Ted's of Beverly Hills Steakhouse - restaurant review

La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills is quite the restaurant row, boasting such high-profile restaurants as, among others, Lawry's The Prime Rib, Matsuhisa and (to a lesser degree) The Stinking Rose. But there are other restaurants in the area which might not be quite as common but are certainly worth the visit.





I'd heard about Ted's of Beverly Hills Steakhouse from a number of people who raved about the food. Now, I've got several places where I can go for good steak and good prime rib, so I wasn't exactly needing a good steakhouse, but even though I'd heard the occasional odd comment about this place, the praise really piqued my interest, so the husband and I decided to try it out on a Saturday night.

Like most other restaurants on busy La Cienega Boulevard, there's no parking lot, and your only option is to valet your car. I am decidedly not a fan of valet parking, but there was no parking lot nearby, so we really didn't have a choice. I had heard comments that the valet parking people can be a bit snobby about what cars they take, which seemed odd to me. As we pulled up, I did notice that all of the cars parked out front were all fairly expensive cars. The husband generally drives when we go out to dinner, so the valet folk seemed ok with taking his nice truck, which we had made a point of getting washed earlier that day. While we were being helped, I did see other people drive up in more moderate cars who ended up getting into discussions with the valet people who didn't seem keen on taking their cars. I decided not to stick around to hear the rest of those conversations.

The decor of the restaurant is very nice, a combination of old-fashioned wood paneling and modern fixtures. We were seated at a booth at the far end of the restaurant and then given menus to peruse.

Ted's is a steakhouse in the true sense of the word. Most steakhouses offer other items like chicken or seafood, but the only thing on Ted's menu is different kinds of steak. You pretty much just pick the cut and size you want. Each steak entree comes with the daily steamed vegetable as well as their famous baked potato, as well as unlimited visits to their salad bar. I've had baked potatoes in a lot of places before, but I never knew that the custom of wrapping the potato in aluminum foil before baking it was invented at Ted's. There was a whole story on the menu about how Ted Bell, who owns the restaurant, came up with the idea, and it's a pretty funny story. I don't want to spoil the surprise, so you'll have to make a trip to the restaurant yourself to read the story in person. It was a little weird though, because I noticed that on the menu, it's referred to as The Baked Potatoe with a little trademark symbol next to it and a little note that they seriously defend their copyright. I didn't get a chance to ask about that because the server came to take our order, and I got distracted and didn't remember that until after we'd left. I wonder what that was all about.

The husband and I both ordered our cuts of meat, and then we made our way to the salad bar. They had a nice selection there, though the salad plates were pretty small, which was kind of weird, considering it was a salad bar. The plates themselves probably weren't much bigger than a normal side-salad plate that you'd get in any other restaurant. It was maybe slightly bigger than a normal bread plate. While I was filling my plate as best I could, I did notice the occasional bell sound. I looked around to see what it might be, but I couldn't see anything that would explain it.

The husband and I each enjoyed our salads. Since it was an unlimited salad bar that came with the price of the meal, and since the plate was so small, I thought about going back for a second helping, but I figured the steak I ordered would be pretty filling, so I decided against going back after all.

After we were done with our salad, our entrees were brought to us. The meat was definitely as amazing as had been advertised. As I mentioned, there are a number of places I can go to for good steak, but their steak was just really tender and delicious. When we had ordered, the server had said that they only serve their steaks cooked medium rare because to cook it any more than that would ruin it, and Ted refused to have his steaks ruined. I thought it was a pretty weird rule (I know people who prefer their steaks cooked more than that), but it didn't bother me because that's how I normally order my steaks cooked anyway.

And as delicious as the steak was, the baked potato was just as amazing. I don't know what secret they had in cooking it, but while others might imitate the aluminum foil wrap, no one else can duplicate the taste of their potatoes.

When I had ordered, I had thought about having a drink to go with dinner. I had noticed that they had a special drink invented by Ted himself which he called The Ted, which contained rum and Coke. That sounded interesting, so I asked the server about it. He said it was very popular but was otherwise non-committal, so I decided to try it. It was quite tasty, but I did notice that it didn't seem particularly alcoholic. I was surprised during dinner to overhear a group of women at a nearby table, obviously out for a bachelorette party dinner and who had each ordered The Ted, say how strong they thought the drink was. I think over the course of dinner, they each had two or three drinks each. I'm usually a lightweight and so notice even when there's a little alcohol in something, so it was weird that mine didn't taste that strong.

