Exploring LA...The Getty, W Westwood, and Blue Whale in DT

It's taken us almost 3 years to make it to the Getty. Crazy, I know, but life gets in the way. We are able to make it a few weeks back and had such a great time. The exhibits were good, but the architecture was the most impressive. We loved the white modern look coupled with the rustic cream rock work. Brilliant! And the views of LA, fantastic! You could see everything (even with the haze). We spent a few hours exploring the exhibits (Cuban photos, British watercolors, European paintings and sculptures), and the garden. We also had  some amazing mussels and clams appetizer at the restaurant there. Delicious!

After an afternoon at the Getty we decided it wasn't time to go home. So we headed off to the W in Westwood for some sweet potato fires and drinks pool side at their backyard restaurant. It was quite and lovely, a good time to just sit and actually have conversations (you know how you don't really have conversations at home when you are in a relationship). It was lovely. I was a bit tired. Well EXHAUSTED really, I had gotten up at 8 that day to play beach volleyball in HB with some girls and ended up playing for like 4 hours, then stack up some hours at a museum and I was getting a bit cranky but didn't want to give up on our night in LA. Nick is a sweetheart and very patient with me. I am glad I sucked up my tiredness to go listen to some live jazz (something we miss desperately about SF). We found Blue Whale in downtown LA in the Japan town area. Amazing! The band was awesome and it was great listening. We ended the night two doors down for a late night snack of miso-noodle soup, yum!

Great date day

Adventures in Cooking...Camping Menu

We spent 3 days camping and I was pretty impressed that we didn't have much spoilage or too many left overs. I am learning how to ration and pack better. I am going to share our camping menu with you, maybe some items will make it on your next trip. I'm sorry I don't have more food photos, next time I will be more diligent in taking photos.

Day 1

Lunch- Stopped at In-and-Out Burger (my road trip favorite)

Appetizer- Guacamole and chips

Make the guac at home and put in a plastic container. I made mine with 2 avocados, 1/2 white onion- diced, 1/4 cup diced jalapenos, and a squirt of lime and some pepper. Leave the pits in the dish as they will help by keeping browning away.

Dinner- at the campsite, consisted of wood BBQed Steaks and garlic-pepper potatoes (both purchased at Meat House) 

We bought the potatoes already seasoned but you could easily prepare them before hand and just wrap in foil to put on the BBQ.

Desert- S more's, yumm. 

I guess August is National S more's month, at least that's what the grocery store person told me.

Beverages- Water, Beer (Tecate for Nick), and Wine (I found this lovely Spanish red at Albertson's for $20, it was pretty good for a box and great for camping)

Day 2

Breakfast- Coffee (Nick), Tea (Katie), bacon and scrambled eggs. 

Hint if you do the bacon first you and eggs right after they cook in the bacon fat and taste so much better.

Lunch- Cut up veggies and hummus dip. Chicken salad sandwiches with jalapeno cheddar.

I made the chicken salad before hand and put in a Tupperware. Then I assembled the sandwiches that morning and put in plastic baggies for the car ride. My chicken salad recipe was 2 cans chicken from Costco, 3 sticks celery diced, 1/2 red bell pepper diced, 2 carrot sticks diced, and 1/4 cup light mayonnaise. 

Appetizers- Oysters at Ah Shucks and Calamari at The Tap Room

Dinner- Spinach fettuccine, basil pesto, and meatballs.

We cooked the meatballs on the grill, they turned out great.

Dessert- S more's

Beverages- Water, Tecate, Wine

Day 3

Breakfast- French toast, Coffee, Tea

Lunch- Guac and chips, Chicken salad, cheese and crackers

Dinner- Wedding food!

After wedding- Garlic bread and meatballs

Beverages- Water, Tecate, Wine

Day 4

Breakfast- Bacon and Scrambled onion and cheese Eggs with Avocado, coffee and tea

This time we cut up some green onions (from the cut veggie snack on Day 2) and some cheese and scrambled them up with the eggs. Also had a fresh avo to slice over the eggs.

Lunch- Firestone's, yummy

Quote Friday, Walkabout

"I like to walk about among the beautiful things that adorn the world." - George Santana

I'm itching for another walkabout... for now I will just reminisce about a trek I took with some girlfriends at Abel Tasman national park in New Zealand in 2006.

