Using Discount Coupons to Try New Restaurants: Bronzed Aussie

I joined Amazon Local and bought an $11 certificate for $22 worth of food from a restaurant called Bronzed Aussie in downtown Los Angeles. The restaurant specializes in small meat and vegetarian pies, and I was craving a pot pie, so we decided to try it.

Bronzed Aussie is located near the fashion district in DTLA. In a courtyard surrounded by new lofts, the restaurant location is a quiet contrast to the hustle and bustle of the fashion district. Unfortunately, one hour of street parking costs $4, which added to the overall cost, making it less of a deal than anticipated. But it's good to try something new right?

The restaurant decor is spare with a few tables, a counter, and a glass cabinet that displayed the kinds of food available. When we walked in, there was only one couple ahead of us and no one was eating at the restaurant. I was thinking that this place is probably relatively undiscovered, hence the willingness to give out half off coupons. After we ordered the ground beef pie, the chunky beef pie, lattes, an apple pie, and fish and chips, we sat down to wait for our food. Next thing I know, customers trickled in one after another, and soon there was a steady line of customers placing orders and the two ladies working the counter and register got their hands full taking orders and serving food. Luckily, the pies were already made and sitting in the oven. It didn't take long to serve the food.

The meat pies were very tasty. The fillings were savory and the pie crust was flaky. They hit a spot for sure, and I felt guilty because I am sure I ruined my diet by eating this comfort food. We didn't try the vegetarian pies although I heard other customers praising the chicken mushroom pie and the Thai curry pie. The lattes were good and strong too.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend braving the horrible traffic to the fashion district, pay an exorbitant parking fee just to eat here, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood already, picking up a pie here is highly recommended. It's even better with an Amazon Local coupon.

Bronzed Aussie 
714a S Los Angeles St, Los Angeles, CA, 
1.213.243.0770

Listening to Audio Books While Driving around Los Angeles

I started listening to audio books mainly because with age, I have a hard time reading words on pages without my reading glasses, so spontaneous reading just doesn't happen anymore as it used to. I have to say though, I enjoy audio books tremendously.

I binge read/listened to five books over two weeks recently. 

A couple of weeks ago, I read In the Woods by Irish writer Tana French.  I was hooked enough that I wanted to get a hold of Tana French's four other novels. I found that Los Angeles Public Library didn't have all the books available to borrow on Overdrive e-Media. But, I did find two of French's books: The Likeness and Faithful Place available on Audible.com.  Audible is now a service provided by Amazon. However, the monthly subscription to it is $14.95 and I can only download one free book per month.  Additional books cost extra. This is a bit too steep especially if I am willing to wait for the audio books to be available for borrowing through the public library for free. However, Audible currently has a promotion that allows me to sign up, download two free audio books and cancel within one month and not be charged the monthly subscription fee if I choose. I wanted to check out Audible, so I downloaded the two free audiobooks onto my Samsung Galaxy Player. You can download it onto your tablets, ipad, or ipods, or smart phones.

Overdrive allows me to connect to many public libraries I am a member of and borrow from their extensive e-media catalog.  The drawback is that the public libraries have limited licenses to lend out the downloadable audiobooks, and I sometimes have to place a popular book on hold and wait in queue until someone returns his or her borrowed copy.  When available, I am notified by email that I can download the audio book. For the most part, this is not a problem because I can always find an available book to listen to while I put a hold on a book I want and wait patiently in queue. Once downloaded, I have three weeks to listen to the book. When the three weeks is up, the book is automatically returned to the library via the internet. I never have to worry about late fees.

Audible requires that I download an app to listen to my downloaded books. That was easy enough.  I used Playstore to download the app onto my Samsung Player. The experience was similar to Overdrive Media, quite pleasant. I own the books I downloaded and as far as I know, I don't have to return them. This makes sense: the $14.95 subscription fee allows me to own the books I download.

