No-No, Nobu!

We won't be eating at Nobu again.

On Mar 24, 2010, at 2:17 PM, ******* ******* wrote:

JUST SAY NO TO NOBU!!! (Sorry if you don't live in LA...I am sending this to everyone I know.)

Nobu, the food is great. BUT the service is horrible. I am dumbfounded how my best girlfriend's 16 year old son was treated while picking up a to-go order for us from Nobu Malibu. He had just gotten his drivers license and was so proud. Went down to Nobu to pick up TWO things for us to eat. The bill was $63.00. (Yes, the prices are outrageous but they are specialty items and you only live once.) He had 60 bucks of his own money in his pocket and was treating us to dinner that evening. So he was short a few dollars. They completely embarrassed him. He had to give one of the extremely over priced dishes back. He came home with the wind knocked out of his sails and said "I feel silly and I even forgot to tip them". That is what kind of a kid he is...felt bad that he didn't tip the extremely insensitive NOBU staff member.

Listen, everyone that goes to that restaurant is a local. We support local businesses. All the manager had to do was say drop the 3 dollars off tomorrow. Knowing my friend's son, he would have brought it back that night. I have been to that place a billion times. I have received complimentary desserts, a drink, special appetizer from the chef. PLEASE!!! They could have let him slide on the 3 bucks. I am on a mission to let everyone I know be aware of how he was treated. If you know me, this is not stopping at an email. Go to Zuma Sushi...nice people and great atmosphere! Thank goodness for freedom of speech.

This is not the first time the staff was rude. To me is one thing, to a nice kid that has more manners in his little finger than most adults have in their entire body, is ridiculous.

Melissa

Juggling Blueberries in the Kitchen

Life these days seems to just keep getting tougher and tougher - the economy is failing and jobs are scarce, people live in fear of losing their homes, our family court system is corrupted beyond repair, suicides and murders are on the rise, religion has become tainted and "uncool", and a myriad of other depressing realities. I used to watch the 6 o'clock news in the evenings with my family as a kid. Now, you can't let your kids ever watch the news because all they talk about is the latest child molestation case, murder, mass killing, etc. "Mommy, what's child molestation?" I can hear it now. Talk about inducing nightmares in innocent children!

In fact, I myself don't ever even watch the news. I don't pick up a newspaper ever, either - unless I am on a long plane flight and feel like doing the NYT crossword puzzle. But I won't read it. What's the point of reading depressing, nightmare-inducing stuff that makes me feel sad, upset, angry, outraged, or helpless? No, thanks. I get through life just fine and dandy without the daily dose of disaster fed to the public through the mass media. I can keep up with important goings-on in our country and the world through independent news sources that are not controlled by the powers-that-be.

These days, more and more, it's the simpler things in life that make me the happiest. I don't need material things to make me happy. I have everything I need. I have my children, my health, and my pets. I have my faith in God. I don't care about designer clothing, jewelry, fancy restaurants, galas, or rubbing elbows. No - for me, watching my organic vegetable garden sprout and grow, hiking in the mountains with my dogs, playing catch with my kids at the park, or just squatting down to watch a trail of ants carrying food into their anthill is what makes me the happiest. It's the simpler things now that give me the most joy. When you get to the point where juggling blueberries in the kitchen makes you feel completely content and serene - as though you have not a care in the world - you'll never want to go back to your former existence.

The Great Outdoors

I have just started taking a daily hike in the mountains around my home, and I must say I am already addicted. It is simply breathtaking beauty all around me as I hike, and it takes me back to my days as a young girl in Georgia. When I was young, I used to spend most of my time on my own at the little wooded lake across the street from my home. There, I would climb trees, catch minnows and crayfish in the stream, and explore all the wildlife and nature I could in the woods. I'd catch snakes, find alligator snapping turtles and study how patient they were

while holding their mouths open awaiting unsuspecting prey, come across ducks' nests full of eggs and quietly step around them, and sit up high in a tree to observe deer drinking from the lake. I would dig my own earthworms (I got quite adept at it!) to use as bait, and then take a simple string of fishing line with a little hook on the end, wrap it around the end of the longest stick I could find, and fish in the lake. I'd usually catch several brim that way. The bass were out farther than my little homemade fishing pole could reach, and I didn't have a long enough line to reach the bottom for the catfish. But I was very content with my brim. I'm quite certain that they weren't legally "keepers", but then again I had no fishing license and I was only nine or ten at the time so I didn't care. (Photos above: alligator snapping turtle, crayfish, and the lake I spent my childhood exploring)

Hiking is bringing back some of those childhood memories. There is no lake where I hike, no stream, no woods, and the mountain terrain is much different than the flatlands of southern Georgia. But the smell of wildflowers, the sound of songbirds in the trees, and the fresh, clean air in my lungs all take me back to a sweeter, less complicated time in my life. And as I hike along, I can't help but wonder at all that God has put here for us to enjoy. But we stay cooped up in our houses or go to the gym for fitness, forgetting just how amazing and wonderful it is to be out in nature. Well, I'm back. And I'm loving every second of it.

Spring

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time to clean out the sock drawers, throw out all the junk you don't really need, give away stuff you haven't used in at least a year to the needy, get back on (or start!) an exercise program, plant your Spring garden, and repair all those little things that have been needing repair around the house. Yes - it's Springtime.

Although Spring doesn't technically start until March 20th, it's close enough. I've already started cleaning out the kids' rooms. Mine is on the list, too. Isn't it amazing how much "stuff" we accumulate over time? Keep your eye on ebay over the next couple of weeks...