Back in the ’90s, I used to be a tiramisu reviewer. Not for any special publication or anything. Rather, my friend Bernadette and I would go from Italian restaurant to Italian restaurant just to sample this Tuscan trifle. It was our own unofficial quest for the best one out there. Having not found it yet, the search continues even though it’s been on hiatus for many years.

But last night over a catch-up session with good ol’ Bern, we went to Ugo in Culver City for a light dinner and ended up resurrecting this pastime by picking up the Italian cafe’s “pick-me-up.” Ugo makes great pastas and the restaurant is always busy, even on a Sunday night, so we figure tiramisu here would be good. But I could tell just by looking at the dessert as it sat in its refrigerated case that it wasn’t going to be all that impressive. It looked too cakey and dry.

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Steve is a 20-something, tall, lanky guy with blonde hair and an easy, friendly smile who tends bar at Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. He kinda reminds me of some actor in a romantic comedy I’ve seen before. Hmm, Josh Lucas?

I walked up to the bar and asked for the cocktail list and he smiled and, very gentlemanly, came around the bar to make sure I took a seat at one of the tall tables before he handed the menu to me. “What do you like to drink?” he asked me and Dre, leaning forward on our table looking genuinely interested. I told him I like chocolate martinis and he promised to make me the best chocolate martini ever! Sold! For Dre, he found out that she doesn’t like sweet drinks and likes to be surprised.

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There are some foods I’m not crazy about, i.e. pickles, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, deli sandwiches. So when my friend recommended that we go to Italian deli, La Bottega Marino, for lunch, I was like, “Eh.” But Julie has a way of selling me on almost any food because she speaks with such enthusiasm that it makes me feel like my life will improve if I just eat that one thing.

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Yay! It’s back! Another one of my favorite summer pastimes: Santa Monica Drive-In at the Pier. What’s summer without a night out at a “drive-in” movie theater? You’ve got your warm summer evening under the stars with your friends, a classic movie, and of course popcorn. But, here, instead of “drive in” you actually just “walk up,” instead of sitting in your car you sit in a beach chair and instead of just popcorn you can get those sinful cinnamon-y churros. 

Presented by ARTS FIGHTING CANCER AND The Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation, the series raises funds to help those fighting cancer. It’s a great success every year because it’s so fun! Last year I watched Top Gun with the masses and had a hoot giggling with the audience through all the homoerotic scenes. That sexual tension between Iceman and Maverick? Palpable!

You can bring anything comfortable to sit on – folding chairs, blankets, inflatable rafts — or rent a folding chair at the Pier for $5. The series is kicking off on Tuesday, August 1 with Superman starring Christopher Reeves. Joy!

Free tickets are available about a week before each movie at the guest services kiosk located on the 2nd floor of the Santa Monica Place mall. Or you can show up to the Pier the night of the movie without a ticket. You just have to wait til after all ticket holders are seated before you’re allowed in.

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Flickr Shot by Today is a good day

What: Sly and the Family Stone’s “Hot Fun in the Summertime”

Who: Those dying from the heat who have access to a grassy lawn and sprinklers.

When/Where: The Valley, the Inland Empire, suburbia front lawns everywhere or city streets with an open fire hydrant during this scorcher of a summer.

Why: It just sounds like the perfect song for a slow-mo montage of kids running and splashing through sprinklers or a gushing fire hydrant, people sitting on porches laughing and drinking iced tea and riots of water balloon fights. The slow pace of this 1969 hit evokes heat-induced lethargy when you only have enough energy to try to keep cool.

Did you know that New York banned sous vide preparation and that Chicago has an impending law against foie gras? Yeah, I didn’t either and I have to say that until this very second when I googled those food terms, I didn’t even know what any of that meant. But apparently foie gras involves the torture of ducks and geese while sous vide could give you botulism if the food isn’t prepared under controlled conditions.

And yet naughty naughty Noé Restaurant & Bar will be presenting a seven-course Outlaw Dinner with that scandalous cooking method and ingredient, including other forbidden foods like morel mushrooms, absinthe, hemp seeds and gasp! unpasteurized cheeses.

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Flickr Shot by Imtrendywendy

The other day I ventured further into the oven by traveling east to Rowland Heights. It was 110 degrees out and hellishly dry. My friend Julie and I were driving around blasting on the A/C and trying to decide what to have for a snack. It felt too hot to ingest heated foods so she suggested SinBaLa, a popular Taiwanese restaurant where they have shaved ice desserts, not to be confused with Hawaiian shaved ice. Rather, the Taiwanese version is similar to halo halo, the Filipino dessert which is a heap of shaved ice doused in condensed milk and sugar, and covered by a variety of sweet beans and fruits. It sounded like the perfect antidote to the heat.

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OK, I’ve never done this before (repost something) but when I had originally posted this, the heat wave only lasted a couple of days. But now that it’s friggin’ hot out there with no end in sight, I figure it’s the best time to revisit how we, Angelenos, can stay cool.

Take a Plunge: Don’t have your own swimming pool or any friends with a backyard pool? For $3 you can borrow Culver City’s 50-meter outdoor pool for a recreation swim. Hours: Monday-Sunday 12:15-2pm; Mon/Wed/Fri 7:55-9pm.

