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Two baseball teams? DAS CRAYZZAYYY. It’s also kind of awesome. Now that I’ve been to both Dodger stadium and Angels stadium (by the way the Angels have the most ridiculous name in the history of sports. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. If I were Anaheim I’d take that as a slap across the face, and pee on LA’s doormat, which would probably be Downtown, so maybe not, but still) it’s tough to say which one is better than the other. There are good things and bad things about both, but ultimately, anytime you go to a baseball game it’s a good time.

By the way, don’t see the movie Angels and Demons. It’s terrible.

The Stadiums

Both stadiums were built in the ’60’s with Dodger Stadium being built in ’62 and Angels Stadium in ’66. What’s weird is the massive discrepancy in how much dingier and older Dodger Stadium feels. Four years isn’t that much time, but it literally feels like you’re sitting in an ashtray. Angels Stadium is what you’d imagine a quintessential California stadium feels like; it’s very clean, has a nice feel to it, and is rather picturesque, with the rock waterfall in center field etc. I guess the location has as much to do with that as anything, since the Angels play in Anaheim which is technically in Orange County, and well…the Dodgers play in LA, which is a cesspool.

I’d give the nod to the Angels for having a better stadium.

I didn't get any good photos of the field....so this sign from the outside will have to do.

Same thing with Angels stadium, plus both infields kinda look the same.

Seats

Seats are generally good in both, but you can definitely get better, cheaper seats in the ashtray than you can at an Angels game. There are actually dollar tickets to Dodgers games which is amazing, even though they are shitty seats, but for like 15 bucks you can get good seats, one level up, with a pretty awesome view of the field along either the first or third base line. The seats are comfortable, and hey, it’s baseball.

Angels games are more expensive, even though they have their own batch of cheaper tickets. The Angels also have games that are ranked on different tiers, so if you go to a Tier 2 or Tier 3 game, the tickets are more expensive. The Tiers are decided by what team they are playing (Red Sox, Yankees, etc, are considered Tier 3), and then generally games on the weekends are are Tier 2 or Tier 3, with somewhat little regard to who the Angels are playing. Seats themselves are pretty awesome though, comfortable, and they all have cup holders which is pretty awesome. Also I think there are padded seats in certain sections of Angels Stadium which aren’t that expensive at all…so bonus.

I’d say this is a tie just cause the Angels games tend to be more expensive, and after spending so much time crammed into tiny seats at awkward angles at Fenway, the actual seats are of little importance to me.

HOT DOGS, BEER, HOORAY!!

The food situation at both places is kind of awesome. Angels stadium has sections where you actually get a server and can place orders with them for food and BEER. YAY! Beer delivery is awesome, and they have some pretty dope micro-brew-ish beers available. The Angels also have this thing called the All-Star Dog which is a thick foot long hot dog that comes with onions, ketchup, relish, jalapeños etc. It’s pretty good but it doesn’t beat a Fenway Frank by any means. They do have a bunch of other awesome stuff at Angel stadium like a bottomless soda, sushi, bbq stuff, and some healthier eats.

Other cool things at Angels Stadium is that they sell 22’s of Corona and Pacifico, with lime and salt for them. It’s 12 bucks for one, but they give you this awesome giant plastic cup, and it’s probably the best beer deal in the park. They also have Guinness which is awesome, but it’s excessively expensive and ultimately not worth it.

Dodger Stadium has pretty awesome hot dogs. The Super Dodger Dog is a foot long also, but it’s way way better than the Angels All-Star Dog. The Dodger Dog is probably as close to a Walter’s hot dog (from Rye, NY, probably the best hot dog I’ve ever had), as you can get. It’s just a really solid, slightly greasy delicious hot dog that hits the spot perfectly while you’re at a baseball game. The rest of the food options at Dodger Stadium are your pretty standard offerings for the most part.

Beer wise I haven’t seen anything awesome at Dodger Stadium except they do give you covers for your beers if you buy multiple so that you don’t spill on your way anywhere etc. It’s pretty awesome and I wish more stadiums would do that. To my knowledge only MSG does it also, which is brilliant. In all reality they probably shouldn’t sell good beer at Dodger Stadium. Part of me feels like it would be wasted on a lot of people there.

Dodger Stadium also has an all you can eat section. Amazing. It’s like a 30 dollar ticket, but you can eat all the hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos, and soda you can stuff your face with. It’s pretty awesome and gluttonous. You’d easily eat enough to make up for the cost of the ticket so it pays for itself. Sadly, beer not included. That would be a disaster for sure.

Neither stadium sells sunflower seeds. HUGE FAIL. I don’t understand how you don’t sell sunflower seeds at baseball stadiums. They make just as much of a mess as peanuts do and it goes hand in hand with baseball. Fenway sells sunflower seeds. Step your game up LA. Beer nod to the Angels, Hot Dog nod to the Dodgers.

Fans

So Dodgers fans get a bad rap in general for some reason, especially since the beating of the giants fan. Personally, I found them pretty chill, tend to be real people, and overall they don’t seem to create a bad vibe in Dodger stadium. That might be due to the fact that the stadium is maybe half full at most and I’ve never sat in the bleachers, but hey, with tickets so cheap, why would you sit out there?

