So, I took a little trip to Downtown LA and learnt to do this:
Ok… I didn’t exactly learn to do that.
But I did learn to hang upside down from a silk curtain, which is going to make an excellent party trick back home.
A few of my girlfriends have a space in The Arts District that they use to practice their ariel skills and generally do some bad ass air-born-acrobatics in.
They invited me down to have a go & I leapt at the chance.
Aileen, Tania & Julie led the way & showed off their skills.
I was (understandably) a wee bit daunted to begin with.
“I have to get up there?!”
Others were similarly unconvinced…
But I plucked up the nerve and shimmied on up to swing with the best of ’em!
Before you get too excited/impressed by my new found skills, check out what these guys can do:
I’ve got a little way to go, but I think I can get the hang of it!
Hang!
See what I did there?
Anyway. Next we learned how to flip over & hang upside down.
Julie’s shot at this was far more elegant than mine.
But I was pretty proud of my “Titanic” move…
The hours flew by and before I knew it our time was up and we got together to stretch it out.
By the end my arms were so tired I couldn’t lift a bottle of water with one hand.
This stuff is harder than it looks, trust me!
Sadly my ladies don’t offer public tuition, but Tania (who’s website you can find here) did leave me a few class recommendations if you fancy giving it a go.
HollywoodAerialArts in Inglewood
CirqueSchoolLA in Hollywood
LosAngeles.TrapezeSchool Santa Monica Pier
Or just search for “Circus School” near you. I really enjoyed it, it’s a great work out & would be a brilliant idea for kids.
I wore Slinky Feline leggings & a LOF shirt (which is my friend’s company so please feel free to use my discount code: ROSIELOF and you’ll get them at sample sale prices).
Having spent the rest of the day recovering, when the sun set I was very ready to meet the girls again for something other than water.
I put my dancing shoes on
and headed down to Bestia, The Art District’s newest hotspot.
It’s an Italian restaurant run by a husband & wife team.
He’s the head chef, she’s the pastry chef and boy, oh boy… do they know their way around a kitchen!
The whole places buzzes with chatter (there’s not an empty seat in the house) & wafts of delicious smells swirl around the room from the open kitchen.
Determined not to miss a thing we went for fig & gorgonzola salad.
Chef’s selection of house-cured meats, pickles, mostarda, grilled bread & chicken liver paté.
Pan-roasted chicken gizzards, roasted beets, Belgian endive, aged capra sarda. (My personal favourite.)
Roasted marrow bone, spinach gnocchetti, crispy breadcrumbs, aged balsamic.
Cavatelli alla Norcina, ricotta dumplings, housemade pork sausage, black truffles, grana padano.
Burrata pizza with san marzano tomatoes, Castelvetrano olives, oregano & fermented chilies.
And a whole Smörgåsbord of puddings (hey, we earned it!)
Including this outrageously delicious salted caramel chocolate tart…
And these cheeky little ricotta fritters with fresh strawberry jam, brown sugar gelato & simple whipped cream.
If you haven’t spent much time in Downtown LA, get your butt down there.
They’ve got it all going on, baby!
If you fancy dinner at Bestia (which you should, it is excellent) then you’ll want to book. Do it ahead of time because it can be tricky to get in… but it’s well worth the wait.
