Another fun day in Los Angeles with Lisa & Leo. (Lenny went to work!) Lisa wanted to take a bunch of baby stuff she was not going to use to a charity in Venice, but was not too excited about driving so far on the freeway alone with the baby.... so before Dave and I flew home, we all went to Venice. Little Leo was not happy today and screamed for twenty minutes on the way. I would say "Poor Baby", but in this case, it was more like "Poor Mama". Lisa was miserable watching her son scream. Finally DT pulled-over and she nursed Leo until he was cooing once again.
The charity was most happy to take Lisa's donation and since we were in the area, we had a perfectly lovely farewell luncheon at Gjelina in Venice Beach. Gjelina is one of the hottest new restaurants in Los Angeles. Lisa and Lenny really like Gjelina and the restaurant had a huge write-up in Food & Wine magazine last month.
We had salads - arugula, shaved corn, radishes and cherry tomatoes with pecorino. Delicious and everything is organic and sourced locally. The newly-appeased Leo slept in his car seat during our entire lunch.
Instead of a salad, DT had sauteed corn with chilies, herbs and cheese as his appetizer.
We shared a pizza. Perfect.And remember a few weeks ago, when I attempted to make Butterscotch Pots du Creme from a recipe Gjelina chef Travis Lett provided to Food & Wine magazine? Lenny's favorite - and I failed miserably? Today, I sampled the dessert, and cannot figure out how the dessert I sampled today in any way could have been produced with the recipe Lett provided. Lett would also not allow me a taste/sample of his cured salmon pastrami today, so I think he may just be a total plumped-up killjoy.
Butterscotch Pots du Creme with caramel & sea salt from Gjelina in Venice
Food was very good. Presented well. Prices were reasonable. Restaurant was very pretty. Service was very slow and not friendly. However, the pizza and Butterscotch Pots du Creme are worth a return visit.
Leo cried most of the way home.
Leo with "Leo" - Kathy & Woody bought thelion rattle for Leo in Texas last week.
We flew home this afternoon. You know you have been flying the Portland-Burbank shuttle too often when you are starting to be on a first-name basis with the flight attendants.
I found this adorable photo of a just-bathed Leo on my phone when we landed in Portland. Lisa sent it to make us miserable and sad. We miss them all so much already.We will be home for a few days and then we are - you won't believe it - heading out for a few days in our RV to Eugene for the Duck home football opener against Nevada. I hope we can remember where we parked our motorhome! I hope DT can remember how to drive our motorhome.
Until my next update, I remain, your exhausted correspondent.