P.T.

Although P.T. will always be a California boy at heart, he recently felt it was time for a change, for a new adventure. Ignoring all warnings of cold winters and terribly humid summers, he thought it would be fun to give life in Washington a try. Before leaving, however, he made certain to hit all of his favorite spots and savor his favorite treats. He first stopped by 21 Choices, where he indulged in the shop's delicious frozen yogurt. P.T. was delighted that one of the flavors of the day was Reese’s Overload, a combination of white and chocolate Reese’s, NutRageous and peanut butter…yum yum!


Later in the day, P.T. made his way to the Ford Amphitheatre. Located in the Hollywood Hills, the Ford is the perfect setting for a relaxing evening of wine, food, conversation and culture. P.T and his friends enjoyed a picnic on the grounds, noshing on tasty cheeses, salads and wine, and finishing their feast with homemade chipotle peanut brittle, and vanilla and pistachio éclairs from Bottega Louie (Even though he’s not usually an éclair kind of guy P.T thought that they were very tasty!).


They then made their way into the amphitheater to hear the enthusiastic Gregorio Luke give his talk, Life-size Murals of Rufino Tamayo.


Wanting to fit in as much as he could before leaving, P.T even made a stop on the way to the airport. While he cannot recommend the city of Torrance itself, it is home to the Alpine Village, a fabulous place for picking up German delicacies, dirndls and holiday decorations. The Alpine Village hosts the largest Oktoberfest in Southern California, and even has its own chapel! After some shopping P.T. indulged in a just out of the oven pretzel and German potato salad – of course only in Southern California was he able to enjoy it with Tapatío hot sauce!

Abbie

Abbie, like Admiral, also had the opportunity to spend a few days on the West Coast last week. However, while Admiral was checking out the local museums, Abbie was checking out the local treats. First on her agenda: a frozen yogurt tour of Southern California. Stop number one was Cherry on Top. She loved that the yogurt was self serve, as she could try little bits of the many flavors, something she took full advantage of, indulging in chocolate, cookies and cream, coffee, cake batter and peanut butter (perhaps having more than a little bit of the latter).


As tasty as Cherry on Top’s yogurt was, she preferred the less sweet frozen yogurt at Golden Spoon, stop number two. She sampled the pistachio and cake batter, which were ever so tasty, but ultimately went with the peanut butter, which Abbie thinks might be as good as the peanut butter frozen yogurt back home at Thomas Sweet.


After all of the frozen treats Abbie decided to diversify her indulgences, and stopped by the San Marino restaurant/gourmet market Julienne. She had a hard time deciding between the different edible treats and wines, but eventually made up her mind, and picked up some goodies to share with her new special friend, Cal.


Although Abbie had never thought of herself as a summer fling kind of girl, she couldn’t resist Cal’s charms, and spent much of the trip with him, lounging lazily by the pool (and occasionally sneaking off to a shaded private spot under the palm trees).

Admiral

Admiral, like many of his penguin friends, loves to travel. In fact, he just got back from the West Coast, where he was visiting friends in Pasadena. Besides catching up with his buddies and just generally enjoying beautiful sunny Southern California, the highlight of his trip was the visit to Pasadena’s fabulous Bunny Museum. Located in a private home, the museum houses 25,000 bunny items – ranging from bunny plush to figurines to Rose Parade float bunnies - and is also home to three very cute pet bunnies (Admiral brought them some apples to eat!).


Admiral enjoyed talking to Candace, who told him all about the collection. Candace and her husband Steve began exchanging bunny gifts in 1993, and opened their home as a museum in 1998.


The diverse collection includes animals dressed as bunnies; Admiral was sad to learn that there were no penguins in this section of the museum, so he drew a chalk penguin dressed as a bunny in the museum’s garden.


Even though the museum is penguin-free, Admiral has added it to his list of favorite museums, and recommends that you visit The Bunny Museum if you happen to find yourself in Southern California.


