Home
for three days and then back on the road. Thursday morning we got up early and
drove to Santa Monica and stayed in Jana's new apartment just a mile from the
ocean. Having left temperatures in the 100's, it was a nice reprieve with daytime
temps in the mid-70's. While Jana lawyered, we worked her to-do list: running
errands, hanging pictures, fixing a few boo-boo's around the apartment, and, of
course, taking care of her precious kittens, Olive and Izzy! Both Thursday and
Friday evenings Jana and Bashir treated us to great meals...maybe that's
because we wore signs that said: Will Work for Food!
The first night we went to
Casablanca, where we had fabulous margheritas made at the table and freshly
made flour tortillas with a unique green sauce with bits of cheese. That was
just for starters! This was not your run-of-the-mill Mexican restaurant. For
example, Casablanca is well known for it’s dozen or so entrees featuring
calamari. Friday night we went to Musha's (Japanese, Asian fusion), where we
had no less than ten courses...all small plates. Several were prepared at the
table by the server, or, in one case by Verne (hot-rock cooking). One example,
just to give an idea of the creative food we enjoyed...Takotama ("Musha's
signature dish! Two layered omelette with chopped octopus, leeks, red ginger
and bonito broth, covered with their original thick dark sauce. At first we
thought the place was over-the-top Noisy! with the servers fast-walking as they
bring and prepare orders and occasionally shouting out something in
"Asian-fusion-speak", completely unintelligible to anyone other than
other servers. Within an hour we just thought the place was Alive! and were
happy we hadn't been seated in a private room, as was originally planned. What
an experience! We can’t wait to go back. We enjoyed two bottles of wine with
dinner that had been saved for a special occasion and two bottles of Sake, one
traditional and the other unfiltered. From now on, it’s only unfiltered Sake
for me! Here are a few pictures from our evening…
Saturday
morning we fed the kitties and were off to Santa Barbara for a craft event
called “Art on the Mesa.” This time we were not there to browse and shop, but
instead we were participants. “We” being Sally, Sandy, and me. Combined, we had
well over a hundred items, the bulk of which were our fabric market bags.
Fortunately, we had very low expectations going into this event, so we were
happy with our nine sales. Of course, I should clarify…six of the nine were
less-than-independent third parties. Before we even arrived at the Mesa and set
up our canopy and tables, we’d each sold a bag. Neil, one of the most
thoughtful people I know, had called Sandy and told her he wanted to buy three
bags…one from each of us! So cute! Next, one of Sandy’s close friends from
Sutter Creek was visiting her son and stopped by to chat and…yes, to buy a
couple of bags and a baby quilt. The final three sales were truly independent
and each buyer was very enthusiastic about our creations. I had four of my
painted pillows on display, including Molly, and five people expressed interest
in commissioning portraits of their pets. We’ll see where that leads. But,
again, it is best to set one’s expectations low. The vote of confidence was
very encouraging, though, and I’ve come home with a renewed commitment to paint
more animal portraits and get my Etsy site up and running.
Our
drive home took us up the 101 from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara and then all
the way up the coast to Paso Robles, where we then headed east through wine
country (the exact location of the movie “Sideways”) to pick up the 5. It’s a
beautiful drive and nice change from the drive up the 99 or 5 from Los Angeles
to Sacramento. The last time we made this trip was about 18 months ago in
December 2011. Lauren had flown down from Portland to Orange County and we
spent a couple of days celebrating the holidays with the rest of the family.
After our goodbyes on our final evening we drove from West Hollywood and spent
the evening in Ventura with plans to stop in Santa Barbara to visit our friend
Sally Simms the next morning. We awoke to the sounds of waves and realized our
hotel was just a stone’s throw from the beach (we’d arrived very late the
previous night, tired from our hectic two days and ready to crash). It was
magical! We laughed, took pictures on the boardwalk, and all agreed that we
loved Ventura (for some reason, Lauren and I thought it funny to pronounce it
Ven-tour-a, strong emphasis on the “tour”). We still say it that way and laugh
at the sound of it.
After
a short visit with Sally we were off again. I think I’ve mentioned that Verne
and Lauren think alike as travelers (that means Double-Trouble for me) and
often add about 25% travel time to a road trip with their must-sees and
short-cuts (make that long-cuts). This trip was no exception. We first had to
stop at Pea Soup Anderson’s in Buellton. Verne and I both had favorable memories
of Pea Soup Anderson’s from our previous lives (that is, our previous
marriages). One of three things has occurred since then…(1) we have glorified
memories of the place and food; (2) our culinary skills have advanced to a
point we are now much better food critics than we were thirty years ago; (3)
Anderson’s quality has declined. I tend to think the problem is ours as
Anderson’s recipe and method of making split-pea soup is unchanged from the
70’s and 80’s when both Verne and I (separately, of course) enjoyed a bowl of
pea soup whenever vacationing along the mid-coast. Although the soup was mediocre,
we did have fun with a photo shoot…
So
the 100 miles to the next point of interest, Harris Ranch in Coalinga, was now lengthened
with the Cholame stop. I really don’t know the appeal of Harris Ranch, except
that Lauren and I’d never been and we needed to use the bathrooms. It’s an
incredibly popular stop off the 5 and a favorite of my friends Sandy and Sally.
So, we stopped. Gift shops always have a strong pull (it’s a girl thing) and we
stretched our legs with a walk-through. Lauren found a cute and very fitting
postcard of a cow to send to her best friend from law school. There was one clerk waiting on one customer…after five
minutes of waiting with our turn not in sight, we turned and left (postcard in
hand) and laughed all the way to the car (apparently, that’s what shoplifting
will do to you). Once we left the store we picked up our pace to a run arriving
at the car out of breath and yelling at our driver (and now accomplice) to get us the heck
out of there. We haven’t been back…I’m afraid I’ll see two familiar faces on a
wanted poster.
Our
most recent trip was made in something closer to the estimated 7-1/2 hour
drive. But then, when there are only two voting…I ALWAYS win! Just before we
left for this trip, Jeff called to say he and his family would be in So Cal the
first of August for two weeks. It looks like we’ll have until then to catch our
breath and then it’s On the Road Again!
No comments:
Post a Comment