Southern California: Good Eats

As you may already know, I love to eat so of course it is only natural that I fill you in on some of my recent dining experiences while on vacation in Southern California

First stop, San Diego. After working all day and traveling you can believe me, I was hungry upon arrival. As a result of getting in late in combination with the fact that we were on mountain time we decided to explore what our hotel had to offer. JRDN, was the restaurant inside Tower23 and although we were a bit nervous to settle for what the hotel had to offer, it actually took us both by surprise.


The menu is divided into three separate parts allowing you to either create your own dish, enjoy the raw bar, or tease your taste buds with fresh produce and pearl cous cous for something on the lighter side. Naturally, we opted for something in each category and paired our meal with a Owen Roe Sharecropper's Cabernet Sauvignon. After dinner, we decided to check out the local night life as our hotel also seemed to be a pretty happening place. One word, "gorgeous!" I have truly never seen so many beautiful people, they were everywhere! I think this hotel was a little to hip for me.

Since, we had two nights in San Diego the following evening we ventured into the neighboring town of La Jolla. After walking around the down town area and seeing sushi restaurants everywhere we had made up our minds, sushi it is! Now where to find the best sushi would be our next task. You know when you go on vacation the best places to eat are those not advertised, those that are "off the beaten path." And, we stumbled on Zenbu, a true locals joint. "At Zenbu, you will find "All" staple offerings of a fine Japanese sushi bar along with many delicious items you might not expect." The rolls were decadent unlike anything I have ever had, even in New York and the best part is you can order half rolls that way you have more room to try even more! One of my favorites was: The Salbacore Roll: Spicy Crab, Fresh Asaragus, Asian Pear, Cucumber, Daikon Sprouts, Topped with Seared Albacore and Avocado. Finished with a dot of Siracha, Asian Vinaigrette and Orange Zest.

Next stop, Beverly Hills.

Upon arriving in Beverly Hills, the first thing I noticed was Sprinkles!! I think the photo is does a good job discribing its taste.

Okay, so I am a bit of a pizza snob being from the east coast just a stone throw from Sally's, Pepe's, and having the luxury of living around the corner from Two Amy's (when I lived in Washington, DC). Now, I truly think that Two Amy's is the best pizza I have ever had so I was a bit reluctant about Pizzeria Mozza. However, I must tell you that it is delicious! We started with the the antipasti of crispy goat cheese & umbrian lentils, and a caprese salad. For pizza, I ordered the bianca with fontina, mozzarella, sottocenere & sage and added fennel susage. My dining companion said it was the best pizza he has ever had at Mozza and it was my own personal creation!

All in all, Southern California has GOOD EATS!

Skepticism

"It's a horrible situation when Bush makes a ridiculous comment (comparing President Barack Obama's foreign policy stance to the appeasement of the Nazis in 1938) but to ad to the ridiculousness of this clip then the conservative pundits receive their faxed talking points and repeat what they read ad nauseam without even understanding what they are saying."

Total Yogi

This evening while in yoga, I thought about how much I really enjoy taking my thoughts to mat and letting everything else go. The instructor that we had this evening really allowed the energy to take over the room and blessed us all with wonderful words of love and kindness...

I was never crazy about yoga let alone the idea of cramming into a room with sixty people with the temperature reaching a stifling ninety-eight degrees. My mom has always been a yoga enthusiast hoping that I would enjoy it as much as she but, I never really "got into it."

All the mediating and self reflecting and thinking about the "powers that be" were just exhausting. And on top off all that, I would have to hold a pose for what seemed like an eternity.


Then, I discovered Core Power Yoga which, emphasizes your core abdominal muscles. This practice method consists of a rigorous blend of power, strength and endurance while still a vinyasa based yoga. The room temperature remains hot as you begin to flow through poses while listening to music.

Now, I love yoga and I would even go as far to say that I'm addicted. Over the course of time, I have been able to weave mediation, self-reflecting and awareness into my practice. For me, it is a lot like running in terms of cleansing my system and riding my body of negative energy. It is my time to pay gratitude to the things I often take for granted remembering how blessed I am.

Boulder, Boulder!

Almost two years ago now, I moved to Boulder from Washington D.C. I was on my way to San Francisco where I had a job working for an international consulting firm. Boulder, was a temporary stop along the way. My new job provided me with some additional time (and as a result of spending time in Missoula, Montana)so I thought I'd check out Boulder for a month or two prior to taking my position in San Francisco. The rest is well, history... almost two years later I've learned to call Boulder home.

The intellectual atmosphere and excitement of living, breathing, and eating politics naturally drew me towards Washington. However, I began to miss hiking, skiing, camping, and all the wonderful things pertaining to the outdoors. When an opportunity drew me to the west coast, I couldn't pass it up.

Growing up in Connecticut, I never thought I could be away from the sound but, my heart ached for a life in the mountains. Needless to say, it did not take much persuading in order to change my mind. When the summer drew to end and I was supposed to head to San Francisco something stopped me. Maybe, it was the mountains, or the friendly people but, suddenly I was in no hurry to head to San Francisco.

Once I made the decision to stay, I began looking for jobs. Tech, Start-ups, twitter, I knew nothing about these things (now they are terms I use daily). I had applied to a small tech start-up and before I knew it I really felt a sense of community.

When asked to write this post for BoulderMe, I really thought about what I loved about living here. In career terms, Boulder is filled with intellectually stimulating like minded people all wanting to help each other. People from all different positions of authority are willing to take a meeting with anyone virtually anytime or place (and I don't think a CEO of a company in Boston would take the time to meet with an entry level employee). We all want to see each other succeed here and it is really refreshing.

In terms of creating a sense of community, Boulder really caters to the tech scene and everyone I've meet seems to be involved on some level. Just a few events that take place in which people dedicate time and share knowledge are TechStars, Ignite Boulder, The Boulder New Tech Meet-Up, and The Boulder Open Coffee Club just to name a few. Perhaps now you want to move to Boulder?

Technology

With the Rocky Mountain News closing its doors, I began to think about the concerns facing the newspaper industry. The industry as a whole has been suffering from stale ideas and false hopes.

Thinking of innovative ways to regain readership, the Hearst Corporation plans to use e-readers to electrionically distribute newspapers and magazines.

A CNN article states that media ownership is "increasingly looking to devices like e-readers to lower costs while preserving the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines."

As I have learned at Lijit, advertising dollars will continue to migrate to the internet where technology provides highly targeted advertising with measurable statistics. Newspapers need to find new revenue streams outside of advertising dollars to survive and I doubt that increased subscription revenue combined with lower costs can save the industry.