I love social media in its many forms and Pinterest is my latest account.  I created a California Parks board with photos of California's most inspiring public lands (hence the generic "parks" because "California's Public Lands" sounded a little dry).  I'm pleased to use photos from local photographers in Yosemite and other spectacular shots I find on the web.  If you know of a place on the web harboring photos of California that others should not miss, send the link my way so I can share on Pinterest.  That's what social media is all about. Check out my Pinterest page here.

Green Papaya Salad with Grilled Shrimp

Besides skiing at Badger Pass, ice skating at the Curry Village Ice Rink and shopping at the Curry Village Craft Bazaar, one of the highlights of winter in Yosemite is the Chefs' Holidays food extravaganza at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Thanks to our friends Joe and Christy, we had the singular delight of attending the gala dinner prepared by sustainable seafood chef Rick Moonen.  There's nothing like sharing excellent food and wine with friends at a cozily lit table in the Ahwahnee's venerable old dining room on a cold winter's night.  We started off the evening with the superlative Green Papaya Salad above, accompanied by champagne (note the little 'c') and incredibly, the food got better and better as the evening progressed!

Christy and JoeI'm fairly certain that all Chefs' Holiday dinners are excellent.  After all, chefs from around the country descend on the Ahwahnee every winter to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to an appreciative audience about the joys of food and cooking.  Though the dinner is not inexpensive, it's worth every penny and you can augment your experience by attending free cooking demonstrations  (read: free food samples!) by the chefs designated for each holiday session.  And did I mention that each dinner course is accompanied by carefully selected wines?  Chef Rick did us a favor by choosing a crop of lovely California wines to savor with our seafood.  After Papaya Salad, everyone at the table lost their minds over the Arctic Char.  The cucumber/horseradish flavors sent the perfectly cooked fish over the moon as far as we were concerned.  By the time the Alaskan Black Cod arrived and was promptly consumed, Ted exclaimed that this was the best meal he had ever eaten.  When Ted says "best meal ever", he is of course referring to a subset of meals cooked outside of our home.  But still, high praise indeed.  No photo of the cod as I was halfway through when I realized I missed the photo op.  Too busy eating.  This also may have been my best meal ever as in addition to preferring seafood over just about anything, I like me some venison.  And it should always be prepared like this with onions, mushroms and brussels sprouts - perfect!

Applewood Smoked Arctic Char

Venison with Pear ButterChef Rick's current venture is RM Seafood in Las Vegas and his efforts to endorse sustainable seafood purveyors for restaurants resulted in "Chef of the Year" status for 2010 by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's influential Seafood Watch program.  Accolades aside, the man has a way with preparing seafood that is a boon for the rest of us.  We talked with Chef Rick after dinner and he shared how much he enjoyed hiking around Yosemite during his visit.  I shared how fortunate I am in visiting Las Vegas next month where I would be enjoying this dinner all over again.

We ended dinner with Sticky Toffee Pudding (right!) and the evening with a table visit from Ahwahnee General Manager Brett Archer and Ahwahnee Executive Chef Percy Whatley.  Both exuded enthusiasm for the dinner and the Chefs' Holidays event in general, as they should.  Both have had a hand in creating an exceptional dining experience enhanced by it's national park setting.  The Ahwahnee team and it's guest chefs are making winters bright in Yosemite National Park.

Michelle and Chef Rick Moonen

Brett and Ted

Did I mention there was a lot of wine?Junket Ratings:

Chefs' Holidays at the Ahwahnee: Junk in the Trunk!

If ever there was a sign of the impending apocalypse, the photo above may be it.  That's my yard in Yosemite Valley at 4000 feet in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Not one flake of snow has desended since the onset of winter last month.  Though we can have rather skimpy white christmases here, the snow has usually come and gone at least once if the holiday is green.  Last year the snow started at Thanksgiving and my yard looked like this (we got a new fence last year):

I came across this video by Steve Bumgardner, posted so we don't forget how winter looks in Yosemite.  Though lack of snow has made our day-to-day lives easier, the fact remains that Yosemite looks good in white.  The other fact that makes me a little uneasy is that the less snow we get in the winter, the less water there will be in the spring and summer. We live in a land of fierce wildfires that is forced to drain it's snowmelt for far-off thirsty cities, and sometimes there just isn't enough water to go around.  So pray to your weather gods, cross your fingers or shake your snow stick that we get some whopping storms sometime soon.

