Part One: Can You Say Brrrzy?

It’s official…we’ve reached fall here in greater Los Angeles.  The Santa Anas have come to play, leaves are blowing every which way, the valley is clear as can be and the windows are closed.  Mind you, I have no idea how we go for 100 degree days to 69 degrees in mere days and my allergies are killing me, but whatever.

We got home from dinner last night around midnight or so (with a brief sojourn into El Monte to drop a friend home first).  We walked in to the apartment and it was downright cold!  Like in the low 60’s kind of cold.  While that might not seem too cold for your blood, keep in mind that the longer you live in SoCal, the thinner your blood gets and the colder things appear.  Hence the Uggs and hoodies when we hit the mid to low 70’s.

Lucky for us, we still had our blanket lying about.  Which was a good thing because the window fan thermometer (it was in the 100’s just days ago remember) said it was 60 in the bedroom.  And you know, even with the window nearly closed but for an inch or so, we woke up and it was still 60 in the bedroom.  The hubs actually turned on the heat this morning (which of course set off the smoke detector as the dust burned off).  My morning cuppa tea hasn’t tasted so good in a long time.

So yeah, it was brrrzy today.  Perfect weather to lie around the house, snuggled under blankets with the boys either reading or catching up on TV.  Well, that and some chicken noodle soup…

Part Two: You Paid What?!?!

So being the first official cold day in a long, long time, it was time to head out to one of the many local area delis for some chicken noodle soup.  Normally, we get our chicken noodle from Jerry’s.  While their menu may be pricey, you always leave there with enough for yet another meal.

Today we decided to try someplace new – or at least new to us, and headed over to Art’s Delicatessen.  Definitely not something I’d recommend.  You’d think that a place that’s been open for 51 years would have some kickass food, right?  Guess not.  Or well, maybe the just got lazy.  Who knows.  Either way, we should have known something was up by how empty the place was – Jerry’s is never empty.

I ordered the 1/2 egg salad sandwich and the cup of soup.  The soup, not all that.  And honestly, for the extra $4.50 you’d expect something a little larger than the itty bitty cup they put it in.  I don’t know, like the size of what they serve at Jerry’s.  Needless to say, it certainly wasn’t worth the $4.50 for the couple tablespoons worth of broth, one piece of chicken and a few noodles.

The hubs went with an omelet and hashbrowns that he felt would have been better (and cheaper) at Denny’s.  Totally mediocre at best.  The kicker…the bill came to $42!!!  Yes, $42 for half a sandwich, a cup of soup, an omelet, two iced teas and a rice pudding.  Insane.  We paid $67 for three meals, four salads and a dessert last night…for four people.  And we brought three boxes of leftovers home with us (I won’t mention that their bar tab far exceeded our dinner tab – I was the designated driver so I don’t complain, I just drive).

The funny thing, as we were leaving, I overheard this little gift asking her mom “is it bad?” over and over.  All the while, her mom was looking at some sort of sandwich with a not so happy face on.  She eventually nodded yes to her daughter while opening her sandwich up for her husband to see.  Seems I’m not alone in my complaints (oddly, the Yelpers seem to love Art’s).

The moral of the story…avoid Art’s Delicatessen at all costs.  It’s not very good.  It’s crazy ass expensive (without leftovers like at other delis).  And well, they don’t have any Jewish pastries.  What the hell kind of Jewish deli doesn’t have any Jewish pastries?!?!?  Is it too much to expect a little rugelach or those flaky appricot pastries my Hungarian grandmother used to make? At least our table service was good.

Such excitement here in LA Blogger Gal land.  We’ve been without a working oven since the spring.  And yes, our landlord has known.  And no, he didn’t put it off until now.

You see, we have no air conditioning here in our apartment (we use a wall unit in the living room which ONLY reaches the living room) and a gas stove.  So needless to say, from about late April until mid-October, it can get hot here in LA and even hotter in our apartment (even with the AC we’re typically in the mid-80’s inside).  So hot, that even boiling water raises the temperature in the kitchen a good 5-10 degrees causing me to sweat while cooking – yummy!  So really, there was no rush for the landlord to bring in the new stove (and we told him as much back in the spring).

But now…the weather is cooling.  Mind you, we still have some hot days ahead of us, without a doubt.  But as it stands now, the days have been very pleasant and the evenings downright cool.  So happy days are here again, and I get a new (not brand new, the landlords’ old one which is probably a good 10+ years newer than our last one – and not that crazy gold color) stove.

I think tonight we’ll be having something that requires being baked.  Pizza maybe?  And later this week(or maybe even today since I’ll have to go to the store to buy a pizza)  I’ll be making some muffins in celebration.  Woohoo!!