Take Your Dog to Work Day

(photos from the set of the Dreamworks movie
"Hotel for Dogs," Jan. 2008)

June 26th is Take Your Dog to Work Day, according to Pet Sitters International:

First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters, and breed rescue clubs. This annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in their workplace for this one special day to promote pet adoptions.

A really useful feature of PSI's website is the Pet Sitter Locator. All the members have undergone an education program created by the organization, and all active PSI members are able to purchase comprehensive coverage designed specifically for pet sitters. Every PSI member who presents you with proof of coverage via a valid Business Insurance/ PSI Insurance Card or Certificate of Insurance guarantees that they will have a minimum of $10,000 coverage for your pet(s) and contents in your home.

Are you allowed to bring your dog to work on this day, or even regularly? Do you support dogs in the work environment? What effects do you notice when your pet is at work? Leave me your comments and experiences in a note on the blog.

Natural Crystal Deoderant Found in Thai Market

I've written before about a product I'd like to try, rock body deoderant, and gotten a ton of comments on that subject. I'd heard about this product from others, but the only place I'd seen it was at a body products shop called Basin.

This weekend I came across a version at the Thai market. It was only $4, no shipping necessary (as if I'd bought from Basin online), and I considered it part of my entertainment budget for that day's Thai market excursion, so I decided to do an experiment and try it out.

I love all the Thai writing on the bottle, but I definitely needed the English translation. I was surprised to find that it had it! "Deo Roll-on" is to be wetted, then applied to "unpleasant odoring area."

From the few people I know who've used a similar product, I heard that it won't prevent perspiration but will control the smell of sweat. My guest house holds heat like an envelope, so I'm wondering if this will be enough for me. I've tried it for a couple days now, and I am liking the pleasant fragrance, finding it wakes me up in the shower. Since you're supposed to wet the bar before applying, that's where I've been using it. This is a good way to work it into my routine, so I never forget to use it. I'll save a ton of money using this over the commercial deoderants available at the supermarket.

Has anyone else tried a similar product? Where did you purchase it? How long did it last? Please share your product recommendation in a comment on the blog.

The "Thai Costco" at LAX-C

***UPDATE: Here are the treats I bought at the market to take home, a hard herbal candy, a young coconut, and some lychee pudding. When I try them, I'll add a comment to this post to let you know how they were!

(END UPDATE)***

I had a culinary adventure this week to LAX-C, a huge ethnic market with great street food. They call themselves the largest Thai owned business in America, and they're not joking. This is the Thai version of Costco, where all the Thai restaurants go for their groceries--and tables, and chairs, and statues of Buhdda, and promotional calendars. But mostly groceries. The selection is extensive. And while the place does cater to the restaurant industry, there's some great deals for the individual here as well: coconut ice cream, little Thai candies, and great prepared street food.

There's plenty of parking, but bring cash--it's cash only, especially the street vendors outside. You'll find a definite security presence inside the market--not sure if that's reflective of the neighborhood or what.

Here's our street food feast. I got some of Mae Ting's coconut cakes, and a small $3 order was enough to share with the group. The pan they were cooked in reminded me of a Danish Aebelskiver skillet. I saw the cooking surfaces for sale inside the market. The cakes themselves were lightly sweet and tasty, crunchy on the outside and creamy, almost pudding-like in the center.

These desserts were things other people in my group got from inside the market, so I don't know that much about them, but they were all good! My favorite is the orange rice-dough dish that tasted like it was soaked in honey. I got some of that to take home afterward.

This is what my little sampler plate looked like after trading with everyone I'd gone there with. What a yummy and interesting feast!

I spent about ten bucks on the whole day, and in addition to eating there brought home some lychee "pudding cups" that looked like jello to me and were in the candy section, a young coconut to shave open and drink the milk then scoop out the fruit, and that Med-Ka-Noon, which is the orange dessert I told you about earlier.

If you're going:

LAX-C, Inc.

1100 N. Main Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

323-343-0030

What are your favorite ethnic markets? Tell me about them in a comment on the blog.

Pasadena Chalk Festival: Follow-up with PHOTOS

I posted last week about the Pasadena Chalk Festival to get the word out if you wanted to go. I would add this follow-up as a comment to that post, if I were able to insert photos in the comment form. Anyways, I went, and had a great time! I'd never been before, though I'd seen it listed in the newspaper for several years with interest. The crowds were a bit overwhelming, so prepare yourself. The event's held in a mall, so I figured it would be spread out, but all the action is in the center courtyard, so it gets packed. Yet the artwork was far more amazing than I'd anticipated. And I'd definitely go back another year.

I took a slew of photographs of chalk artists and their work, and also browsed the Antique mall that was adjacent to the plaza. Finally, I topped off my afternoon with a Tazoberry Passion Iced Tea from Starbucks as a treat to cool myself down (the iced tea was $2.00, as opposed to a four-dollar latte). The worst part was the parking--I ended up four blocks away just to find a free meter, instead of the mall parking, which was charged per every fifteen minutes.

The award winners are posted on the festival website (linked above). Check them out too--I don't think I'd photographed any of them!

Lots of artists were working from a sketch or photograph; the person above worked from a magazine clipping. The prep work and thought they'd put into this weekend were obvious. It was really neat to see their inspiration, and the concept from the beginning. Several projects had teams of artists, like this one below. I tried to photograph the artist's names so that I could attribute their work, but once in a while I was negligent.

The angel below was my favorite of the event, along with the peacock. I wish I'd taken more details, especially of this one.

Just as much fun as photographing the artwork was using the artists themselves as subjects. I love the concentration on their faces as they worked long hours for days in a row in the hot sun. Often they were sitting on cardboard to prevent smudging their work. The edges of their frames were taped off both to make them straight and clean, and to make them obvious to all the festival attendees wandering about.