Pushing The Envelope – Oaxacan Style

Never one to shy away from exotic foods, I finally crossed the line into the world of creepy-crawlies: I ate chapulines.

In plain English – grasshoppers.

They are a staple in our favorite Oaxacan restaurant “Guelaguetza” on 8th Street. Our friendly waiter sang the praises of the dish, so how could I resist? The little critters were very tasty and slightly crunchy, having been toasted with garlic, lemon juice and sal de gusano on a clay cooking surface called comal. One only needs to pulls off the legs, apart from that one eats them whole.

They look like bugs!
They look like bugs!

So that was that. Tasty and slightly unusual for someone not growing up in Oaxaca. The question after such an experience is always: Will I add this treat to my list of foods I could eat all the time? Well… no. Why? Quite simple: The aesthetics are a bit off.

However, I could well imagine to eat chapulines again if they came as tempura, with the direct visual impact somewhat softened by the batter.

Does that make me a grasshopper wimp?

Victory!

Could this be the seal equivalent of a High Five?

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If so, it is more than appropriate, because after nine years of the seals being an issue with the last five years spent on a lawsuit to evict them, they can stay. Hurray!

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Yes, you too. Come on in!

On November 13th, Superior Court Judge Timothy B. Taylor issued a final order that the seals can stay. In his opinion the former rulings were fine at the time they were issued; but with legislation signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow the city of San Diego to turn the Cove into a seal sanctuary starting from January 1st 2010, Judge Taylor saw no need to chase the seals away for 1 1/2 months.

Nearly 10 years of struggle by many animal activists, lawyers, ordinary people and a sympathetic judge have paid off to keep this wonderful little window into marine wildlife open.

With the new pupping season starting at the end of November, all is well again at the Cove.

A Moment In History

20 years ago today, Günter Schabowski, then a member of the SED Politbüro of the German Democratic Republic, gave his now famous press conference about the lifted visiting rules for travels from East to West Germany. When asked by a journalist when the new rules would apply, he said: “Immediately.” This was not quite correct, free travel was planned to begin the next day, but the outcome was that two hours later thousands and thousands of people were swarming to the Berlin Wall, demanding to be let through. The border guards were overwhelmed, opened access points and that was it – the Wall was open, the downfall of the DDR regime began, the Cold War ended and divided Germany started the journey towards reunification.

When writing this it sounds so cut and dried; but, way back then, this moment in history could not have left many Germans unmoved.

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A few weeks ago the “Wende Museum” in Los Angeles had installed some original segments of The Wall along Wilshire; last night an additional “Wall of Art” was torn down at the site at midnight in memory of the historic events 20 years ago.

When I went so see the “Wall” in front of the Variety Building, children were playing around the wall segments. They were only interested in the colorful display – and yes, I thought, you are too young to be burdened with thoughts of war and politics. Keep on playing, enjoy the carefree time and leave “the rest” for the time being to the adults.

Bento Delight

Lunch at San Sui on Hillhurst is always a delight. First of all there are the delicious bento boxes:

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In addition to the culinary delight one steps into a little haven of peace and quiet with a lovely view:

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After lunch one feels restored, not only in body, but in mind too.

They don’t even charge for the restoration of the inner being. It’s all included.

Alive And Well – The Supper Club

It only took about a year of gentle coaxing by a dear former colleague until we finally stepped through this door

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to find out that behind it there hides a real honest-to-God supper club with an amazing offer in Jazz music.

Our introduction to Jax was made all the more pleasurable by Mike Gurley and the Night Caps. If you want to swoon to music a bit strangely called “cocktail music”, go there. It is well worth the time; those musical cocktails are tasty with a distinct modern edge.

How good is this place? Well, we stayed until midnight. That should say it all and is our stamp of approval.

92 Years

On October 9th, 2009, the International Olympic Committee finally voted for Ruby to be included in the Olympic Games again. 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Rugby will be played, 92 years after the last time at the Olympic Games in France in 1924. Way back then the US won Gold (just like at the games in 1920), which did not go down well with the French audience, seeing its team defeated. The following ruckus on the pitch did not help the sport at all and it was removed from the Olympics.

Now Rugby is off to a new start. Even though only Sevens will be played, which might sadden some hard-core fans, for a spectator sport this probably is a good choice. Of course there will be male and female teams – a big difference to 92 years ago. Women teams today are not rare at all and they do exceedingly well.

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Maybe even a few of the young women on these teams I watched two weekends ago will be in Rio at the Olympics. Plus my favorite female referee, I hope!

Training Camp

Since yesterday all signs point towards the most important event of the season – the first day of rain. Temperatures dropped a bit, the (nearly) eternally blue sky has taken on a grayish hue and we are waiting… waiting…

Not to be caught unawares by this change we decided to accustom ourselves to the sound of splattering water drops – in short, we went into rain training camp and settled down with some coffee at the Shea Terrace at Loyola Marymount University.

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Enjoying the sights and sounds of the water sculpture was made twice as sweet by the knowledge that LMU was selected as the 2008 Recycled Water Institutional Customer of the Year by the California WaterReuse Association. Water is “liquid gold” in drought-ridden California; those people at LMU are well aware of it by using sophisticated water-saving techniques and using reclaimed water for all their fountains on campus and for landscape watering.

So we got used again to the sound of falling water. Now the “real” stuff should make it’s first appearance.