Partying like it's 1999

So it's been pointed out that I'm a little too old for this but who cares I had fun. Our weekend started on Thursday night. It was a friend's birthday so we headed out to Lucky Baldwin's Pub in Pasadena. They were hosting a Chimay event and since my friend is a connoisseur of beer it was perfect. Chimay, if you're wondering is brewed by monks in Belgium and tastes exquisite. Evidently production and distribution is limited which makes it something to savor - and save for! It was a gorgeous warm fall evening and we had Baldwin's luck with us as we scored a patio table. BTW, the curry is amazing - "England's new national dish", you know. Props to Nick for organizing a really fun night out on a school night.

After dragging through Friday, I had that yummy beer on my mind. Score! and I wanted to share this discovery with someone who appreciates fine art.The stuff is $6 for a 12 oz bottle and worth every swirl on your tongue. Just as I was pulling in our driveway, so was our next door neighbor. So I invited him over for a tasting. That lead to cocktails and a spontaneous decision to continue the party in Hollywood. His friend who owns the Green Door on Ivar had us on the "list" and comped our entrance cover. Nice, but jumping the line where the whole of Asia was waiting to don the doors of this uber-Hollywood lounge was boss. Frank Stallone's band cranked out some bluesy covers for a while - yawn - but luckily we had a hook up at the bar. Dancing and frolicking followed by a late night nosh at Canter's famous deli (potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce, oh yeah!) rang in a new morn. Or afternoon as the case may be.

Our dear friend is a HUGE 007 fan and he arranged for a dozen of us to go see the opening of Quantum of Solace. That's not the genre of movie I gravitate to but I'm always up for a party. And I was pleasantly satisfied with the film. Love the new Bond. Afterward we all made food at his place and played games into the wee hours. What a hoot, laughing so hard my abdominals hurt. The most hilarious part of the night though was Jerry's hair-brained idea to conduct an experiment. He said he'd seen it on youtube and wanted to test it. You put four cell phones together with a kernel of popcorn in the middle. Call the phones at the same time using four other phones. The theory is that there is so much radio activity that the kernel will pop like popcorn. Of course it didn't work but the antics that ensued were priceless, including a big drunken discussion about what makes the kernels pop in a microwave bag. Suffice it to say it went down hill from there. We had a big slumber party and woke up to more fun. The host made brunch and mimosas and we sat around solving the world's problems while wildfires tore through the Southland. When we emerged it was snowing ash and smelled like a gigantic camp fire. Such a fun weekend was dampened by the sadness of people's lives going up in smoke. Too bad we didn't have a little booze to dampen the fires.