California Vacation, Day 3: SFMOMA and Alcatraz

Day 3 in the city of San Francisco was in my opinion the nicest day in the city. I had forgotten to pack a swimsuit and Nancy wanted to use the hotel hot tub, so we took a walk to Macy's, about 10 minutes from the hotel. From there we found the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. We spent about two hours walking through the museum. There was one very cool exhibit where the artist painted shadows on the walls, ceiling and floor, as if you were looking at the shadows of a view from a window. It was subtle and very beautiful, made on site at the museum. We did not get a picture of the museum but we did see this odd display on the top of a building next to the museum.

Around 1:00 we stopped at the restaurant called Ducca's that was part of the Westin Hotel. They had a nice outdoor seating area and the weather was warm so we sat outside. Lunch was spectacular. We had the arincini appetizer and they were perfectly cooked balls of risotto with a warm cheese center and a light dusting of crunchy sea salt. There was a single leaf of fried sage, and the waitress was telling us we really needed to try it. As she picked up the plate to pass it to us, it flew away in the breeze. Our main courses were brought and I had chosen the mushroom risotto with shaved truffles and Nance had chosen the papardell with lamb. Both were fantastic. Since we would be going to Alcatraz at dinner time we wouldn't have time to eat a full supper, so the big lunch was great. Just when we were about to dig in to the the main course the waitress came out with a small plate of 5 or 6 of the fried sage leaves from the appetizer plate. Talk about great service. By the way, the sage was very delicate and tasted good. It had the slightly salty taste that was also on the arincini. I know we had desert, but by then I was in food heaven so I can't remember what we had. We walked back to the hotel and saw this really unusual building cube sitting on it's corner.
































We sat by the pool and took a dip in the hot tub. As usual, the hotel tub was way too hot, but it was relaxing and a good way to spend some time while waiting for our trip to the jail. We were taking the evening tour of the jail, so we weren't scheduled to leave on the boat until 6:00. Here is a view of the city from the boat on our way to Alcatraz.





This seagull followed the boat all the way to the island, hovering in the same spot for the entire ride.















Different views of the island buildings follow. The state of California now owns the island and it is designated a state park. The tour has a nice combination of ranger guided tour and an audio tour. The audio tour is told by former guards and prisoners and is very compelling. Although I didn't love the tour, I thought the audio portion was good.

If I had this kind of company in jail I wouldn't want to leave!


















They finally caught up with me!



















The view of the city at night from the island is great. Many of the inmates remarked on how bad it was to be able to see the beautiful city from their windows and not be able to go there.



Tomorrow: The Pacific Coast Highway and Moonstone Beach.

California Vacation, Day 2: San Francisco

Day 2 of our California trip was busy with a trip to Muir Woods, a side trip to the small wine town of Sonoma and dinner in Chinatown at supposedly the best Chinese restaurant called Empress of China. We didn't get pictures in either Sonoma or Chinatown. We left the city around 10:00 in the morning. It was extremely foggy that morning and we couldn't really see the Golden Gate bridge until we were starting to ride across. Once on the bridge you couldn't see the water or the mountains. It was cold, about 65 degrees in the city, so we had the top down and the heat on in the car.





Once we were over the bridge, the road changes to a very curvy, hilly ride through the hills. Muir woods is about one hour north of the city so it gave us a great opportunity to see the outskirts of the city. The temperature started to warm almost immediately after going across the bridge. The parking lots at Muir Woods were completely full, so we ended up parking on the side of the road about a 10 minute walk away. When we go to the ticket window, it turned out it was free day, no charge. The entrance begins with a cutaway of one of the fallen trees, and details how old they are. If you look in the lower left, that is someone's head, so the size of this tree is massive. The center label on the rings indicate the tree was about 1100 years old. Each label detailed a different year.

Reaching to the heavens.

Which way up?

Fallen trees are left where they drop to regenerate into the environment. All I could think about was what a nice fire this would make on the deck fire pit.

I used to be the one always taking pictures, but now there's a new shutterbug in town.

Periodic fires hit the forrest. The bark on the trees is so tough that everything else on the forrest floor can burn but the tress themselves only blacken on the outside but still survive. Many of the trees were blackened on the bottom. We spent about two hours walking through the woods. It was a beautiful hike. Nancy lost her sunglasses on the walk but someone left them at the front gate and she asked on the way out and there they were. We bought a souvenir at the gift shop, a large candle base made from a redwood burl with lots of cavities in it.

