I've been lazy

The first new post in what, a week? I was on a roll last week. Maybe this week was just boring? So to make up for it, here's an *exciting* picture of this weeks' veggies. I would like to point out the corn, which we are very excited about. Turns out it's not organic, but is a "non gmo" variety. Some of the stuff in our weekly box isn't organic, but generally, most of it is. Every now and then something "conventional" sneaks in.

I had some of the strawberries on my cereal this morning. I don't know what variety they are, but wow - delicious! I anticipate grilling the bigger zucchini, and using the bell peppers in salad. Or maybe fajitas :)

We got the sign up sheet for the Fall/Winter CSA and have to decide if we will participate or not. I have mixed feelings. I love getting the box each week, but I've also been thinking that I could try to leave work 30 minutes early on Thursdays, and hit the farmers market in Morro Bay. It's not all organic, but it is always local and seasonally grown, which is important. I've also been supplementing with organic stuff from the local "healthy food" store in SLO. They have beautiful produce. We'll see...

I've been reading "The Omnivores Dilemma" By Michael Pollan. You can read about it here. Whether the book changes your eating habits or not, it is fascinating and well written. I highly recommend it. Michael Pollan is the same guy who is espousing the mantra of "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants" in his new book, "In Defense of Food."

That's it for now - happy Friday!

Fresh and Easy

I stopped at one of these stores in Manhattan Beach and really liked it. For those of you in Sac, looks like there are a number of them already. Maybe you have already been to one? If not, check them out - I liked it. This map shows where they are -

Fresh And Easy stores in Sacramento

A random photo for Tuesday

I was walking across campus and saw this Dragon Fly hanging out on a concrete wall. It didn't seem too disturbed by me, so I stopped and took a few pictures. I don't recommend clicking on this one to enlarge it - my phone doesn't take the best pictures in good conditions, and in low light, well, it's especially bad. Still, it's a beautiful thing. I love the blue head - very cool!

After getting home Sunday from my sojourn south, I managed a quick surf, even though the conditions were less than stellar. It was just so nice out, I wanted to take advantage of it. It was a great weekend, but it's always nice to be home :)

My kind of office

This is Father's Office in Culver City. Really cool restaurant with probably 100 beers on tap. Had an awesome burger, a beet salad and some roasted figs. And some great French beer which I can remember the name of :-)

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Great show

It was fun. Really fun. We got stuck in some traffic on the way there (it is LA after all) and I was stressing that we would be late but we made it just fine. Its a beautiful old theater that is in fantastic shape. The tickets said the show started at 8, but there was actually a DJ who played music until 8:45. This was good because it gave us time to have a beer, look around and have some minor celeb sightings: Santino from Project Runway and Jeffrey and his assistant from the show "Flippin Out." Funny!

When the band came on, they were fantastic. Pretty neat to see them do their stuff from 25 years ago! They crowd was probably the most enthusiastic I've ever seen at a show before, owing to the fact that Yaz only ever played three shows in the states back in 1982. Lots of pent up enthusiasm! Really glad I had the opportunity to see them :-)

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Made it

I forget how many people live in LA. The beaches on the way down were packed and its only Friday! This is a chain of grocery stores down here, not sure where else they are located but they are cool. Kinda like if Ikea ran Trader Joe's. Lots of great reasonably priced food with an emphasis on ready to heat or ready to cook. I bought some fun munchies for the weekend including a $6 bottle of Proseco. Time for a shower and a beer before everybody else gets here!

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???

Don't know the name of this spot, maybe Sycamore Creek? Somewhere on the 1 well above Malibu. Flat and crowded...

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Oops

I forgot to take a picture after surfing. Didn't make it as far as surfer's point. Opted to stop at a random break just north of Ventura. Small but uncrowded and fun. Surfed without a leash to challenge myself. It wasn't completely successful but its a good thing to try. I've got plenty of time so ill cut over to the 1 and drive to Manhattan Beach that way. In 'N Out lunch complete, time to hit the road!

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First stop: Mondos

So, basically flat with one little peak popping up. That one peak has about twenty people on foam boards all running into each other. Back on the road. Next stop: C street, aka, surfer's point, Ventura.

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Beauty and the beast

Celery root and raspberries. We found that celery root makes a great soup if you basically make a potato soup with chunks of celery root in it and then puree it all. Add a little cream, some sour cream and yum, a fantastic soup. The raspberries, well they are just fine plain :-)

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Do you remember these two?

Vince Clarke & Allison Moyet - collectively known as Yaz (or Yazoo in England). I'm heading to LA tomorrow to see them. They are playing a handful of live shows in the US for the first time in 25 years! They only put out two albums: "Upstairs at Eric's" in 1982 and "You and Me Both" in 1983, but both albums are classic 80's techno. They split after those two discs and Allison continued as a solo artist, while Vince when on to form Erasure with Andy Bell. Erasure is still producing albums (great ones, I might add!) and touring. I've seen them before, but am excited to see Yaz.

I'll be staying in Manhattan Beach for two nights and will try to post some pictures from the road. I'll be stopping to surf on the way down tomorrow, but the swell predictions are essentially saying "flat" so we'll see....

A nice hike

Hiking out on San Simeon Point. A beautiful day for a hike but a bit smokey because of the Big Sur fires. Happy birthday Pam and Simon!

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Happy fourth!

Greetings from the parade. Its a beautiful day here in Cayucos :-)

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