Mmmmm

This is part of the display case at Chantilly, a Japanese bakery in Lomita, which is in what's considered the "south bay" portion of LA. We have been here before, specifically for the cream puffs. And since we were in the neighborhood, we had to stop by and have cream puffs again. Specifically, the cream puffs filled with black sesame cream. I can't even describe how good they are, so let's just leave it at delicious :-) They make quite a bit of other stuff too, but we just get the cream puffs. Maybe sometime we'll branch out. Maybe ...

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Happy Thanksgiving

The turkey is eaten, and now we are full and sleepy, how about you? The dogs did their part by helping with the dishes :-) hope you had a nice day!

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This and that

No picture for you this morning, sorry. I went to a party in Cayucos last night. It was at the Vet's Hall and three bands played, headlined by "Sexy Time Explosion." I didn't get home until 12:30, and of course, headed to work at 7:00 as usual. Needless to say, I'm a bit tired, but I'll make it :)

We got rain yesterday, and it's continuing this morning. Not a lot, but enough to make puddles. I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving, have a good one!

Attack of the stick

So, I walk into the bathroom this morning to get in the shower - without my contacts in. I see something on the floor, but of course, it's all blurry, so I just get in the shower. I finish, get out, put in my contacts, and discover that the "thing" is a walking stick, just hanging out in the bathroom. I ignore it, and start brushing my teeth, keeping watch on it out of the corner of my eye. I notice it starts walking, right in my direction. Lucky for me, there was a Kleenex box handy I could use as a shield. I put it down on the floor, the walking stick climbed up on it and stopped. I was able to complete my morning hygiene routine without incident.

I took it outside later so I could take a picture of it. This was a pretty good sized one. I have no idea what it was doing in the bathroom, or how it got there. I'm just glad it wandered in that direction, and not onto the bed, while we were sleeping.... (you can click on the picture for a bigger view)

A little Wednesday intrigue

It's been a busy week so far, work wise at least. Lots of stuff going on so I haven't been motivated to post. Riley's paw is healing well, hopefully we'll get the bandage off this week. He's been very good about not chewing on the bandage, so we only need to leave the cone on when we aren't home.

After 85 degree weather Sunday, Monday & Tuesday, it's cooled off a bit. Ah, Fall. That's it for now. In the meantime, enjoy this cat riding a Roomba.....

Ramen

We just had lunch at this ramen place. Holy cow, it was delicious. The only have one kind of ramen on the menu, and its a very particular style. Its pork and the broth is almost creamy, like its been simmering for days. It was so delicious. The place was tiny, hot and busy. We had to eat at the counter but it was worth it.

Two blocks away the No on 8 rally is going on so its pretty packed around here. Heading over to North Hollywood to look at a warehouse full of Danish Modern antiques!

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Ben Folds

A view from our seats last night. Fantastic show! Really, really good, glad we went. The Wiltern is a really great old venue.

Of course, we wake up this morning and the Sylmar fire is worse. It shouldn't affect us today, but we are keeping an eye on it.

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The Tea fire

That's what they are calling the fire in Santa Barbara. Its clearly visible from the 101 as you drive by. They have lost about 100 homes so far, which is so sad. Hopefully they will have it under control soon. The winds were not as strong today, so that helps.

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Downtown LA

This is the view from our room at the Hilton Checkers. Its nice, and close to the concert and dinner. But - they have Christmas decorations up AND they are playing Christmas music in the lobby. Please! It was 85 out when we checked in and its not even Thanksgiving yet :-)

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Never a dull moment

Riley "de-sheathed" one of his nails last week. That means he pulled the nail off the quick while he was running in the beach. Poor little guy. We left it a lone for a while, but he was licking it too much. So, off to the vet. They removed the nail & bandaged him up. This is what the vet called his "boxing glove." You can't see the cone he has on, but he's wearing one. Talk about a P.I.T.A. He walks around, bumping into everything & scraping the cone all over. Oh well, supposedly it's only for a week....

Off to LA this afternoon. Seeing Ben Folds at the Wiltern tonight & then spending the night there. Going to hang around LA until mid afternoon then venture home. I'll try and post from the road. It's supposed to be in the low 90's today and tomorrow, both here and in LA!

