Home Sweet Home

1. When you walk in your front door, which room do you enter? Living room/dining room/ kitchen--all in one room, but you mostly walk into the living room portion first.

2. Do you have a dishwasher? No :( Although I’m sure if Raphael was answering this he’d say "Yes, and it’s called Raphael," but note that is only because I cook. That’s our rule, whoever cooks doesn’t clean.

3. Is your living room carpeted or does it have hardwood floors? Hardwood floors with the occasional rug throw.

4. Do you keep your kitchen knives on the counter or in a drawer? In a block on the counter for the big ones and in a drawer for the dinner ones.

5. House, apartment, duplex or trailer? Condo.

6. Rent or own? Own, yay!

7. How many bedrooms is it? One *sigh*

8. Gas stove or electric? Gas. Not a fan of electric. 8. Do you have a yard? Nope. Ok this Q&A is starting to sound condescending.

9. What size TV is in the living room? 37' high def LCD flatscreen TV, booyah!

10. Are your plates in the same cupboard as your cups? No. My Fiestaware plates and bowls are all together in one cupboard and cups stored separately.

11. Is there a coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter? No, neither of us drink coffee. Tea please.

12. What room is your computer in? We have laptops and they are usually wherever we are, which is usually on the couch.

13. Are there pictures hanging in your living room? Yes, a lovely French one, also seen in Monica’s apt in Friends:

As well as a pop art canvas painting of Raphael and I:

14. Are there any themes found in your home? Lots of reds and beiges, otherwise it's modern and retro in some places.

15. What kind of laundry detergent do you use? We are currently using up the rest of some Woolight, but we buy whatever is on sale and no, our washer and dryer are not inside our condo, instead it's a communal type thing downstairs and outside.

16. Do you use dryer sheets? Yes.

17. Do you have any curtains in your home? Just roller blinds in the living room and dark blue curtains in the bedroom to block out all light for our vampire layer.

18. What color is your fridge? White.

19. Is your house clean? Yes, but it seems like we have lots of mail to sort at all times though.

20. What room is the most neglected? Well it’s not like there are so many rooms that we can’t manage, lol, but we usually have clothes about in the bedroom.

21. Are the dishes in your sink/dishwasher clean or dirty? Well if they are in the sink they would be dirty, but they are clean and in the drying rack right now (they are quite dry we just haven't put them back in their proper place for two days now).

22. How long have you lived in your home? Not even a year, we bought the place in April/May, so coming up on a year though.

23. Where did you live before? Venice, California and New York City before that.

24. Do you have one of those fluffy toilet lid covers on your toilet? Hehe yes.

25. Do you have a scale anywhere in your house? No, we are guilt free.

26. How many mirrors are in your house? 3

27. Look up. What do you see? A ghost! Haha gotcha, sorry to scare you like that. I know, I’m tired and when I’m tired I get stupid silly. I look up and I see nothing, just my white ceiling.

28. Do you have a garage? NO dammit, it’s our first house, what do you want from us? We are eagerly waiting to move on up, like the Jefferson’s to that deluxe apartment in the sky, when we finally get a piece of the pie...

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Adventures with Ethiopian food

We're talking dream date compared to my horror. It started out fine, she's a very nice person, and we're sitting and we're talking at this Ethiopian restaurant that she wanted to go to. And I was making jokes, you know like, 'Hey I didn't know that they had food in Ethiopia? This will be a quick meal. I'll order two empty plates and we can leave.' Yeah, nothing from her not even a smile." ~ Harry Burns from When Harry Met Sally

Growing up Billy Crystal's quip was my first hearings of Ethiopian food and then there was the remake of Sabrina, which made the African food look romantic as Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond ate their meal with their fingers during a dinner date. Since living in L.A., I've passed a part of town called "Little Ethiopia" several times and was eager to finally try the cuisine and have a legitimate excuse to eat with my hands. So, I had Raphael take me after he assured me that the food wasn't spicy. Liar! It was spicy, nothing too extreme, but it was making my nose water by the end of it. It's also rather gooey and honestly like nothing I've ever tasted before.

Technically you don't really eat with your fingers though. You take a piece of their cold sponge-like bread "injera" and use that to scoop up the seasoned and mushy veggies, beef, lamb and chicken mounds. According to our menus a true Ethiopian has the cleanest fingers afterwards, I guess I'm disqualified because I still had to use my fingers to contain the meat inside the bread, which I tried to pretend was a tortilla and not the tasteless pancakes that it really was.

