Pink Saturday - Shopping for pink

Daiso Japan is a Japanese discount store on the ground floor of the MaDang Plaza mini-mall on Western just north of Wilshire in Koreatown, and it's as pretty and as pink as you could wish. Just in time for Beverly's Pink Saturday!

Everything inside costs $1.50 unless otherwise marked, proclaim signs in Korean, English and Spanish, giving the nod to the unique multiculture of Los Angeles. You can get warm fuzzy terrycloth socks, colored crystal bead room deodorizers, laundry baskets, bound blank-book diaries, paper lanterns, hair clips, wrapping paper, and crazy Japanese candy.

And almost everything is PINK!! The place is a schoolgirl's heaven!

You can also get fabulous brightly colored silicon kitchenware, and I couldn't resist a buying shocking pink wire whisk, a chartreuse vegetable peeler, some cute cat-patterned rice bowls, and a pink mandoline slicer - who knows how long it will last in use? But isn't it fun? And it only cost $11 for all of it!

The rest of the stores in Madang Plaza are just as attractive to young people - and I mean very young. When I was there, a double line of six year olds were being led in formation by a teacher on an outing to see the Lego Movie at the third floor cinema. There's one restaurant that operates on the gimmick of serving the favorite lunchbox snacks of Korean kids - targeting young adults who are nostalgic for grade school. Downstairs boba shops and a Beard Papa creme puff shop were both filled with back-pack toting high schoolers.

I felt a little old among all this youth, but, hey - now I have a shocking pink whisk to cook with!

Pink Saturday - Paris pinks

Summer in Paris - time for the promotional sales of rose wine at the Nicolas wine stores!

A painted scene on a security shutter at a stall in the Marche des Puces, the Flea Market at Porte de Clignancourt.

Flowers at a nursery on the Ile de la Cite.

A pink bike, on a street on the Ile de Saint Louis. I like the grafitti on the sign, too!

Paris Pinks!

Pink Saturday - Kerala pink

"I adore that pink! It's the navy blue of India," goes a quote attributed to style icon Diana Vreeland.

The little restaurant on Stoke Newington Church Street is the flagship restaurant of the Rasa restaurant chain, and its facade is painted the bright pink that Vreeland admired - in America we'd call it Barbie Pink.

Pink Saturday - pink pig!

It's Pink Saturday -  Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

Take a flying leap into the New Year! It's the fabulous pink pig of Topanga, festooned for the holidays!

Pink Saturday - pink my ride

It's Pink Saturday -  Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

It was a typical Saturday afternoon in Hollywood. We'd hopped on the northbound Hollywood Freeway at the Sunset Boulevard on-ramp, and were threading our way through the Caheunga Pass. Past the stacks of the Capitol Records Building, past the Hollywood Bowl, past Universal City, where a sparkling white stretch Hummer limousine glided down the ramp. These things are pretty common in Los Angeles, but moments later, we were startled by a car we saw ahead in traffic.

A Barbie pink Bentley.

Oh, sure, there are lots of Bentleys in Los Angeles, but few as conspicuous as this. Who could it be? Curious, we stayed in our lane and hoped the flow of traffic would bring us alongside.

Click photos to "embiggen"

Pretty soon, we were just alongside the car, and from the passenger seat, I got a quick photo of the driver. A stylish dark-haired young woman.

As we passed and the pink Bentley receded behind us, [The Man I love] looked in the rear view mirror.

"There's another one."  The Bentley was behind us, but coming down the ramp was another pink vehicle.

This one proved to be a large SUV or truck, headlights blazing. It soon pulled alongside the Bentley as it changed lanes.

Just what was going on in the Caheunga Pass, with Barbie-colored vehicles racing along the freeway? I expected to see Angelyne's pink Corvette any second.

On came the pink truck. The fork as the Hollywood Freeway split into the 170 and the 101 Ventura Freeway, the Bentley moved to the left and overtook us - gliding past us toward the San Fernando Valley, the pink truck, meanwhile, right behind us and closing in fast.

We took the split to the westbound Ventura freeway, and the pink truck followed, then slipped into the right hand lane and stepped on the gas.

On it came, and soon it was beside us - it was a Ford F150 king cab pickup, driven by a blonde young woman.

 

 

Then it was gone.

After we got home, I googled "pink Bentley" and after a bit, discovered that - although Paris Hilton famously drove a pink Bentley for a while - on December 1, 2011 a size called StarzUncut featured a story about pop star Nicki Minaj and her new pink Bentley.

