We woke up at 9:00am. It was a gorgeous day. We quickly got showered and dressed, packed up all the pasta and veggies and left the house at a little after 10:00am. We had an uneventful trip (I napped part of the way) and only hit a little traffic on the outskirts of L.A. We arrived at the our cousin’s house at 12:30pm. Everyone was already there except Karen’s husband, Mark.
Here's Kyle on Grill Duty, as Eric and Tyler look on.
The kids were all playing, Elise, Evan and Tyler – Ilene and Kyle’s three, and Max and Jason – Karen and Mark’s boys. It wasn’t too hot out – nice and sunny and breezy. I immediately started cutting all my veggies and Ilene gave me a big black pot to mix it all up in. I think it came out great, but I made much too much! There was enough for 40 people!
Anyway, Ilene had also prepared tons of stuff – marinated mahi mahi, chicken and vegetables for the grill, fresh corn for the grill. Karen brought tomatoes and fresh basil and Ilene put it together with fresh mozzarella on a platter. She also had fresh cut watermelon and grapes, and I brought cherries, too! She also served pita chips with humus and brie, crudités with dip and shrimp cocktail.
It was quite a spread and as soon as it was all ready Kyle started grilling and we dug in! Everything was delicious and I really enjoyed the grilled fish and veggies, too. We enjoyed all the delicious food and also the backyard, which Ilene and Kyle recently had landscaped. She gave up her vegetable garden in order to put in a swing set for the kids (which they use a lot) and, instead, planted her eggplant, tomatoes, and other veggies in between the other landscaped plants. It looked so pretty and fresh and inviting. It was a pleasure to hang out in her backyard!
As you can see, they have a door that leads directly from the master bedroom into the backyard, and an outdoor seating area for relaxing in the afternoon, or watching the stars come out at night.
After lunch we brought all the food into the kitchen and cleaned up. Eric washed some dishes (he’s so helpful that way). Ilene had baked a Strawberry Rhubarb pie and it was sitting on top of the stove, tempting us all. It looked SO appetizing. She told us she’s been on a pie-baking craze lately and decided to enter a contest at the L.A. Farmer’s Market tomorrow!
Mark arrived at last. We were all anticipating trying her delicious-looking pie, but first we watched an episode of a TV show on HGTV called DESPERATE SPACES where they have 3 people show the rooms they say need help “desperately” and then they pick one and re-do it. Ilene was in the episode showing Elise’s room, which has primary colors and does not suit her Pink Fairy Princess persona! Unfortunately, they chose someone else’s room, but it was fabulous to see Ilene on TV and she did a great job!
After the show I wandered into the master bedroom and there were all the guys watching the Belmont Stakes. I got there just in time to see Big Brown race. It was very sad. I guess we’ll hear that he was still having problems with one leg, but it was an exciting race nonetheless. Eric and I were very nostalgic, because last year we were invited to a big Belmont Stakes party at the race track hosted by our friends, Liz and her dad, Stan. If we were back in NY we would most definitely have been there again, as it was a very exciting day.
Jason and Elise
After the race we had pie and it was as delicious as it looked. I haven’t had rhubarb in the longest time and it was all so delicious. We told Ilene that if she didn’t win tomorrow, at least she was a winner in our eyes (and mouths)! The pie was truly fabulous!
Now, it was time to put the boys to work. Ilene and Kyle had purchased a porch swing that needed to be assembled, so the guys got to work on the porch, while the girls relaxed and talked inside.
Kyle, Eric, Mark and Tyler made a great team putting together the swing in record time!
Karen is about to turn 50 (join the club!) and is having a huge weekend extravaganza in Las Vegas in a few weeks. Many of our family members will be there, and we’re really sorry we won’t be able to attend. At first, we told her we couldn’t go, because we thought we’d be in NY celebrating my Dad’s 80th birthday. Well, it turns out they ARE going to NY, but we’re not. Since we were just there in April (when we went to N.C.), we felt we just couldn’t swing another trip.
Since we’re not going to NY, we feel we can’t spend the money on a trip to Vegas either. Too bad, because it’s going to be an unbelievable family reunion! Anyway, we wish Karen a VERY happy 50th birthday and know everyone will have a great time!
These instructions made no sense to me, but they did it!
In no time at all the guys had the swing together and we were all taking turns relaxing on it. I LOVE swings like that and told them I could sit there for hours and just look at the beautiful purple bougainvilleas in front of the house across the street. I think that must be my new favorite flower!
Here's view from the swing -- the bougainvillea -- and Mark's Porsche (of which he is very proud!)
We just relaxed, talked and laughed for the rest of the afternoon and Eric and I left at 6:40pm. We were meeting Joe and Miguel at CALLENDER’S GRILL at 7:00pm and wanted to see some interesting sights on Wilshire that Ilene had told us about.
Tyler, Karen (the birthday girl) and Ilene enjoy the swing.
First we drove by the La Brea Tar Pits and saw the giant statues of the mammoths getting trapped.
Then, we drove a few blocks further to see an exhibit of gas lamps Ilene had told us about. These street lights, all identical in silver paint, were lined up in between two buildings. When we drove up, a female security guard immediately came over to the car and told us “it” was closed today for a private party (whatever “it” was, there were a lot of guards and behind the streetlight exhibit we saw a big structure with curtains and a lot of activity behind, so I guess that’s where the party was!). I told her we just wanted to take pictures of the street lamps and I did so, without getting out of the car. I think the pictures came out pretty good, considering!
Here's another picture of Ilene's oldest, Tyler. I realize I don't have any pictures of Evan! I took two of him, but one got the back of his head and the other he had his eyes closed. Sorry Evan!
At 7:00pm we found a spot right in front of the restaurant and went inside to meet the guys. We had been to a Marie Callender’s in San Diego, but it was more like a cute diner. This was a very fancy grill with lots of dark wood and huge murals. We sat at a table near the piano player, which was very nice as he was playing lots of Gershwin, Porter, and Berlin – all composers Joe and I are very familiar with. It brought back memories of our college days, when there were lots of musical revues.
They had a lovely menu, and we each loved our dishes. Joe got the Smoked Tri-Tip Salad with gorgonzola, mandarin oranges, red onions, tomatoes, crispy onions with raspberry-chipotle vinaigrette.
Miguel got the Sake Ginger-Teriyaki Chicken with jasmine rice, and char-grilled vegetables.
Eric got the Tuscan Mac & Cheese, which had char-broiled chicken, shiitake mushrooms, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar, gruyére, gorgonzola, romano & gouda, crusted with parmesan cheese. He really loved it and I have to tell you it was, by far, the best macaroni and cheese I ever tasted!
I had the Blackened Fish Tacos, with spicy ranch, cabbage, pico de gallo, rice, black beans, salsa, and guacamole. There were three little tacos, and they were delicious! They also gave us a board with a small loaf of fresh-baked corn bread. OMG! It was so amazing!
We were definitely too full for dessert, so we just talked, and talked, and talked. We are happy that we have seen Joe and Miguel three times since we’ve been to California (we see them every time we see our cousins in L.A.). They’re really good friends.
We got back on the road a little before 10:00pm and were home a little before midnight. As on the way there, I napped on the way home and woke up just as Eric was exiting on Clairemont Drive.
We were both pretty exhausted, so we watched a few minutes of SNL and then went to sleep. It was a long day and I know Eric must really have been exhausted, because he did all the driving.
It was a lot of fun and we were really glad to see everyone. If we lived closer, I know we’d see our cousins and our friends a lot more often. We always enjoy our time with them. We really appreciate all the efforts of Ilene and Kyle on our behalf and love them all very much!