The restaurant, Rosalind's, also lacked the charming vision I had of dark lights and small round tables seen in Sabrina, especially since it had bright lighting, big tables and only small wicker ones for show. The hostess also looked at me like I was nuts when I asked her not to include curry on the lamb since I'm allergic. In the end, it was an experience though, the food wasn't terrible, just not my style. And since I was still hungry after I left, I hit the Carl's Jr. drive-thru for their six-dollar burger afterwards, yum! Now that's a patty.

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LA Cupcakes: Big Sugar Bakeshop

Today we had our first LA Cupcakes Meetup Group of 2008. We once again headed to Studio City (I miss that show by the way) the first time we went was to try Leda's and this time we were sampling the treats at Big Sugar Bakeshop (12182 Ventura Blvd.).

They have daily cupcake specials including, Pure Vanilla, Belgian Chocolate, Red Velvet, Double Coconut, Hummingbird, Lemon, Ice Box and more. Instead of using butter cream, they make their own light whipped cream icing, which I liked since I'm not big on sweet icing. They also had sample minis available with fun sprinkles on them. Although I'm usually a vanilla fan, my favorite here was their Icebox Cupcake, which is chocolate cake with chocolate ganache on top and whipped cream inside, which kept it from being too rich. We also tried a free sampling of their doughnut muffins, which are icing-less cupcakes with cinnamon and sugar, which the guy members seemed to like most.

This shop looked quite different in the inside given it's more vintage look rather than the ultra modern boutique look popular with other cupcakeries. Owners Mary and Lisa said they couldn't pull off the modern look with their young kids running in and out all the time. They also mentioned they are working on incorporating recipes for those with food allergies and vegans. Inside their store are a lot of cute gift items and nick nacks, I especially loved their selection of aprons and almost bought a cute cupcake apron (below), but already have a girly apron picked out for my bridal shower registry.


(more photos)

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I'm in Detroit

and it's freakin cold (high of 17F). My blood has definitely thinned since moving to L.A., because this former East Coaster can't take it. It doesn't help that I forgot to pack a hat and I could only find gloves that had the fingers cut out at the ends. No warm coat either. I do have my nice big wool scarf though and have been wrapping it around my face and ears to fight the biting wind.

Anyway, I'm in Michigan for the first time but just for a couple of days for work (giving a presentation on blogging) and to visit their big annual auto show. It's amazing how much the state of Michigan depends on the automobile industry and all the jobs and economy it creates, although the latter is suffering right now.

Although I got to see downtown's skyscrapers with its intricate architecture that you can tell must have been grand at some point and drove by the Eminem made famous, 8 Mile Rd, I'm not really staying in Detroit itself but the extremely charming town of Birmingham, 20 minutes away. With the snow falling since I arrived and the Christmas lights still up on the trees at night, I feel like I'm on the set of It's a Wonderful Life. Their are a lot of boutiques nearby, but I doubt I'll have a chance to shop. Better off I'm sure.

Back to the auto show though, it's my second time going to one, having visited New York's auto show two years ago. Of course the big theme this year is going Green, via new hybrid cars and trucks, hydrogen gas (fuel cell) powered cars that emit oxygen instead of pollutants and the improved diesel run cars. I only wish these options were around when I was leasing my Jetta last year, because not only are these models better for the environment but are cheaper solutions in the long run when it comes to refueling and the added tax breaks. They all were very stylish too I must say.

Here I am in a sexy orange Corvette inside the auto show:

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Vote help

My friend Ravi (the garlic wine prankster) is the cofounder of VoteHelp, a site that allows voters to take a survey to see which candidate they are most compatible with based on issues that they care about. According to their tagline "VoteHelp is a nonpartisan candidate calculator that tracks the main politicians' stands on important issues." Thus, a great tool for those who aren't sure which candidate is for or against what.

I'm planning to vote for Hillary and VoteHelp.org actually picked her as my second choice (96.52% compatibility) , my first being Bill Richardson, but let's face it, he doesn't have a chance.