I did find the fourth book in the series: Broken Harbor, available as a hard back in the LA Public Library, so I read it the old fashioned way, turning the pages, with my reading glasses on. Just when I finished reading Broken Harbor, the final and most recent book by French, Secret Place, became available on Overdrive Audiobooks through the LA Public Library.

After finishing all five books, I came to the conclusion that I may like Audiobooks over reading hard copies of books, or reading e-books. The reasons? 1. I don't have to worry about not seeing the words if I don't have my reading glasses with me. 2. I can listen to the audio books anywhere: while driving, while eating lunch, while cooking, etc. 3. While I might miss some nuances during the readings if I am distracted, for the most part, I am forced to listen to every word and can get the descriptive details the author intended so much more. It is hard to jump ahead with the app not knowing what I am missing. When reading a real book though, I get so engrossed in the plot and would often skip descriptive lines or paragraphs and jump ahead just to find out what's next in the plot.

In my book, these are great reasons to listen to audio books.

Open Past Midnight: Side Show Books

After "A Letter to Momo" at the Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles, it was close to midnight. We walked out of the theatre into the dark side street where our car was parked.  A few steps away, a quaint stand alone building was lit up in the darkness with welcoming strands of mini light bulbs.  A display stand outside the open door ways announces: "SideShow Rare Remarkable Books, Art and Curiosities".

photo by Boffinart

The store that was open at midnight conjures up images of bookstores from literature such as Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, or the toy/curio store from The Invention of Hugo Cabret, where one might find books or objects that open up a new world. Here at Side Show Books, we founds old movie posters, matchbooks, old scripts, signed art books, paintings, original pulp fiction, comic books, music scores, and much more.

My daughter bought a copy of Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger for $3.  Hubby couldn't resist ponying up $150 for an old movie poster of "The Cincinnati Kid" with Steve McQueen.

Well, there weren't any real magical occurrences there or even a mysteriously ancient bookseller. Yet the fact that the store was just there, open past midnight and beckoning to the night owls, was a treat in itself.

Sideshow Books: 11323 Idaho Ave Los Angeles, CA 90025‎(310) 428-4631

Treasures of the Norton Simon Museum

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is one of those gems in Southern California that makes museum going fun to do with the family. Being a medium sized museum, it's not too time consuming to walk through and it has a fantastic collection to boot.

Located in Pasadena, The Norton Simon Museum was originally designed in 1964 by Thornton Ladd and John KelseyArchitects. Since then, it has been modified and added onto by artist Edith Heath, architects Craig Ellwood, Frank Gehry, and Gensler and Associates.

The Museum houses and amazing permanent art collection by well known artists, and has rotating exhibits of artwork from other museums' collections. Last year, we saw a wonderful collection of Hokusai's wood block prints from Japan. Currently, Lessons of the Cherry Blossom: Japanese Woodblock Prints is on exhibit until September 3, 2012. Among others, it features prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, Totoya Hokkei and Chōbunsai Eishi.

Another exhibit on display is Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life. Drawing on the Norton Simon Museum's own collections, the exhibition "explores the wealth of aesthetic and conceptual artistic strategies that challenge the shortsighted view of still life as simply an art of imitation." On display are works by Picasso, Chardin, Cezanne, and many others. The artistry of these still life paintings are just mind boggling.

Then, there is the garden of the Norton Simon Museum. Serene and intimate, the lush grounds have sculptures dotted throughout and a water feature running through the garden. It takes about 10 minutes to walk through, but you feel transported to a different world.

This is one of the most beautify and intimate museums in Southern California with a world class collection of artwork. Treat yourself and go visit the Norton Simon Museum this year.

The Norton Simon Museum
411 West Colorado Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91105-1825

Imagined Worlds: Donald Evans' World of Stamps

A while ago, my friend Julia lent me a copy of "The World of Donald Evans" by Willy Eisenhart. I liked it so much, I kept it for a couple of  years, and finally returned the book to her last year.  Because the book is so unique, I went and bought a copy of it for myself.

