French Dip

A french dip sandwich is a hot sandwich that you dip in au jus (pretty word to describe beef juice).

Among many things, Los Angeles boasts (among many things) to be the originators of the French dip sammich. There is, however, a debate about which restaurant in Los Angeles originally created the sammich.

There is Philippe's and there is Cole's.


Philippe's story:
Hungry customer in 1918 orders sandwich. Server (who WAS Philippe) clumsily drops sandwich in beef juice. Hungry customer says he wants it anyway. Eats. Falls in love. Orders it again the next day.

Cole's story:
Hungry customer in 1918 just came from the dentist. Teeth hurt and needs a softer sandwich. Asks server (who WAS Cole) to dip sandwich in beef juice to soften the bread. Other hungry people saw this and asked for it despite their un-painful teeth.

On Monday, Philippe's is celebrating its 100 year anniversary (they opened in 1908, but created the sammich in 1918) and is serving their beef dip sammiches for $0.10 each! Happenin' from 4-8. I will be there!

Cole's unfortunately is closed for renovation, otherwise, I would go and visit and see which one has a better sammich.

Autumn in Los Angeles

starts yesterday.

and this week is going to be jampacked of fun stuff.

Tuesday. Barack Obama Rama at Spaceland

all sales go to the Obamski campaign. wooo! should be pretty fun.

i'm really excited to see the bird and the bee. i love this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA_scASRmbk

Thursday, I plan on going to a tasting with a chef from Top Chef at the grove.

Saturday, The Watts Towers Festival and Sunday, the Grand Avenue Festival!

In other news, we're having a great time exploring new breakfast places in our 'hood.

Behold...Dusty's Bistro in Silver Lake
Chloe likes to brunch too.

There's also the Nickel Diner in Downtown that my friend/carpool Talia had been raving about. Dave and I finally went and were SOOOOO happy! It's sort of next to skid row, and I may have inhaled some pepper spray intended for a bum, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Nightmares

I had a nightmare last night. It was so bad, I woke up screaming. It included these two images:


Laugh all you want. I was terrified.

This is what happened.

It was dark and quiet. Michael Phelps and I were in an indoor pool complex alone and he was timing my 50m backstroke (backstroke isn't one of his events). And out of nowhere, this little pint-sized toy husky comes strolling in. It was the kind that you buy on the streets of Chinatown; the kind that yapps incessantly.

But this little mechanical husky was different; his eyes were all blacked out. He came towards me, menacingly, and..well....tried to kill me.

Michael Phelps came to my rescue and wacked it, but it didn't die, it kept coming towards me! I was climbing up the walls and running from it, but it was intent on killing me. Michael Phelps splashed it with some water, it smoked, and became even more determined to get me!

I woke up gasping and screaming.

Dave threw his arm over me. Seriously. Scary.

Summer Pool Time

We got a pool--the inflatable kind.

We got it for a few reasons:

1. make bathtime more fun for Chloe (and easier for us)
2. see what she does in water.
3. because it's really hot.

She was actually super cute with her ball.

She was trying to get the ball under the water and would inadvertently submerge her snout and then blow bubbles under the water--super funny.

Eventually we got tired of playing and got over the pool.


Chloe didn't get bathed...Although, somebody DID.


Very tiring playing in the pool...for both of us.

Olympic Fever

I've been watching Olympic events all day since last night's opening ceremony. Yes, I'm quite obsessed. But, I was soo tired from work all week that Chloe and I passed out in front of the TV last night. Dave thought it was pretty funny, and I agreed.




Couldn't be happier about Michael Phelps winning the gold and breaking the record in the 400IM. I can't wait for him to win 7 golds! Aaah, I need to stop talking Olympics. I'm obsessed.