Aside from Santa Monica, whose cuisine I praised last week, we had several note worthy meals in LA proper. The shining star would have to be Little Door, a semi al fresco paradise of antique mirrors, intertwining trees, vibrant flowers, impeccable service, and wonderful food. It's a special occasion place with a memorable Mediterranean menu. I had a great Braised Alaskan Halibut with Bouillabaisse Broth and Aioli Sauce.
We were also quite impressed with breakfast at Toast, a restaurant we had read mixed reviews and complaints about “sceneiness” but found the ten minute wait to be completely worth it. The menu is vast and diverse and we all had trouble deciding between several yummy sounding options. I landed on a mild shakshuka that was served with fresh flour tortillas and a refreshing glass of fresh grapefruit juice.
This week's drink pick, our lovely Avalon hotel also offered many quick, easy and tasty meals throughout our trip. I highly recommend the mushroom omelet and the smoked salmon, though service can be a bit spotty depending on the day and time. Still, there's little to complain about when you can grab convenient and good food in the setting of a pool side cabana.
For my Mexican fix, I went to Casita del Campo a relaxed favorite of my friend who is now an LA local. It's a dark, old school kind of place and while their appetizers (flimsy salads and weird meatball soups) are not the grandest, their entrees – a garlic grilled shrimp in particular are more impressive.
See photos here.
The mouthful of an album 
Like anything that it oft duplicated, it can be sometimes almost disappointing to see the original influence. Dashiell Hammett, who penned, among the many short pulp fiction stories in 
In 1980 Playboy model Dorothy Stratten was brutally murdered by her husband who then shot himself. It is the kind of tragic and salacious story that has spawned recreations in the true crime television genre of today, but surprisingly, it was Bob Fosse, fresh off his fame of All That Jazz that originally took up the story for a feature film called 
I recently found a really bizarre TV movie also made in Canada starring most of the same cast (minus Christine “Moose” and Lisa, the girl everyone made fun of). It's apparently called “UFO Kidnapped” and why it wasn't an instant children's classic, I am not sure. Perhaps its scenes like this one with Alasdair and inappropriate alien touching (which happens on several occasions, 
The concept of the Dark Ages, a time when mankind actually reverted – forgetting the advances of one of the most advances civilizations in history, has always been fascinating and mystifying to me. 
On my first foray into the beautiful Lake Placid region of the high peaks of the Adirondacks we made two stops. The first was the regionally well advertised 
With our T Mobile contract finally up, we were free to join all the happy people and get iphones. We've only enjoyed their greatness for a week or so and haven't even found more favorite apps, but they've been invaluable on this weekend's road trip. With the maps feature we didn't have to guess where we were and we didn't have to print out directions.
I seem to remember