Community access to Wi-Fi. FREE community access to Wi-Fi. How many ways can I say it? Dude, Mar Vista gives away wireless internet access. For Free. 

It may sound like I’m going overboard, but I can’t help myself: how awesome is it to have free access to the internet? It’s extremely awesome.

Wi-fi is present in many places, but not often for free. Airports have networks that charge by the minute, as do Starbucks and other cafes. I’ve recently found a few free hot spots, including the food court at the Westside Pavilion, and yes, Culver City does offer free wi-fi in the downtown district. But what’s so cool about the Mar Vista wi-fi is that it’s a Citizen’s Initiative.

Started by James Brennan and John Ayers, the Open Mar Vista Wi-Fi project aims to provide access to the entire community by having sponsors provide the Meraki antennas and the Verizon Fios fiber optics with 500 – 1000′ ranges spreading the internet love around. So far, sponsors have been mainly the businesses along Venice Blvd., between Centinela and Inglewood, and there’s a cluster around Beethoven school, but there are a handful of residential sponsors, and Mar Vista Mom has recently – and proudly – joined the movement, and so a little bit more of the Mar Vista community is now covered.

Access For All, I say! 

By the way, check out Open Mar Vista — it’s another great way to stay connected to our community.

A series of rectangles.

Today’s Market Shopper is Amy Jurist, a renowned chef and caterer. (And a friend!) She’s making great use of the summer’s bounty of stone fruit, and is offering up her recipe for plum-almond cake. Doesn’t it look delicious? It is. Trust me, I had some.

The plums she likes to use are the kind with red flesh, not the yellow. Yet they are deceptively similar from the outside, as you can see, so be sure to ask the vendor.Amy caters all kind of events, works as a personal chef, and also does these cool underground dinners about one every month — the next one has an Italian theme and will take place on July 11th. There are still a few spots left and you can get info about all of her services here at her website, Amy’s Culinary Adventures.

Amy’s Caramelized Plum Almond Upside Down Cake

Makes one 10 ½ -inch cake  Serves 8

For the topping:

6          tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4       cup packed light-brown sugar

5          ripe red hearted plums, such as flavorosa

1          tablespoon of light corn syrup

 For the batter:

1 1/2    cups all-purpose flour

2          teaspoons baking powder

1/4       teaspoon salt

8          tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1          cup granulated sugar

2          teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2    teaspoons almond extract

2          large eggs, separated

1/2       cup whole milk

1/4       teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Make the topping: Melt butter in the bottom of a 10 1/2-inch cast-iron(or other heavy ovenproof) skillet over medium heat. Add brown sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add corn syrup and stir to form a nice syrup. Swirl to coat the bottom; remove from heat, and cool slightly. Cut plums into 1/4-inch-thick wedges, and arrange them in a circular pattern over the brown-sugar mixture to cover completely; set aside.

2. Make the batter: Preheat the oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and almond extracts; beat to combine. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating to combine.

4. Alternating with the milk, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix, on low speed, just until the flour is incorporated.

5. In a large bowl, beat reserved egg whites and the cream of tartar with a hand mixer until stiff but not dry. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg whites into the batter. Transfer to skillet. Using an offset spatula, spread the batter evenly, being careful not to disturb the plums.

6. Bake until well browned on top and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Run a knife around inside of pan, and immediately invert the cake onto a serving dish. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 Note: This recipe also works very well with pears and apples!

Recipe Developed by Chef Amy Jurist

An original post by Sarah Auerswald. Photos by me and by Amy Jurist.

Right in our own Mar Vista park! Ahnjel Ali teaches a class on Saturday mornings, and let me tell you, it’s a butt-kicker. Here are the pertinent details:

• Classes are on Saturday mornings, and start promptly at 7 — that’s AM.

• meet on the south side of the park, near the roller blading rink.

• bring a mat, 2-lb dumbells, and 5-lb dumbells,

• be ready to rumble!

There’s a lot of fast walking and the dumbells are put to good use! I was tired but not so much that I couldn’t walk after; what’s the point of that? There’s also good conversation along the way. 

The class costs $20 for a drop-in, or $10/class if you buy a 6-session series. A new session started today, but the summer schedule is a little crazy, what with 4th of July and vacation travel, so the next class will be on July 11th, then the 18th, 25th, then August 22 and 29th.

(Disclaimer: Contact Ahnjel to confirm the class schedule as the summer goes on — just in case — or to check on the Fall sessions: Majid.Ahnjel@yahoo.com.)

Granted, the Circus is not coming to Mar Vista, but it is coming to LA, from July 8 to August 2 in the Southland. And Mar Vista Mom readers can get a discount on tickets by using the coupon code: MOM.*

*Restrictions: Must purchase AT LEAST 4 tickets for code to be valid, enter the code in the “MC Promotion Box” on Ticketmaster, not valid on Circus Celebrity/Front Row/VIP seats, and facility fees do apply.

The Mar Vista Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library is a fantastic civic resource for our neighborhood — and a great place to take your kids for fun, free things to do this summer. (And all year long, of course!)The LAPL has a children’s summer reading program called Treasured Islands. The idea is you sign your kids up and keep track of how much they’re reading during the summer, and they’ll earn prizes as they accumulate minutes of reading time. There are also events at the library throughout the summer as part of the program, like the story time and craft that launched it yesterday. (Island craft project.)

