Hot Dish Brunch Party 2015

Hot Dish Reading Series returns to 826LA for its third annual brunch party! And we're recommended by both Time Out and KPCC!

Featuring readings by Dorothy Fortenberry, James Hannaham, Ana Kasparian, JJ Keith, Samantha Powell, and Lilliam Rivera, plus a full brunch spread and beverages!

Admission for all of this is only $10, one hundred percent of which goes to support the student programs at 826LA.

Check out our Facebook event page here.

The Best Places to Get Free Coffee in Los Angeles

"When the Great Old Ones are recalled to power someday, they will be summoned right here in the Valley, in a strip mall between an El Pollo Loco and an adult bookstore."

I don't usually post work links on this site, but I had to share this piece - my first time in The Awl and my first time making a Legend of Zelda reference in an article about coffee.

I'm really looking forward to continuing this series and to working more with The Awl in the future.

CicLAvia: Valley

I have tons of things to post about, including Best of Winter, but first I wanted to post these photos from CicLAvia: Valley because we just got back and I had SO MUCH FUN.

Ciclovias (the Los Angeles one is spelled CicLAvia) are organized to temporarily close major city streets to cars and reserve them for walking, biking, or skating, creating a festive street fair atmosphere. The first Ciclavia was in Colombia and now they happen all over the world. There are around half a dozen each year in L.A. rotating throughout different parts of the city.

Curling

The Valley route ran six miles between North Hollywood (right near our house) and Studio City, following Lankershim Avenue and Ventura Boulevard from Chandler to Coldwater Canyon.

Dev and the kids went to CicLAvia: Heart of LA last fall and told me about how much fun it was, but this was my first time going myself and I don't think I've ever enjoyed a big public event more.

Women handing out sunflowers to passersby.

Dev took Beatrice and Arthur with him in the bike trailer.  My bicycling has been improving but I still didn't feel comfortable in a big crowd so I walked with William in his stroller.



Inflatable shark slide

"Dog Bar"

Chabad was handing out free matzoh.

William and I walked six leisurely miles over about three hours, stopping to meet Dev and the kids for lunch at Spread PB, an all-peanut-butter-sandwich restaurant in Studio City. William had the time of his life, waving at everybody from his stroller, petting dogs, and getting free snacks along the way.

William enjoying his artisanal peanut butter sandwich.

There were more than 20,000 people participating from every walk of life and I didn't meet a single person that wasn't friendly and excited to be there, from families with babies to groups of middle-aged men on low-rider bikes, from trick cyclists doing handstands on their handlebars to the usual assortment of harmless L.A. eccentrics (a man dressed as a Renaissance queen, an old woman cycling with a dozen exotic birds perched on her head and shoulders).

Very tall bike

Dog snack stand

These women were making and handing out free bows.

And as if that wasn't enough, I was also participating in Spooks and Spokes with Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles (or GHOULA), a paranormal research group to which I belong. (And yes, I did file a report.)

Selfie near Universal Studios

I can't wait for the next event, CicLAvia: Culver City to Venice, in August.

William's stroller with sunflower and bow

The Fox and the Lobster

You may remember that back in January I did my first shoulder mount of a fox. Last week I finally finished the fox and brought him home.

Photo by Allis Markham

The finishing work took about three hours working one-on-one with my teacher, Allis Markham. First we shampooed and conditioned the fox's fur and used a blow dryer to make it fluffy. Then we used epoxy putty to carefully make some repairs to his nose, lips, and eyelids. We mixed paint colors to find a close match to the fox's natural coloring, and carefully painted his lips, nose, and eyelids. We also used glossy Mod Podge to give a "wet" sheen to the finished skin to make it look more life-like. Lastly we carefully cleaned and styled him once more before attaching him to the wooden plaque.

And now he's done! He hangs out around our bar.

Meanwhile, last July I found a perfectly intact molted lobster shell in Malibu and brought it home to preserve. I put it in the freezer but only now got around to displaying it properly.

 

 

Dev and I worked together on this one. First we cleaned the shell with vinegar and distilled water, scrubbing away sand and debris with a toothbrush, rinsed it, and then soaked it overnight in distilled water. After cleaning, it no longer had any leftover "fishy" odor. Then we carefully "posed" the shell (for example, arranging the antennae symmetrically), pinned it, and let it dry. It actually took several days of repeated wetting, posing, and drying to get it to form the proper shape without damaging it.

 

 

Finally, we sprayed it with a spray lacquer to preserve the shell's color and mounted it in glass display box. Now he can join the animals on our living room shelves.

 

Later this spring I'm going to get some more practice eviscerating raccoons with Allis, getting ready for the full-body badger mount I want to do in the fall.

Episode 2: Volcanoes

You can check out the next episode of the podcast here, featuring special guest Dev. (And my sister is slated to be a guest when she visits soon.)

By next episode I hope to have the show available for podcasting apps.

The Beatrice and Arthur Show

Beatrice has started her own podcast*.

All of the ideas were hers, though I did suggest the format: she and Arthur each have an opening monologue, then Beatrice introduces the topic of the day, then they interview a guest.

You can listen to the first episode here. The topic is Meteorites, inspired by a Kidspace workshop Beatrice took on meteorites.

* She was inspired to start a podcast by Welcome to Night Vale.