Staycation

I don't know when the term "staycation" was coined, but I'm starting to hear it more and more on television. I'm usually the last person in the world to learn a new slang word, but just in case you didn't know it either....it means: a vacation while staying at or close to home. And with the looming final payment of our Italy tour due soon, a quick staycation is about all we could afford.

We took up our friends offer to meet at Pismo Beach this weekend. Pismo is only a 90 minute drive north of us, so it was fairly effortless to make the trip up. We left Saturday morning and arrived at Pismo 3 hours before our friends. That was just enough time for us to rent some ATVs and cruise the beach and sand dunes. According to their tourism literature, Pismo Beach is unique for its firmly packed sand, which is firm enough for vehicles to drive on.

We paid $5 to drive into the park, which has no roads, so immediately we were driving on the sand. Later we realized we could have saved the $5 because the rental facilities were actually just outside the park's entrances. After paying for the ATVs ($110 total for two 250cc ATVs for 2 hours), we were transported back down to the beach, past hundreds of parked RVs, to mile marker 3, where our ATVs were waiting for us. The worker there literally gave us 30 seconds of instruction and we were off....

It took us quite a while to feel comfortable on the ATV. We're fairly cautious people, so even before we saw people rollover their ATVs or blindly fly over a crest at 40mph, we couldn't believe that they'd just let anyone over 16 rent these crazy death machines.

After practicing on small hills and moving on to slightly bigger hills, we eventually got a feel for it. We finally learned that the faster you drive , the less likely you are to get stuck in the sand. Here is one of Brooke's final hills. It's a lot steeper than it looks....
When our friends arrived, we just lounged around the vehicle-free area (north end) of Pismo Beach until it was time for dinner.

On the recommendation of Brooke's labmate, we ate the Cracked Crab. Each couple got the Bucket For Two, which consisted of a choice of three seafood items, all steamed, then dumped directly onto our table. Brooke and I chose the dungeness crab, Alaskan Bairdi crab, and lobster tails. The dungesness was good, the lobster tails were very dry, and the Bairdi was great. Our friends got the Opilio crab which tasted equally as good as the Bairdi. When we go back, Brooke and I will probably just get a pound of the Bairdi or Opilio each.
Despite their name, the crab did not arrive cracked. I had to do all the work for both myself and Brooke (as shown below).

We checked into our hotel room around 9:15pm, 45 minutes before the pool closed. Ignoring what we learned as kids, we raced to our rooms, changed into swimsuits, and jumped into the pool with our full stomachs. The next morning we walked over to see Gum Alley. It's an alley with walls completely covered with chewed pieces of gum. I was so excited to make my own contribution to the wall. But sadly, when arrived, the adjacent store with the gumball machine was closed. :-(

On our drive up Highway 1 to the Hearst Castle, we stopped in the touristy little town of Cambria for lunch at Linn's Easy as Pie Cafe. With a name like "Pie Cafe", I had no choice but to get the chicken pot pie and apple pie. It was the perfect lunch! I'd definitely go back.

The Hearst Castle offers 5 different tours. We took Tour 1. It was fun, but it's only worth one visit. At least it's one less item on our California To-Do List.

Food

It seems our entire last week has revolved around food. Last weekend for lunch, we tried Corktree Cellars, a new restaurant in Carpinteria. I had the Lobster Melt Panini, Brooke had the Club Sandwich, and we shared a bowl of the corn bisque. The lobster melt was the best, and at $9.95, it was a great value. Brooke also had the Sauvignon Blanc "flight" (~$8), which consisted of 3 small glasses of wine. Flights were offered for several other varietals. The only thing we wouldn't order again is the watery, slightly odd-tasting, corn bisque.

As we have for the last 6 weeks, on Monday night, we hosted a small casual dinner, then watched Weeds on Showtime. This week, we had an Asian-themed dinner.

To start, I made a Chicken Satay with peanut sauce and a cucumber relish.
Normally, I would grill the chicken. But with my limited time on a Monday night, I chose to bake instead. I definitely missed the crispy, smoky flavors from grilling over coals, but I think it turned out okay.
For the entree, I made a fried rice, honey walnut shrimp, and a garlicky broccoli. I love Chinese sausage (the normal, liver-free variety) in my fried rice. I don't know why it's not used more often.
On Wednesday, we went to our friends' place (which has a great ocean view) for a potluck and champagne tasting. As we would for the WWWT, we had a blind tasting of four bottles of champagne (okay, really there was only one champagne and three sparking wines). Although Brooke and I both voted on the Veuve Cliquot as our number one pick, the Korbel Extra Dry came out the evening's winner by one point.

