Scenes From the Weekend: Venice

The stars aligned in such a way that I found myself in Venice two nights in a row. This, from a woman who hates to venture east of Calabasas. I do it for the love, people.

IMG_7132

First – on Friday night I joined a friend and took PCH down to Witz End on Lincoln Blvd. to see my friend and former coworker play a one-hour, one-man acoustic set. Charlie Vaughn, everybody!

Venice, Take 2

On Saturday night three of my friends and colleagues and I drove down to Hotel Palomar in Westwood for a three-hour blogging event sponsored by Invisalign. We didn’t venture up to see the rooms but I took a moment to appreciate the hotel’s streetside and lobby hallway. I love hotels. I should amend that to say I love nice hotels.

IMG_7165

IMG_7187

IMG_7189

IMG_7186

After our event at Hotel Palomar, we snaked through the streets of West LA and down Lincoln to Hotel Erwin at Windward Circle in Venice to meet our pal and colleague who was in town for CicLAvia. She was showing off the app she represents, called Field Trip. We took the elevator to the roof and enjoyed some tasty drinks at the hotel’s bar called “High.” The view of the city was great, and though the flaming heat lamps were fired up, it was pretty chilly up there.

IMG_7194

IMG_7195

IMG_7197

Perfect spot for summertime drinks at sunset, though. Parking in the adjacent lot was only $10. Sigh. Only $10. Did I really just type that?

In other news, we had baseball this weekend:

IMG_7147

And we made a quick stop into the Goodwill store in Thousand Oaks, where we emerged with a completely unplanned purchase of a snazzy “new” blazer for my little fashion enthusiast:

IMG_7210

And here is a photo of the intrepid ladies outside Vons on Agoura Road in Westlake Village who were protesting the use of GMO’s in Kellogg’s products. I had read about their protest in The Acorn, and thought I’d drop by to check out the throngs of angry protesters. There were only two here when I drove by, and they just seemed tired.

IMG_7154

 What did YOU do this weekend?

Sip, Ride, Eat – Pedalers Fork Opens April 22

IMG_8206

Saddle up, cyclists, coffee lovers, and foodies – there’s a new joint opening Monday in Calabasas that you’re going to want to visit. You may not want to leave.

Located on Calabasas Road across from the Leonis Adobe in “Old Town” Calabasas, Pedalers Fork is a coffee shop, bike shop, farm-to-table restaurant, and bar, with a patio next to a creek (did you even know there is a creek there?) and an epic bike rack in the back. It’s the brain child of Robbie Schaeffer, who is an avid cyclist and wanted a place where he could meet his cycling pals early in the morning for a cuppa joe, then hang out after their ride for a delicious meal and/or beer, likely both. He teamed up with restaurateur Tim Rettele, who happened to be visiting Calabasas in search of an appropriate place to lay his beloved family dog to rest (did you know there is a pet cemetery there?!) and spotted the vacant building, and the rest is history.

Last week I attended a media preview dinner at Pedalers Fork. I actually walked around gasping in delight because the place is breathtaking. It’s airy, aesthetically pleasing, filled with eye-catching details and reclaimed materials. The creekside location and the patio made me instantly envision a future meetup.

It was a glorious, sunlit evening, and the cocktails, designed by noted LA-area mixologist Aidan Demarest, were flowing nicely. Based on my personal preferences, he selected for me the Cabacito – basically a margarita made with fresh grapefruit, which was delicious.

IMG_8216Menu choices for the evening included a baby kale Caesar salad with almond tofu Caesar dressing (delicious and incredibly garlicky), picturesque steamed mussels, braised beef with roasted Asian pear, and apple berry cobbler with almond milk sorbet. PF’s sommelier poured wines with our meal, and there was a pinot noir in there whose name I cannot recall but whose taste I will remember forever.

Knowing that everything on our plates was locally grown or sourced and obtained by special Pedalers Fork food procurement vans so that it could be as freshly served as possibly made the meal extra delicious, at least to me. We capped off the evening with coffee drinks from the coffee shop, and a pound of Kickstand Blend Ten Speed Coffee was in our gift bags, and is now on my kitchen counter waiting to start off my morning tomorrow.

I say it all the time, but it bears repeating: we live in a beautiful area. I’m delighted by Pedalers Fork opening a business here that blends in, takes advantage of local services, respects the town and the natural beauty surrounding it, and provides a gathering place for locals and a destination for visitors. I can’t wait to go back.

Pedalers Fork
23504 Calabasas Rd
Calabasas, California 91302
(818) 225-8231

More photos from the press dinner:

A Tale of Three Kids’ Birthday Parties

IMG_7047My birthday boys (not the guy in the middle!)

April is a month of birthdays for our family – my own two kids were born in April, 2 years and 8 days apart – and many of their friends celebrate birthdays in April, too. I still make my boys celebrate their birthday at the same time, whether we have a big birthday party or take them on a fun trip. I’m not sure how long I can get away with that, but I’ll keep trying.

Treasure Hunt

IMG_7050

This year, my kids wanted a scavenger hunt for their birthday. I took that idea and changed it up a little devising a clever but easily solved treasure hunt for them and a few of their friends. It was hardly Pinterest-worthy, but I did craft a pretty good hunt. I limited the kids to just a few friends each, and sent them off in two teams in opposite directions around the block. Here are some of the weird and random locations:

IMG_7032 IMG_7026 IMG_7024

The goal was to find the treasure, and there were 10 clues that led them to it. To find the next clue, they had to solve a puzzle or a riddle which would tell them the next location. I planned this thing for two full days. It took them 30 minutes to complete. During the rest of their visit, they had an epic squirt gun fight and some birthday cake.  Done.

Socks Mandatory

IMG_7087My boys stealing some poor kid’s thunder

The next day, we attended back-to-back parties in Simi Valley. The first was at Imagymnation, a warehouse-turned-gymnastics center for kids. The helpful young party workers led the kids through games and jumping around. Not even an hour into it, both of my boys were sweaty and happy. The parents sat on the sidelines, chatting or checking their smartphones. The party ended with pizza and cupcakes.

The second party was on the other side of Simi Valley at Scooter’s Jungle, a relatively new indoor playground that has giant inflated slides, bouncers, a climbing structure, and mini scooters. Again, the kids were let loose to climb, jump, and slide, and they did it over and over again. At one point the party leader had the kids grab their parents to go down the giant slide with them, but I was spared, because my kids ignored me. If I hadn’t tweaked my back I would have made more of an effort to join in, because it looked like fun!

After the frolicking, we all went into a cafeteria-style room for munchies, vegetables, and pizza (again) and birthday cake. The whole thing lasted about 3 hours. I thought the children would fall asleep on the ride home, but it was me who was bushed! I noted, however, that both locations, aside from being great for kids’ birthday parties, have free play hours during the week, which will be perfect on hot summer days when I have to get the kids out of the house to burn up energy!