My Little Pony

Talk about a cruel candid camera!

Man. This commercial breaks my heart.

Ally Bank has a variety of these commercials on youtube.

Dark Night of the Soul

I was driving down Beverly a few days ago & saw Michael Kohn Gallery in such a shambles, I thought it was shuttered. Turns out the gallery was preparing for a show opening tonight featuring the artwork of David Lynch & music of Danger Mouse.

According to the gallery:

Fifty of Lynch's photographs are mounted on aluminum panels that seem to float on the gallery walls, reinforcing the moody rhythms of the music from Danger Mouse's and Sparklehorse's album Dark Night of the Soul that will play throughout the gallery. The installation encourages a fully enveloping experience that surpasses the individual visual or auditory elements.

Dark Night of the Soul
Opening - 5pm May 30th

Michael Kohn Gallery
8071 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
Show runs May 30–July 11, 2009

If you miss the show, there's a limited edition book featuring the photographs and a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled, "Fo Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will." Why?

Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night of the Soul without fear of being sued by EMI.

For more information on Dark Night of the Soul, visit www.dnots.com.

Eat Your Greens

Most people don't like brussels sprouts & I can't blame them. They taste a lot like cabbage when they're boiled and I hate cabbage. Thanks cabbage soup diet.

But there's a restaurant in Silver Lake where I ordered brussels sprouts on a whim and fell in love because they were roasted.

Roasting brussel sprouts makes them nutty with a satisfying crunch and while I can eat them alone, they're particularly delicious with filet mignon. Even better, with a glass of red vino!

The best part? They're easy to make. I am the laziest cook on the planet and have never ruined these. Below is the best way to roast them according Ina Garten. Her cooking show The Barefoot Contessa actually inspires me to cook. And I'm a baker.

Ina Garten's Roasted Brussels Sprouts
(recipe & photo above are from The Barefoot Contessa cookbook)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a sheet pan and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt ( I like these salty like French fries), and serve immediately.

Here's my lazy 10 minute recipe which is still darn good for being so quick.

Suzanne's Simple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

What you need:

- 1 to 1 1/2 cups Baby brussels sprouts.
Smaller = tastier. I like the little bags they sell at Trader Joe's
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Mixing Bowl
- Medium-sized pan

Start heating up your pan on medium heat. No spray, oil or butter.

Cut all of the brussels sprouts longways. Pop them in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over them so they're lightly coated and toss so all of the sprouts are coated. Add a dash of salt & pepper & toss again.

Pour the sprouts into the pan and put them all face-down. Let them brown & cook for 5 minutes. Then flip them over & let them cook on their backs for another 5.

Now pour them straight into a serving plate or bowl to eat. I like to add a sprinkle of sea salt for extra flavor!

Most important thing about roasted brussels sprouts?
Don't let them sit too long. Like french fries, they get mushy.

Feelin Hella Good

We went to see No Doubt the night before I left for Maui with my tweeps @allensalamanca, @christinacosta & @jrummerfield.

I heart Gwen Stefani. Her adorable voice. Her look. Her extreme girly & tomboyishness. Her perfume. I sound like I'm 16, right? If I still had my Trapper Keeper I'd have little Harajuku stickers all over it. So what?

My blondies on the way to the concert.

Jaime looks like the lead singer of the Ting Tings.

Here are my peeps in the green room at Jimmy Kimmel.

We saw Kingston running around backstage. He was precious.

What we came for!

Gwen rocked the house.

So did her ex-bf Tony Kanal.

Before recording It's My Life, Gwen told the crowd how much she loved it. She recorded it twice to have the perfect result, so it's obviously dear to her heart. :)

Groovin to our girl.

They wrapped up the night with some ska OC style. Yeah!

Cute Overload

I'm struggling to move from vacation mode to work mode. This video from Cute Overload made my day. BTW, just saw Amy Poehler loves the site as much as moi! Amy's so awesome. Does she have a twitter?!

La Isla Bonita

Kapalua Bay near our hotel. Post-snorkeling nap.

View from the lobby of Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua.

Hanging out in my fave hideaway.

A private cabana! Yeah!

The view from my girly cave. (Thx Rainn Wilson.)

Our tax dollars hard at work.

Breakfast on our balcony. Creeping cardinal behind Robert.

Give them an inch, they take the entire table.

The scorpion & planter's punch at Mama's Fish House might be the best tiki drinks in Maui.

The coolest menu ever! It displays the name of the fishermen (and women) & where they caught the fish.

I forget what we ordered. Too many tiki drinks.

This parrot guards the entry of Mama's. Almost bit his nose.

The town of Paia is similar to Venice. Where else can you buy a dress covered with Bob Marley's face? Yeah!
On our hike, smiling because I'm moisturizing my cuticles with the Kukui nut. Hike? Not so fun.

Twin Falls.

Baldwin Beach near Paia.

Aloha Maui. Sniff.

Forever in the Twilight

According to http://www.promnite.com/, "Forever in the Twilight" is the hottest theme for 2009.

I have found have the title of my next party.

I am hosting a prom, beginning with a little photo area in my entry with midnight backdrop of moon & stars. I think I'm gonna rock a strapless Tadashi dress from the 80's my mom gave me.

But style is timeless...



