Have I said that life is good?  Life is good.  There is a comfort in deciding the things that are important to oneself.  I think my entire young life I was searching for the things that mattered to me, and I think I have found them.  The things that have stuck with me for a decade or two.  It all seems so simple.  15 years ago I would never have felt such satisfaction from French-pressing a perfect cup of coffee while listening to great music, but now it’s enough.  It really is the little things.  Anyhow, the things making me happy this weekend are:

Joe’s
I met Lydia and Heather for part one of Lydia’s going away sequence.  She and her husband are moving to Florida to expose the redneck that they both have boiling inside of them.  But in the meantime we are dining at Michelin starred restaurants.  Joe’s has been in existence since 1991 with a revolving door of the west’s best chefs.  All of our meals were amazing.  I would recommend either the “Summer Solstice” prix fixe menu or the tasting menu.  I had the “Summer Solstice” and all 4 courses were very good.  I plan on Michelin star searching for the rest of the summer.

Centro-Matic / South San Gabriel Dual Hawks double album
I have long been a fan Centro-matic.  I first heard them during my brief tenure living in Denton, TX, and I was instantly drawn to the drawling vocals and lyrical depth of the prolific Will Johnson.  They have long been regarded as Denton’s finest, then Dallas’ finest, Texas’ finest…with Dual Hawks their reach needs to be expanded.  I love the early lo-fi recordings, but this album sounds polished, tight and stands up to the finest albums released this year.  Go to their Myspace page and listen to “Rat Patrol and DJ’s” and the “I, the Kite”. Then buy the album on iTunes.

Barbecues with Friends
Every Sunday we are grilling at Shelton’s new poolside apartment.  Tonight I made Grilled Tilapia with mango on a bed of couscous with french greens.  Shelton went to Greenblatt’s and got the perfect Sauvignon Blanc pairing; nothing is better in this world then good wine and good food with good friends.  Nothing.  I get by with a little help from my friends.  And my legendary neighborhood Jewish deli.

Aww, summer.  Much more enjoyable when it isn’t triple digit heat.

I’m keeping busy with a couple of jobs, trying to avoid a desk job.

I am doing some work for my instructor from when I used to be in school a long, long time ago.  And I am doing a job that I can’t really write about (yet), but it is very fun and a perfect match to what I have spent my life doing.  Hint:  it isn’t porn, but good guess.

My desk job aversion is strapping me financially a bit, but trying not to worry about that right now.  These fabulous dinners I’ve been having every night, don’t pay for themselves.

That’s all for now.  Go check out Steve Berra and Eric Koston’s website for The Berrics.  It’s pretty amazing what they have done completely by themselves, for themselves and their friends. Totally FUBU.

That’s a hint.

Ah.  My house is in order.  That’s a declarative statement, not a metaphor.  Um, maybe a metaphor too.  Everything is in order.  And clean.

Today is my 5 year blog anniversary.  Time really does fly.  That’s a metaphor.

For a taste of nostalgia, go (re)read my first post from June 22, 2003.

For my blog birthday I am redesigning my site.  I added a food page, which is a growing collection of recipes from throughout the food blogosphere.  It’s more a personal recipe collection, but with tags and categories will hopefully be useful to others as well.  Soon, my portfolio will be online.  I am working on both the print version and the web version simultaneously and will hopefully be done by the end of July.  Ditto on the photography.

I hope you are all well.  Happy Blog Birthday to Me.

I have a lot to talk about right now.  But I am a tad drunk and a tadder tired.  In the meantime, go to Heather’s site and watch an awesome animation that Joe did with a totally awesome song by Andrew Bird.

And then go listen to this song that I really like from a band I saw last night.  My friend Joel (and roommate for a couple of years in the early 90’s) has been touring with them.  I usually don’t like bands cold, that is having never heard them.  It helped that they were Belgian.  Kinda helped they reminded me of when I really liked The Postal Service.  And totally helped that Blake from the Submarines made an onstage appearance, and made me fall in love with her, her pigtails, and her dancing.

Then come back later and read what I have to say.  Unless I forget to write about it tomorrow when it will probably seem unimportant.

Wow. That was a loss. 40 Points. Better luck next year.

With Top Chef and the Lakers both done, I have no idea what I am going to watch on TV now.

In the meantime I suppose I can finish painting my house. Finally.

I forgot to get paint stirrers so I had to use what I had an excess of around the house; architectural scales. Those are 2 of 3 colors in my kitchen. White and a mix of Butter & Lime Green.

The exterior of the cabinets is a dark grey/blue. The cabinet interior and all trim is white.

Biayna (new roommate) is doing her bathroom pink.

And my entire kitchen (that I just organized 2 weeks ago) is strewn throughout my living room. Not only does it fuck up my living room, but I also haven’t cooked in 3 days.

Which brings me to my next point. I may take a 30 week cooking course. I haven’t decided if I am gonna do a proper course, or just take some Sur La Table classes.

Bon Appetit.

Fucking Lakers.

4 minutes to go….