Trust

Me:  Please tell me this looks like a wolf and not a hamster.

Him:  It looks like a wolf.  But you know that already.

Me:  No, I've been staring at it too long, and to me it looks like a hamster.

Him:  A cynical hamster?

Me:  A hungry hamster.

Comments

[sognatrice]

I don't see hamster at all. He's all howly and stuff, and I've never seen a hamster howl. But I don't get out very often, so maybe that's not saying much.

[Sara]

I'm thinking he might be a were-hamster, you know, mostly all carrots and pellets, but once a month howling for human flesh.

Might not the best pet for young Tammy and Bobby, no matter how cute he looks chasing them in his little plastic ball.

[Lene]

A howling hamster?

(it's clearly a wolf. Hamsters don't have long tails. Do they?)

[Sara]

No, hamsters do not have long tails. Good point. Thank you.

On the other hand, maybe what it really looks like is a squirrel. I have been looking at a lot of squirrels lately.

And if there can be were-hamsters, there can absolutely be were-squirrels.

[faustianbargain]

hey sara..sorry, but this comment is unrelated. i came from the eggbeater blog and found one of your older comments in april. this one: http://eggbeater.typepad.com/shuna/2007/04/sf_oakland_nibb.html#comment-72430086

i think the iranian place is called mashti malone. in fact, i am positive it is mashti malone. there is one in la brea/hollywood and one in santa monica.

http://www.mashtimalone.com/

here ya go!

[Kay]

I see a leaf with feet. But perhaps it is a hungry leaf.

[Sara]

Kay, you see a leaf, possibly a hungry leaf? I like that. It reminds me of that that Duran Duran song -- "Hungry Like a Leaf," wasn't it?

hee hee

FaustianBargain, no apologies necessary. I assure you this is a dessert-positive blog, where links to good ice cream are rarely considered unworthy digressions.

That said, I have to tell you that nothing about MashtiMalone seems familiar to me, not the flavors (except "Turkish coffee") or the name. The place I'm thinking of was in walking distance of the ocean, really near the border of Pacific Palisades, like, in a little strip mall-y center where Pacific Palisades people would go to run errands, and that was its only location back then, so I doubt it would be its new location now unless by "new" they mean it's moved up the street. I only ever saw two dark, stocky, middle-aged men with mustaches and accents, whom I truly believe were Turkish though they could have been from anywhere, working behind the counter. Most of the flavors of the ice cream were conventional, American flavors, but there was this one, and it had a name like Sans Souci or Moon Dream, can't remember what exactly. It was very dense, creamy, yellow ice cream with pistachios and just the hint of rosewater, just enough to make most people I knew think it tasted like soap, and just enough to make me to wake up craving it in the middle of a summer night. It looks like what these people are calling "rosewater saffron with pistachios," but I don't remember it having quite so many pistachios or anywhere near such a boring name.

A lot can change in twenty years. A neighborhood shop owned by brothers can certainly become a hokily overwrought and Disneyfied brand with words like "celebrity" and "star" tacked on like so much glitter, and that may indeed be what happened to my sweet little neighborhood ice cream shop of long ago. Since the only thing that can drag me back to L.A. pretty much ever will be one of my friends winning a film award and inviting me to be part of the entourage, and since that's as likely as me getting a MacArthur grant (not because my friends aren't talented but because Hollywood is Hollywood), I will probably never find out. But if you tell me this ice cream is delicious, well, when it inevitably shows up packaged and marketed on this coast, I will try it, even though I know it won't be the same.

Incidentally, I also used to be quite a fan of Robin Rose ice cream in Venice. There was a public darkroom I used to use just around the corner and up a couple of blocks, and when I'd had a particularly good -- or bad -- session, I'd reward myself there. I used to eat the Danish cream flavor a pint at a time. So pure. So simple. Can't find a website for it, but if you live in that area, do drop by. You won't be sorry.

Meanwhile, at least here we have Booozah's Haleeb, which is not anything like the same thing as the stuff I'm remembering from distant days of youth in Santa Monica, but uses those same flavors -- plus orchid tuber! -- and is also exquisite.

[faustianbargain]

wow! now, i have to look for boozah!

i am craving pistachio ice cream RIGHT NOW!

[leslee]

I don't know, but it looks edible. Is it chocolate? A chocolate howlin' wolf?

[Sara]

Actually, it's polymer clay. It's now part of a bracelet I made by commission for a friend's child. You can see the whole thing here.

I find chocolate a far more agreeable medium, but not so much in summer. :)

And now I have an inexplicable desire to put on some blues records.