I don't know why but today seems like it's gonna be a great day

Oh Tuesday, when you first started out you seemed like just any other sub-par weekday.  When the alarm went off hours before I wanted it to and didn't have any milk so I had to have left over Teriyaki Chicken for breakfast things weren't looking too bright.

But then something happened!

I got to pick Andrea up from work for lunch and a small hunch brought us to a little gathering of L.A. food trucks that we'd been to before (see Andrea's bird-day lunch). I was totally unaware that this was a WEEKLY thing - now I know where I'm having lunch every Tuesday :)  With a little investigative research I even found out the name of the awesome live musical/visual entertainment that accompanies our meals - Brad and Suzi Cover Duo!!!!

Anyway, we feasted on Argentinian delights (one had a little Cuban inspiration - the El Fidel Empanada) while serenaded by Brad and Suzi.  Thus far a pretty nice day.

Then, when Andrea got home we went on a little jog/walk around a little bit of our neighborhood and saw some pretty awesome houses/views of LA and were happy to get some fresh air and exercise in the fabulous SoCal Spring weather.

THEN we stopped by the grocery store to get the much needed milk and found a bunch of prizes that were on sale!

What a great ending to a pretty fantastic day.

Oh yeah, when we got back they actually had hot chocolate in the lobby (this almost never happens and it's always a joyous occasion when it does) AND then when we checked the mail Andrea had a package from KROQ - she won a Black Keys CD!

I am officially a huge fan of KROQ (with a facebook "like" to prove it).  This is the 3rd thing we've collectively received from KROQ (1- I won prescreening tickets to Rango and while there 2 - Andrea won tickets to see the Dirty Heads).

Not a bad day.  The only things that would have been better would have been if Chuck had a new episode yesterday so we could have watched it on Hulu (Andrea's sad that last week was the season finale of Pretty Little Liars because they consist of our Tuesday night entertainment during dinner) or if our new netflix DVD would have come today instead of how it's supposed to come tomorrow.  Oh well, I guess we'll just have to have a semi-productive evening instead of watching a bunch of stuff all night...

First Friday - Westchester

Today is our second "First Friday" spent in LA.  We decided to keep it a little more low-key; checking out the local Westchester First Friday and hoping to try some new yummy food truck goodies. When we got there (right about the beginning) many of the trucks were still setting up and after perusing our options, we ended up going to the immensely popular Grilled Cheese Truck (I've read about people waiting in line for an hour and a half for this stuff and I believe it b/c it's always got the longest line!).  

I got the Gruyere on French Bread  with Arugula (I ordered Basil, but they were out) with a cup of Homemade Tomato Soup and Andre got the Special Melt of the Day (Muenster with Pastrami, Dijon Mustard, and Grilled Onions).  

We also got a S'more Melt for dessert (Marshmallow cream, Nutella, and crumbled graham crackers on sweet brioche bread).  

While Westchester is definitely not as happening as Venice, we still had a good time, waited in a much shorter line, saw a greasy weiner and left in time to stop by Costco and get the latest coupons along with some nom noms for our empty cupboards!

ps I love how you can tell the difference between the pictures I took with my favorite "toycam" app and the ones Andre took with the boring old default phone cam

First Friday - Venice

After my first whole week of work at my brand spankin new job, getting off work around 1 b/c of half day Fridays, we went to Costco (of course- Andre's favorite store) and THEN Andre sweetheart darling decided to surprise me as to what we would do with our evening - I had no idea what I wanted to do, so after looking around online at stuff he though I'd like he said he knew where we were going and we were off.


WELL... we ended up not finding where we thought we were going (which I later found out was Santa Monica to go to Urban Outfitters and some other shops) HOWEVER just as we were about to give up and turn around we saw a van on the side of the road with a huge fish like the one in the teaser trailer for Rango on top and a buttload of people.  


Naturally, I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about  so we found a place to park, came back and found what must've been about 10 or more food trucks plus the Timmsmobile.  After being there for a while we figured out that it was all for First Friday in Venice and there were also little boutiques and galleries open which we perused after getting acquainted with the food trucks - first things first afterall. Now mind you, when I say food trucks I'm not talking about super greasy tacos and hot dogs where there's a hairy chested guys in wife-beaters inside cooking as they smoke cigs and talk to their pet roaches (this was pretty much my vision of food trucks), I'm talking about fancy little eats that happen to be conveniently on wheels instead of in a brick and mortar storefront. I mean, maybe there were a couple of taco and hot dog places but even those seemed special and fancy and yummmmmmy.  


Andre decided to get his Frysmith on where he got the Rajas Fries (Fire-roasted poblano chiles, caramelized onions and shawarma-marinated steak with Jack cheese and cilantro).  I wasn't too hungry so I just had a couple bites but i did get dessert : D I couldn't help myself when I saw this sweet ice cream sandwich place inspired by architecture called Coolhaus.  You can choose your own combination of several kinds of cookies and gourmet all-natural handmade ice creams to make a masterpiece Haus with cookie floor and roof and ice cream walls.  I tried the Brown Butter w/Candied Bacon ice cream, the Pistachio Truffle (fungi not chocolate) ice cream, and the Orange Chocolate Cointreau but ultimately got the Brown Butter w/Candied Bacon on Snickerdoodle. It was heavenly. 

After enjoying our treats we wandered over to the Timmsmobile where there was a game to win stuff!  It was essentially a bean bag toss into Mr. Timms mouth to win a t-shirt and poster.  I was SO close (you had to get 3 in a row in - I got the first two in and missed the 3rd) but Andre the Awesome won when it was his turn but either way everyone got their very own Mr. Timms (super special fish), a Mr. Timms Coinpurse, and a Mr. Timms magnet. 

Chachkis in tow we then wandered around the Shops and Galleries, especially enjoying the Elephart gallery where we got free farting elephant air fresheners (don't worry they weren't farting elephant scented - unless elephants fart cherries). After getting to the car, we decided we were so glad we found this and had way more fun than we probably would've at UO and whatever other shops were around there (although upon doing some investigative research it is supposed to be a shoppers paradise so we'll probably HAVE to go back sooner or later... oh shoot).