Next Wednesday, July 1, Peggy Hasegawa will be doing an origami demonstration at 4pm.  The events continue on Wednesdays at 4pm: July 15 (Stories and Craft), July 29 (Stories and Craft), August 5 (”Reptile Family”), August 19 (”One World Rhythm”), and August 26 (The Finale). And did I mention it’s all free? And encourages reading? Gotta love the library!

The Mar Vista Branch has activities for Teens as well, on Tuesdays at 3pm: July 7 (Henna Tattooing), July 21 (Video Gaming), August 11 (Yoga), and August 25 (Cupcake Decoration). 

For the Little Ones, the library offers Toddler/Preschool Story Time on Mondays at 11am, on an ongoing basis, and “Grandparents and Books” (or “GAB”) 6 days a week. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 3-5pm, Wednesdays and Fridays 2:30-4:30pm, and the additional time on Saturdays from 1-3pm. Join one of their volunteer Grandparents for story hour one of these days!

And just in case the adults were feeling left out, don’t worry! The library won’t let you down! The Mar Vista Branch offers its Mystery Book Club monthly on Thursdays at 6:30pm. So far this year, they’ve read and discussed The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid, Paradise Interrupted by Penny Mickelbury, Dixie City Jam, by James Lee Burke, Echo Burning, by Lee Child, Free Fall, by Robery Crais, and A Loyal Character Dancer, by Qiu Xiaolong. (July’s title hasn’t been posted yet, so check with the branch for date and book.) The library also hosts a Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club. Ysabel, by Guy Gavriel Kay, is the book, and they’re meeting on Tuesday, July 7th at 6:30pm to discuss it.

There are also computer classes offered on Wednesdays at 2pm, with topics ranging from Word Processing Basics to Intro to the Internet. And if you have a Crafty Soul, Quilters From The Heart meet at the library on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month, from 1-5pm. They provide the materials, but ask that you bring a sewing machine, if possible. All the quilts they create are donated. Isn’t that awesome?

The library is a wonderful community resource, plus they have lots of BOOKS there, which, for a reader like me, is the best part. The fact that they offer so many extra programs is like icing on the cake. 

The Los Angeles Public Library, Mar Vista Branch, is located at 12006 Venice Blvd., LA, 90066, on the corner of Venice and Inglewood. (310) 390-3454. Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10am-8pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12pm-8pm, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am-6pm, closed Sundays and holidays. Disclosure: please call the branch to confirm all events, as things can, and do, change.

An original post by Sarah Auerswald.

Looking for fun, inexpensive things to do with your kids this summer? Me, too!!

I’ll be posting a series of ideas here, some in Mar Vista and some a little farther away.

Let’s start with Free Family Movies, shall we?The Vineyard Christian Fellowship in the old Bruno’s location on the corner of Venice and Centinela will be showing free movies every Wednesday night at 6:45. Free popcorn, too! This week (6/24) it’s Tale of Desperaux. Maybe I’ll see you there? Enjoy!!

Simple, but clean lines. Plus I love the landscaping.

Today I shopped the market with Nancy Shaw and Jim Strohecker, on a beautiful Sunday morning that happened to be their 20th wedding anniversary.

Nancy is going to make stuffed zucchini blossoms, and they look gorgeous today.

She stuffs them with goat cheese and twists the ends up. Then dips them in a batter made from flour, milk, egg and salt, and fries them in olive or grapeseed oil quickly — just 2 or 3 minutes or until crispy. Her safety tip is to let them cool before eating, because the cheese can get very hot!

If you prefer not to use cheese, you can simply dip the blossoms in the batter and fry them the same way, quickly, until crisp. Drain them, salt them and eat. Yum! (Although, I like the cheese idea, myself.)

Nancy and Jim have a website called Healthy.net, and it’s chock full of resources and info. Check it out!

An original post by Sarah Auerswald. Photos by me.

There’s a chance a marijuana dispensary will open up on Venice Blvd, just west of Grand View. We call it our little downtown business area, and many of us don’t want to see that kind of a storefront there. I certainly don’t.

I already know about 2 other dispensaries in the neighborhood (one just about 1.5 blocks west on Venice Blvd. on the north side, and the other on Washington Place just east of McLaughlin), and I am a middle-aged mom. There are probably others I’m completely unaware of.

This location is 2 blocks from my kids’ school, and much closer to 2 preschools. And I realize that the actual marijuana for medical purposes is legal. But isn’t there a moritorium on opening any new dispensaries in the city of LA?

And here’s my strictly business question: have these guys done their market research? I mean, can Mar Vista really support that many dispensaries? I certainly hope it’s a no answer. But it begs the question: if not this, what businesses are going to fill the empty store fronts along our little downtown corridor?

I fully understand that rents need to be paid, and some of these buildings have sat unused for a nearly a year. Mar Vista Mom has profiled The Curious Palate and Floyd’s Barbershop, which have both recently opened, bravely, it might seem, in this economy — and I salute them and support them. They are the kind of businesses I am happy to see in my neighborhood and would love to see something open up there I could really get behind.

Because, as you might have guessed, I am not the target customer for the dispensary. No surprise, right? I am really looking for some cute retail options, some places to browse through (and buy from) after I’ve had my hair done at Floyd’s, with a Venice Grind coffee in my one hand, my Farmer’s Market veggies in the other. So if you’ve got a notion to open a store like that, please check out Mar Vista. There are leases to be had!

Got 2 cents to share on this one? Leave a comment.

An original post by Sarah Auerswald.