What do you think, was that Nicki Minaj we saw, cruising through the Caheunga Pass all alone in her new, $200,000 pink 2012 Bentley Continental GT?  Where was she bound?

And who was the blonde in the pick-up? Was it a coincidence both pink vehicles were together on the same highway? As they drove alongside one another, did their eyes meet? Did they nod approvingly at one another's iconic choice of color?

We'll never know. Los Angeles is full of stories, and I've probably given this one has way more meaning than it deserves.

Pink Saturday - a pink door

It's Pink Saturday -  Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

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 We recently took another stairway walk using Charles Fleming's book "Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles."

This time we walked through the streets surrounding Echo Park Lake, and especially Angelino Heights, a neighborhood of preserved historic Victorian homes.

This house, a classic 1900s bungalow, with its pretty salmon-pink door is on Kellam Avenue.

Pink Saturday - a shared garden

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

Dahlia

Even on a grey November day, the Community Garden on Main Street in Santa Monica touched with bright colors. Gardeners were tidying their small plots and planting winter crops. The gate was open, and the sign said the public was welcome to view the gardens, so in I went.

Pink Saturday - Chilling out

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

 I'm putting on my pink sunglasses. I've had a busy week. I'm ready to chill. Hope you're having a good one, too.

Pink Saturday - Pink presents

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

Who doesn't love pink flamingos?

This one's larger than life, and brightens up a cloudy day. Created by Frederick Prescott  at Prescott Studio, these are on display at a crafts fair in Santa Monica.  Over 100 vendors of handcrafted unique artwork in glass, fiber, metal, wood and ceramics offer perfect Christmas shopping.

There were other lovely things to choose from - some a little easier to get home, like this button jewelry.

Here some beautiful irridescent silk jackets attract like eye candy.

This felted jacket is a stunning piece.

Who wouldn't want a glass octopus?

I know where I'm going Christmas shopping this Pink Saturday!

Pink Saturday - Cool beans

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

A visit to the farmers market yielded some cool pink sights, perfect for Pink Saturday.

These are Tongue of Fire shelling beans on sale at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market. The pods are brilliantly streaked with magenta, and the beans inside are mottled with pink themselves.

They were on sale alongside other shelling beans, including French flageolet beans, red Italian beans, and a variety called Tigers Eye.

Shelling beans are meant to mature on the vine and remove from the shell for cooking. You can dry beans and they will keep for a long time, to be cooked later.  But you can also cook them fresh. I thought they were so pretty that I bought a selection of them.

Red Italian beans

Here you can see the red Italian beans peeking out of the shell. They say you should let the beans dry slightly on the vine before picking them for shelling, and these Italian bean pods were papery and starting to shrink.

Tigers Eye beans in the shell

Brought home and shelled, a bag of beans yielded enough for a bowl with a pretty variety of colors. Tongue of Fire were pale waxy greenish-white, with faint pinkish markings on some. The Tigers Eye were stunning - creamy white with maroon and even purple swirls. The red Italian beans were the prettiest shade of rose madder, with a darker eye. 

Red Italian beans

The Tongue of Fire and Tigers Eye pods were still a bit fresh. They probably could have stayed on the vine a little longer, and I think the markings on the beans intensify as they mature.

To cook shelling beans, boil them in lightly salted water for 25 or 30 minutes and then drain. You can toss in a handful of parsley and a smashed clove of garlic; if you have a sprig of thyme that might be nice, too. They are great tossed with vinaigrette and parsley and served in a salad with chopped fresh tomatoes. You can also toss them with tomatoes in pasta.


When cooked, alas, the pretty markings were gone. The Tigers Eye beans are large and tan, while the Tongue of Fire beans are kind of grey-green. The red Italian beans turn a pretty lavender.

They taste delicious - beany yet creamy and tender. Now I can't wait till next Wednesday to try another variety!

Pink beans for a Pink Saturday.

Pink Saturday - Butterfly flower

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

My garden is in a somewhat tatty state, as summer has gone but the autumn rains haven't yet begun in earnest. But some plants are still going strong - perhaps even revitalized by the moist ocean air - LA's so called "marine layer" - that we wake up to most mornings.

This pretty, simple little flower is Gaura Lindheimeri "Siskyou Pink", and if you're not growing it in your garden, you should run right out now and get some.

A native of Texas and Louisiana, Gaura is a perennial with insignificant leaves, and an informal bushy habit. The flowers are just an inch or so in size, and with four petals and long curving stamens, they resemble tiny butterflies - an illusion further supported as they dance in the breeze on wiry, curving stems.