Angels fans suck. Flat out. They are a bunch of rich, fake, California douchebags to put it simply. I went to an Angels – White Sox game, and was given shit for wearing my Red Sox hat. Basically some dude was talking shit to me because when the Angels were in Boston, and the extra inning game went till 2am, you could hear people heckling the Angels players. He was giving me shit about that. I basically replied with the following “Dude, you’re playing the White Sox. Red Sox fans don’t give a fuck about the Angels. You play in one of the weakest divisions in baseball, and we only care about the Yankees and occasionally Tampa Bay. You’re a naive idiot to think that there aren’t White Sox fans heckling your players right now down by home plate, or anytime you play on the road. You’re a fucking fool.” The best part was his friend who is an Angels fans actually agreed with me.

Apparently it’s a complete one sided rivalry. They hate the Red Sox cause we roll them out of the playoffs regularly. To us, it’s like playing the Knicks in basketball. It’s always fun to beat the Knicks, and as much as people try to make a rivalry out of it, there isn’t one. That’s the bottom line. One sided rivalries are pretty dumb, especially out here. Stick with Basketball you fake ass LA fans. It’s the only thing you should even attempt to be proud about.

Definitely going to give the nod to the Dodgers fans. The surprisingly (or not at all surprising) have more class than the rich d-bags from Orange County who go to Angels games.

Overall, I would definitely rather go to a Dodgers game. Better hot dogs, fans, and cheaper tickets. Also it’s a nice departure to watch NL ball from all the AL ball I’m used to. It’s also incredibly easy to get to and from Dodger stadium as there’s a bus that takes you directly there from Union station which is like seven minutes away. I’ll give the Angels one thing though; they had a night where they wanted to set the Guinness World Record for most number of people wearing costumed masks, which allowed me to live a dream: drink beer with a Luchador mask on.

AYYYEEEEYAYAYAYAYAYAYA! Notice there is another Red Sox fan in the background to the right. We rep even at Angels - White Sox games.

• Jay-Z – Brooklyn’s Finest

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Food trucks are something that definitely is lacking in Boston. I’m not sure how it would work out there really, maybe do well on college campuses, but everything is close enough together that there isn’t really a need or culture for it. Out here it’s a pretty big culture and this past weekend I went to the Food Truck Festival in Santa Anita, Arcadia with a few friends. It was pretty…AWESOME.

80 trucks are at the festival which is held at the horse track in Santa Anita. They get all the trucks on the infield of the track, which is actually a really nice space. Nice big green lawns, tons of space, places to sit, a fountain, and they had two stages set up with bands playing music on opposite ends. There are a lot of different types of foods you can get there too. Pretty much anything you can think of. There’s Indian, Thai, Mexican, ice cream and other desserts, and just so many options I can’t even think of them. Trust me, it was almost egregious, but definitely awesome and gluttonous that there were so many options there.

Trucks in the infield

So there was a lot of this kinda stuff, just lots of trucks lined up everywhere, and lots of nice green space. Some trucks had incredibly long lines, like the Boba Truck and the Grilled Cheese Truck, both of which were pretty amazing. Some of the trucks have some kinda weird crazy designs on them, or names, but by far the best truck was a meatball truck called Great Balls on Tires. Absolutely hilarious. Basically they do all meatballs and meatball related items. Amazing, so amazing. Some pictures of the hilarity all over their truck:

The front of the Great Balls truck. Oh so hilarious.

Great Balls menu. Hehehehe.

That right there is some comic genius. The three trucks I got food from were: Grilled Cheese Truck, The Boba Truck, and the Lardon truck. The Lardon truck is basically heaven on wheels. We’ll get to it in a bit.

The Boba Truck

The Boba Truck was pretty awesome. For some reason there’s a lot of sub-par boba in DTLA, which is probably due to there being a number of places selling boba that just shouldn’t be. It’s also hard to find some of the good, more traditionally Asian flavors.

TBT had them all though, and it was awesome to get a Thai Iced Tea boba from them. It was perfect, and the boba was the right color, texture, and taste, which was fantastic. The line was ridiculously long though, and I waited for about an hour to get one…but for good boba it is necessary. While this truck had the best boba I’ve had in LA, it still wasn’t as good as the boba from the Lollicup stand in the Super 88 in Allston. So if you’re in Boston and want good boba, go there…and that entire food court is full of amazing awesome Asian food.

Grilled Cheese Truck

The Grilled Cheese Truck is pretty damn amazing. It’s exactly what you think it is, all grilled cheese, including one or two dessert style grilled cheeses (they aren’t really grilled cheese, just grilled AWESOMENESS).

We got the Cheesy Mac and Rib grilled cheese which was pretty amazing. It’s white bread grilled cheese, with sharp cheddar, pulled pork, caramelized onions, and mac and cheese on it. MAC AND CHEESE ON A GRILLED CHEESE. My mind was blown. It was pretty damn good. Nice sweetness from the pulled pork and caramelized onions, and pretty awesome overall cheesyness. I ate a half and it sat like a brick. My only thing was I am picky about my Mac and Cheese, and that was the only thing I thought could have been better, that and salted butter on the outside of the bread when it was grilled. Those are minor things though, and it was one of the best grilled cheeses ever. Oh, don’t get the tomato soup, it’s glorified marinara.

Mac and Cheese grilled cheese with glorious pulled pork.

