Blueberry Tart

I got called a tart yesterday (by a friend), which reminded me to make one of my favorite desserts. I don't know what season blueberries are in, because they never seem to be in season here in California. I don't know where they grow these things, but they sure as hell don't grow them here because they're always like $10.00/lb year round. Every so often they go on sale, and you think to yourself, "oh blueberries must be in season." But then you pick up a box, look a little closer, and realize that the only reason they're so cheap is because half of them are rotting and the grocery store is just trying to get rid of them.

So when it comes to any recipes that use a lot of blueberries, I always opt for frozen. If you're just going to cook them down anyway, why does it matter if they're fresh or frozen? You're just going to assault the poor things with heat and sugar so much that they'll hardly resemble their original form, so I don't think it matters at all. And besides - blueberries are always in season in the freezer section. Especially if you shop at Costco, like me.

So I made a tart because I wanted to, but you could easily take the same filling and put it in a pie. Use 6 cups of blueberries, and double the amounts of everything else.


Blueberry Tart

Single pie crust (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pate-brisee-pie-dough)

3.5 c. frozen blueberries
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 cinnamon stick (if you don't have one add 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch


1. Put the blueberries, sugar, cinnamon stick, vanilla and water in a saucepan. Heat over medium until the blueberries begin to sweat. Reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, make a single pie crust and fit it to a tart pan. I didn't grease mine, but I guess you could if you really wanted to.

3. Mix the cornstarch in a tiny bit of cold water just to dissolve it. Add it to the blueberries, and stir it well. Remove from heat.

4. Pour the blueberries into the tart pan fitted with the pastry, and bake for approximately 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

I actually wasn't paying attention to how long it took so I'm just guessing on the time... so, remember people: if the edges of the crust are browning, it should be done.

Cat Torture Exercise

They told me two things: my dog probably won't get used to cats, and even so, my cat probably won't get used to dogs.

"Oh, it'll be fine..." I said.

And here we are, five or so months later:

Oh snap.

I follow Weird Al's Twitter... naturally... and he sometimes posts videos of random things he does. One happens to be of him in a grocery store.

Long story short? I shop at the same Ralph's as Weird Al Yankovic. Do I feel that my life now has new meaning?

I think I do.

It has been... approximately 3 months and 26 days since I first arrived in Los Angeles. Battered and torn from my university days, I was welcomed into the uncomfortably hot arms of this mostly unforgiving city. Given that I have been to L.A. many many times since my youth, I had an idea of what to expect from living here. And truth be told, I wasn't expecting much.

You see, I come from a city of culture. Los Angeles has it's own, strange culture... but it doesn't really embrace other cultures. Not the way San Francisco does. And I MISS that. I thought, "why is there never anything to do here? What did I USED to do?" And I realized that L.A. is missing two big parts of San Francisco culture/nightlife: cafes with amazing live music ANY night of the week, and pubs. I mean REAL pubs. Not an "Irish pub" which is really just a sports bar covered in green lights. And it's a damn shame!

Michael and I were driving around the other day, marveling at how ugly Los Angeles is... and we had to think about why it's so ugly. I mean really. Why is it so ugly? And we came up with three big reasons. One is the architecture... there is a lot of cheap, decaying apartment or strip mall buildings that are just fugly. Seriously. The second is all the ads. There are signs and billboards and ads all over the place. They even have these ads on wheels that they put on the side of the road everywhere. The third and final reason we came up with was the lack of trees and green stuff in general. Los Angeles is like that nasty girl you see in public without any regard for what she looks like. Lipstick smeared, mascara running, hair tangled, and her thong hanging out of her sweat pants with the word "princess" stamped across her big, misshapen ass.

But people visit, and they think L.A. is nice. So why is that? It's because people go to the nice parts of L.A... Beverly Hills, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, maybe Orange County. Universal City. They don't realize that a good 80% of the city is not a pleasant place to live or even briefly visit.

Lucky for us, Michael and I live in a nicer neighborhood. We pay more for this privilege, and unfortunately it still means that we're surrounded by shitty neighborhoods (Van Nuys and North Hollywood, namely).

It hasn't rained since we moved in mid-June. Most days, it was well above 85 degrees F. The past week, finally, it has been considerably cooler. Maybe in the high 60s to low 70s. Thank Christ. We're all hoping it stays this way. Occasionally, the temperature would cool, and we would mistakenly assume that the weather was changing... only to wake up to another 80 degree morning. But I have a good feeling about this one. So, since the weather has improved, it means Darwin gets longer, more frequent walks. Yesterday, I decided to take my camera with me when I walked Darwin, just to see if I'd find anything photo-worthy on the way.

Dog is photo-worthy.


Dog is still photo-worthy.

Aside from the weather turning, this is really
the only evidence of autumn that I have seen down here.


I love magnolia trees. Mostly because they're beautiful,
but partly because I live off Magnolia Street.

And after such beauty, I came across this little
strange display. I think Darwin found it just as
peculiar as I did. Why is it broken? More importantly,
why is it outside on the front lawn?

As if that wasn't weird enough, I soon found
this. As amused as I was... really, though.
It's not nice to steal someone's scarecrow.

So this is my street, which isn't usually that
exciting. However...

The sky was really vibrant that day.