July 13th. Hosteria del Piccolo, Venice Beach Biennale, Police Carnival

Post yoga at 10...then....lunch with Natasha--birthday lunch as it happened at Hosteria del Piccolo...I had thought we were just going to meet for a quick snack, but Natasha had intended this to be a belated birthday lunch.   It was a complete treat and surprise for me.  The restaurant is less formal, less expensive than it's parent, Piccolo on Dudley in Venice.  We ate on the patio--shared three dishes--the first--a bean and tomato salad--Foglia Seinza with white means, shallots, heirloom tomatoes and tuna on a pizza crust.  A bit heartier than a regular salad--followed by linguine with clams--and for dessert--profiteroles with a salted caramel sauce.  One treat after another.    

After lunch, Natasha was planning to stop by to borrow The Hare With Amber Eyes.  She parked (never so easy in my neighborhood) so we could check out the Venice Beach Biennale--an arts event organized by the Armand Hammer Museum--pretty goofy--regular artists(i.e. artists invited by the Hammer, I'd guess)  selling some of their wares alongside the regular Venice artists--invited by no-one.    Quite a scene.
And that was just part of the Venice madness.  Biking to the library after Natasha left, I discovered that Windward Circle was packed with carnival rides, midway games, and many roving cops.   Not many visitors--I thought it might be a movie set, or yet another art project, but one of the many officers of the law told me that it was in fact a real fund-raising carnival put on by the Police Department to raise money for their youth projects.


Later that evening, after I'd eaten another unphotographed  salad for dinner, with the last of the aioli and a hard boiled egg and was about to step out for a last look at the setting sun,  Emily called.  She was at the front door with Jake.   Too bad, I'd just finished eating.  I could have whipped up some quick meal, but instead added some triple sec and a very strong chinese alcohol to the left-over mango smoothie--and served them both very strong sunset viewing drinks before they headed off for  dinner in El Segundo
Robin called--she'd bought tickets for the rides at the tiny fair, but they wouldn't let her ride alone.  As Tim refused to join her on the Ferris Wheel, she was hoping I'd do it.  Years ago, we'd had a fine ride on the Ferris Wheel at the Santa Monica PIer, so although I couldn't do it until Sunday--we made a date.   And that was the end of a very socially packed day.