So I'm stuck at home this New Year's Eve, and though that in and of itself is not unusual for us country mice, the fact that I am stuck at home with a broken foot is somewhat unusual.  No dancing for me, so I thought Ted and I might team up to cook something nice and ring in the new year, since I can only hobble around on crutches.  We plan to braise some short ribs in red wine and that got me to thinking about other dishes I'd cooked this holiday season with some success and how I'd like to share them with you (besides, I've already started drinking - Happy New Year!).  The success you see above is based on the absolute reliability of boxed cupcake mix (Funfetti!) and the whiskey crafting skill at the High West Distillery in Park City, Utah but not at the same time (well, yes, sometimes).  High West's Silver Whiskey has been my drink of choice this holiday season, as a little whiskey & soda or as a Clementine Cocktail.  I also got to thinking about what it means to be a cook who makes successful dishes now that I can't do it for a few weeks.  But first we must rewind back to the beginning of fall, as everyone who cooks knows that 'holiday season' starts in October.

Another delightful entry in the "small baked goods" category manifested through Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread which I baked in muffin tins and sprinkled with unroasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds).  October rolls in and the urge to cook with pumpkin becomes overwhelmingly incessant.  The husband doesn't like pumpkin-based products, but that rarely deters me.  I cook every day of my life with rare exceptions and wash mountains of dishes in the process.  We live in a place with no pizza delivery some 40 miles from the nearest fast food chain restaurant and though we do have a handful of local restaurants, they are jammed with tourists in the summer, closed in the winter or simply not feasible as a regular dinner (jacket and tie at the Ahwahnee Dining Room again?).  So I cook and cook and sometimes it just has to be for me.

Flank steak and chile relleno

We spent two weeks of our fall in Mexico this year and though that is a whole other culinary story, we cooked up some flank steak that digresses beautifully during the holiday parade of standing rib roasts, roasted turkeys and cured hams.  The flank steak was marinated with citrus juices and achiote paste based on a recipe found in an old special edition of Bon Appetit magazine called "The Soul of Mexico".  Ted's mother keeps the magazine at the house in Mexico and I have never found another copy anywhere, ever, not even online.  Guess I'll have to straight up steal it next visit.  Anyway, the original recipe called for marinating pork in achiote and cooking with banana leaves.  We used the marinade on beef without banana leaves and it's still righteous.  Achiote paste is more of a southern Mexico cooking staple made from ground annatto seeds and sold in small cakes that combine with lime and orange juice to make a sassy meat marinade.  I'm fairly certain you could use the marinade on anything and it would be delicious.  You don't have to be in Mexico to buy achiote paste - see that mexgrocer.com link on the right hand side of this page?

As a cook, if you're not into Halloween treats, you focus all of your fall energy on the Superbowl of Meals: Thanksgiving Dinner.  We shared our meal this year with friends who had just moved to California, so some native foods were in order.  Luckily my Thanksgiving stuffing staple involves artichokes and I've been making it for many years, so I've got it down pat.  Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing comes from Sunset magazine back in the day and it remains one of their most popular recipes.  Sourdough bread is an art form in San Francisco, so this recipe really does represent Cali as best in show.  I keep this recipe for leftover turkey: Vietnamese Style Turkey Subs which is just really, really good, but this year I also tried something a little whack: Turkey Flatbread with Cranberry Salsa which is basically a flatbread pizza with all the flavors of Thanksgiving and... jalapenos.  If you're looking to mix it up after a week of turkey sandwiches, this is your recipe.  After years of practice, I am the kind of cook that can take 5 pantry items and 30 minutes to whip up a dinner, make sauces from scratch and comment intelligently on braising vs. sous vide, but ultimately I just want to make something that tastes good, and to me that often involves a collision of cultures and flavors (sometimes to Ted's dismay).  If you are not an adventurous eater, you may want to stick with turkey sandwiches, but I double dog dare you to give it a try!

