Theme Night

An idea popped into my head while I was roaming around the grounds of the Huntington Library yesterday thinking about how much I love being there.  The Huntington Library is a beautiful and serene haven with acres of gardens, art galleries, and a library with ancient and rare books.  

(I usually don't bring my camera because when I am there I like to relax and experience everything in the moment, but yesterday I snapped a few shots.  I am a blogger now after all.)

I first visited the Huntington on an Easter Sunday a few months after I moved to LA.  Those first few months were hard.  Very hard.  I absolutely hated living here.   To this girl from Maine the streets were dirty; the people were mean; and everything was way too expensive.  The Huntington Library was an oasis discovery.  I felt as if I had stepped out of Mordor and into the Shire.  Ahem… sorry.  The Huntington has been a favorite – if not the favorite – local destination ever since.

The idea?  I YFridays.  Or more appropriately, I Y blank Fridays. When I “discover” some fantastic experience I have a compulsion to share it with as many people as I can.  I suppose Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, would call me a maven.  So, every Friday here in For Tomorrow We Die, I will feature a thing, place, person, or idea (also known as a noun) that I Y.

I YFridays will not feature exclusively LA-specific  people, places, things, or ideas; however, I’m sure many of the posts will.  For those of you living in LA, maybe I YFridays will give you some ideas for new things to try.  For those of you not living in LA, maybe it will give you some reasons to come visit me!  I happen to be a born tour guide.  It goes along with the whole maven thing.

{ I Y The Huntington. }

Birthday Season

Every year between March and June is Birthday Season in the Office of Probation (my department at the State Bar).  My coworkers and I are a festive bunch and we make sure each birthday is celebrated with pageantry, gifts, and of course, lunches.  Yesterday we celebrated my birthday at Wurstküche in the arts district of downtown.

Sausage and Beer, my friends.  Lots of sausage and beer.  Sausage made with every kind of meat you can imagine: buffalo, rattlesnake, rabbit, duck, alligator, etc.  They combine these exotic meats with lots of fun flavor combinations such as mango with jalapeño, apricot with ginger, and sun dried tomato with mozzarella. Wurstküche offers a few vegetarian and vegan sausages as well.

My boss and I each had half of the mango and jalapeno sausage and half of the rabbit, veal and pork sausage seasoned with white wine.  What’s German for muy delicioso?

This was my very last birthday lunch of my very last birthday season.  I savored every bite – not just of the food, but of the conversation, the camaraderie, the familiarity.  As much as I will miss my friends at the Bar, I am chomping at the bit to start the adventure that begins on my last day.

One of the many beautifully graffitied buildings near Wurstküche.