Hollywood Dispatch

I got to be Elise, Fluffer and Cashew's Hollywood roommate for some days in December before Newton arrived from his Asia trip. Then the three of us had a week together before we headed to our Christmas fest in Las Vegas.

It was fun to pretend I was part of the neighborhood with Elise, what with the walk past the loaded orange tree to the post office and the impressive YMCA, where we took a Pilates class together. I discovered my yoga has missed entire families of muscles!

We also walked to Elise's neighborhood sushi place, the organic coffee place, Javista, then branched out to a scrumptious Indian buffet (can't get Indian in Natal) and a charming Peruvian restaurant, Los Balcones, complete with delicious octopus and pisco sours. I cannot survive comfortably without hitting the first available Trader Joes when I arrive in the USA. I stocked up on celery (can't get celery in Natal) and that incredible yogurt/KALE dip ("when in Rome..."). I introduced Elise to my new craze from the summer in Europe: dry rosé, never more affordable than at TJ's. I was able, finally, to resist the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, which I had mainlined the previous Christmas and had then spent much of the year trying to winnow, cup by cup, from my torso. 

Elise was swamped with free-lance video editing, but still found additional time slots for making the best egg salad in the world and for heading to Mission Cantina for "Taco Tuesday." The $1 tacos were fantastic and the margaritas were the best I've had (from scratch - no sickly-sweet mix!).

We had an entertaining evening with our old Nyack, NY friends, Aaron Camper and his wickedly astute Brit wife, Kat, and Nadja Hoyer-Booth - now an actress in LA! Kat captured the holiday spirit with mulled cider. 

Newton arrived from China and joined me on the living room pull-out sofa for a long sleep. Fluffer and Cashew were good sports about staying in Elise's room till we awoke, though Fluffer's "strike a pose" attitude kicked in after a few days of altering her routine for us! The cats are simply adorable, attitude, shyness and all.

Elise had arranged in advance for the three of us to dine at a Hollywood institution: Musso and Franks, where Marilyn Monroe and dozens of studio luminaries from the Hollywood heydays used to meet and negotiate over perfect martinis. It has a great ambiance, good food and excellent service from original cast waiters.







We started an evening out at another Hollywood landmark, the beautiful old Roosevelt Hotel. It was a sensory feast to have a holiday toast in such a grand setting, bedecked as it was with snowflake projections:

We couldn't let Newton miss "Taco Tuesday" at Mission Cantina! 

Good pizza with an entire plate of sautéed Brussels sprouts the waiter gave us from someone's miss-order; my perfect semi-annual burger; and a Hollywood Boulevard pub completed our food adventures - our favorite kind, obviously. 

I was determined to find Newton a light jacket for Christmas. He has needed one forever. I took myself to the famous, upscale Grove shopping center, where the holidays are elaborately noted. After four hours there, I had the perfect jacket being shipped to our door by another Tommy Bahama store location with the correct size. It turned out that the delivery was mistakenly a sweater, not a jacket, but there was no time left to run around and fix this. The story takes up later in Las Vegas.

Newton and I became quite familiar with a particular song from the young pop artist, Justin Bieber, during our stay. Elise was editing a "lip sync" video for Radio Disney, which obviously is an entity with visuals. It was a tremendous amount of work, even for our quick Elise, and Newton and I frequently found the song in our heads after hearing it on and off for hours! The video, featuring young up-and-coming Disney talent, turned out well:

We are so proud of Elise's formidable talents, which she can apply to work she enjoys, sans commute, home with her cats and sometimes in pajamas, if she wishes!

Elise also had numerous videos to complete for the DanceOn company. Newton and I even spent a morning at the local organic coffee café while a production woman came over from DanceOn to work with Elise. Elise had so much work that she had no chance to solve my repeated inquiries regarding my winter coat I had forgotten last trip. She was sure it was located in her large closet, but I was forbidden to check as I might have happened upon our gifts in there. She couldn't check till late on our last night when she was packing for Christmas in Las Vegas and New Year's in Chicago. That is when she remembered that she had placed my coat in Jake and Larissa's extra suitcase she was storing for them until the recent hand-over at Thanksgiving...to protect it from the cat hairs! Unfortunately, Larissa and Jake didn't know why that was in there and gave it to Goodwill in Las Vegas. I had just had twelve days out and about in LA to find a new coat, but didn't know I needed one. The story takes up later in Las Vegas.

The weather in Los Angeles could be rainy, sunny and mild or more chilly at night, but the holidays in December felt just fine there! Thank you, Elise, for finding the time to have some fun with us during your heavy work schedule ("you gotta eat!").

Next stop: Jake and Larissa's house in Las Vegas. 

Love,

Sandy

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Ericeira/Lisbon Dispatch

From the Lisbon airport we were whisked away to the charming seaside town of Ericeira by our friends, Pedro, Michelle, and their three-and-a-half-month-old, Adorable Luca. There is a simple little bar, Latas do Mar, perched at a high lookout over the Atlantic, where a sunset glass of wine was accompanied by an outstanding American classic rock playlist. It was several versions of paradise all at once!

