The 6 Month Milestone

Once again, it's been way too long. What can I say? We've been extremely busy. I don't have much exciting news to offer, except that K. is doing terrific. He was 20 lbs at 6 months, which puts him in the top 95th percentile! He is long too, so he is bigger than many one-year-olds.

Melissa is working part time. This requires 10 hours with a nanny, and even crazier, 10 hours alone with me every week! So far, K. has adjusted fine, and we really like the nanny.

Here are some of the things K. has been doing:

Sitting by himself without assistance. He flops over occasionally but he also can go indefinitely without help.

Turning over from back to tummy at will. He can turn over from tummy to back, but not all the time.

Eating solid food, including banana, yogurt, avocado, sweet potato, squash, rice cereal, and millet. He doesn't like millet, but I can hardly blame him.

Giggling, sometimes repeatedly.

Laughing at the following sentence: "We're going to force YOU to read the GRAPES of WRAAAAATH!"

Grabbing anything you put in front of him, usually to put it in his mouth.

This list is probably typical for all kids K.'s age, but we're feeling pretty proud of ourselves having gotten him to this point.

Unfortunately his sleeping has taken a turn for the worse. After sleeping through the night at 3 months, lately he has been waking up at least once and more often two to three times per night. Usually he will go right back to sleep after a little nursing or "bouncing," but sometimes he will wake up fully for an hour or more at a time! However, every time we get to our wits end, he'll have a couple of good nights in a row, so we have not felt forced to do a "cry it out method."




Anyway, here we are at my company "luau" picnic. I'll try to post some more video when I get a chance to upload them.

Springtime in D-town

Sorry it's been a damn long time since I've posted. What can I say, it's pretty exhausting just taking care of a 3-month-old and getting the laundry done every day. Anyway, K. is doing great. He starting to sleep through the night with some consistency, he's "talking" and smiling more and more every day.

Today made us appreciate some of the finer aspects of D-town. It started with a trip to the farmer's market, where we scored some wild morel mushrooms. They were $43 per pound, is that a good deal? I don't know because I have never seen wild morel mushrooms! So of course we had to try them. Pictured below is what I made with them: homemade fettuccini with morel mushrooms sauteed with garlic in olive oil, butter , and white wine. This was the first time in a while that I've had the time to go all out with the homemade pasta, but it was worth it.







After the market, we went for a hike in one of the local parks. It was a perfect day, about 70% and sunny. Wildflowers were blooming all over the place, including this lonely dog violet, the only one of its kind that we've seen this spring. Even cooler, we got a rare daytime look at an owl (I think it was a barred owl). I saw him jump up into a tree and managed to get a great look in the binoculars. He looked right at me with huge dark mysterious eyes.










Anyway, then we came home and I made that pasta. All in all, a perfect day! Here also is a recent picture of K. with my brother and one of M.'s friends' kids.

K. Makes Some New Sounds

K. and Daddy Read Hegel

K.'s first dance

Here's newborn K. getting down to some old timey tunes:

Englwood Metroprk

Sorry for the lack of pictures lately. We've been busy with holidays, work-related travel, and getting ready for the baby. Believe it or not, we are actually finding things to do in D-town. One of the best things about the area is the park system. Within a few minutes of the city, there are about a half dozen nature parks with hiking trails, plus an arboretum and a couple of nature preserves.

I happened to catch this one at the right time while on my way to pick M. up at the airport. The lake is actually a human-made floodplain that is continually growing, which is why the picnic table is partially submerged.

Lexingtin, KY

Sorry for the long layoff. Although the pace of life in D-town has been a little slow, we have had things to post, I just haven't gotten around to it.

This weekend, however, was one of our most exciting since we got settled in Ohio. We took an overnight trip to Lex, KY. We started with a tour of Labrot & Graham, one of the area's oldest and best distilleries. It's located in an incredibly scenic part of the bluegrass region out in the horse country. Here is what whiskey looks like before it gets distilled:

Following some surprisingly good Mexican food close to the distillery, that afternoon we had a beautiful hike in a wildlife refuge about 20 min. outside of Lex:


Today we went, of course, to the races! Unfortunately it was not the season for Churchill Downs, but Keeneland, the other major track in the area. The facility is set amongst the rolling hills of the bluegrass. You park on a grassy hill and walk into the building where you see the horses warming up in the paddock. The grandstand itself looks like it might have in the 20s.