As I had thought, dinner was quite filling, so both the husband and I skipped dessert.

Ted Bell himself was there that night, making the rounds of the tables, though he never actually made it to ours, which disappointed me. I really wanted to meet him. However, he does have a blog that he occasionally posts to.

Overall, I enjoyed our dinner, though the prices are a bit on the high end, even for really good steak. Service was adequate. Oh, one thing I did want to mention. That bell sound that I'd heard while at the salad bar was something that I heard periodically all throughout dinner, and when our server came to bring us our bill, I couldn't contain myself anymore, so I asked him what it was. He said that there was someone in charge of watching the salad bar, and if someone came back to the salad bar too many times or piled too much on their plate, especially if the person was particularly heavy, the person would ring the bell, which was actually a cowbell. He said that the tone of the bell subliminally signaled to the appropriate person that they really didn't need any more food from the salad bar. I thought that was a little weird, but I didn't say anything to the server. But I'm glad I didn't make that second trip to the salad bar.




Ted's of Beverly Hills Steakhouse
We wanna put our meat in your mouth.
78 N. La Cienega Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

"Monsters vs. Aliens" (3D) - spoiler movie review

I am not generally a fan of Dreamworks' animated films. I don't really care for the style or the story of their animated works. So when I first saw the trailer for "Monsters vs. Aliens", I really thought it was cute and was surprised at how different it looked and felt from Dreamworks' other animated films. Wow, a Dreamworks animated film I actually want to see. Imagine that.

I am, however, a big fan of the 3D that's used nowadays in film. I like how they enhance the film, so we decided to go ahead and see the 3D version of this film. There were a couple of gimmicky moves in the beginning (like the paddle ball in your face), but overall, it was just enhancement, which was good.

In general, I really enjoyed the film. There were a lot of laughs all around, though some of the jokes seemed to me way beyond the remembrance of the young kids that you'd expect would be and were in fact in the audience. How many kids know the theme from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" or the song Axel-F?

Going into it, I hadn't known who was voicing the characters, so at the beginning of the film, I was surprised to see all the recognizable names.

I was very surprised that Reese Witherspoon was voicing Susan, the lead character. She was very good, though for some reason, I found it really distracting that she was voicing a dark-haired character, which should be a non-issue really.

Kiefer Sutherland voiced the general, sounding a lot like he did when he voiced the drill sargeant in an episode of "The Simpsons". I don't really care for it when he gets that gruff tone in his voice - he sounds fine as is.

Stephen Colbert was pretty funny as the president. That thing with the two buttons - launch nuclear weapons or latte - was just hysterical.

I loved the changed Dreamworks logo to go with this film! Too cool.

Derek was a total and complete ass. He deserves to be in Modesto and Fresno. And is Fresno really a step up from Modesto?

I laughed at some of their song choices - Journey and The Little River Band!

Susan obviously shops at the same place as The Incredible Hulk because when she becomes gigantic, her wedding dress rips some but still manages to cover all of her instead of, like it really should, just being enough to cover her pinky finger. And then when she gets the alien substance stripped from her and she shrinks, her clothes magically shrink too. Oh, and her wedding gown must have been seriously scotch-guarded because after she got hit by the alien ship thing and was a mess and dirty, her mother just had to wipe it off and she was good to get married.





The stuff with B.O.B. and the jello (both times) was just too frickin' funny.





The sound of the creature who's the head of the aliens when it's walking on its tentacles was pretty funky, even more so when there were boatloads of clones of it.

The countdown clock of when the ship is going to self-destruct, which is actually off count, was HILARIOUS!!! I *loved* that!

One factual liberty they took in the film for laughs: when they were evacuating San Francisco and having everyone crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, that meant they were going from San Francisco into Marin. There's a line about "exact change appreciated but not required" for the toll. They don't charge toll going that way. Toll is always charged going into San Francisco, not leaving it. But, error aside, the whole sequence with the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge was pretty awesome.

The UFO lands and almost destroys Modesto and then effectively tries to destroy San Francisco. I'm thinking the aliens were targeting George Lucas and just didn't know where to find him.


