I just wanted to send a shout-out to all the peeps in LA this Thanksgiving holiday and wish you the most thankful day you could ever imagine. I know most people in LA are transplants and probably aren’t going home for the holidays since Christmas is right around the corner, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday to be in LA because we are lucky to have a big group of friends that all get together, make wonderful food (including some delicious vegan entrees this year), drink good cheap wine, play charades and just enjoy eachother’s company. It’s like we are all one big LA family and it keeps our minds off of the fact we aren’t able to be with our blood relatives.
A lot of you may be going through a hard time right now. The holiday season is supposed to be joyful, but this time of year is the worst in Hollywood because NOTHING is happening. No work to be given because most shows/shoots are on hiatus. And it’s scary knowing that you may make no money all of Novemeber and Decemeber and maybe even January. Try and keep this as far from your mind as you can right now and just take a deep breath because it will all work out. I promise.
Now, go be thankful for the fact you are living in LA pursuing your dreams, the wonderful family and friends you have and eat lots and lots of foods! REMEMBER! CALORIES DON’T COUNT ON BIRTHDAYS OR HOLIDAYS!
Happy Turkey Day from my family to yours
LUV,
Britt
PS: I am thankful for:
My mom and dad, without them I wouldn’t even know what dreams were. They have made me the person I am today.
My brother who is my complete opposite, but that’s a good thing. He got the brains and I got the creative gene. I’m so proud of the person he has become and how he will one day change the world.
ALL of my family: (Grandma’s, Grandpa’s, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Second Cousins, Cousins Twice Removed…)
My amazing roommates Jess and Christine (JCB, INC. YA HEARD!)
My bestest friends from back home: Casey, Beth, Amanda… I will be back in the Midwest in 22 days, bitches!
Jill, Clark, and Baby Keaton: If it wasn’t for Jill, I would have never made it two years in the jungle. And Baby Keaton, your smile brings so much joy to me every day and I love watching the wonderful person you are becoming!
ALL of my amazing LA friends: TOO MANY TO LIST, BUT I LOVE YOU ALL!
My wonderful boyfriend Bry-Guy: It’s almost been a year, and it seems like just yesterday I started chasing him and he finally gave in You have brought so much love and joy to my life that I never thought I would ever experience. I can honestly say we have a love like in the movies and I’m the luckiest to have found you.
And last but not least, MY LAQP’S! Mel, (my first real friend that was a girl in LA), Margo, and Jess… I LOVE YOU!
In my second installment of the NoCal Series I’ll talk about a visit to a Mexican vineyard.
Ceja vineyards – I could talk for days about this vineyard as well as the people I met while I was there. One of the cast members of Re:Discover was Dahlia. Her family owns a vineyard. They are doing something a little unusual (in a good way) up there in Napa. They are pairing their wines with Mexican cusine. Sounds odd at first but it’s actually pretty interesting. Dahlia brought us over to her vineyard so they could do some filming. While they were shooting and talking about the vineyards I wandered over and started talking to Amelia, Dahlia’s mom.
For the segment they were going to be making a tradtional Mexican brunch cusine called chilaquiles. It’s scrambled eggs, fresh Mexican cheese, sausage, and tortilla chips. Not only were they going to make this on camera but then they were going to serve us for lunch! I got talking to Ameilia about everything and I told her I was a vegetarian and wouldn’t be able to partake in the delicous meal. Of course, she had a vegetarian dish she had made the night before and would gladly give it to me.
The vineyard itself has a great layout. The vines are in the back but before you get to them you see a wonderful back patio off of the main area which is a house. The back patio has a grill and ample seating while the inside has a large kitchen, dining area and living room area. Upon walking in I immediately felt like I was in my own home. It was so comforting and smelled wonderful.
The girls gave us all free wine tasting coupons at their downtown tasting facility. So the next evening, after wrap and after the rest of the crew went off to catch an early flight the next day, Andrew and I found ourselves in downtown Napa tasting their wine. We were offered wine the previous day but since we were working it’s not something I felt right doing. We sat down at the bar and talked with the server a lot about the wines and got to taste it all. We ordered a cheese and cracker plate to go along with the wine. Andy had never sat down and tasted wines let alone indulge on some cheese while he was at it. One of my favorite things is to have a wine and cheese night so this was great for me. I felt classy to be doing it in public with “real” wine and not 2 buck chuck!