The Lardon Truck

The Lardon Truck = HEAVEN. It’s all BACON ITEMS (BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACON!!!!!). WHAT COULD BE BETTER?! Nothing, that’s right, nothing. We all know it. Just look at their menu. It’s artery clogging item after item sent directly from heaven from a magical magical animal. So amazing.

We got some chocolate chip bacon cookies which were pretty good, but you couldn’t really taste the bacon. They just had a nice saltiness to them to compliment the sweetness of the cookie. The brownie with bacon and nutella spread was pretty amazing. Super chocolatey and you tasted a little bit of the hazelnut from the nutella, and then GLORIOUS BACON. Definitely check out Vosges chocolate bars if you want to try a bacon chocolate bar. It’s pretty damn awesome, and amazing as well.

Definitely the piece de resistance of the Lardon truck is the BACO TACO. It’s a taco made with nice thick cut bacon weave for the taco shell and filled with potatoes and cheddar. So unbelievably amazing. It’s also served with a side of horseradish bacon sour cream. I’m not a sour cream fan, but A) it had bacon in it, and B) it was DELICIOUS with the taco. This “Baco Taco” if you (I definitely will), is probably one of the single greatest creations ever. Move over the wheel, electricity, the automobile, and the internet, the Baco Taco is number one.

Pure heaven.

The Food Truck Festival is a pretty amazing thing to be able to go to, and it happens multiple times a year so it’s awesome knowing you can alway go back, even if you didn’t get to try something. It was also awesome being there while they did the horse races, as I’d never been to one, and that was pretty cool to see the horses round the certain parts of the track.

The best truck there? Definitely the Lardon truck. Another reason it was so awesome was the owner who had an amazing exchange with one of my friends. It went as follows:

“How’s it going?’

Lardon Owner (holding a beer): “Well, it’s 11am, the suns out, I’m gonna get loaded, and sell some people some bacon. I’m living the dream.”

Only in California.

• 2Pac – To Live and Die in LA

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There are probably many posts I should write…but I went to a place that was almost EpicMealTime style…so epic I had to write this first. I should also say I think I’ve eaten at most…two hamburgers since Fathers Office…but this place needs to be written about because of its incredible…well…it’s just amazing.

Let me start this story by saying the following: when you’re hurting from a long night, sometimes there is nothing better than going couch shopping with a couple friends (Harry and Mer). Literally, what could be better, you walk into a furniture store, find the most comfortable piece of furniture you can, and you sit on it and don’t move for as long as possible. Glorious, I know. So that’s exactly what I did. What I was most excited for though, was a trip to The Counter afterwards.

The Counter is in Studio City, actually very close to Ramen Jinya, but they also have a bunch of locations all over the place, including up in San Jose, and there’s one in NYC I believe. Anyways, concept is simple…it’s build your own burger…only they have enough choices that there are apparently over 300,000 combinations. Awesome, I know. The place itself is like a restaurant 2.0. Very clean space, clean lines, sleek metal chairs, nice bar to sit at, and a nice light blue and grey color combination running throughout. They also have some really good beers on tap…and the bar tender was really nice, albeit the most emo person I’ve ever interacted with in my life.

So you start by choosing what kind of meat you want, choices are pretty standard, normal hamburger, turkey, veggie, and they have a market selection for the month under each category. February’s was bison. You also choose the weight of your burger so and they start with 1/3 of a pound all the way up to a pound by 1/3rd increments. In theory you could get a multiple pound burger. I will do that next time.

Choose your meat, the weight of the burger, then you have a whole myriad of cheeses to choose from. After that there is an entire section of .50 cent toppings, and then another section full of $1.00 toppings. Then you choose a sauce which comes on the side…and there are something like 17 different sauces to choose from. After that you choose what kind of bun you want. Market selection stuff for February if I remember correctly was bison, ciabatta bun, Kalmatta olive spread, and smoked Gouda. Pretty awesome.

Not gonna lie, I was so overwhelmed by all the options I had to ask emo bartender where to begin, and he gave me good advice which was to start with what you consider a normal burger and then change things around. I went with the following: 2/3 pound hamburger (FUCKING RAAAAAAAGE, definitely getting one pound burger next time), smoked Gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, sauteed mushrooms, Kalmatta olive spread, smoked bacon (BAAAAAAAAAAAAACON?!?!?!), and a fried egg. I created a monster.

(Check this out, it actually sums up my sandwich making approach pretty well. This is really funny too and worth reading.)

The burger comes and they didn’t even put the bun on it it was so big and ridiculous. I should have taken a photo, my fault. Anyways, it looked glorious and I couldn’t wait to conquer this ridiculous creation of mine. One weird thing about counter…their medium is actually a medium rare…and their medium rare is actually rare…which means their rare must be raw. Remember that if you ever go.

Fried egg was cooked over east…eh, not my preference with how to cook a fried egg (not a runny yolk fan) but as soon as I squished the bun on top the yolk broke. CRISIS!!!! except it some how ran off of the burger barely touching anything else and pooled on the plate away from the bun. Crisis adverted. So I squished this thing down and went after it. I couldn’t take a full bite of it it was so big, I basically had to eat the top half and bottom half in alternating bites. It. Was. GLORIOUS. The medium cooked burger was a perfect medium rare. Good juicy burger, great toppings. I created a monster of AWESOMENESS. My one thing though was the smoked Gouda was actually an imported processed cream Gouda and tasted more like smoked American cheese than what a real smoked Gouda tastes like. (We actually got some at Cottage once and were amazed by how wrong it tasted but couldn’t stop eating it.)

