#142: Binocular Building

Frank Gehry's colossal black Binocular Building on Main Street in Venice oddly blends into the surroundings---so much so that I drove past this building many times without even noticing it!

On Thanksgiving, we made a trip to see this striking building up close. It is huge (see me in the above picture for scale). Cars can drive through the binoculars into a garage. I read somewhere that this building used to be an advertising agency. I have no idea what it is now though.

Venice, true to character, has a lot of unique structures. Across the street on the corner of Rose and Main is the famous clown ballet dancer.

Frank Gehry's Binocular Building

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#141: Calabasas Hindu Temple

Thank you Henry for your comment suggesting a visit to Calabasas' Hindu Temple! After a beautiful Thanksgiving brunch at Paradise Cove, we traveled the windy road into the Calabasas mountains to see the temple. The short journey from PCH was absolutely gorgeous. When we got to the Hindu Temple, there were a lot of people there. It didn't seem like there were a lot of tourists--most of the people there were there to worship. We took off our shoes then wandered the area.

Brad had been to the temple years ago, and he commented that it looks a lot more run down now. There were skeletons of tents, pipes, and buckets littering the grounds, and the whole area was covered with a film of dirt. The architecture, however, was gorgeous. I could see that with a little cleaning, this temple could look breath-taking.

Parking and entrance are free. This is worth a visit if you're in the Malibu area!

Hindu Temple in Calabasas

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#140: The Santa Monica Airport

The Santa Monica Airport is so much more than an airport. Here you can catch a performance at the Ruskin Group Theatre (yes, a theatre at an airport!), play soccer at Airport Park, and dine on scorpions and crickets at Typhoon. On the first and fourth Sundays of the month from 8 AM to 3 PM the airport parking lot becomes an Outdoor Antique Market, and on Wed-Sat from 12 PM to 6 PM you can visit the Santa Monica Art Studios.

Last but not least is the Barker Hangar, one of the Westside's premier spots for big events like the Sanrio "Small Gift" anniversary celebration that took place this past week. Now I don't worship at the altar of Hello Kitty, but curiosity got the better of Brad and I and we stopped by to check out the festivities. To celebrate 50 years of all things Sanrio, the event featured a mini golf course, carnival games, multiple photo booths, food trucks, face painting, sand art, an art gallery (my favorite part) and a gift shop. I thought it was a perfect place to bring kids (new converts!).

The airport is currently constructing a Museum of Flying which will house numerous aircrafts and feature children's exhibits. Can't wait!

Have you been to the Santa Monica Airport? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

Santa Monica Airport

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#139: Hollywood Farmers' Market

Well hello again after a long hiatus! Wedding planning took up much of my time these last couple of months, but I am back (a married woman!) ready to experience L.A.'s finest. Here we go with #139...

I had always wanted to check out the Hollywood Farmers' Market on Selma and Ivar, but "it's so far away" and "parking must suck there" prevented me from venturing out to that side of town. No excuses today, I thought to myself. Brad and I woke up semi-early and headed off to Hollywood (it only took about 20 minutes driving there from West L.A.!).

Everyone raves about this market, and now I can see why. I counted three stalls selling free-range chickens, one stand selling grass fed bison, a few stalls selling eggs from free-range chickens, two oyster purveyors, one specialty mushroom stand, and tables full of greens, persimmons, apples, pears, berries and flowers. Samples are abundant, and we tried everything from squid salad to fresh cheese curd, pumpkin flan and hummus. As the clouds parted and the sun warmed our little stretch of Hollywood, I sighed contentedly to myself. It was a perfect way to start a Sunday.

The unwrapped sweet sticky rice with banana

For brunch, we got two pupusas, a strawberry lemonade, and a sticky rice ball with banana. This, combined with our samples, kept us full for most of the day.

Very sweet strawberry lemonade

Plentiful parking is available for $2 at the lot on the corner of Delongpre and Ivar. Just get your ticket validated at the Information Booth of the Farmers' Market (located right in the middle of everything).

The Hollywood Farmers' Market is a fantastic farmers' market with an eclectic crowd of people (quite different from the west side F.Ms). Check it out every Sunday from 8 am to 1 pm.

Hollywood Farmers' Market

Fall Bouquets

Balloon Guy for the kids

Free samples!

Brad eating his pupusa

Half eaten pupusa

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#138: iFly Hollywood

My favorite dreams are the ones in which I am flying, so when I saw that Groupon was having a sale on iFly tickets, I jumped on the deal. $35 for two 1-minute flights, a DVD and free valet parking is a small price to pay to recreate my Peter Pan flying dreams. (btw, the package usually costs around $85. Yay Groupon!)

iFly is a vertical wind tunnel located on Universal Studios City Walk next door to the Hard Rock Cafe. Imagine a towering clear tunnel that blasts winds upward in a vertical column that you can float on. It's an unforgettable experience that reminds me of Willy Wonka's fizzy lifty drink chamber minus the scary fan up top.