Anyway, we got off to a rough start. Just in time for the 2nd race, we made a couple of hurried bets to win. One of our horses came out to an early lead, but faded down the stretch. The other -- my pick of Missing Treasure -- was completely trounced the entire way.

The next race we tried a conservative show bet on another "Cat," Cunning Cat going off at 7-to-1, but I pressed the wrong button. It didn't matter, our horse never contended.

The next couple of races were more of the same. We mixed it up with an exacta bet, and got the winner, Cat And A Half, the prohibitive favorite, but Crafty Brutus was never in the running. At 5-to-1 Maui looked like a nice horse for a conservative show bet to get us on track, but again, nothing but failure and frustration! The 6th race we finally picked a solid horse, Yucatan, which had beaten several horses in the field, yet the odds were going up. I thought this could be a horse to make us some money back, so I placed an aggressive win bet. The horse did o.k., but finished fourth. And to a 75-to-1 longshot! Again, no money! The gambling blues were definitely starting to sink in. Down nearly $20, to our last $2 bet.

Ready to give up, Margaret James stepped up. She liked the 2 and the 8. I liked the 2's better career winnings. We took a look in the paddock and she looked ready to go. Although I was feeling desperate to get our cash back all at once, I also felt like we needed to have a winning bet to turn things around. We placed a conservative show bet. It was a crazy race! Coming off the final turn, just about any horse in the field could have taken it. The 3 and 7 were the clear 1-2, but Ten Carat Ruby was right there in the pack as they came down the stretch. The replay showed her neck and neck for the all important 3rd spot. Finally the result was posted--Victory! Melissa's pick (purely on the catchy name) showed! The bet paid $4.80. Not much, but we were back in it. Positive energy was returning.

But we had decided we would only stay for one last race. This was the marquee--the $500,000 Juddmont Spinnster. With a name like that we had to stay and bet. This time it was my turn to pick. I liked the 6, Asi Siempre. Good career earnings. Lots of experience running this distance. The same jockey that had carried us to riches in the previous race. We'd had bad luck with the Romanesque names, but Asi Siempre--it has a nice ring to it. We took a look in the paddock and she seemed nice. With $4 now remaining on our original $20, I decided to tempt fate. An aggressive $2 to win and $2 to show.

As we returned from the paddock, I realized that the starting gate was right in front of our section of the grand stand, so I took the opportunity to test out the "sports" option on our camera settings. Here's how it went down. Horses approach the gate. Nervous anticipation! Asi Siempre does fine going into the gate. She's ready to roll. And they're off! There she goes, breaking just off the lead. She's the gray with the jockey in shocking pink:
She settles into about 7th place, at the tail end of the pack stalking the leaders. The 5, Summerly, is out in front, but Asi Siempre is in perfect position if she can close! Coming around the turn she makes up ground. Now things get confusing. They are far away, and a lot is happening. The leaders have tired themselves out, and the stalking pack has overtaken them. But who is winning? Do we even have a chance?

And down the stretch they come! And it's Asi Siempre with a clear lead! All she has to do is hold on for a few more seconds. Asi Siempre at the wire! Another winner!
And here she is prancing in her glory, on the way to the winner's circle.
The odds had fallen to 9-to-2, but she paid $11 plus $4.60 to show. Resisting the temptation to let it all ride on the last race, we decided to finish on a serious high. With the $.80 voucher left over from our winnings in the previous race, we cashed out down only $3. Thank you Asi Siempre and Keenland!

Welcome, Hermes

This is our new kitten Hermes, named for the swift and mischevious messenger of the gods and patron of thieves. He arrived yesterday. This is a video of him attacking the camera that's filming him.




Also, here is Kid, who has recently re-joined us here in Ohio.

Road Trip 2

Next up was Monumment Valley, the scenic area on the border between eastern Arizona and Utah. M.V. is the area featured in the most spectacular Western films, such as John Forrd's Serchers and Sirgio Leonne's Once Uppon a Time in the Wesst. To get there, we descended from the mountains of the North Rim on a two lane highway that followed the Vermillion Cliffs through reservation and wildlife preserve areas. The poverty was depressing but the landscapes were incredible:

We passed through Kayenta, AZ, where the only food was McDonalds and a grocery store that sold "Navajo tacos" made with flatbread and various fillings. I'm sure there's more to Native cuisine, but this didn't make me want to experiment. I hate to say it but we might have been just as well off at McDonalds.

