In Memorium

Brian Black is my Brother in Law. The "in Law" part is just so you understand how our families began their relationship. Brian is a great guy. I use the present tense, because he will never be gone. We just can't see him any more.
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Brian Ross Black
BLACK, Brian Ross (45), died suddenly in an auto accident. Beloved husband of Judy (Hoffman), cherished son of Howard and Natalye Black of Los Angeles and Orange County and adored younger brother of Laurie (Robert Lawrence) and Jeff (Danna Gold), precious grandson of Saul (Anne deceased) Shrager, embraced and loved by his in-law family of Joe and Seline Hoffman and all of their children and grandchildren. Born in Orange County, Brian graduated from Foothill High, involved in choir and wrestling. Early on and throughout his life, Brian was a joyful, loving human being of extraordinary generosity of spirit and a Godly soul. Brian gave of himself with the sweetness of unconditional love. Brian was the "real deal," rejecting shallowness and pretense. He was a "mensch." Brian never veered off his mark or forgot who he was even after his diagnosis as a young adult of severe paranoid-schizophrenia while in college. Prior to the current available medications, Brian suffered terribly for many years with the most severe symptoms of his illness, going from treatment to treatment and hospital to hospital. After a third failed suicide attempt, fortunately, Brian's life changed due to wise and compassionate court-ordered medication and treatment. After years of darkness and pain, arrested growth and development, but with uncommon, extraordinary courage, Brian emerged as the beautiful person he was meant to be. Brian met and married his extraordinary Judy, the love of his life. While modest in size, together they built a grand spiritual home of love, warmth and holiness where all who enter feel welcome, cared for, loved and safe. In the past Brian worked for the Mental Health Association of San Diego, Rescue Mission of SD, as a volunteer. He was awarded the 1996-97 "Volunteer of the Year Award" from the Combined Health Agencies of San Diego. Always acknowledging and grateful for the support and love he received during his darkest days, Brian believed in giving back. He worked along with his parents, Natalye and Howard, and his sister and brother Laurie and Jeff as advocates for the mentally ill. Currently Brian was employed as a patient counselor at Alpine Residential Treatment Center where he was a highly respected staff member for his compassion, kindness, listening and counseling skills and, most important, his own life experiences which brought hope and healing to all who had the good fortune to be touched by him. Brian leaves an extended family who will forever be touched by the beauty and love of his soul. This includes nieces and nephews of the Black, Lawrence and Hoffman families. A Memorial Service is scheduled at University Synagogue, 3400 Michelson, Irvine, Thursday, June 19, 11 a.m. and another memorial service in San Diego next week. Donations may be made in Brian's memory to the Brian Black Memorial Mental Health Fund, c/o University Synagogue of Irvine.
Published in the Los Angeles Times on 6/19/2008.

New Pastry Related Blog.

OK.... Usually, I meet pastry folks through my better half. But this time, I get to introduce my wife to a new pastry related friend.
Everyone, meet Leilani:
http://leilanilee.blogspot.com/
Leilani is a friend of my friend Dave's and it was a pleasure to finally meet her in person. She really is a kick.
Check out her blog if you are in to pastry.
Thanks for sharing, Leilani!

Intermediate Cane Class

Presented by Master Dan Hoffman
Starts May 29, 2008 for 6 weeks
Thursdays @ 7:45PM – 9:15PM
Learn and practice how to use the common walking cane as a weapon to compliment your kung fu skills.
Cane 2 will include striking with the cane, take downs with the cane, control moves and intro to cane vs. knife.
Cooperative and semi-cooperative training drills will be used to help improve positioning, angles, distance and flow.

COST:
$55 if pre-register or
$60 at the door

LOCATION:
Valencia Martial Arts
26330 Diamond Place #120
Valencia, CA 91350
www.2kungfu.com
For more information or to pre-register: (661)255-0100


Dan Hoffman holds an 8th Degree Black Belt in Kung Fu San Soo and is also accomplished in Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Boxing

Restaurant to Avoid

The Burning Bonsai in Burbank CA. was the latest location to be added to my "To Be Avoided" list.
To be fair, we tried this place three times. Each time we received extraordinarily poor service. The waiters just blatantly ignored us as long as they could. When they took our order, not one of the 2 different waiters wrote anything down. Not surprisingly, at least one of our orders was wrong each time. This latest time, he completely forgot one of our dishes and added stuff we did not order, on top of screwing up a couple of things. I ordered a sesame noodles with tofu (vegetarian) and found pieces of chicken in it. They made it with chicken then noticed the mistake in the kitchen and just pulled the big pieces of chicken off the top and put the tofu on.
They served the noodles on a plate so small that the noodles were literally hanging off the side of the plate and dragging on the table as the waiter served it. No shame. My wife was not very happy about that.
My noodles were undercooked and something actually made me puke.
When serving us water, a piece of minced salmon sushi fell off the waiter's hand or sleeve onto the table. He didn't even notice or offer to clean it.
So, my rating for this place, 1-5 with 1 being crappy as hell and 5 being damn good:
Service: 1
Presentation: 2
Cleanliness: 3
Taste: 3.5
Overall Value: 2

You may ask why we went there 3 times. The answer: My 88 year old dad wanted to take us there. But Zoe and I agreed after this last trip, not even a free meal will get us back there again.
Restaurant information:
The Burning Bonsai
4408 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA.