Well, the party was a lot of fun, and although the freeways were empty, Kevin wanted to take La Brea, which was also almost empty. We only had traffic near Hollywood & Highland. Kevin got confused on Cahuenga because he didn't realize that we were supposed to be on E. Cahuenga, but I finally convinced him. He's only been to the John Anson Ford Theater once (I've been quite a few times), and he's never been to the Hollywood Bowl OR Universal, and so he's not as familiar with the streets and neighborhood as I am. It took us 20 minutes on city streets, and so that wasn't bad. Paul is kind of between gigs right now, but he was able to buy his condo last year. His last job was video editing for a new reality dating show, which will premier on Bravo the first week of December. Here's his imdb profile, which oddly does not mention that he did the video editing for Blind Date, even though I have seen his name on the credits at the end of some of the early episodes. That's where he met my friend Secha and subsequently how I met him. Also in attendance, doing most of the cooking, was a friend of his named Sean, who books talent for several talk show - I don't remember which ones, but he was interesting to talk with. There was also a friend of Paul's from Boston and his wife (from Seattle), who were pleasant but live in Orange County and were a bit dull. They thought Venice was full of crazy people and didn't like. Also, Vince Ly was there, whom I met when we were making Attention Span, As for the food - Paul admits to not knowing how to cook anything (He has a copy of the book How To Boil Water, but he was in charge of starting the turkey before everyone else arrived. For some reason, the turkey was cooked with a rum glaze that contained nutmeg, and I found the nutmeg to give the turkey a very off flavor, and so I only ate a small portion of the thigh, which, however, was very moist. The breast was dry. Paul loved the mushroom gravy that I made, and the entire quart that I took got consumed, even though there was also some plain gravy that someone else made. Vincent brought a ham and a cake, and Paul gave me some of the ham to take home and Kevin took some of the turkey, which I was not interested in eating. Most of my stuffing was left over because there was another stuffing that was on the table (Mine was left on the pass-through and therefore not easily accessible) made using a boxed stuffing mix. I didn't eat any of that, but I did have mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Paul made the mistake of buying Ralphs' brand instead of Ocean Spray, and the other Paul was not letting him live that down, telling him that Cape Cod economy depended on everyone buying O.S.! My friend Paul lived in Boston before moving to L.A., although he lived in Poland until he was ten (speaking only Polish and German) and then in Austria with his grandmother for two years after that. Paul was cracking jokes constantly during the party, and he has a very dry, quick wit. His accent is more like The Bronx than Boston, and so he comes off like a NY personality. At one point he found an abandoned half consumed bottle of beer and demanded to know whose it was. Then he exclaimed, "This is alcohol abuse! Don't you know that there are sober children in India?" Toward the end of the party we started talking about the next party, and I told Paul that I would like to host it, since we live about half way between the two Pauls. Paul's birthday is exactly one week before mine, and so we decided to have a joint birthday party - or two parties one week apart. There's no telling what his schedule will be like by then, however, since his work is very sporadic. I hope it will work out because he's great at parties! BTW, I didn't make the ice cream because I forgot that the recipe calls for milk, which is something I never have on hand (except after guest leave and leave it in my fridge), and so I just took some strawberry ice cream that I had made a month or so ago. It was still good, but no one at the party was interested in ice cream, since we had cake and pecan pie. If it has been chocolate ice cream, however, it would have been good on the cake (which was chocolate), but then I guess strawberry would have been good on the cake as well, although I didn't think of it at the time. Oh, I had the idea of making Caesar Salad, but I had forgotten to ask Kevin to buy the lettuce. I should have made the salad dressing and croûtons anyway because Paul had bought the Romaine lettuce and forgot to get the dressing. I wish he had told me because there was not a single green vegetable at the meal! In fact, it was rather sparse, but still enough food and lots left over. Kevin and I were very happy that we didn't have to go to a restaurant, and I was especially happy to renew contact with Paul and hope we will see more of each other in the near future. Lars

Poohpup - another great idea - you are always thinking of great ideas - of course I would have to close the pantry door - one problem is the pantry tends to be a bit warm due to hot water pipes up one wall, so I do tend to keep the door cracked open so the onions and potatoes don't sprout too soon. Green design - you are probably right - maybe a better word is a "filler" - it would hold small items and some oil and vinegars because the pantry is too warm. I will probably nuke the idea but will go to the KD and take a look at it. Here is the website for what I was visualizing (keep trying to maximize space!!!) I would split it into 2 as the large one piece looks unwieldy! Desertsteph - another good idea for the light bulb. Sounds like you have a similar item in your kitchen. I think I have another spot to charge "toys" in the sun room caves I will let you know my decisions - thanks as always - and the KD didn't even ask for my first born!! Take care - morning comes quickly and I keep staying up too late as I am addicted to the GW!

Whether it is granite or quartzite is not really the issue. Some granites do stain. So do some quartzites. Some of each kind of stone do not. The real issue is your sample stains and scratches. I would get on the horn with the stone yard ASAP and tell them the product is not performing the way they promised.

My husband wont panel the sub zero. I already tried that. He loves the look of the stainless and I dont mind it too much. I am just really confused on the sink and faucets and the ORB. Its such a confusing decision. One minute I want stainless sinks with ORB faucet,,then I want brushed nickle faucets. Then I think I should get Cafe Brown silgranite with ORB faucets. I am really getting annoyed with myself. hehhee Right now, I am thinking SS sinks with Brushed nickel faucet and ORB for my pot filler since the backsplash will have bronze accentss.... I DUNNO ANYMORE> hehehhe This is hard work. Keep opinions coming...cuz in an hour I will want Silgranite sinks : > )