4175 Overland Avenue
Culver City, California
(310) 253-6680

Enjoy Iced Tea on a Porch: Grab a refreshing iced tea or fizzy tonic drink at Elixir Tonics & Teas and stake out a seat on the shaded back porch. There you can escape the sun and just relax amid the bamboo and buddha statues. You can even get your fortune read by the in-house psychic to find out if you’re going to survive this heat.

8612 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, California 90069
(310) 657-9300

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Even after all these years, Monty Python and the Holy Grail can still make me guffaw with tears and belly aches. I dare you to even just read memorable quotes from the movie and not giggle. Heh, “I fart in your general direction.”

Now see the comedy classic with fresh eyes as the Nuart Theatre presents the 32-years-young Grail uncut in new 35mm print with remastered Dolby stereo. You’ll get to enjoy the 24 extra seconds of footage that was removed just before the film’s original theatrical release in the medieval ’70s.

Be one of the first 25 people to buy a ticket for tonight’s 7:30pm screening and win a Grail poster!*

ONE-WEEK ENGAGEMENT PRESENTED JULY 21 TO JULY 27, 2006
Showtimes: 5:10, 7:30, & 9:50pm; additional Sat-Sun matinees at 12:30 & 2:50

Tickets: $9.50 for general admission, $7.25 seniors and children

11272 Santa Monica Boulevard
West Los Angeles, California 90025
(310) 281-8223

* Limit to one item per customer WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. Giveaway does not apply to online ticket sales. Python fans also can participate in special contests on Saturday, July 22nd at 7:30pm for more chances to win posters.

Flickr Shot by LilyLord 

 I’ve always wanted to check out these Cinespia events where they screen old movies at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, home of many dead celebrities, like Jayne Mansfield and Rudolph Valentino.

And it doesn’t seem as creepy as it sounds because there’s a dj who spins before and after the movie and about 2,000 other Angelenos to protect you from zombies and whatnot. In fact what is originally a place where people are laid to rest ends up being a great outdoor summer party venue. Here, moviegoers lay out a blanket and enjoy a picnic and drinks under (and over) the stars. This sounds like great fun for a group of friends and perhaps a very interesting first date. Just remember: no tall chairs or dogs allowed.

This Saturday, Cinespia will be screening that Brian De Palma classic Dressed to Kill, which I’m excited about because how thrilling would that be to watch a scary movie in a cemetery? I kinda wish they would show Night of the Living Dead. Um, no I don’t.

The gates creak open at 7:30 and the movie doesn’t start til 9 but maybe you can kill some time touring the gravestones and memorials. Perhaps visit Johnny Ramone’s statue?

No reservations required but there are $10 donation tickets at the gate.

EVENT: Saturday, July 22 gates open at 7:30, show starts at 9pm

Upcoming screenings:

July 29 - Manhattan

August 5 - Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (I definitely want to see this)

Hollywood Forever Cemetery
6000 Santa Monica Boulevard at Gower
Hollywood, California 90038

As many know by now, Ford’s Filling Station is owned by Harrison Ford’s son and former owner of Chadwick, Ben Ford. The Culver City restaurant, and L.A.’s first “gastropub“ opened earlier this year to much fanfare, and because of that I decided to beg off until things died down a bit.

But when I went there last night to get some dinner before a movie at Pacific Culver, the hostess informed my friend and I that since we didn’t have a reservation the wait for a table would be 45 minutes – even though there were plenty of empty tables on the patio. But she did kindly offer immediate seating at the bar, which was more than fine by me.

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The last time I went to North Hollywood’s Tokyo Delve’s was eons ago (when I was just crack-free “Caroline”) and in all honesty I hated it. It was frat-boy obnoxious and the servers made me stand up on my chair and do the chicken dance when all I really wanted to do was eat my spicy tuna roll in peace. And, no, I didn’t know that’s their thing until it was too late and I was committed to sake bombs and 40s of Sapporo.

So when my new bff Julie invited me to come with her to TD’s, I was willing to give it another chance. Maybe I’ve come out of my shell more since then.

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I was never into team sports, which is a shame since I really could use some team-building skills. Fortunately, I have a bunch of girlfriends who can show me a thing or two about how to kick ass and make friends while doing it. From roller derby to kickball, take your pick of which sport with lovely ladies you want to spectate or be part of.

Angel City Derby Girls

Bette Noir, a Betty Page-esque beauty with big eyes and a sweet face, likes to sport striped knee-highs and glitter laces and can body check any unfortunate soul who gets in her way. Her team, the Angel City Derby Girls, compete in the country’s growing sport, flat-track roller derby – rougher than the roller derby of yore. 

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Big: I can tell you one thing, I sure did miss you, officially.
Carrie: Did you cry?
Big: No, but I did listen to a hellava lot of Sinatra.

~ Sex & the City

And ain’t that the truth? When you’re down in the dumps, Frankie does the trick. Maybe it’s because he delivers the lyrics with a devil-may-care attitude or that he survived an S-load of crap and came out on the other end better for it. But I found a great place to just sit with your martini, listen to every Sinatra song on the books and have a deep conversation with a sympathetic bartender. Nope, it’s not in New York. It’s the Rat Pack Martini Lounge in C&O Cucina off Lincoln.

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