This tree lives at the Gehry designed Edgemar Center in Santa Monica on Main Street. It is made of 83 shopping carts and seems to reflect how some of us feel about the shopping frenzy that has become the holidays. (click for bigger holiday art statement.)

Speaking of holiday shopping, click past the jump for that perfect retro gift.
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So you’ve got that festive holiday party to go to this weekend. Maybe it’s a casual pot luck, maybe it more formal. There might be a polite-but-firm standing “no gifts” order from the hosts, but damn that protocol because typically when I’m invited into someone’s home to enjoy their company and hospitality I usually like to show up with a little something that says “hey thanks for having us over.”

Trouble is more than likely that leaves me fashionably late plus ten minutes spent playing the eenie-meenie game in the Trader Joe’s wine aisle trying to pick out a bottle that makes it look as if Im some sort of knowledgeable about wine, which I am not, while also trying not to look like a cheap bastard, which I am.

There is a better way: Broguiere’s Egg Nog. This is not just any egg nog, folks. Heull “how about that” Howser himself calls it “amazing!” Never mind that calls everything amazing, this stuff really is. It’s the decadent champagne supernova of nogs, hand-crafted by a privately owned dairy based local right here in Montebello (so private and old-fashioned they still have no website). Their nog is served up in the type of bygone-era thick glass bottles the likes of which your grandmomma probably once had delivered by a practically extinct species of SoCal hominid known as the milk man (H. lactis).

The only trouble right about now is finding a store whose stock at such a late date isn’t severely depleted. Demand might outpace supply wherever you’re at, but so far in my part of the city the Sunset & Virgil Vons has been maintaining a good inventory, and I believe they charge somewhere around $6.39 a bottle (which includes a $1.15 deposit, providing distinct encouragement for the purchaser or recipient to return it to the store for a refund). Trust me on this, unless the person whom you bestow this remarkable elixer upon is lactose intolerant or had some sort of bad eggnog incident in their youth, they will remember the day you came bearing Broguiere’s long after it’s gone. Which won’t take long at all.

Look, I’m sure the last place any of you wants to be this weekend is Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods or any grocery store anywhere near anyone else who might be shopping for their holiday meal. I understand. So I’ve compiled a list of a few off-the-beaten-path food shops where you can put together an amazing gift basket for the hard-to-shop-for Gourmand in your life.

Papa Cristos, aka C&K Importing @ Normandie and Pico. This is my favorite store in LA. Also my favorite restaurant. In fact, it would be really nice if you would buy this one for ME. They have everything from amazing prepared foods (best Spanikopita ever) to meats and olives and cheeses to canned goods, olive oils, and wines. My top pick: Roditas wine, which is a pinkish table wine and best for drinking in the hot sun (they don’t always have any in stock but it is worth it if you can find it).

California Market @ 5th and Western. You could make a gift of just the weird desserts, starting with Pocky and working your way down the aisle to the funny packages with no English anywhere on them. For a more adventurous foodie, you could pick up a selection of Kim Chee. Yum!

China Town or Little Tokyo. I don’t know specific stores, but you could really go crazy with a sushi-making kit, silk pajamas and slippers, Hello Kitty items… your only hindrance is your imagination.

O & Co. Am I crazy? The Grove is hardly out-of-the-way, I know. But if you can find parking at a meter on Beverly, you’ll be OK. And this olive oil specialty shop has some really divine gifties. I once bought a $36 can of olive oil and an $11 jar of sea salt. I couldn’t afford either one, and they were worth every penny. The salespeople seem to know what they’re talking about and are very friendly. Plus, you can taste everything.

If there’s nothing on this list that strikes your fancy, try Ellen Bloom’s list here. She has some great ideas!

I gave up my belief in Santa Claus fairly recently, right about the time he failed to deliver on any of my requests, even though he knew what I wanted since I sent my threatening letter to the fool via Priority Mail. And I’ve got my Delivery Confirmation tracking numbers to prove it. So be it; Santa is dead to me. But I still can’t get behind the sort of depiction the cheap bastard has been getting lately, like the defamatory blowups in the picture above, spotted at a Highland Park pupuseria. To suggest he is some sort of rabble-rousing, get-outta-my-way bike rider is bad enough, but to utterly crush the remnants of Santa’s soul by equating him to the sinister mouse of mediocrity, now that’s just fucked up.

Poor Mayor Bogaard after getting named our “Grinch of the Year”, is due to get another award as a result of the Chinese Gloat (that’s pasadenan for float) and the human rights issue. This time it is a “Broken Rose Award” to be awarded Saturday in Pasadena by the Visual Artists Guild. (Art work courtesy of the Visual Artists Guild).

I have spoken with Ms Ann Lau and exchanged emails with her after she attached an invitation to all of LA as a comment on David Markland’s original post. She is part of the Visual Artists Guild and is among many championing the awareness of human rights violations in China. Some of them I have learned put family members sitting in the “labor/re-education camps” at risk for more punishment because of their actions. I have to admire her tenacity in going after the Tournament of Roses and anyone she can to get to acknowledge the abuses. She is looking for something beyond “allegations” when addressing the issue even at the risk of losing a chance to make a buck.

By attending the ceremony that I doubt will be attended by Mr. Bogaard, you will have the chance to sign a petition to be delivered to the US Senate asking for their help in bring the release of “prisoners of conscience” held in Chinese prisons.

More after the jump.
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With a few minutes to kill on my way in to work this morning, I did something I’ve wanted to do for months now: climb up to the top of Culver City Park and have a look. The view’s pretty spectacular even if my slapdashed panorama is not (click to ten-timesify):

Life happens, my middle broke his first adult tooth and needed an endodontist for his root canal. Saved the card, good thing as my crown broke and my dentist said “root canal and post”.

