A Quick Los Angeles Lovefest Break-Away

I just learned that I’m married to an angel. I knew that Stu was special and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, but each day I learn new things about him and now I know he’s also an angel. Let me explain.
My oldest daughter Elizabeth is having her first baby in Los Angeles in March and I wanted to be with her as she prepared the nursery and organized her life to await the joyous occasion. Although we had a baby shower in New York, her LA friends and mother in law, who lives in Las Vegas, were organizing one there.
Being so far away from her has always been hard for me. I wanted to touch her belly, experience with her the growth of her baby, already named Jonah, and share in the extraordinary experience of the baby’s development. She so badly wanted a child, and now after almost four years of marriage her dream is about to come true. I wanted to share that dream with her. So off to LA we went for an opportunity to be together in a way that can never be the same again. Life changes when you have a child and this was a unique time.
Stu came with me, even though he would have to spend a lot of time alone. He “got it” that I wanted him to be near me as we crossed the country to reach Elizabeth in California. Then, of course, there was the all-girl shower. Definitely out of bounds for Stu. Fortunately for me he likes to read and spend time with Sam, Elizabeth’s husband.
Although Elizabeth has only lived in Los Angeles for a few years, she’s made some loving, caring, nurturing friends. At the baby shower, held at her friend Jen’s home, 15 women gathered to pay tribute to the arrival of Jonah.
I haven’t been to many showers and I was so impressed at the thought and planning that went into Elizabeth’s. As soon as we arrived, Stephanie, one of the hostesses of the “event,” handed out black rubber bracelets with little pacifiers attached. The goal was to accumulate as many as possible. You did this by taking away the bracelet from anyone who said the word “baby.” Of course, I lost mine within a few minutes. You had to listen and grab — one woman gathered five in just an hour!
Then to get everyone involved in a trivia contest, there was a foam board with 20 pictures of celebrities’ children. You had to identify the child and the parent. The only one I knew was Sasha, one of the “first daughters” of Michelle and Barack Obama. I guess I need to read the celebrity magazines. There’s a real void in my life!
With a home-cooked meal of rich, perfectly-seasoned tomato and basil soup (I must get the recipe), a salad chuck full of greens, pignoli nuts, guacamole, tomatoes and mozzarella balls, and delicious overflowing sandwiches on thickly-cut whole wheat grain nut bread, I was in awe. So much planning, so much work, and all for my daughter. It made me cry to know that she had these wonderful women to protect and nurture her. It’s like a security blanket that I can’t physically provide so far away. With many hugs and thanks the afternoon ran away with itself. Each guest left with a music CD with Jonah’s name on it.
A bonus for me was that my cousins Edie and Richard Kornberg drove up from La Jolla to be at the shower. Since the men weren’t going to the shower, we had breakfast together at a New York favorite, Barney Greengrass, one of the most appetizing restaurants in Manhattan that opened an outlet in Barney’s, the renowned clothier, on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The rooftop restaurant allowed me to eat and grab the glowing warm sun at the same time. Since this was not a “sunning vacation,” any opportunity to catch those deliciously bright rays was truly a bonus! The food didn’t disappoint — the lox, sable and white fish lived up to the restaurant’s reputation.
We did walk up and down Rodeo Drive and found every store on the famous strip had sales going on, but I noticed there was a void of shoppers on the street. It seems everyone is being economically challenged!
Los Angeles is a city of many contrasting restaurants, just like New York. Since this was our chance to spoil Elizabeth before the baby arrived, I asked her what her favorite restaurant is, and she, without a moment’s hesitation, said The Little Door.
The restaurant has no name on the wooden door that opens into what they describe as a “romantic-hype alternative to the Hollywood scene.” Here was a restaurant, on 3rd street in LA (www.thelittledoor.com), that lives up to its hype of a romantic Mediterranean decor with food as exceptional as the setting.
My angelic husband was so good that he gave me a guilt-free weekend with Elizabeth, a gift I will cherish forever!