Make your own burger

A few weeks ago I came upon a guy who tried to eat a 5 lb burger in less than 30 minutes (TIM ATTEMPTS 5 LB BURGER WITH 54 TOPPINGS……IN UNDER 30 MINUTES via Bacon and Eh’s).
The burger joint looked delicious and, coincidentally, I was about to make a trip to California. The Counter Burger has a location in Los Angeles (Santa Monica).
We talked to an old friend, Layla, she lives in LA and was happy to hear from us, she agreed to meet us at the restaurant. The street address is 2901 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
There is another street called Ocean in Santa Monica. Well, my dear readers, where do you think we went? Exactly, we went to Ocean Blvd, the street that actually goes BY THE OCEAN!
Here I am, in Santa Monica when we realized that we were totally and absolutely lost after a 1 hr drive from Suss Design (more to come in a following post, we loved the store).
We were 45 minutes late, but we finally made it. Here’s a picture of Layla, my sister and I. Check out how my sister is wearing the cashmere cloche that I had just finished knitting. It was supposed to be for me but she liked it so much that she kept it. Isn’t it cute?

Layla had been waiting for so long that she had already decided what she was going to have on her burger. It took us a little bit more to decide. They give you a menu and you choose your meat, cheese, toppings, sauce and type of bread by checking the boxes. There are so many choices:

I had a 2/3 lb beef burger on hamburger bun with gruyere cheese, grilled onions, black olives, grilled pineapple, spicy peperoncinis and sauteed mushrooms. I had peppercorn steak sauce with it.
My sister and my brother-in-law each had a 1 lb burger.
Layla had a 2/3 lb chicken burger.
It’s not easy to eat such a big burger, but we managed. I ate absolutely everything on the plate. I left nothing. The others left bits and pieces, especially my brother in law, who left almost the whole hamburger bun.
Here’s a picture of us outside The Counter Burger. It’s amazing that they didn’t have to roll us out of the restaurant.
The Counter Burger is a delicious and fun place to go. I highly recommend it.

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Hat twins

Hat twins
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

So finally I finished the second Zara hat and brought both of them with me on my trip to California. I left one for my sister there and I’ll have the other one. From now on we’re gonna be Hat Twins, yaaay!

Tim from Front Desk calling

I haven’t had time to upload the pictures that I took of my trip, and of the projects I managed to finish while on the airplane. But I have an anecdote to tell all my readers, so that everyone is cautious about what is happening.

I spent Sunday night at the Holiday Inn Los Angeles International Airport. I wanted to be close to the airport in a hotel with free shuttle so that I could catch my plane on Monday. I got a great rate for that hotel.

At around 9:20 am the phone rang. It was “Tim from the front desk” saying that there had been a problem with my credit card and they hadn’t been able to authorize it for the previous night. I said it was OK, that I had another credit card and I would go downstairs to take care of it. He insisted that he had to do it “before 11” so why didn’t I just give him my credit card number on the phone. Now THAT was suspicious. You shouldn’t be giving your credit card number to people who call you on the phone. I said I would call them back. I called front desk and, of course, there hadn’t been any problem with my credit card, my room had been pre-paid at booking time.

Now this is a new form of scam, you need a credit card to stay in a hotel, and you expect any callers to talk to reception before being put through to you. Well, remember my dear readers to never ever give your credit card number to someone who calls you on the phone, no matter how much they insist or how legitimate they sound. Always call back or go personally to take care of any problem that there may be. Be aware, be very aware.

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Long weekend

I am in San Diego visiting my sister for the weekend. The weather is great.
I went to Knitting in La Jolla yesterday and had a great experience. I ended up buying the “Easy Gorgeous Shawl” kit. I met the owner, Suzanne, and another girl whose name I didn’t catch. I will be taking pictures of the kit that I bought as soon as I get home. I can’t upload them from here.
I have a couple of other finished objects (hats), and I’ll be posting pictures soon.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Eats lots of turkey, mmmh!

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Chicken wings in California?

Last week I went to the Gordon Biersch Brewery in San Diego with my cousin and her husband.

There were chicken wings featured in the menu and I could not hold myself from ordering them (this is what an addiction is all about after all).
They’re not buffalo style chicken wings. They called them “glazed chicken wings”, and they’re advertised as an appetizer.

It’s $8.50 USD for an order of 14 wings. They are quite good in size and the sauce takes like Asian-sweet. It’s really good, even if it’s not spicy at all. The wings were not dry, they were quite saucy and delicious. They are served over a bed of shredded cabbage that tastes quite good with the sweet sauce. No other side is included.
After the wings, they brought a wet and warm serviette and a wedge of lemon. Really nice touch.
I also had a small Cobb Salad. It was good but I didn’t like the dressing that much. I ordered blue cheese dressing but it was a bit bitter.

And of course I had a pint of their micro-brewed beer.
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