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I drank too much wine last night. I ate too much cake, and too much food in general. I stayed up too late and had too much caffeine. So how come the amount of fun I had was just right?

The boyfriend and I threw a small dinner party last night. Because I love to cook, I enjoy the preparation of dinner parties sometimes more than the event itself (which wasn’t the case last night, but I’ll admit I’ve sweated over a meal for days only to provide it to its intended guests, then wished I could hide upstairs with some hummus and carrot sticks and original Star Trek.)

Catering provided by Play-doh

Last night’s meal consisted of curried vegetable pasties, asparagus with nutmeg hollandaise, and a raspberry-chocolate flourless cake with homemade whipped cream. Naked ladies dancing with abandon beneath a decaying Sun*. I was most proud of the cake. You know how sometimes you’ll taste a dessert and you immediately feel that you’re doing something so wrong but it feels so right? I guess the word is sinful. You’re stomach screams “This is blasphemy!” but your taste-buds whimper, “Do it again…!” (If you’re interested, I’ve included the recipe below.)

So popular was the premier summer LA Street Food Fest last year that they expanded it this year to include the Brookside Park space of the Rose Bowl to add on three soccer fields of additional space, and to include even more culinary specialists than last year. The $60 all inclusive tickets are actually very reasonable considering all you get for it. You get to taste unlimited fine food and drink including alcohol (so you could, if you wish, spend your day say at the Tequila Tasting Tent enjoying over a dozen different Tequilas) and spend the whole day with everything (even parking) included in the one time cost. All attendees need to bring is a picnic blanket and some sunscreen, oh, and an appetite. 


The day long (10am to 10pm) event also features several fun sessions throughout the day. These sessions include the all ages, family friendly Picnic in the Park and the Family Fun Day respectively from 10am to 1pm & 2pm to 5pm, and the 21+ Date Night from 6pm to 9pm. Each of these events are limited to 1500 attendees max to ensure a nice controlled environment. The Gourmet Trucks section will include the Border Grill Truck whose specialty is quinoa fritters, the Dim Sum Truck whose specialty is pork and shrimp shu mai + “baked potato” dumpling, and the Great Balls on Tires truck whose specialty is billed as "Ballywood Indian meatballs on rice."

I’m a bachelor this week – so to speak. Emotionally I am in love and committed to the boyfriend, but as he is in the Great Country of Texas for the next week, I am functioning as single. As much as I miss him, I do get to indulge in certain activities I would otherwise not.

For starters, I can safely wear wife-beaters without incurring any catty remarks about my “smacking my girlfriend around” or needing to go out and “fix my bike”. I like to pair my wife-beaters with basketball shorts and hair un-brushed to the point where I look like a White Panther. A half-empty bottle of Bud Light would really complete the look, but I’m no fashion sheep.

On the runways of Paris this summer.

Speaking of alcohol, when alone I get to drink wine my most favorite way: straight from the bottle. It looks awful. It looks trashy, debaucherous, and to outside eyes would seem like a red flag signaling the starting race towards alcoholism – but I don’t drink any more from a bottle than I would a glass, plus this way I get so much more oxygen with each sip, thus facilitating a burst of flavor and heightening all the complexities and subtle nuances a bottle of Charles Shaw has to offer. Also, it’s one less glass to wash, which means it’s greener. Drinking wine straight from the bottle helps trees and future generations of children!

It wasn’t. I ordered a salad in which each separate ingredient somehow tasted like water. Put them all together and you get, well, a whole lot of water, but with texture. Despite this disappointment, there was a singular joy in my lunchtime: it was the first meal there where I didn’t have to hear the staff singing “Happy Birthday” to someone. Yay, God!