My copy of Katie Hubbard’s vegan zine Don’t Eat Off the Sidewalk arrived yesterday. I’m really excited to start making some of the recipes, and I think I’d like to start with the biscuits. As of two days ago, Katie still had 40 copies left of issue #1. I would strongly recommend spending your $2.50 (including shipping) on a copy. Issue #2 will be out soon.

• The legacy of Hollywood’s favorite sci-fi writer — Philip K. Dick’s kids have their own production company nowadays to handle movie versions of their dad’s writing.

• Cookie nirvana — These vegan cookies apparently taste just like Samoas. I’m all about it.

• The three year itch — “While divorce rates here [here = UK] are the lowest they have been since 1984, figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the crunch time for both married and cohabiting couples going their separate ways is now most likely to be after three or four years.” I love a study.

• My so-called gossipy life — The privileged children of New York discuss Gossip Girl.

• The ultimate guide to locally made LA chocolate — My friend Cybele wrote this guide for Gridskipper.

On Friday night, I met up with friends at The 3rd Stop after work. They had a large selection of beers on tap, but I dig my local brews, so I stuck with a Craftsman. I had the Biere de Blanco this time. The food options were not Bronwen-friendly, but more on that later. The people I was with enjoyed their meals, which were pretty standard pub fare options.

Saturday morning, I was moving pretty early. We headed out to Flore Vegan in Silverlake for breakfast. I had blueberry pancakes with tempeh bacon. Lemonade was not available at 10am, because the restaurant had run out of lemons. (Okay? Maybe take lemonade off the blackboard then?) The pancakes were fine, but the tempeh bacon was actually quite awful. It was cold and just plain didn’t hold together. I’m really not a fan of breakfast food, but my boyfriend is, so I wanted to give Flore a shot. Lunch was being served simultaneously, and some of the wraps and sandwiches coming out of the kitchen looked fantastic. Next time, I’ll lunch while he breaks.

I recently started eating exclusively vegan foods. I am increasingly intolerant of lactose in my old age. I have traditionally enjoyed a cast-iron stomach; it used to take a hell of a lot to upset my digestion, but this is simply no longer the case. Additionally, I hate eggs, and I don’t like most forms of meat. I find fish, seafood, and cow (at times) tasty, but that’s about it. More recently, meat started giving me similar problems to the dairy. Meat doesn’t really make me feel that much better than dairy does lately. I did a tiny little experiment of cutting out dairy during a 5-day work week, and, dude, it felt fantastic. So, I went more whole hog, very suddenly. It’s really not difficult. I’m cooking, and it turns out I’m pretty good at it. I feel so much better throughout my day, and the health effects that I was hoping to see have already started rather dramatically.

Anyway. I watched some men’s semifinal action. Went to see 3:10 to Yuma. I enjoyed it. The ending was a little sweet, but hey. I tend to forget Russell Crowe exists, but he’s crazy good, right? Despite his talent, Ben Foster nearly stole the movie as far as I was concerned.

We met up with my friend for dinner at Pure Luck after the movie. Pure Luck exists in this very interesting block of Heliotrope where the hardcore cyclists of Los Angeles congregate. Pure Luck serves vegan food & local beer on tap. It may be my favorite restaurant of all time. I split the spring rolls and then had an avocado tostada, washed down with a Craftsman Heavenly Hefe. So good. Afterwards, we walked right across Heliotrope to Scoops, where I had a dish of black sesame & ginger. Scoops serves multiple vegan flavors every day alongside the crazy inventive dairy flavors.

Sunday, I slept! I watched the women’s final, followed by the men’s final. I caught up on comic books. I was treated to dinner at Real Food Daily, which was a very nice treat indeed. We split a hummus plate for an appetizer, and then I ate a good 3/4ths of the supreme burrito. I had some organic pilsner to drink, and I totally forget what it was, but it was tasty enough. I’d try something harder next time. We split a piece of peach/apple pie for dessert. holler.

After dinner, we headed out to the Hollywood Bowl to see Underworld. I was vaguely familiar with Underworld, but I’d never gone out of my way to listen to them. Me and dance music aren’t exactly tight. But they gave a nice performance, and I had a swanky nice seat that I did not pay for, so all was well. I was out past bedtime on a school night though, so I’m a little sleepyheaded today.

• Northern Overexposure — Tim Hortons is making inroads stateside. I really enjoyed their doughnuts during my trips to Canada.

• Still Married, With Children — I love format sales. I have 5 episodes of Poland’s version of The Odd Couple sitting on my desk.

• Hillary’s Prayer: Hillary Clinton’s Religion and Politics — I’m officially skeeved over here.

• Slap Bet Commissioner — awesome How I Met Your Mother shirt at Glarkware.

• Be Yourselves, Girls, Order the Rib-Eye — “Red meat sent a message that she was ‘unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic,’ she said, ‘that I’m not obsessed with my weight even though I’m thin, and I don’t have any food issues.’ She added, ‘In terms of the burgers, it said I’m a cheap date, low maintenance.’” Whereas I see the message she was sending as “I am hungry. Ooh, steak would be yummy.”

• Would You Wear a Shirt Dress? — No.

• What to Do When Your Husband Cheats on You with a Younger, Hotter…Cartoon — yikes. I question lots of things about this couple’s relationship, but yikes.

• Product Packages Now Shout to Get Your Attention — My dream job has always been to design the shapes of shampoo and perfume bottles. Shame about my complete lack of art skills.

A whole mess from Gridskipper:

• LA Hamburger Stands — I am a big fan of the avocado burger from Astro.

• LA Farmers’ Markets

• 8 Great LA Restaurant Patios — The patio behind Cliff’s Edge is so lovely that I’m even willing to eat brunch there.

• Local’s Guide to Hollywood Bars

Vacation, All I Never Wanted — This article is crap. Yes, certainly, wealthy urban- and suburbanites can avail themselves of any number of strip mall spa amenities to feel some tension being lifted, but it’s not the same as actually unplugging and stopping work. I would really love to be able to feel like non-essential personnel and actually get away for more than five days at a time. I, at least, get ten vacation days a year, not that I can really take them in a satisfying lump sum manner given my family lives thousands of miles away.

As a health drink, bottled water is all wet; the triumph of marketing finally gets the scrutiny it deserves — holler. I drink tap water at home. I put it in a pitcher in the fridge because I like my water extremely cold, and I’m too clumsy to use ice. I do not drink the tap water at work, mind you; something’s up with the studio’s pipes or something, because the water tastes unpleasant.

What are downtown’s oddest building amenities? — My building has comparatively normal ones, though we do have one of the mentioned screening rooms. I’ve never used it.

Google Maps redraw the realm of privacy — As of yesterday, Los Angeles became one of the cities with street level photos. Sure enough, my apartment building showed up larger than life. Life on the grid is thrilling.

LA dimsum delights — I drive past Ocean Seafood all the time. I really ought to check it out.

btw, Jay McCarroll is not homeless — thanks for clearing that up.