The former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, gave my college's graduation commencement and I'm excited over the possibility that one day my daughter could actually dream of being president too. I know I never did, yet the boys I used to babysit would say they were going to be president when they grew up and I used to think, wow, they're lucky. They are now a musician and a screenwriter by the way :)

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It's on like Donkey Kong

I just had the pleasure of reviewing and attending a launch event for the DVD, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It is a humorous documentary on the 80s arcade game relic—Donkey Kong—and those who have spent their lives trying to master it.

Back in 1982, gamer Billy Mitchell scored a high score of over 874,300 in Donkey Kong and for twenty years no one had even come close to beating him, elevating Mitchell to a cult star. He was later named the “Gamer of the Century,” but as the film shows, he’s not the most humble of divas. Luckily, there’s a new gamer in the O.K. Arcade, Steve Weibe, a genuinely likeable school teacher with Donkey Kong in his garage and a dream in his heart to be the best at something. But as the film’s tagline reads, “In the cutthroat world of Donkey Kong, only one man can rule” and soon a cross-country, old school arcade duel for the right to be included in the 2007 Guinness World Records book ensues. Several tears, treacheries and tirades later... it’s on like Donkey Kong (full review).

The launch event appropriately took place at an arcade and similar looking gaming enthusiasts--geeks--were there, I guess I'd be included in that though. The games were free and I beat several guys at a basketball shootout game and had fun playing Family Guy pinball, but the most anticipated part of the party was the Q&A with the protagonist Steve Weibe and the film's producer Ed Cunningham. I learned that they shot about 400 hours of raw footage to make the 90 minute film and that they are now turning the story into a feature film from New Line with actors and a script. Ed mentioned his ideal actor to play Steve would be Greg Kinnear and I so could see that. Steve also played Donkey Kong of course and shared some tips of the trade.

Note to self: Don't buy future hubbie a Donkey Kong arcade game.

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Tara and the dark side

One of my favorite duties while at CES was leading official 501st Storm Troopers and Darth Vader into a nightclub.

Let me set the stage. Game developer Namco Bandai (creators of PacMan) hosted a party at Blush, the boutique nightclub in the Wynn, for their summer release of Soul Calibur IV. The big soon-to-be-announced news was that two new character additions were being made to the game, Darth Vader on the PS3 version and Yoda to the Xbox edition. Just before the trailer was played and revealed the Jedi masters as new characters, I slipped away through the kitchen and down the service elevator to bring up five storm troopers and Darth Vader, two of which marched in costume last year at the Rose Bowl. The crowd went wild after seeing the new characters in the trailer and went photo crazy as I entered with the storm troopers and The Sith Lord behind me. I guess that would make me the emperor, a non wrinkly female version that is ;)
As the party went on, I'd continue to check on the storm troopers and Darth to see if they needed a break since their costumes were quite warm. While on break with the dark side, I discovered that these men were doing all this for free. They don Star Wars costumes because they are fans and in lieu of money they request a donation be made to Make-A-Wish foundation instead. How honorable, here they were with families waiting at home and spending four hours in bulky costumes and posing for pictures. While chatting, they shared stories of appearing at fashion shows, parades, LucasArts events, past CES shows and yes even weddings! Although I dressed up as Leia for Halloween once and I do love the original trilogy, I'll pass on the wedding appearance though.

One 501st said that they did an event when it was over 100 out and steam emitted when they took off their helmet since it was even warmer inside it. Yikes! Apparently there are over 4,000 members worldwide, Germany having a large presence (who knew?) and they are hoping to plan a group cruise trip in 2009. The group is so popular that George Lucas added their group name into the Star Wars cannon by having new franchise books name the storm troopers the 501st. Pretty cool that they influenced their influencer. So be sure and think of "hiring" your local garrison for your kids birthday or next corporate event, they were a hit at this one.

After the news, the party goers and press got to play a demo of the game. Unfortunately, I got my ass handed to me by my colleague, twice. It was a lot of fun though. Even Darth Vader played a bit:

Oh and I randomly ran into a guy I went to high school with, he now writes about the gaming industry for Siliconera and was part of the attending press.

Here's the game trailer (Darth and Yoda come in at the end):

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CES: Bill Gates keynote

For the last 10 years Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has conducted the CES keynote and this year it was rumored it would be his last, so the buzz was even greater than normal.

