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Stark black and white image of a sign painted directly on an outer wall. Wooden boards are visible next to it, and the top of a window frame below it. The sign reads "How about a cup of" in cursive, and then in MUCH LARGER SANS-SERIF BLOCK LETTERS, "JOE."

Though their signature drink is a mean Flat White, Two Guns Espresso in Manhattan Beach has the perfect mocha: just the right balance of coffee and chocolate and not too sweet. If they were open in the evenings, I’d stop on the way home from work waaay too often.

For the past few weekends, Two Guns has also been hosting pop-up dinners by Doma Kitchen, a local restaurant that’s in the process of relocating. It keeps them in the public eye, gives regulars a chance to visit, and I’m sure it helps to bring in some money while the restaurant is closed. The fixed menu is a bit more expensive than what we usually buy there, but it’s a three-course meal including appetizer and dessert (and coffee), so it actually worked out about the same.

Considering that we all like both the coffee shop and the restaurant, it seemed like a perfect match, and we went last night. They added extra seating using folding tables in the area usually reserved for the line and milling around. I was worried when we were the only ones there at 6:30, but it filled up quickly.

The food was great, though I forgot to mention when I made the reservation that I couldn’t eat seafood. (I don’t remember seeing seafood on their menu before, but I guess I just ignored it.) Fortunately it was a three-course meal, and my seafood allergy is less severe than others I have, so we rebalanced things a bit and it worked out.

The funny thing is, from what we overheard of the greeting conversations (we were seated right by the door), most of the people there last night had never been to Two Guns before. We may have been the only overlap!

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Some interesting search phrases that have brought readers to this site recently:

southpoint hoyel haunyed – It’s not the typos that I find funny here (the keys are right next to each other), but the thought that the hotel’s air pressure problems causing whistling doorjambs may have given rise to a reputation for it being haunted.

brand names for sex – This post on gender-specific brand names (ex. “Men’s X” or “Y for Women” or simply things like dropping “Liz” from “Liz Claiborne” when selling to men), has picked up a lot of search hits, but I don’t think this one was phrased quite right. Unless they were looking for something else.

alice in wonderland tl dr – “A young girl finds herself in a magical world full of nonsense.” There, that was easy. Anyway, check out the TL;DR photos of Katie’s Alice cosplay, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland–style, from this year’s Comic-Con.

why does no one go to the gardenwalk in anaheim – Probably because there isn’t much there to go to.

zucchini spam – Wow, there’s a flashback. An oddly specific one, too. (All right, they were probably looking for a recipe.)

why are there no stars in the sky anymore – Variations on “why can’t I see stars anymore” have been landing on my thoughts about light pollution, jumping off of a photo of the Los Angeles area at night from orbit. The question isn’t funny, but this particular phrasing is just depressing.

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Seen from near LAX through an office window. The Santa Ana winds have cleared away the smog, making the view unusually clear (until the dust takes its place).

The sundog near the top of the frame was definitely in the sky and not on the window, and was visible no matter where I moved — I actually had to adjust the angle to avoid a reflection on the window that would have drowned it out! Timing is everything, though: I went to grab a cup of coffee from the break room right after this, and it was already gone when I got back.

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Five episodes in, The Flash has turned out to be a lot of fun. There are a few things that still bother me (the dead-mother plot being in every.single.intro., for instance, but it kind of has to be), but so far nothing has pulled me out far enough to stop me from enjoying the action and characters.  I love that they’ve gone all-in on it instead of dipping one toe in at a time like Warner Bros. usually seems to do.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. seriously leveled up this season. I’m a couple of episodes behind, but damn, this show has been knocking it out of the park. And I like that they’ve (mostly) been avoiding Idiot Ball tropes — if someone does something stupid, it’s because it makes sense for the character, not because the plot requires it. For example: So many shows would have had Coulson trying to keep his mental issues under wraps from everyone for half the season, but you find out right away that he’s told May, has her documenting it, and has Skye investigating it.

Grimm really needs to decide whether Wu knows about Wesen soon, or things are going to blow up. Or maybe that’s what they’re going for.

Castle almost lost me during the season premiere with the disappearance/amnesia mystery, but they pulled back from the brink by giving us (and Becket) solid evidence to support his story. They’ve managed to avoid falling into frog-eating clone territory. Still, since the show is mostly a standard police procedural, the only reasons to watch it are (1) the characters’ banter, which is still intact, and (2) the occasionally crazy plots. Speaking of which, “Meme is Murder” just barely managed to avoid being a Very Special Episode about how Snapchat Can Kill You! (tune in at 11). Barely.

Once Upon a Time….I want to like this season more than I do, but it’s just been dragging on.

Weaving the past and future from Frozen into the OUAT mythology has been interesting, particularly the way the Snow Queen was set up. Anna is probably the best cast — she’s absolutely the same character as in the movie, and even when her actions or speech *should* seem affected, it comes off as being natural for her. Elsa comes off as a slightly different, but still valid, interpretation. Kristoff just comes off as awkward.

But remember that thing I was saying about the idiot ball? Most of the time, characters do things because the plot requires it…or stand there not doing something because the plot (or a commercial break cliffhanger) requires it. Regulars, side characters, and guest stars alike. Except when the character motivation is the plot motivation, in which case rather than show it through action, they announce it loudly like a character in a fighting game.

(And they are totally wasting the Knave of Hearts. He was great in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, but so far he’s been nothing but a one-note joke here.)

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Camo Cookies

The kiddo wanted to know how Baskin Robbins made their Veteran’s Day themed camouflage ice cream, so we made cookies to demonstrate. Each color is a different flavor, too: The brown is chocolate, the tan is maple, and the green is vanilla.

Make the three kinds of dough, then pack globs of them together into a cylinder. Straight plastic tumblers are helpful for this step.

Camo Cookie Dough

Cut into slices, set the slices on the cookie sheet, and bake!

Camo cookies - slicing.jpg