Review: Sex and the City 2

When you see hundreds of women lined up at the box office this weekend in flashy dresses slightly loopy from too many cocktails, trust me, they're not in line to see The Prince of Persia.

This weekend marks the opening of Sex and the City 2, the sequel to the massive financial and cultural event that was Sex and the City the movie.  It's been two years, the girls are back, and it is a delight to have them.  

To review this film is to understand what it's like to view it in theaters, for the moment the lights in the theater get dim and that theme song starts and hundreds of girls with their best friends, wearing their best dresses start to applaud and laugh excitedly it becomes abundantly clear that this movie could F quality and it truly wouldn't matter .  I went on Wednesday night and a little past midnight these hundreds of girls and I knew that we will be here until a little before 3am but we were there in droves anyway for one reason and one reason only: the chance to hang out with all of our collective best friends of 6 seasons and now 2 movies: Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda.

The movie itself?  Borderline ridiculous, always fabulous.

Major spoilers ahead:

Holla Challah

Let's be honest, the majority of us college students live off of spaghetti and cheap veggies about 98% of the time, and Cheez-its and coffee 2%  of the time during the semester.  So come breaks and summer the rare opportunity comes along to eat something with more than 2 ingredients and a microwave.

My friends Liz Lemon and my Music Therapy Friend were sitting around my table a few days ago talking about wanting this summer of '10 to be a summer of health.  More jogging, more yoga, more reading, more cooking.  Miss Lemon has been in a baking craze of late and M.T.F suggested we make homemade challah.

Challah is a braided bread historically found around the time of the Jewish Sabbath.  While its popularity is more traditional in nature it is often found in bagel shops and supermarkets.  M.T.F. has been making challah since she was a kid and told us her recipe was from Grandma Rosie.  We got a hearty laugh when we realized that "Grandma Rosie" is "Grandma Rosie's Fabulous Challah" the 6th article that shows up in Google search for "challah recipe".

But on to the cooking!

Review: The Fig Leaf Cafe [San Diego, CA]

One week ago I was invited to The Fig Leaf Cafe by visiting friends.  It's located in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego, known to local San Diegans as the most touristy region of the large city.  It has a reputation for being overpriced, overcrowded, and made for anyone under 30 who likes booze and bro-attire.  This reputation is not always deserved, however, as PB offers cute shops and mega shops, and the most shell-covered beaches of the area.  Just be ready for traffic.

And long lines, apparently.  The four of us were waiting outside of The Fig Leaf cafe for over 20 minutes waiting to be seated, which gave ample time for us to check out the decor of the cozy place.

The cafe is appears to be something out Alice in Wonderland, sans the acid trip.  From the street The Fig Leaf Cafe looks like an inn, with a traditional white picket fence enclosing it and an adorable wooden sign with its name.  The tables are cloaked in white and green checkered print, with white plastic chairs adoring the faux green grass of lawn.  It inspires the ideal tea party once imagined by children, if those children enjoyed sauteed cinnamon apples in their oatmeal and organic blue corn pancakes. 

Almost all of the seating is outdoors, which fits the picnic brunch vibe of the place.  We sat down next to two delightfully warm outdoor heaters.  That's the thing about San Diego: some May days are a dreams, others are grey and misty.

Ordering drinks is one of my favorite parts of a meal.  I've worked in a coffee shop for a few years and love to guess whose going to order a plain coffee, whose going to order a latte, or worse, a cappuccino.  I always order a hot chocolate and am pretty much always the only one who does.  Yes, it's a bit childish.  But they're warm and sweet and substitutes a dessert in my opinion.  I'm sad to say that The Fig Leaf was a major disappointment in the coco department.  There was barely a wisp of chocolate and required a packet of Splenda to amp up the sweets.  Naturally this made me worried about my meal.

The food came out and sitting in front of me was a big bowl of oatmeal crowned with banana fosters.  [Note: I sang the Gwen Stefani song "Hollaback Girl" to remember how to spell b-a-n-a-n-a-s, and yes, "The shit is bananas/ B/ a-n/-a-n/-a-s"].

There's been a recent surge in oatmeal popularity lately for the health benefits and such, though I'll admit that I rarely order it out since I enjoy it so frequently at home.  I was pleased with my order.  The oats were large which was a pleasant surprise and there was an curious dynamic in texture, with an almost crunchy oat crust and creamy oats underneath.  Perhaps this was caused by being cooked in heat then being exposed by the chilly air, but I did find it interesting.