We made a left turn to head north from Kayenta into the heart of M.V. The rock formations here don't have the scale of the G.C., but their bizarre shapes--arches, crumbling towers, even a "Mexican hat"--are in some ways more evocative. The rocks shoot straight out of the earth unlike anything I'd ever seen. Unfortunately we could not leave Ace alone in the car, so we were not able to enter into the valley itself, but we got a nice taste of it driving by.
If you look closely at this picture, you can see Ace's cat crate. He was an angel the entire trip, and actually seemed to enjoy staying in the hotels.
Awed by the meaninglessness of our existence relative to the infinity of Time and the beautiful complexity of Nature, we pressed on from M.V. toward Durrango, CO. The desert gradually turned into prairie and the prairie finally gave way to the cool air of the mountains of southwestern Colorado. It was pretty amazing that we could see the landscape change so much in a day of driving, and still have time to take a walk along the river by our hotel and eat a nice dinner at the local overpriced neo-Mediterranean cafe.

Road Trip!

Hi folks. Sorry for the long layoff, but as most of you know, we've been on the road in the process of moving to D-town. We are now safe and sound in Ohio and busily setting up our apartment (you might even call it a house--we have an upstairs, downstairs, and basement). While we were waiting for our stuff to arrive, we had the chance to explore D-town a little bit, including a fantastic farmers market about 5 minutes from our new place. The local produce is absolutely incredible--the Amish really know what they're doing.

Although the move has its disadvantages, it has been a great opportunity to see the country. After the movers packed our stuff in the morning, we immediately hit the road with Ace, his litter box, a big suitcase, and as much other junk as we could fit in the car. Our drive initially took us on the 15 freeway into the San Bernardino mountains, then through some desolate landscapes in the desert toward Vegas. We pressed on, landing in St. George, Utah, a touristy town near Zion National Park.

The next day we drove a couple of hours toward our first noteworthy stop: the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The drive started out with more desert, with steep cliffs overlooking a reservation. We then climbed steadily, following the road through Kaibab National Forest. As we gained altitude, the pine forest became more and more dense. We dropped our stuff at the motel, and then drove on this road through pine woods and mountain meadows.











Because of the elevation, it was actually rather cool, unlike the 100+ temperatures of the heat wave we left behind in California. The road eventually led to a spectacular overlook, Point Imperial, from which we could see evocative rock formations, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and the Arizona desert beyond.














Next we took a hike through this burnt out forest. It didn't lead to any more views, but we did get to see quite a few interesting birds.
















Finally, we ended up at another spectacular overlook, Cape Royal, where we sat around for about three hours, just watching the shadows get longer and longer until the sun finally set. It was a pretty amazing day, considering that it was only our first full day on the road.

I've Been Meaning to Post These for a While

Here are some food pics I've been meaning to share for some time, representing two of our best discoveries during our time in L.A. First up is Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian restaurant in Pasadena. It's located in the trendy shopping area, yet it's as unassuming as most places in Monterey Park. The cuisine is hard to describe, representing a mix of influences. There is a mix of soy sauces, coconut-milk curries, and tangy fruit flavors. This dish is the roti, chewy, flaky pancakes, served with a mango chutney and a vegetarian curry. Other notable dishes we have had here: delicious rice noodles with spicy soy-based sauce, egg noodles with a tangy sweet and sour sauce, and tofu stuffed with veggies.















Next up is Mama's Hot Tamales, located across from MacArthur Park on the outskirts of L.A.'s downtown. The specialty is obvious, but what's great about this restaurant is the variety of tamales they offer. They really explore the full array of traditional tamale cooking! For example, they offer not one but two Oaxacan-style tamales: one that represents "Coast of Oaxaca" (with cheese and roasted jalapenos) and another from "Valley of Oaxaca" (with pumpkin infused into the batter and stuffed with black beans). They have a sweet dessert tamale, and of course a variety of meat stuffings. Even more surprising, they offer perhaps the best cup of coffee in L.A., individually dripped into each cup. Best of all, it is a non-profit restaurant: they also train street vendors in the art of making tamales. This a tamale plate, with two pumpkin tamales, rice, and mild melt-in-your-mouth pinto beans. After a lunch like this, I almost didn't need dinner (but then abour 4 hours later I somehow ate a chile relleno plate and a pupusa before the Dodger game).