If Dreamworks makes more animated films like this, I'd be more inclined to see them.

I was really surprised and disappointed and annoyed, though, that we got a ton of trailers, but NONE of them in 3D. Cause, you know, there are of course NO OTHER 3D MOVIES COMING OUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. Yeah.

yet another person learns the Twitter lesson

There have been a number of stories in the news of late about people who are having to pay the consequences of having an open Twitter account and then just tweeting things they really should not be. They don't seem to get that if their account is not protected, then ANYONE can read what they tweet. It's no different than writing a blog or posting a public comment to a message board or something like that. If your account is protected, then you just have to be sure of who you allow to read your stream, but if it's open - you're fair game to everyone.

Mark Cuban is owner of the NBA basketball team Dallas Mavericks, and he apparently [sic] is on Twitter. After a recent defeat by the Mavericks to the Denver Nuggets, he tweeted a complaint about a non-call by the officials.

The NBA is notorious for being super-uptight about ANY comments even mildly critical of officials. Someone must have been following him who eventually relayed it to the league, because Cuban was fined $25,000 for his comment about the officiating. Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that the NBA has such a thin skin when it comes to comments about officiating. I can't think of another professional sport where it's like that - certainly not baseball or football. And it's not like basketball officials are immune to making mistakes or missing calls - they're human after all. I guess Cuban would have been fined if he'd made that comment during a live or print interview, so that's probably why he was also fined for saying it over Twitter. And with a public figure like that, you wouldn't expect his Twitter feed to be protected.

When it comes down to it, $25,000 isn't that much money to someone like Mark Cuban. But there seem to be more and more examples of people getting into trouble because of what they openly tweet.

And yes, my Twitter stream is protected. And yes, I'd get into all kinds of trouble with the stuff I tweet if I had an open stream. But then, that's why I have it protected!

March Madness - Final Four

I'm not usually interested in college basketball, but for some reason this year, I find myself paying attention to some degree to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The final four teams still left in pursuit of the national championship have been set: Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova and North Carolina. Connecticut and North Carolina seem to be the ones I keep hearing about. I think it's a surprise that Duke was kicked out of the running so early. I've heard about Villanova's basketball team, but I think of Michigan State college sports more in terms of football.

For some reason, there was much ado made about the fact that President Obama filled out his own bracket. Only one of his final four teams is still in the running, but that final four team is who he picked to win it all - North Carolina. We'll see if they make it through to the finals.

fly like an Eagle (Scout)

This morning, I attended the Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony for one of my nephews, my older brother's oldest son. My brother had sent out an invitation a couple of weeks ago, and the husband and I had accepted the invitation to attend.

I had known that my brother and his kids had been involved in scouting for some time, and I had heard from the oldest son a couple of months ago that he was very close to completing Eagle Scout. I had the understanding that it was significant, but I'll admit that I didn't know what it really meant.

When I was a kid, I never knew anyone who was part of scouting. Thinking about it now, it occurs to me that there might be some kind of correlation between scouting and socio-economic level - I grew up in a fairly modest neighborhood, and I don't know that there would have been the means nor the inclination for most people in that area to be involved in scouting. Even when I was in college, I don't recall any of my friends ever mentioning being involved with scouting. I think the most I ever knew about the Boy Scouts was the whole "helping little old ladies across the street" thing, along with a recitation they'd learn about what attributes a Boy Scout should exemplify, and I'd see the occasional ad on TV. But none of that really gave me an understanding of what Boy Scouts was really about.

So after I responded to the invitation, I sent out a tweet for some advice about protocol and what I needed to do, and I got back a response from a friend which was very helpful.

The Boy Scout troop that my nephew belongs to meets at a church, which is where the ceremony was also held. The husband and I picked up my parents, and we ended up arriving at the church a bit early. We said hello to my brother and my sister-in-law, as well as my two nephews. We also had a chance to look at some of the displays that had been put up. The troop had 8 scouts who were being honored in the ceremony, and each scout had a table in the lobby area. Each table had a picture of the boy in his scout uniform in front of the American flag. There was also a plaque with the Eagle Scout certificate as well as a plexiglass award for the Eagle Scout. There was also a book that had the scout's Eagle Scout application, merit badge cards, and a full description of the scout's Eagle Scout project.

