Sheesh, once again Bert has pointed out that my last
post was on the 15th - MAN, I DO so hate to disappoint someone so
desperate to find something to do with his time. So here you go Bert, a new post.
We spent a week in Los Angeles with Heinz officially
morphing into an Opa (German for Grandfather). He went over to the kids’ apartment several days doing
exciting chores like spackling walls, changing out light fixtures, fixing
dripping water faucets and hanging shelves in the nursery and bathroom. Jess promised to make another “honey
do” – ah, make that… “Opa-do”…
list of chores for when we get back to LA in June.
New light with dimmer switch for the nursery.
Along the way we ate at Crustacean in Beverly
Hills. This restaurant is the
sister restaurant to the Crustacean in San Francisco which I’ve written about
before. We took Jess and Pete and
introduced Jess to her first whole Dungeness crab. What an introduction, these garlic and butter infused crabs
are to die for. We also indulged
in a large platter of garlic noodles, a specialty of the house. Jess spent the next few days
daydreaming about take-out noodles and trying to determine whether it was a
foodie or pregnancy craving. My
guess is that it was the foodie crying out for more.
After a week it was time to pack up and move to
the Monterey Pines RV Park, a small park run by the Navy in the middle of
Monterey, CA. We spent three
nights there revisiting old haunts and eating at some of our favorite restaurants
from the time when Heinz was stationed at the Naval Postgraduate School. The area was in full bloom and a visual
feast!
Monterey pines at Lovers Point.
Artists were out taking advantage of the weather.
Shoreline along Pebble Beach.
Embankment along Ocean Blvd.
Speaking of restaurants, we ate
at three of our favorites while in Monterey. The Little Chicken House is a tiny hole-in-the-wall in
Pacific Grove that has killer pork ribs - always fall-off-the-bone tender, and served
with a tangy BBQ sauce that is perfect for dipping. You know you are in the right place when you see the smoking
pits out front for brisket and ribs, and the huge rotiserre inside for chicken. If you’re in Monterey and tiring of
seafood, try this spot for fabulous BBQ.
Quick Heinz, take the picture,
I need to dig in!
Rotisserre in the Little Chicken House.
We also drove north to Moss
Landing to eat at Phil’s Seafood Market and Eatery. Phil’s has been reviewed on CNN, Road Tasted, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Bobby Flay and Phil DiGirolamo fought a battle over Cioppino
and Phil won. The restaurant has
also been featured in Coastal Living, San
Francisco Magazine, Sunset Magazine,The San Francisco Chronicle, The Financial
Times of London, Travel Magazine, and the list goes on and on.
We started with a bowl of clam
chowder to split, and ended with codfish and chips and my favorite, a one pound
platter of calamari.
If you love calamari, this is the place and the dish!
Phil's in Moss Landing, dress casual, it really IS a fish market!
On our last night we headed
over to Asilomar Beach and ate at the Fishwife. This is a popular place for the locals and has been around
for 30+ years. The menu features
fresh seafood with a Caribbean flair.
It’s usually crowded and on weekends I would recommend that you call for
reservations as the wait can stretch out quite a bit. We settled in with a couple of drinks and waited for our
fisherman’s bowls to arrive. These
are fresh fish with rice, black beans, spicy cabbage slaw, melon salsa and
steamed vegetables served in a shallow bowl. Heinz opted for the Baja with shrimp, scallops, and crab
while I chose the Ensenada starring shrimp, scallops, calamari, and
tilapia. Needless to say there was
no room for dessert.
A popular spot at the end of Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove.
Don’t worry though. We didn’t spend ALL of our time in
Monterey eating. We also took
advantage of the free passes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium that were on offer
from the RV Campground office.
This is one of the best aquariums in the US and was always a favorite
destination of mine when we lived in the area. We spent several enjoyable hours wandering around viewing
the exhibits that ranged from fish, to plant life, to environmental concerns,
to otters and penguins.
Sea anenomes.
Debris from the stomach of a Layson's albatross.
Heinz "petting" a starfish.
A seagull sculpture made of plastics washed up by the tides.
Golden seahorse from the Caribbean.
There are some fabulous
displays of jellyfish and seahorses and I managed to film some videos with my
phone.
Sea Nettles from the northeast Pacific.
Moon Jellies from the northern Atlantic.
Sea Dragons from Australia.
During our time in Monterey we
drove up to our old housing area on Fort Ord. While the installation was closed back in the nineties, the
housing area remains for students at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) and
Naval Postgraduate School. Imagine
our surprise when we spotted the name of some neighbors still on the house
across the street. So we parked
and rang the doorbell. Sure
enough, Susan and Bill are still living there. Bill is a retired Army colonel and had previously been post
commander at Fort Ord. The two of
them have now retired permanently to Monterey. Bill was out of town, but we sat and caught up with
Susan. After a while she asked if
we had seen Bridget and Bobby who had also lived across from us at the
time. More surprises…the Army had
sent Bobby back to Monterey, to learn Arabic at the DLI, and they were living
just a few doors up the street. So
off the three of us went to surprise the Davis’s. I really wish I’d had my
camera with me to catch the look of surprise on Bridget’s face when she opened
the door - it was priceless!