Some days just require pizza no matter which holidays are looming.  Though I cheat on the dough with pre-made bakery versions that I keep in the freezer, I can still present you with mouth-watering pizza goodness that will not give you cause to complain.  The version above is standard style with homemade pizza sauce, but the pie we've had great success with this year comes from Tyler Florence: Grilled Pizza with Mozarella di Bufala.  You cook the crust separately on the grill or under the broiler and then toss together the usual ingredients like a salad to spread on top of the cooked crust (no sauce, just fresh tomatoes) for a fresh delightful pizza pie.  If you cheat with the dough like I do, you can kick this dinner out in no time flat.

Since I was scheduled for foot surgery on December 22nd, I knew the Christmas holiday was not going to involve any cooking from me.  I bought Hershey's kisses and clementine oranges to make it festive, but I did prepare one holiday treat ahead of time because I couldn't resist.  We bring home hot chocolate from Mexico every visit because I love Mexican hot chocolate though it is readily available in the States (see that mexgrocer.com link to the right?).  Made by Nestle and Ibarra, the Mexican chocolate comes in rounds flavored with cinnamon where you break off a piece and cook it with milk (or in my case, almond milk) slowly over the stove.  Delicious with Hot Damn! cinnamon schnapps, hot chocolate is also the basis for marshmallow treats and I've been seeing gourmet marshamllow treats all over the food world lately.

From familyfun.go.com From saveur.comEnter a rather newish cookbook, Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon along with my desire to consume gourmet marshmallows and another holiday tradition was born: homemade marshmallows coated in sprinkles and cocoa!

Happy Birthday to my fifteen year old dog, Fleabag and Happy New Year to you!

As Yosemite dwellers, we don't always have vehicle access to the high country, particularly in the winter.  So unless you're slogging it up switchbacks prepared for skiing and snow camping, you say sayonara to the high mountain passes from fall until spring.  Unless of course, the snow doesn't show.  So far this year, snowfall has been almost nonexistent and the roads are being kept open by NPS.  And the people who live here are very, very excited.  Tioga Pass is the Sierra Nevada's highest at nearly 10,000 feet, so even when there isn't snow in December, the groundwater is freezing.  And the Tioga Road is home to three alpine lakes that provide spectacular landscapes for ice skating: Tenaya Lake in Yosemite and Tioga and Ellery Lakes just outside the park in the Inyo National Forest.  We took a trip over the pass two weeks ago and visited the hot springs outside Mammoth Lakes.  Since then I've been inundated with friends' photos and videos of high country skating expressing the joy of accessing Tioga Pass so late in the year.  And since this is the season of joy, I thought I'd pass some of it along to you.

My friend Beth took the three photos above, wrote a great article about driving Tioga Pass in December at National Parks Traveler, and you can hear about her experience as well as about the current climatic conditions in California that are causing us to have such a snow free holiday season on KQED public radio:

Chris Falkenstein shared his video of skating on Tenaya Lake:

My friend Kristal Leonard (Isn't That Beautiful Photography) takes incredible photos of the park in any season:

And the Yosemite Winter Club made to Tenaya Lake for some real old-fashioned ice hockey:

Photo by Kirstie KariSince Ted's knee is not 100% and I now have a bum foot, our trip over Tioga Pass involved admiring frozen lakes and waterfalls from afar (though Ted did try a little skating on Tioga Lake), and heading over the pass to search for hot springs near Mammoth Lakes.  Home to legendary skiing on Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Lakes also offers common and not-so-common benefits of great ski towns: good restaurants and natural hot springs.  We experienced two great hot springs under moonlight and sunlight and shared dinner with friends Christy and Joe at one good restaurant.  Just southeast of Mammoth Lakes is the Hot Creek Geological Site, one of many hot springs located in the geologicaly active Long Valley Caldera.  Administered by the Forest Service, Hot Creek is not for bathing, unlike the myriad other springs in the area built up with stone and concrete pools and adjustable water sources.  Not commercially developed, volunteers maintain these pools and ask that the sites be respected and kept clean by all users.  We visited the Shepherd Hot Spring by day and the Hot Tub spring by evening under a full moon and enjoyed both pools with their incredible views of the Sierra Nevada in California and the White Mountains of Nevada.

