For Your Fix on L.A.

Flickr Shot by dotsara 

Random thoughts for an auto-pilot day.

I think I want to grow out my hair again. Short hair is high-maintenance.

Last night, I went to Beverly Hills to finally check out the Backstage Cafe, a rock-n-roll tavern that sounded really out of place in the “Golden Triangle” and intriguing because of that. But to my dismay, I found out that it had closed down. On its door was a Dear John note saying that it closed its doors on April 25. Bummer. Where can a cheapskate stuck in BH find some cheap nosh now? Fortunately, found Coupa Cafe, a Venezuelan restaurant, around the corner that served breakfast all day and had the final Western Conference game on the telly.

Sad that Neighborhoodies is no longer in L.A. I really wanted to get more Caroline on Crack t-shirts made. Neighborhoodies was the only cool local t-shirt customizer I know.

So happy that Largo is now at the Coronet as of this coming Monday. I remember watching Tenacious D, David Cross and Jon Brion in the discomfort of the old Fairfax location, everyone standing and crammed in the back if you didn’t make dinner reservations. 280 seats in the “new” location sounds like a gawdsend. Actually might end my self-imposed boycott of Largo now and check out a show at the new digs. Greg Proops, Patton Oswalt and Sarah Silverman have shows to break in the Coronet this June.

Crumbs is pretty cool. I know I already mentioned this before but it’s nice of them to hand out cupcakes yesterday even though their new Larchmont location didn’t open as planned. But more importantly, it’s really generous of them to say they’re still going to pass out another 1,000 cupcakes at their real grand opening in June. Awww. Heart.

I’m not into X bar but feel obligated to mention that it’s debuting a weekday happy hour on June 2 where you can get half off all beers, wine, well drinks and small plates. Monday nights from 5 to 8:30pm are their Summer Bash deal when they’ll have live music on their patio. So there you have it.

BTW, people should not eat crispy apples in the workplace.

I was skeptical about this but it sounded too good to pass up. A whole pan of brownies in half an hour, including “prep” time? That’s right, Trader Joe’s has these Ready To Bake Brownies ($3.99) in the frozen food section of its crowded store for those folks too busy (read: lazy) like me to make delicious chocolatey goodness from scratch.

These brownies come in their own ovenproof pan and everything. All you have to do is pull it out of the box, take off the plastic wrapper, throw it on a baking sheet, place it in the pre-heated oven and then wait for freshly baked BROWNIES!

Like ‘em with a gooey center? or a fudgy center? or are you the crispy type? The instructions on the back of the box tell you how long to leave it in the oven for whatever tickles your fancy. I opted for the fudgy center (30 minutes).

The only other thing I really had to do was turn the pan around in the oven at the halfway point and then I went back to watching my stories.

When the brownies were done and I let them cool off for a bit, I dug in. The side was kinda burnt because I hadn’t stored the brownies on a leveled surface in my packed freezer causing them to sorta slide to one side. That and my oven sucks. But the brownies still look and smelled good.

I split the pan with my bf and after the first bite of the still warm brownie we agreed that, first impression, they weren’t as chocolatey or rich as we had imagined they were going to be.

But then when we went back for the second, third and fourth brownies we realized that these tasted pretty darn good for what they are. The brownies are moist and the crust was a touch crisp but not too much. They weren’t ubersweet and that’s why it was easy to stuff our faces.

These little goodies really hit the spot and I could see just throwing these in the oven after a hard day or if I just want a quick sugar fix. It’s only $4 for a whole pan!

I also wondered what they would be like if I topped them with cream cheese. Hmmm, maybe next time!

Calories: 170 for serving size 1/9 pan
Ingredients: sugar, wheat flour, salted butter, pasteurized eggs, cocoa powder (processed with alkali) and pure vanilla extract.