Tag: Indian actor in Los Angeles

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Musky Movies, Broken Shoes, and Delicious Pizzas

Four of us decided to check out Mr. A.R.Rahman’s Le Musk in Los Angeles. I had these cool shoes I brought back from India because my father had left them untouched for a few years so I thought I’d put them to use. Felt like a good day to wear them. So there we were – two couples on a rainy day making it to Sunset Boulevard geared up for an exciting experience.

The movie was fun but not too cinematic. You enter the Le Musk room through an alley that has walls covered with roses. Then you are welcomed by a nice man who is very happy to see you and gives you an intro about the movie, hoping for some word of mouth publicity. You are then directed to your fancy chair pod where you get your VR headset but it’s not just that. As you discover over the next 40 minutes, it also dispenses MUSKS in sync with the movie. Pretty neat idea and almost well implemented. Without giving away too much, I can say that I enjoyed the visuals and the depth in this experience. But the story, dialogue, direction were all – sorry to say Mr. Rahman – quite amateur. Also, I could swear that my musks were off-timed!

Anyway, we then make our way out to get into the car and head to the pizza place (LaAntica) nearby as we are quite hungry. This is when my left shoe decides to give in! We try tying it up with the shoe lace, jumping on it hoping that it sticks back, looking for tape, etc. Doesn’t work. The walk is just 5 mins so I drag my foot till we reach our restaurant and then the table. The place is full of people but the three sweethearts with me don’t care so I am not embarrassed at all by the sound of my dragging foot! The delicious wine and marvelous pizza we have over the next hour make it all worth it.

And then, as we are leaving, my right shoe understands that there is no point fighting it anymore. So it gives in too. It’s sole departs with sorrow as I now drag both my feet, one after the other, to head outside. The others walk back to the car while I wait at the restaurant to click this picture.

It’s drizzling. The car pulls up. I get in with a smile and a nice story to remember the day I saw Le Musk at Sunset Boulevard.

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The Aroma Cafe visit

Despite coming across it on and off for almost a year, I ended up visiting the Aroma cafe for the first time just a few days ago. One reason was that I always saw a long queue outside it every time I was in the neighborhood. This time, it was just a lazy day after Christmas and our timing was just right. There were just a couple of people ahead of us in the queue but soon many joined behind us.

The counter area looked pretty chic and cozy. Rates were affordable. We ordered our coffee, got a little token, and headed inside to be delighted by the fascinating Christmas decor.

I was also surprised at how big the space is. There’s a variety of seating (beautiful chairs and tables) and some cool art all around. It has a patio section as well as a cool, stretched out inner section. The overall vibe is very cozy, creative and elegant.

It’s a shame that I visited the next door Two Roads theatre so often but didn’t come to this joint for coffee. Well, may be this year!

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The joy of visiting Woodland Hills

Some shopping in the area led Summer and me to a lunch at California Fish Grill in Woodland Hills today. It took me right back to the pandemic era when I rented my first apartment on De Soto Ave. Sunil and Dips had helped me move in and were checking on me the first week to see if I was ok. After all, it was the first time in life that I was living alone. I loved my apartment – the cozy layout with kitchen attached to the living room, the balcony with a partial view of the street, the built in granite table in the bedroom where I worked out of. Along the new job, life in Bella Vista had all the makings of a new beginning.

View from my Bella Vista apartment

Today, I remembered those long walks to this very strip mall to get a haircut at Supercuts or a coffee at Starbucks. I also remembered my short-lived stint with a wonderful CrossFit gym called Iron Batallion. And then there was my favorite gastropub – HQ – where I met so many new people and made so many friends. Woodland Hills is also where I discovered the Will Geer theatre in Topanga Canyon. Just a 20-min ride from my apartment, this place became my theatre hub. It’s also where I made some amazing friends and met Summer.

My first solo apartment

Topanga beach and Malibu were also just 30-40 min rides on my motorcycle. Baba sweets, Indian sweets and spices, Gasolina (deserves its own separate blog entry), Copper Mine, Chennai Tiffins, Antique flea market, The Village… the list goes on and on. Truly an extraordinary place to live!

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Cooking chronicles

It started with rice. Egg fried rice. Chicken fried rice. Just fried rice with tamaind or lemon poweder and some peanuts. Next up was eggs – unintentional scrambled eggs that started as omelettes, intentional scrambled eggs with onions and mushrooms (sometimes spinach when I felt healthy). Then came dal and sambhar to go with rice as a tribute to my south Indian roots. Chicken curry was the obvious next step and was a pretty straightforward transition. The latest additions are pha and upma.

First attempt at upma

In the past 5 years, my cooking chronicles have been nothing to rave about. But I do intend my next 5 years of homecooking to provide an impressive tale.

Here’s today’s aloo baigan –