Frozen waterfall next Mariuolumne Dome

Frozen water on Tioga Road

Ted at Shepherd Hot Spring

Hot springs grow bacterial mats that give them beautiful colors

The pool at Shepherd Hot Spring

Sunset on the White Mountains

The Hot Tub spring looking east toward the White Mountains

The Hot Tub spring looking west toward the Sierra NevadaWe basked in the sunshine at Shepherd Hot Spring while soaking our tootsies in this seriously hot pool of water.  These maintained tubs have water pipes that allow you to adjust the flow of water into the pool, which also allows you to control the temperature to an extent.  Four of us soaked comfortably while our dogs tooled around the area sniffing the grasses.  The views are expansive and we even had the pool to ourselves on this December day (though we saw campers and naked hippies here earlier).  Ted and I spent some time after dark in The Hot Tub spring watching the full moon rise over the White Mountains which we also enjoyed exclusively.  To find these springs, we used two sources:  Touring California and Nevada Hot Springs from Falcon Guides (see below) and the HotWaterSlaughter website that contains photos and directions to hot springs all over the western US.

After a relaxing evening soak, Ted and I met Christy and Joe at Slocum's Grill & Bar in Mammoth Lakes for dinner.  We had a great dining experience with the excellent company of good friends and I even got to eat snails - because I love me some escargot.  We shared a Goat Cheese Bruschetta and the Escargot a la Slocum's, both excellent, and I was quite pleased with Seafood Spaghetti, a Caesar Salad and a pre-dinner cocktail Martini (very dirty).  It wasn't my time to blog, but I know everyone enjoyed the dishes that were absolutely heaped on our corner table with culinary goodness and the service was swell.  All photos below from Slocum's.

Not bad for December weekend in the Sierra that didn't involve snow and skiing.  As I write this, the Tioga Road is currently open and ready for your winter adventure, but you should check the Yosemite National Park road conditions for yourself at 209-372-0200 before you go.

Junket Ratings:

Slocum's Grill & Bar: Junk-O-Rama

Besides the eating and the drinking escapades, Alamos is also a great base from which to explore the Sonoran desert and the coast of the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez).  Alamos is ringed by the Sierra de Alamos mountains, a subset of the Sierra Madre that offers great hiking and wonderful flora and fauna.  We've hiked amongst lizards and birds, cactus and orchids, dusty trails and creeks.  We always visit the Mentidero, a conservation area with a creek that feeds the Rio Cuchujaqui just outside of town.  This visit we spotted a Great Blue Heron fishing in the creek, a black and white Caracara bird in the trees, a distinctly orange colored bat hunting insects over the surface of the water and wild chayote squash growing all over the landscape.  Something else that delights me about the Mentidero is the Virgin Mary shrine along the bank of the creek.  Everywhere you go in Mexico, you find Mary shrines and I find these oddly comforting.  Our Lady of Guadalupe is so named because she appeared to Mexican peasant Juan Diego outside of Mexico City in December of 1531.  She told Juan Diego to build a church on the site where she stood and take blooming roses from the hillside as proof of her appearance to the local bishop.  Juan Diego gathered the roses into his cloak, but when he opened it for the clergy, the roses had turned into an image of Mary burned into the fabric if the cloak.  According to Juan Diego, the Virgin Mary described herself using the Aztec Nahuatl language as Coatlaxopeuh (pronounced "quatlachupe") which the Spanish heard as "Guadalupe".  Coatlaxopeuh roughly translates to "one who crushes serpents".  Mary's image appears all over Mexico where the Mexicans have embraced her as an icon of the Virgin Mary and where she is known as the "Queen of Mexico" and "Empress of the Americas" by the Catholic Church.

We did not hike the Mt. Alamos trail this visit, as it was 'harvest' time in the mountains for Mexico's most famous crop and strangers are not welcome, but we did hike the trail during our Christmas visit in 2007.  The trail begins at the edge of town and ascends to 5700 feet.  We didn't hike the entire trail and I dropped the camera in the water, but we enjoyed the scenery and Fleabag took an inadvertent swim in the pools of water amongst the boulders near the trail.

On the same visit in 2007 we stopped for a few days at San Carlos, a beach town on the way to Alamos from Tucson.  Just outside of the port city of Guaymas, San Carlos also hosts many American visitors during the winter and served as the filming location for the 1970 movie "Catch 22".  We stayed at the Paradiso Resort and brought our mountain bikes.  In December it's not quite warm enough to swim, but we enjoyed the beach all the same.  San Carlos, dominated by the silhouette of Mount Tetakawi, is beautiful, friendly and serves delicious fish tacos.  Only a five hour drive from Tucson in the Sonora "Free Zone" (no car permit required for Americans), San Carlos is a great Mexican beach experience known for excellent sportfishing without the college student party atmosphere.

