Nobody 867

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Nobody # 867

Nobody Asked Me But:

I must warn the U.S. said the Paki PM

The situation is not very funny

Our people are mad

They think you’re real bad

But, yes, we will still take your money

We returned Thursday from our two-week trip to Reno and Northern California. Like all our trips, this one was the maker of great memories. I will share a few with you.

Where do I start? From spending a day and a half with Greg, Marie and Ben, to the never-ending thrill of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, ever majestic, looming out of a light fog, our trip was a blast.

The best thing I ever ate – clam chowder category.

Start with a cream broth, no thickeners. Add chunks of potatoe, pieces of celery, onion and a few very small pieces of carrot. Then, as you serve it, add at least 20 steamed clams, sweet and succulent in their opened shells, for the patron, that's me, to fork out and into the broth. Incredible! The Hog Island Oyster Company gets clam chowder exactly right. I had mine at the Oxbow Market in Napa. There is also one on Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Oh, and don't forget to sip on a glass of Hess Sauvignon Blanc as you consume the delicious chowder.

Downer note – Barb and I had to eat separately because she doesn’t like cc, and they would not let her bring food from another market stall to theirs.

If not the best, close to it: Tyler Florence, one of the young stars on the Food Channel owns a kitchenware story about a block from our Mill Valley hotel (as well as several restaurants). On one of the FC shows, he said that his favorite hamburger is from a small place called Pearls just a half/block from his store. We tried it and the hamburgers are great - but the onion rings are close to the best I have ever eaten. And the free pickles available at the condiment counter were also super.

Marin County remains high on my list of places to live, but two things would make me hesitate: too many public dogs and too much emphasis on healthy food and healthy lifestyle.

More on dogs - everybody in Marin either walks a dog (most of them small) or stops to pet dogs being walked. Personally I have always believed that a dog's place is in the back yard.

Those who are not doing either of the above are riding bicycles. Don't get me wrong. I used to love riding my bike, but the next time you see me wearing Lycra will be the first.

And only in Marin – a solar powered pizza joint.

For our time in Mendocino, we returned to the Alegria Inn, a B&B, a block from town. The breakfasts were still very good and, yes, they still serve edible flowers, but our room was the main event. Both our dining alcove and the deck looked out over Mendocino Bay and the Pacific. The view was so beautiful that we ate in the room on our final day there, finishing up cheese and peas (and other things) left over from our Napa Valley picnic.

We also returned to Frankie’s for good pizza and excellent raspberry ripple ice cream, which Barb thought the best on our trip. My vote, however, went to the Three Twins in the Oxbow Market. Their chocolate was otherworldly.

As always, one of the highlights of our time in Napa Valley was our picnic at the V. Sattui winery in St Helena. We brought freshly baked Dutch Crunch bread from Buchon, great cheese, avo, tomatoes, the peas mentioned above and added the winery’s excellent chicken salad.

Also related to Buchon Bakery – the chocolate croissants were as good as remembered and that is PDG. Want to try one? There now is a Buchon in Beverly Hills.

And before I leave bakeries, Rustic Bakery in Larkspur was as always, excellent – especially the blackberry scones.

Some of our best travel experiences are surprises. We had three. The Alegria offered free tickets to tour a botanical garden in Ft. Bragg, about 10 miles north. We spent most of a morning there, and it was great. Rhododendrons, of almost every color, often mixed together were in bloom. We walked through the flowers and plants to a bluff overlooking the ocean and sat on a bench, enjoying the peace and beauty.

Last year Barb, on the recommendation of our favorite wine store gave me a bottle of Orin Swift cabernet. Last Christmas, same winery, different wine. So she wanted to see the winery. It turned out that there isn’t one, just a by appointment only room on the second floor of a St Helena building. So, not knowing what to expect, we scheduled one. It was terrific. We were the only ones there and our gracious host told us the vintner’s story as he poured our samples. It was too hot to store wine in our car, so we plan to order a few bottles as soon as our supply runs out.

Another day, another wine story: Driving through Anderson Valley, between 101 and the sea, we spotted the Navaro Winery. Having, in the past, bought bottles at the Mendocino Music festival, we stopped. The setting was beautiful, the tasting free and the hostess gracious. We bought one bottle of wine AND five of their grape juice, which Barb loved. It is bottled and corked like their wine, and I might even have an occasional glass while reading in the afternoon.

Lucky me. I found three new NOCAL seats in paradise. The first I have already mentioned - the sea-view table in our room at Alegria. The second was at a new Starbuck’s (I added five on the trip, bringing my total to 382) on the fourth floor of Macy’s West Coast Flagship store overlooking Union Square. This one was even neater than the one in Macy’s NYC. Third was my corner seat at the window counter La Coppa, a coffee house In Mill Valley, one-half block from our hotel. The window was folded back and open, the quiet town square was awakening and the morning sun was trying to slip out of the fog and climb above the treetops. Yes, it was a little chilly, but I sipped on my cappuccino, in a small cup, not a paper container, and thought to myself, who cares?

And to have Where Have All The Flowers Gone playing in the background was not too shabby either.

Add on: My wife made a late decision on her favorite food on the trip – it was the small corn cake that accompanied out final meal in Mill Valley. It was our first time at the Cantina – and isn’t that an original name for a Mexican restaurant? – but it will not be our last. It was one of the most attractive Mexican restaurants at which we have eaten and the food was excellent.

And to bring a great trip to a proper ending: having had no food except our pastry at Rustic Bakery, and not wanting the bother of going out or fixing something later, we stopped at the Coldstone in Valencia where they were having a sale on malts. Since, obviously, you save the most on the largest size, we finished our journey with mocha malts – as good as Fosselman’s (IMHO)

Thank goodness for doctors: My foot had been hurting since December – enough so I was walking with a limp. I went to Kaiser before we left on the trip. My doctor gave me his diagnosis and prescribed treatment, which I ignored. The result? Almost overnight the pain went down to zero at its best and, at its worst, maybe 3% of what it had been.

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

We thought he wanted the Dodgers

But he was no baseball fan

He bought the stars

So he could park fan’s cars

He's Frank the flim-flam man

Alta Bates worked 65 Years

At Berkeley Med by the Bay

And in all of those years

Through joys, fears and tears

She took only one sick day

The Lakers were swept by the Mavericks

Not a single game could they win

They ran out of gas

At the end had no class

Why couldn't they go out like men

Newt said he's humbled by all of the love

From the people who want him to run

A humbled Newt

That's really a hoot

From one who humility has none