TBA
Tehachapi
First half of September photo roundup.
Madison can never resist the opportunity for a spectacle, so one of the giant pizzas from Big Mama's and Papa's it was for a work lunch. You clearly buy these for the spectacle and the quality, but heck, Mike was happy to indulge him. Sometime after, went to support the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center's New Instructor Teaching Institute at the Luskin Conference center. Always happy to help out TLC and friends, and as always, hi Caroline!
Busy weekend followed. Long lines for bib pickup for the Santa Monica Classic, then an excellent passionfruit jasmine tea at 10 Speed Coffee before catching Alicia for brunch at Metro Cafe's newest location. The eggs benedict looked good, the cappuccino was presumably good but a bit of a mess, and the french toast-- was very confused when they asked if I wanted a half or a full portion, as the menu makes no mention of that option. Went for the full portion and was rewarded with a truly massive amount of delicious french toast. Was very pretty with the berries added, too. Not sure the pork sausage add-on was worth it; although the quality was good, presentation definitely left something to be desired.
Next stop was the Rose Bowl for UCLA vs. San Diego State. UCLA football has been awful for so long I'd long given up, but with a new head coach, Bob Chesney, hired for this season... well, let's just say things are more promising than they have been for the first time in at least two decades. The team still has quite a few issues to iron out, as evidenced by a very unconvincing first half, but things eventually came together in the second half with a 28-10 final score over SDSU. As an aside, tho, food at the Rose Bowl is best described as meh. The waffle fries and chicken tenders place is commendably quick, with giant pieces of chicken breast, but that was about the end of the praise. I guess two giant pieces of chicken breast are easier to manage than even larger quantities of smaller chicken tenders?
Got up early the next morning to run the Santa Monica Classic 10k. Finished in 54:23 (8:45/mile) chip time, 54:34 (8:39/mile) GPS time. Apparently that 5 mile warm-up run beforehand didn't hurt, as that was my fastest race in a while, with a strong negative split, even accounting for elevation changes. Quite pleased.
Then spent 30 minutes in line at the brand-new Petitpain et Chocolat for croissants after to undo all the running (and walking) I'd just done. Like their sister store, Petitgrain Boulangerie, their croissants are on the buttery side, even for croissants, and aren't quite as light and airy as the best of their competitors. They are still a flaky mess tho, and the pain au chocolat was amazing, still hot and melty as it was fresh from the oven. Main issue is that they are quite slow with no seating; orders that are only baked goods are quite fast, but any order with drinks (and they weren't even serving the entire drink menu during my visit) substantially slowed things down.
Wrapped up things with a fancy "Dubai style" pistachio chocolate mooncake at work. Was actually quite good, but I will readily admit I don't quite get all the new fads in mooncakes these days. At least many of the fad ones are tiny, maybe one-quarter the size of a traditional one, so there's less risk of accidentially consuming 1,000 or 2,000 calories without realizing it.