Roll with it

I don't bake very often, but for some reason (ok, because 8 whole wheat rolls were $4) I decided to try and bake some whole wheat rolls. I had all the ingredients, so why not.

I found a good recipe that interestingly uses some dried potato flakes in it, I gather to keep the rolls soft. I had yesterday off for Veterans' day so I had the time make these. They turned out great. A bit crusty on the outside, hearty, but still soft & tasty. A winner. Most ended up in the freezer, but I kept some out to enjoy with the white bean soup I just made.....

Before.....After

We tried, we really did. We re-sodded once, and then when that started to die, we tried to re-seed small areas. Apparently, 140 sq feet of lawn isn't quite big enough for two dogs. Well, it is big enough...if you don't want your grass to grow :)

So, after talking about it, and talking about it some more, we decided to go for it. Behold the new "lawn." It's 3/4" river rock, and we have to say, we are quite pleased with how it looks. Certainly more Palm Springs than Cayucos, but I think it works ok. It was a fair amount of work, but less than we thought it would be. The whole project, inlcuding running drip lines to the new plants took about 6 hours.

We still have the sprinklers in place and they will be running briefly twice a day to flush the toilet, as it were. The dogs have been using it just fine so far. We went with this size rock so that when we were picking up after the dogs, you wouldn't end up getting a bunch of gravel with the debris. So far, so good!

Thanks, California

Thanks for passing Propositions 2 and 8. This only confirms that the majority of you think it's more important for chickens to have expanded rights than it is for gays & lesbians. Good grief.....

I'm going to KFC for lunch, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.....

I am in awe

It's 9:22 pm on Tuesday night. We just watched Obama's speech. I am floored for a several reasons. One, I remember telling people back in the primaries that yes, he was electable, and I love finding out that I was right :-) Two, I can't believe that we have the first non white president in the United States. Certainly, this is a historic night, and maybe being hapa, that means something more to me than to you. And three, well, for the first time in, oh, 8 years, I feel hopeful. I know that how somebody campaigns isn't necessarily how they will govern, but I am hopeful that President Obama can inspire us all to work for a better United States.

I won't babble on, but truly, right now, I have tears in my eyes, and I am thrilled.

Now, we have to wait for local results, and see how 8 does. I'm hoping for good news all around tonight.....

Fresno

I'm on campus at Fresno State for a conference today. I've never been on campus before and to be honest, its not that exciting. I'm sure its a nice school, and I know they have great sports teams, but I'm not walking around thinking "I'd like to work here." They do have this nice fountain though and I enjoyed watching it while eating my box lunch. Not as exciting a the one at the Bellagio, but it will do :-)

You did vote today, right?

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Hmmm, interesting

So, I just looked at the Blog. I realized that I only posted twice while we were in Vegas, and both were pictures of food. I have no explanation for that, other than maybe the only time I felt like posting was while sitting a table? To flesh out the trip a bit more - we had a great time. Weather was warm, but not sunny, so we didn't hang out by the pool. That was the only downside. But, it was great weather for walking around, and we did our fair share of that.

We hit the usual spots we like: The Palms, Caesar's Palace, Belagio, and also checked out the new Palazzo, which is an addition to The Venetian. It was very nice - understated, but elegant. We only gambled a bit there, then wandered on.

We spent the majority of our gambling time at Ellis Island, which is a tiny casino behind Bally's, where we stayed. It wasn't fancy at all, but was clean, had cheap food, *plentiful* beer - that they brew there, and the gambling was good. So, we abandoned the glitz of the strip and spent two nights at Ellis Island. Say what you will, but it was really fun. I mean - normally, at the bigger casinos, you are lucky to get one drink an hour when they are busy. I would say double that, at a minimum for Ellis Island. Plus, you get a pint of Micro Brew beer instead of a bottle, which was really nice.

My plane was late out of Vegas, so I didn't get home until 7:00. I'm off this afternoon for Fresno. I'm attending a management seminar tomorrow, so I'm spending the night, attending the class, then driving home after. Then, I'm home for a while.

Election day tomorrow - I've already voted, please make sure you do!

Early morning breaky

It's 1:14 Sunday morning. We are having late night /early morning breakfast. I'm not hungry at all, but it seemed like the thing to do! Another fun night. No big winners, but no big losers either so we can't complain. I'll try to sleep in tomorrow, but I have a hard time with that :-)

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