I apologize once again for missing my Weekend ED posts. This weekend was super busy.

But I’d like to dedicate this post to one of my best buddies, Mimi. It’s her 21st birthday today!! Pretty big deal considering you now have to bear the responsibility not to drink and drive!

Mimi and I had an early birthday celebration. The plan was for me to chauffeur her to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market, grab some random market produce and goods, and make an impromptu “picnic” out of it.

Alas, that was not to be, because we reached the market late and it was closing up by the time we hurdled through the traffic and found a place to park.
Who needs $7 per pint strawberries anyway? Not me. Well, maybe some other weekend after I get my paycheck.

At least we had the new market open at Santa Monica Place.
But we stopped by Mimi’s beloved yogurt place first. And I treated her to a big fat loaded froyo:
How pretty! I made sure she got sprinkles because what is a birthday without sugary multi-colored sprinkles?
The girl loves toppings more than the frozen yogurt itself. I’m the opposite, I hate crowding ice-cream or yogurt with toppings. I eat them for its creaminess, I don’t want any chunky crap in my creamy goodness. Unless it’s sweetened adzuki beans. Mmm…

Back to The Market.
The layout reminded me a lot of San Francisco’s Ferry Building Marketplace. Only it’s more like the jealous, puny little sibling of it. Or a wannabe copycat. What I mean to say is, it’s just not as great. After all, it’s just one corner of the three-storey shopping center as opposed to the entire building.

Not to say it isn’t cool. Any conglomerate of food stores is cool. I even think food courts are cool. This of course is an elevated version of that. You walk in, and you get greeted by Beachy Cream, the playboy bunny of ice-cream.
Click on the link and you’ll see why. I’ll never forget this place since my trip to Artisanal LA.

We stopped by L’Artisan du Chocolat and I demanded that Mimi get something for that evening’s dessert.
Obviously Mimi couldn’t say no. Unfortunately, she picked the most boring thing out of all:
Dark chocolate bark with peanuts. It’s safe to say when it comes to chocolate, Mimi and I have very different views. If chocolate was a form of politics, I would be the left-wing liberal and Mimi would be the right-wing conservative.

The lady in the store was kind enough to give us some samples of these lovely truffles:
It just melted into silk in my mouth.

So here’s Mimi’s second birthday present:
Dark chocolate and creme brulee macaron. I forgot to ask her if she liked it. Hey Mimi, if you’re reading this, care to share how you liked it, reporter form?

There were two stores I was most attracted to at The Market. One was the Norcino Salumeria:
It’s a cheese and salumi Italian delicatessen, apparently the first of its kind in Los Angeles. Check out the sexy fat-ass sausages!
And they even have a chef to carve out choice cheeses:
For my birthday, I’d like a carving plate of assorted cheeses, please.
The second favorite store was of course the bakery:
It’s called Rockenwagner, and I have no idea how to pronounce it. Those Germans. Always such tongue-twisters. By the way, the gnomes are damn scary. Why?!

Probably to scare away pretzel thieves. Because I sure was tempted to heft a bag of these adorable bites away:
How cute are they?! If you don’t agree with me, say “Ayeemideeoyte” three times fast. It’s German.

And to demonstrate their love for pretzels even more graphically, they decked a model out in a pretzel dress:
I don’t care for the dress, but I do covet those shoes.

Rockenwagner also has teeny sandwiches that stole my heart:
Never has a tuna sandwich looked that gorgeous.

For cookie lovers, you might also want to check out Aurelie Cookie Shop:
They call themselves the Cookie Guru, and profess that they make the ultimate chocolate chip cookie.
I love their motto: “A Balanced Diet is a Cookie in Each Hand.” Indeed, but a wonderful diet is a cookie jar in each hand with a pint of creamy raw milk tucked under each arm.

Dear Mimi: Happy birthday, my friend, and I hope you weren’t too sore that we missed the farmers market. Let me remind you, however, that invitation to my friendship is exclusive and you, my dear, are worthy of my grace, and more.

Question of the Day: Pretend it’s your birthday today. What would you do? What would you wish for? There is no charge for imagination!

Related posts:

1. My Deadly Sin
2. Thank you Sugar Daddy
3. Sweet Lessons from a Sticky Mess
4. This Is My Story
5. Single, Straight and Fed

Tagged as: chocolate, cookies, froyo, santa monica