The Monster of Awesome started to fall apart on me and I had to put it down…which meant I wasn’t going to be able to pick it back up, so I actually ended up pulling a Nick Escallon and ate the burger with a fork and knife from there on out. Slowly I finished the entire thing…and felt like a champion. Then I became incredibly distressed in the belly from being so full and basically couldn’t move. That didn’t stop me from getting a red velvet cake frappe though which was glorious also. So delicious. They blended an entire slice of cake into it.

All in all, The Counter was awesome. It was definitely a really good burger, but it’s not on Father’s Office level. I’m not sure anything will ever be as good as The Office Burger. I also did enjoy a very distressed, plodding walk down and up subway stairs and then home afterwards. Talk about getting food coma, I pretty much passed out in 15 minutes after getting home.

• Musical Youth – Pass the Duchie

(Just so we’re clear a Duchie is a bowl of food.)

Since I know you were all thinking of this though, I will leave you with this:

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A post, that isn’t a real post, but yet…is still a post. I’ll write something real, soon, probably after the Super Bowl. Till then, enjoy these random photos I’ve come across.

BAAAAAAAAAAAACON?! Yes it's a bacon nativity scene.

Clever. Cg might be my favorite.

Brilliant.

For those of you stuck in the snow...

It's true too.

One of the funnier things I've read recently.

• Arrested Development – Mr. Wendal

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The big three: Pizza, Subs, Chicken Fingers.

All three: MURDERED IN LA.

It blows my mind that three foods that are so simple and delicious, are so terribly butchered out here. I think in a way the pizza situation is the worst because it’s everywhere, and it’s terrible everywhere. I’ve actually stopped looking for chicken fingers because I expect them to be terrible, and as far as subs go out here….get a burrito.

Sadly, some of the consistently best pizza out here is Dominoes. Terrible, I know, but the reason why it’s actually good out here, is because you always know what you’re going to get, which I always thought was overrated until I tried to eat pizza out here. Apparently there’s a new pizza place called Toddy G’s which is kinda far away, but supposed to be awesome, and they deliver. Their one downside is that they only open at 5pm. I guess in theory there could be other downsides, but I haven’t tried their za yet. There are a few places like Upper Crust out here, but I haven’t tried them, partially cause I need to know it’s good before I’m gonna drop 20 bucks on a pie.

The whole pizza situation made Mike and I think about all the commercial pizza we’ve eaten, and we both realized that Little Caesars is just as mythical on the east coast as Sonic is. You see the ads all the time….BUT WHERE ARE THEY?! You never see them, they are mythical creatures in the world of commercial pizza. Anyways, DAMN YOU LA. Get pizza right, it’s not that hard. I already miss pizza from WHOP (Wellesley House of Pizza), which was my last meal before I left. Greek za = delicious. I also say that New York style pizza isn’t really anything special because it’s completely misnamed and should be called Roman style pizza, since they were the ones that originated that style of pizza. Trust me, on this one, I had an hour long conversation about pizza with an Italian guy who loves pizza when I was in Italy. I leave the debate open to anyone who wants to be wrong.

I did have one exceptionally good pizza since I’ve been out here though, and that was when I was hanging out with Adam out in Santa Monica. We had pizza from Joe’s pizza (I think that was the name), and it was DELICIOUS. Definitely lived up to East Coast expectations with the whole pizza situation and it was awesome to have something good like that, as if it was from home.

It was awesome to have some pizza from WHOP before I left, but it was also awesome to get some chicken fingers from Mark’s. Despite the change in ownership of Mark’s a number of years ago, the one thing that has remained unbelievable, and arguably the best in Wellesley (or Massachusetts), are the chicken fingers. They still remain unbelievable. I’m convinced they do a combination of broasting them and deep frying to get them crispy, but they are so tender, juicy, and delicious, and they have the best honey mustard. So good and amazing. I miss them so much right now.

I’ve had chicken fingers a few places out here, and it’s just… sub-par. Casey’s the Irish bar downtown, has chicken fingers…kind of, but they are like…clearly processed or something…because they are all round and spherical, not like chicken nuggets. Anyways, not good, they didn’t taste that good, and ultimately poor. I would think Big Wangs would have good chicken fingers, but after trying fingers from a few different places, I just don’t even want to bother anymore. It’s sad and depressing. Chicken fingers are a staple of good snack deliciousness etc etc. Sad face that they ruin it out here with poor cooking skills/breading/frying/etc etc etc. Again, this isn’t something that’s hard to make good. Dip that shit in some buttermilk and then toss it in some seasoned all purpose flour and deep fry that shit, and it’ll be DELICIOUS. Stop doing whatever West Coast bullshit you’re pulling on chicken fingers out here (I’m pretty sure an avocado is involved) and get it right, it’s not hard.