We got there about 30 minutes before our flight time and were shown a brief video that taught us proper body positioning and hand signs that our instructor used to communicate with us in the tunnel (it's loud in there, so talking is useless). Then our class of 12 was taken to the suiting chamber where we were given zip up body suits, ear plugs, safety glasses and helmets. In our group there was a kid who looked like he was 4 and a gentleman who looked like he was in his 60's. Apparently, anyone over the age of 3 can iFly!

The tunnel was loud and the wind was strong enough to make our cheeks wobble. Even when we were waiting our turn outside the tunnel, we could feel the wind blasting our face. Once we got inside, our instructor wrestled to position us. Balancing on the wind is harder than you think! Our second time in the tunnel, our instructor grabbed onto us and we went really high in the tunnel and did all sorts of tricks.

I loved my iFly experience and would definitely do it again if there's another discount. (Btw, this would be a great place to have a birthday party!) Equally fun was watching the DVD of our flight when we got home. The cheesy music and seeing ourselves looking incredibly clumsy in mid air was enough to make Brad and I laugh so hard we were crying. The first two flights are awesomely terrible, and the last two are better. Toward the end, you can see the instructor taking us for a ride! Check it out below.

iFly

Have you experienced iFly? What did you think of it? Leave me a comment below!

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#137: Dine "Top Chef" Style

L.A. is home to a fair share of Top Chef contestants. Betty Fraser runs Grub in Hollywood (read my review on it here), Ilan Hall recently opened The Gorbals in Downtown, Stefan Richter is at L.A. Farm and Stefan's on Montana, and Fabio Viviani runs Firenze Osteria in Toluca Lake. Past winner Michael Voltaggio used to be head chef at The Dining Room in Pasadena, but left recently to pursue his own project.

One of the most memorable Top Chef contestants is Marcel Vigneron. I affectionately refer to him as "Wolverine" due to his awesomely sculpted hair. Known for his creative molecular gastronomy inspired cuisine, he worked at The Bazaar in Beverly Hills before leaving to do his own projects. He occasionally pops up here and there, and when I saw that he was doing a three day stint at Test Kitchen in West L.A., I immediately booked it.

Test Kitchen is a unique restaurant. Chefs take over the restaurant for two or three days and come up with a prix fixed menu that features innovative dishes that they might not normally be able to create in another restaurant. The cuisine is frequently bold and daring. Sometimes you will get a few duds, but it's all in the name of experimentation.

Here's what we were served by Marcel this past weekend... Six course menu, $55 per person.

Kombu Cured Hamachi: Crispy Rice, Pineapple, Avocado

The pineapple is the yellow rectangle underneath the hamachi. It is thinly sliced and topped with seaweed, toasted rice, jalapeno, avocado dollops and foam.

Scallobut: Flavors of puttanesca, artichoke

A scallop and a halibut cheek sit next to a deconstructed puttanesca with anchovy, olive powder, roasted cipollini onion, tomato and toast. Parsley and garlic dollops frame the composition.

Wagyu Beef Tongue & Fried Egg: radish, beet, arugala, beans

Break open the fried egg and you'll find a perfectly runny yolk dripping out. Three types of beets, arugula, radish and beans adorn the Wagyu tongue.

Vadouvan Lamb Chop: Cauliflower, Amaranth, Mint

In the background is a cauliflower puree that is just saturated with butter. The lamb sits on top of an almond, pomegranate, feta and mint blend. It is topped with more foam.

Ricotta Fritter: Baby peach panna cotta, agave

The green thing on top of the panna cotta is a Japanese baby peach. It was just about the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. The panna cotta was brilliant.

Macadamia "Sponge Cake": textures of strawberry

The sponge cake was made all in the microwave, our waitress bragged. What a strange thing to be proud of, I thought. This was such an interesting dish. The cloud of strawberry foam was topped with this carbonated filled strawberry jelly. It popped in my mouth just like the "olives" at the Bazaar. The whole thing was lightly sprinkled with pepper and topped with celery leaves. It all worked, strangely enough!

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#136: Abbot Kinney Festival

Photo from yovenice

I tend to shy away from festivals since parking is always a pain and long lines + crowds make me frustrated. Therefore with Glow in Santa Monica and the Abbot Kinney Festival in Venice this past weekend, a part of me wanted to run Eastward toward Pasadena and not look back.

