Skatin’ & Freightin’

There are many things I can talk Josie into doing: eating an eggroll laced with shrimp causing her itchiness and nearly a trip to the hospital, crawling through my window when I lock my keys in my house, and pulling a treadmill that is double her size out of my trunk. However, I was totally unable to get her to go to Down & Derby with me on Thursday. I tried to get her to go with me weeks ago, but apparently she can’t skate and had zero interest. Side Note: that was the night I found an iPhone in the toilet of the Viper Room. Anyway, this time was different, I was going to go roller disco-ing no matter what. Even if I had to go alone.  Josie proclaimed that would happen as no one roller skates. I, on the other hand, carry my very own pair of white and purple skates with me at all times in hope of getting motivated or finding a nice patch of smooth cement. My best friend and roommate in college from Tokyo had matching pink ones and we often skated Chandler Ave in Burbank. Afterward, we would skate in to Ralphs and always would buy the same products champagne and cucumbers. I wonder what people must have thought. We would watch Sex & the City with bubbly and then she would make me cucumber salad. It was the best of times and I wanted my other half to participate in my skating desires but with no such luck. Fortunately, I have an awesome classmate and friend that has followed me from undergrad to grad school and who I had class with that night. I sent her a formal invite, a reply on Twitter, while eating sushi with Josie and she was intrigued. I knew I’d be able to talk her into it during class. She agreed but demanded we buy tube socks, so we rushed to Target and were late to class because of it.

Karissa and I got out of class early, grabbed a pre-drink at Bigfoot Lodge, and headed to the Echoplex for roller disco. The line was insane and the outfits were phenomenal. We got there around 10:40 and didn’t get in until nearly midnight. I didn’t wait that long to get into Craft Beer Fest LA. Oh well, I was determined to skate and nothing was going to stop me. When we finally made it to the front of the line they were making everyone sign a waiver, this was an ominous sign. This is when it occurred to me that alcohol and wheels are a bad mix with cars and people actually know how to drive. Very few know how to skate. People were renting skates and it was hilarious as you had to skate to the bar to order drinks it was mayhem. I am a good skater so knew that I wouldn’t fall. However, I correctly predicted that someone would crash in to me or make me fall. That happened and Karissa had someone spill her drink in attempt to gain balance. It was so much fun and I have the black and blue marks to prove it.

As Josie and I have learned from many events and many horrible pictures taken, it is normally in the last picture of the night where the brilliance happens. Down & Derby didn’t disobey this rule, the last picture shot is probably my favorite photo evah. There was this man in an Elvis-esque jumpsuit with some nipple showing that was making me laugh all night. I kept telling Karissa, “We need a photo with that guy.” As we were leaving we asked the gentleman and he agreed. Upon taking the photo the man began yelling at the photographer as he wanted to be assured that his skate was in the picture. The man was a little wasted and he realized last minute he wanted both skates to be in the picture. That means that my friend Karissa and I basically had to hold him. Unbelievable!

The next day was Friday and on the last day of July we finally got to have dinner with one of our blogger idols, Josh Lurie of Food GPS. We have had something in the works for a while, since we first tweeted that he was hot and he said, “thank you, but I don’t think my girlfriend would want to hear that”. Since that the UGs have been more well-behaved, and even found both he and his girlfriend utterly charming after meeting them at Blogger Prom. He asked us if we were interested in going with a big group to Freight- the Transportation of Fine Food and Produce in Silverlake.We loved the idea of meeting new people, were impressed by the affordable menu, and liked the close location.

Matthew and Jacqueline Roberts
2912 Rowena Ave.
Los Angeles, CA  90039
626-243-3686

$26.00 per person:
– Ceviche Style Hamachi with Cucumber and Radish Salad
– Crispy Kurobuta Pork Belly over Mache with Pickled Watermelon Rinds
– Pozole Blanco

– Mexican Coffee Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

We had beer expert, Gev, at the table who brought two interesting bottles for nearly every course. We also met David who writes for Social Domain LA, a website that lists all food and wine events in the city. It is now our favorite place to look for events when we have a free day. Of course, Josh and his girlfriend, Allison, who works for one of the UGs favorite semi-new Pasadena additions Le Grande Orange. Others in attendance were: Ashley from Orange County who motivated me on my new treadmill purchase from a Twitter follower/followee and gave me the genius advice to put in front of a television and Seth who I was convinced was the same Seth that sent me a text earlier from JDate. The UGs are notorious for making everyone feel uncomfortable. Luckily, the fact that we were dining outside on a beautiful summer day made our annoyances more tolerable oh and the food didn’t hurt. Here we go course by course (Only addition, Josie substituted zucchini for the hamachi as to not have a rerun of the Shrimp Incident earlier in the week):

Josh and Josie said that the pork belly was their favorite course. However, David, Ashley, and I were all on Team Hamachi. I was also a fan of the pozole, but Josie found the broth to be not flavorful enough. However, she is a girl that is Latina and loves everything doused in salt, citrus, and cilantro. There were several uncouth moments of the night that ranged from Josie declaring she likes circus sex to me discussing my love of married men. It was ridiculous, but the one that takes the cake and/or salt involves Josie. Gev announced that his friend was going to be there with a pretty well-known date and that we should all say hi to his friend so he feels just as popular. I recognized the date right away as Anthesiologist lesbian Liz from one of my favorite shows Nip/Tuck. As soon as he walked up, we all clapped and said hello, hugged him, and pretended like we knew him for a hundred years. When Josie got up to go the bathroom she stopped by his table to do another, “Hey, nice to see you, how’s your food?” He then asked for more serrano peppers thinking that Josie was the waitstaff instead of playing along that it was his old friend. Josie, of course, took it in stride and went to the kitchen and sent some out for his table.The night of drinking fine wine and beer and laughing with new friends was rather magical. The food and the location added a lot to the experience. Laughter and cups overflowed and we are so happy that Josh invited us instead of cancelling on us. As Josie remarked, “If I were him I would’ve cancelled on the UG girls”. Thankfully, Josh is not that way. Additionally we are grateful that the menu at Freight changes each weekend with a different regional theme allowing us many reasons to return!

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