livedoutloud

What Dreams May Come

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:40:00 +0000

I've always had very vivid, colorful dreams. In my dreams, my usual mode of transportation is flying - or rather, swimming through the air. This is no joke - I was a swimmer for 13 years, and I guess it stuck.

I usually have water dreams that pertain to my job.

When I worked at The Bonnie Hunt Show, I hated it. And so I was drowning with my coworkers in a few dreams.

At Post Haste Sound, I mostly enjoyed it, but was sort of stressed a lot. So I was sitting in the water with my head and shoulders above - mildly comfortable.

Sometime around when I first quit and then started at my current job, I was high above the water at a resort, looking down on how beautiful it was. I guess I was pretty happy. :)

And last night, I had a bizarre dream where I was running a lot (another sign of dream stress I have), and I was late to pick something up. It was raining, and a city street was flooded, so I decided to swim. I easily swam through the water, but a boat was floating near by, so I pulled myself into it. I then paddled down the river that was flowing down a city street. At one point, I turned around and discovered elephants were swimming in the water. So bizarre!

So I guess the easy swimming, and my head above water was a good thing, but I wonder what floating on top of water means (and the elephants?!?!)? Hopefully it's good.

Cherry Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I posted one photo, but below are some more of the cherry blossoms found on Sawtelle outside of Tsujita Artisan Noodle.

In honor of March:

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Day Trips - Santa Barbara County Wine Tasting

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:11:00 +0000

I love wine, I love the beauty of Santa Barbara County - why not combine them into a great day trip?

Luckily, Jeremy and I have friends who live in Buellton, and we usually stay the night, making it much easier to drink a lot of wine and not worry about driving back to Los Angeles. However, with moderation - it can be done quite delightfully in one day.

If you are going to pack the 2 hour and 30 minute one way drive there and back (from LA) into one day, it helps to have some planning. Aim for 2 to 3 wineries, and look at a map to make sure they're near each other. That will eliminate a lot of hassle.

Leave early in the morning - maybe before 9am, and drive up PCH to the 101 N if you can - it's a much prettier drive and you don't have to deal with driving the 405/101 through the valley.

Get lunch in Buellton or Solvang, and then head out to wherever you want to go. Give yourself enough time to get dinner in Santa Barbara on the way back.

Also note - winter hours for wineries usually mean they close at 4pm. Make sure you get where you want to go by then.

If you're with a group of people, I'd also recommend buying a bottle of whatever tasting you liked the most, and enjoying it outside at the winery. If it's just two people - maybe take that bottle home. Driving buzzed all the way back to LA is not recommended.

Winery recommendations include:
Alma Rosa Winery - we're wine club members!
Sanford Winery
Melville Winery
Foxen Winery
Buttonwood Farm Winery
Brander Vineyard

It's also probably best to avoid wineries with signs outside that say you can see them in the movie Sideways. Not only do I not like that movie, but it's really just name dropping and not necessarily a sign of quality.

Colors of the Weekend - 2/21

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Looks like a lot of yellows and browns...

(I found these cute color templates at Pugly Pixel - I had to try them out!)

Notes on Freelance

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:10:00 +0000

I'm now in the business of having my own business - or at least working as a freelance editor.

My full time gig (can I call it that?) is at Tao Creative. I'm an assistant editor and I'm learning more than I even thought I needed to learn (how ignorant is that?). I'm also the lowest person on the totem pole, so I'm trying to be a better editor. Example: working really hard to use more Final Cut Pro shortcuts.

I also have edited 1.5 videos for Walks of Italy, a travel company based in... you guessed it - Rome. They're a really great company that provides tours all around Italy, and keeps their groups small. When we were in Rome, we had the privilege of taking the underground tour of the Colosseum and it was amazing. Our guide was super knowledgable and we had access to places the general public can't see. I'm hoping to do more videos for Walks of Italy soon (and work on the intro)!

Here is my first major video debut for Walks of Italy - "On Artichokes":

2/12/2012 - Piano @ Cold Spring Tavern

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Also happened to be my birthday...