Glow is an annual art walk festival on Santa Monica beach. It was held this past Saturday and ran late into the night. It has 1 1/2 stars on Yelp. That's pretty pathetic. Common complaints on Yelp involved parking, traffic and lack of organization. (I'm glad I didn't go.)

The Abbot Kinney Festival was held in Venice the next day. I tried attending this festival last year and have the all too frustrating memory of circling Venice for 30 minutes trying to find parking. This year, we circled for 20 minutes and finally found a spot after stalking a family for two blocks.

The festival highlights:

-There was a great band playing in a narrow crowded alley by a house-turned-art-shop. Didn't get their name, sadly.

-Tons of food trucks (most notably, Ludo Bites, Border Grill, Nom Nom and Grilled Cheese Truck)

-Refreshing young coconuts for sale for $5

-Free pop chips, coconut water, nut bars, frappuccino and more in the Whole Foods section of the festival!

The festival lows:

-Ahn Joo Truck (my worst food truck experience!)

-loooong lines for the food trucks

You are either a festival person or you aren't. If you don't mind crowds, being in the sun for a long time and walking a lot, then you're probably the former. Do beer gardens make you happy? Then Abbot Kinney's festival is definitely for you. They had two of them, and it looked like MTV's Spring Break in there. Do you like tribal/new-age jewelry? I must have seen 30 tents selling the stuff.

If this is your scene, then definitely check this festival out next year!

Abbot Kinney Festival

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#135: Govinda's Natural Foods

Photo from examiner

I get obsessed with things and "over-do it", as Brad would say. For example, my current obsession is watermelon. I've been eating what amounts to probably half a medium sized watermelon a day. When our "supply" runs low, I get antsy. Brad would inevitably bring home another giant melon, and I would look as elated as if he brought me a dozen roses.

Past obsessions: spaghetti squash, Japanese home cooking, Chinese medicine, and about a million Trader Joes snacks.

Sometimes I push my obsessions too far and Brad gets really tired of them.

I discovered Govinda's on Yelp some time at the beginning of this year (It is actually one of the "Hot Restaurants on Yelp" right now). I went once a week... Then twice a week... Pretty soon, Brad didn't even need to ask me where I wanted to go to eat.

Now Brad made a rule that we can only go there together once a month. That doesn't stop me from going more often though. :)

Govinda's is run by the Hare Krishna temple attached to it. It is buffet style featuring all vegetarian/vegan cuisine. The food is simple but delicious. There are always salad items, a soup, dahl, halavah, a main course, and white/brown rice. The price is perfect--$8 (It used to be $7, but they recently had to raise their prices). The thing I love the most about their food is how "clean" it tastes. I don't know how else to describe it, but it has a very pure taste and you can tell that they put a lot of care into the preparation. It is also not overburdened with butter, oils or salt.

After you've had your fill of healthy vegetarian food, go upstairs to their gift shop. They have so many gorgeous clothes, accessories, and great books up there.

Govinda's is one healthy obsession that I don't think I'll ever tire of!

Monday-Saturday 11-3pm and 5-8:30pm.

Govinda's

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#134: Mar Vista Farmers' Market

Photo from http://www-scf.usc.edu/~nthakore/story1/

A couple of our friends always go to the Mar Vista Farmers' Market on Sundays and for the longest time I had been wanting to check it out. One visit, and I'm hooked. This has become my favorite west-side farmers' market for the following reasons:

• It's not nearly as crowded as Santa Monica's two farmers' markets
• Lots of hot food vendors (empanadas, ribs, quesadillas, omelettes, crepes)
• Lots of cheese/dip/hummus vendors
• All vendors practically forcing samples on you. You could seriously get full on just the samples!
• A few all-organic stalls (not as much as Santa Monica, but still enough for what I need)
• Live jazz band
• Picnic tables and chairs

Brad got an apple sausage quesadilla and I got a raw Oaxacan zucchini lasagna. Then we got a bunch of produce including a giant watermelon that was perhaps the juiciest I have ever tasted. We had no idea how to choose a watermelon (I know it's supposed to sound "hollow", but what does that really sound like?), so a kind woman shopping near us gave us a three minute lesson on choosing watermelons. Now I can tell the difference between a dead thud mimicking as "hollow", and a truly resonant hollow sound. (Brad, on the other hand, still insists that they all sound hollow :P)

The farmers market is pretty close to Mitsuwa, so we just parked in front of Mitsuwa and then walked across the street. Definitely check this place out if you're tired of fighting for parking or space on the lawn at the S.M. market!

Sundays 9 am-2 pm

Mar Vista Farmers' Market

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