Each scout has to complete a project as part of the process, and the projects by the various boys included rebuilding a church barbeque pit, refurbishing a church gazebo, refurbishing the recreation room for a local youth center, and other renovation or refurbishment projects for other public locations. There were details about what the project was planned to be, how much the project would cost (because of materials needed to do the project), how the scout would raise the money for the project (generally through donations and fundraising activities), the actual process of doing the project itself, a breakdown of the amount of time the entire project took, what changes might have needed to have been made during the course of completing the project, and pictorial documentation of before, during and after completion of the project. The scout generally had help in doing the project, since part of the project is so the scout can demonstrate an ability to lead and work with others. The documentation of the projects shows what an endeavour it is for each scout to complete his project.

There was another book on the table which contained all of the various awards and certificates that the scout had received as well as a multitude of congratulatory letters from various political dignitaries, government agencies, businesses and private individuals on the scout's Eagle Scout achievement. I would imagine there's a whole process in place for this, but it was still very impressive to see. In looking through my nephew's book, there were a number of letters from local councilpeople, state senators and reps, the governor of California, Congressional reps and Senators, former president Jimmy Carter, former president George Bush and Barbara Bush, Vice President Joe Biden, various federal agencies including the Navy, the California Highway Patrol, commissioner of the National Football League, owners of both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Anaheim Angels (yeah, I know, but I'm still calling them that), and that's just to name a few of the ones I remember seeing.

We also said hello to my older sister and her husband when they arrived, and then it was shortly time for the ceremony to start, so we took seats in the sanctuary. (The church grounds were very nice, and the church itself was beautiful.) The master of ceremonies for the court of honor was one of the members of the troop. The color guards (which included another nephew of mine, the younger brother of the Eagle Scout honoree) brought in flags and situated them and then the ceremony itself was called to order.

There was a bit of information given about the path that a scout takes from the very beginning to the point where they would qualify to be an Eagle Scout. Then, in turn, each Eagle Scout has introduced, including a few of his accomplishments, and then a representative chosen by the Eagle Scout honoree was able to give a testimonial about the person. The people chosen to speak ranged from family members to teachers to tutors to friends, and it was really nice to hear the stories that everyone told and to learn a bit about each honoree.

The person my nephew had chosen (as did a fellow honoree who is also one of his classmates) is one of his high school teachers. When she was speaking about the other honoree, she told a funny story about how she was actually late for the ceremony because she had gotten lost, since the numbering system on the street is a bit eodd. She knew she was lost but didn't know how to get where she needed to be, and she happened to spot two local city police officers in their car stopped on the street, so she turned her car around and made her way over to them and explained that she was lost and where she was trying to get to and how important it was because of what she was going there to do, and could they tell her how to get to the church? And, she said, that's how she ended up getting a police escort to the church. I loved that story. It was also funny that a local city councilman was in attendance at the ceremony, and he later mentioned that it was nice to hear confirmation about how helpful the local police officers were.

When the teacher spoke about my nephew, it was interesting to hear what she had to say about him, how glowing she was in her praise of him, and she also had one really interesting thing to share about an assignment he had completed in her class. I still have a hard time remembering that this nephew is now an adult, having just turned 18 this month.

Slight tangent here for a minute to tell a story - at one point, I lived across the street from my brother and his family. At that time, they only had the oldest son, the Eagle Scout honoree, who was probably maybe 2 or so at the time. It was December, and it was my first Christmas in the house, so I was putting up decorations and a tree. My sister-in-law and the nephew had come over for something, and my sister-in-law was going back to her house, but my nephew wanted to "help" (really, it was "watch") me decorate the tree, so he stayed at my house. As I was decorating, I figured he'd be bored just watching me, so I decided I could put on some cartoons for him to watch too. My brother is a big Disney fan (this was before I started my own Disney obsession), so I knew that my nephew knew who Mickey and Minnie and Donald and Goofy and Pluto et al were and watched their cartoons often, so I asked him if he wanted to watch Bugs Bunny instead. And I was stunned at his answer. He had no idea who Bugs Bunny was. Or Elmer Fudd. Or Road Runner. My brother had indoctrinated him into Disney animated lore, but he'd never been introduced to Warner Bros. cartoons. What kind of neglect was this poor kid being subjected to? How can he be almost 3 years old and have no idea about any of the Warner Bros. characters? Well, as his aunt, it was my duty to make sure he had a well-rounded education - so I sat him down and put in one of the multiple Warner Bros. cartoon collections I owned. As each cartoon came on, I explained to him who each character was while I continued to decorate the house. I like to think that I'm the one responsible for balancing out his animated characters education.

