Has Jonathan Gold read my Pinkberry posts?

 

From the yogurt trenches, the Dabbler reports:

The latest issue of LA Weekly features an article by Jonathan Gold, resident food critic extraordinaire, where he discusses the proliferation of Pinkberry and its many copycats. While I love that he references fellow Food/Pinkberry-blogger Colleen Cuisine (although not in completely flattering terms, tsk tsk Mr. Gold), his overall content made me wonder whether he had clicked a link or two on Rosie's website and read my article on how to open your own Pinkberry-style yogurt shop.

I'm NOT accusing Mr. Gold of plagarism -- he is one of my LA food heroes and will remain that way. However, his references to the Taylor machines used in all the yogurt shops, the cheapness of kiwiberri's aesthetic, and the Design Within Reach availability of yogurt-store furnishings are all right there in my little how-to primer, published weeks before LA Weekly's article appeared (September 15th vs. October 25th).

Hence, I will take it as a badge of honor that Jonathan Gold MIGHT have actually visited my site...though, it begs the question, why do people only read my blog when I talk about Pinkberry? Aren't you interested in cheap wine, Los Angeles culture, my television viewing habits or bad music? I realize Mr. Gold is a food critic, but the rest of you?...

Coming soon, an article on the latest La Brea/Melrose Pinkberry copycat. I won't ruin the surprise, but it involves a secret menu that includes pork products. Hopefully the promise of another Pinkberry-centric piece is enough to entice you to SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG since I know from my obsessive tracking of Google Analytics that my numbers spike high at the mention of tart yogurt.

Until next time...

DJ Dabble: Dorky Cardio Edition/Nike + iPod

 

So, I've been trying to get back into the exercise mode lately. Recently my gym installed these very exciting individual television monitors on the cardio machines, enabling one to watch E! True Hollywood Stories while burning calories. At first, I found that I would work out longer just so I could see what happened to Pink and her dirt-bike racing boyfriend (they got married). But then Time Warner took over the cable company and deleted all the good channels, and all we seem to get now is C-Span and Eric Garcetti holding court on the LA City Council. Not really stuff that inspires you to push yourself to extreme physical limits.

Thankfully, Nike and iPod have teamed up to give us what more or less amounts to a really high-tech pedometer. With the 'Nike +' adapter for the iPod Nano, a pair of 'Nike +' compatible sneakers, and some good tunes in your music library, you can have your own personal trainer in your ear. Additionally, the device allows you to keep track of your workouts and load all the information on to Nike's website, setting calorie, distance, time and speed goals if you choose. At the end of a workout, If you've run faster than usual,Lance Bass Armstrong might congratulate you and encourage you to keep up the good work. Pretty nifty, even if it's just a gimmick. God I'm such a sucker (and consumer).

Of course, Nike and iPod have compiled some of their own personal-training/music combos that one can download for a fee. But I've browsed through the selection and the music is just not up to DJ Dabble's standards. Which is to say, the music is just too damn good.

When it comes down to it, I want to work out to terrible pop music. And if I'm getting tired , the music should be all that cheesier. Luckily, this gadget has a special function: at any time I can simply press the center button on my Nike enabled Nano and it will jump straight to my 'power song', which currently is set to a Linkin Park anthem: nothing quite says 'sprint' like soft-metal-rap-fusion.

What follows is the mix I've been jogging to lately. Criterion for inclusion? A song must have a more than fair chance of appearing on the soundtracks of TV shows such as The OC, Grey's Anatomy, or Laguna Beach. For the more dated music, I should probably also include The Real World New York (second edition) and Las Vegas. I'll leave it up to you to guess which songs might appear on which shows, though suffice it to say Grey's Anatomy, with its KCRW taste, is on the under-represented end of the spectrum, and MTV's Laguna Beach is there in full force. Yay for Kelly Clarkson!

Without further ado, here's the mix which you can purchase at the iTunes Music Store (or, as always, write me and maybe we can work something out):

1. I Write Sins Not Tragedies, Panic! At the Disco
2. Crawling, Linkin Park
3. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
4. Move Along, All-American Rejects
5. Hips Don't Lie (featuring Wyclef Jean), Shakira
6. SOS, Rihanna
7. Here It Goes Again, O.K. Go
8. In the End, Linkin Park
9. Bring Me To Life, Evanescence
10. Hung Up, Madonna
11. Miss Independent, Kelly Clarkson
12. Soundtrack to Your Life, Ashley Parker Angel
13. Diry Little Secret, All-American Rejects
14. Steady as She Goes, The Raconteurs
15. How To Save a Life, The Fray
16. What's Left of Me, Nick Lachey

LA Times does espresso

 

Today's food section in the LA Times is devoted to coffee and espresso, and where to find the best of the best in Los Angeles. Take note, the feature writer uses a Rancilio Silvia and Gaggia MDF at home, just like the Dabbler! Click on the post title to jump there.