Need one in a hurry? Want one so good you take a nap while getting the tooth reamed out? Add Sony Thomas of Arcadia Endodontics to your trusty rolodex as this man is good. My Mike was 9 for his and napped, I got a nice nap in while mine was being done. He is that good.

Arcadia Endodontics
Sony Thomas DDS
550 W Duarte R Suite 1
Arcadia, CA 91007
t 626-446-8889
f 626-446-9169

pic by me with the trusty cell phone, get’s bigger if you really want to see the gaping maw even bigger.

“This country is hard on people.”

That one line from No Country For Old Men will never leave my mind. It stands out for so many reasons. Today is yet another reminder.

Nataline Sarkisyan died just hours after her family’s HMO changed its mind and decided to pay for her liver transplant. A transplant that was not an option.

From the Times:

Philadelphia-based Cigna HealthCare, denied the transplant earlier this month.

Doctors at UCLA sent a letter Dec. 11 to Cigna emphasizing that Nataline was eligible for a transplant, Hilda Sarkisyan said. But Cigna refused to pay, citing a lack of medical evidence the procedure would help.

Doctors at UCLA believed that Nataline had a fighting chance. The insurance company disagreed. The family staged a rally of about 150 people in Glendale, including the California Nurses Association. Cigna reversed their decision. Too little, too late.

Nataline Sarkisyan is dead at 17.

Why?

Oh sweet lord on the heels of our own Travis’s post on her blog titled:
“What the hell is Jesus doing in the House of Representatives?” on 12/12 this card shows up. Is it coincidence that I got my primary ballot info yesterday and this is Hillary’s attempt to court the center and religous voters? Is it meant to be humorous? (Personally I’d be all over it if she were in dominatrix drag, standing over the Hollywood sign, as it would better show her standing over the others in the primary as well as how she’s pimped herself out for donations here.). What ever the intent may be, it is going to be an exciting election year.

The inside greeting said “I thought this would look great on your mantle”. Ha….send that to one of the Red State relatives and watch the reaction. Could be entertaining, n’est ce pas?

Found it at target, grabbed the pic with the trusty cell phone. A quick click will make it bigger about as fast as a hard core conservatives without sense of humor blood pressure.

The Automobile Club of Southern California’s January issue of Westways Magazine has a list of new traffic laws that take effect January 1, 2008. (The online magazine for January is not posted yet so check back later.)

They begin with a reminder that all cellphones must be used with a handsfree device starting JULY 1, 2008. So use those holiday gift cards to buy your blue tooth head gear in preparation.

Starting January 1:
• You cannot use any product that blocks your license plate from being read by any kind of electronic traffic device.
• You cannot smoke in a car if there are children in the car, whether you are driving or parked.
• If you commit a two point violation (DUI, hit and run, speed contests, evading an officer, etc) you cannot go to traffic school and have it cleared off your record.
• Depending on local jurisdictions, school zones can be changed to 15mph up to 500 feet from school when children are present. No matter the speed limit is, just make it a habit to drive slowly and carefully around schools.
• For new vehicles sold or leased on or after 1/1/08, automakers MUST provide the key codes to a registered locksmith if you lose your keys and need to have new ones made. (BMW and Mercedes make their own and they must send you replacement keys overnight.)

Also starting July 1: Teens under 18 are prohibited from using any cell phone or “mobile-service device” while driving. That term refers to laptops, pagers, texting devices, etc.)

It’s a bit nipply out, not the subzero when I was a kid in the UP bit still my tootsies are cold and I need a warm up. During the winter months our treet before bed was hot cocoa with marshmallows or marshamallow creme. Where were these Peeps when I was little and would have liked that little extra cheer? On sale now at Target in the holiday candy aisle for 99cents.

Pic by me with the cell phone, quick click and some elfin magic makes it grow to its full size.

With the frantic hustle of the last 4 days before Christmas, Cowboy Jim gives holiday shoppers something to chuckle about, as he tries to coax his trusty steer into racing a Yellow Car. It was called a draw.

The year was 1930.

Photo from the Los Angeles Public Library

Hey there, Highland Park! YorkBlvd.com is having a Christmas light photo contest. That’s not a contest for homeowners with lights, it’s a contest for the intrepid folks who capture those Can-Be-Seen-From-Outer-Space homes on film. Now, before this, I didn’t know YorkBlvd.com existed, but it’s a nifty community blog. And the front runner, so far, IMHO:

I can’t find the name of the observant guy or gal who snapped this shot, but I hope they win.

Winner gets an “Hecho en Highland Park” sticker.

Today is the shortest day and longest night of the year. Way before Christmas came along, northern peoples celebrated the return of the sun at this time of year with days of feasting and parties. This is when the Yule log was born. Men would find the largest tree to cut down and set ablaze to represent the light of the sun and the feasting would continue until the log burned out. This could last up to 12 days. Often cattle were slaughtered so they wouldn’t have to be fed during the winter and it was the first fresh meat people would have had for months.

Pope Julius came along around 350 AD and said “Hey, everyone seems to be partying now, let’s say this is when Jesus was born and join in the fun! And that yule log? Yeah, that will represent the light of Savior’s presence on earth, not that silly sun.”

To celebrate your own solstice here in LA without a fireplace (or if you are no longer burning wood to reduce pollution), you can make the now traditional pastry Buche de Noel. Join me after the jump for recipes and more photos.
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I saw this in my neighborhood today and had to drop everything and take a photo.

Hands down, this is the best sign EVER, and I am in awe.

Please don’t miss the poop actually being extruded from the doggie.