.vaille que vaille. : Mike's (Belated) Birthday Post

I feel like a lazy blogger today. I guess that makes me pretty useless, but I'm falling behind on my postings. . . seeing as how the photos from this post are from, oh, a month ago. What can I say? I got caught up in a lot of things. . .finals (har, well, barely), graduations, graduation parties, graduation scrapbooking, graduation baking, graduation cooking, graduation attending, dress-making, French Laundry, wine-tasting, shopping, laundering, reading, cleaning, moving, crying, going to the beach, eating, oh. . . did I mention French Laundry?

Yeah. I did.

More on that later. Hopefully.
At the pace that I'm going, it might be years before you see photos from that.
Just kidding. I will try my absolute hardest to be efficient. As soon as I finish this post, post another post, clean my room, post some RE-fashioner items, handle preparations for my Paris trip in 2 weeks, drop off my dry-cleaning, go to the gym, drink some water, pay my rent, handle a potential subletter, water my plants, and catch up with my mother.

Anyway, so Mike's 21st was a month ago. Actually, a month ago to the day. May 24. Did everyone get that? Michael Long was born May 24, 1989. He does indeed have a birthday. Now that we've all agreed on that point, let's move on to the celebrations. I decided a few months ago that Michael would enjoy a cooking class, seeing as he's one zucchini/carrot/soysauce pasta platter away from chef stardom (ha). I found a charming little company called EATZ online and decided to test it out with Anna & Christine. We took a Moulin Rouge cooking class. It was honestly the most fun I'd ever have cooking with a roomful of people -- which can get hectic and tiresome real fast. Nikki, the head chef, and her assistant (who I shamefully forget the name of) are lovely. Nikki's a great instructor and most of all -- she's fun and laid back. The classes run a bit steep on a college budget, but I promise you the experience is amazing and the amount of food you get to cook & take home is more than enough. Plus, the location is adorable. The classes are held in her West Hollywood home, just off of Santa Monica and tucked away in a residential street. At our Moulin Rouge class we made raspberry creme brûlée, filet mignon, and croque monsieurs with kir royale, and other marvelously French things. Unsurprisingly, I decided to go back.

The night's theme was Persian. Which was perfect, because Nikki's Persian. So we were getting authenticity! Though I wouldn't have known if it wasn't, I've never tried Persian food before...