By the time we left Muir Woods, the temperature had risen to the mid-seventies. We drove to Sonoma, where we had lunch at a small winery outside of town. It was some sort of old home days event in the town square. We walked around for about an hour, looking at all of the artwork displayed on the common. By this time it was downright hot outside. We returned to the city only to find that the temperature in the city was still cool, about 65. Dinner was in Chinatown at the Empress of China, the most famous Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. It was at the top of a six story building at the top of a hill and overlooked the city. A nice view. The food was good, but I think the Silver Maple in Merrimack is better. The one interesting dish was a flaming quail appetizer, flamed at table side.

California Vacation, Day 1: San Francisco

For the next few blogs I'll be trying my hand at uploading pictures from our vacation in California. Leave the city of San Francisco (although I did like it, city life is just not me) out of this statement, but for the first time ever I thought I could actually live in California. We rented a convertible (Pontiac G6) and enjoyed the ride from the airport to the hotel.

Here is the view from the top of our hotel, the Hilton in downtown SF, followed by some other skyline and city views. They gave us a free upgrade to a junior suite (in addition to the fact the hotel was free with the rewards points we used). I had paid a little extra for the concierge level and this is the view you see from the concierge lounge.

At the end of day 1 we walked 2.5 miles over the hill from the hotel and had dinner at Fishermen's Warf. That hill was up hill at about a 60 degree angle for half of the walk and then down hill at the same angle for the balance. Some how we didn't end up with any pictures of the hill. I think we were to busy wondering if we wouldn't both end up in the hospital from having a heart attack trying to do that walk. Then we had to walk back home.

It was a touristy spot at the end of Pier 39, Neptunes Palace, the food was good (not great) but the view of the harbor was fantastic.

After dinner we saw the sea lions at the end of the wharf where the restaurant was located. Notice there were a few tourists here.

We finished the night with a drink in the lobby of the hotel and crashed by 9:30 PM PST (midnight body time since we had just arrived).

Tomorrow: Day 2 in San Francisco, Muir Woods, Sonoma and Chinatown.

Dirty Words (part 1)

My father was a good man with a very "colorful" vocabulary. He did not use curse words indiscriminately or lightly. He never used them in casual conversation and never in mixed company. His use of colorful language was limited to himself. When frustrated over something he was working on or something just wasn't going right, out would pop a new word. He new them all, too and used them in unique and interesting combinations. My vocabulary has been forever enriched by the loudly exclaimed words heard through the floor between our first floor apartment and his basement workshop.

Dad was a man of his generation, born Aurelienne (Aurel) Donat Caissie in Bouctouche New Brunswick Canada on January 8th 1928. He spent his first nineteen years living with 13 (!!!!) brothers and sisters in the same area, occasionally moving from Bouctoush to Scoudouc, both to this day very small towns on the Acadian Coast. He never made it past the eighth grade, but not because of a lack of intelligence. It was what the men did there at that time. After a certain amount of schooling they went to work to help pay the family bills. He was an intelligent man, just not from formal schooling. He always had simple needs and never really cared for many material things. He cared about his family more then anything else in life. His simple dedication to family above all else dictated all of his beliefs. More than any other characteristic I inherited his deep belief in the family as the center of life.

Growing up we were not rich, by any means, but we were certainly better off than his or my mothers childhoods. I'm not even sure we could be called middle class, by today's or any day's standard. We got by. My parents owned their home, a three decker in the beautiful industrial city of Worcester Massachusetts. We never lacked for food or other essentials and I would always spend a week or two each summer at my aunt and uncles cottage on Cranberry Lake. We grew up understanding the difficulties of making ends meet each day and trying to better our, and our children's lives.

My parents and other friends and relatives gave me opportunities that I feel indebted to pass on whenever possible. It can be argued that I took advantage of those opportunities and made much of them, but I can't deny that without those critical pushes in the right direction, I might still be hanging great big leather hides in a room filled with moist hot air and breathing chemical fumes from mixing leather glue. After all, I am still in my heart one of the greatest procrastinators of all time.

My mother visited a few weeks ago and she was a little different. She is now 79 years old, but looks and acts considerable younger. We went for a boat ride and at one point she was staring off the boat, resting her hands and head on the edge and staring out at the shoreline. She quietly remarked "you live a good life", and it has really started me thinking about where we came from and how we got here.

It's going to take more than one edition to get around to the point...

