Saturday 11 February 2012

Muscle pizza

We jumped on good old Virgin America last night and headed down to see Jim and Gen in LA.  Unfortunately there was no pre-boarding lucky penny competition, so the 1944 one I'd been saving in my wallet did me no good.  Hopefully on the way back.

Today Frankie went to school (it was ballet day...I wish I'd been allowed to wear a pink tutu to school when I was little...) and so we had that rare thing: time as adults!  While it started with the best intentions, things didn't really work out.  No, we didn't spend the free hours watching Peppa Pig or reading Dr Seuss, but we failed in our one aim of going to the hyper-weird Museum of Jurassic Technology.

What we did manage was a walk through Venice, including a pilgrimage to Muscle Beach where Arnie himself was spotted as a future governor all those years ago.  We then had an extended lunch at Pizzeria Mozza in Beverly Hills, a famous establishment that has re-inspired Hannah to experiment with pizza bases.  Pizza six nights a week instead of four, then.  They also had the most incredible tomato sauce ever, the trick being (so the waitress said) to not heat it until it's on the pizza.  Experiments with that might account for the seventh night.

The day was sealed as genuinely LA by the four-plus hours we spent in traffic.  Even that wasn't too bad, as we cut through a couple of Hollywood streets marveling at the houses.  Unfortunately a pizza, a bottle of wine, and two desserts left Hannah and me feeling rather sleepy, so thank you to Gen for the driving duties as we snored.  Luckily, Frankie's game for the evening involved me lying on the floor under a Disney Princess towel, only now and again being jumped on.  Mostly relaxing.


Three wannabe stars on Venice Beach.


Baywatch!


Locals lie out in the sun.


Strolling down the boardwalk.


No time to pump iron today sadly.


Plenty of time to eat a fennel sausage pizza.


James's marvelous tomato sauce.


Hannah and enough wine (for lunch, at least).