Wine of the Week

 

Well, this is more like a "Winery of the Week" entry. As some of you may know, it can be difficult to get on the mailing lists of some of the better California wineries, with Sine Qua Non, Sea Smoke, Williams Selyem and others boasting long, sometimes multi-year waiting lists to even be offered the chance to buy their wines.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I signed up for the Pax mailing list earlier this week and immediately got a personalized email from the owner of the winery, Joe Donelan, inviting me to buy an array of their upcoming releases. Pax is a highly regarded, high Parker score earning Sonoma winery that specializes in Rhone style Syrahs, though also offers a couple of nice whites and a delightful rose in the springtime. Their packaging is meticulous, with ultra-thick bottles that fall somewhere between Burgundy- and Champagne-style in shape, and a hand-dipped wax seal over the cork that is almost so beautiful that it seems a crime to actually open a bottle of their wine.

Joe explained to me that they do things differently at Pax, and want to give an opportunity for all to try their wines. So if you sign up for the mailing list, you will receive the same treatment as I did, as long as the wine they've allocated for new mailing list customers lasts. NB, the Pax wines are not inexpensive, averaging about $50 a bottle (but for the rose for $18 and the whites which are in the $30 to $40 range). As far as I know, there is no minimum order so sign up even if you only want a bottle or two, as certain vineyard designations can be hard, if not impossible, to find in retail stores.

Art: free booze and culture (and a good cause)

 

If anybody is interested in contemporary photography AND a good cause (along with a free wine tasting), check out the Larchmont Charter School Auction Benefit hosted by the Paul Kopeikin Gallery. The event, to be held from 6 to 9PM on Friday, October 19th, will feature a silent auction including work from J. Bennett Fitts, Jill Greenberg, Kahn & Selesnick, and Chris Jordan among others. In fact, a Jordan owned by the one and only Dabbler might just be hanging in the show...

To boot, the Dabbler will be not just in attendance, but 'working' the show as a wine pourer alongside Simon Cocks of Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits and Cheese. We will be featuring an array of Spanish wines including two Monastrells from the Gil Family of Jumilla, a Garnacha/Tempranillo blend, a Cava and two Chardonnay/Viura blends.

Silent auction is from 6 to 8:30, live auction begins at 8PM. RSVP to 323.937.0765 or info@paulkopeikingallery.com.

Paul Kopeikin Gallery
6150 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Weekend Update: Pinkberry hits K-Town, Cork Taint and the DSM-IV meets TV once again

 

• So I was slow to the blogosphere and got scooped about Pinkberry's recent opening at 6th and Berendo in Koreatown. It's definitely the most lively crowd so far, and makes you feel like you're not in LA, which is nice. I haven't been able to travel much lately, and eating dessert here is like a little journey to Asia all for five dollars, thirty minutes, and 150 calories. It's much more hospitable than the other locations, and I had to laugh at the 'no photo' policy since clearly it hasn't stopped the copycats: on Western and 6th, there's a sign for "Snowberry: Coming Soon!". I wonder what that could be...
• I had my first day of instruction at the Laguna Culinary Arts school, and learned a few things. First, it only takes about an hour to drive from LA to Laguna at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Second, it takes much longer to drive back in the afternoon. Third, we were given a 'systematic approach to tasting wine' which maybe I'll go into later, maybe not. And we also learned about wine faults. Did you know that approximately 10% of wines are ruined by cork taint (click on link for detailed definition)? Most people can't recognize the fault and assume they just don't like the wine, too shy to send it back at a restaurant or return it to the store where it was purchased. However, if something seems off, just send it back. The restaurant and retail stores can just return the wine to the distributor for a full refund, and won't lose any money as a result of your discerning palate.
• You can get paid by film productions for doing almost nothing, like letting them put a few pieces of equipment in your driveway. We were lucky enough for a mid-season replacement show called "Raines" to come knocking on our door this past week. In exchange for postponing our planned termite fumigation, we were handsomely rewarded. FYI, the show stars Jeff Goldblum as a detective who solves crime with the aid of the 'voices' he hears in his schizophrenic mind. Hmmm, how many detective shows can there be where the crime solver has some sort of mental disorder? Well, exactly how many disorders are outlined in the DSM-IV? The pilot for this one was written by Graham Yost and directed by Frank Darabont, so it could be really good or really bad, considering the track records of both.
• I promise, I'll write another blog entry complete with pretty pictures and witty remarks, soon. But not today.