lazy day

Spent yesterday eating brunch, visiting LACMA, and ordering in Vietnamese food with friends. BCAM (The Broad Museum Of Contemporary Art) has just opened next to LACMA but tickets for entrance are still sold out until mid-week. Walked through all of the old galleries in the permanent collection and was pleasantly surprised to see some old friends: two versions of Brancusi's "Bird in Space" as well as a beautiful room of Giacometti's that I forgot LACMA has always housed. The new space, although apparently scathingly criticized by the New York Times, was airy and monumental. Chris Burden's new conceptual piece, a hypostle-hall like maze of street lamps was lovely and glowing as dusk fell.

After a few hours exploring the galleries, Meaghan and I headed back to the apartment for wine and pho. Today- lounging around the house drinking coffee, reading, and watching bad tv. About to take a stroll down Melrose to people watch and grab a bit of sunshine...

grassies

A picture from our last kickball game.

Musings of a mouse

I am supposed to be going to Beverly Hills High School's homecoming game and parade but I am still sitting in my classroom at 5 pm..I think I got here 11 hours ago. Still deciding about my Halloween costume for tom night in between grading papers..I have my costume for school all set out but I may be a mouse on Saturday night for the party. I have little pink felt ears and a fuzzy gray dress I can wear. I just feel like being cozy and wearing lots of pink blush and ballet slippers....

Only exciting to me.

As I sat in traffic on the way home from school today, I decided to compile a list of my favorite restaurants/dishes of all time. Yes, this is how fixated on food and completely un-cerebral I really am. The list (in no particular order):

1. Robin Du Bois (Brooklyn): Steamed mussels with garlic
2. Bagel Factory (Los Angeles): Egg salad sandwich on a toasted everything bagel with red onion.
3. Thai Boom (Los Angeles): Prik King with Chicken
4. Natalee Thai (Los Angeles): Chicken Laarb
5. Tuk Tuk (Los Angeles): Nua Kem
6. Dr. Shokshukas (Tel Aviv): Shokshuka and salads
7. Wagamamas( London): Yasai Cha Han (with chili oil and lots of beer)
8. Budgens (yes, a supermarket..London): Vegetarian toad-in-the-hole
9. Nick's ( Los Angeles): Bacon and eggs with rye toast
10. Thai Bamboo (Los Angeles): Thai bamboo chicken
11. Chili Duck (Boston): Drunken noodles, golden bags
12. Ali Ababbas (NYC): Falafel with hot sauce
13. Cube (Los Angeles): Pumpkin ravioli
14. Vinnie Testas (Boston) Bread and roasted garlic
15. Nameless bakery off high street Willesden (London): Beef and onion pie
16. Mashti Malones (Hollywood): Rosewater ice cream
17. Grand Cafe (Brooklyn) Avocado and Hummous fried sandwich
18. Cafe Brazil (Los Angeles): Vegetarian plate (black beans, plantains, rice)
19. Versailles (Los Angeles): " " plus garlic sauce
20. Roscoes (Los Angeles): Fried chicken and waffles
21. Nameless cafe in The Oberkamf (sp?) district..(Paris) Chicken with rosti in a tomato reduction
22. Emils(Los Angeles): breaded sausage rolls
23. The Tudor House (Santa Monica) Sausage roll, gingerbread dolly
24. Mi Cocina (Plano, Texas) Beef fajitas
25. Tartine (San Francisco) Puffed cheesy gruyere roll
26. The Coop (Los Angeles) Pepperoni pizza well done
27. GRIMALDIS (prob my fave rest ever- Brooklyn) Anything they make

The list goes on............

Finally, a costume.

Finishing up my Edgar Allan Poe unit and trying to create a somewhat decent segue into Julius Caesar..my only thematic link being "war". Anyways, as we begin webquest research assignments in class and the kids start actual explication of the text next Monday, I realized the perfect Halloween costume- Cleopatra. I am not sure that it is 100% appropriate that I will be playing the part of a famous concubine but what the hell? I just cut my bangs and I can wear lots of eyeliner and a sheet to school (with full-on clothes underneath, of course). Some visual inspiration follows:

weekend.

Almost Friday. Just finished an 11 hour day- exhausted but very excited to see my little sister who arrives at LAX in an hour.

- Sleep. grading. probably some drinking.

a tiny robot. I want to start collecting them.

Impia Tortorum

Starting my "literary devices" unit utilizing Edgar Allan Poe's famous gothic work, "The Pit and the Pendulum". I am going to scare the daylight out of my poor kids, I think. I have a soundtrack of screams and the clean , grating "slliiiiiice" of a knife to help them visualize the maddening horror of the story. I am using the piece to introduce mood and tone, two ridiculously evident devices found in the story.

I heart Poe.