We made it to a different beach during this visit, taking back roads from Alamos to the coast for an overnight trip.  Newly paved, Ted was very disappointed by the state of the road as it hardly provided a challenge for the Landcruiser (some sections are still unpaved).  Cruising through the desert you pass through the towns of Masiaca and Teachive, and I found it interesting that the road signs also indicated the native Mayo spelling of each place.  Some one and a half hours later we found ourselves in Las Bocas - the very antithesis of a touristy Mexican beach town.  Though residences lined the beaches, the houses were modest and the town was quiet with few busnesses.  We found locals in a few places, but not many.  Fishing is obviously one of the main livelihoods in town, making the beaches more about utility than recreation.  We drove around until we stumbled upon a beautifully clean stretch of beach with an enormous flock of Brown Pelicans and stayed to eat our picnic lunch.  The lone motel in town, decidedly unimpressive (and not on the beach!) inspired us to move on to the city of Huatabampo.  This was all unexplored territory for Ted, so we enjoyed exploring the unknown, including the massive police checkpoint on the highway near the Sinaloa/Sonora border designed to prevent drug trafficking from southern to northern Mexico.  Hauatabampo, also not on the beach, provided us a with a fine motel and a lovely dive of a restaurant where we proceeded to have a seafood feast with plenty of beer, Mariscos la Bahia.  The waitresses in blue smocks were friendly, though they mostly seemed to be serving family members in between checking their smartphones.

Closer to town is the El Mocuzarit Reservoir, a fishing lake with a small village and a ridiculously large population of birds on the Rio Mayo that encompasses 80,000 acres.  We were scouting hot springs, and though we found some with the help of local residents in exchange for beer and pesos, we were far outnumbered by cattle and decided not to soak.  We returned from this trip to the Thanksgiving holiday in the states, where I was reminded to be thankful for life in America as some of the Mocuzarit residents had no running water or electricity.  The lakeshore was littered with abandoned boats and fish bones, haunted by a large pack of stray dogs.  Another enormous flock of Brown Pelicans bobbed on the lake while an equally enormous flock of vultures gathered amongst the trees.

We stayed in Mexico through November 21st becuase Ted wanted to attend the Fiesta of Nuestra Señora de La Balvanera at the neighboring village of La Aduana - site of an historic silver mining community.  La Aduana is home to a church with a miraculous cactus growing out of the side of the stone walls, whose shadow is thought to resemble the Virgin Mary.  A statue of Mary is transported via procession to the church in Alamos the Saturday before the fiesta and then pilgrims walk the seven miles from Alamos back to La Aduana in the early morning hours on Sunday.  We heard the church bells toll at 3:00 AM calling the faithful to walk.  At the more civilized (unfaithful?) hour of 11:00 AM we drove to La Aduana to take part in the festivities.  La Aduana is normally a quiet village with crumbling buildings, but this weekend thousands of Mexicans had converged to receive blessings in the church, eat from temporary food stalls and shop for items ranging from housewares to religious icons.  We were very obviously the only gringos at the fiesta and we loved it.  We ate grilled chicken for lunch and Wenche bought fruit on a stick.

Before the trip to La Aduana, the town of Alamos celebrated the fiesta weekend with a morning parade that we witnessed from the second floor terrace of the house since it was directly on the parade route.  We had been listening all week, somewhat painfully, to the children practice their marching band music at the school across the street from Casa Bella.  The rousing, colorful parade seemed like a perfect sendoff for us as we were leaving Alamos behind the next day to return to California.  I believe every child in Alamos was involved in the parade in one form or another, but my favorite were the four little guys depicting Mexico's favorite sons - mustaches and all.  My guess:  Benito Jauarez, Pancho Villa, Porfirio Diaz and Emiliano Zapata but I could be way off in my Mexican political history.