Birds of Prey in The Valley

While normally associated with shopping malls and suburban sprawl, The Valley outside L.A. also has some nice wildlife habitat. Earlier this month we went in search of birds at the Sepulvida Basin Wildlife Reserve. We saw ducks with bright blue beaks, coot chicks, cormorants, and all other kinds of stuff. The real highlight was this bird, calmly observing the scene. We came back a half hour later and it was still there. We think it might be an American kestrel in an uncommon ghostly white and gray plumage. But it looked a little bigger than kestrels are supposed to, and I don't see any vertical bars under the eyes, so another guess would be Northern Harrier. What do you think?

Stuff We Saw

I've been a little backlogged, but better late than never. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the most impressive sights we took in during our trip to Mex. The main attraction in the O.C. area is the ruins at Monte Alb-n. This was a Zapot-c city that was developed on a flattened area formed by literally cutting off the top of a mountain. The site is pretty immense:

Kind of like you imagine the Egyptian pyramids, it is awesome to go here and marvel at the labor that must have gone into creating something like this.

I am told that I have a reputation for being at times excessively "competitive." Well, Zapot-c culture apparently took competitiveness to a whole other extreme. This is the ball court at Monte Alb-n. The players would throw the ball around in a way that mirrored the order of the universe, with the aim to get the ball on the spot in the center of the court. The winner would get honor and glory, the loser would be killed in sacrifice to the gods (apparently there is no evidence that this practice occured at Monte Alban, but it was common elsewhere).

This was taken from the ruins at Mitla, another village outside of O.C. The cool thing about this is that it is made from thousands of bricks arranged at weird angles -- and that's it. No mortar or anything holding it together other than gravity.

O.C. Food!

All Mexican cuisine is based on corn (masa), beans, and, I hate to say it, meat. However, each of the regions has its own sauces and preparations and other twists. Oax-ca stands out in my mind for its unique flavors. It all starts with the "mole," a thick, rich sauce made with a complex combination of a flavor ingredient (such as almonds or unsweetened chocolate) pureed with tomatillos and a complex combination of herbs and spices. The mole can be used as a dip for meat and tortillas, a spread for sandwiches, or, as in this case, a sauce for chili rellenos:

This was my entree for our favorite overall meal, at Naranja, an upscale place featuring fairly authentic (non-touristy) Oax-can cuisine, close to the main square. We matched this with a green salad that came with thin-sliced apples and a dusting of grated raw chocolate bean. Without processing, it was pure bitterness, playing the functional equivalent of black pepper, albeit with a subtle chocolate aftertaste. Our table was in a beautiful outdoor covered courtyard, surrounded by plants and birds passing through. Unfortunately, because of the teachers' protest (see below), we were the only ones there--all the other tourists were deterred.




One pleasant surprise I found was the popularity of the "torta" in local eateries. The torta is a kind of sandwich, similar to the Italian panini. The bread is grilled, making it crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. This is a chili relleno torta, with the battered, fried, and cheese-stuffed poblano, fresh tomato and avocado, and a little mayo. I got this on our first night in town, just a random choice at the only place in town that was still open, but it was surprisingly memorable.

Last but not least, I should tell you about a regional specialty called "tlayuda." It seems each sub-culture in the Latino diaspora has its own variation on the corn-based pastry stuffed with cheese and other stuff: the taco, quesedilla, pupusa, etc. Incidentally, my understanding is that the burrito is an American invention--a Mexican-American innovation on some original, as the hot dog is to the sausage. In any case, the Oax-can specialty is the tlayuda. It comes on a large (maybe 12"), flat, crispy masa pancake, slathered with beans, and topped howevery you want it. It kind of a gigantic open faced taco. I got one at the food stalls in the market, with quesillo (the regional specialty string cheese) and fresh tomato and avocado:

I must say, unfortunately, that none of these things were radically different from things we've found at L.A. restaurants like Guelaguetza. However, I was satisfied. O.C. lived up to its billing as the capital of the region with the best cuisine, and the experience was easily worth the trip and the indigestion.

Back from Mex

Sorry for the long layoff, but we're back from vacation and we've got some pictures to post. I call it "Mex" because I was reading Raimond Chandller over the trip and I got in the habit. Hopefully this is not politically incorrect. Anyway, we spent a week in Oax-ca City, Mexico. Today's post I'll talk about our impression of the city itself, and I'll follow up on food and sights a bit later.

