Meeting Up

Taco Sample Platter at ¡Loteria! Grill

It takes about the same amount of time to drive from Cleveland to Chicago as it does to drive from L.A. to San Francisco. So, when friends come down from other parts of the Golden State, we try to meet up with them whenever we can. Chris's pal Shad, for example, came down in March, and we met up with him in Venice for some sandwiches and frisbee.


Strolling with Shad in Venice

But when our friends have good news to share, we really try to clear off our plates and hang out. This was the case when Danielle, Chris's friend from back in the day (i.e., from Chris's hometown of Bloomington, MN, home of the Mall of America), rolled into town with a stack of Persian rugs to sell and the news that she and her husband, Damion, were expecting their first child in August.

Well, we did what any friend would do in that situation. We drove across town, picked Danielle up, and ate like there was no tomorrow.


Yuri & Aki meet Danielle at the Farmer's Market

Since Danielle was staying on Sunset as part of a work trip, we took her a short hike down Fairfax to the Farmer's Market. ("It reminds me," she said, "of the State Fair.")

Fresh off our own experiences with pregnancy aversions, we let her pick a place to eat and were pretty happy when her nose led us (Fruit Loops-like) to the ¡Loteria! Grill, a little taco place in the thick of the Farmer's Market.

The three of us (Aki just looked sleepily on) split a huge plate of cheese- and meat-slathered nachos. It was a full meal for two by itself. Plus, we ordered some appropriately greasy (and spicy!) carnitas and the mouth-watering taco sampler platter pictured above, which featured just about every kind of (legal) taco meat imaginable, plus shredded cactus and a few other surprise. Yum!

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Shad meets Aki on Abbot Kinney

Within a few weeks of Danielle's visit, Shad, Chris's friend from the JET Program, came down from Santa Barbara to meet up with us and a couple of friends at Abbot's Habit on Abbot Kinney.

Yuri and I split a delicious, healthy sandwich and salad (huge portions!), then went for a little stroll down by the water (we also caught a fleeting glimpse of the infamous Kogi truck (with a short line, too!), but alas, we'd already eaten.)

Shad and I got to toss the frisbee around for a little bit on the beach, which is one of my own little personal visions of heaven.

It didn't take long for the sun and heat to tucker out the little guy. We took a quick snap by the water and bid adieu until our next So Cal meet up. We don't see friends like Shad and Danielle as often as we'd like (we missed Damion's book reading at Book Soup the week before Lisa's wedding), but every second we get to spend with old friends is not only bloggable, but something we hold dear.