~ the norm’s [w] on pico does not have the ‘vienna roast’…

~ trying to spend thirty minutes out of the los angeles cold, we entered norm’s – an american version of vips – to consume a cup of that to which they liberally refer as ‘coffee’. the plastic card on the table touted a new ‘coffee choice’, called ‘vienna roast’, which promised to be a ‘darker roast’ than their standard fare. we demanded that the waiter bring to us a cup, and he warned us of its strength; before our temper with him was lost over this insult – that their coffee would be too strong for us – he saved himself with the comment that we shouldn’t worry about the price, because there is no extra charge for the ‘special roast’. notwithstanding our expectation for norm’s coffee to be of very poor quality, we were duly impressed with the beverage. it is not out of the question that we may actually return to norm’s someday.

~ we and our current out-of-town guest donated platelets at the santa monica red cross office; the angry red planet encourages others to do the same in their neighborhood.

~ sometimes, i just don’t know about this city. i woke up far from home this morning; my press was nowhere near me, so i had to go out for the day’s first coffee. i am already shocked that a decent cup can’t be found anywhere on the westside after midnight, but i don’t think that it is too irrational to expect a cafe in a place such as los angeles to be open at 10.30am on a sunday morning. p*tt*rson’s was closed. *rth was closed. d*rkwater was gone. i had to go to t*nner’s… freaking t*nner’s!..

~ to help with her architectural studies, my roommate purchased the book, the oxford companion to food, in which the definition of coffee contains this 1599 quote by anthony sherley: ‘damned infidels drinking a certain liquor, which they do call coffe’

~ nostalgia week continues. first, los angeles’s first week of rain in six months reminds me that sometimes the weather can change. then, while working on a ‘conceptual model‘ i pull out a pair of greasy pliers that smell of the childhood days i spent in the garage, watching my father rebuilding british automobiles. now, i am finally eating bananas again, after a series of smoothies took me to the brink this summer.