Book Review: "Medium Raw" by Anthony Bourdain

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:18:00 +0000

I decided to purchase Medium Raw for my new Kindle because I loved Kitchen Confidential. Reading Kitchen Confidential after watching "No Reservations"was really enjoyable - you get to see OG Bourdain. The angry, drug addicted, raw, pre-television Bourdain.

I wanted to read Medium Raw because I thought it would be a continuation of Kitchen Confidential. Obviously it would be a bit different - he's now a household name (mostly), travels the world for 2 television shows, and never has to worry about backed rent or a lack of health insurance. I had high expectations of Medium Raw, although I now realize that was unfair.

Medium Raw is it's own book; mostly a collection of essays, without a running narrative. Some chapters are just ramblings about how all Americans should be learning to cook in high school. Some chapters are dedicated to either people he hates or loves. He even has an entire chapter where he lists "heroes" and "villains" in the restaurant and food industry, with paragraphs on each.

The most outstanding essay/chapter is about his day long shadowing of the man who butchers 700-1000 pounds of fish every day for Le Bernardin, and Bourdain's lunch with him afterwards.

Overall, I found it more difficult to read than Kitchen Confidential, and it didn't have the same page-turning, gotta read the next chapter RIGHT NOW feeling that I like to have while reading. If you're into Bourdain, it's worth a read.

7/10

Instant[gram] Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:48:00 +0000

Despite being back for about 4 months now, I've been wanting to post some photos from Europe. For some reason, however, I can't really bring myself to spiff them up and make them even nicer, so these are just some of my favorite Instagram photos from the trip.

December Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:06:00 +0000

Roma

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:41:00 +0000

About 4 weeks ago Jeremy and I got back from a month long trip to Europe. There are way too many pictures to go through so I've been negligent in both editing them and posting them. I've managed to get about 10 together, including this one...

Sending out an SMS {Santa Monica Seafood}

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Last night, Jeremy and I ventured to one of our favorite restaurants - Santa Monica Seafood.

It was a special occasion, as we had Jeremy's mom, his aunt, and her boyfriend with us. So we went all out - of course!

Santa Monica Seafood is a place we love, mostly for its fresh seafood, casual atmosphere, and the staff is super friendly and nice (especially Stefani!). Plus they have all kinds of things we love - a great cioppino and a delicious mushroom ravioli with scallops, shrimp and spinach.

Santa Monica Seafood, currently and before it was a restaurant, is a seafood purveyor for many Santa Monica restaurants (and restaurants in Southern California). That basically means they have the best of everything. Don't get oysters anywhere else in Santa Monica!

Our meal started, as per usual at SMS, with wine (a Cabernet) and oysters. We had Fanny Bay, Malpeque, Kumomoto and Kusshi (my favs), and a new one - Carlsbad. For entrees, we had (at the table) the mushroom ravioli (2 of them), a lobster roll, a cioppino, and a swordfish with peaches and veggies.Dessert was over the top with us ordering all 3 - the lemon cheesecake, chocolate molten cake (with extra whipped cream) and cannolis.

Overall, Santa Monica Seafood is a great place to eat if you don't mind splurging a bit on the best of the best seafood and wine.

Ray, Jeremy's aunt Randelle, Jeremy and I

The Great Italian Road Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:44:00 +0000

If it isn't super clear by now, Jeremy and I are going to Europe for a month in 2 weeks. 2 weeks from today!

I'm so excited! I've never been to Europe (went way far west to Asia before going east) and I could not be more excited. I'm heavily suppressing the desire to pack NOW!

We'll be flying into Rome, spending some time there, and then driving around with 2 friends for about 10 days. Fantastic!

Here's the potential itinerary of our Italian road trip (not to be confused with the German road trip we'll be taking after this one):

Cops & iPads - Not Just on TV!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:18:00 +0000

On my way to work, I saw a cop with an iPad...

So Criminal Minds really does have it right! This past season, the agents were always using iPads to review cases, and I figured that was reaching a little. But real law enforcement is embracing new technology!

Also - how awesome/terrible is this photo?

The Finished Product!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:28:00 +0000

Not too bad for only $5!