I've never had banana ["b-a-n-a-n-a-s"] fosters before which are basically

FINALS. Yes. Those pesky things.

My pen scratches my paper in a flurry as I try to remember at least one more example of Gary Soto's moral evolution in his semi-autobiography Living Up The Street.  I pick out a few quotes from the chapter "Being Stupid" as Professor Sanchez types on the projector 11:00am, 40 minutes to go.


This is my first final of the morning, with a 8-page paper analyzing the approach to the environment in Jane Austen's Persuasion behind me, and 2 finals, 1 paper, and a 16-page research paper ahead of me.  Yeah.  I'm freaking the fuck out.

Finals time.  Actually, to honest, I rather love this time of year.  It's the only time, aside from midterms, where the whole university is a collective unit in what we're about to endeavor (well, aside from Undie Run season).  No matter what major they are, it's the only time of year where everyone is talking about the same subject, and one second you can pass by student sitting on a bench with her laptop looking resigned and terrified then a second later see someone else hop out of their classroom with elated joy.  It's also a collectively acceptable time to be bitchy (or a dick) to just about everyone because hey, you have finals. So fuck you, latte that took too long to make!  fuck you, printer for breaking exactly when I need you!  fuck you, AT&T for dropping my calls in the parking garage!  and there!  I have finals, I'm allowed.  So go out there and be mean in the spirit of stress!  

(laughs)  Anyway in case you're curious, I finished that Chicano Lit final at 11:03 and raced out of class to the computer lab to print out my 8-page critical analysis of the restaurant review as a form.  Then it was off to my Environment and Literature class which I more or less have despised since the inspection of the semester.  I didn't do half the reading for the final, but trust me, I bullshitting my way to an A.  All of the passage selections I had read in class and I can pump out two hand-written essays in less an than hour is need be.  That 16-page paper about Frankenstein and the Marxian theory of "the alienation of labor"?  Not so much.   

But alas, it is done.  I have written papers, I have taken finals, I have been mean.  And now, I am free.  Well, until summer classes...


Good luck with finals to those still facing them! 

Traveling for butterflies in the Phoenix Desert

Four more days until the Butterfly Exhibit Closes at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, so I wanted to post my review of the experience (written for my review writing class) while y'all still have a chance to see it.  Enjoy!  

Traveling for Butterflies in the Phoenix Desert

A blue spotted Pipevine Swallow tail butterfly is about to land on my shoulder and like a little kid I’m yelling “Mom Mom, take my picture!” My Californian mom gets her camera out in a flurry as my visiting grandaunt Aunty-Em looks on bemused.

We’re currently inside of the Spring Butterfly exhibit in the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, and if you’re from Arizona and seeking to take out-of-towners to an intriguing part of desert, this exhibit should not be missed.

The Spring Butterfly Exhibit is put on annually, this year from March 6 through May 9 inside of the Marshall Butterfly Pavilion.  This large mesh enclosure hosts the hundreds of butterflies amongst desert plants, and (thankfully) has a mister system that sprays every few minutes to maintain a humid temperature for the butterflies to thrive while also keeping the patrons cool in the desert heat.

There a sixteen species of butterflies in the exhibit, such as the green and black Malachite butterfly, the orange tinted Painted Lady butterfly, the bright yellow Cloudless Giant Sulfur butterfly, and the reddish brown Buckeye butterfly.  The main attraction of the exhibit is the chance for one of the pretty creatures to land on a tourist, which delightfully happens often.  

The Living Room Cafe

Over the weekend a companion and I were driving through Point Loma on the way to a favorite breakfast spot when we drove past this cute cafe transformed from a white Victorian home.  At nearly the same time we said we should turn around and promptly made a U-turn along Rosecrans Street.

It's nearly as cute on the inside as the white paned outside.  There is an abundance of richly colored green and red Victorian chairs with small wooden tables all about the place--literally a living room like its moniker. There is also an outside which was quite popular Saturday morning, as well an upstairs where several college students were typing away on the old fashioned furniture and art lined walls.

The menu was quite extensive, as it serves as both a cafe, a breakfast place, a lunch place, and a beer and hooka joint after dark.  Can I just say that I have a weak spot for places that write their menus in chalk?  Something about it just makes it a little more quaint.  Nothing's quaint about the price, however.  My egg/bacon meal and small hot chocolate and his Mexican egg breakfast with a small coffee set me back about $17, but for the vibe, it was well worth it.  It's hard to find a place that offer syrup choices like mango and apricot as well as the usual vanilla and mint.