Alas, after three days our time
in Monterey was up and we headed north to Travis AFB in Fairfield CA, and the
FamCamp on base. We get a lot of
questions from people about what we look like when we hit the road with the
motorcycle loaded and the car hooked up for towing. So I thought I’d snap a shot.
Ready to roll.
Our time here at Travis has
mostly been spent relaxing and catching up with old friends. Deb and Mike came over for dinner on
Friday night and we had a good time filling each other in on our lives and
laughing about old times. I fixed
grilled artichokes as an appetizer.
The guys scarfed down on them pretty quickly and Mike recommended
sharing the recipe. Heinz pointed
out that I have been a bit stingy the last few months in the recipe-sharing
department, so you’ll find it at the end of today’s post.
Saturday we headed up to Loomis
CA to see Bert and Kathy, where the four of us headed over to the Lincoln Wine
Fest. The festival featured wine
tastings from 14 local Placer County wineries. Unlike some other wine tastings, one ticket got you
unlimited wine tastings, as well as munchies from local restaurants. The tastings were set up in local retail
shops, so you got to see a bit of
the town, and what the stores had to offer, while you sipped… and sipped… and
sipped. In addition bands were
playing and local artists had booths in the town square. It was low key, but definitely an enjoyable
afternoon.
What will you have? Chardonnay or Viognier? Zin or Cab?
Bert and Heinz busy catching up,
or maybe telling lies, or maybe both!
Bottoms up Heinz, there’s more
wineries to try.
A job well done deserves a reward.
End of the day.
At the end of the Fest, we
headed back to the house for more talk and laughter, then out to a late Italian
dinner at Rubino’s in Rockville CA.
After dinner it was back to the house for even more talk and laughter,
with us finally heading home around 1:00 am. Sorry about the late hour guys, you can come to us next time
and keep us up til all hours.
Back in Tucson I spotted some
great little Fairy Gardens at a plant nursery. They stuck in my mind and I kept playing around with
designs. I’ve included a shot of
my first attempt at my own Fairy Garden.
Tucson inspiration.
My Fairy Garden RV Park--the plants will grow into it--I hope...
The weather is beautiful right
now, cool nights and warm days. If
this keeps up, I see a nice long motorcycle ride in our future.
Here’s our “friends of the day…
ah, weeks” gone by:
Beverly in her usual mellow mood.
Bat Ray at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The aquarium's version of Where's Waldo?, aka, find the flatfish (hint, there's 2 of them).
Feathered beach friend.
As
promised, the latest recipe to share:
Grilled Artichokes with Lemon-Dill Aioli
Don’t let the list of
ingredients or length of instructions intimidate you. This is really a very simple recipe and just delicious. Heinz likes it without the Aioli, I
like it with – you just have to decide for yourself.
Serves 6 as an appetizer.
Artichokes
6 medium artichokes
4 tbsp. lemon juice or white
wine vinegar
Marinade (makes 5 cups)
1 tbsp. dill, chopped
1 tbsp. parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. tarragon, chopped
1 tbsp. thyme, chopped
1 tbsp. chives, chopped
1 tbsp. basil, chopped
1 tbsp. garlic, chopped
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
2 cups balsamic vinegar
2 cups olive oil
Lemon-Dill Aioli
4 egg yolks
4 tbsp. lemon juice
4-6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp. dill, chopped
1 ½ cups olive oil
Tabasco sauce, salt, and black
pepper to taste
Marinade:
In a blender, combine the
chopped herbs, garlic, pepper, brown sugar, and vinegar. Blend for about 10 seconds at medium speed. Slowly add the olive oil in a thin
stream while blending at low speed to emulsify oil. Set aside.
Artichokes:
1.
Wash artichokes and peel
the coarse fibers from the stem.
Remove tough bottom leaves and cut off about an inch from the top of
each artichoke.
2.
Plunge artichokes into a
large pot filled with boiling water.
Add the lemon juice or vinegar and boil gently until done. Allow 25-40 minutes to cook, depending
on the size of the artichokes.
Artichokes are done when the outer leaves pull off easily and the bottom
is tender. Test them often by
piercing with the point of a knife.
They should be a bit resistant, but not hard in the center.
3.
Drain artichokes upside
down. Cool in the refrigerator for
one hour then slice in half, lengthwise.
Remove the light green cone of tiny leaves (the choke) from the center
of the artichoke. The choke can be
easily removed in one piece.
4.
Place artichokes in
marinade and refrigerate at least 6-8 hours or overnight. Be sure artichokes are submerged in marinade. I usually put them in a gallon ziplock
bag and turn them every hour or so.
5.
Before serving, grill
for 3-5 minutes per side, or roast in the oven for 7 minutes at 350
degrees. Serve hot with Lemon Dill
Aioli for dipping.
Lemon Dill Aioli
1.
Place egg yolks in a
small bowl and beat on high speed until frothy.
2.
Add lemon juice, garlic,
and dill. Whisk to combine.
3.
Add oil one drop at a
time until the mixture begins to thicken and an emulsion begins to form. Add the remaining oil in a slow, steady
stream ntil all oil has been incorporated.
4.
Season with Tabasco,
salt, and pepper to taste.