The "other O.C." is a smallish city in southern Mexico, landlocked but in a valley surrounded by the ranges of the Sierra Madre. The region is known for its crafts and for growing the cactus for "mezcal," an 80-proof alcohol made from the same family of cactuses as tequila. We didn't do much in the city itself--which was exactly what we planned. Mostly we just explored, taking in the city and learning about its history, and eating. Most of our major activities were in the surrounding areas.

The architecture is an interesting combination of styles: you have the narrow streets of Mediterannean Europe, ornate buildings of Renaissance missionaries, and low-lying storefronts of the American West. Here's a typical street, with a bunch of storefronts on one side, and on the other a wall marking the grounds of the Santo Domingo cathedral:


The neighborhoods revolve around the churches, of course, and the accompanying squares, that remind me of the Italian "piazza." However the squares here had an even more public and social feel. Weddings and graduations (along with music and drinking) would spill into the squares. One time we saw sets of local kids organized by age group doing some kind of line dance. Another time, we saw kids dressed up in peasant outfits walking on stilts as part of some political campaign. Always there were people just hanging out and being social (and a few harassing you to buy knick-knacks, although not as much of this as I expected). Some of the squares in the central locations were touristy, but some seemed entirely local. Here's the Church of Our Lady of Solitude, close to the neighborhood where we stayed:

Finally, the city is distinctive for its markets. There are a bunch, each one with its own specialty. We visited a craft market, a spice market, a produce market, a market with food stalls, and a huge (acres) flea market with all of the above. Here is my wife in the food stall market, enjoying a chocolate "elote" (kind of like hot chocolate mixed with corn juice):


Aside from your typical problems with travelling in a developing country, the only major downside was really bad pollution--worse than Be-jing, in my opinion. Part of the problem is that the streets are so narrow, so the exhaust from the old buses and cars has nowhere to go but right in your face. Oh yeah, and the city completely changed about halfway through our visit when a bunch of people took over the entire downtown area, camping out in the middle of the street and covering the streets with tarpulins set at the average Mexican height of about 5' 3". Eventually we learned that this was a demonstration by the teachers in the state demanding more money and support. It was an interesting way of communicating that message, but I'm not sure if it was effective.

More on things we actually did in the other O.C. in the next couple of days!

W-t Thai

For a very different eating experience from last night, today we finally made it to W-t Thai. This is one of the big Thai temples in the L.A. area, and every weekend they have stalls of streetfood vendors lining their parking lot. It is a festive atmosphere with a great variety of exotic foods. My highlight was the pictured fried tofu and taro. The taro was something I had never had in that form (i.e. with that much grease!). I wanted to eat more but I'm sure it would have made me sick. To the right of the picture is sticky rice grilled with banana in a banana leaf. A simple but unusual and delicious combination! Here too is my wife with her favorite, fresh mango and sweet sticky rice sprinkled with roasted mung beans. We also had a papaya salad (unfortunately we had to pick around these small, limp crabs they toss in whole and mash up with the papaya).

Angelini Osteria

We finally got some good high end Italian food here in L.A. According to Chowhownd this place is the best, and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere wasn't overly trendy, a simple space with an exposed brick wall and high ceilings. My only complaint is that the tables were squished together, bringing back memories of NY. We started with a huge basket with breadsticks, rustic wheat and regular bread, and a bread that was a cross between Naan and Saltines. We both got salads (raw baby artichoke for me, spinach and mushroom for M-rgaret J-mes. My entree was spaghetti with eggplant and ricotta salata. Pictured here is M-argaret J-mes pasta e fagioli (?) and our dessert, a decadent choclate crostada with hazelnut gelato, coffee whipped cream, and chocolate sauce! Made me miss Loopa a little less.

Good Times at Anacapa Island!

Yesterday we went to truly spectacular place, Annacappa Island, an hour drive and a 12-mile boat ride off the coast of L.A. It is a small, uninhabited island with a nature preserve run by the Paark Srvice, with volcanic cliffs and (right now) blooming wildflowers.

Even cooler, it is home to endangered California brrown pelicanns, and Western herrring gullls, which were nesting; cormorrants; monkk seeals; and a huge colony of California sea lyons. Here you can see a few of the latter playing in a little cove. They kept coming in and out of this cove -- at one time there must have been about 30 of them playing around!