Unexpected Date Night

Last week we had a massive power outage for over 5 hours. I was just preparing some cauliflower rice (recipe to come) and cider mariscos for dinner, when the power blows. There goes dinner plans, since a microwave is necessary for the rice. And I didn't really feel like cooking in the dark. So I stashed everything in the fridge (hoping that the power would come on before morning so that I didn't lose it and the $150 of groceries I just bought) and Nick and I headed out to Side Door our favorite spot in CdM.

I have to say it was a nice change of pace for a Wednesday night, and instead of eating while watching TV, like we always do, we were actually able to enjoy some nice tapas and conversation. If you haven't been to Side Door and live in the area, you MUST GO NOW! It's fantastic. They are an English-style gastropub located in the 5 Crowns Restaurant. Don't worry the dinosaurs stick to the 5 Crowns side... (you know what I'm talking about if you live here). Side Door is hip and popular with the 20-40s crowd. They have a rotating menu with the seasons, a great beer and wine selection, fabulous deserts, and a phenomenal selection of cheeses.

* Photos from Side Door

Our meal consisted of:

A delicious Salty Dog (gin, grapefruit) cocktail

Santa Barbara Syrah

3 Choice chef's cheese/ prosciutto plate

Salmon Tartar

Pork Confeit

Root Beer Float Cake for dessert (YUM)

We topped off the night with a stop at Crow Bar (since we learned that the power was still out at 10pm) for a night cap for wine.

Upon returning home the power was still out :( But we had a great night and I have to thank So Cal Edison for forcing us to have a date night mid-week. And thank them for restoring power sometime in the night so that the groceries did not go bad!

Camping and the Kahrs-Freer Wedding

Okay I know this post is about a week late, but I was swamped with getting back to work and real life. Below are some highlights from our camping trip on the way to the Kahrs-Freer wedding in Carmel.

We started our journey Thursday morning and sprinted up to SLO to grab Hwy 1 on our way to our "secret" camping spot. I say "secret" because it's not, you just have to be adventurous and be willing to camp without services (shower, toilet) for the night. But you do get breath-taking views of the sunset and sunrise from this spot. I'll just say we are off fire roads in the Monterey part of Los Padres National Forest just south of Big Sur. Aren't these views amazing? Totally worth not having a toilet.

As I was watching the clouds roll in, with a glass of wine in hand, of course, I couldn't help but notice (maybe I just made it up) but I could swear that they (the clouds) were moving in currents and waves just the the ocean below them. Such a great way to view/contemplate nature.

The next morning we got up, enjoyed some breakfast and the view then settled in for some quiet reading before heading up the road to Carmel.

We passed some construction, we assume it was the area that had been washed out earlier in the year by a landslide. So glad they are building a bridge now, but still a bit unsettling and a reminder of how powerful mother nature is.

Once we reached Carmel we realized we were luxury camping, a big change from the night before. The views were not there but they did have hot showers, electricity, toilets, and a swimming pool! First thing we did after setting up camp was to jump in the pool. Next we decided to wander into Carmel-by-the-Sea. Once there we realized that this is the place I had my first Oysters a few years back with Nick so we hunted down the spot, Ah Shucks, and stopped in for a dozen and a glass of Oyster Bay Sauvingnon Blanc (NZed of course) for me and a Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer, lime) for Nick.

Not a bad camping appetizer. I have to say out of the three types we had the ones from Tomales Bay (even though I missed them on my Nor-Cal trip) were the best. They had a sweet saltwater tang. The ones from BC were second, very creamy. And coming in third the Washington Oysters, they weren't bad just more bland than the other two.

We continued our day with a drive up 17-mile drive and a stop at the The Tap Room in Pebble Beach for some beer's and calamari before heading back to our campsite.

Saturday we lounged around the camp, read and then got ready for the wedding. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself for getting ready for a semi-formal wedding in a camp bathroom.

The wedding was a blast! Thanks Ash and Rob for including us in your wonderful day. They got married just down the road from our campsite at the Holy Farm. It was an amazing venue and Ashley was a gorgeous bride.

By Sunday's arrival I was feeling a bit grungy and ready to go home. We did get to stop at Firestone's in SLO for some tri-tip sandwiches, steak salad, and fries. A perfect ending to a great camping weekend.

Quote Friday, Take to the breeze

"We take to the breeze, we go as we please" ~ E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

Costa Rican monkeys (2009)

Adventures in Cooking....Grilled steak sandwiches with Chimichurri Sauce (Argentine style)

My favorite place in Argentina was this road side lunch stand. They served the best sandwich de vacio or steak sandwich with grilled egg, onion, cheese and chimichurri sauce. I loved it so much I would plan my weekends so that I would be in the Palermo area so that I could eat one, and I took every one I knew (Nick when he visited and new kids from the internship program) to the place. I have to say it was by far my favorite thing to eat in Argentina. Since Nick and I butchered up a bunch of steaks not long ago (post on this soon), I have had quite a few steaks in the freezer and decided it was time to make my favorite sandwich.