The species version has white flowers sometimes tipped in pink, and plantsmen have selected and bred cultivars for deeper pink shades, even reddish foliage. The closed buds and stems are more deeply colored,  and the whole effect in the garden is beautiful. "Siskyou Pink" was developed by Siskyou Rare Plant Nursery in Oregon, and there are other cultivars out there that are even more red.

You can grow Gaura in the back of your flower beds or in the middle to twine through other plants. Or you can put it in the front - as its wiry stems and tiny flowers work to enhance other flowers - like a lady's veiled hat enhances a beautiful face. They're perfect for an informal cottage garden, and make great cut flowers in a vase, too.

Gaura loves heat, is drought tolerant, and almost impossible to kill. You can grow it from seed, and it divides easily, too.

If you don't like its somewhat dull botanical name, you can call it by its common folk names of Butterfly Flower or Bee Blossom. But whatever you do - get some. It's perfect for your Pink Saturday bouquet!

Pink Saturday - Beach and sky

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

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It was one of those "pull over the car!" moments. I was driving home along Pacific Coast Highway, and the sky was unbelievably beautiful.

I turned into the little road near an historic Mediterranean-style building and parked at the curb.

Old postcard showing the bridge circa 1935

This building is part of a 1920s era real estate development called Castellammare, and like its namesake in Italy, it's a picturesque seaside enclave. Here a handful of original homes cling to the hillside along with newer, more modern neighbors. The development included stairways and cliff-side walkways, and an arched bridge that spanned the old Roosevelt Highway, which is now called Pacific Coast Highway. The building here is the only commercial property in Castellammare; it held retail spaces including a cafe that later became notorious for its involvement in the unsolved death of movie star Thelma Todd.

I locked the car and took my camera, and walked back to the foot of the steps leading to the bridge. Here the hillside has crumbled, and reddish dried mud from October rains crusted the steps. Overgrown oleander shrubs billow over the wall. Near the first landing, I suddenly smelled the sharp pong of urine, and realized that the sheltered landing had become a camp for a homeless man. "Hello," I said, and continued up the steps, trying to avoid treading on his blankets.

Across the bridge, I faced the ocean. Though the sun had just set, the sky was bright with twilight, tinged with a tender and delicate pink, and the water shone with reflection. Down on the sand, a couple waded in the waves. Even the wet sand reflected the pinkness of the sky. Far out on the water, a lone figure on a paddleboard poled across a sheet of silver.

The pink sky was deeper at the horizon, then darkened to lavender.
I crossed back to the other side on the bridge. At the top of the stairs, I said "excuse me" so not to surprise the homeless man, smoking his cigarette. I wished otherwise, but I had nothing to give him, since I'd left the car without knowing he was there. Even so, "Good night," he said to me as I passed and continued down, leaving him in the shelter of the oleanders, beneath the pink sky.

It was such a beautiful sky.

Pink Saturday - Pink quiz

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you.

It's Pink Saturday, But PINK comes in many shapes, sizes and guises. Take the following quiz and find out YOUR pink style.

1) What's your pink drink? Lemonade? Champagne? A straight-up cosmopolitan with a twist? A strawberry shake?

2) What's your favorite pink icy treat? Strawberry ice cream? Peppermint chip ice cream? Raspberry sherbet? Pink grapefruit sorbet?

3) Dress in pink - Button-down pink Oxfordcloth? Hot pink WOW and cut down to here? Silk, lace and ruffles? A crisp cotton floral print?

4) Pink on wheels - A fat-tired bike? A street-smart Vespa scooter? Pink Cadillac convertible? A pink New Beetle?

5) Pink on the dinner plate - Lobster tails? Filet mignon, medium rare? Broiled salmon filet? Baked ham?

6) And finally - what's the last pink thing you ate, drank, and wore?

Answer in the comments. Copy and paste the first comment into your comment, for convenience.

Pink Saturday - Hawaiian shirt

 Pink Saturday - Beverly at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you!

Summer's not gone yet!!  I'm trying to keep the summer alive, and what's better for it than a Hawaiian shirt? Bright colors and casual fit and silky fabric all make it fun and flattering - and still sunny!

This shirt is patterned with the bold tropical blossoms of Brugmansia suaveolens, the Angel's Trumpet.

And it has splashes of brilliant PINK!

Perfect for playing matchy-matchy with this great vintage plastic bangle I bought for three dollars in a second-hand store.

Great for a casual Pink Saturday. All I need now is a pair of pink flip-flops!