It’s time to renew Caroline’s German passport and the only place to do that nearby is over in Los Angeles at the German Consulate. With an appointment for early Monday morning and not a lot found to entertain us this weekend we were in no rush to make the drive to California. So on Saturday morning we woke without the assistance of the alarm, straightened up our place so we’d return to a relatively clean apartment, and headed out for breakfast and the nearly six-hour drive west.

Upon arrival in Los Angeles, trying to deal with the aggressive driving, we were hungry and in need of a break. We knew well beforehand that we’d be stopping in at Cafe Gunul 2 for some army stew. After our visit here almost exactly a year ago when we first indulged on this Korean fusion comfort food we said we’d return for the stew that takes upwards of 30 minutes to prepare. Turns out that at 2:00 in the afternoon it only takes minutes for your gallon pot of tofu, sausage, spam, pork belly, ramen noodles, squash, mushrooms, kimchi, and cheese to be brought to your table while it is still nearly boiling. It was well worth the visit and agree that we wouldn’t mind sharing it again.

This being summer finding a hotel at the last minute last week wasn’t easy plus I wanted us to be near the Consulate so we’d not have to deal with trying to cross even a small corner of this city on a Monday morning. Our couple of nights would be taken near the corners of Western and Wilshire Boulevards which was only about 3.5 miles east of Monday’s appointment. With our inertia having come to a complete stop following our trough of army stew, the last thing we wanted to do was venture out, but it was still so early in the afternoon it was silly to consider collapsing and so off to coffee we went. The photo is a screenshot of some synth related stuff that has to do with “Grainz” that I received while hanging out at Starbucks.

For years we’ve been using smartphones but still, I’m enchanted by talking to my phone asking it for the nearest something or other, and its ability to zero in on making suggestions that are close to my current location. Today I was inquiring about a theater and a small place only five minutes away was at the top of the list. Turns out that it was a Korean theater showing The Lion King, not exactly what I had in mind. The film we ended up watching wasn’t something I had in mind either but the total lack of awareness about it was intriguing. The movie was called, “The King’s Letters” and though it was in Korean it was subtitled, sort of. I say that because the translation was sketchy at points. The story followed a thread of how the written Korean language might have been created.

Army stew, coffee, a film we’d never be able to watch in Phoenix, and then some shopping and snacking (pictured: egg, shrimp, and cheese on toast) in an Asian-centric outdoor mall made for a perfect Saturday in Los Angeles. Then there was also that dessert of cream puffs at Beard Papa’s. I have to admit that we were uncertain about leaving Arizona as in the days before our departure we couldn’t find anything to do over in Southern California but spontaneity and our interest in most all things (not including professional sports) let us be fully entertained with our choices.

Come Sunday we needed to wake early as the decision to avoid L.A. traffic had been made so we’d keep our car in the garage and walk where we wanted to go. Before leaving Phoenix the one thing that had been fixed on was meeting the Bravermans for breakfast. They suggested a place called Republique on La Brea which worked out fine for us as it was only 2.5 miles from our hotel. Liam, their 4-month old new baby boy was the toast of breakfast. While we talked about the general tensions of living in Los Angeles we mostly focused on Itay and Rotem’s new roles as parents and how many people have offered bad or unwanted advice on how to be a parent.

To the consternation of the bussers in uber-trendy hipster Republique, who by 10:00 had a line of probably 50 people down the sidewalk, we were there to camp out and catch up with our friends. After nearly 3 hours at our table, we couldn’t take the subtle harassment anymore and finally relinquished our grip and left.

That was supposed to be it for visiting these friends who became a family in the intervening months since we last met, but after Caroline and I continued our walk north up La Brea stopping for coffee on the corner with Santa Monica Blvd., Itay reached out inviting us over should we be in the area this afternoon. Well, we were just a mile around the corner at this point. By 2:00 p.m. we were once again meeting with the Braverman family.

Mother’s milk, computers, mixed drinks, strong coffee, social issues surrounding politics, and family dynamics took us in conversation up to the early evening when hunger got us moving towards the exit. Not having eaten since breakfast I took Itay up on his offer to give us a ride back towards our hotel where a host of Korean BBQs with all-you-can-eat menus were found all over our neighborhood. Stuffed we waddled back to our hotel with hopes of getting to sleep early for our 8:00 a.m. appointment down the street.

Believe it or not, on Monday morning we had breakfast at McDonald’s and then in the blink of an eye, we were in and out of the consulate and just as quickly on our way back to Arizona.