Shhhh. Please keep your comments to a whisper. We’re still recovering from last night’s festivities.
The invitation said “7:00 p.m. until late” but we arrived fashionably tardy, around 8:00 p.m. – which was when, coincidentally, we were told the lobster food truck would arrive. We actually got there for 7:45 but the truck was already parked out front. Akemi noticed it first. Her excitement at spotting it was rivalled only by her happiness at seeing Martin again (“He has skin, soft like baby,”she would always say back in Toronto).
We rang the doorbell and, when nobody answered, assumed/hoped it was the right place, opened the door and strolled through the house to the back yard a crowd was watching the birthday boy decapitate a bottle of champagne with his new sabre. Yep, we were at the right place!
The lobster food truck offered an insane variety of choices. You could have a chilled lobster roll with mayo or a hot version with melted butter, lobster bisque, clam chowder, crab rolls, shrimp rolls, lobster tacos, lobster tails. There was even lobster ice cream! I must have made a half dozen trips!
A lot of interesting people in attendance: actors (including several familiar faces), writers (a mix of everything from comedy and dramatic writers to an animation writer working on the awesome Adventure Time), even a delightfully fascinating/charming sex educator/podcast host/consultant/coach, Sex Nerd Sandra (The Podcast, Blog, SexNerdSandra’s channel – YouTube).
I was standing by the food truck, waiting for my fourth lobster roll, when I noticed a pink van pull up. “The donut girl is here!”I heard someone say. A woman hopped out of the driver’s side, swung around to the back of the van and opened the doors to what I expected would be the donut delivery: maybe a couple of dozen boxes. Instead, she started unloading a bunch of equipment and it was then I realized she wasn’t there to simply deliver the donuts – she was there to make them!
The donut woman set up shop in the back yard and got to work, frying up tiny two-bite size versions of the golden treats with a variety of toppings:
I brought white wine to the party, figuring it would go with the seafood but it remained unopened because I discovered something that went even better with lobster:
I’ll have to see if I can pick up a bottle at the Duty Free Shop on my way out tomorrow.
It was quite the birthday party. I may have to hire Martin to host mine in October.
This morning, breakfast consisted of this –
And this –
But lunch consisted of this –
And this –
It was our first visit to Mozza and a memorable one. Hands down one of the best crusts I’ve ever had.
We worked off lunch with a stroll through Santa Monica. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was ready to swing by those two cupcake shops we’d passed the other day so that I could do a head to head taste test. For the blog, of course. But Akemi forbade me on the grounds that it wold ruin my appetite for tonight’s big blowout dinner 🙁
Today’s entry is dedicated to blog regular and birthday gal Das!
@Das: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
This comment is dedicated to birthday girl Das…
Firstly – What did you get Marty? He looks fabulous.
Secondly – Happy Birthday Das! I hope it was great!
Thirdly – I don’t got one.
OMG Lobster is my favorite of all. I flew to Maine just to eat lobster. so worth it. That was so fabulous. Who else attended the party? anybody we would know? What birthday gifts did Martin receive? sounds like a fabulous party. Happy Birthday, Martin.
First of all, Happy Birthday, DAS!! Remember, you’re not getting older, you’re getting better!! 🙂
The birthday festivities looked like a blast! Beats my last birthday party, which was.. um, nonexistent. As you know, I love lobster and would have been all over that food truck. I have to admit though, that there is nothing like just cracking your own, dipping it in a bit of melted butter and gobbling it down. (I owe you a lobster supper!) Regarding breakfast, there’s a certain beautiful simplicity to a bowl of real oatmeal. Does help to add a little brown sugar, though!
Glad to hear all is going well on your trip. My trip to the Tough Mudder competition outside Montreal was this weekend and I just got home (LONG DRIVE!) from there. Everything went great, and I only came away with a few scratches!! The worst part was the heat – running (well, walking a lot) for 16kms in 30C heat definitely takes its toll, not to mention all the challenges. It was like a whole season of Survivor in one day! Anyway, I survived, which was my main goal.
@Das:
Happy Birthday!
@Joe:
You had me at lobster! But then you threw in crab rolls, shrimp rolls, and pizza! PIZZA!
That makes me want to up my game and try some pizza grilling. Maybe something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/KettlePizza-Deluxe-18-5-Inch-22-5-Inch-Kettle/dp/B005V95DMK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1373248495&sr=8-2&keywords=kettlepizza
Man, I should not come here when I’m hungry!
Happy Birthday, das! And many happy returns of the day.
Glad you had such a great time at the party, Joe and Akemi. Apparently so good that all you could handle was gruel for breakfast…
@Das>>> Happy Birthday!!
Joe, thanks for sharing, the day after pizza looks great. Great ideas, a lobster truck and donuts, How cool is that! Akemi looks very pretty in her dress, love the heels. So Marty already had a sabre, what did you finally decide on for his gift? Safe journey, the dogs have misssed you all.
Happy Birthday to Martin
and Happy Birthday to DAS…a double header!!
Food truck – cool idea and sounds like a fun gathering.
Good to see Jewel too.
Akemi looks fab and she sure seemed to be enjoying the festivities.
Hope you did too.
SO….what did you get for Martin?
