Tue, Sept 30 - Trupti came to town!

8.14am - Ezekiel cereal w/ coconut rice milk and fresh raspberries, at home10.09am - strawberry sheep milk yogurt w/ a bunch of seeds, before the PTV meeting, at work

1.25pm - Ritesh's cousin Trupti from Toronto had a layover in LA on her way back from Australia, so we had a chance to have lunch together. I was late because of the PTV meeting, but Ritesh left me some of his oyster and fennel salad, at the Napa Valley Grille.

1.30pm - I nibbled away at some of Trupti's sweet potato ravioli w/ duck...

1.30pm - and at some of Ritesh's steak...

1.52pm - until I got my own dish: a lovely honeydew melon and blue crab salad w/ watercress. Nice and light and refreshing on one of the hottest days of the year. Not sure what's going on with the weather, but it's insanely hot, like midsummer all over again. The locals are mumbling that it's earthquake weather, but so far it seems that's urban lore...

2.26pm - a Matcha green tea iced blended drink w/ soy milk from Peet's Coffee & Tea, with Ritesh, after putting Trupti in a cab back to the airport

6.43pm - but lo and behold, Trupti missed her flight and was back before we knew it: a caipirinha at Ummba Brazilian Churrascaria, with Trupti and Ritesh.

6.50pm - Ummba's delicious sweet potato fries, with a blue cheese ranch dressing and lots of sea salt - Ritesh and Trupti had already shared one before I got out of work, so this one was pretty much mine alone...

6.54pm - got a whole pitcher of margarita!

8.18pm - and then ended up at RockSugar for dessert.

8.19pm - more appetizers first - the tomato chutney w/ black sesame rice crackers. This is seriously good stuff, even Ritesh was impressed.

8.33pm - ahi tuna roll w/two excellent dipping sauces

8.37pm - the fabulous Japanese eggplant

8.48pm - the banana dessert w/ creme anglaise and malted milk ice cream

8.49pm - and everyone's favorite, the trio of cremes brulees (mango, sweet corn, and spicy chocolate), before rushing off to take Trupti back to the airport... this time she made it!