You Say Snuggie, I Say Slanket

Today is National Pigs-In-A-Blanket Day (thenibble.com).

Shake, Shake, Shake...

On Friday, The Art Deco Society of Los Angeles will be meeting up for Cocktails in Historic Places™  at the  Los Feliz landmark, the Tam O’Shanter pub and restaurant. 

When: Friday, April 24, 6 to 8 p.m. 

Where: The Tam O'Shanter, 6608 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Why: Mary Pickford, Fatty Arbuckle, and Walt Disney used to have lunch there. 

How: Art Deco Society Members and non-members are welcome to attend the no-host bar event; no RSVP is required, but you can confirm on the the ADSLA’s Facebook page.

Also, check out the society’s other upcoming events, including the May 16 Avalon Ball on Catalina Island and the August 8 Miracle Mile walking tour.

Streep As Julia Child: Delicious!

Meryl Streep stars as the doyenne of celebrity chefs, Julia Child, in an upcoming film based on a book — Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

Amy Adams, who co-starred with Streep in Doubt, plays Julie Powell, a blogger who set out to make every recipe in Child’s enduring classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which led to the aforementioned book and movie deal.

It just goes to show that, like Julie and Julia, you can make a living doing something you love. Or at least you can make a chicken dance on your kitchen counter before you broil the hell out it.*

Voilá: dinner and a show.

*By “you” I mean “me.”

Dumpster Diving in the Nuclear Age

This etching was discovered in a trash can near Park La Brea more than 50 years ago, and now it hangs the dining room of advertising production managers Vivian Green and Truda Kinniburgh.

Little Boatyard, Venice is one of numerous etchings by Lionel Barrymore, who’s remembered more often as the cheerless, bank-run-inducing Henry F. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life than as an artist with an affection for boats, docks and ports.

Here’s how Viv’s mom found it. Toward the end of World War II, she came to California to take care of her younger brother, an army major and development engineer. Viv’s mom had a lot of wartime experience herself, having worked on The Manhattan Project and at a facility in Downey, which was later revealed to have had a nuclear reactor. In the evenings after work, brother and sister would unwind by going for long walks around Miracle Mile, looking at the trees and houses. Viv’s mom especially loved Wednesdays because that was the night when neighbors put out their trash for Thursday collection. During one of those Wednesday night strolls, Viv’s mom found Little Boatyard, Venice.

Speaking of Barrymores... Drew Barrymore had a great interview with NPR’s Terry Gross regarding her portrayal as Little Edie Beale in HBO’s Grey Gardens. To hear it, download the podcast from iTunes: NPR 04-14-2009 Fresh Air or listen to it here.

Grrr...animals

It’s time to celebrate — according to thenibble.com, today marks the birthday of animal crackers. The concept of cookies shaped like animals originated in England (then known as “biscuits”), and were adopted by circus maestro P.T. Barnum in 1902. The now-famous Barnum’s box, which resembles a caged train car and topped with a length of string, was designed by an unsung hero of graphic design so that the boxes could be hung on Christmas trees.* In 1948, Barnum’s Animals became known as Barnum’s Animals Crackers.

A few more facts:

• In 1930, the Marx Brothers starred in the film Animal Crackers, which was adapted from the 1928 play of the same name.

* Shirley Temple sang Animal Crackers in My Soup in the 1935 charmer, Curly Top. The song was used by numerous makers of animal crackers to promote their cookies. 

• In last week’s episode of the Food Network competition, Chopped, chef Sandy Davis won after preparing animal cracker soup for dessert.

• Cadbury’s animal biscuits, which are dipped in chocolate and packaged in a tin, are available at Mel & Rose.**

• Rumor has it that Kellogg purchased the original Mother’s recipe, and will be re-launching the cookies in May. 

• Meanwhile, Keebler makes pink and white frosted animal cookies.***

• Nabisco offers an iced animal cookie with a distinct, lemony taste. (My sister and her entire family think the Nabisco Classics Iced Animal Cookies are delicious. “Everyone comments how they don't taste as waxy and I can vouch that it is a whole lot easier to eat a whole bag of these than I would ever have done with Mother’s.”

* They’re a gift, they’re an ornament, and they’re edible, which means Barnum’s Animals Crackers are the perfect food.

** My birthday is coming up. 

***Am I the only one troubled by the strange, yellow-grey cast of what should be white cookies featured on the Keebler bag?

Now Hear This

Perhaps you’ve had a friend and neighbor like this, who plants sunflowers that grow as tall as a building, who’s hidden a big, white rabbit named Zeus or a male pot plant from the landlord, who’s entertained as Pocahontas or brunette Barbie at kiddie parties hosted by crazed, piñata-bashing moms, who’s swept glass out of your car seat after some loser has smashed in a window, and who predicts marvelous fortune from the grounds left in a cup of Greek coffee. 

