A Few of My Favorite Things

I have linked some of my favorite restaurants on the sidebar, among them:

California Fish Grill: This place is awesome! The prices are soooo reasonable and the food is to die for. They also have the best fish tacos which they sell for 99 cents every Tuesday along with other specials. You can get a big chunk of ahi tuna steak, rice, and french fries for under $10!

C & O Trattoria: Located 2 minutes away from the beach, this Marina Del Rey trattoria is fun, friendly, affordable and oh so yummy. Their garlic rolls are little buttery drops of heaven; the servers burst out in songs throughout dinner time, and their pasta dishes are excellent as well. Such a fun and casual atmosphere, it’s like dining with a big Italian family!

Napa Valley Grille: This restaurant is on the more expensive side, but some of its dishes are so worth it. Word of caution though: Napa Valley Grille is a franchise with different head chefs, and the chefs determines what goes on the menu, resulting in different menus for different locations. The location that I went to (Westwood location) had in particular, two wonderful dishes: 1. filet mignon topped with gorgonzola ravioli and 2. chocolate pear. Yes, that’s CHOCOLATE pear. Imagine a pear, filled with lava-like dark chocolate, floating in a chocolate sauce. It is one of the best desserts I have ever had and I don’t even like pear!

Extraordinary Desserts: This is a great romantic little place with amazing desserts and great coffee. The desserts are beautiful as well as delicious, and their coffees are good enough to drink it black.

Antico Toscono needs no introduction, as I think I’ve blogged enough about it already.

Been at My Internship For 2 Weeks Now. While every day is an intensely adventurous human drama, I have been reluctant to put any of these adventures down in writing. Though I want to document my life in some way, I wonder if I would want to be reminded of the child molesters, the murderers, and the rapists that I see almost everyday a year from now.

After a grueling day yesterday consisting of bloody pictures, I had two nightmares last night, woke up with a splitting headache thus taking a day off of work today. As I am sitting in Starbucks, every man that I see I think a potential child molester… not a good sign.

I am in great need for having good people around me. I am in need to be surrounded by love and compassion, by warmth and goodness. Days like this I really wish that I have a family of my own, a loving husband and a baby to come home to, and a puppy to jump into my arms as soon as I step into the door. I feel the need to be drenched in love, to be free from the stench of evil, and to believe in the goodness of everyday people.

Summer Beginnings
Arrived in LA two days ago. Had my interview yesterday and will start work on Monday. In the mean time, I raided Barnes and Noble, got myself a library card, and inhaled 3 books in the last 72 hours. I read “Down Came the Rain” by Brook Shields, it’s a book on her journey through postpartum depression. I have been interested in the subject of postpartum depression ever since the Andrea Yeats case came forth. I wondered if what she suffered from was an actual medical condition or whether it was lawyerly construed b.s. I came to learn, before I read the book, that “baby blues” effects many women after giving birth due to the great shift in hormones after the gestation period. The onset of depression after two weeks, however, constitutes postpartum depression and can last as long as two years if left untreated. The most extreme form of postpartum depression is termed postpartum psychosis; I’m supposing this (if any) to be what Andrea Yeats had. In the first half of her book, Brook Shields documented her arduous journey of trying to get pregnant, only to find an unpleasant stranger of a baby after she gave birth. Brook was crying incessantly and was consumed by thoughts of suicide at all times of the day. She finally found out that what she had was a medical condition and got help and is now happily the mom of her 1-year-old baby, Rowan.

Although at times heart wrenching to read, this is a good memoir of a woman's intimate account in going through postpartum depression. I think while the supposition of the natural bond between mother and child is accurate in most instances, this supposition should not have a negative bearing on the 10-20% of the women in the US suffering from postpartum depression. Such depression is a medical condition that says nothing of the woman’s character or of her potential to be a good mother, and yet many women (and those around her) see themselves as bad mothers when they suffer from this condition. The taboo on this subject must be broken, the subject should be more widely talked about, and for these reasons, I consider this book an encouraging addition to the subject’s repertoire.

The two others books that I read were books on wine. It is fun to learn about different countries and regions and their tastes and philosophies on wine.

The next books I’m starting on are: History of Modern China, and History of the Arabic World. I suspect these books will take more than 72 hours to get through, but I am excited nonetheless. Vive la bibliotheca!