Sparks Flying

It was our anniversary this week and unfortunately I had to travel on business and missed the actual day. When I returned home on Thursday night we decided to go out for a nice dinner. We hadn't been to CR Sparks in Bedford for a few years, mostly because of a bad New Years Eve experience there, so we decided to try it again.

We didn't have reservations but it didn't seem to be a problem at the time we arrived (6:30). Within a half hour of our seating the place was packed. Nancy had a cosmo (big surprise there) and I had a glass of Merlot (Flora ??? from CA). Pacing was good and we were never hurried. We started with the artisanal cheese tower and although it wasn't local cheese, it was fantastic. Three cheese plates: 1. Italian asiago with a tomato and raisin chutney 2. French blue with honey, almond slivers and candied walnuts 3. British cheddar with red onions and a very old balsamic vinegar. Dinner for Nancy was a clam spaghetinni with baby littlenecks, pancetta, cherry tomatoes and fresh corn. She enjoyed it very much. Mine was the dinner special, the veal porterhouse chop with arugula and a sort of home fried sliced potatoes. The taste was good but if your going to charge $30 for a veal chop and call it your special of the evening, it should be a nice thick chop. This chop was barely a half inch thick. Tasty but they cheaped out.

Desert was a nice layered chocolate indulgence cake, a nice ending to the evening. It did confirm my opinion of the restaurant though. It's always like the immortal Maxwell Smart said, " Missed it by just that much."

Presto Pesto!

I admit to being a poor planner. My tendencies are if one of something is good, then more must be better. I love basil as an herb and consider it one of the most fundamental flavors for cooking. When I planned the garden this year, I decided that the herbs would take center stage and the only vegetable I would grow would be the tomatoes. I planted three sweet basil plants, three leaf basil plants and two Thai basil plants (love the Thai basil!!). Next year I think I'll eliminate at least two of the plants. The end result has been a glut of basil. No matter how much I use the size of the plants never seems to go down. On Saturday I harvested a bowl full to make pesto and now it looks like I didn't take any. The plan is to make lots of pesto.

Pesto freezes easily and can last months once frozen. One trick is to buy ice cube trays and freeze the pesto in the trays. Once frozen you can pop them out of the trays and place them in zip lock baggies for long term storage. One cube melted over some pasta will yield a great quick meal. My recipe follows:


Pesto

2 cups sweet basil (packed)
1 Tbsp pine nuts
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
Optional: 5 mint leaves, dried oregano, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Saving the oil for last, place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Do not use a blender. The blender will chop things too finely and result in a loss of texture. You want a choppy look to the pesto, not a fine mush. By packing the food processor with the dry ingredients first then adding the oil you will get better results. I prefer to add the Parmesan separately to the pasta or dish being served, but some recipes call for the cheese to be added to the pesto mix when making the pesto.

You say tomaaato, I say tomahtoe...

Bambi is a beautiful story, one almost every child hears or sees when they are very young. Those beautiful long eyelashes, and the sad story of loosing her mother to the nasty hunters. Then they add to the misery by having the cute rabbit, Thumper tugging at our heart strings. Don't believe it for a minute. Those deer are blood sucking leaches.

I've grown tomatoes over the years in the backyards of the various houses we lived in. We've now been in this house for 19 years, the longest we've lived anywhere. I had attempted to grow tomatoes when we first moved here but it was during one of my busy periods at work and they quickly died of benign neglect. Over the years Nancy has had varying success with her flower gardens, the most difficult problem being that deer love to eat some of the flower buds. At times over the years they have completely decimated her flower garden. Her greatest success has come this year when she learned to put soap on a stick in the garden. The smell of the soap keeps the deer away. About five years ago I tried growing tomatoes in pots, close to the house, thinking they wouldn't dare come right up on the porch to eat my tomatoes. Oh you trusting man.

The tomato plants grew well that year and after about six weeks I had six healthy plants that were sporting lots of flower buds. another few weeks and every one of those buds had turned into golf ball sized starter tomatoes. I was on my way to a bountiful harvest. Ha! In one night the deer came in and completely wiped out every single tomato that was growing on the vines. That was the end of that experiment. So after years of longing for a decent tomato, I decided this year to do it up right. I dug a 12 x 20 foot patch in the back yard and planted twelve tomato plants. I got smart too. I put up a fence to keep the deer pests out. There is no punch line here. I finally have lots of tomatoes growing. The "Better Boys" are doing well and I've already had a few off the vines to test them. In addition I tried a few heirloom plants and ate the first of the "Black" variety today. Very sweet, ripe and juicy. Finally, victory!