Nobody 765

Sunday, April 26, 2009
Nobody # 765

Nobody Asked Me But:

Good morning. Before I write about our trip, I have two other comments to make. First, I read that, citing the budget crisis as the reason, the Los Angeles Unified School District is proposing a change in state law to allow them to ignore seniority and fire “for cause.” They claim they want the right to keep good younger teachers and fire the bad older ones. Sounds good until you factor in the trust level, or lack thereof, earned over the years by the district administrators. Do that and it becomes easy to see that they really want the right to fire the higher-salaried teachers and keep the cheaper ones.

Second, I see that there is growing criticism that President Obama is not spending the bailout money fast enough. I have a solution. Give me a grant to buy a house in the Sausalito hills overlooking San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Not enough? Then throw in a dinner for Barb and me at the French Laundry in Yountville. Those two items should add up to about $1B. As you can see, President O, I am always willing to help.<<<

THE TRIP

THE GREAT
Our first night’s dinner - chicken fried steak at Sow’s Ear in Cambria. Texas is the official chicken fried steak state, and every cook there, from chef to short-order, pilgrimages to California to worship at the Sow’s Ear.

Getting out of town – except for the getting out of town. Even the not-so-far-away-places are adventures in newness. But fighting the near-away traffic makes getting started a royal pain.

Doc Bernstein’s: The fabled ice cream parlor in Arroyo Grande did not disappoint. We stopped both going and coming to indulge in cones and a sundae and filled a freezer chest with our special order to bring home.

(When you go, be sure to try the mocha almond fudge. It is the best I ever tasted.)

Here’s to the vine! Did you know that each vine produces 18 pounds of grape per year? That means you get 6 bottles of wine per vine.

Stepping out of the shower to a view of Mt. Tamalpais.

V. Sattui’s chicken salad and our picnic outside the winery: Buchon bread and cheese, tomatoes and avocados, cookies and nuts and the chicken salad, (as delicious as always). What a super experience.

The great tomato search: MY wife vowed that we would have grape tomatoes for our picnic even if it meant going to five stores to find them. It did and we did.

Taylor’s malts: Taylor’s Refresher is a walk-up, drive-up that has been in Napa Valley (St Helena) since 1949. (They now have diners in San Francisco and the city of Napa as well.) Their mocha malts are the best in Northern California.

Views of San Francisco: From park side in Tiburon, to glimpses from the Marin roadways, I am always thrilled by the city on hills. And we were lucky enough to see it in sunshine and enshrouded by fog, where just the tops of the tallest buildings and the towers of the GG Bridge were visible.

Buchon: – Thomas Keller, the great American chef who owns French Laundry in Yountville, also has a bakery there called Buchon. I am down on violence but his chocolate almond croissant is too kill for.

Rustic Bakery: We have long seen and sampled the products of Rustic Bakery in LA Stores, so imagine our pleasant surprise when we discovered the bakery itself. The warm blackberry crumb coffee cake was so good that we returned the following morning for seconds – and an incredible strawberry scone as well.

Fieldstone winery: Fieldstone is where Barb bought my birthday present Cabernet with a UCLA label. It was fun seeing the place and buying a bottle of red.

Picco: Picco is an upscale Italian restaurant in Larkspur with an attached pizza kitchen that has a small counter and several tables outside. We have seen it on previous trips, always crowded. This time we braved the crowd for a counter seat and were rewarded with great pizza and fabulous Straus soft ice cream. It was simple and delicious, my memory meal on a trip not short on excellent food.

Small bookstores: North Bay has many terrific ones, and once again I bought a book at each one visited. The pictured, Book Passages in Corte Madera, is probably the best independent bookstore in California.

Tees: If you have peeked into my drawers, dresser drawers that is, you may have noticed that I have enough tee shirts to open my own store – with branches in every major city. But, fool that I am, I still bought several. My favorite is from Tommy Bahama’s new Asia line that I purchased in Healdsburg.

Ciao Bella: You can buy this brand of gelato in Whole Foods Markets or, if better still for the total experience, you can jump into your car and drive north to one of their Bay Area cafes. For a little taste of heaven, try the ScharffenBurger dark chocolate.

A Bohemian Garden: This was the theme for Macy’s, San Francisco’s annual spring flower show. The store windows and the entire first floor were decorated. Color and beauty were everywhere. (see pictures)

237 – The number of months, as of last Monday, that Barb and I have been married. To celebrate we made our yearly pilgrimage to Bradly Ogden’s downscale Larkspur restaurant, Yankee Pier. My wife loved her beer-battered shrimp and my flatiron steak was just as good. And Ogdon’s signature butterscotch pudding was as wonderful as ever.

THE GOOD
Prunedale: Don’t laugh, and no prune jokes. I added my only new Starbuck’s on the trip here. (#351)

Signs: Farmers post cool signs along 101 telling what is being grown in their fields or orchids.

Vampires: The legion is true! We drove through Gilroy, the garlic capital of America, and did not see a single vampire.

Vintage Inn: I have always liked this place in the heart of Napa Valley a lot. I still do, for the beautiful grounds and the great complementary breakfasts – yes they still serve my egg salad. However, our room was only OK and the lights in the lobby were poor for my morning reading.

Crab mac and cheese and tomato soup at Boudins: As good as we remembered from last time.

“Little Children:” I read Tom Tom Perrotta’s very good novel on the trip and loved this line - “She, as usual, was dressed for church as if ‘Dirty Dancing’ was the Eighth Sacrament.”

THE NOT-SO-GOOD
The almost accident-tragedy: Barb started to pull into a parking place in St. Helena when a bicyclist suddenly passed us on the right. Only his reflexes saved him.

Global warming: San Francisco and South Marin in the 90s are HOT. Too hot to enjoy for very long one of the areas best pleasures – sitting outside and reading.

The Sporting Green: The San Francisco Chronicle’s famous green sporting section is no longer green except on Sundays.

Wine tasting: Free tasting at the wineries used to be one of life’s great bargains and pleasures, but like lunches it ain’t free any more. Heck, it’s not even $5 or $10 any more. Most places charge from $15 to $25. Heck again, I can buy 12 ½ bottles of Two-Buck Chuck for that.

Rick Perry and the coming Civil War: The big question during our time away was (and still is) – will Rick Perry lead the charge when Texas secedes or will he hide in the Alamo?

Back to great: Hugh, you did an excellent job of keeping the Dodgers in first while we were gone.

(The pictures that are not identified in themselves are of Jordan Winery, Rustic Bakery, Macy's Book Passages and sunset from our hotel in Marin.)