Everest, Chicago

Sierra Del Mar, Big Sur

Viks, Vancouver

Hirozen - unassuming facade in strip mall. Freshest fish and cozy yet chic neighborhood feel

Katana - great robata menu. Outdoor patio is very trendy overlooking sunset strip and the mondrian. Great for out of towners. Expect older men with younger surgically enhanced women.

Koi - always buzzing with hollywood wannabes and industry folks. this is the ultimate see and be seen place for west hollywood sushi. put those heels on,  pay for a blowout, and buy a sexy outfit on roberston before you go.

Hamasaku - chic white on white place with plasma wall behind the chef's bar. extensive two page roll menu each honored after a celebrity. unexcepted but exceptional rolls -- try the hamburger roll and  the sushi pizza roll. dressy but not like koi.

Bar Hayama - mellow little jewel. Beautiful outdoor seating with huge fire pit in the center. modest earthy decor give it a minimal but sleek look. Good food and great ambience for a romantic meal or a chill evening with friends. Food good but not memorable.

Giesha House - Very hollywood very buzzing. Bilevel megacomplex.

Tengu - quite forgettable. Great views of the pacific from its ocean ave location. Sexy decor, hot waitstaff, but utterly ok food. good for out of towners to get a feel for beachfront Santa Monica.

Sushi Roku (3rd street) - beware of a snooty attitude unless you name drop at the maitre de. Great food. Great date place.

Takami - best views, best decor, and best scene in downtown LA. Great food. Good for groups.

Blowfish - caught them on a dead night, massive place -- great decor. good food.

I lay in bed mulling these thoughts, until I came across the following in my lastest read, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. She says," What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could snychronize seemingly incongrous opposites into a worldview that excludes nothing? The truth is, I want to experience both worldy enjoyment and divine transcendence - the dual glories of human life. I want what the greeks called kalos kai agathos, the singular balance of the good and beautiful. I have been missing both during these last hard years. Both pleasure and devotion require a stress free space in which to flourish and I'd been living in a giant trash compactor of non-stop anxiety."

Thank you Elizabeth. For showing me that these tough decisions are not just my own. And thanks for writing about your life-changing journey that has been an inspiration to thousands of women who grapple between the "good and the beautiful."

I have remained extremely excited for May 30, the premier of Sex and the City, but am disappointed that it’s just you on most of the posters. Where are your gals? Why the exclusion? SATC has always been about the four of you. It doesn’t matter that you’re a producer – I don’t think your audience cares as much as they care to see the four of you together. Facebook has an application that identifies which SATC character women most identify with. This implies that if all women were theoretically divided into only four categories – you would only get a percentage of the share. Then why would you isolate the women who might identify more with Miranda, Charlotte, or Samantha?

SATC was powerful, because it was about friendship and sisterhood between four women, with completely different values and personalities, that survived through jealously, romance, heart-break, illness, motherhood, and more. So why aren’t your sistas on the billboard with you?

My dear SJP, may I remind you the cardinal rule of friendship is that you never leave your girls in the dark.

On the way home, M said most of Meera's new mates were celebrity dogs belonging to the likes of Meg Ryan and Jake Gyllenhaal. Convenient I thought, every business in this town touts the celeb factor. How do I prove that Atticus,the german shephard, was really who M said he was. I was able to confirm his celeb status on celebritydogblog.com  (what did you expect, this is LA).

The next day, Vur and I took Baby M to Laurel Canyon Park. She had a ball.  There were 20 litte guys in the small dog area.  There too, we met a few celeb doggies. Can't name names, but trust me.

If you told me a few years ago a) you'll be a dog owner b) your dog will have celebrity dog friends, I would have laughed in your face.

I watched him gently hold the little babies. A fearless man finally afraid of hurting another. After a few hours of watching him go nuts over the puppies, chasing them around, talking baby talk to them, my dormant maternal instincts suddenly came alive. My insides were mush, like warm apple pie. As he held one the size of his hand, carefully caressing her back, any remanents of ice on my heart melted. I was in love – with her biscuit brown coat and a pure white crown, her perfectly round brown eyes, and her cute little nugget nose. I wanted to take her home and be her mommy. “OK,” I said. Vur was smiling ear to ear. As we picked out the various contraptions needed for her first few weeks, my excitement was laced with some apprehension. After a 1000 questions and much anxiety, we got in the car with our little baby. As we drove away, Vur put his hand on mine, we looked at each other, and smiled. We’re in this together and we’ll be just fine, he said. And just like that, in a few hours, I became someone who, from this day on, is entirely responsible for another life.

That night, you couldn’t have peeled us away from her. We moved the furniture to set up her play area in the kitchen. Went through at least a 100 names as she stared, puzzled, at her new home. At bed time, we crated her. I am a sound sleeper – Vur is on the phone starting 6 am every day, and I never hear him. On this night, at 2am, I heard a soft yelp from the kitchen. I fell out of bed and ran. She had pooped on her blanket. Vur and I happily cleaned her and her home. We brought her to our bedroom and she slept on the floor next to me. She looked looked at us – and we at her. A word floated in my head - Meera! Vur loved it. So there we were, at 3am. Meera, Vur, and I - a little family. A new chapter. Meera will mark my 30s as I pass my 20s this year. I love you baby M!

Back to my desk and the chickpea salad.

That conversation, made me feel that just because I am not a mom or may never be one, my life incomplete. What that also does is alienate our friendship, because as a non-mom, I cannot say anything credible about parenting and as a mom, they have temporarily lost their connection to the non-kid world they were once a part of. I am happy for them, but do I miss them.

There are a few moms though, who don’t always talk about children. And that’s the kind of woman I truly respect, because she gets that motherhood is only one (albeit major) part of a woman’s life and that it may not be for everyone.

Maybe, they were also living vicariously through their kid who had the privileged life that they strived so hard for. “My Raj is on the soccer team, is going to France for a study abroad, plays the flute, is a black-belt, and a valedictorian,” aunty would say. My sister and I would have to smile through all this while demurely serving tea to the aunty with the Nine West bag, who was checking us out at the tender age of 16 as a potential bride of their socially inept but “gifted” son. Meanwhile, we went to our normal schools without so much as learning a sport or a musical instrument. I always wondered, "it will be interesting to see who is happier in life -- the normal kid or the overachiever"

I found the same attitude when I moved here. Indian parents were always waxing lyrical about their kids. Very tiresome to listen to for an average kid with average abilities. Kids were being pushed too hard, I thought. Calendars packed to the brim – ballet, swimming, kathak, Piano, Hindi classes, AP courses. Were these kids really happy? I personally thought, they were less warm, welcoming, and nice than your average kid (like me).

Kathleen Deveny wrote a fantastic article in the January 14 issue of Newsweek, titled They’re No Baby Einsteins. She says only “5% of kids can be considered gifted according to educators. Even fewer rate as geniuses.” Then why are parents compelled to say their child gifted? It’s become akin to saying “nice to meet you” at a party, especially for the LA, NYC parents. She says, telling an average child that they are a genius is particularly dangerous “giving them false hopes of how the world will treat them.” Finally, she notes,” I’m starting to think being smart is overrated. We all know adults who are supersmart but somehow never learned the basic play-ground rules about how to play with others. And while it would be nice if my child turns out to be gifted, it would be even better if she turned out to be kind, confident and happy.”

Kathleen, I couldn’t agree with you more. I bet, compassion can solve almost as many of world’s problems as intelligence can.