Tonight we got home after a day of roaming Los Angeles on various projects – pick up business cards, look for a car for Cameo, look for a TV and other assorted errands – to find a piece of white paper tucked under the door.
We instantly thought it was from our landlord, but were nicely surprised to see a handwritten note from our new neighbour across the way.
To put a little context around it, the morning after sleeping in our apartment for the first time, we had the carpets steam cleaned. It was a noisy process which started at 8am and finished at 11am. As a little sweetener, and also as a little introduction, I wrote notes to all the other residents of our building and went with mini Cherry Ripes in hand to offer our apology and explanation.
Only one resident was at home and answered my door knock, which happened to be from the only apartment we hadn’t yet met. For everyone else I figured out a way of attaching the note and Cherry Ripe to their door.
It was so lovely to receive a note back with our new neighbour giving us his number to call if we had any questions about the area and what to do. It is a nice way to start apartment living in LA.
The Silver Lake strut is alternate speak for a stroll/power walk/jog around the Silver Lake reservoir.
The 2.3 mile walk (3.7km) is a pedestrian and canine freeway filled with fit runners, struggling joggers, power walkers, dog walkers and casual strollers. Most have iPods inserted in their ears and wear sunglasses. I also noted a resurgence in the old wicker tennis shade brim on a few women who were surprisingly under the 45yo median age for that kind of fashion statement.
I garnered quite a few looks from the mostly female passersby. I am fairly sure it was my outfit, but it could have been that I don’t look American. I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed, but there is something different about how Americans look. I can’t quite pinpoint it enough to describe it, but there is something in the way they hold their faces that gives them away before they can even open their mouth.
As for my attire, I brought with me my red RMIT Alumni cap because I know Americans love their colleges, and I wanted to fit in in that respect. I also brought along my freebie Virgin Blue t-shirt that I got after organising the official welcome to them when they started flying to Mildura. So they could have been trying to figure out my mish-mash of locations or maybe just ponder the big juicy orange on my shirt. But maybe, if I keep this as my exercise outfit, one day someone will stop me and say “Wow I’ve been there!” And one can only hope that it will be a cute boy who says it.
We had a little gathering of people at our new apartment today, so I decided to whip up a pavlova.
One of the first priorities after I moved to LA was to get all the equipment and ingredients for a making a pavlova. I brought with me my kitchen scales, some measuring spoons, baking trays and a spatula. High on the list of new items to purchase was a good quality hand-mixer, something better than my overheating, screaming one at home. One of my favourite stores in the US, Bed, Bath & Beyond, stocks a 9 speed KitchenAid electric beater with four different attachments. I was attracted to both the brand name and the sparkly mocha colour, so one of those babies came home with me after shopping for essentials like pillows and coathangers.
Love the KitchenAid beaters
I realised last night that the glass mixing bowl we got as part of a Pyrex set at Walmart was too small for making a double mixture pavlova, so after picking up yet another desk for the office this morning, J and I stopped by Kmart, which Karen-the-GPS pronounces kuh-mart. Kmart USA is not as good as Kmart Australia, and I could only find a relatively shallow 3.8L glass mixing bowl, which I mumbled something about how it would do the job for now. I also picked up a sieve to sift the cornflour.
I had looked around Ralph’s supermarket for all the ingredients and was again surprised at the lack of options and their not-quite-the-sameness to Australia:
Caster sugar (called Superfine Baking Sugar here) only had one option which came in a 1.89L milk carton
Cornflour is called cornstarch here
Whipping cream comes in milk cartons and when whipped still manages to have somewhat of a foam cream from a can texture and taste
Vanilla extract here is far more thick and syrupy than our vanilla essence
Thanks to the ConvertPad app on my phone, I found out that the equivalent temperature for cooking my pavlova was 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
The best looking pav I've seen sans cream
So with all this brought, bought and figured out, I set up the beaters with the whisk attachment and started the process. I was down to the last bit of sugar to mix in and dissolve when I had a phone call, so I put down the beaters for awhile. When I got back to the kitchen, my previously perky pavlova peaks had morphed into a flat, runny mixture. I tried to beat some life back into it, but it just wasn’t quite the usual consistency, so I spooned it onto the baking tray and hoped for the best.
