A Day in San Francisco

Teen2 and I had a wonderful day out last Saturday. We went to the De Young Museum to see the "Masters of Venice" exhibition. It was very interesting and we enjoyed studying the paintings. They are from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna so our chances of seeing them in person were pretty slim.

Afterwards, since we were right there in Golden Gate Park, we walked over to the Japanese Tea Garden. If you've never been there I highly recommend a visit. Plan to go when the azaleas and deciduous magnolias are blooming. That would be around the end of February or early March. And then come the cherry blossoms in March and April.

We spent an enjoyable hour strolling through the garden and looking at the koi.

Then we decided we needed a little snack, so we had some jasmine tea, the O-Musubi set, and a Taiyaki. Taiyaki is a waffle batter snack filled with red bean paste. The mold it's cooked in makes it look like a fish. Isn't it cute? It tasted really good too! Teen2 and I really like Japanese food so we were in heaven.

Next we went to the Legion of Honor. What a beautiful building it is. And what a beautiful setting out there in Lincoln Park.

I wanted Teen2 to see Bernini's Medusa. I got a better photo of it this time because I used a real camera instead of my phone. It's just mind boggling that this thing is almost 400 years old and still hypnotizing folks with its beauty.

We also visited many of the other galleries. Teen2 like this room from France. It reminded me of Versailles.

And of course we had to visit Monet's Water Lilies again.

After our dose of culture, we had dinner at Fog City Diner and then we drove home relaxed, satisfied, and enriched. All in all it was a GREAT day out. Thanks Teen2.

The End.

detail Renoir's Mother and Child

Pt. Sur Lighthouse

Have you ever visited a lighthouse? Over the years we have visited several here in California. And when we were in Oregon two years ago we visited three more, but we had never visited the one that is probably closest to us; Pt. Sur. It's only 19 miles south of Carmel on Highway 1. It sits out on a rock that is connected to the mainland by a sandy spit of land and often looks like an island. I took the photo above early in the morning on our way to see the elephant seals.

You can tour Pt. Sur Lighthouse on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. All you have to do is pull off the highway at the gate and wait for the docents to let you in. Then you drive across the pasture, park, and start your walking tour with the docents leading the way.

As your group climbs up over 300' to the top of the rock, the docents stop and explain how the lighthouse came to be, and interesting facts about the history of the area. When you get to the lighthouse they take small groups up the spiral staircase to the top.

The views from the top of the lighthouse are beautiful; especially on the day we visited because the weather was so warm and clear.

Here is a drawing of the original equipment showing the Fresnel lens. The lens and machinery were taken out in 1978 and put on display at the Museum of Monterey.

Above you can see the modern electric light. It isn't nearly as pretty as the prismatic Fresnel lens, but its white flash every 15 seconds probably still looks BEAUTIFUL to a confused mariner far out at sea.

Speaking of beautiful, Teen2 was on her winter break and accompanied us on this tour. Looks like she enjoyed it.

Elephant Seals near Piedras Blancas

Just south of Piedras Blancas Lighthouse, and 4 miles north of Hearst Castle is a Northern Elephant Seal rookery. December and January are prime months to visit because that's when the babies are born. We drove down there this morning from Carmel and had a wonderful visit with these interesting animals.

Elephant Seals were almost hunted to extinction in the late 1800s, but in 1990 two dozen seals came to this beach and eventually a rookery was established and now several hundred babies are born here every year.

The bulls arrive as early as November just waiting for the females...

and practicing their fighting techniques. (These are younger males.)

The pregnant females start arriving in December and the first babies are generally born around the middle of December. The mothers nurse the babies for only 4 weeks, after which they mate and then they slip into the ocean to eat. They don't eat at all while waiting for and nursing their babies.

The babies will teach themselves how to swim and fish, but the rich milk the mothers provide has plumped them up to 300 pounds which sustains them while they are learning. The docent told us that the pup above is only a couple of days old.

While all this drama is happening, the old males just snooze and wait for Valentine's Day.

Good Weather for a Festival

Thank goodness the rain stopped and now we can set up the entry gate banners for the Asparagus Festival. Our crew was out there early this morning assembling the frameworks and attaching the banners. I ran by to get a few photos and check if they needed anything else. Sure enough, the Festival needs one more price sign, so I'm going to jump right on that and deliver it at noon.

The weather promises to be perfect for the Festival; 75 to 80 degrees with gentle breezes. So if you need a fun day out, come to Stockton for the 25th Asparagus Festival. It runs three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 7pm.

Asparagus Festival Preparations

It's Asparagus Festival time here in Stockton, California. If you are looking for a FUN festival you'd better come to Stockton this Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Not only do we have the yummiest deep fried asparagus, but we have great entertainment, arts, crafts, and a skateboarding dog! And I'm excited to see that the famous street painter Tracy Lee Stum will be here too. She paints wonderful illusions with chalk right on the sidewalk.