After a couple hours, his mom came back to get him because it was time for his dinner. After that, it was bath time and then off to bed for him. She told me the next day that he'd gotten upset because he thought he'd be coming back to my house after dinner. He was worried that if he wasn't there to "help", I wouldn't be able to finish decorating the tree. She assured him that I would be able to manage on my own, but I thought that was pretty sweet of him to be concerned about me. Even as a young child, he was thinking about someone else.

OK, story derail over. Back to court of honor.

After each honoree's rep had spoken, someone then explained all the things that were required for a scout to reach Eagle Scout. There were a certain number of badges they had to earn and leadership positions they had to hold. They had to complete their Eagle Scout project. But in addition to that, they each had to appear before a Boy Scouts council and had to basically convince them that they were worthy of being bestowed the Eagle Scout title. (The husband later told me that it's nowhere near being an automatic process - he had a friend years ago who for whatever reason was not approved for Eagle Scout even though he had technically completed all the requirements, but his appearance before the council must not have gone well.) Earning the Eagle Scout title is a lot of work and takes years to complete (and reminded me somewhat of a thesis project), requiring dedication and commitment. Most of the honorees, including my nephew, are graduating seniors, so all of their Boy Scout commitments have to be done while they're also attending to their school work, family and any other outside interests. It's a huge accomplishment indeed.

The honorees were then administered their Eagle Scout pledge. There was then a presentation of awards to the parents of the honorees. As much work as the honorees themselves have to put in, the parents also have to be supportive and provide a lot of assistance during the entire process. The parents were asked to join the honorees, and then each honoree gave their mother an "Eagle Scout mom" pin and then gave their father an "Eagle Scout dad" pin. That was really nice to see. All of those parents were so obviously proud of their sons for their accomplishment, but it was also nice to see the parents being honored and thanked as well.

There was also a special presentation to the two scoutmasters of the troop from the parents of the honorees, for their hard work and assistance to each honoree. Each scoutmaster was given a plaque as a thank you. And it so happens that one of the scoutmasters is my brother, father to the Eagle Scout honoree nephew. He spoke for a minute about how much he enjoyed being a scoutmaster and how much he has loved seeing all the kids (including his own son) mature and learn and develop during the scouting process and working with them along the way. The other scoutmaster then spoke and echoed his sentiments. It was really nice to see and hear all that. I did find it amusing that my brother ended up being on both sides of that award, as an Eagle Scout honoree parent and as co-scoutmaster. I later asked him if he knew about the award ahead of time, and he said he did not. His wife, however, did know about it. That was pretty funny.

After a few more announcements, the ceremony was brought to a close. There was a reception held right afterward, so everyone had a chance to mingle and chat. The husband and I had a chance to talk to my nephew for a bit about his Eagle Scout process. The program had listed how many merit badges each honoree had (and they also had the badges sewn onto their sashes), and the husband and I had both noticed that all the boys had 20-something merit badges, except for one person - my nephew - who had 45. From what we were told, there are a number of specific badges which are required, and then the scout has to have a certain number of total badges. The husband and I had joked that since my nephew had his father as the co-scoutmaster, he pretty much *had* to participate in each badge activity. Can't very well blow it off when your dad's the one who's running it. We asked him about that, and he said that his father didn't force him to do any of the badges. His dad would tell him that he was running this, that and the other merit badge activity on whatever day, and if he wanted to go, he could. Usually, he would choose to go. So his dad/my brother gave him the opportunity to participate if he wanted to but left it up to him to decide, and he usually ended up deciding to participate. I thought that was pretty cool.

I also had a chance to talk to my other nephew for a bit. He's also in scouting, and he's three years younger than his Eagle Scout brother. The younger brother already has 10 of the 12 (I think those numbers are right) of the required badges, and he already has 20-something total badges, and he's well on his way to his own Eagle Scout process.

