Friday was a fun day. AEJ and I thought it’d be fun to do a little summer clothes shopping, so we headed to Beverly Hills. (Don’t be too impressed; Rodeo Drive even has Club Monaco and Banana Republic. I’m sure The Gap won’t be far behind.) On the way, we stopped for burgers at Astro Burger in West Hollywood. The place is famous, and it’s definitely tasty, with the burgers charbroiled and cooked to order, and the onion rings are homemade. To me, though, it was good, but not amazing. It may be heresy, but I prefer In-N-Out Burger. With its charbroiled taste and loads of lettuce, Astro was a bit like a high-quality Burger King.

After lunch, we made our way to Rodeo Drive, parked, and did a little shopping. I bought a few shirts — one nice one, and two “comedy” shirts (one looks like a vintage 70s polo shirt with a big green felt dollar sign on the pocket; I’m so money). We did a little more window shopping, and AEJ found the shoes she was hoping to see in person (but had only seen online until then) — these little shoes that look like mice.

At the time, we decided that they might be a little decadent. At the time, that is. Plus, these weren’t exactly the shoes she wanted…

Somehow, I got it in my head last week that it would be fun to have a bread machine. I found a fun one online — made by the same company that makes our rice cooker (because when you think Japan, after you think “rice,” you probably think “banana bread”) — and we thought we’d check at the nearest Bed, Bath, & Beyond to see if they had the bread machine in stock. So, off to the Beverly Center we went. Sadly, they didn’t have the bread machine in stock, so we left empty handed. On the way out of the mall, we stopped at Macy’s to see if they might have the bread machine. They didn’t — but they did have the exact shoe AEJ wanted. (The difference is subtle. This one has a different back — and a little stitched tail.)

Again, AEJ was strong, and walked away from the shoes.

From the Beverly Center, we thought it would be fun to take a little tour of Mulholland Drive. Wow, there are some crazy-nice views up there. The highlight of the drive was when we passed a John Lautner-designed home called Garcia House. (I’ve written about Silvertop, the Lautner home across the reservoir from our place in Silver Lake. Some day…) Garcia House is immediately recognizable as a Lautner. As soon as we passed it — it backs up right to the road, so it’s impossible to miss — we had to turn around, pull the car over, get out, and see it up close. I wish I’d had my camera that day, although we might have been arrested taking up-close photos of private homes on Mulholland. Fortunately, there are lots of photos online. Here are a few…

and…

and this link will take you to an entire photo album of the home. What you can’t see in these photos is how you’re able to see through the entire upper half of the home — it’s just glass on both sides. This was the closest we’ve been to a Lautner — they’re usually behind gates, like in Palm Springs, or even here in Silver Lake — so this was exciting for us.

We eventually made it home, and decided that for dinner, we’d try P.F. Chang’s. It’s a chain, but I’d heard it was good, and we haven’t had Chinese food since we moved to LA in September, so — what the hell. P.F. Chang’s is pretty darned tasty. The quality of the meat is much higher than your average Chinese hole-in-the-wall, and the spicy dishes are actually fairly spicy. Good stuff. A bit loud (it was a Friday night), but I’d go back.

So, fun day, and tasty dinner. And just by chance, P.F. Chang’s was at the Beverly Center — where we’d found those mouse shoes that AEJ wanted earlier in the day! Wow, what a coincidence! Or maybe not. Did AEJ end up with her mouse shoes? Well, she didn’t buy them for herself, if that’s what you’re wondering. That would have been indulgent. But when I saw how happy they made her, what was I supposed to do?!