On a sunny Saturday afternoon,  fellow journalist Darleen and I decided to partake in a past time we both adore: discovering new tea rooms in the vast city of L.A. and beyond.

And since we hadn’t seen each other for so long that I can’t even remember, we decided to go all out and indulge in some tea and treats at the Scarlet Tea Room.

I first met Darleen in a mutual class we both had.  I was really intrigued because I think she was carrying some knitting she was working on and I was completely impressed because it was something I would do.

Not only do we share a mutual love of knitting, writing, music, art and identifying annoying people almost immediately, but we also love tea. and tea rooms.

Located on charming Green Street in Pasadena, the Scarlet Tea Room has a set up I haven’t seen before. While most tea rooms typically fall into the “Old English Rosey” category, this one blends old Hollywood charm with sophistication.

The set up consists of big wooden chairs with glass blown light fixtures and mirrors all around.

But never mind how the place looks, lets get to the good stuff.

The tea, while very delicious, wasn’t hot enough for my taste. The China however, was beautiful. I think I got black peach tea, but we were so wrapped up in conversation about the ups and downs of our lives post-college, where we all sat in a room and poured our heart and souls into journalism, that I’m not completely sure.

The tea sandwiches however, were nothing short of amazing. I ordered “Fig and Goat Cheese Spread” and “Mascarpone with Citrus Marmalade.”

Heaven in two bites.

The Scarlet Tea Room is very vegetarian friendly as well – with hearts printed next to sandwich options without any meat.

The absolute best part of the afternoon, sans the conversation, came in the form of a dessert I couldn’t believe I had never tried: Strawberries Romanoff.

Made with strawberries, sugar, liqueur, ice cream and heavy cream, Strawberries Romanoff is like a party for your taste buds, who go wild with excitement when you take a spoonful to your mouth. It’s hard to pin point what’s better – the strawberries or the cream, but together they make an explosive combination.

For a few hours, the tea flowed, the dainty sandwiches came and we even got to gawk at a bachelorette party taking place across the room, neon thongs and all.

The world stood still.

Our problems melted into the leaves in our cups and just for a bit, we were free of responsibility, of what ifs, of haves and have nots, of wondering what we’re doing with our lives, or where we’ll be 10 years from now, or the cruel world of journalism.

For two hours, we were more than ok, drenched in the sweetness of strawberries and cream.

London’s Sagar restaurant offers authentic Indian cuisine that will in many ways, make you feel you could be just minutes away from the Taj Mahal, while also managing to make your mouth water. The entire menu is also vegetarian, which is great for someone like me or a nice change of pace from meat drenched menus of other restaurants. Sagar, meaning “sea” in Hindi, is located nearby Tottenham Court Road, although they also have a branch in Hammersmith. It is one of the only restaurants in London to serve Udupi cuisine, which is the world renowned cuisine of South India. It’s not particularly flashy or overwhelming, but manages to stay simple while combining traditional and modern elements, all the way down to the decor of wooden tables with brass statues that grace the walls.

Although we were hungry, we had one appetizer to share, which was probably a good decision, considering the size of the dish. Unfortunately, I was so excited about the food, I forgot about looking at the menu to see what exactly it was that I had eaten, so I could keep it for future reference. I must point out that this forgetful trait I have during moments of awesome food, clothes, shoes or otherwise happens often. I’m going to say that it was more or less like a falafel, only it tasted much better. It was a great combination of different beans and vegetables and the deep fried shell made it tread into heaven territory. It also came with a fabulous coconut chutney that I could have drank on its own.

We both ordered dosa dishes, with some kind of vegetable concoction inside, I believe mine was aloo (potato) masala. It doesn’t really matter that I can’t remember, but all you need to know is that it was delicious. It came with that amazing coconut chutney and we ordered some cucumber yogurt on the side.

That yogurt came in handy because my dosa was especially spicy. The server warned me before he took my order but I thought it would be easy to handle. Note: Watching Bollywood does not make you immune to hot Indian spices. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

As you can see by our dishes above, we enjoyed the food (and the drinks!) very much. The food was great, the service was good, but there was something that we couldn’t put our fingers on that kept us from being able to fully enjoy Sagar that cold Saturday night in London. I guess the only way to describe it was the atmosphere. To the left of us we had a group of about six hip and trendy 20-somethings, who by the way, couldn’t all arrive at the same time, so every 20 minutes or so, one would show up and greet the others before sitting down. This didn’t help the fact that all the tables were EXTREMELY close to each other. If they were any closer, I would have been able to see other people’s nose hairs. That group was nothing compared to the over zealous and obnoxious German tourists who insisted not only on talking loudly and putting a plate they weren’t using on our table when we weren’t looking, but standing up and taking professional photos with a camera that probably cost well over $700. Needless to say that it was annoying and as I pointed out in my last post about Akari, the atmosphere of a restaurant is at times perhaps a bigger deal than the food.

Sagar
17a Percy Street
London
W1T 1DU
020 7631 3319

In the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, lies a curious path called Portobello Road which leads to a visual feast of a market featuring antiques, vintage clothing, innovative designs and more food than you’ll know what to do with. Oh, the food.

