Monthly Archives: July 2011

Drink.Eat.Play did it again! And in my personal drinking opinion this party took the cake.  This year’s Block Party took place at Paramount Studios in the New York City Streets back lot.  With more room for mingling and drinking than previous years events, Block Party was so much more than just a block party.  There was so much delicious food from various foods trucks to munch on while deciding which next beer to embark on.  Amazing DJs were spinning some oldies but goodies to dance and rub up on that cutie you were eyeing, not to mention the Beetles Tribute band!!  By the look of everyone leaving Paramount Studio, its safe to say that Block Party 2011 was a SUCCESS!! Can’t wait for the next Drink.Eat.Play event!

xo,

mel

Growing up, I used to love when our power went out.  It would give me an excuse to light all the candles in the house, the simplest tasks became more exciting and ‘dangerous’.  We would create shadow puppets on the walls and play games that would only result in us having nightmares the whole night.

But with age, I learned that power outages aren’t all that fun.  THEY SUCK.

This past Tuesday one of my new favorite bands, The Cults, were playing a show at Sky Bar at the Mondrian.  The scene was set.  The pool held reflections of the plush white and blue couches and chairs, while the guests dressed to the nine, mingled the night away in excitement for the show.

We should have known that a night like that would be too good to be true.  Did we get upset when the bartender’s machine went off-line and took FOREVER to ring up drinks? Naahhhh, look at where we’re at! It’s gorgeous, the view is amazing, so what if we wait a bit longer, we have something to look at! And wait, is that… no, he’s just a beautiful man. Sigh…

So as we wait, we start to notice that its past 8 o’clock (when the show was scheduled to start), and it’s getting a bit more crowded, the booze line is stupid long, we need to double up.  But again, no one is getting irritated or upset, we were enjoying life.  No one says anything about how dark it is, until we start to hear whispers about the power going out.  Keep drinking.  Now its 9:00 p.m. and still no show.  We see them there, they are drinking and smoking cigarettes, GAWD they look cool…

9:05 pm… a representative for The Cults, yes that’s right a rep, gets up on a speaker to announce…. “the power won’t be back on till at least 11:30, and according to noise ordinance we have to be done by 10 p.m. so… unfortunately we can’t perform…but instead… POOL PARTY!” He jumps in and everyone else follows! I take my shirt off and run and cannon ball into the massive party that has started in the pool.

I’m kidding.  There was no pool party.  No Cults show.  No dancing.  No singing. NOTHING.  Truly a sad night.  Until we are walking back to the car and notice some graffiti and a red dirty gate and have a photo shoot!

Lesson learned?  When life gives you a power outage, strike a pose and have a photo shoot.

friends

The Cults

my friends are hot

Check them out here!

xo,

mel

I’ve decided to start a budget conscious recipe series to help those that are thin on cash or for those that think it’s fun to stay in and cook sometimes. These recipes are easy to make, don’t require many ingredients (for obvious reasons), will be mostly vegetarian (for other obvious reasons) and will be enough to fill you up for a meal with extra to keep you sustained for a few days after.

Today’s recipe is:

Zuchinni and Black Bean Quesadillas w/ homemade guacamole

My favorite kind of food is Mexican and my favorite Mexican restaurant in L.A. is not a cheap taco stand therefore making it very rare for me to go to so to get my fill of protein and Mexi cuisine I love cooking up this filling meal.

Ingredients:

Corn (frozen or canned, either will do)

2 to 3 zuchinnis

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

Mexican shredded cheese

4 Whole wheat flour tortillas (99cent stores have these for quess what? 99cents!)

Taco Seasoning

For guacamole:

1 tomato

3 soft avocados

Lemon juice

Guacamole seasoning

Directions For Quesadillas:

Put blacks beans, corn, and zucchini into a large pan and allow it to heat up, stirring occasionally. I usually leave them on medium heat until the zucchini starts to brown slightly. Add in some taco seasoning, however much you feel like and stir that up. While that’s still cooking heat up a smaller pan and put a tortilla in it. Spoon the black bean mixture onto one half of the tortilla. Add cheese to your liking and fold over the other half. Let one side cook until golden brown, flip and cook the other side! Repeat that process until all the tortilla are used up. You may or may not have any black bean mixture left. If you do, read on for something you can do with it!

Guacamole Directions:

Chop tomato into small cubes.
Mash avocados in a small bowl and add tomatoes as you wish.
Squeeze in 4 to 5 drops of lemon juice.
Mix in guacamole seasoning.
Voila!

Extra Black Bean Mixture:

If you do have any left over black bean mixture here’s a quick idea for some tortilla toppings! Take what is left and put it in a small bowl. Add any leftover tomatoes from the guacamole and now you have a fresh salsa to top your tortillas with.

Extra Black Bean Mixture Salsa!

Date Night Delicious! 

Stay tuned for more Simple Recipes (I’ll be making an attempt to post every Thursday in time for everyone to try them for the weekend!)

– J

Yesterday my life changed.  Some may say for the good, some may say for the bad, some may say ‘you just got a license’… I don’t like those people who say that.  Such a HUGE moment in my life can only be described in a Hollywood way, and unfortunately no explosions were used so instead of an action flick, this has turned into a musical.  But, there was no music.

SCENE:

10:33 a.m. Van Nuys DMV

The air is thick, babies are crying, women are fanning themselves with CA Driver Handbooks, a little mexican boy runs by knocking into me and dropping my passport.  A James Franco look-alike drops down to pick up my passport, our eyes meet….

Man:  I think you dropped this…wow you really are a beauty.

I blush and smile

Me: Well thank you…kids, how can you hate them when they lead you to moments like this…

Man: You can say that again

Me:  Kids, how can you hate them when they lead you to moments like this…

Man: Wow, uggh, you actually said it again.

Me:  Oh.  Umm, yea I guess I did

I seductively walk closer and graze his arm

Man: You’re kinda creeping me out…

Me: What?! Typical man.  You don’t know what you want.  UGGHHHH whatever! SCREW YOU!

I storm out of line and nudge towards the front, I had an appointment, it was cool.  Over head speakers read off numbers, finally my number is called.

Me: Good morning, I am here for a California License!

Lady in Purple: ughh huh

Diligently types in my info

Lady in Purple: Did you know there are 12 other Melissa Marin’s in Los Angles?!

Me: WHAT!?!? NOW I’LL NEVER BE AN ACTRESS!

Lady in Purple:  I think you still have what it takes shuga.

Me: Awweee, thanks gurl.

More and more people enter the DMV, I’m getting restless.  I walk into the exam room.  sweat dripping down my neck.  I slowly put my hair up in the sexy way that you see in the Brisk Iced Tea commercials or anything with Matthew McConaughey in it.

Me: OWWW!!!

Kid: Sorry, I didn’t see you. Oh and you have some pink and blue stuff in your hair.

Kid runs off laughing and smiling because he passed his test.

Me: I KNOW!!! THEY”RE COOL FEATHERS!!!!!!

I read and mark, read and mark, sweat drips onto my test. 

Me: This test is hard huh?

Supervisor: SHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! NO TALKING!

Woman grabs my test and looks over it…  X , X, X turn page over… X, X, X

Supervisor: You passed.

END SCENE.

So… maybe my day didn’t go EXACTLY like that… but I needed to keep it interesting, and everyone knows that there has to be a love interest in every movie and a villain (kid who made fun of my feathers).

Well, I guess I’ll just wait 2-3 weeks for my California License!

xo,

mel