My Diner

I'm not sold on Los Angeles. The winter's not winter - I'm from the East Coast (capitalized, thank-you-very-much), really the Mid-Atlantic, that nether world of Maryland where no one will claim us. When I lived in the South, everyone assumed I was a Yank. When visiting New England, people claimed I had a Southern accent. You just can't win when you're from the great small state of MD! But we DO have seasons. Seasons that I can get down with. Just when you're really done sweltering from the terrible humidity, fall breaks the heat and releases you from the stress of having to take at least 2 showers a day, because you immediately start sweating after the first one. And then winter comes, and you curse it because blah, blah, blah there's ice and it's cold and my lips are chapped and my hands turn to to the coarseness of a paper grocery bag...but at least it's different and you have lots of excuses to spend the day wrapped in a blanket drinking hot things in mugs and praying that it snows so you'll have a good excuse to be late for work, but of course it never does because you're in the Mid-Atlantic which is halfway between Antartica and Florida (approximately) and it only really gets that cold and precipitous roughly 3 times a winter, if you're lucky. But it's a change, is the point I'm trying to make. A change that kills ants and other squirmy things so they don't climb into your kitchen and try to attack your freezer on a balmy January day. Which is what they do when you live close to Mexico.
Which really is where I live these days, and will for the next few years, thanks to hubby's job/perpetual schooling, so I'd better learn to like it and get over the whole seasonal thing (I do prefer deciduous trees....but that'l be another post.)
One thing that is helping me get over my aversion to this coast is the local coffee shop Brad and I have discovered. The Coffee Table in Eagle Rock is blissful. Free refills, helpful staff, good diner food, it's what I crave. We are always glad to find a coffee shop that is successful and not struggling (we seem to always work at the flailing ones) and we seem to end up at the Coffee Table at least once a week, which consumes the meager 'going out' part of our budget, but it's well worth it. It's always nice to have that one place you can count on.
Like last night, we got a little adventurous and tried out a Chinese place. If I knew a good Chinese swear word, I would insert it hear, but I don't, so please just use your imagination. Our food was expensive and made us feel overstuffed after three bites. And if there's anything I hate it's not getting your money's worth. If there's anything I hate even MORE is not getting your money's worth and feeling like crap after.
I always feel like I get my money's worth of The Coffee Table and rarely feel like crap, so I'm going to go with that. LA's got my Luke's, my Caffe Pronto. Life out here just might be bearable.