Happy Bastille Day!!

Americans have The 4th of July; the French have Bastille Day. On July 14, 1789, an outraged group of Parisians stormed the Bastille, a fortress and prison in France where prisoners of influence were held. The French recognize Bastille Day as the end of the monarchy and beginning of the modern republic. Today, Parisians celebrate this national holiday with a grand military parade up the Champs Elysees, colorful arts festivals, and raucous parties.

Laurent and I used this holiday as an excuse to skip the gym and eat...French food of course. Laurent made reservations at our favorite place Creme de la Crepe for a night of wining and dining and speaking lots of french. But first, we had to work up an appetite. Since our reservations weren't till 8pm, we took the time to walk on the beach and tour the Hollywood Riviera. I've driven through this neighborhood a dozen times and never paid attention to it. I guess if you stop and smell the roses, you'll see lots of beautiful things, like this mailbox...

Then we discoveredour new favorite ice cream shop, Crema Dolce. They had an array of gelatos to die for. And a new concept gelato--Prebiotic Gelatos. It's like "Super Gelato" since it's shot up with enzymes that help with digestion and stuff like that. I was not in the the mood to taste anything new, so I settled for their most popular flavors, Stracciata and Death by Chocolate. We knew we shouldn't have ice cream before dinner, but we have to be bad once in a while. At the last spoonful, I had come to the conclusion that being bad was very good indeed.

But on to the main event - 3 courses at Creme de la Crepe. At 8pm we were seated at our table, greeted by the owner and poured a glass of champagne. The restaurant had a great family atmosphere. All of the tables were pushed together, so people could mingle with each other. With half the guests and the waiters speaking French, Laurent had tons of opportunities to brush up on the language. To this day, I am still amazed at how many languages he knows.

The meal starts with cheese and pate. Loved the pate, but didn't care for any of the cheese but brie. The appetizer never stopped coming. Once one cheese plate was empty, it was quickly replaced with another. Same goes for the pate. Four bread baskets later, we were afraid we didn't have room for dinner.

Main course: Chicken Dijon for him. Beef Bourguignon for me. Not pictured. Why? We were so excited about them, we didn't get the chance to. Review: Highly recommended.

For desert, as always, were Zidane Crepes. A sinful desert consisting of a sweet crepe filled with bananas and strawberries, slathered with nutella, dressed in chocolate glaze and served with vanilla ice cream. No amount of gelato could have compared to this.

And like the main course, it was gone in a flash.

End of the night thoughts: Eating for two hours straight should be done in moderation. And for the record, Laurent is not French and he has never claimed to be. Besides, it was about the food. Can't you tell?

And here's a picture just because Creme de la Crepe is where we had our wedding reception.

30 Going on 21!!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!

We celebrated with an impromptu lunch at one of my faves La Capilla in Old Torrance. The chips and salsa are the best! But I usually get the carne asada. Mmm, so good.

Then came the ugly part... It was agreed that my cousin would have to take 30 shots until her birthday week was over. So, as Serena and Sasha sat there wondering "what they hell are Mommy and Auntie Rhisie doing," SHOT #1 went down with yours truly...

It didn't go down so well...

Eww... I burped it. Whiskey is my enemy.

Those weren't the only funny faces in the house, my brother Russell and baby cousin Missy

As of this post, I'm still burping Wild Turkey Whiskey. Gross...

LABELS & LOVE!!

Finally! Almost a month after its release, my stiletto heels and I made it to the movie theatre for an matinee showing of SEX & THE CITY. Laurent had agreed to go with me, but I decided to save him from what other men have described as "two and a half hours of torture." Instead, I opted to go with the girls. The movie opens with the oh-so-familiar theme song by Groove Armada and instantly I'm taken back to the first time I heard that tune...

It was my first year at UCLA. I was still getting used to being a small fish in a HUGE pond. LA seemed like a never-ending storyline of movie stars and wannabe movie stars. But, on Sunday night, I would join the rest of the "starving socialites" and watch Sex & the City. It was an escape from Organic Chemistry, that paper that was due at 8am on Monday morning, or the boyfriend that "needed space." Ah, good times... But I digress...

I don't want to be a spoiler. The main plot is a no brainer. It's the wannabe-socialite event of the year. The possible wedding of Mr. Big and Carrie. I thought that would be it. It wasn't. To my surprise, the movie played a bigger role in portraying LOVE. All different kinds of love. For Carrie it was finding love and believing in it, while Samantha, was re-learning to love herself. Miranda dealt with love and forgiveness, and Charlotte needed to free herself from the fear of losing her fairytale life. All of this, and they still found time to eat, drink, and shop. The movie delivered every it promised to deliver. At long last, the strings are cut, as women everywhere are no longer left wondering...

MARVEL-lous Movies!!

I'm and Indie film kind of girl. I like low budget films that often times get overlooked at the movie theatres. These over-priced, over-hyped, mega-blockbusters don't turn my head. So, imagine Laurent's surprise when I agreed to see IRONMAN. I had heard great reviews about it and was curious about how great the movie actually was. Everything about the movie was awesome! I was captivated by the evolution of the Robert Downey Jr.'s character, the storyline, the special effects and even the love story, were all good. At the end of the movie I was left wanting more, so the very next weekend, we went to watch THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

The bigger-than-life green science experiment gone terribly wrong did not disappoint. The effects weren't corny at all and Edward Norton with Liv Tyler did a fantastic job in giving the movie a human element. In fact, it felt as if the special effects just enhanced the movie's already great storyline and group of actors, rather than be the main attraction.

BOTTOM LINE: Watch these movies at the theatre. They are big stories with big effects that can only be appreciated in a big screen. The bigger the screen the better.

Happily ever after...

Despite my husbands objections on this topic, I felt a need to address the issue of now legalized gay marriages in California. Last month the California Supreme Court overturned the gay marriage ban in a 4-3 decision. The justices ruled that people have a fundamental 'right to marry' the person of their choice and that gender restrictions violate the state Constitution's equal protection guarantee. Last night, the first marriage licenses were issued to gay couples intending to marry. Hooray for equality!

I consider myself a liberal catholic (however you decide to define that). I think I am like most people who were raised with strict religious and cultural views but assimilated into a liberal society. As a woman and a minority, I have encountered discrimination, especially in my choice of career. These experiences have instilled in me the ideal of equality for everyone---and gay marriages are no different. I know, I know...I'm catholic. Therefore, I must believe in the fact that homosexual marriages are an abomination of God and unnatural because they do not produce children. True. But, marriages, gay or not, produce happiness and in this messed up world we live in today, we could use more of that. If you still don't think it's right, think of this: 1 in every 2 marriages ends in divorce within the first 7 years. Now read this story:

Del Martin, 87 and Phyllis Lyon, 84 were married by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in a special ceremony at City Hall in San Francisco, Monday, June 16, 2008. They have been together since 1952! After more than half a century of waiting, they now have the same rights and protections of a legal marriage. How's that for beating the odds?