Lady of Leisure, Day Six

It's Day Six of being willfully and gleefully [temporarily] unemployed! (I'm only counting weekdays.)

First and foremost, the results of my dad's biopsy were benign! A relief for now! They are still looking into why the PSA levels were so high, though. Let's hope there is more good news to come.

Yesterday I got a small taste of life as a mom. I arrived at Curly Fries' house in the Pacific Palisades at about 1:00 p.m. Small Fries has grown so much since I last saw him, and this time I got to see his beautiful eyes, which are a brilliant blue, just like his mommy's. We are crossing our fingers they stay that way. They are so pretty. You just can't tell from iPhone pics!

Ever see Office Space? That last shot is Small Fries' "O Face." Ha!

Even though Small Fries was a very good boy, with all the feeding and cleaning and changing and packing, we didn't get to lunch until about 2:30. Such is the life of a mom. I'm so not cut out for this.

As I was helping Curly Fries get everything into the car, she looked over and laughed at the scene she saw. I handed her my iPhone, and she captured this gem.

After we memorialized these improbable circumstances, we headed to Brentwood for lunch and a few errands. Le Pain Quotidien was our first stop.

I had lemonade, while Curly Fries sipped on a refreshing virgin cranberry sangria with mint. We shared two tartines, one with grilled chicken and gouda and the other with smoked salmon and dill. They were fresh and light and perfect for a sunny Tuesday afternoon.

I admired the interesting high-quality condiments and the menu stand, which was actual bread.

Our next stop was Grace Home Furnishings, where Curly Fries picked up a custom lampshade.

What a great store! It is so very Curly Fries! And, even with my stark modern leanings, I appreciated a number of designs in there.

The store was decked quite festively.

My favorite part was Grace herself. She is the gorgeous friendly chocolate lab who is the poster child for the store. I was excited to see her wearing her signature "pearls," while sitting on her designated chair.

As we approached Curly Fries' car, we saw this lucky dog in a Porsche Boxster.

Then we jetted to our third stop, SusieCakes. Curly Fries bought a few sugar cookies and cupcakes.

I bought four cupcakes: lemon, peanut butter, red velvet, and gingerbread (a seasonal special).

SusieCakes cupcakes remind me of the cupcakes my friends' moms would make -- simple and good, but nothing fancy (if anything, the decoration is way amateurish). When Mr. Monkey ate the lemon last night, he liked it but said, "It was less than half the size of a Crumbs cupcake. Pretty weak." The frosting and cake are good enough -- light and airy -- but probably not worth their $3.00 price tag. Seriously tiny (and not very pretty) for $3.00.

Curly Fries and I each gobbled up a sugar cookie in her car. They were little, perfectly frosted Christmas trees, and they were freakishly tasty. I dare say better than the cupcakes. In fact, they were so good that I forgot to take a picture, and I would definitely buy sugar cookies from SusieCakes in the future. That good, yes.

After we returned to Curly Fries' house, I bid her adieu as she set off on a walk with both Small Fries and her dog Dora -- no easy feat! As I drove home, I thought about how much energy it took to brave just those few hours. I don't know how people do it.

A few hours later, I drove to meet tater, Winnie, and Ricci at La Creperie Cafe. As a lover of crepes, and having seen pictures from Jolene and Kay, I really wanted to try this place. It was nice having dinner just the four of us!

We started with a basket of garlic fries with three dipping sauces. Very good, although the garlic was not evenly distributed, and even vigorously shaking the basket didn't remedy this situation. Yes, I shook the basket like a fool.

I pondered whether to get a traditional French crepe or to get a packed-with-lots-of-stuff-that-is-totally-not-French crepe. I got the latter (a "jambalaya" crepe, which was comprised of Andouille sausage, jumbo shrimp, chicken breast in a spicy Louisiana sauce).

After the fact, I wondered if I should've gone traditional. My crepe was decent but far from great (even though I inhaled it all). It had far too much tomato sauce, not enough filling, and the crepe itself was rather gummy, which was the most disappointing aspect. I suppose that last part wouldn't have been remedied by going the traditional route, but perhaps a traditional French crepe might have had better flavors.

My cohorts got a crepe vendome (crispy, savory crepes filled with melted Brie cheese, slices of apples, caramelized onions, green peppers and chicken with mango and lime chutney), crepe carbonara (bacon in a garlic parmesan cream sauce topped with pesto sauce), and a Parisian (spinach, red pepper, chicken breast in a basil feta cream sauce). Here are all of our crepes.

After our main course, we laughed about the "Hot Feeling" dessert crepe and decided to share a Martinique (bananas flambe in rum with butter and brown sugar, topped with vanilla ice-cream) and Napoleon (strawberries, custard, and caramelized crust) for dessert. I thought the dessert crepes were better than my savory crepe, but, again, I found the texture of the crepes to be subpar.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the gumminess, I cleaned house again. Crepes are like pizza. Even when they're not the best, they're still good!