We have been busy, busy, busy at work getting ready for the Festival; making and installing lots of signs and banners. We do this every year. It's always hectic, but I still enjoy it. And during all that hard work, this is the reward I keep thinking about:

If you'd like to see other things we saw at last year's Asparagus Festival, click here. Hope to see you at the Festival!

Girl Scout Cookies

A little Girl Scout lives next door to us and last night she delivered our cookies. We all did a little happy dance as we whisked them into the kitchen. Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies and all that they stand for?

I remember when I was a little girl - too young to be a Girl Scout myself - my mom was the Den Mother for my sisters. And I distinctly remember boxes and boxes of cookies stacked in her bedroom when it was cookie sales season. They smelled so good and looked so tempting. And every now and then we would purchase a box - and they tasted good too.

The boxes may have changed; they seem smaller to me now. The labels may have changed; they are much more colorful now. But the cookies still taste like they used to. It's good to know some things never change.

Would anyone care for a Thin Mint?

the California Coast

Recently the Lord of the Manor and I went to Pacific Grove to install some stuff. It was a typical dreary Central Valley winter day, but on the coast it was BEAUTIFUL! Rugged rocks, windswept cypress trees, smashing surf, clear blue sky, plenty of birds, the fresh fresh scent of the ocean - perfect. It's no wonder so many folks want to live here and their real estate costs show it. We couldn't afford a shack here, but a day trip like this is certainly affordable. Visit the coast sometime this winter for a little pick-me-up. You won't regret it.

A New Cookbook

Teen1 likes to cook, always has. It is an oft told story that when she was about 4 years old she got up in the middle of the night and wandered into the kitchen. My mommy sense, or the noise she was making, woke me up and I stumbled into the kitchen to find her sitting on a stool in front of the microwave oven singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "Cooking breakfast." And indeed she had put bacon on a paper towel covered plate and was cooking it! I told her that bacon for breakfast was a wonderful idea, but that it was still nighttime. "See, it's dark outside." So we put the bacon away and went back to bed. But later we did have that bacon for breakfast.

Teen1 still likes to cook and asked for this cookbook for Christmas. It's by two local women, Claudia Pruett and Rima Barkett. They used to have a restaurant downtown where we often ate. The food was always fresh and well prepared and delicious. Sadly the restaurant has been sold and the food is not quite the same. Their focus is now on encouraging family cooking through this website, the cookbook, and charity projects. In fact, one day they came to Teen1's cooking class at high school and gave a demonstration. Wonderful women!

So last night Teen1 asked to make dinner and when I picked her up from work she had purchased the ingredients and when we got home she made Penne con Scampi.

And. It. Was. Delicious!

I hope this is the first of many happy meals from that book.

See's Candies

Recognize this box? "I do, I do!" And if you are from the West Coast of the US, you might also recognize it as See's Candies famous red Christmas box. We were given this box by our insurance salesman. He gives us one every year. In fact, giving See's Candies has been a tradition around here for many years.

See's Candies was started in Los Angeles in the 1920s by a Canadian man. His mother, Mary See, helped with some of the initial recipes, and her picture is still on every box. See's prides itself on fresh, unique, preservative-free candy. Each tidy little shop is still decorated as they were in the 1930s; spotless white with black accents.

We have a stand-alone shop in our town. It's been there for at least 40 years that I know of. You can buy prepackaged assortments, or you can select your favorites from behind the glass. And you always get a free sample before you leave. Tell me, who gives away free samples now days?

I used to work right next door to this shop. Most afternoons one of us would suggest a little pick-me-up, so we'd scrape together our change, and one of us would walk across the parking lot to select a few of our favorites. It was heaven.

So here's what is in the assorted chocolates box. Lovely, aren't they?

I actually prefer the nuts and chews assortment, but I'll choke these down somehow.


Yum.

See's Candies, a happy habit.

Lunch at the Spa

We celebrated our anniversary at the Spa again this year. I talked about it last year, but I didn't show you our lunch, so today I'll show you the food.

Here is the Lord of the Manor's beet salad. It tasted as yummy as it looked.


Here is my pear and endive salad. The sweetness of the pear was perfectly offset by the bitterness of the endive, and accented by the richness of the blue cheese and nuts. Scrummy!

Here is the entree we shared. Pan seared salmon with polenta and ratatouille.


We managed to find room for lava cake for dessert. Then we waddled over to the spa for our massage. What a wonderful day.

Lodi Street Faire

We went to the Lodi Street Faire on Sunday. It's always lots of fun with antiques, crafts, food and people watching. This booth had interesting treasures from Europe. I really liked those wicker baskets and that work table. They had a similar work table covered with metal. That would be a great addition to a crafts room, wouldn't it?

They had several sets of cafe furniture. I gravitated towards this red set, of course. But I already have lots of patio furniture, so I don't really need it. This red coffee grinder caught my eye too. Mainly it reminded me that I needed a cup of coffee....


In the end we only bought one tiny thing for Acorn Cottage; a little cast iron hook which I'll show to you soon. But we had a nice day out from Amongst The Oaks.