There was quite a nice turnout for the ceremony, with friends and family of each honoree in attendance. I particularly enjoyed the ceremony because it gave me an understanding of the Boy Scouts that I didn't have before, and it also gave me an appreciation for what the Boy Scouts teaches. I know that some people object to the religious affiliation that can be connected with the Boy Scouts, but even if you disregard that, the Boy Scouts teach kids very good values, especially concerning service to others and responsibility for yourself. Those are both very worthwhile lessons to learn.

I'm glad that I was invited to witness this ceremony, and I look forward to going again, when the younger nephew is an honoree.


Oh, and as far as the title of this blog, I'll admit I stole it - after the ceremony was over, they played The Steve Miller Band's song "Fly Like an Eagle".

80s flashback - The Human League - "Don't You Want Me" and "Human"

Tonight's 80s flashback is a two-fer - two videos for the price of one blog post!

I wouldn't say that I'm a fan of The Human League in general as I don't really know their body of work very well. But I was and am still quite enamoured of two of their big hits. The subject matters are intriguing, and I just love the feel and rhythms of the songs. It's hard to say which one I actually like better. The first song is more upbeat and more energetic, but the smoothness of the second song is just intoxicating. They're both songs that I have a hard time not singing along to when I hear them, so pity you if you happen to be around me when I hear one or the other.


"Don't You Want Me" - One of the things I love about this song is that you get both sides of the story. He talks about how much he did for her, though there's an implied threat as well, and you kind of feel sorry for him a bit, but then you get her side. You either think she's a heartless bitch or that she did what she had to do.




"Human" - Infidelity is something that most people find unforgiveable, but his coaxing voice does wonders in trying to talk you through it, to forgive him. As much as his straying might have hurt, you also hear the longing and sorrow in his voice. And then, there's the shocking twist at the end - she did the same thing! Wonder how *he* took that bit of news?

Stewie Griffin: Make It So

I've seen a few episodes of "Family Guy" here and there, but I don't really watch the show. I will also occasionally hear an episode because the husband is watching it in the other room. I still haven't actually seen the "Star Wars" episode even though I have a t-shirt related to that episode.

Today, Wil Wheaton tweeted a link to the trailer for this Sunday's episode of "Family Guy", which features a reunion of the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

Oh.My.Heck. It's just too funny. And it took me a second to figure out who the blondie was. Denise! I wonder if she has any lines.

I thought the trailer was funny in general but I literally laughed out loud when Stewie tells Brent to take Michael to the bathroom, and Brent says ok, and he and Michael get up and hold hands to walk away.

Brings back nice memories. I think I'm going to have to actually watch this show.

Trattoria Tiramisu - restaurant review

The husband and I had plans to be in the Palm Desert area on a Saturday night, so we were looking for somewhere to have dinner. I talked to a co-worker who knew the area well, and one of the places he recommended was Trattoria Tiramisu. The menu looked good, so we decided to try it out.

The restaurant is tucked into the corner of an outdoor mini-mall, inset from the main street, so we ended up driving past it and then coming back to find it.

We went inside, but when the husband checked in, he was told that they didn't have a reservation for him. Hmmm, that's odd, he had called the day before to make the reservation. The restaurant was fairly small (just one room), and they didn't have any more tables left inside, but they had an outdoor seating area that was open, so we agreed to sit outside. We were led to our table and left with menus, and shortly after, we were brought some bread and an eggplant-based spread that was quite delicious.

The outdoor seating area is just outside the restaurant, with a number of small tables on what is basically the sidewalk area for that section of the mini-mall. There were hedges and space heaters and such put up to kind of off-set the area, so that was a nice added touch, and there was music piped outside as well. We were the only ones outside for a while, so we had the whole area to ourselves.

The server actually came by a little while later to say that they'd found our reservation - it had inadvertently been entered for Sunday night rather than Saturday night, so he apologized for the error.

For a starter, the husband ordered a cured beef salad, which he enjoyed. I decided on a mixed greens salad with goat cheese, which was quite tasty.

The husband had already known what he would be ordering as an entree. He had noticed on the website that on Saturday nights, the restaurant offered an entree featuring slices of roasted leg of veal, which was accompanied by rosemary potatoes and spinach. He very much enjoyed his entree.

There were a few things on the menu that looked good to me, but then the server went through the specials of the day. He mentioned a spaghetti dish with lobster and cherry tomatoes, and it just sounded too good to pass up, so I had that. It was very tasty indeed. The red sauce was very good, and the lobster pieces were plentiful and nicely cooked. I'm a fan of red sauce pastas anyway, so the extra tomatoes in the dish were a nice addition.