We rang the doorbell and, when nobody answered, assumed/hoped it was the right place, opened the door and strolled through the house to the back yard a crowd was watching the birthday boy decapitate a bottle of champagne with his new sabre.
was the saber (as we spell it in the US) a birthday gift? or just something hi picked up to open champagne?
hey, counsin’s maine lobster! (sorry for shouting) i think they were on shark tank.
Whew all caught up finally! I got distracted with so many other things that I got way way behind on blog reading and finally caught up most of the last year in the last week – interesting year you’ve had! And wow, does Martin ever know how to throw a party!
Happy Birthday Das! Speaking of birthdays, I’m going to be yet another year older in just under 9 days and 11 hours…Yikes!!
Happy Birthday, Das.
**DAS**!!! 😀
HAPPY B-DAY, BABE!!
**HUGS**!!
Happy Birthday Das!
and the 64 thousand dollar question – what did you get for Martin????
Happy Birthday Das!
Thanks for the report and pictures Joe.
Happy Birthday, das!
—
Being from Kentucky, you’d think I’d know what the big deal behind Kentucky bourbon is. All I can figure is if a run off was good enough to bother shipping that far, it must be one of the better ones.
Your friends look great! L.A. must agree with them. I loved the picture of Akemi next to the donut van. Thanks for sharing the party with us. Marty G could have another career planning parties because those were some great ideas!!!
Did you mention what present you got him? I read something about wine. That’s always a good present for a foodie. Good luck on your projects and I hope Akemi finds some good shopping!
Happy Birthday Das! Did you have any kind of celebration or did you have your b-day on the “down low”? My b-day was last week and I kept forgetting about it. Someone would wish me a Happy B-day and it would take me a few seconds to comprehend. As I get older, b-days aren’t as important (or maybe I’m repressing 😉 ) . Anyway, I hope you had a blast Das!
Dude…DUDE…thanks so much for reminding me just how old I am. 😛 Just you wait, old man…just you wait…
😉
@ Everyone – Thank you all very much! I was hiding because I’m a bit embarrassed by all the fuss. 😳
@ Tam Dixon – I have long stopped paying attention to my birthday. In my mind I stopped getting old when I hit nine years. That was it, I was done with aging (and birthdays!). It’s called Peter Pan syndrome, or something. 😉 So, no, we didn’t purposely do anything special. We actually had to get up early and go out of town, and on the way home we did stop by the ‘artsy’ district in the
run downlovely town of Millville, but that wasn’t for me ( wasn’t planning on going with Mr. Das at first – made the decision Sunday morn when I woke up pain-free!).We ate at a fairly good vegan restaurant: http://www.wildflowervegan.com/ , visited some of the artsy shops, and ended up at Bogart’s, a used book store: http://www.bogartsbookstore.com/cafe.html . Wish we could have stayed longer, but by the time 3 pm rolled around we were pretty tired. It was a good day, though, and I picked up two books – another Hamish Macbeth book (Death of an Addict ) and one I just know Joey would hate, an anthology entitled Murder Most Cozy . 🙂 I really need these light, entertaining reads to save me before this old world makes me any more jaded.
Then we just came home and I took a nap, and then we grabbed a rather blah meal down at the local watering hole. Ever since going gluten free I find I’m enjoying dining out less and less, and I really wish we had just fired up the new bbq grill and cooked something at home.
I finished the evening as I have the past few weeks – watching Masterpiece Mystery!. Last night Mr. Das joined me for a new Endeavour, featuring the young Endeavour Morse before he became an Inspector. As a diehard fan of Inspector Morse (one of the few shows that brought a tear to my eye when it ended), I am really enjoying this new series. Young Morse will not replace my dear Sergeant Hathaway in my heart (who could??!), but the show is just so good and the young man portraying Morse so convincing I just can’t help but love both him and the new series. I hope it sticks around for a while. 🙂
das
Das: Sounds like a good b-day! I have the young Young Inspector Morose on my DVR but I’m saving it. I miss Hathaway already. 🙁 Have you watched Longmire yet? I caught it on Netflix and really like it. No albinos in that one but it’s a good whodunit show.
Das — Glad you had a great low-key birthday! I’ll button my lip next year and make sure it’s lower key. :blush: Am saving the most recent episode of Inspector Lewis on the DVR. Is it the very last one? Drat. At least there’s Endeavor to look forward to.
Happy Belated Birthday to Tam Dixon! Sorry we missed it. What did you and your guys do for it?
A late prezzie for you, DAS. On account of the Celtic music and animals. Loved this.
http://www.dogheirs.com/george/posts/732-adorable-dancing-corgi-is-always-excited-to-eat-video
Happy birthday, Das!
I love Chelan! And she makes adorable baked goods. Jewel looks fabulous! Does that woman ever age?
Finally, I really want the Vermont maple doughnut. Feel like express mailing me one or two, Joe? 😉
Akemi’s dress is so pretty! Great to see Jewel, too. You guys were lucky to have such great weather. On the East Coast we’ve got rain, with a side of rain. I love the color of that bourbon. That Jefferson sure knew how to work a still. Probably why they still call him “Ol’ Moonshiner.”
Sounds like a fun birthday. But we still don’t know what you exactly got him. And belated happy birthday @Das. It sounds like you had the perfect birthday for you.
Any chance of you asking Akemi who makes her blue dress?? It’s lovely and I’m dying to find it.