Your Friday Afternoon Video #33: Eartha Kitt

It's Like an Oven

I walked out for lunch just now and I felt like I was in Vegas. The air is bone dry. When you inhale, you feel like your nose is on fire.

Smoke from the Malibu and Inland Empire fires is collecting in the Valley. I wish I had my camera so I could take a picture. The colors are layered. You have the houses and the trees, then a thin strip of light blue sky, then a heavy layer of gray pink smoke.

Your Friday Afternoon Video #15: Cirque du Soleil

I remember hearing that a yoga teacher of mine in NY had joined Cirque du Soleil. I googled her, and sure enough, here she is. This is pretty amazing (and sexy) dancing.

Fleeing Hurricane Henriette

Casa Natalia's Beach Club
We spent the Labor Day weekend in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico-- the less touristy of the two Cabos (Cabo San Lucas being the other one). It was our first time to Cabo and we stayed at Casa Natalia, a great boutique hotel in town. The town itself is small, sleepy and dusty. It was super hot while we were there, over 100 degrees each day. We had a good time, but were really happy to head back home before Hurricane Henriette made landfall.

Our room.

The church in town.

Locals filling up before the hurricane. The line actually extended back much farther (there were dozens of cars in line).

Returning to LA. Flying over Baja.

My Smokin' Hot Vegetarian Chili Recipe

My recipe didn't win the chili cookoff at my work, but it'll always be a winner to me.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 green or yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded, chopped
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded, minced
1 habanero pepper, seeded, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup bulgur (aka cracked wheat) – available at Whole Foods and health food stores
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper and jalapeño and habanero peppers and sauté until onion lightly browns and carrots and celery soften a little (usually 5-10 minutes). Add tomatoes, beans, water, bulgur (this ingredient is key-- it gives this vegetarian recipe a thicker, 'meatier' texture), white wine vinegar, garlic and spices. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, until bulgur is tender and chili thickens, stirring often to make sure the bottom doesn't burn (about 30 minutes). If you’re hungry, then ladle into a bowl, sprinkle grated cheddar on top and eat. If you can wait, turn off the heat and let the chili thicken even more, and then ladle and sprinkle cheddar when ready. In my experience, this chili tastes even better the day after, so look forward to leftovers. This recipe makes enough for 6 adults.

Trying My Hand at Gardening

Man, was it hot today. We hit 90+ degrees here in Eagle Rock. I didn't mind it so much since it's dry heat (this is the desert, after all), but sheesh, was it hot.

This weekend was a hugemongo milestone for me. Yesterday I went to the Armstrong nursery in Glendale and bought two camellias (one red, one pink) and one vertical growing Japanese shrub. I also bought some special camellia soil. Why camellias? We have one in the back yard that's thriving without any help from us, so I thought the safest thing would be to plant a couple more out front. My gardening confidence is fairly low, so I need to start with something easy, with a decent probability of success.

Shopping for plants is fun. So today I dragged Mr. Octopus to Burkard's, which is a family-owned nursery in Pasadena. Burkard's has a lot of stuff that Armstrong doesn't (fruit trees, in particular), but it's also more expensive. We stocked up on shrubs: a rosemary bush, two blue salvias and two lavender bushes. All drought-resistant and easy to grow.

We got home at 4pm and it was still friggin hot. I waited an hour or two before I started doing anything. First order of business: weeding. Awww man, weeding is no joke. It's so much more than just pulling and yanking. It's squatting, digging, pulling, yanking, shaking, more yanking and more shaking. And, of course, you gotta be careful not to get dirt in your eyes. Weeding is work. Anyone who tells you differently is a liar.

After a full hour of weeding-- and mind you, I was only weeding a 10' by 2' area-- I drafted Mr. Octopus to help me dig some holes. He was a willing party, so I was happy about that. So we laid out where we would put the stuff and he dug the holes. Then we filled the holes up with soil and mulch (secret: you can buy mulch-- it's like nutritious dirt or something, no biggie), dropped in our little plants and drenched it in water. Voila! We gardened!

A few thoughts about the experience:

1. I kinda like it. It's gratifying -- in the way that only manual labor can be.

2. It's a good way to see the neighbors, without having conversations with them. A quick 'Hi, How ya doing?' and you feel like part of the community.

3. I can see how this can get all-consuming. The mere act of weeding can ignite the O.C.D. in you. I can totally see myself looking at my 10' by 2' gardening experiment every day, zooming in on whether those damn weeds are coming back and plucking them before they take over.

4. There's all sorts of stuff you need to buy in order to garden. There's the plants, of course. But there's stuff besides that. I have a shovel (well, shovels actually) and gloves, but I quickly realized that I also need shoes/clogs/crocs, a mat for all that kneeling and gardening clothes (crappy old stuff that you would throw out if you weren't planning on gardening).

5. Lastly, but most importantly, I really hope these things grow. I picked no-brainer plants, so I will be really discouraged if they die.