Finally, on the trip back to Oxnaard, we got an unexpected treat: a sighting of two hummpback whayles! Our boat came to a complete stop, and we got to observe them for about 15 breathtaking minutes, as they would slowly come up for air and then dive back down, keeping us in suspense for minutes at a time. Here is a picture of one blowing spray and the other swimming toward us. Perhaps M-rgaret J-mes will post one of the close ups.

We topped it off by stopping off at a fruitstand for strawberries picked straight out of the adjoining field, and at a nursery with a fine collection of orchids and water plants.

This was probably the coolest thing we've done in L.A., including food!

Mr. Ramen

This place offers about 10 different kinds of ramen broths, a few of which are actually vegetarian. You then select from a variety of toppings. This is a soy sauce broth with tofu and seaweed. We also got a side dish of spinach marinated with sesame seeds. It's still tough to find a good selection of vegetarian dishes, but I'm starting to come around to Japanese cuisine.

Hollywood Reservoir

This is H-llywood Res-rvoir, the water supply of the stars, and one of the locations used for Chinat-wn, one of this swineherd's favorite neo-noirs. After a short walk around the lake, we took a drive up the hill overlooking the area. This scrub jay perched next to us several times. At one point a mourning dove tried to steal the perch, but the jay stood his ground.

Haru Ulala

Frankly, Japanese cuisine is not my favorite--I tend not to find much in the way of vegetarian selections. Because sushi is particularly trendy in NY, I usually end up paying 20 bucks for some rice with avocado in it. The great thing about LA, however, is that with its large Japanese population, there are more options than just sushi. There are tons of ramen shops and many other kinds of less trendy, more affordable, more vegetarian options.

So we tried Haru Ulala, a place that specializes in grilled meat, fish, and vegetables, but also makes noodles and pancakes called okonomiaki. This is the green soba noodle soup, which came with garlic scapes and an unidentified green vegetable with the texture of kale; and the vegetable okonomiaki. We also got agedashi tofu, grilled asparagus, pickled plum sushi, a pickled plum rice ball, and green tea and mango ice cream coated with a sticky rice paste called mochi. The broths were almost certainly fish based, but I wasn't complaining. Although this meal would have cost $50 easily in NY, we got out for under $30.

Blessing of the Animals

This is a big annual event in L.A. where people celebrate their animals and have them blessed. There were all kinds of animals there, including these goats. We got to see C-rdinal M-honey do the blessing, and May-r Vil-eregosa was there to work the audience.

Spicy Mint Noodles

This is our favorite dish from our favorite Thai restaurant in L.A.: chewy flat rice noodles, a brown sauce, spicy mint, fresh chili and cilantro. We went there on a cold rainy night and these noodles hit the spot.

The restaurant is Mae Ploy, on Sunset about a mile from our apartment.

Grand Central Market Pupusas

These pupusas are from the pupuseria in Grand Central Market in Downtown LA. The market has a number of fast food vendors, including Mexican, Thai, and Chinese, as well as bakeries, tortillerias, and produce stands. The pupuseria has the most extensive menu I've ever seen. These are spinach & cheese and potato & cheese. They also have squash, bean, and lorroco, with and without cheese. I strongly recommend the cheese! These best part is getting to see the ladies making the balls of dough and filling, then slapping them out into the flat shapes you see here.

Catalina!

Here are some pictures from our latest excursion. Milissa's sister was here, so we took her on the ferry to Catalina Island, an hour off the coast of L.A. The town itself is overrun by yuppies, but just outside of town there are all kinds of hikes with spectacular views and wildlife. We spent most of the day climbing to the summit of the mountain overlooking the town. We then took a walk and got to see deer, cormorants, seals, and dolphins!

It was expensive, but even with my frugality I daresay it was worth it!

Some Pictures from Echo Park

Although Ellysian Park is bigger and has hiking, our neighborhood really revolves around this place, Echo Park. It has a nice lake, which we recently saw featured in the movie Chinatown. It also has a lot of black ducks at this time of year. As you can see, Milissa has her "ducks in a row" (sorry for the lame humor, but Milissa forced me into it).

There are some excellent street food vendors in this area. There are trucks selling tacos and churros, and little ladies have stands selling quesadillas and empanadas. I have heard tantalizing rumors of blue corn quesadillas, but so far they have eluded me.