I don’t know whether it was the new consistency or my hoping for the best, but the best looking pavlova I’ve ever made came out of the oven. Whilst there were cracks in it, as is the norm, the top hadn’t sunken. It really threw me. I didn’t know what to do. I peeked in between the cracks to see if there was any of the marshmallowy meringue in there and saw that under the top crust was a big huge gap of air. So after some hemming and hawing, I chose to pick up the pav, put it on a presentation platter and then break the crust in order to make a hollow for the cream. I was so surprised when I could pick it up in two hands without it falling apart, as is usually the case.
Lots of marshmallow!
After adding the cream and then decorating with strawberries, kiwi and a few blueberries, it was ready for enjoyment and compliment. Both of which were heaped on and thrown about in generous sizes.
To my discerning pavlova palate, there were a few things I need to try and fix. I think the marshmallowy bit was a bit eggy and the cream not quite dense enough. But they were only small observations (made by me) and give me something to work on as I set out to become the Pavlova Queen of LA.
I’ve never really been good at getting up early to go to garage sales. That and I already had a house full of stuff and didn’t really need more clutter. But I always liked the idea of it.
But with a blank canvas apartment to furnish and make homely, they are dynamite. It also helps that most garage or yard sales here start at the respectable time of 9am, so there’s no rush to get out there to pick over the cream of the crop.
Today we visited three sales. One apartment sale where there wasn’t anything that caught our fancy, and then two estate sales. I’ve decided that estate sales are the best. Estate sales are where the whole contents of the house is up for grabs and most likely a deceased estate. It makes for great shopping.
Roof racks are essential estate shopping tools
The first one we went to in the Hollywood Hills sounded like it was going to be a bit out of our price range, given the location and the heavy accent on antiques and brand names I didn’t know. So we were delighted to find an old wooden writing desk that is perfect for our office space and even more delighted to find that they accepted a price of $50 including some old movie books and Cagney & Lacey poster (down from $65 for the desk alone). We also picked up some wine and champagne glasses so there are plenty of drinking vessels for parties at ours.
The second one was even better in terms of price and range. It was nearby to our place and was a lifelong collection of things. We got there towards the end of the sale when everything miraculously became half price. So we ended up with:
a deco style white sofa bed, pretty clean and comfy for $37.50
a heavy wooden framed mirror $17.50
a print of a Kentucky garden scene in a lovely frame $5
a round print in wooden frame $5
three cushions $5
a vase and wooden spoons $1.50
crystal bowl and metal serving dishes $4.50
a desk chair $10
a clothes hamper $5
a chest of drawers – free
Our total spend for the day was $160 and we got some great new furnishings for our apartment. It is such a nice feeling to start from scratch and build things up around you (although we are grateful that our landlord left us a few key pieces of furniture to start off with).
The gentle side of the hill looking up towards our apartment building
I braced myself for my first walk today. I decided to start off small and walk down the more gentle slope to acclimatise and test my legs on the incline.
It was fine, so I explored out on a cross street that topped the ridge of the hill and then finally attempted the big, steep, heart-attack inducing side of the hill down to the dog park.
Down the steep side
On my way down, I started to re-think my desire to buy a bike. The hill was so steep that I had to continually put the brakes on, lest my feet started running free. I came to the conclusion that there would be no way I could ride a bike down the hill, let alone up it, and that pushing it would be far to bothersome. The only wheels I get in LA will be of the four variety with a strong engine in the front to power up the hill.
Incidentally, our street is at 32% gradient, and in the group of the steepest streets in LA. So if the hill doesn’t give me a heart attack, the pastrami sandwiches certainly will.
We had a meeting today to talk about upcoming projects and some administration stuff, however it didn’t quite live up to my expectation of a meeting.
Coming from a bureaucracy where meetings are scheduled in advance, go for the allotted time (never do they finish early for fear of actually doing some work) and usually have an agenda. Well this was nothing like that.
First up, I was the only one out of four to not have a computer. Although I’d asked Gin and J if I needed to bring my computer before we left home, I don’t think they heard me. So instead I rocked up with a good old fashioned pen and notebook while they set up their power sources around the table.
I then proceeded to get almost bored out of my brains while they all sat down and started working away. I had expectations of discussion, debate and direction, but instead it was a little bit of conversation on various topics all at once in no particular order and with others paying attention to their computer and not making eye contact followed by long tracts of silence save for the sound of keys typing.