Ohhhhhh the sub situation out here is awful. Don’t even think about trying to find a good Italian sub (or sub in general) out here, it does not exist. Places out here, for some inexplicable reason, but regular ham in the Italian subs, and put MAYO in them. Let me be clear here…MAYO IS DISGUSTING. IT IS TERRIBLE AND FOUL. WHY WOULD YOU RUIN A SANDWICH WITH IT?! You want to know why America is fat? FUCKING MAYO IS THE REASON WHY AMERICA IS FAT, AND THEY PUT IT ON EVERY FUCKING SANDWICH YOU GET OUT HERE. IT’S FUCKING DISGUSTING. STOP IT LA. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!

This situation made eating subs from Linden and Tutto Italiano that much more awesome. Different places, but both master their craft in their own right. I would put Tutto ahead of Linden, simply because the quality of the Italian ingredients they use is superior to Tutto. Linden is better at the more traditional sub fare though, and they have pretty awesome bread. I dunno, it’s a toss up, but what I did have that was incredible out here, was a Godmother from Bay City Deli out in Santa Monica. Again, courtesy of Adam, who knows what’s up. They got that shit right out here, and it’s a delicious Italian sub, WITHOUT MAYO!!! YAY!!!!

But in the end, get a burrito instead out here. I know it’s completely different, but it’s probably the best move, even though Anna’s is still better. Santa Monica you hold the crown for pizza and subs out here. Too bad it takes like an hour via bus to get out to you. It’s also too bad that three of the greatest, simplest foods, are ruined out here. SHAME.

Home WIN! LA FAIL.

• The Disco Biscuits – Home Again

(I recommend headphones for this one, otherwise the bass will drop out.)

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(Wrote this post before going home, and now finishing it/posting it while I am 30,000 feet in the air. Booyah!)

If you know me, you know I tend to fly off the handle when it comes to stupidity, especially in situations like the one I’m currently in (traveling during holiday seasons). Thus, I decided not to return home for Thanksgiving, as I would have had to fly on the busiest travel day of the year (i.e. I burn an airport to the ground). I know the Thanksgiving is all about family and friends etc. but I have to say it was pretty awesome to be on my own for it. I had class till late on Wednesday before so it really made getting anywhere pretty much impossible.

There’s a restaurant on 7^th called Bottega Louie that looks like something more or less straight out of the ancient Roman Empire. Marble floors, gold trim, high ceilings, just straight baller basically. That’s how Caesar rolled anyway so you know (ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!). I was looking for somewhere to get a traditional Thanksgiving meal from and after looking at a couple places I settled on Bottega Louie’s Thanksgiving prefix menu.

I have to say, it was incredible. It was definitely one of those meals that you preemptively unbuckle your pants for. Three and a half pounds of food all in all and it was easily one of the best Thanksgiving meals I’ve ever had.

Butternut Squash Soup

I opted for the soup first and I have to say, it was exactly what I thought it would be: DELICIOUS. It actually reminded me a lot of the soup my mom makes, so that was good. Nice texture and good sweetness with a good balance of salty and natural sweetness from the squash. I have to say, it was an excellent way to start the meal.

Turkey

I’m not a big turkey fan. In fact, every year I like turkey less and less…till this year. This turkey was so good that it pretty much completely restored my faith in turkey. There was a good mix of light and dark meat (about a pound total, maybe more) and it was so succulent, well salted, crispy skinned, well spiced, and overall delicious that it possibly could have done what bacon (BAAAAAAAAAAAACON?!) does to every vegetarian: make them want to eat it (don’t lie you vegan hippies. Bacon is delicious and there’s no way the smell of bacon being cooked doesn’t make you want to feast on it). This turkey was perfect. No salt needed, no pepper needed, just glorious turkey.

Stuffing

The stuffing was great. Classic sausage stuffing. My one thing about it was that they put cranberries, and I think a few walnuts in there. Now I’m not a big fan of mixing salty and sweet (I hate it when maple syrup touches my bacon (BAAAAAAAACON?!)), but this was awesome, and I was more than willing to overlook the possible tainting of my stuffing because it was so delicious. Nice big chunks of bread, and everything was so well mixed together, and cooked to perfection. Again, no need for salt or pepper.

Roasted Vegetable Medley

Brussel sprouts, turnips, onions, and probably something else that I can’t remember. Glorious. You have to eat your veggies and they were great. Well salted, cooked nicely, and crisp and flavorful. Good selection of herbs, and they were definitely roasted with the turkey so they had turkey flavoring all over them (drool). Amazing.

Mashed Potatoes

The mashed potatoes were awesome. Made with lots of butter and cream. So creamy and delicious. They were still light and fluffy despite the tons of butter and cream that had to be in it in order to make it so good. What more can I really say about the mashed potatoes except they were amazing.

Candied Yams

The yams were pretty amazing. Candied with brown sugar and marshmallow sauce/cream it was truly delicious and amazing. I generally am not a sweet and savory mixing person, but it was pretty awesome to alternate savory bites with the awesome sugary yams. They were cut into fairly big chunks, and it was just super delicious and amazing.

Cranberry Sauce

This sauce was not like the crappy can stuff, it was awesome. Nice big pieces of cranberry, and it wasn’t overly sweet. They did a really good job of maintaining the tartness of the cranberries. I didn’t use the sauce though, I actually ended up buying some vanilla ice cream to eat the cranberry sauce with and it was super delicious that way.

Gravy

Awesome gravy. Exactly what I wanted it to be and I put it on EVERYTHING. Well everything that wasn’t sweet. It was truly gravy.