It was harder to attend his keynote than getting Wicked tickets. His speech was set at 7:30 p.m., but bracelets for admission were handed out that morning, thus a line to to later wait in a line since people began queuing up at 5:00. Luckily we had VIP tickets, which still required us to line up before 5:50 p.m. otherwise our seats would be given up. The line streamed up two floors in the Venetian and was longer than an entrance to a Disneyland ride but unfortunately without the amusing diversions or snacks.

The waiting was worth it though, I could feel the electricity and I was looking forward to seeing the King of all Geeks. Looking quite a bit older and resembling Mr. Rodgers in his purple sweater set, I was surprised by his sense of humor. The best part of the keynote was the fun star studded clip show that featured George Clooney, Brian Williams, John Stewart, Hillary (yay!) and humorously depicted what Gates' last day would look like come this summer when he retires. You can see it on YouTube without the line here. Speaking of retiring, he did confirm that this would be his last keynote at CES.

Another surprise came at the end while Gates was competing at Guitar Hero III and Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash came out at his ringer and played a few chords.

On the tech side he discussed Microsoft Zune and its upcoming community features and the success of XBox Live. He also said we are currently in the "second digital decade," which had a nice ring to it. He predicted that more and more computers would be controlled via hand gestures and would be more intuitive to use--"natural user interface."

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CES: The Gadgets

CES is the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow and all the popular tech companies like Microsoft, Toshiba, LG, Panasonic, etc. are there with huge and impressive booths. The conference is massive (my feet are killing me from walking the thing) with several shows within the show. Enter one part of the show floor and you'll find audio technology, step into another hall and it's home theater and video technologies being showcased. However, nothing really new or great was being shown by the well-known brands over at the Las Vegas Convention Center, just new models of phones and pretty flat-panel TVs on display. Nothing really grabbed my attention until I went to the Sands Expo convention where the up and coming guys were, who one day hope to be over on the popular Las Vegas Convention Center show floors.

Here are some videos I took of interesting gadgets:

Move over clunky Segways and say hello to the iShoes (not affiliated with Apple), which are motorized shoes, like flat roller skates but look like snow shoes, that you step into and with a press of a button you can glide at 13.5MPH around the city, office or college campus for $599.99 a pair. Take a look at this guy go:


From the makers of iRobot Roomba, the automatic vacuum cleaner, there is now the iRobot Looj, which will clean out the gutters on your house via a remote control ($129):


We all know about Guitar Hero but with the Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker ($30) you don't need a guitar to rock out. It is literally a working air guitar. Buckle the amp onto your hip, use their magnetic pick and strum away to different songs, your movements effect the sound. In stores Spring 2008.


Finally, although this isn't anything spectacular, I thought this wobbly moving shelf at Hot Concepts' booth was cool:

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Money money money

Should also be the theme song for the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas. I'm here in Sin City for CES--the huge Consumer Electronics Show. Several of my clients are exhibiting at the conference so I'm working during the day but at night...well that's for another post.

Anyway, I keep singing the Apprentice theme song in my head as I walk by the exclusive shops inside the Wynn hotel, which include Oscar de la Renta Cartier, Rolex, Lousin Vuitton and Manolo Blahnik. *sigh* If only.

I hadn't been to the Wynn before, I've stayed previously at New York New York, Excalibur and Mandalay Bay hotels. The decor inside the Wynn is dainty and colorful and has a beautiful Alice and Wonderland tea party look going on:

My room, on the 10th floor is $599 a night! It's beautiful, but I don't think it's worth all that though. I do have an amazing view of Treasure Island, Wynn's waterfall, The Venetian, The Mirage and the snow topped mountains in the distance. I keep saying "wow" whenever I look out. Below is a video tour I did on my camera of the room (I'm always interested in how hotel rooms look, so hopefully you are too).

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Dear Aunt Tara

How are you?
Something weird just happened on my TV. Disney Channel just went blank but them I changed it to Cartoon Network and then I turned it back to Disney Channel and it worked.
From,
Max

This is the email I got from my 7-year-old "nephew." Well technically he's really my close family friend's son, but he calls me "Aunt Tara." Anyway, his sincere email cracked me up, what ever made him type me an email about briefly loosing his television show? Oh the dilemmas in a kid's world. How cute. He's been sending me such well typed emails on his own over the last few months, the first one surprised me, I didn't even know he had an email account. He also sent me a birthday email earlier in the month before his mom called to wish me Happy Birthday and when she tried to get him on the phone to say hello, he informed her that he already emailed me, lol.

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