Mark my words: This is not something to be missed.

When you begin making your way to the market, it becomes painfully obvious that the majority of people who are walking with you ( and believe me, there are a lot of people) are tourists from Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and Japan, among other places. This little fact might put a damper on your mood. It put one on mine, but I recovered quickly enough to sing “Is this the way to Portobello” in my head to the tune of “Is this is the way to Amarillo” sung by Tony Christie.

When you do get there, apart from the fact that you have to navigate through bodies to keep moving or get a good look at those vintage shoes you’ve been eyeing from afar, the crowd becomes secondary to all that you have laid out in front of you.

Of course, the first thing you’ll notice is the food. There’s so much of it and such variety, you wont know where to look. You’ll probably be regretting the fact that you had the audacity to eat breakfast before making your way to Portobello, rendering you unable to consume the delightful delicacies on the road once known was Green’s Lane.

Savoury quiches, mouth-watering donuts, fresh and glistening fruit. Paella to whet your appetite, Nutella crepes you wont be able to resist. You’ll almost forget that there’s more to Portobello than the food. Oh but there is. There is.

Vintage fashion from all corners of the world seem to use Portobello Market as a sort of dumping ground – but not in a bad way. There is something for everyone here, from shoes, scarves, costume jewelry, coats and hats. If recycled fashion isn’t your thing, rest assured there are plenty of stalls displaying the newest trends and local designs.

You can even buy knick knacks for your projects in a variety of sizes and shapes.

The above stalls are very dangerous because of the temptation they present. As I am currently working on developing self-control around food, I didn’t indulge in these delicacies, but you should definitely be my guest.

If you get weary during your journey through Portobello, there are a multitude of places to sit and eat. Grab some authentic Mexican cuisine or just a cappucino or latte at Santo, perhaps. Of course, there is no shortage of food on the street, so a bite on-the-go works just as well.

As always, the most important aspect of visiting anywhere, whether its Portobello Market or another such locale, is being there with someone you love.

It’s not 2009 yet, but I’d like to take a moment here and highlight the roller coaster of a year I’ve been through, so that in a future entry, I can highlight the steady ground I’m hoping to be on. I thought about the best way of writing all of it down, and although I’d love to write a long-winded and perhaps boring to some essay on my 2008 adventures, I think a list is in order.

This year I…

-Spent the early hours of New Year’s Day at Disneyland, despite tickets being sold out. We managed to get in to the park because of the good graces of a stranger with extra tickets. That day will never be forgotten.

- Was hired as a full-time editor for a social media company

-Began doing freelance work as a journalist, which led me to write about some incredible and some not so incredible films, interview Ben Kingsley and a bunch of others and meet a lot of other great writers.

-Accidentally deleted this blog, which caused me to lose almost two years worth of entries

- Went to Montreal with my boyfriend, had great food, did great shopping and met Charles Aznavour

-Co-hosted an edible gardening internet radio show

- Saw Adele perform at The Roxy

-Took sessions with a personal trainer and enrolled at a new gym

-Watched my sister graduate high school and enroll at my alma mater

-Went through a luxating patella surgery with Henry and nursed him back to health for about five months

-Witnessed the incredible and miraculous election of 2008 and cried when Obama won

- Became a member of the Society of Professional Journalists

-Revisited the Magic Castle after my initial outing there to interview a magician

-Dyed my full head a single color for the first time ever

-Started to regularly attend the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market

-Wasted so many hours of my life sitting in the horrendous traffic of Los Angeles

-Made some amazing online friends through this blog

-Broke my camera, fixed it only to have it break again

-Tried to resist the phenomenon that is “Twilight,” but fell victim to the dazzling story of Edward and Bella, which marked my regression into adolescence.

-Worked my first red carpet, where I met Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Julie Benz

-Took my obsession with Bollywood to a whole other level by managing to watch at least one film almost every weekend for the better part of the year

-Went to work on developing a new online publication gear towards the Armenian community (still working)

-Found amazing online tools such as Twitter and StumbleUpon, which I now use daily

-Became progressively more obsessed with Anthropologie

-Prayed for snow that never came

-Didn’t spend enough time in bookstores

-Took the GRE, a rather painful experience that I will most likely repeat again sometime in the future

-Did a lot of baking and found some recipes I really loved

Hi y’all! [insert infectious cackle here] I have come to tell you about my love for one miraculous woman. A woman who isn’t afraid to laugh at herself and put a stick or two of butter in every single thing she cooks. This woman, with her gorgeous salt and pepper hair and round, but adorable frame is none other than cook and author extraordinaire Paula Deen.

You see, I could be having the worst day ever – I could be depressed and pissed off about traffic and wondering what in the world the rest of my life is going to look like, and along comes Paula Deen, with her bigger than life Southern drawl, her wide eyes and her ability to turn every single meal into a heart attack waiting to happen and my life is just that much better.

Paula is my absolute favorite chef to watch on the Food Network. It’s especially exciting when she invites her husband Michael on camera for a bit of banter. He’s a quiet, genteel man, I presume. He’s just this big lovable bear and come to think of it, so is she.