For dessert, the husband ordered the spumoni, which had pieces of pistachios and cherries, and the husband enjoyed that. I decided that if they were going to include "tiramisu" in the name of the restaurant, they better have a great version of that dessert, so I chose that. I've had tiramisu before, and it's usually a rectangular piece, presumably cut from a larger piece. In this case, though, the dessert came in a wide dessert glass - a sort of single serving size. Curled chocolate shavings (I think they were dark chocolate because they weren't that sweet) were plentifully sprinkled on top, and the combination of that and the lady fingers and cream was just delicious.

It was a nice evening out - it had been a bit windy earlier in the day, but it died down enough to make dining outside comfortable - and with the extra accents, it was nice to have dinner outside. We were the only ones out there for a while, before other tables were sat as well. I heard a couple of people mention that it was kind of loud inside the dining room, so they liked the relative quiet outside instead, so I found that comment to be interesting. I did notice that the dining room was busy the entire time we were at dinner. When a party would vacate their table, the table was cleaned and re-set and then another party was sat down.

And even when we were the only party outside, we were never neglected. We ended up being a bit confused because we had a few different people coming by to take our order, but our server would wander out on a regular basis to check on us, usually surreptitiously - he didn't interrupt us, but it was clear that he was available if we needed something. The busboy was prompt in clearing our dishes when we were done with a course, and we were also offered to have our bread replenished, which we ended up declining.

And this part will sound really weird, but I actually found it quite refreshing that our server in the Italian restaurant was in fact Italian. You could tell in the way he pronounced the various dishes as well as the cadence in which he spoke. He also had a very nice demeanour - helpful and knowledgeable, happy to be there, pleasant all around, and even lightly humming/singing to himself when he would wander outside.

A different server ended up taking our dessert order, and he too was very nice and also Italian. When he asked about dessert, we actually had a misunderstanding before I realized that they didn't have a printed dessert menu, but rather, he just recited the various choices.

On a side note that amused me, the co-worker who had recommended the restaurant ended up dining there that evening as well. I hadn't known much ahead of time that we were going there, so I hadn't had a chance to mention it to him, so it was funny when he walked up as we were enjoying our starters. After saying hello and chatting for a minute, he went to join the rest of his party inside the dining room.

Since the restaurant is in the mini-mall, there is plenty of nearby parking.

Overall, it was a wonderful dinner, with terrific food and great service. It's definitely a restaurant that I would return to and that I would also pass along the recommendation to other people.




Trattoria Tiramisu
72655 Highway One Eleven, Suite B6
Palm Desert, CA 92260
(760) 773-9100

Anne as Judy

I liked Anne Hathaway in "The Princess Diaries" and I also liked her in "The Devil Wears Prada", but neither were particularly challenging roles. Her role as Agent 99 in the movie "Get Smart" was a bit different, and I thought she did a good job, but it wasn't until I saw her in "Rachel Getting Married" last year that I was really impressed, since that was a completely different kind of role than I'd seen her in before. And she did an amazing job. Before that movie, I would have been surprised to see the announcement that Anne Hathaway has been chosen to play Judy Garland in a biographical movie, but having seen last year's film, I think Anne has the ability to pull off such a challenging role. I'm curious since the article mentions a "film and stage" adaptation of a Judy Garland biography. But I'm looking forward to seeing what Anne can do with this role.

I do not think it means what you think it means

So, yeah, I'm a human spell-check machine. It's not that I always try. Usually, I just can't help it.

I've been on Facebook quite a bit, and there are these little ads that line the right side of the screen. I don't notice all of them, but the odd one here or there might catch my attention for whatever reason. Some of them are weird, and some actually sound interesting.

I noticed one series of ads for ways to decorate your profile. No thanks, I don't think I need more. But one particular ad kept bugging me, though I couldn't quite figure out why.





You see what it is? Very subtle, but it completely changes the meaning of the sentence. I don't think that's what they had in mind. Maybe it's just this particular design, and maybe someone doesn't like it but was forced to make it available, so they thought they'd get their revenge that way. After all, who's gonna notice?

The rest of the ads with other designs are all done correctly.





Well, cherries *are* pretty tasty.