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265)
What to Order: Fish Tacos
N recommended this restaurant to me. Apparently he and J both ate here a few years ago when they traveled across the country by train. It is pretty out there in the middle of nowhere a little past Malibu in the Aventura county border. About a 45-min drive from Santa Monica. I'll tell you this much - their fish tacos are well worth the drive! For about $11 you can eat some of the most heavenly Fish Tacos California has to offer. I recommend washing them down with a Blue Moon or a XX (Dos Equis). After eating, catch the beautiful Malibu sunset from the beach across the highway.

(2) El Matador Taco Truck (find it parked after 7:00pm at 1174 N Western Ave and Lexington
West Hollywood, CA, 90028 )
What to order: Tacos (al pastor, adobada, chicken) or a Veggie Burrito
Oh. My. God. DV is fortunate enough to live about three blocks away from this heavenly truck with heavenly and cheap Mexican food. We visited the truck two or three times while I was there - and we would order (I'd whip out my Spanish) and then take the stuff back to DV's apartment to eat, although there were a bunch of people eating at the place itself. DV will swear by the Al Pastor tacos (for $1.25 each) and man, the veggie burritos con todo (with everything) I ate are just out of this world. Beware though! The food is super spicy, so if you can't handle it, think twice (or order it not spicy I guess...but then you're no fun).

(3) Wok on Fire (1447 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90035)
What to Order: Orange Peel Tofu, Edamame, Iced Green Tea
I always forget that Chinese food is meant to be eaten as a group. I went to Wok on Fire, a tiny hole-in-the-wall Chinese gourmet food restaurant that is moderately priced (my whole meal came to about $17 and it could have easily been split 3 ways). The service was fantastic and the food was heavenly. They made the tofu perfectly. I don't know how they did it, I swear. But it was perfect. They do delivery and take-out too,

(4) Paru's Indian Vegetarian Restaurant (5140 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA)
What to Order: Any of the little specials. They're good an $$-friendly.
DV and I stood outside of the entrance to this little establishment wondering whether it was (a) open, and (b) not sketchy. It doesn't look that inviting from the street with the white bars obscuring the view from inside. However, I'm glad we went in. The inside is cozy, welcoming and lovely. The food was fantastic and comes in huge portions (and is completely vegetarian) and we didn't pay a ton of money for our lunch. Win-win-win.

(5) Donuts & Things (across from the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA)
What to order: Egg and Cheese on a Bagel
I spent a good chunk of my time in LA looking for a place with a decent Bagel. After being in New York for 4 years one gets used to be able to have access to one everywhere. Definitely not the case in LA. Fortunately, the day I went to get my AFM badge and was unable to, I decided to wander around Santa Monica and I discovered this little place across from the pier. It is just a tiny coffee and sandwich shop that has nice food for nice prices. I tried the egg and cheese on a bagel, and OMG, fell in love with it. It is seriously better than any egg and cheese on a bagel I ever had in NY, mostly because this one wasn't dripping in oil and didn't have half the cheese end up in the wrapper. It was lightly seasoned with pepper and salt. Absolute heaven. All for $2.50.

Categories: california, chinese food, DV, foodie, J, N, Restaurant Review, vegetarian

Trying to make it in Los Angeles

So I'm actually back in Quito right now. Have been for about 5 days (wow, time flies). And now that my altitude sickness is gone again (but I am still stupidly jetlagged) I thought I'd write up a nice post about my brief visit to LA.
Let me say that I really love California. I mean, my heart is definitely back east in New York.I miss the autumn leaves, the bitter cold wind, the snow, the beautiful New England Brick buildings...(YES N, I KNOW NY IS NOT NEW ENGLAND). But California is a different kind of exciting. The weather is super nice (not too hot, not too cold), the people are nice, and the traffic is - well, nicer than New York! That being said, poor LA isn't the prettiest city in the world as a whole. It is just some sort of massive, incohesive sprawl. That's ok. I mean, all things considered, it has its own particular charm - meaning, it isn't stressful. Well traffic is. But traffic is always stressful. I spent a good chunk of my time at the Loews hotel in Santa Monica, I wish I were staying there, but I was actually there for the AFM or the American Film Market. The experience was worth every cent I paid. I learned a ton, got a ton of cards, and now I can officially say that I can package and develop or distribute a film. It's the middle part - meaning, getting the money and then actually filming the thing - that I'm still sort of figuring out. But it was overall a great experience. And Santa Monica really is beautiful.
The rest of my time I spent driving around the town with my friend and classmate from college DV who just moved to West Hollywood in pursuit of the dream of being an employed filmmaker. We went to Malibu one day for Fish Tacos. N recommended a place he and J had gone to when they did they road trip to California themselves a few years back. OMG so good. So worth it. DV and I ate fish tacos and clam strips and beer to our heart's content and then caught the sunset in Malibu before heading back to Santa Monica where I had parked my car. We also did a trip to Burbank and Studio City to see the studios. I think we both sort of half-hoped we could make it inside. Of course, it didn't happen. But the studio gates are all very nice. On that note, I've applied to a job at one of them so maybe I'll actually be able to get in sometime for an interview or the job itself. That might be nice. We went to a mixer in Beverly Hills too...it turned out not to be very helpful in terms of networking, but it was a nice night nonetheless. I got to park my car right on Rodeo Drive and stare at all the stores at night. It was pretty awesome! I also got to see my good friends J (from Pineapple Tacos) and S (from The Green Man) on my last day in LA when they arrived there after driving across the country from New York City. It was really lovely to be able to see them. Especially S since I haven't seen him since graduation. I also got to see another friend and film classmate from college, KP, who had also driven across the country from New York in pursuit of the dream of being an employed filmmaker. KP is staying at DV's apartment until KP gets a gig / finds an apartment. We drank beer and wine and ate leftover Chinese food and had a fun time overall. It was really nice to see a lot of my friends again.
But now I'm back in Quito. Deciding what I'm going to do. Decisions are coming up fast - what if I don't get all the funding for the doc? What if I do? Also, Christmas and my birthday are coming up in a month. My mom already asked me what I wanted. I said a job. She gave me look.
But that's what I want! Really. Santa can give me a job, right?

Categories: Burbank, california, DV, film, J, KP, LA, N, S, Santa Monica, Studio City