All the cheeses we had were fabulous and paired nicely with the wines. Amelia came in shortly before closing and it was wonderful to get to see her and talk with her one last time before leaving Napa for good.
Again, if you ever decided to take a trip up to wine country I would make a visit to Ceja. Not only are these some of the sweetest, most genuine people I have ever met but they make some pretty good wine too!
The first feature I worked on just released it’s official trailer. It’s a Disney movie called Prom and it was such a great time and I got to work with quite an amazing group of people. Please check out the trailer below. It’s going to be pretty adorable. Enjoy
It shouldn’t be hard. It should come easy, as easy as dipping a taquito in salsa and calling it a day. But yet, I find myself, day in and day out, hustlin’ to be a better mexican.
Take Thursday for instance, I have been planning on making a cena deliciosa all week. All these amazing dishes came to mind, mole, enchiladas, chile rellenos, posole, tamales, heck even tacos! I contacted my mom and tia and began jotting down recipes, reminiscing my childhood and recalling stories that circle around those dishes . In that moment I knew that Thursday nights dinner would be an authentic mexican success. It had to be.
Thursday:
After work I was beyond beat. Tired? Yes. Excited? Yes. Determined to make an authentic dinner? egghh, yea, I guess, I mean that would probably take a lot of time and well with traffic, and I still wanted to shower, and I clearly I didn’t buy ingredients yet, (sigh) I don’t know. Sure.
On the commute home from work my nerves started getting the best of me. What if it isn’t good? Does that mean I’ve let down my ancestors and past generations of little old mexican woman kneading dough and creating perfectly round tortillas? Can I even show my face at Christmas dinner knowing I ruined a tamale or chile relleno? The pressure was getting to me. My hands were getting clammy. Steering wheel was becoming slick. I needed a solution.
That’s where my friend TJ comes to my rescue. Full Name: Trader Joe. Brakes screech as I come to a halt at his parking lot. I run in and ask for help…….. I gather my ingredients and tools and I scurry back to my place to begin the feast.
My talked up, authentic mexican dinner that I had been practically killing myself over all week had finally been created.
TJ’s Frozen shrimp, TJ’s frozen fajita peppers and onions, “handmade” TJ’s corn tortillas with a side of TJ’s organic black beans.
FAIL. I tried. I really did. But at the end of the day, it is just too damn hard to be a mexican. Errrday I’m hustlin’
Well it’s been a few days since my return from the Northern region and I’ve started to make sense of all the wonderful places I got to visit. So here begins the NoCal Series. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting up things about where I went, what I ate, and what I saw. So keep checking back in case you may be heading up there for the holidays or just for a visit! Here.We.Go!
I am blessed enough to have a wonderful boyfriend who got me some work up in Napa Valley on a show he had been working on for a few weeks. Of course this sparked numerous blogs on restaurants, experiences. The good, better, and best of the northern region of this great state I live in.
My first review is of a place call Oentori. Pronounced Oh-no-tri. The show he was working on was called Re:Discover and it was all about rediscovering different cities around the U.S. And finding the hidden gems instead of just the tourist attractions.
One segment inluded Tyler who is the owner and head chef at a wonderful place in Napa called Oentori. We shot in the restaurant one day and decided to grab dinner the next evening to pay him a visit and check out his cuisine. He serves Italian food and if I were a meat eater this place would have been close to heaven. Luckily, I was eating with a group of carnivores so I was able to get some second hand look at what I could have been eating.
They ordered a salami platter as the appetizer that included all different kinds of meats including some tounge and other “rarities” with some delicious pita bread that I sampled for myself. The verdict on the salamis that were eaten was that it was pretty great.
For the main course I ordered a Maghertia pizza and some polenta. I had never had polenta before and one of the girls we were with exclaimed, “Do you like goodness covered in cheese?”
Why yes, how can I turn that down? So I ordered some polenta and it was pretty delicious. It tasted of a lighter scrambled eggs covered in wonderful cheese. The Magherita pizza was pretty top notch as well. I enjoyed almost the whole thing by myself, pawning some off on Andrew so I didn’t look quite like the cow I was acting like.
This restaurant definitely has the Napa vibe and even had a full bar. Andrew had some wine that he claimed was magnificent and paired well with his meal which was the lamb.
One of the great things about Oentori is that one of the members of the crew had dined there the night before and said the menu was completely different the night we all went. It amazed me that this menu could be completely different on a daily basis. I’m sure there were the staples (Magherita pizza) but that there were different items on there daily.