Ericeira is Pedro's ancestral town, though he grew up in Lisbon, where his mother and sister live. He and Michelle are refurbishing a house that will be spacious and quite spectacular with its ocean views and painting studio. In the meantime, they have been living in a beautiful apartment up the hill from the town center...formerly Pedro's bachelor pad, ever-so-sensitively converted by Michelle into a colorful and comfortable showcase of exquisite artifacts they picked up around the world.

Michelle gets her daily work-out(s) pushing the baby stroller down and up the hill in order to enjoy the town and the many inhabitants with whom she is already like an old friend. Our casual hotel was conveniently on that path.

As Pedro puts it, "Michelle is a perfect mother!" With only 3-1/2 months' experience, it is amazing to witness her organization, engagement with Luca and uninterrupted engagement with the world. Michelle is a natural 'can-do' person, so the baby fits into whatever is going on because his mother instills such confidence that "everything going on here is life!" Credit is also due to Luca, who was born with traits that are calm and welcoming to strangers. He is a dream.

I love this 'nap shot!'


Our first dinner of, yet again, unimaginably great seafood, was one of several to come in our four-day visit. 

Fresh Portuguese sardines

Ericeira has a bustling nightlife of restaurants and bars. When it was time to tuck Luca in, Pedro took Newton and me to Hemmingway's Bar, where the craze is all manner of gins and tonics from around the world. Each combination is embellished with its signature apple, cherry, etc..

These are all gins

We met for morning coffee at their favorite café, then Pedro took us on a long coastal drive, where September summer hold-outs were still relaxing under beach umbrellas.

Here is a plaque describing the ships that sailed from Ericeira to an Ericeiran colony in Brazil.

This is the marker of the point furthest west of continental Europe:

We visited Lisbon a couple of times. 

Cascais

We visited the medeival São Jorge Castle, originally a Moorish fortress:

You can see how I missed the target every time in high school!

Knight of São Jorge

Time for a change

When I first visited Portugal in 1977, I was becoming a "Brazil Nut" in New York, what with my weekly Afro-Brazilian dance class with a wild Baiano teacher and live musicians, and the strong penchant among my group of friends for Brazilian jazz clubs. The gorgeous, urbane Brazilian night club, Cachaça, was just down First Avenue from my apartment. I had not yet visited Brazil. My Portuguese friends took me out to hear fado in Lisbon - the traditional music of Portugal. A woman was singing depressing songs in a dark corner with a black shawl over her; I was not impressed. The contrast was just too dramatic, set against this lively force of nature that was the Brazilian culture with which I was falling in love. The experience left an impression of a stodgy old country.

The biggest difference about Portugal now vs. then is in the very air, now crackling with youth and dynamism in such a palpable way. My favorite detail of this phenomenon is the devastatingly beautiful fado Pedro and Michelle took us to hear in the vibrant Cidade Alta neighborhood. In a tiny packed club two young men were playing mandolin-like stringed instruments while a beautiful, sexy young woman sang fado in a spotlight, wrenching the heart with the sheer beauty of her voice and the emotions evoked.

Aparently the financial crisis deserves at least partial credit for this revitalization of Portugal, as the country's low prices brought a surge of tourists and relocations from elsewhere on the continent. This young generation was ready and waiting to start calling the shots...we could witness it all in that fado that blew us away!

Pedro's mother, Jena (Luca's actual Grandmother!), took us to a remarkable Sunday afternoon event in Lisbon. A cultural organization invited chefs from various ethnic restaurants to set up buffet tables in a park. They added a beverage center, tables and chairs for the pre-ticketed attendees, and we ate and ate, from Iran to Africa to India to China to Italy down to the Brazilian dessert of Canjica. It was a fabulous idea and made quite a happy civic gathering.

Another outstanding day was spent in the historic, hilly town of Sintra. It is full of charming shops and beautiful homes.

Notice the Moorish castle atop the hill

My mother was famous for her chicken figurine collection. When in Portugal, I cannot avoid thinking of her with their national symbol everywhere. This shop caught me off-guard and afforded me a true moment of grief. 

The Pena Palace in Sintra is one of the stranger structures I've encountered, although the nineteenth century is famous for bequeathing many hodgepodge style combinations to architecture. Michelle simply described it as 'a Disney Castle.'

The Moorish elements post-date Moorish rule by seven centuries.

I thought the palace kitchen was one of the best I've seen.

Ericeira was ablaze our last night. There was a concert in the plaza, and after all the gin and tonic craze, I managed to tutor a gin martini out of a bartender friend of Pedro's. No olives were available, so I said a bit of lemon peel would do. He made this masterpiece:

Pedro took us to the gigantic department store, Corte Ingles, to shop for wine to carry home. We each selected six bottles, which Pedro - knowing the ropes well - whisked over to the wrapping counter where each bottle was throughly bubble-wrapped and boxed, compliments of the store. Our hosts generously loaned us two extra suitcases, and Pedro handily packed the twelve boxes into them - done!

Thank you, Pedro and Michelle, for being such energetic and thorough guides!

Full disclosure: Luca is six months old at this writing. What a Love:

We flew HOME after three months of European wonders; things were still 'off' in their third-world way, but the natural beauty endured and welcomed us home with a sun-drenched, windy embrace.

Love,

Sandy