On Thursday night, we went to dinner with some friends at Pierre Lafond Bistro for their Grilled Cheese night. Everyone had the grilled cheese sampler which included 7 different grilled cheese sandwiches and a choice of soup or salad. The picture doesn't do it justice, because we were too busy eating to remember to take a photo.

5 Years!

For more photos, go to our Picasa Web Album.

Bike to Work #3

I've managed to keep up with my plan to bike to work. For 4 weeks now, I've ridden to work at least twice per week. It's definitely getting easier. My legs don't get sore anymore, my knees don't hurt anymore, and my morning bed-to-bike time is down to about 10 minutes. Until yesterday, I even thought I was getting really fast.

Two events occurred yesterday though that have definitely humbled me as a biker. First, during my ride into work, I was passed by a teenage kid, fully dressed in the standard Mormon uniform: white short-sleeved button-up shirt, tie, and black pants. And he didn't just pass me, he passed me at an embarrassingly fast pace, while riding on an old knobby-tired mountain bike.

The second event occurred during my ride home. While stopped for a red light at the intersection of Modoc and Las Positas, a female biker pulls up. But instead of stopping behind me, she squeezes between me and the adjacent car, then stops directly in front of me. "Who does this girl think she is?", I wondered to myself. "She must think, just by looking at me, that she's a lot faster". No way could I let her get away with that kind of condescending assumption, right? So when the light turned green, I just followed her. Not too close as to make her feel uncomfortable, but close enough for her to know that I could keep up. 5 miles later, when she slowed down to put in her iPod headphones, I even passed her. My turn at the lead didn't last long though. One mile after passing her, she passed me back. Now revved-up from her new tunes, she passed by me fast, leaving me with barely enough time to turn my face away, hiding it in shame. I tried for a few minutes to keep up again, but it was useless. She was riding at least 5 mph faster than what I could sustain.

So to summarize, here's what I've learned...
Not only am I not fast on a bike, that fact is apparently obvious just by looking at me. :(

We're still alive!

No, we haven't been burned to charred crisps by the still-blazing Gap Fire. We were fortunate enough to have had out-of-town plans, avoiding the worst of the fire. It was nice to see the fire had receded and the air quality had improved when we got home. We're still suffering from rolling blackouts though. The first power outage occurred on Wednesday night between 7pm and midnight, and I think we've intermittently lost power every day since. In fact, if it weren't for my battery-powered laptop, I wouldn't be able to continue writing. The power just went out 2 minutes ago.

Brooke and I were in San Jose visiting our high school friend, T. T and his wife just had their second child and bought a new house.

When visiting friends with two young children, you're really restricted to doing only family-friendly activities like going to the zoo or beach. So when we got a brief 4-hour break from the kids on Friday night, we took full advantage by going to a fancy French restaurant, Chez TJ.

Brooke and I each had the 12-course tasting menu, but we shared one wine pairing (even though they’re small pours, 8 glasses can really add up). The food was only average,
considering the price. Some dishes were great, while others were nearly inedible. I’m no expert on food preparation, but here’s what I've learned…A dish should taste like its ingredients. The foie gras was one of the better dishes, because it had the flavor and texture of foie gras, which is naturally delicious. On the other hand, the "scallop mousse" was awful. Instead of serving a simply prepared scallop, the chef chose to turn a scallop into the consistency of soft tofu, then topped it off with a scallop-flavored foam. The result was a slimy, frothy, slightly fishy tasting mess.

Saturday was fairly uneventful. We spent half the day at home with the kids and the other half shopping.

Then on Sunday, we drove down to Santa Cruz for a bit of boardwalk and beach fun....

Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz, CA

Pictures of the fire from our apartment...

Too close for comfort...

Last night and this morning I have been hearing the unusually frequent sound of helicopters outside my apartment. When I got out to my car this morning, it was covered in ash. I looked up at the hills above, and there is a big fire coming this way. I learned this morning it has been named "The Gap Fire". There are always a number of wild fires burning in Southern California in the summer, but I don't think there has ever been one this close to us. It has a long way to go before it reaches our apartment, but there have been evacuations not too far away. It is a very uncomfortable feeling to look up and see a fire coming towards you. Here is a link to two pictures of the fire, taken last night. Another story and picture can be found here.