Wait. Just wait. I think I had an epiphany. Michael and Paula are the modern day Santa and Mrs. Clause! Am I right or am I right?

Paula brings the most joy when she’s out on excursions with Michael, such as my favorite episode, in which she travels to France. Imagine Paula Deen in France. Go ahead and I dare you. You think you know, but you have no idea. Imagine that Southern American Butter Ball of a woman running amuck in Paris. She was the greatest thing to happen to France since cheese. She pranced around an open market, kissed a French man and ate almost every pastry at a cafe. She also travels to London in the same episode and is equally hilarious there as she is in the city of lights. The episode seemed to have hit a chord with quite a few people, as evidenced by the comments on Chowhound, but I think people are taking it too seriously and really, you are out of your mind if you take Paula Y’all Deen too seriously. You might as well not watch her, because you just don’t get it.

While she wasn’t always on the look out for coronary arteries to clog, Paula has an incredible background. Her parents died while she was in her 20s and she suffered from agoraphobia and would not leave her house. She had no formal food or chef training, yet she used her cooking talents to create a catering service which became so popular that she opened her own restaurant, The Lady and Sons in Savannah, Georgia in 1996.

In short, I think she’s amazing and the most interesting and fascinating food personality on television today. You cannot even compare her to Rachel Ray or Emeril for that matter. Yes, she’s over the top, yes she’s a bit ridiculous. Yes, you might get cholesterol just by standing next to her, but this is all besides the point. She’s pure entertainment and I love every minute I get to spend with her.

I’ve decided to go on a detox of sorts. This is not only something I want to do to get healthier, but really, it’s a test of my own will power. You see, trying to go on a diet, or detox is nothing new for me. I’ve tried many times, but I’ve never managed to do it all the way. In cases concerning diets, starting is definitely not the hardest part, it’s keeping it going until the end. The only time I managed to lose a significant enough amount of weight that people noticed was in my sophomore year of high school. That summer, I was inside, avoiding the heat and flipping through channels while conveniently sprawled out on my parents’ bed. By chance, I started watching a little old movie you might remember, by the name of “Center Stage.” If we’re going to hold it up to a bar ( no pun intended!), it’s definitely no where near a masterpiece. But nevertheless, it dealt with subject matter that I loved: ballet. That was all it took to get me to motivate myself to lose some weight. I not only watched what I ate, I took ballet classes once a week and walked the rest of the week. I think I lost 10 lbs by the time summer was over. But it didn’t last.

I’m not big by any means, really. I’ve got my height against me, because I’m short. If I was a few inches taller, I could eat whatever I wanted and not care. But unfortunately that’s not the case. Overall, I’d say I would like to and need to lose 15 lbs. Maybe 20.

I found a book I had bought years ago at a discount store called “Detox: Revitalize, Rejuvenate, Revive” by Sara Rose. The inner sleeve reads ” Do you ever feel that you body is tired of the fast food, quick snacks, free-flowing alcohol, choking cigarette smoke and constant stress that seems to be such a part of modern life?”

Yes, Sara, I do.

“If so, you will find within this book a complete guide to detox: the ancient practice by which you can cleanse your body of the toxins that leave you lazy and lethargic.”

Sara goes on to point out that the signs of toxic overload include dry, blotchy, spotty skin (check!), headaches (check!), lack of energy (check!), bloating and constipation (check!) and many more. There’s even a questionairre.

Do you feel tired when you wake up in the morning, even though you’ve had enough sleep? Yes.

Do you suffer from skin rashes, spots around the mouth or eczema? Yes.

Do you live or work in a city? Yes. I love how this is an indication of toxic overload.

Do you have mood swings. Yes, but then again, who doesn’t?

Do you crave certain foods, such as candy or bread? Totally.

Anyway, you get the picture. I’m full of toxins. I’m on toxic overload. I’m infected.

So, I’m going to detox. Whether I will succeed remains to be seen. I hope I make it across the toxic bridge to come out on the other side feeling better, healthier and accomplished. Sara recommends that I not eat any products that contain wheat, cow’s milk, tea, coffee, chocolate or alcohol. Wait a minute, tea?! I love tea. My day does not start or end without a cup of tea. How can this be, Sara? Well, she goes on to say that I can have herbal and green tea. I guess I can make do. She also suggests to replace sugar with pure organic honey or maple syrup.

So what can I eat? Apple, artichoke, asparagus, broccoli, carrot, cranberry, fennel, garlic, ginger, lemon and yogurt are all considered detox superfoods. She recommends blue-green algae, coenzyme Q10, dandelion, kelp and milk thistle as detox supplements.

This morning, I woke up and drank a glass of hot water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in. This apparently helps flush out your liver. My breakfast consisted of maple pecan granola, with fat free vanilla yogurt and a sliced up saturn or “donut” peach and some grapes. It was delicious. I didn’t eat bread, or butter or honey, and although the yogurt is made from cow’s milk, it’s still a step in the right direction. I feel good.

Fruit Granola

2 – 3 tablespoons of Trader Joe’s Maple Pecan Granola

4 oz cup of Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt

1 Saturn peach, sliced

Handful of grapes