Friday at the Grove

Z and I met up for an impromptu Friday lunch and afternoon together as she got out of work early.  I forced her to go vegan organic with me, so we had lunch at the Real Food Daily in West Hollywood.  The interior to the RFD in Hollywood is a little bit older and not as bright as Santa Monica and street parking is a bit of a challenge as La Cienega is so busy all the time, but the restaurant was quite packed when we arrived.  We ordered the sea cakes, which were delicious as usual (we were so hungry we ate the whole thing before snapping a picture), the tac'o the town and the "Hunk of Burning Love," a kung pao tempeh special. 

Tac'o the Town

Hunk of Burning Love

Both dishes were very flavorful, in very different ways of course.  I like all of Real Food's mexican style dishes; I've had their "not-chos," fajitas and enchiladas before.  It was a very filling meal and we had plenty of leftovers as well.  I'm happy to say that Z's first vegan experience went well (at least that's what she told me).  After lunch, we checked out Fred Segal on Melrose where Z. picked up a cute top and watched a gaggle of paparazzi chase after some poor celebrity (not sure who it was yet, I'm sure we'll see the photos somewhere soon).  We also stopped by the Grove which was nearby.  I've actually never been to the Grove before; I think it opened when I was away at college.  It's very pretty and clean, but a little in an artificial way.  It reminded me a little bit of a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland.  They even have a trolley that runs through the place.  Kind of a strange place.  I get annoyed at malls without ample free parking; at the Grove, it is only 1 hour free parking, which is ridiculous for LA.  Needless to say, we rushed out before our hour was up to avoid the $3 charge after an hour.

The Grove capped off a busy day of running errands and driving around LA.  I definitely encountered a lot of stupid drivers today, particularly as I was only driving local roads.  In the morning, I went to Beverly Hills and dropped by Williams-Sonoma for some parchment paper, which is one of the rare things that Williams-Sonoma carries that is cheaper than elsewhere.  Case in point, I also wanted to buy a 10-inch cast-iron lodge skillet for the grill which was $7 dollars more, but more importantly almost 50% more expensive at Williams-Sonoma than on Amazon.  That is some serious mark-up; I'm glad I double checked the Amazon price on my iphone as usual before purchasing it at Williams-Sonoma.  Since I happened to be across the street, I also stopped by Lululemon to pick up a pair of wunder under reversible crops that reverse from lolo purple to black.  It's like two pants in one, plus I don't have a pair of longer crops in black for the cooler weather, although I really shouldn't even try to justify my out of control addiction to Lululemon.  Oh well.

After my third Trader Joes run of the week, I also picked up a couple of neoprene 3 pound weights at Sports Chalet; I really like the small weights / sculpting parts of the Bar Method and Pop Physique classes so I figured that I could replicate the exercises, which are pretty much the same everytime, at home.  I can use the money saved on classes towards my Lululemon spending deficit.

Real Food Daily
414 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 289-9910end_of_the_skype_highlighting