All in all, definitely one of the best Thanksgiving meals I’ve ever had, and the bottle of wine was good too. I sat in front of the TV, and basically ate and watched football the entire day till I passed out. The best part of Thanksgiving alone with a feast and football?

Eating with no pants on.

• The Foreign Exchange – The Williams (Remix) (Nicolay and Supastition)

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(We’re gonna go backwards here for a moment and do a Christmas post before the Thanksgiving post. Deal with it.)

I’m sitting in an airport cafe at 10:30 in the morning on a rainy Tuesday. This fucking hell hole of a city shuts down when it starts to rain and it’s unbelievable how unequipped the entire city of Los Angeles is for something as simple as rain. People, businesses, drivers, everyone acts as if the world is ending. It’s pathetic to say the least. Grow a pair, it’s fucking water. My flight is delayed by an hour and a half and that’s why I’m sitting here with the time (for the first in a while) to write a new blog post.

On the way to LAX Jonny and I were listening to NPR on the radio as they talked about how tens of thousands of people are without power, the fear of mudslides (that’s legit, can’t pin that one on LA), and there were four kids, 18-20, who got stranded cause they went hiking, and the rain made the river flood so they couldn’t return to their car (fucking asshats, why would you go hiking in a rainstorm?). They are now in the process of being rescued and airlifted to medical attention etc.

Further proof of LA’s pathetic incapability to handle simple weather, I helped Jonny move stuff out of Art Center after his graduation show, and the school is fucking leaking everywhere. There’s more water indoors at that school than there is in an indoor diving center. It’s pretty ridiculous. The anorexic girl in the hallway probably drowned.

Enough of my griping about the weather situation, let’s move on to what is another problem with this city is: the complete lack of any real semblance of Christmas. Last year I realized that I really do like Christmas as a holiday. Of course, I suppose that was situational, but still, I do like it. Normally I am relatively indifferent about the holiday season (as I am with most things, probably a function of being fairly cynical. Jerome recently told me I’m like the bitter 90 year old New Englander who moved to LA) but this year I was actually looking forward to Christmas only to be met with…85 degree heat and clear skies in the middle of December before this (apparently debilitating) rain started in LA.

The weather alone is one factor that has made these weeks leading up to Christmas feel like I’m living in a country that doesn’t celebrate it. That’s not to say you don’t see your fair share of wreaths, and Christmas decorations (especially up in Pasadena where people tend to overdo it). Sunny, warm to hot, or relatively warm and rainy…does not constitute Christmas by any means. You need biting cold, snow, and the inability to want to venture outside for even the simplest of things. Then you know it’s Christmas.

Downtown LA however, does its best with a few different measures to try to make it feel like it is Christmas in the godforsaken cesspool that is LA. Over by 7^th and fig where Gold’s is they put out these:

Those are balls.

All I will say, is look at the size of those balls, and imagine the size of the man. (Thank you Señor Escallon for the joke that has now lasted over a decade.)

Not only are there giant Christmas ornaments chilling around DTLA, there’s also two outdoor ice skating rinks. I saw the one down at LA live where it does actually feel like Christmas (in the slightest way possible). The LA Live area during the holiday season is impressive to say the least. More after the pictures.

The Ice Rink at LA Live courtesy of the LA Kings

The rink and tree...pretty dope.

The rink is impressive. Not only that, the novelty of being able to ice skate outdoors in a t-shirt and shorts is awesome. I didn’t go for it, I haven’t been ice skating since I was probably nine or ten, and I was meeting Adam and Rayna before they hit up the Clippers-Magic game (they got a sweet deal, 60 dollars for great seats plus free jerseys). Still, LA Live did it right. The skating rink, lots of decorations, the giant light Christmas tree, and tons of small Santa village style stuff floating around the main area of LA Live.

While that was probably Los Angeles’ best attempt at Christmas spirit, I can’t deny two opposing aspects. One, it’s kind of awesome having great weather in December. It makes walking around enjoyable (read I sat and sunned myself, something I never do, in the middle of December, simply because I could), and being the New Englander that I am I can make fun of people wearing winter coats out here when it’s 52 degrees. On the other side, it definitely doesn’t feel like the holiday season without the cold, the snow, and the general theme of the holidays prevalent because of the lack of weather, seasons etc. that’s needed to make it feel like winter.

What blows my mind is how do people believe in Santa Claus out here? (Sans my cousins who I ruined that one for; a story for another time.) I mean, you look at everything that’s shown on television about Christmas…it’s all snow, Santa wearing a big winter suit, a sleigh, reindeer, THE NORTH POLE…I mean none of that shit exists in LA unless you’re one of the crack heads roaming DTLA tripping on ketamine. Aside from media brainwashing over this holiday, how do California kids not grow up thinking that Santa Claus is a surfer who regularly uses the words “bro” and “hella”, wears board shorts, sunglasses all the time, and probably surfs from rooftop to rooftop? Thanks LA, I think you contribute to the huge notion (that is fairly true) that SoCal melts people’s brains with sunshine. If I ever lose my edge (mentally, and physically, cause we all know I’m world’s strongest man) tell me.

Anyways, as I sit here, feeling warmth that isn’t real, looking at fake pine wreaths and decorations all around me at an LAX terminal, I can’t help but think that I’m headed back to a place where I once took for granted. The grass is always greener somewhere else I suppose, and I’m not saying I’ve given up on life in California, just LA seemingly has proven itself time and time again to fall short in more ways than one, and just once, I wish LA could do something on a level that is respectable, appreciative, and right.

