What's the Attraction?

We've made more trips to So Cal this summer than all of our trips combined for the past three years. I'm sitting here trying to pinpoint the attraction? Obviously "family" is at the top of the list (I'd be in big trouble if I said otherwise)!  The good eats we enjoy during our visits are always an incentive. And, the cool temps in Santa Monica are a nice reprieve from the sweltering summer temps at home. A few other pluses...we have our own apartment just a few miles from the beach (Jana spends very little time there and vacates it completely when we're in town) and it only takes us 6 1/2 hours to make the drive, which is a piece of cake as compared to the 11 1/2 hour trip to Portland. The last two trips we've gone through Santa Barbara, which adds a bit of time but provides an opportunity to visit with our friend Sally. This recent trip, unfortunately, included a visit with Sally in the hospital. We enjoyed a picnic-style dinner with her and her daughter, Dianna, stayed long enough to see her checked out and on her way home, and then we continued our drive to Santa Monica.

We had a nice surprise when we stopped for a Starbucks at the intersection of the 5 and Highway 46, which takes us due west to the 101 and south to Santa Barbara...a Bravo Farms is coming soon!!! If you don't remember Bravo Farms from Highway 99, re-read my blog "Road Trip Attractions" and you'll understand our excitement.

These frequent trips to So Cal have not been exclusively for pleasure as we've taken truck and car loads of belongings to Jana, all of which had been stored in our livestock trailer for the past two years. We've just about emptied the trailer so we'll soon run out of practical reasons for these trips and will have to admit that we're making them simply for the pleasure. This past weekend we had deliveries not just for Jana, but a chair Verne had repaired for our young friend Ted and Rubbermaid containers of my totes that Trish's mother, Marietta, is going to sell (that is "try to sell") at an upcoming Filipino event in San Pedro.

Friday, our first full day in So Cal was spent running errands for Jana trying to ready her for her annual Mexico trip with Scott and Lauren. The day started with our usual breakfast sandwich from Flake, the cutest little dive in Santa Monica with the best breakfast and lunch food around. Here's a picture of the place so you can appreciate it's originality with both food and style...

We delivered the kittens to a grooming pet spa for the day (nothing but the best for those babies!), had fishing line wound professionally on Jana's new reel that Scott gave her for Christmas, and so on. We are beginning to understand the traffic patterns in L.A. and managed to complete our morning errands without problem. Mid-day Verne left me at the apartment and drove to pick up the kittens at the spa and Jana at work as they'd left her car at the dealer that morning. Well, while we're learning to navigate L.A. what we didn't consider was the fact it was Friday before a holiday. Verne got stuck in gridlock traffic and it took a couple of hours to travel a few miles...fortunately for me, he only called once to tell me "It was the worst f_ _ _ ing day of his life!!!!" Well, we all know Verne can be a bit over-dramatic, but sitting in traffic like that is enough to ruin the most perfect of days. 

It wasn't ruined for long as we went out that night with Jana and Bashir and enjoyed one of the most incredible eating experiences ever. The executive chef and owner of one of the top L.A. restaurants, Tar and Roses, spent his grade school years as our next door neighbor. Jeff has remained friends with Andrew through the years, although he only occasionally sees him now and it's typically when he dines at Tar and Roses. It was an amazing meal with every course a culinary delight. I'd go back for any one of them and definitely not stop until I'd eaten one of the four desserts we tasted that night. Here's just one example of the creativity that came from his kitchen (it tastes as good as it looks):

Although pricey ($$$$), this is a perfect place to celebrate a special occasion. In this case, Jana wanted to take us there to celebrate Verne's birthday as we won't be seeing each other before his big day in October (with our recent regularity of So Cal visits, that could change)...

Saturday was a full day with brunch in Riverside at the Mission Inn with Ted and a couple of hours in Anaheim Hills meeting with Marietta. We then drove to Irvine where we met several people for dinner at Javier's. Pam and her son Sean arrived early for margarita's on the patio. My sister Jane showed up a bit later and finally the Burkhard's arrived around 6:30 p.m. Unless eating at a Rick Bayless' restaurant like Frontera Grill or Topolobompo in Chicago or Red O in Beverly Hills, I would never expect to enjoy fine dining at a Mexican establishment. Javier's came darn close. Both traditional Mexican (like my carnitas or Kendall's tamale - YUM!) and Southwestern (Jane's Garlic Shrimp Guaymas) were excellent. We'd go there again in a heartbeat. We have Raelin to thank for suggesting Javier's and Aaron to thank for treating us all to an outstanding meal. Here are a few pics from our evening together. Sorry Aaron and Sean, you both seem to have been left out of the pictures :(... My bad!

Here's my favorite picture of the evening...Kendall being served a bite of flan for her birthday...

I probably shouldn't say this, but Kendall's got to be our cutest, sweetest, smartest granddaughter!