The LA Hit List

*This blog post is a little long and boring, but I've not had coffee, and no has pissed me off enough today to inject sass, so here's the breakdown for your LA weekend hit list:

Do:
- The (new) Broad
- Echo Park Lake
- Carlo Queso Gallery, Cahill Wessel art
Eat:
- The Lost Knight (fish and chips)
- Ostrich Farm (croque monsieur)
- Night + Market Song (everything)
Drink:
- Woodcat (coffee + scone)
- the Hermosillo/Highland Park Brewery (beer)
- Mohawk Bend (ghost pepper bloody mary)

And then more than enough detail:

Work last week was insane, in between two court days, three depositions, two settlement negotiations, and you know, like Pinterest. It got to the point where I was grateful to find clean underwear and have enough fuel in my car to make it to work and back without having to stop in rush hour traffic to fill up.

That's not to say I didn't have a great week, where I was busy and fulfilled and so happy. But dude, bed feels so good after those types of days.

 Anyway, to the weekend, which happened to be one of the best weekends I've had in LA in a minute. One of my best friends from college, and also a fellow lawyer, Katie, hit me up this past week for a girl's weekend. I haven't seen Katie for over a year, basically since she moved to San Diego. We're both in similar job situations and needed a break, so Katie coming up was a welcome distraction from our daily annoyances.

Dinner at Night + Market

So after recovering from a delicious dinner at Jaimie and Jeff's on Friday night, I woke up at the CRACK of dawn for laundry, cleaning, coffee with Mach (complete with book recommendations and the daily political catch-up), a skype call with my twin, and making out with my dog.

Katie arrived around 11 and we hit up Mohawk Bend for breakfast cocktails (an horchata coffee vodka drink for her, the Early Bird), and a ghost pepper bloody Mary for me (jesus, lord christ, my throat is still burning), before doing a quick walking tour of Echo Park, and then hitting up the Hermosillo for a beer flight and banh mi sliders and a catch up sesh with the owner/old friend, Ross.

Cahill at the gallery

We then headed over to the new Broad, courtesy of my friend Jeff, who was so on reserving tickets. Admission is free, but you have to reserve tickets online and they are already booked through January. I don't know how Jeff does it, but he always manages the best parking spots and ticket purchases. Ridiculous. The new museum is gorgeous, with a few old pieces from LACMA, and also some new stuff from Warhol, Lichtenstein, Murakami, etc.

My favorite piece was a woolen tapestry, titled "Death of Marxism, Women of All Lands Unite" by Goshka Macuga. The level of detail, the 3d element with almost archaic medium, blew me away.

Some of Cahill's Art

The museum itself is amazingly constructed, although I want to go during the day to see how the natural light is. The central stairs through the floors, the oculus hallway, and exhibition separators were all stunning and thoughtful.

My only regret is that we didn't get to go in the Infinity Mirror Room, where each person gets 45 seconds alone in the mirrored, starlit cube (for lack of a better word). You have to reserve tickets as soon as you enter, but the exhibit comes with much hype (and insta-potential).


After the Broad, we headed over to Alvarado, to see my friend Cahill's art at the Carlo Queso Gallery. Cahill is a friend from Santa Cruz, whose surreal, intensely detailed pieces critique consumerism, one's place in society and pop culture. It was great to catch up with him and see what he has been up to over the last half decade. (Shit, we're getting so old.) Also check out this great timelapse of Cahill in action:

Katie, Jeff, and I then met up with Jaimie, Jeff and Grant for a Northern Thai street food extravaganza at Night + Market Song. (Get the startled pig, the wild thai baby octopus, the dessert Roti, and basically everything else on the menu.)

Echo Park after the Rain

Katie and I were satiated and exhausted, so we only managed to just collapse into bed before falling asleep. We did the Woodcat + Echo Park Lake walk in the morning (i.e. lattes and rosemary fig scones), before meeting my mom and aunt for a brunch at Ostrich Farm, the farm-to-table, industrial chic restaurant down the street - cheese plates and croque monsieurs commenced before my mom and I went to the LA Philharmonic for Beethoven's 9th.

I cried. It was amazing. Just. Amazing. Go see the LA Phil. Just do it. It's so worth it.

Then in true Raji style, my mom demanded fish and chips and beer the newest local pub, the Lost Knight, where she befriended the oddest individuals and critiqued the owner for failing to have a Sunday roast.

Then Sophie and I a walk, I watercolored and watched SVU. #standard.

The whole weekend was relaxed, low pressure, yet incredibly comforting, exciting, and novel. It reminded me of the best things of LA and for that, I am happy.