30 before 30: Food Truck

So I have to say this was the thing most people expressed surprise over. I got a lot of “You’ve never eaten at a food truck?”. Well this wednesday night I had my first food truck experience. For those of you who don’t live in a large metropolitan area these food distributors are no longer called roach coaches, but gourmet food trucks.

Chris and I headed to Jones Coffee Roasters on South Raymond St in Pasadena for Wheel Food Wednesday! As we walked into the parking lot where the trucks were set up the smell was amazing. There were 3 food trucks, Border Grill, No Tomatoes and Slammin' Sliders. There was also a live band a vintage clothing booth and 2 food carts.

We started at the Border Grill truck, after watching food get handed down from the small window I finally settled on Ceviche and a Corn Tamale. The ceviche was perfect for the sweltering day that had finally ended. Cool, lemony and a little sweet from the shrimp it was wonderful. The Tamale was creamy, sweet from the corn and just a little spicy. All I can say is YUM!

Jones Coffee Roasters serves coffee as well as soda and water. I got an italian soda made from Peligrino and Granny Smith Apple Syrup. SO GOOD! Tangy and sweet it was a great compliment to the food.

Next I got some pulled pork sliders from Slamming Sliders. There were so many grilled onions on top I wasn’t sure I had gotten any pork on my slider. :) It was absolutely delicious. I was thrilled with real BBQ flavor, no liquid smoke here, and the onions were grilled to being sweet with a little crunch left in them.

We finished with a bag of Samosas from the No Tomatoes truck. Perfectly spiced with layers of flavor and dough that was firm but not over cooked. It was a wonderful way to end the meal.

Having greatly enjoyed eating from these mobile dispensaries of deliciousness I will be returning to Wheel Food Wednesdays and as many other food trucks as I can find!

30 before 30: La Brea Tar Pits

As we finished our tour of LACMA we strolled out through the garden to the La Brea Tar Pits. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, but I have this image of the tar pits from the movie ‘My Girl 2’ and what we saw is nothing like what I had in my head.
Okay, yes the large cement Mammoths falling into the pit are still there. But the 12 foot tall fence to keep people from falling in and the dead fall on the edges of the pit where not what I expected. Why did I think everything around the pit of tar would be green? Probably because Hollywood has corrupted my sense of reality.

The smell, while not overwhelming, is very close to the smell you get when you drive by a crew resurfacing a road. Except you can’t keep driving. The smell sticks with you as you take the 3-5 minute walk around the edge of the pit.

I think the best part was the bubbles. Small bubbles along the shore that looks like someone is boiling the water to bubbles the size of a basketball bursting in the middle of the pit. The larger ones had a sickly green hue to them that I thought was highly appropriate.

So while not the paradise of a tar pit I expected, still worth a look and LACMA was absolutely worth the drive. :)

30 before 30: LACMA 7/3/11

I love museums and I find it sad that I have been to some of the best museums in the world but not many of those in my home town. So after work on Sunday Chris and I hopped in the car and drove into LA to see what the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was all about.

Even though I had looked at the buildings on Google Maps I was shocked at the size of the Museum. It consists of 9 different buildings containing collections from Ancient Egypt to Modern Pop Art. We spent a little time taking photos out front with all the other tourists at the very cool lamppost forest. Created by Chris Burden it contains 202 vintage street lamps. Then got into line and bought out tickets, you can wander the grounds without a ticket and there are several very cool sculptures and restaurants on the museum campus.

We headed into the Ahmanson building first to look at Art of the Pacific. There were several hand carved boat prows. A few of the pieces had Cassowary feathers on them which I thought was awesome since I haven’t seen anything that mentions Cassowaries since I left Australia. Upstairs was several rooms with Germanic impressionism. I liked the furniture they had in this section. It was not over ornamented but the detail that was apparent in the structure of each piece made them amazing. We preceded to loose ourselves in the endless maze of the museum. There was always a low hum of voices, which I find much better than the stale silence you usually find in art museums.

We then ventured into the Hammer Building and the Ancient Egypt section which I loved! Photos of the pyramids at Giza, figurines of warriors and cats, and a sarcophagus. The detail put into the painting on the funeral masks just amazes me. There was a whole collection of different types of Bronze Spearheads, some for fishing, war, or decorative. From there we traveled into Europe with ornate gilded china and real clothing. This section became so confusing Chris and I were not sure we could fins our way out! My favorite piece from this section was a pair of globes, one terrestrial and one celestial made out of silver and gold. they were absolutely beautiful and the celestial one had all the constellations on it.

Our final stop, we didn’t get to 3 of the buildings, was the Pavilion for Japanese Art where they had a special exhibit of calligraphy masters. The brush work was stunning, there is no do-over or erasing with this type of art. Every move has to be deliberate. Some of the pieces had such clear expressions without many lines or different colors the artist was able to convey what their subject was feeling. I learned about the Zen masters and how Buddhism, Taoism and Confucius were similar in their goals but different in their paths. The whole building is a continuous winding path leading you from one piece to the next and lands you back where you started before you know what happened.

As we wandered out the sun was setting over the Pavilion for Japanese Art making it look almost as if it were on fire. There is so much variety in the collection of art at LACMA that everyone will find something they like. It could easily take 6 hours up to an entire day depending on how quickly you wanted to walk through the exhibits and how often you wanted a break. :) While not as impressive as the Louvre I greatly enjoyed this museum. The Norton Simon remains my favorite simply because my love of impressionism will keep me going back. The LACMA offered me styles and origins of art work I had never seen before and that is a feat in and of itself.