After visiting the museum, Admiral decided he needed a little treat (or two), so he hit the South Pasadena Farmer’s Market. Blatantly ignoring the no animals allowed rule he waddled from stand to stand. He had a hard time deciding between all of the delicacies, and in the end opted for some vegetarian goodies from Dave’s Gourmet Korean Food, tamales from Corn Maiden’s gourmet tamales (his favorite was the blue corn, roasted chile and Monterey jack cheese one) and a big bag of Kettle Corn.

Bungee

Bungee is always seeking out interesting activities, so last night he met up with a friend at Beer + Drag + Opera, an event hosted by the Pink Line Project and CoolTown Studios. The event was conceived of as a mashup of things not normally found together, but that mesh wonderfully (which indeed they did). Bungee is a great fan of drag and opera, and while not a beer drinker he thoroughly appreciated the snack of choice – Cheetos – a secret guilty pleasure of his.


Bungee enjoyed socializing with various creative types, while wandering around the space and checking out the art by Cory Oberndorfer, DECOY, Peter Krsko and Quest Skinner. Attendees were invited to submit their idea of how to define the live-work home in their community - to suggest ideas that employ “a progressive human-centered approach to the home that also acts as a workplace/storefront.”


Unfortunately, Bungee wasn’t feeling too creative (his mind was consumed with deciding what outfits to pack for his upcoming trip to LA), so he will submit his idea online at a later date.

Sweets

As his name implies, Sweets is a lover of all things sugary. Chocolate, candy, ice cream, baked goods - he loves them all. Luckily for him the apartment is always stocked with some sort of sweet treat, and there are plenty of bakeries and chocolate shops nearby for him to pick up a little something. (He suggests you check out Biagio Fine Chocolates if you find yourself in the neighborhood.)


Sweets recently indulged his sweet tooth at Love Café, where he met a friend for gossip and treats. He opted for a vanilla on vanilla cupcake (sadly they did not have his favorite, vanilla with peanut butter icing), which he washed down with an iced coffee.

Luca

Luca hails from Italy, and as a resident alien experiencing his first Fourth of July he was fascinated by the holiday and excited to partake in the all-American festivities. He joined friends and family in Fawn Lake for a weekend of food, drink and fun, embracing the holiday with great zeal and donning all sorts of themed accessories (a former resident of fashion conscious Milan, he understands the importance of accessorizing).


Highlights included watching the fireworks from the dock, and trying corn on the cob (from the local farmers’ market, of course) for the very first time. It was so good he had two ears!


Luca also indulged in a glass or two too many of his grandmother’s famous slush. He found it so tasty that he decided to share the recipe with you…he thinks it's the perfect summer party drink!

Tropical Slush
8 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
46 ounce can unsweetened pineapple juice
Juice of 2 oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
8 ounce bottle lemon juice
1 bottle rum or vodka

Bring the water and sugar to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Cool mixture. Blend in the bananas. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Cover and store the mixture in the freezer. Keep stirring occasionally for slushy texture. Requires 24 hours to freeze. Spoon into a glass and serve with Sprite.

Chubbs

While many people complain about having to run errands, Chubbs thinks it’s rather good fun. And despite the fact that he’s a city kind of guy, he prefers to take care of his weekly shopping needs in the suburbs…Bailey’s Crossroads to be exact.


He loves going to Target, where he is able to pick up his essentials as well as a fun extra or two (his only complaint – the girls’ clothing is much nicer than the boys’). He also likes to stop at the German Gourmet, where he picks up yummy cheese (Tilsiter and Appenzeller, to be precise).


His favorite part of running errands is, not shockingly, the Dairy Queen stop (shopping takes a lot of energy and he needs to refuel). It is always hard for him to choose between the numerous treats, but the banana split blizzard and peanut butter sundae never fail to please. He can’t wait to try July’s Blizzard of the Month, the Tagalong blizzard…ice cream, peanut butter and Girl Scout Cookies…yum yum yum!