This friend might seem to be at a remove from the vagaries of a world unstable enough for our President to liken our country’s economic foundation to a pile of sand. 

Then again, this friend might be quietly making sense of it all, drafting lines like a whisky-voiced Emily Dickinson gone subversive under the glare of too much sun. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m fortunate enough to have such a friend, the indie blues singer/songwriter Michelle Fontaine, and I hope you’ll visit her mySpace page to hear Corporate Cowboy and other recordings.

Best Meets Worst

Today isn’t just Easter. It’s also National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day.* Here’s a way to combine both celebrations: a grilled cheese and peeps sandwich. Otherwise known as “Cakes & Mivens,” this intoxicating combination was conceived by Bryan Beecher and Crystal Carlsberg, and was a winner in the 2008 National Grilled Cheese Invitational. 

Cakes & Mivens is considered to be a dessert sandwich.

*In fact, all of April is glorious -- it’s National Grilled Cheese Month. 

**Click here for info on this year’s National Grilled Cheese Invitational, taking place in downtown Los Angeles on April 25. 

See the cheesy art featured above at commercial-archive.com

Happy Easter!

Jeff Koons’ stainless steel rabbit, on display in the Broad Contemporary at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Live Like A Movie Star

Spellbound, While the City Sleeps, Out of the Past — if you’ve seen these noir classics, then perhaps you recall the achingly beautiful actress Rhonda Fleming. Her former home at 829 South Highland Avenue — also a classic — is still up for sale after being listed this past December. (Afraid of commitment? Inquire about leasing.)

Villa Highland features three bedrooms, two baths, one un-permitted guesthouse, and a large grassy area that could accommodate a generously-sized, sparkling pool and an equally generous, sparkling pool boy. If you take advantage of the city-approved live-work office, you could traipse across the 7,500 square foot property and earn your keep in your charmeuse lounging pyjamas and fluffy ostrich mules.

The property is a steal at $1,145,000, or maybe any sum just seems small when compared to, say, the national deficit. Visit www.villahighland.com to see more photos or pick up the princess rotary-dial and call ReMax’s Pablo Martinez at 626 864 8774.

Dog Day

Here’s another page from my handbag-a-day calendar from Workingman Press. (Thanks, Christopher!) Anyone can put a dog 

into a purse (no offense, Paris Hilton), but it takes vision to put your purse into the dog. Woof!

Just Desserts

Sometimes the 99¢ Only Store is a treasure trove of the unexpected. 

Case in point: the Wilshire/Fairfax store has a small, hard-to-find, and rapidly diminishing stock of Le Petit Ecolier Extra Dark (70%) cookies from the LU Biscuit company. 

Maybe it’s because the little schoolboy is so adorable, or because the chocolate is so rich, creamy and delicious, or because the biscuit is so light and pleasantly crunchy, but it’s hard to keep from eating an entire box in one sitting. 

The schoolboy-embossed chocolate biscuit, like the company itself, is a marriage of charm and grace. LU was founded around 1850 in Nantes, France, by Monsieur Jean-Romain LeFèvre — “L” — and his business partner/wife, Pauline Utile — “U.”

Kraft Foods purchased LU in November, 2007. To me, this is a bit like the Keebler elves taking over Mother’s cookies and then putting the frosted animals in a bag that’s not as cute as the original. (I hope the schoolboys are being kept safely away from the orange mac ’n’ cheese powder.) Then again, it’s a mercy that the magical LU schoolboys are still available after 160 years in business, no matter who’s taken them over. Same with the pink- and white-frosted animals.  

What’s more LU schoolboys are unexpectedly versatile. They’re great with nothing but a frosty glass of milk. If you’re trying to stave off the pudge, a tall, icy Diet Coke works, too. But if you really want to indulge, why not make some Petit Ecolier S’mores? 

Blogger shesabetty.typepad.com recommends the regular dark (45%). If I were you, however, I’d try out the chocolate hazelnut Ecoliers, too. (Sorry, the 99¢ Only Store didn’t have these other varieties.) All you need is a box of your favorite biscuit LUs, marshmallows (stale are the best), a stick, and an open flame. 

Bon appétit!

You Need Some Time For Yourself

Celebrate the joys of personal freedom with these three books:

1. A Room Of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf. Shakespeare’s imaginary sister needs a fixed income and a room of her own to be able to create.

2. How To Be Good, Nick Hornby. Here’s what happens when a woman discovers she has become the kind of person who’d call her husband from a car park in Leeds to tell him she wants a divorce.

3. S, John Updike. The story of a WASP who runs away to an ashram. Unlike Eat, Pray, Love, the journey of Sarah Worth (“S”) — which is told through letters to her husband, daughter, bankers, friends and others — shouldn’t make you queasy.

Welcome To The Waste Land

“April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.”

— from The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot, 1922