Looking for a great turkey burger (or regular beef burger) in LA? Here’s your stop: Astro Burger at 7475 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The fries are also excellent, hand-cut and fried to perfection. Here is the turkey burger I had a few days back. Pardon those bite marks. I was so hungry, I forgot…
Month: September 2014
Ojai Last Night
We went to Ojai last night and I was unable to post because I had not downloaded the WordPress blog app. I have since done that so I am playing catch-up. Here is what the moon looked like from the darkness of the orange grove last night. We were there to water our trees so…
Writing Advice for Long Projects
A friend called me today and said, “I had been going great guns on a writing project, then I lost momentum and now I’m miserable.” My response, “Welcome to the real world of writing.” It is a fact (at least from my experience), once you have immersed yourself in the creative process and experienced that…
Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese Recipe
I made this recipe today and I would recommend it. You can’t taste the sweet potato; you can taste a creamy sauce, which seems very cheesy. I think that’s part of the appeal of this recipe: much less cheese and the nutrition of sweet potatoes, to boot. On a scale of 1 – 10 for…
Two Comfort Foods
I went to Trader Joe’s today to stock up on various foodstuffs. As I sat problem-solving what to write about tonight on my blog, it occurred to me to throw in a plug for two Trader Joe’s products that I think are especially good. Clearly, TJ’s has many other products that are great, but these two add…
A Chronicle of My Day
I am sitting with my student, Oona. We are doing a quick write. I am tired today. Ray and I sat up until almost 2 am watching the last episodes of Orange is the New Black. This was Season 2. It is a new experience for me watching episodic television in this free-form approach –…
Insight from Max Perkins and Hemingway
The famous editor Max Perkins wrote: I think, in truth, that the best writing of all is done long after the events it is concerned with, when they have been digested and reflected upon unconsciously, and the writer has completely realized them in himself. It is good journalistic writing that is done quickly while everything…
Favorite Cartoon Characters from My Youth
My favorite cartoon growing up was Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. I loved watching Rocky, the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle, the moose, as they matched their wits against their archenemies, Boris and Natasha. As I recall, there was always a Dudley Do-Right cartoon immediately after Rocky and Bullwinkle, and there was usually one of Mr….
Labor Day “Fun”
I have spent today, Labor Day, doing some much-needed labor in my kitchen. Here is what I did: 1) Cleared out the refrigerator and got rid of all those bottles of extras that have been there way too long. I then cleaned the shelves and drawers for a fresh start. I threw away cough syrup…
20 Minutes a Day 