Of course, I’m a bitter, 90 year old curmudgeon New Englander, and probably too much of Boston homer to ever acknowledge or credit LA if it did ever manage to get it right. That being said, I’m not wrong

• Scarface – My Block

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When I was working at Cottage my old boss/head chef/GM Todd has a daughter, Jill, who’s nasty at gymnastics. We used to talk about how she did at meets etc, and whether she beat the Asian girl who seemed to be her main competition. (ASIANS. WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?!?!?!!?) Anyways, she is really good, and you guys should check out her web page here. Below is a video that Todd made with music by the guys Lansdowne. Check both out, and support Jill, she’s really good and who knows, she could be the next Keri Strug…gold medal and all…sans the broken foot.

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I don’t watch MTV anymore. I think it’s definitely something that appeals to you when you’re in high school, early college, or if you still have a crush on Real World etc (*cough* Tzelnic *cough*). However, HOWEVER, possibly the greatest thing to come out of MTV since the earlier Real World seasons (I know this will be a heavily contended point because of Jersey Shore) is definitely Rob and Big.

Let me tell you bout my beeeest friend...

The show ran from 2006-2008 and is a masterpiece of reality television. I actually had completely forgot about it until I found that there was a marathon on MTV2 on Thanksgiving day. Amazing. It basically follows the lives/shenanigans of Rob Dyrdek and his friend Christopher “Big Black” Boykins who is also his bodyguard. Rob is a professional skateboarder who (I couldn’t find online verification of this, but this is my understanding) helped create the DC shoe line, and has made many skateboarding companies reputable through his designs/consultation. His Wiki page is less than helpful to say the least, but is an interesting read. He’s also holds a number of skateboarding records in the Guinness Book of World Records. Big Black, simply put, is the man, and also holds a few Guinness records, for I believe, the most number of bananas peeled and eaten in a minute, and the most powdered sugar donuts eaten in a minute.

What makes this show good is there probably isn’t a better comedy tandem then these two. I mean, come on, a small white dude and a giant black dude? What could be better? That alone is visually funny. To top it off they play really well off of each other and on their own are two pretty hilarious individuals. When put together it’s just gravy. The dialog between the Rob and Big is excellent, and both of them are very quotable, with Big Black’s “Do work son!” probably being the most remembered quote from the show. There are also other characters who appear on the show like Rob’s cousin Drama, and Big Black’s friend Bam Bam, but it’s really Rob and Big who make the show so amazingly hilarious. They also have three pets (although I could only find a photo of them with two of them), two dogs named Meaty and Beefy, and a mini horse that is simply called…Mini, or Mini G.

A little warm up into what you’re getting into:

I’m just gonna go ahead and say this now, this post probably isn’t going to be funny to anyone who hasn’t seen the show, but I urge you to watch some of it as it is comedic genius. (And yes I did actually write some of this stuff down while watching the marathon so I could then write what’s coming next). I now give you, some amazing scenarios from the show, that will undoubtedly make you want to watch it.

Poop in the Pool

SOMEONE POOPS IN THEIR POOL (who does that?), so Rob goes on a quest to find out who it is, and get some security for their house in the Hollywood Hills. To this day people who’ve watched the show still don’t know who did it as they never said, but Big Black on his Twitter feed has announced that once he reaches 30,000 followers (he’s about 2250 away) he’ll reveal who did it. This is one of several amazing exchanges from the episode:

Rob: Were either of you swimming today? (to Big Black and Bam Bam)

Big Black: Come on dude, we’re black guys. Black guys don’t swim.

Amazing.

A clip from the purchasing of a net gun for protection:

“The net gun’s pretty hot. It’s the new mace.”

Big Black Goes Back to Stripping

Big Black reveals that when he was younger he used to be a male stripper. Amazing. The episode then follows the two of them as Big Black decides to come out of retirement for one last performance. We follow the two as they go to get Big Black a wig, and learn some new dance moves. Needless to say the episode culminates with a priceless clip of Big Black on stage. Some awesome lines from the episode:

Big Black: Stripping’s like riding a bike…once you ride that bike you always got skills.

Big Black: (while wig shopping) That wigs hot, but I need that Rick James look right now.

Rob walks into the kitchen and he and Drama watch Big Black get oiled up by this girl on patio by the pool:

Rob: Oh my god. Does he know anyone is home right now? Why is he getting oiled? Why isn’t he in his bedroom?

Drama: He can’t see, it’s like a one way mirror.

Rob: It is a one way mirror. Why is he in a g-string right now?

Drama: Why is it purple?

Another great part about this show is simply the fact that Rob has enough money to basically do whatever he wants, and act upon an random impulsive idea he gets, which creates some awesome awesome situations and hilarious moments. He also has an alter ego called “Bobby Light” and he decides to make a music video in one episode of this song that he, Drama, Big and Bam Bam write called “Dirty Girl”.

I mean…this is amazing. To be able to have enough money to just do whatever you want and have fun all the time sounds (and clearly is) amazing. I know I am not doing the show any justice by putting these random exchanges and clips in, but it’s incredibly funny, hilarious, and captivating. They also pull of some stuff like Rob getting arrested to freak out his parents, and he gives away his old car in a “SK8” competition. There’s also an episode about time travel. YES. (My love/desire for a murdered out car also started here.)