Donald Evans was an American artist who painted postage stamps and cataloged them in a compilation called "Catalogue of the World". The stamps are of fictitious countries with their own history, geography, climate, currency and customs.

Displayed on the pages of The World of Donald Evans are exquisitely drawn postage stamps of imagined countries in imagined worlds. Evan's attention to details can be seen in his taxonomic elaborations of his invented stamp collections. Plants, fruits and objects of one imagined country, quilt designs of another, all demonstrate the research and detail Evans placed in his art.

Stamps from the republic of Banana

Stamps of quilts from the Tropides Islands.

Check it out. One can't help but be mesmerized at the wild imagination of a non-existent yet orderly world and at the same time, be impressed with the artistry of Evans' work.

Sam Johnson's Bookshop

On Venice Boulevard, there is a used, or out-of-print book store that's been around for a while.  It's not the kind of book store that you'd think of visiting to get the newest bestseller.  Nothing there is new.  In fact, even the people who work there, or who own the store, are old folks who just seem to love old books and are having a good time hanging out at the store.

I don't know if they make money, because during the Christmas holidays when I visited, I was the only customer there at 7:00 p.m.  The owner came in and asked the cashier how much they made that day.  The lady behind the counter said that they made about $100 that day.  My purchase added another $50 to that amount, but still, that's not much. I vaguely remember that years ago, when I first visited Sam Johnson's, the owner told me that he purchased the property where the store stood so that he didn't have to deal with the cost of ever increasing rent.  So, maybe they are doing okay.

A decade ago, we were all lamenting that independent bookshops are being pushed out of business by all-in-one mega stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders with the the packaged gifts and the coffee shops. But considering that a decade later, in my neighborhood of West Los Angeles, both Barnes and Noble at the Westside Pavilion and Borders Books on Westwood Boulevard shut down, it's a wonder that the small indy stores like Sam Johnson's and another gem, Children's Book World still remains.  Maybe there is hope for independent book stores after all 

At Sam Johnson's, there are lots of out of print, or first edition books in every category.  I like the arts and  architecture sections.  I found an out of print book about the Los Angeles Union Station for $15, and a book of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture signed by the photographer who took the architectural photos in the book for $20.  Both were great Christmas gifts for my brothers in law, one a train buff, another an architect.

My greatest find at Sam Johnson's were the 1973 Herge Archives of the Tintin comic books, published by Casterman, covering Herge's work from 1929 to 1940.  The Archives are of the original black and white drawings and are in French.  Unfortunately, I only got volumes 1, 3 and 4.  Sam Johnson's didn't have Volume 2.

 

Sam Johnsons: 12310 Venice Boulevard    Los Angeles, California  90066 (310) 391-5047 

When I Crave Childhood Comfort Food.

In my case, childhood cuisine means Taiwanese or Chinese style food. Even though I've only lived in Taiwan for about a year and have never been to China, I've visited Taiwan several times, and mom cooks Chinese food, so I consider Chinese style food my comfort food.

 When I have a craving for cuisine I grew up with, I head out to the San Gabriel Valley, a hotbed of all kinds of Asian cuisine.  Yesterday, I had a craving for Chinese dumplings, so we went to the Mandarin Noodle House on 701 W Garvey Ave, an establishment that has been around for decades. The food there may not be up to the standards of the new expensive foodie craze sweeping over California, but it is basic northern Chinese food that hits a spot.

We ordered boiled pork dumplings with leek, fish dumplings, and pot stickers with pork and cabbage.
For sides dishes, we had marinated cubumbers, julienned seaweed, beancurd strips, and tofu with preserved eggs - all comfort food that we haven't had for quite a while.

After lunch, we had shave ice at Shau May Restaurant at 104 N Garfield Ave. in Monterey Park. We ordered one to share because even the 3 items combo shave ice is quite large. We had the combination of red beans, mochi balls and grass jelly topped with shave ice and condensed milk. Fantastic way to cool off on a hot summer day.