Wait, we're already talking about next season? I'm still dealing with this one.

Guess what I got in the mail today that totally made my day?  Of course it's Kings related:

Someday...someday.

I noticed that the logo on the return address on the evelope is not the current crown, but the third jersey "home plate" logo.  I think it was a forgone conclusion at this point, but apparently we really are going to switch to the black next season and as much as I like the black thirds, the logo on its own is surprisingly plain and certainly a lot less kingly (in my opinion) than the crown.  What do you think?

When you look at them on a plain background, I think the home plate gets a lot less interesting.

Also, hey, three Kings related posts in a row.  Hat trick!

On the downside, I also received a jury summons in the mail today, and that was after coming home after dropping the car off for $1,100 of repairs.  Joy.

What does an L.A. King have to do to get trending on Twitter?

Just get a horrific looking injury, that's all.

Get well soon, Kopi!

Update: Broken ankle, out minimum six weeks.  Curse you, hockey gods!

You don't get to 500 million Mateys without making a few landlubbin' enemies

Thanks to my friend Liz, I was recently tipped off to Facebook's "Pirate" language option and decided to give it a shot.  Although the novelty wore off after a while, it was pretty hilarious and I'll probably switch back to it periodically just for a laugh.  Whoever it was at Facebook that came up with all the pirate language really knows their pirate language.

One of the many changes Piratese makes is that it adds the title of "Cap'n" before everyone's name.  Which resulted in this:

Dustin Brown is the team captain of my beloved Los Angeles Kings.

Dinner at SteingartenLA

The Bro and I recently (and belatedly) celebrated his birthday at a new restaurant on the Westside near his office.

SteingartenLA, at 10543 W. Pico Boulevard, just opened a few weeks ago and has had some pretty decent buzz.  They also have an extremely interesting menu that includes sausages made from rabbit, alligator, elk and bison, along with more conventional Polish, Bratwurst, chicken, duck and lamb selections, plus tons of beers.  The Bro and I are wine people, but he's getting into beers and wanted to try the place out.  Our awesome waitress Natalia was very knowledgeable about their beer selection and was able to make recommedations that we both enjoyed.  I asked for something that didn't have a really hardcore "beer taste" to it and ended up with Los Abbey Devotion and The Bro had Dogfish Head Aprihop.  We both finished our beers, so that's two thumbs up, even from a non-beer person like me.

I decided to take a walk on the wild side and try the elk sausage.  I figured as long as I was at a place with such exotic (to me) dishes it would be a shame not to try one.  The sausages are served on a bun with a selection of toppings (I chose caramelized onions).  It was good, although if I didn't know it was elk I would have thought it was a more common meat.

Yes, there is an elk sausage buried under all those caramelized onions.

For me the real highlight was the side of sweet potato fries.  They were absolutely delicious and I'm already working on my own version of them that doesn't involve deep frying.

MADE. OF. YUM.

The Bro played it safe with the Chef's Choice Burger with parmesan fries.  It's a good-sized burger and he polished it off, along with most of the fries.

Fuzzy Crackberry photos are fuzzy.

SteingartenLA just opened this month and it looked like they're a welcome addition to the neighborhood; the place was packed.  It's a place we will definitely return to, as well as a new place for The Bro to meet with clients.  Natalia mentioned that they'd had a couple rough nights early on when they were short-staffed, and it's not a place you go for a quick dinner, but the service was good and like I mentioned before, very helpful to a beer novice like me.

Total for dinner (and beers!) for two was about $45 before the tip.

Welcome to the neighborhood! (No, I don't know why their sign says "Hendricks").

SteingartenLA links/reviews: on Facebook - Eater LA - L.A. Times - The Craft Beer Chronicles on This is Brand X

Listen up

What do you get when you combine meditative, atmospheric music and the LAPD scanner?  Why you get You Are Listening to Los Angeles, of course!

I love it.  To me, it's the perfect soundtrack for Los Angeles.  Kind of spooky and noirish, yet also strangely mesmerizing.  Defining the sound of a city by combining dreamy music with the voices of its police dispatch?  I wouldn't have expected it to work, but it does.  The internet wins again.

You can also listen to New York, Chicago, San Fran and Montreal.

Hat tip to Curbed LA for the link.

One of the benefits (???) of insomnia

Beautiful early morning sunrise:

A little later (and lighter):

I'm going back to bed now.  Have a beautiful morning (and day)!

Just another gorgeous day in the Southland

Beautiful clouds in the sky over the City of Angels.  The view from my balcony: