"We want to take you to Pea Soup Andersen's," said the email I got from my very good friend John Kazlauskas, who recently joined me for Number 15: Run a 5K. I was surprised at first but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. John and his boyfriend Michael Hundgen (The Hundge on "Words with Friends" for those of you who'd like to beat someone easily) share a passion for Disneyland, bizarre treasure hunts, and are friends with Buzz and Woody. Did I mention the weekend getaway to Pismo Beach? So of course, they wanted to go to Pea Soup Andersen's.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing uncool about these boys. They are handsome, fit, well brought up, delightful and funny, "we can't wait to put your balls in our mouths," said the email accepting my invitation for them to come over and have Swedish meatballs.
John at Umami for Burgers & Sisters
John was my boss at Brothers & Sisters last year. I was an intern and he was one of the writers' assistants which meant that if he said "jump," I said, "do I have to?" in my whiniest voice. Seriously though, he always appreciated my kitchen clean-ups, coffee runs, grocery orders, but most of all, my baked goods and witty banter. It was a great learning experience being there, surpassed only by the incredible friends I made. Other than the Burgers & Sisters crew (John, Cliff, Todd & Studler) which I see at Umami on Fridays, I still carry a torch for Cinquemani, Magnificent Morris, Tony award nominee Geoffrey Nauffts, "Half-caf Dopio Macchiatto Thick Foamed" DMG, and last but not least, always supportive Molly and the writing team of Halsey/Donnelly.
Having received the text "whazzzzzup?" from John at midnight the night before our little trip, I knew we would get a late start. John is not a "whazzzzzup" kind of guy. Unless he is drunk. And the night before was Hundgen's birthday celebration so it was certainly a legitimate reason to push things a bit. Hundgen's best gift by the way, at least in my opinion, was "the shake weight," the exercise tool that makes you look like you are jerking someone off.
We piled into the car and took off for our culinary adventure. We drove through the Los Padres National Forest, which was quite beautiful. Hundgen entertained us (put us to sleep) by reading the history of Pea Soup Andersen's which he had found online. It was long. Too long, so I won't bore you with it here. The abbreviated version is that in 1924, a Dane bought some land in California and started a restaurant with his wife that became the favorite pit-stop of many many celebrities in the roaring twenties and subsequent decades. The biggest treat for regular Joe Schmo patrons would be whenever actor Victor Borge stopped by because Mr. Andersen and he would delight everyone by speaking Danish to each other. Of course, anyone who knows Danish, knows that there is nothing delightful about the language, it's very harsh, gutteral and throaty. But not to the Joe Schmoes of the roaring twenties apparently. Also, Mrs. Andersen is responsible for the soup recipe for which they use several tons of peas every month.
After "The History Channel & Michael Hundgen presents: Pea Soup Andersen's," we kept busy catching up and listening to Disney radio on Pandora. "You've got a Friend in Me," "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo," "Favorite Things," "Circle of Life" and more. The hits just kept on coming and John bopped his head and sang in his finest Broadway voice, while Hundgen and I sang along in a more dignified manner.
Once there, we pulled our cameras out and hammed it up....
We went inside and signed their guest book before heading into the gift shop. To my delight, Harry Potter of Hogwarts had signed in a few lines before us but there was no sight of him unfortunately.
I guess this was for me...
We browsed in the gift shop for a bit, where I picked up a pair of porcelain kitten salt and pepper shakers. The kittens were kissing each other, attached by a magnet on their noses, and I of course dropped one of them on the floor. John and Hundgen quickly walked away from me and the sales girls frowned. I yelled out that nothing had broken several times, but one of the girls still came over to check the kittens.
The fancy accoutrements...
We were seated and all ordered the Traveler's Special, which was "bottom less" pea soup bowls, all the cheesy bread you could eat and a beverage of your choice. The boys ordered the accoutrements as well; shredded cheese, ham bits, bacon bits, chives and croutons.
The surprise at the bottom of the bowl; Hap-pea and Pea-wee splitting peas
I won't lie. The soup was really delicious and sparked the two best lines of the day, both from John. The first came as we were all quietly slurping the the brown-greenish soup. John looked up and said, "one time I had this really bad sinus infection..." to which we all busted out laughing. The second came when Hundgen finished his soup and saw the Pea Soup Andersen mascots at the bottom; "the best part is the surprise at the bottom of the bowl," exclaimed John. We ate and ate and ate...our bowls were refilled and we ate some more.
Then, dessert time. We ordered the apple pie and it was crazy delicious. I took the opportunity to ask everything I ever wanted to know about Michael Hundgen, like his gay history, which was fascinating and will not be repeated here. I will share that the worst nickname he's ever had is "Hundgina" and the most unusual is "Ovens," coined by none other than our friend Cliff.
We used what I referred to as the "Swedish bathrooms" and headed out for our next stop: Solvang! I've never been but was immediately mesmerized by all the Scandinavian-ness. Smörgåsbord signs, Swedish, Danish and Norweigan flags, bakeries, clog stores and finally...the Hans Christian Andersen museum, located at the top floor of a coffee shop! I loved it and felt at home, probably because I was raised in the south of Sweden, really close to Denmark, and took the ferry over so much while growing up. Or perhaps because we used to own Denmark. We, the Swedes.
After about twenty minutes in Solvang, I wasn't so mesmerized anymore. It started to feel too Danish, in fact, way more Danish then Denmark itself. Like someone forgot to add the water. So we got back in the car and headed to our final stop: The Camarillo Outlets. "Bear Necessities" came on the Disney radio and I finally got my moment to shine since I could belt it out in Swedish.
After some of us drove and some of us napped, we arrived at the outlets a half-hour before closing time and quickly prioritized, split up and headed to our respective destinations; Saks & Disney for Hundgen, New Balance & J Crew for John, and Barney's for me. I was surprised two gay men let me go into Barney's alone since that place is death trap for girls who like to shop. Two pairs of pretty shoes later, we all converged on the Polo Ralph Lauren store before piling back into the car and heading home, exhausted but happy. What a fun-filled day!
Thanks to Ron (of Number 1: Mac & Macca fame) for suggesting this for the Forty by Forty project, the soup was definitely worth it.
Aside from the obvious treats - the pea soup & apple pie, the visit to the "motherland" village, and the shopping spree - the biggest treat was spending the day with my sweet and delightful friends John and Hundgen...I can't thank you guys enough for our spectacular day together!
i think i'm going to stop by pea soup anderson's on my road trip! those bottomless bowls - how fun!
Posted by: lynn @ the actor's diet | 07/05/2011 at 08:40 PM
Awww -- thanks for the shout-out. Love your chutzpah. Cliff told me that was Danish for spunk.
Posted by: Molly | 08/18/2010 at 02:09 PM
How fun!! I've been to Solvang - it is way over Danishized:)
Posted by: karen | 08/17/2010 at 03:02 PM