Oh…one last thing. Dessert! I would 100% recommend this dessert menu. How do I say…to die for? We ordered three different things and it was hard to pick a favorite. We ordered the panna cotta because Tyler came over and told us that was perfection and a pumpkin slice which was close to perfection as well.
If you’re ever in the Napa area and need a place to check out and dine in I would recommend Oentori. I would only recommend it if you are a carnivore though. Not that I wouldn’t go back there but the choices for a vegetarian, though delicious, are few and far between.
I may be a day late on this epidemic but apparently Girl Talk came out with a new album yesterday…and what’s this? It’s available as a free download!?
Greg Gillis’ (aka Girl Talk) new album was available starting yesterday as a free download. It’s currently being downloaded as a full length hour long continuous mash-up – which is the way Girl Talk should really be listened to. Or you can download it into split up tracks. Just for the heck of it I got both of them!
At this very moment I’m knee deep in the middle of it. I can’t give a full review but so far the mash-ups have been pretty amazing! Oooh and what’s this Lady Gaga was just thrown in…
If you aren’t familiar with Girl Talk or mash-ups. Here’s a quick glance.
Recently there has been this kind of music coming out. The music is made entirely of samples fit and molded together to make a “new” song.
I’m always amazed at mash-ups and the songs that these artists get to come together and actually make musical sense. However, I’m wondering how Girl Talk puts on a show. Does he just press the play button and let it go while he stands there watching everyone dance?
Anyway, to conclude this short ramble – I suggest getting on the website below and downloading a version of the album. You won’t be let down. I’ve also included a video of my all time favorite Girl Talk mash-up.
Oh, hello world! I’m back! Alright, maybe I have been back for almost a month or something. Whatever! Things get busy, ok?! Anyways, here are some recent adventures we have had that you may be interested in checking out too.
Yes, I know what you are thinking: “Brittany, Villains Tavern is in downtown LA. You hate downtown LA. Why would you suggest I go there?” I know, I know… I HATE downtown. The roads are confusing, lots of sketch people/areas, and the parking… OY THE PARKING! But, a few gal pals and I ventured to Villains a few weeks ago and I loved it! It’s in the industrial part of downtown LA, so you don’t have to deal with any of the crap I listed above. It’s basically this bar in the middle of nowhere, which I find to be a good thing. Parking is super easy (they have a FREE lot. Unfortunately the night we were there they were shooting Castle right down the road, so the lot was taken for cast and crew parking.) and the bar is really mellow, good prices and yummy food. Beers on tap are around $6 and come in Mason Jars (always love drinking my booze out of mason jars!). I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so I got the veggie burger and seriously fell in love. It may possibly be the BEST veggie burger I have eaten in LA and I have had my fair share of veggie burgers. The atmosphere is great and quite the mid twenties crowd. They also usually have a band playing outside. It was a little loud, but it was all good. If you’re looking for a new hot spot to try out and not looking for the headache of a usual downtown bar, definitely check out Villains.
Located in the heart of the art district in Culver City, don’t be fooled by the super chic set-up of this restaurant. It’s very well priced and DELICIOUS. My LA Grandmother and I decided to try this place out. Neither of us had been here and I was a little nervous. We opted to sit outside even though the weather had been quite chilly in LA. The help were more then willing to make sure a heater was right next to our table, so we didn’t feel the cold at all. One of the things that really stood out to me about Sublime was their unusual cuisine. We decided on the Soft Shell Crab as an appetizer (it was a special for the evening), the Crispy Pork Belly and Lobster Bacon Mac N Cheese as our entrees, and then the goat cheese Cheesecake for dessert. I was a little iffy at first about the Crispy Pork Belly. I’m not really a red meat fan, but I said “Hell, why not! I will try it out.” DELICIOUS! And the Lobster Bacon Man N Cheese was so unique and melted in my mouth. Like I said, not your average food to see on a menu, especially in LA. But damn was it good. And the best part was our bill. Which was only $75 for two people (a full course meal and we each had a glass of wine) and that ain’t shabby! If you are on the Westside and looking for a new place to try, I would def suggest Sublime Food Lounge.
