Friday, 24 November 2017. Where will we go for breakfast or lunch? The oven in the kitchen is full of leftovers, but it's too soon to dig into that. It is decided that we will go to the Forman Tavern in Toluca Lake, a charming part of Los Angeles with many restaurants. Here's how many: we have been to all three on that corner during the last two visits. They include a sushi bar, a steakhouse, and now this tavern. Forman's is charming in a masculine way, with wood paneling throughout and a hundred or two beer steins hanging from the ceiling. But what makes it clearly a Los Angeles restaurant is that the menu begins with burgers, then moves on to various soups and sandwiches, most of them ethnic. The most unusual example was a mezzes platter that included several Middle Eastern breads, dip, and vegetables. The beet hummus is especially offbeat and I thought pretty good.
Back at Jude and Suzanne's house, preparations were readied for the big party of the schedule. Even more little kids as were there yesterday are here again today. The food was a grill for tacos, although the way it was cooked and served made it more closely resemble the likes of gyros, but grilled on a hot grill.
For the third day in a row, none of the adults are drinking the few bottles of wine here and there. But the happy mood and play of the kids is enough to make the evening delightful. Being a grandfather is all the delightfulness I've always heard about it.
Saturday, November 25, 2017. We are staying in the Garland Hotel in Studio City, a pleasant, modern (from the 1960s) the Garland's pool area will show the movie "You've Got Mail." It was a little cold out there, but I was ready for it. MA was in the mood for popcorn, but they didn't have it. On the other hand, I had a unique cocktail with Bourbon, a dark-cherry variation on a Manhattan, sort of. That eased my pain.
I'm up every morning before the girls are, and go downstairs for a latte. One day, I noticed that for the price of two lattes and a glass of orange juice, I was just ten dollars short of getting the whole breakfast buffet. It was well-assembled of small collection of food, with the emphasis on fresh fruit, pastries, and sausages. Not many people in the place, but the servers are good anyway.
I find myself thinking about finding my way around the hotel. The Marys--who have no problems navigating around there--give me grief on my defect, so I don't bring it up. I only get turned around badly once. On the last day, I tell the clerk that they really ought to have a map for people like me. "We have one!" she said, and handed me just the thing. So I'm not the only one who has this issue.
A hilarious afternoon with Jackson and friends. Our grandson is quite articulate, and his wording of sentences is amusing. He also shows an ability to adapt everything into other things. For a while he walked around with the tubular core from inside a former roll of paper towels. As he swept it back and forth, he made a whooshing sound. What's the deal? It's a leaf blower, he says.
Later in the day, we attend a sushi bar next to Forman's Tavern. Jude and friends have Kabosa on their short list. It does have its points. It uses real wasabi (more expensive than what you find typically. One member of the family disdains the place as too expensive. Two others don't even touch sushi, but they come anyway. I find the nicest touch here is that many of the special rolls are drizzled with lime juice, which adds a whole new flavor dimension. I will have to ask my next sushi chef in New Orleans to add that touch.
On the way home, we stop at the mammoth new Century City mall with all the big-name retail stores and many of the little operators too. But what grabbed our attention was that Eataly has an outlet store. Get a load of this: an enormous seller of all the Italian food and wine you can imagine. You can eat or drink it there, or you can bring it home. Eataly opened in New York a few years ago, and has been expanding ever since.
Most of the rest of the stores sold women's clothing. The sales clerk at one of them was eager to offer ML help. And to offer her a glass of water. ML said no to that. But the saleslady then brought forth a glass of champagne. That got some attention. Even though the bubbly wine ultimately showed up in my hand, the girls were impressed enough that ML wound up buying a handsome coat from the Champagne Lady.
We took the long way back to the hotel, driving through and on top of the mountains and valleys for which Los Angeles is celebrated. The vistas at night are striking. MA knows her way around here at top speed. How does she do it?