So here you go.

Argentina style steak sandwich. 

For 2 people you need.

2 fresh sourdough rolls sliced in half

2 thin cuts of steak

Some medium cut onion rounds

Jack cheese

Montreal steak seasoning

2 fried eggs

Season the steaks with Montreal seasoning. BBQ the steaks and onions regularly, add the cheese to the steaks when you have 2 minutes left of grilling time. Add the roles to the BBQ to get crispy.

While you are BBQing fry the 2 eggs.

Assemble the sandwich (bread, steak, cheese, onion, egg, chimichurri (see below for recipe), bread). 

Chimichurri Sauce

The original recipe I used needed to be tweaked quite a bit, my version is below.

1 bunch fresh parsley

2 bay leaves

3 tablespoons minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 small white onion

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (definitely not Argentine, but I like spice)

Put all ingredients into a food processor, chop until you have a smooth sauce with small pieces of parsley visible. This made about 1 1/2 cups of sauce. I recommend putting what you won't eat up in 2 weeks (it will go bad, even in the fridge) in an ice cube tray in the freezer and to pull out a cube and de-thaw as needed. 

I hope you enjoy, preferably with a glass of Malbec, we did!

The artichokes were to get some green in the meal...

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Northern California Trip Part 3

On Friday I headed towards the valley for Poker Run and Houseboats with my sorority little sister and her family. I did stop in Modesto to have lunch with my Grandmother and Aunt, then it was off to Lake McClure for the weekend. I was good this year and DID NOT get hurt, woohoo! It was a beautiful weekend and perfectly warm for boating. Sammie's Uncle Billy won the poker game with 4 Aces and a 9, and the boat won a few raffle prizes as well, so it was a good run. If you don't know what poker run is, well I will tell you. The houseboat association puts on a poker run each year. You get a ticket and get on a boat and then drive all over the lake to find the diller boats or poker boats. Once you arrive at each boat they give you a drink and a snack and then you pull a poker card, at the end of the day you are tipsy, full, sun tanned, and hopefully have a good hand. They also have a water fight incorporated into the "run". They fights are pretty fun to watch and boats get soaked. Sammie's dad made the ultimate water gun from a pump, PVC pipe and hose nozzles, needless to say their boat kicked but. Here are a few photos from the weekend.

Jail House Rock Boat

Mardi Gras Boat

"Our" boat killing it in a water fight

The Little and Me

I made the drive home from Merced in only 5 hours, yay! Just in time to unpack, do laundry, and re-pack for camping, another road trip up the southern part of Hwy1, and the Kahrs-Freer wedding in Carmel. Stay tuned.

Article Review...10 projections the future of education

I found this article interesting. Some of the projections are probably true like no more paper text books, at least in wealthy areas or within schools lucky enough to get grants for ipads and tablets. No more middle schools, or at least a lot less. The trend has been to go back to K-8/ 9-12 split in schools. I think as long as you separate the play ground (keep the little ones away from the bigger ones) then it would work, most private schools I know of are K-8 anyways and the kids who attended those schools seemed better prepared and more confident for high school (at least in my experience). And I have seen online classes replace college programs (especially for masters degrees), I am enrolled in one, MAT at USC, it's all online/virtual learning, and I love it. I get the exposure to great USC teachers without having to sit in traffic and deal with the crime at the real campus in LA. Plus I get to meet people from all over the world from the comfort of my own home, the only tools I need are a laptop, webcam, and skype to attend class, oh and those online PDF reader books are so cheap, much better than paper textbooks, now if only someone would give me an ipad......(to read those books, of course).

Image from: MacTrast

Now for the bogus ones, at least in my opinion. What kid is really going to learn from a robot? I think if I was in elementary school this robot would creep me out. And what kid is really going to listen to a robot chew them out for misbehaving in class, come one? REALLY? And eliminating testing like SAT and ACT, hardly. I think they will just replace the archaic exams with new ones, because people would complain of unfairness of ranking student portfolios based on demographics and opportunity. Those are just my thoughts.

Image from: kyawkyawoo

What do you think? Will education change drastically in 10 years?