It started with Awkward Family Photos, but prom photos? Jackpot!

I discovered this gem of a photo on the supremely stylish blog Chateau de Lu. She's hosting a blogger prom this Friday, May 29th. Send her your prom photos at chateaudelu@gmail.com or just check out the gallery that day. I already ordered my wrist corsage for the occasion, because everyone knows the pinned-on type tears your dress.

Here Today, Gone 2 Maui

Out of Town

Dear readers, I'm typing this from my blackberry in Maui. At the moment, I'm riding in a van heading out for a waterfall hike. I'm sitting next to a guy who has a hacking cough, there's an extremely pregnant woman sitting behind me, I'm wearing hideous water shoes, trying to ignore the humidity & stay awake as the voice of the monotone tour guide says the spiel he's undoubtedly repeated thousands of times before.

That said, I haven't been this relaxed in months. (If I am honest with myself, it's probably been a couple years). I realize I didn't even say goodbye & I hope you forgive me for that, but that's how these things go.

Plus, I will be back early next week.

Aloha!
(Seriously. when someone greets me with aloha, I say hi or hola. I can't bring myself to say aloha aloud... & the hang ten sign? I'm more of a high-fiver or a hugger!)

xoxo
Suzanne

It's a Jungle Out There

I went to the San Diego Zoo for the unveiling of a $45 million enclosure called Elephant Odyssey. It opens to the public this Saturday. I met three female elephants will enjoy the 120,000-gallon pool and 2.5-acre dirt yard. Let me introduce you to Tembo, Sumithi and Devi.


Tembo is the only African elephant in the herd. She's enjoying some branches for breakfast and girl is fiesty. While she was eating, she broke off part of a branch and threw it at me with her trunk! It hit me in the thigh.

Did you know elephants have more than 100,000 muscles in their trunk? That's more than humans have in our entire body.

Check out Tembo giving me the stare down.

Here I am like an idiot showing off what she threw at me. The keepers say she's thrown rocks and given some people concussions. Lovely. Do you see her smiling behind me? Brat.

Click on the photo to see her grin.

Below is Sumithi. She's an Asian elephant and leader of the pack. While she knows she's in charge, she's a sweetheart and flaps her ears constantly.

While they were eating, Tembo - being much larger than the other two and therefore hungrier - stole some branches from her. Tembo played it off by backing up and away from Sumithti - a sign of submission. Sweet :) Sumithi liked foraging for hay inside the dice anyway.

Below is my girl.

Devi. When we first entered the zoo, she was the only one in the yard. It was before sunrise and she was meandering around. I started talking baby talk to her, calling her a pretty girl and a baby girl, just like I do with Simba in a high-pitched voice.

Devi froze and walked over to me slowly. She didn't stand right in front of me, she stood off to the side and started to rumble. That's what the keepers call it, but it sounded like a low growl. They told me she was greeting me. We talked back and forth like that for about ten minutes. I had a conversation with an elephant!

Devi also does the coolest thing. She tucks branches into both sides of her cheeks next to her tiny tusks. The keepers say she does it to mimic Tembo's larger tusks. The reason I didn't get a photo of it? I was getting slimed by Mongo the Camel.

Mongo is super slobbery and put both of my hands in his mouth to get his food pellets. He was so full of love I gave his velvety nose a kiss. Looks like he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Look at his eyes & nose & smile. Ignore the foaming at the mouth.

Designer Delights

This is a fashion/interior design post, so let's kick this off with a Jaime montage. (For my tweethearts, she's @jrummerfield)

Isn't she the perky picture of perfection? Look at buzzkill on the right. Can you tell these were taken late at night? I'm about to fall asleep into my hand. The perils of waking up at 2:30 in the morning...

Let's rewind to the highlights!

I met two powerhouses of the design world!

Catherine Malandrino, French fashion designer & guest judge on Project Runway. She is so glamorous it hurts. Her long black hair, her elegant presence, that hot pink plunging neckline of her own creation. Sigh.

All interior design fans know exactly who I'm posing with above. Margaret Russell, Editor In Chief of Elle Decor - my favorite design magazine. She was also a judge on Top Design with Kelly Wearstler. When I introduced myself to Margaret, she asked me if I was a designer. When I told her I'm with the media... she began to dish. Love her.

I told Margaret how much I love Top Design and she told me they are not renewing the show because it's so expensive to produce. Apparently you can spend a few dollars on fabric and make gorgeous clothes on Project Runway, but Top Design requires a lot more scratch. (She didn't actually say "scratch." Wouldn't that have been awesome?)

Wonder what they were talking about. Hatching more reality tv plans? Pretending to make small talk while the cameras flashed? Gossiping about the other guests' hideous outfits?

The party was in celebration of the Legends of La Cienega Design Walk. It was packed and the AC wasn't on. Margaret wasn't happy. She asked whether it was common for design stores to turn off their air conditioning. Don't worry, I stood up for LA. We love our air conditioning. And I agree with Ms. Russell. Do not host a party and let guests perspire unless they are dancing!

Robert & I trying to stay cool.

Touchups! I didn't remember to take any photos of the beautiful design shop - can't remember the name - they do have gorgeous mirrors and they're down the street from Woodson & Rummerfield.