The LAQP’s headed to the Hollywood Bowl to see LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, and Sleigh bells a few weeks back. I had never been to the Bowl before, but it’s been a desire of mine since I have moved to LA. Finally (even though we couldn’t really afford it) we bought tickets for the concert of a lifetime! I have never really been a huge fan of large venues, but the bowl didn’t have a bad seat in the house. It seriously was the most amazing concert I have ever been too and if you take a look at the bowl schedule, I highly suggest getting some friends together and going. Make sure to call ahead of time to see if you can bring bottles in the venue or not. For our particular show they didn’t allow alcohol in bottles. Which we did not get the memo about so we showed up packing 4 bottles of wine and we found out at the gate we couldn’t bring them in. Luckily the woman that checked our bags was a cool-ass chica and told us to go to the concession stand and buy a large cup and then we could bring the wine in. After spending $5 on a cup that was really worth a dollar, we ended up inside with our four “cups” of wine.
Nothing says class like $5 cups full of wine. At least the whole bottle fit.
Then we saw the best concert ever. I really suggest heading here for a concert and even if you can only buy the cheapest tickets, which we did. We moved down closer to the stage and were never kicked out of our seats or questioned by ushers where we were supposed to be sitting. Also, not to mention LCD Soundsystem,
Hot Chip
and Sleigh Bells
which are three of the most rad/danceworthy bands out right now. So please scrap some dollas together and go see one of your fave bands at the bowl!
One of those little restaurants that you shouldn’t judge from the outside. But once you walk in to the small café (literally, SO SMALL. There are maybe three tables and a small bar with a few stools) and smell those aroma’s, you know you have made the right choice. My boyfriend, Bryan, was told about this place by a co-worker that said they had one of the best breakfast burritos in LA. The two of us ventured over to the Corner Cottage one morning. Luckily we got there right in time because soon after we ordered, a huge line started to form. Since they are known for their breakfast burritos, we each opted for that. I got one with bacon and my boyfriend got the same but with sauce, which FYI IS EXTREMELY SPICY! The guys that work at corner cottage sure have a system down and it was cool to sit at the counter and watch these boys in action. I really wonder how many tortillas and potatoes these dudes go through a day. After about 10 minutes, our burritos were done and we headed back to Bry’s house to eat since the place was so tiny and seemed more of a take-out joint. I couldn’t wait to get home, I was so exited to dig in to this thing. And once we finally got back, I was not disappointed. I unopened my HUGE breakfast burrito filled with egg, cheese, potato, and bacon. I ate it so slow because I didn’t want it to be done. Bry ate his very slowly too, but more because of the spice level from the sauce. I would suggest getting it on the side or not at all if you’re a baby like me ☺ The breakfast burritos range from $3.50 (with no meat) to $4.50 and are quite a steal for the meal you get. If your in the Burbank area around breakfast time or maybe even lunch, stop my Corner Cottage!
It’s November 2 already and that means it’s midterm election time!
Living in California the voting vibes seemed to radiate around the city. Brittany and I caught the bug and got up bright and early, walked the ½ block to our voting location and inked our votes! The donned our “I Voted” stickers for the rest of the morning!
If you didn’t vote because you think your vote wouldn’t count, you’re wrong. Okay, maybe on some matters you are right with that statement. And maybe you are voting for “the lesser of the two evils” but just hear me out.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t excersize your right to vote. Being an American woman I get pretty excited to vote. Women fought long and hard to have that right and I feel I should take advantage of that. And for those men out there, I ask you why not? It’s your right to get out there and vote so there really is no reason not to. Is it laziness? Ran out time? Didn’t know the candidates?
I’d call you out on all those! There are voting locations all over your neighborhood, the polls had extended hours today and there are various sources of information on that little thing called the internet that can help you make an intelligent choice on who you want to vote for. Just think of all the millions of people around the world that don’t have the same rights we do. Just vote.
Voting doesn’t necessarily mean you are “all into politics”. It just means you care enough about certain issues in the place you live that you wish to change or keep it the same.
Sitting around complaining about everything doesn’t change things. Getting your butt out to vote does! Voting is your voice in this crazy country we live in and there can’t be change unless the people raise their voices.
Plus, all us Californians could have legalized marijuana today. Now THAT’S something to vote about.
Change your mind and you can change the world…er USA.
– J
* This message was paid for and endorsed by the LA QueenPins *
You have brought so much love and joy to my life that I never thought I would ever experience. I can honestly say we have a love like in the movies and I’m the luckiest to have found you.
