Bhan Kanom Thai

One of the things I love most about LA is all the tiny little ethnic delis and bakeries you find tucked away in strip malls. My newest favorite is the Thai dessert specialist Bhan Kanom Thai in Thai town. The little store is an irresistible treasure trove of Thai cookies, crackers and preserved fruit, along with ice cream, puddings and freshly made pastries. I loved their rice crackers which were drizzled in caramel. Their preserved golden kumquats were fantastic too. Can't wait to go back and try more things.

Bhan Kanom Thai
5271 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90027
323 871-8030

Pasadena Air Force Open House

Last June, the Pasadena Police Department’s Air Operations Section hosted an open house. We went and was impressed by how much hardware the police department so proudly displayed. Like their SWAT vehicle (in case there's a zombie attack), which was used in a demo of what the police department would do if there ever was a sniper in town. Here are some pictures.

Infrastructure Blunder

So noticed there was some serious work going on out on the street today. Went to investigate and found city sewer workers out in full force trying to correct a major infrastructure problem. Seems Pasadena hired some bozo contractors who put gas pipes straight through sewer pipes. I really hope these contractors are going to go to jail for criminal negligence but I'm sure they'll just get another contract from Pasadena.

We tried to take pictures for the blog but the workers wouldn't let us. Not that we're surprised.

Artesia's Little India

So what do you have to do to get good authentic Indian food in LA? Go to Artesia's Little India. We spent half a day there and had fun eating, shopping and just looking around. Little India isn't very big—just a couple of blocks centered around Pioneer Boulevard. But it's packed with restaurants, jewelers, sari houses, groceries, etc.

We ate at both Surati Farsan Mart and Udupi Palace. I thought Surati had by far the better food. Fresh, tasty, fun, Surati specializes in Gujarati street food. Although the name seems to imply that they're a market, they're really a delicatessen with a case full of pretty sweets.

In between eating, we shopped. My favorite store was Cottage Art, a kind of mini department store on Pioneer. They were having a sale on clothes so I bought this:

We ended the day with ice cream at Saffron Spot. They make their own ice creams and kulfi. The lychee ice cream was pretty fantastic.

Chong's Grocery

My LA discovery of the year is Chong's Grocery. A tiny little storefront in Koreatown, Chong's makes its own sesame oil! And it's fantastic! I had no idea fresh sesame oil could taste so alive. No hint of rancidity at all. Chong's sells both light and dark oil in a variety of bottle sizes.  I got the smallest, a 16 ounce bottle for $10, which is a bargain. They also have toasted sesame seeds, barley, soy beans, etc.

Warning: if you're trying to find the store, please be aware that they're on the phantom 8th street. Phantom 8th street, you ask? Yes. Because, it turns out that there are two 8th streets: the main 8th street and a tiny side street that parallels it for about a hundred feet which is also called 8th street. Chong's is on that parallel side street.

Chong's Grocery
3560 W 8th Street
LA 90005
213 387 0651

BTW, according to the Korean spelling, the store should really be called Jeong's Grocery. Just saying.

Bottlebrush Plant

Amos T Fairchild

This is one of our favorite plants in LA. It's called a bottlebrush plant, but we like to call it the toilet brush plant! The official name is Callistemon and it's really a native of Australia. That's what's really wonderful about SoCal—it's just one big botanical garden. Just wish the plants had labels!

Hummingbird Rescue

There was much excitement at our household today. We discovered that one of the birds on our feeder was terribly injured. It'd been sitting at the feeder for over twenty minutes, which is highly unusual, its feathers sticking out as if it'd been given a shock of electricity. I just thought it was a weird little bird until it dropped backwards and hung strangely before righting itself again. That's when I noticed that it was bleeding around its neck. Every few seconds the bird would close its eyes—it wasn't even feeding. So eerie how all the other birds were ignoring it, like they were smelling death.

Luckily, Animal Rescue very kindly said that they would come and pick up the little thing, but only after we'd safely confined it. Well, that turned into quite an ordeal. We aren't exactly experts on handling wildlife and the whole situation made us very nervous. As per a website's instructions, we put some paper towels in a small box and tried to coax the bird into the box. Nope. The bird wasn't going to cooperate. The grip it had on the feeder's leg was incredible. So we gently enclosed the bird in the box, plastic feeder leg and all.

We were hoping that the bird would relax while in the box, but that didn't happen. I couldn't believe how ferociously it was flapping its wings trying to get out. So I spent ten minutes talking to the bird while the Goldberg Variations played on the stereo. All became calm—I just hoped I wasn't literally talking the bird to death. Can't tell you how relieved we were when Animal Rescue came.

We wondered how the little thing got injured. Animal Rescue thought it was injured during a typical hummingbird fight. But I don't know. It's neck seemed to have been slashed and I thought of the cat that always hangs around the feeder, swiping at the birds. How strange that the bird was attacked on the Ides of March, the festival day of Mars (and we all know what happened to Cesare). Well, hopefully, the bird will survive to fight another day. Good luck, bird!