29 Jul 98: Man, is the 110 between downtown LA and Pasedena a fun road to drive. I cannot believe how much I enjoy driving on it. It's awesome. (I'm sure my anti-car friend Steph is having a fit as she reads this.) It's just...fun! Pure fun! It's a great little winding road, so you have to pay attention (no highway hypnosis on this stretch) and it's many turns keep the traffic down to a reasonable speed. (OK, maybe you don't think 70 in a 55 is reasonable, but I had no problems driving it.) There are many beautiful flowering bushes alongside the road to look at as well. This road is so enjoyable, that if it were the only one you had ever driven on, you would think that building more roads would be a good idea; if they were as well designed, fun to drive, and beautifully landscaped as this one, I may give it one thumb up. I can't give it two because I can't in good environmental conscience support building more roads. Next time you're in LA, drive it to Pasadena, and then go to Orean's Health Express, a vegan fast-food drive-thru on Lake Avenue. Yes, that's right, vegan fast-food drive-thru. Oh my god! Mere words, at least the ones that make the journey from my brain to my fingertips, cannot describe how tasty this place is. OK, maybe the meat, dairy and egg eating horde out there wouldn't practically have an orgasm just thinking about consuming a tofu "fish" sandwich, air fries and a strawberry shake, but that's their problem. I love, love, love, love this place and about the only bad thing I have to say about it is that it's not conveniently located in Ball Square, Somerville, MA, so I could go to it more often. At a minimum, try the "air fries," which are just crinkled cut fries that are not fried but prepared some other way (baked, I guess) and are crispy. Very tasty. In addition to the "fish" sandwich, which for the curious is a 1cm or so thick slice of fried tofu smothered with pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts and soy mayonaise, the Orean Chip, a barbequed TVP sandwich with the same topping as the fish, is good, and the Chicken Sandwich is very much like the familiar meat-based chickenwich. I suppose isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, but, hey, sometimes you crave that kind of stuff. I'm sure the other stuff on the menu is good, but I like the "fish" so much I can't help but order that most of the time.

I wish Orean's was as popular as McDonald's.