Sunday, October 9, 2011

Strolling in Suburbia

Pond at Calabasas
 Saturday, we saw a movie, strolled through a shopping mall; shopped in a chain bookstore, and ate lunch at a corporate restaurant.

Charcuterie platter at the Westside Tavern

Not very typical for us, but we enjoyed ourselves.


We enjoyed it so much, we did almost the same thing Sunday! This time we skipped the movie, and brought Jack along for the fun.
Curried chicken salad sandwich
Calabasas Commons is an over-the-top shopping development, a false-front concoction of faux Italianate belvederes and piazzas, boxwood-lined rosebeds, filled with totally predictable chain stores stuffed with expensive clothes, and chain restaurants serving expensive food.

It's a great place to people-watch, as the clientele includes affluent over-dressed power-wives, rich teenagers in hot cars, arrogant "industry" executives taking their weekend leisure with their badly spoiled kids, and the occasional B-list celebrity. 

And their dogs.....it's very dog-friendly. All the restaurants have outdoor dining areas where well-behaved dogs are welcome. Jack received many compliments, and was given a little paper dish of water when we sat down for lunch.


There's also a rambling stream with statues, arched bridges and fountains, stocked predictably with  koi and also, totally unpredictably, with turtles. Dozens and dozens of turtles.  Pretty cool!

6 comments:

Max Sartin said...

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich - sounds good! I love a good curry. And the turtles are cute too!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I like turtles!
~

Anonymous said...

I'm afraid the badly spoiled kids would spoil my day. I do not suffer fools gladly.

Gilly said...

How lovely to find a dog-friendly place! And those sandwiches look gorgeous!

Sounds a wonderful place!

suesueb said...

Looks like a beautiful day and how lovely that you could bring your dog along! Enjoyed reading your posts, the vinegar is especially interesting. Hope you have a wonderful pink week!!

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

Turtles all the way down!

Sounds like a nice, albeit boring, part of the world.