Anyways, this show is hilarious, and I urge you all to watch it. I think you can watch full episodes online at mtv.com but I’m not 100% sure. What I do know is this, you wont be disappointed. Especially with the episode where they go to Mexico. I will leave you with three last things:

1. If anyone decides they want to buy me the DVD’s for Christmas, I would love all three seasons which you can get at Amazon.com split into seasons 1+2 and then season 3.

2. Some awesome photos of the two of them I found online:

Awesome.

Rob, Big, Mini Horse, and Meaty

Bandits. Hilarious.

Rob and Big doing their version of the Death Row Records photo.

3. Why I need a Luchador (Lucha Libre) mask, and where my obsession with obtaining one started:

Hilarious. Amazing. All of the above.

• Rob and Big Theme Song (by Harry Nilsson) – My Best Friend

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So when John was out here the only thing he was adamant about doing was going on a Star Tour. A Star Tour is a tour of celebrity homes. If you know John, this is no surprise as we have spent countless hours driving around Wellesley looking at the many ridiculous houses that populate the town, and houses in the surrounding areas.

The tour leaves from Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which is famous and located right on Hollywood Blvd. on the main strip of the walk of fame etc. I’m not sure if I’ve accurately described the area before, but it is one giant tourist trap. It’s pretty safe to say that everyone walking around there is a tourist and it’s a pretty ridiculous scene to take in. There are lots of people milling around constantly, and you have to stop to watch out for people who are kneeling down to take photos with different celebrities stars on the walk of fame. It’s annoying to say the least, and everything is much more expensive. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is also located right there, and it’s kind of creepy as fuck.

Anyways, for roughly 40 bucks you can do a tour of celebrity homes. Words to describe the Star Tour: embarrassing, invasive, shameless.

Embarrassing

Embarrassing thing #1:

The tour is embarrassing for so many reasons. It first starts with an announcement in front of the theater. Nothing makes you feel like a tourist more than that. We waited in front of the theater for a while before this soft spoken older guy with a lot of tattoos collected our tickets and led us back to the vans we’d be taking.

Embarrassing thing #2:

The vans. The vans are embarrassing. They are 10 foot vans with the roof and mid section cut down so it’s basically one giant convertible…with STAR TOURS written all over it. Jesus. There are four rows of seats holding three people each, and you wear a headset so the driver can talk to you while you drive around. The looks you get from people walking around on the streets are enough to make you want to crawl under a rock and hide there till you die. It’s pretty bad.

Embarrassing thing #3:

The driver. Really bad jokes, and you’re just embarrassed to know him.

Invasive

Invasive thing #1:

When you drive by a house, you slow down or stop. I mean…really? Like I guess that’s how you’d do it anywhere, but…it’s just invasive as fuck. There really is no other way to show someone a celebrities home sadly.

Invasive thing #2:

When you stop in front of a house to look at it the driver usually tells some story or something about it. That’s fine I guess but what makes it worse is the fact that anyone standing around the fan can hear it…and the driver like veers into a parking spot in front of the house or blocks the driveway. Gotta hope no one is gonna reverse out. PLUS THE VAN HAS STAR TOURS WRITTEN ALL OVER IT.

Shameless

Shameless thing #1:

We parked outside of the Menendez brother’s house. The Menendez brother’s basically, long story short, killed their parents for their money. Anyways, we’re sitting outside of this house, blocking the driveway as the driver is telling us this story, and there are people outside, all around the house doing work to it. Absolutely shameless.

Shameless thing #2:

Stopping on major roads, with traffic behind you, to point out something that most people don’t know or really care about. Shameless. There are cars that honk as you slow down etc. Shameless. Did I mention we were in a giant van with STAR TOURS written all over it?

Shameless thing #3:

Stopping at random intersections and turning around, at random angles, to catch a glimpse of the roof/chimney of Tom Cruise’s house. Shameless. If that’s all we can see it’s not really worth it at all now is it? I guess you can say you’ve seen it, but…really? Shameless.

Ultimately, there were some cool things to see like cruising down Rodeo Drive, but at the same time, because of the fucking van we were in and the driver that was also incredibly embarrassing and shaming. We did see some ridiculous houses belonging to Bob Barker, Christina Aguilera, Nicholas Cage, David Beckham, and Orlando Bloom, but was it worth the shaming? Probably not. It would have been better to get a car and a map and do the driving on our own.

There were some non-celebrity related stuff that we saw that was cool too, like the Hollywood sign, and there’s an outlook point that you can look down onto the city and the Hollywood Bowl. We also passed the Griddle Cafe which was cool to see again, and the house that I thought was the Iron Man house, is actually a house that Steven Spielberg used to live in.

Was the Star Tour worth it? I guess. It was an experience. Discretion with the whole thing would be better. Like I said it would definitely be better to cruise around with your own car/map and do it if you really want to see it. Probably the whole mentality of the fact that a celebrity owns the house changes the feel of just driving around and looking at random baller houses, or the fact that we were in a van that was one giant advertisement, but I wish it had had that feel of just driving around Wellesley and checking out the ridiculous houses that exist there too.

By and large the best way to do what we did is to watch Cribs. Word.

• Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up