Quote Friday, Breath

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the places and moments that take our breath away" ~ Anonymous

Agreed! And this photo captures one of those moments of magic....Photo from a "secret spot" camping trip just south of Big Sur off Hwy 1in the Los Padres National Forest (2009)

As you read this Nick and I will be sitting here watching this exact scene over the Pacific Ocean (hopefully if the coastal layers cooperate). We FINALLY get to go on a mini camping trip thanks to Ashley and Rob getting married this weekend in Carmel.

Northern California Trip Part 2

Sunday afternoon my mom and I headed up to Santa Rosa to start our 4.5 day Sonoma/Mendocino County/Napa road trip. First stop was the Petaluma outlets for some back to school shopping (even Master's students need some love), then dinner at my cousin's in Santa Rosa. It was a fun reunion since my mom hasn't seen my cousins in over 15 years due to my parents divorce (and the cousins belonging to my dad's side of the family). It was nice that people can still get along and reminisce after so many years.

Monday my cousin Tala took my mom and I wine tasting in the Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. First stop was Ferrari Carano for their delicious Fume Blanc and view of gorgeous gardens.

Ferrari-Carano Gardens

Next stops were Bella Winery, where you get to taste in their wine caves. Their 2009 Zinfandel was fabulous and we were able to taste and purchase it before it hit the sales and tasting floor. Score! Next stop was Qvuvira Winery who are dedicated to bio-dynamic farming and wines. We had lunch in downtown Healdsburg with the family (minus cousin Alex, he had to work) and then went to a few more wineries...After lunch I was a bit foggy so I am sorry I can't tell you where else we went, but that's wine tasting for you.

Family reunion

That evening my mom and I drove out to the coast to begin our trip North up beautiful Hwy 1. We drove down to Tomales Bay and up to Bodega Bay for dinner, then back to our rad hotel in Valley Forge. A note on the hotel; it was nice and would have been really cool had the bar been open so that you could mingle with other guests like you do at the hostels in Europe. But we think if we had been there another night the place would have been really sweet.

Bodega Bay Golf Course Views

Tuesday we rose early and headed up Hwy 1. We stopped at Timber creek lodge and had gorgeous views of the ocean during breakfast.Next we stopped at Schooner Gulch, or Bowling Ball beach, unfortunately you can only see the bowling ball rocks at extremely low tide and it was high tide when we were there. Then it was on to Point Arena harbor and the lighthouse. We had gorgeous views all the way up to Van Damme State park and the pygmy forest. Which was super neat because you are walking through a normal redwood forest and then you stumble upon these tiny toothpick  and sick looking trees that are over 100 years old. The soil they are in is so old there are no nutrients so the trees don't grow well. After visiting the little trees it was back up Hwy 1 and over to Point Cabrillo lighthouse then over to lunch in Mendocino. We ended our day touring Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. We were surprised that there were still glass pebbles on the beach, I guess back in the 70's you could find some real treasures. It's called Glass Beach because it used to be a landfill and the ocean has slowly eroded much of the glass that had been there and made it into beautiful shapes and pebbles. Too bad it's hey-day was in the 70's, there were still tons of glass pebbles but all the large pieces and really pretty blue and green glass was mostly gone, only brown and clear pebbles left. For dinner we stopped at North Coast Brewing Company, I highly recommend their Schrimshaw Pilsner, Blue Star Hef and Red Seal Ale.

 Sculpture at Bowling Ball Beach

Pygmy Forest, can you believe these trees are over 100 years old?

Glass Beach

Point Arena

Wednesday it was off through the redwoods towards Ukiah where we relaxed at Vichy Springs Resort. They have 100 year old baths filled with sparkling mineral water (I guess there are only 3 places in the world to find this water). It was a nice surprise find on our trip and a very relaxing afternoon.  Then it was off to the City of 10,000 Buddhas, which is a Buddhist College in the Redwoods, kind of ironic. Our final stop was Ukiah Brewing Company and I have to say their beer was DELICIOUS! I liked all six that we tried, fantastic. Oh and the food was phenomenal too. All organic, the food and beer. Yummy

Vichy Springs Baths

10,000 Buddhas

Ukiah brewing company taster beers

Thursday was my mom and my final day of our tour. We stopped at the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa before driving home through the beautiful Napa Valley. We even stumbled on this fantastic Argentine restaurant  so we stopped and had Choripan sandwiches, Torrontes wine, and Alfajores for lunch. Made me miss Argentina a bit, sniff.

Snoopy

Stay tuned for the last bit of the trip....Houseboats!