Nunya Damn Business [Cards]

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:07:00 +0000

So I'm designing business cards in Illustrator. Fun!

I bought some printable business cards at Paper Source and I'm going to print my own. I'm not sure how they'll come out, considering they'll be punched out of the paper... and will probably have little perforation leftovers on the edges. But I'm having fun in the mean time!

I am using a lot of elements from my favorite Photoshop materials place - Pugly Pixel (I've used a lot of her stuff in my new blog re-design. She's great!). Her stuff is mostly for web use, so I'm not sure how it will look printed. But I think they look pretty cute on the computer.

I've got 2 different types so far (there are 5 different sheets in the pack - maybe I'll do 5 designs!), and maybe I'll make a cute case to carry them in.

Here's the front of one design:

Just a Preview...

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Of what I'm going to be doing in a little over a month:

We're taking the long way, baby. Just me, Jeremy, and (hopefully) a Fiat 500. The first day of 7 days of road tripping.

The Counter - Re-Encountered

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:07:00 +0000

Jeremy and I decided to go to The Counter last night - which was weird, because he's staunchly refused to go there for over a year, and I admit - there are much better, cheaper burger options.

But we were doing laundry at our usual laundromat, and The Counter is in the same 'hood.

If you don't know what The Counter is - it's a fairly overpriced burger place where you create your own burger. You choose the burger size, meat, bun, sauce and toppings. Usually the burgers are a little dry and the toppings leave something to be desired (but they do let you get it on an English muffin, which is awesome).

Jeremy decided on a 4 beer / 4 mini burger pairing. Seemed to be pretty good, but he didn't drink all the beer in the flight. A trip to the Daily Pint during the wash cycle eliminated his need to drink any more.

We both split the dill pickle chips, which Jeremy rightly declared, "Good, but not as good as your dad's." Amen.

My burger was delicious:
1/3 lb beef patty - cooked medium
On an English Muffin *
With pickles
Carrot strings
Lettuce
Green Onions
and Spicy Sour Cream **

I don't know if we'll be back anytime soon (see comment about better and cheaper burger options), but it's good to know that they're more on their game than they used to be.

* I love English Muffins
** And Sour Cream

Renaissance

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:09:00 +0000

This is the renaissance of a few things - mostly of my blog.

I always want to write, I always want to have a presence on the Internet - but I run out of things to say. I love designing a blog, but I sort of suck at design. So we'll see how this renaissance goes.

There's a lot of exciting things happening in my life right now, but it seems that most of them don't start for another 3 weeks. So I'm in a holding pattern. I'm just sitting patiently, waiting for my day to day life to catch up with plans I made a long time ago.

Metamorphosis for the Win!

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:59:00 +0000

First off, let me say how completely jazzed I am about all the support “Metamorphosis” has received. Read more about the movie here.

For the last 30 days now, the producers/crew of Metamorphosis has been running a fund raising campaign through IndieGoGo.com. The goal was $30,000.

Admittedly, when I first saw that number I laughed. I simply thought it too high of a number and that it couldn’t be done. After 2 weeks, the movie had $8000 in donations, which I was surprised at.

Then last week, the producer Jeff Laub (and one of my closest friends) asked me to help out with the fundraising. I instantly was very interested in seeing that $30,000 goal become a reality.

I plugged Metamorphosis and it’s fundraising page for a week on Twitter, Facebook, and I even made a LinkedIn post.

Obviously it wasn’t just me that was helping with the fundraising, but I was absolutely thrilled to watch our donation total go up and up.

We even got 2 write ups in Variety! (Read them here and here)

Everything was coming together in the most exciting way, and last night the fundraising came to an end. (Trust me, you can still donate if you want to).

Our final tally was $25,290. Not too shabby!

Thanks so much to the coworkers, parents, friends, roommates, acquaintances and strangers that helped with this project.

Taco Asylum in Costa Mesa

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Today Jeremy and I went to visit his mom in Irvine, CA. While down in Orange County, we took the opportunity to get a second taste at Taco Asylum. We first ate there a few months ago with one of Jeremy’s coworkers – and it’s so delicious.