So I have learned that:
I must always take my computer to a meeting, even if I’m only surfing the net at least I’ll fit in
I must write the agenda and set the pace if I feel the need for a meeting to be so structured around my preferences
When all else fails, kick off your shoes and head for the couch
At least coffee is still a feature of this new style of meeting.
Day 2 in our new apartment and Gin and I were out and about running errands, buying things etcetera and decided to call past our local Trader Joe’s supermarket on the way home to complement our purchases from the local Wednesday Farmers Market.
It was just on 5pm and the supermarket carpark was busy and so were the aisles. People picked up their daily groceries from the Silver Lake shop which, incidentally, only sells food and not any other type of grocery.
So many trendy types were in there, most on their own. There was only one child that I saw, on the hip of an even hipper mother who looked as though she should be famous, but who had knotted, unbrushed hair. This made me feel better about my knotty, frizzy hair.
Strangely, I hadn’t thought too much about what I was wearing when I left the house. I was still in my clean outfit of black trackie pants, a brown top and black Kathmandu fleece with my lime green Dunlop Volleys thrown on my feet. I looked rather bogan-like, yet rather than feeling too dorky to go out in public, I felt as though my Australian accent cancelled out any bad fashion.
In essence, my Australian accent makes me cool, or at the very least, interesting. That, and I think it also got us out of a parking ticket today!
The excitement of the day was quickly dashed when we landed in a filthy dirty apartment where it was clear that even the floors hadn’t been swept. We had half expected this to happen given the state it was in two evenings earlier, but it was still mighty disappointing.
Adding to our frustration, Alicia, the professional cleaner we had asked to come and do a comprehensive clean with her team said our apartment should be immaculate when we move in and was telling us about our rights. She also said it would cost $600 to clean. This amount seemed a little exorbitant, but there was five odd years of grime and dust caked all over the place.
Dusty fans
The fans hadn’t been dusted in forever and the carpets hadn’t even been vacuumed properly. Shelves had dust piled up on them and the bathroom doors hadn’t been swept behind. Not to mention a really bizarre patch of hairs stuck to the wall above the bathroom door. And let’s not mention the balconies (yes, plural, we have two tiny balconies with fantastic views), alth0ugh I do want to mention the pair of spy binoculars left out on the loft balcony. That was kinda creepy.
The loft needs a wipe
We called our landlord, who turned up somewhat unexpectedly not long after. He asked us to point out what needed doing and then said he didn’t like the start we’d gotten off to and was offering us the option to back out of the lease. Which is not what we wanted. We just wanted to have a clean start, I mean we were prepared to do some cleaning of things to our own standards, but just not a whole apartment.
I felt sick. I don’t like confrontation and I didn’t want us to be getting off onto a bad start. Our landlord said he would see if someone would come and do the bits and pieces we’d discussed that day. So we moved a few things and then decided we would at least clean our wardrobes out so we could unpack. This made the sick feeling go away.
None of this was ours...
The landlord called to say someone would be coming around to clean at 7pm. We joked that it would be him rocking up, and we needn’t have, because that’s exactly what happened. He came in, alone, wearing rubber gloves and singing along to his iPod saying “I’m going to put Alicia out of business” with a little showbiz kind of turn.
It was one of the most awkward 2.5 hours of my life. We sat around on our computers throwing meaningful looks at each other, while he got down on his hands and knees to give the skirting boards a wipe. We emailed each other in order to communicate. I felt a combination of annoyance, pity and violation.
Eventually he left, saying he’d be back in 2 days to clean up the balconies. Some things on our list had been done, but others like cleaning out the kitchen and bathroom cupboards and mopping the floors didn’t even get touched. So after he left, Gin and I got busy in the bathrooms and kitchen, using up half a 1L bottle of 4-in-1 cleaner in the process.
Tomorrow morning we have steam cleaners coming in, at our request and expense, to clean the carpets properly. Gin had thrown all the curtains in the wash earlier in the afternoon too as a way to rid the place of a stale cigarette smell. I think after tomorrow, things will be a whole lot nicer, more homely and definitely cleaner. So here’s cheers to a truckload of cleaning products and a bit of elbow grease. Happy housewarming.
PS Other than the general lack of cleanliness, our apartment is Amazing. With a capital A. And we Love it. With a capital L.
