La la

I'm back in New York for a work event, and am facing a week of even better eating than usual (which is saying something). I love work dinners because the food just magically appears, in great quantity and variety. Sunday night my family had dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants, and last night the work crew went to an excellent beer and tapas bar. The owner was so thrilled to have beer nerds in his restaurant that he brought out bottle after bottle of free rare beer - sours, saisons, smoked porters, and on and on. 

Which makes me realize I never reported in detail on my LA adventure, which was also a food/beer smorgasbord. Mike was heading off to a dudes' weekend in Reno, so I booked a last-minute flight to LA for a 36 hour trip. I flew in around noon on Saturday and went for a hike with a friend from elementary school. It was sunny and gorgeous, and getting a good sweat on is an ace start to a trip. I cleaned up at another friend's house (Hi Lianna!), and we headed out for a seafood dinner. Oysters!!! Post-feast, we went back to her apartment for a cookie baking session, then had a few beers around the corner from her in Brentwood. The next morning we got brunch, and I headed off solo to hit the Getty Museum. My travel approach of late has been to be ambitious in my wanderings but not in my activities - I stroll, I see what I see, and I don't push it. I wandered in and out of the Getty galleries, but mostly I took in the views and sat on the lawn in the sun. And any place that requires a tram to get there is catnip to me.

I took advantage of the last remaining daylight to rent a bike and ride from the Santa Monica pier to Venice and back. After riding a road bike around San Francisco, riding a beach cruiser on the boardwalk is like loafing on a barcalounger. It was lovely. For the sunset I plopped myself down on the beach and took a lot of photos.

Next stop was the bar at the top of the Shangri La for a few cucumber gimlets and some reading - I was deep into 1Q84 and was fully sucked into Murakami's addictive weirdo writing. Lianna and her man scooped me up for one last meal, some lovely sushi, and then I hopped the plane back home. And that was my weekend - two thumb's up!

Also, this is my 1000th post! I feel accomplished, I think.