The tacos are gourmet and seem to be inspired by any culture/food tradition that is not Mexican. The tacos are so good that it’s probably better for us to have to go to Costa Mesa to eat there – otherwise, we’d probably eat there so often we’d get sick of it.
I think the pictures speak for themselves:

The menu @ Taco Asylum

Mushroom Taco

Duck Taco (w/Camembert and Dijon creme fraiche) my favorite!

Short Rib and Pork Belly Tacos

Jeremy and his mama!

Procsuitto Eggs Benedict

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:04:00 +0000

Jeremy and I like to make our own brunch – mostly because we can do it better than any $40 LA brunch out there.

Behold – a variation of our Eggs Benedict. It’s got proscuitto, onions and herbs, Monterey jack cheese, poached eggs, and my hollandaise (usually my only contribution) on french bread. The hollandaise is a secret, but I made one change this time – I used our stick blender instead of my usual method. The result was really thick, really rich hollandaise. Both the thick and the thinner have their place.

Prosciutto Eggs Benedict

Oysters on the Half Shell & Creamy Leek and Potato Soup with Bay Scallops

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:22:00 +0000

Sunday is easily Jeremy and I’s favorite day to cook. We usually have all day, and we take advantage of the time. Often, we make something from our favorite cook book, Stir by Barbara Lynch.

Today, Jeremy surprised me by choosing oysters and a potato soup that I’ve been wanting to try.
Usually, our oyster eating is within the confines of a restaurant, generally Santa Monica Seafood. Not anymore! Jeremy picked up 2 of my favorite oysters – kusshi and kumomoto. Both are small, sort of sweet – and all good. To go with them, I made a cocktail sauce, and he bought the mignonette that Santa Monica Seafood serves.

Using our new oyster knife

Fresh Kumamoto oyster - it's alive!

Next comes the Leek and Potato Soup. We also made the suggested (from the recipe) black olive potato chips to serve with the soup.

Black Olive Potato Chips frying away!

The final product!

All I can say is that it was absolutely delicious (I had seconds), and we’ll definitely be making this again. Now if only there weren’t a mountain of dishes to do…

Some Reasoning Against "Eat, Pray, Love" - Finally

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:47:00 +0000

Every time I say that I didn't like "Eat, Pray, Love" - I wonder why there aren't more people that didn't like it. So many women do love it, and I don't really want to say too many disparaging things about it - because I have friends that liked it... I guess I don't want to hurt their feelings by saying what I think about women who like it... If that makes sense.

But Memorist Rachel Shukert, in an article for The Wall Street Journal, touches on one of the reasons I disliked the book so much -

"At first glance, Elizabeth Gilbert is reflexively, almost compulsively self-deprecating. She criticizes herself for everything — her ever-increasing pant size, the frivolity of her inner monologue during meditation — everything, that is, except the impetus for her journey in the first place: the breakdown of her marriage. On this subject (and this subject alone), she is conspicuously silent. We hear about her grief, and her husband’s anger (at which she feigns incredulity), but if you want to really want to figure out what went down, you have to read between the lines (hint: I don’t think it was just that she didn’t want kids.) To admit that she did something genuinely hurtful, that she was not so much a victim of circumstance as lying in a bed that she herself had made, might have added real depth to her character, and made for a far more interesting book, but it would undoubtedly have made her less sympathetic to her audience. It’s hard to imagine Oprah, who rarely shrinks from moralizing on experiences she’s never had, endorsing such a work. Gilbert exchanged honesty for likability, and now she’s being played by Julia Roberts in a movie. It’s a canny trade-off, but it’s one I wish she hadn’t had to make."

"All Downhill From Here"

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:37:00 +0000

The following is an interesting article on the Tour de France - but mostly about Lance Armstrong. If anyone knows me really well, they know I love every aspect of the Tour de France - and I also take no issue with dissing Lance Armstrong (mostly just because I'm cantankerous like that). I do respect him as an athlete, but he's certainly not my favorite rider.

Most of the things the article has to say are things that I've been saying for 2 years - but the author is a little more unbiased than I am. Check it out!