Gin, J and I went on a tyre-kicking tour of LA which took us to Florence-Graham, a predominantly Hispanic part of LA. They were checking out a red 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee listed by Jose on behalf of his mum. I always thought good mechanical minds, or excellent negotiation skills were important in buying used cars, but it seems that so is speaking someone’s language.
After a little test drive, they said they needed to think about it, so we went for a little cruise around the block and found a grotty old car yard called Almazen Kar Sales. We pulled into the lot and got out to have a look around. An old man came up to Gin and said “Hablas espanol” so I came to her rescue and started having a conversation with him about finding a car. He was a little difficult to understand because he was missing quite a few teeth.
When I told him of Gin and J’s limited budget, he got a lady from the office, who could speak a little bit of English but you could tell she felt far more comfortable in Spanish, to show us some cars on the other side of the fence. This woman was wearing tight jeans, a jewel coloured knit jumper and had hair and make up that looked like they’d come straight out of a Mexican boutique like the one called ‘Fancy’ that I went to in Merida, Mexico, last year.
The cars there were really rough, and not as good as Jose’s mum’s car, and a lot more expensive. So we continued our tyre-kick after the lady whispered that we might find something more suitable in one of the car dealers on Alameda Avenue.
So we followed her advice and went to a yard on Alameda where the older gent was very proud to tell me they had three businesses, a chicken shop, a mechanic and a car dealership. They were really helpful in saying that for Gin and J’s limited budget, they would be better off going for a private sale and looking on Craigslist.
Gin and J about to buy a car from Jorge
So it was back to Jose’s to check that the seats folded flat and another little ride around the block. Following this, Gin and J negotiated a bargain with Jose interpreting for his dad Jorge. All this while, I remained in the hire car with Karen the GPS lamenting my own lack of luck in finding wheels. When the girls got back in with uncontrollable smiles at purchasing new wheels, all grinchy-ness left me and I was over the moon for them.
We drove off to Bank of America in order to get cash for the transaction and then it was back to the house of Jose, Jorge and Maria. This time I got out and joined in the fun, which also turned into my interpreting skills coming in handy as Jorge explained what to do if the alarm goes off. Maria (Jose’s mum) came out to write out the pink slip and was relieved when she looked up to ask a question and I said I spoke some Spanish. Because Maria couldn’t write the amount in words in English, I had to do it. I also found out that Maria’s daughter LOVES Guy Sebastian and has his posters and CD, so we laughed about that. Jorge was also quite impressed at my language skills, but that was when he thought we spoke French in Australia and that I knew three languages.
I never would have thought I’d be dusting off my Spanish today to help buy a car for Gin and J, but it was such a great feeling and I look forward to more Spanish conversations.
Pulling off the freeway for a pitstop, we discovered a Walmart. I had never been in a Walmart store before, but my web research had told me they had cookware starter packs for $39.99, so I suggested to the girls we go have a look.
Walmart is like a big Kmart. It has lots of stuff, of varying quality and prices.
Given that we are very close to moving in to our new apartment, we headed straight to the kitchen ware section and proceeded to debate the benefits of teflon vs stainless steel, the $39 set versus the $89 pack and measured the skillets for comparison. Eventually we selected a grey 18 piece teflon coated set that came with the deal clinching 5L jumbo frypan with lid.
Then we got excited by sets of Pyrex, found ourselves a crockery set, picked up some chopping boards and a broom and mop (in Aussie green and gold). The only thing we couldn’t find was a cutlery set we liked, so instead we just bought three sets of spoon, fork and knife to tide us over. One interesting observation was that the cutlery sets come with dessert fork, fork, spoon, teaspoon and knife, but no butter knife, which I thought was odd.
We were served by the very friendly George who was very excited when we said we were from Australia and buying things for our new apartment. He was unsure as to why we would be living in Norwalk, but when we said we were moving to Silver Lake and had just pulled off the freeway randomly, he got excited about our new ‘hood and said we’d really enjoy it there.
So our first Walmart experience (coming in at $197.50) was awesome and once again, we met extremely friendly Americans.
Today’s disappointment:
Turning up to pick up the keys to our new place only to discover that there was still so much stuff and cleaning to be done. We are now not moving in until Tuesday.
Celebrity spotted:
Justin Long (Drew Barrymore’s boy) (not at Walmart)
a little cameo 