So we packed up our goodies - laundry, bulk hot sauce from the Obregon Sam's Club, bolsas, achiote paste, hats, refried beans, tequila - and headed back to the States.  We stopped on the roadside for granite molcajetes (mortar & pestle) from the Sierra Madre and in Santa Ana for chile ristras.  We also endured a relatively short wait at the border while we got our windows cleaned and perused the Virgin of Guadalupe souvenirs available for purchase.  Crossing the state line from Arizona to California, we encountered a border patrol checkpoint that thoughtfully provided a signful of statistics to assure us of the efficacy of the border patrol operations.  We Protect America!  It was good to be home.

Junket Ratings:

Paradiso Resort San Carlos: Junk-O-Rama

Mariscos La Bahia Huatabampo: Junk-O-Rama

My Mexican Vacation: which beer to have with breakfast?

Mexico: land of sunshine, tacos, desert, ocean, caballeros, stray dogs, pesos, tortillas, and my mother-in-law's home in the foothills of the Sierra Madre at historic Alamos, an official Pueblo Magico in the state of Sonora.  Ted and I escorted her in our Landcruiser, driving two days from LA to northern Mexico for two glorious weeks in the Mexican high desert.  Appropriately enough, we made it for our sixth wedding anniversary since we were married at her home, Casa Bella, on a fall evening in 2005.  We assisted with some home projects, spent a day at the beach, cooked some great meals, visited with friends and availed ourselves of super sabrosa street food in the form of tacos, exquisitos, hamburguesas and helados.  Soaking up some sun before our return to ever colder Yosemite, we enjoyed Alamos as we always do, lucky enough to enjoy a beautiful home in a charming town with a fabulous setting.

It takes roughly 9 hours to drive to Alamos from Tucson, Arizona, through the state of Sonora on Mexican Federal Highway 15 or you can fly into Ciudad Obregon and drive 1.5 hours south.  Alamos is a town of 13,000 Mexican souls which includes an American expatriate community of 300 families or so.  Founded in 1681, Alamos was built on the largesse of silver mining in the surrounding area with classic examples of Spanish colonial architecture at the La Parroquia de la Purísima Concepción, the Plaza de Armas and the scores of mansion homes for the wealthy.  By World War II, the silver was gone and most of the mansions had fallen into disrepair so Americans began to buy and restore the buildings beginning in the 1950s.  The result is a large community of Americans in Alamos who participate in the local community but also maintain a social season throughout the winter months with plenty of cocktail parties.  Surrounded by the Sierra de Alamos mountains, the town is a national historic monument where you still see horses on the cobblestone streets and is also being considered for World Heritage Site status.

This is a famous photo of the 'Kissing Alley' in Alamos and I'm not sure who to credit

Wenche's home in Alamos has been in the family for 21 years.  An historic building around a courtyard with a pool, 4 bedrooms, a second floor terrace, dining, reading and living rooms, Casa Bella is gorgeous and managed by Paco the caretaker.  I'm giving you the 50 cent tour because the house is also for sale - if you're looking for a home in Mexico and have $419,000 to spend, this could all be yours.  Check out the realtor site here.

Besides sunshine, beautiful gardens and architecture, we love Alamos for it's Mexican heart.  Though many Americans maintain residences here, you won't see many American tourists.  Instead, you will spend your days interacting with local citizens conducting everyday business.  And what better way to interact than over a meal?  Just like the rest of Mexico, Alamos has a thriving street food industry that is centered on two town squares: the more formal Plaza de Armas in front of the church and the Alameda next to the market.  Sunday evenings find most of Alamos circumnavigating the Plaza with friends and family in a time-honored tradition known as the paseo - walking the square to socialize which includes dating teens, families with kids and elders.  The paseo taking place at the Alameda consists mostly of young adults cruising in their pickup trucks blaring music.  Part of the paseo is stopping to eat at the food carts set up around the square.  Though many food carts in town operate most of the time, Sunday evening is by far their biggest sales day.  The state of Sonora is known for it's beef, so carne asada tacos abound, but we really dig the fish tacos (Alamos is only an hour plus from the Gulf of California) and Exquisitos beef hot dogs with soft steamed buns and piled with toppings: bacon, tomatoes, onions, mayonnaise, mustard, and pickled jalapenos.  We can withstand our disgust over hot dogs for these beauties!  To round out the south of the border culinary experience, you can drink apple flavored soda or go right to the hard stuff, and in this case we tried Mezcal.  Made from agave plants just like tequila, mezcal has a strong smoky flavor from the roasted maguey and a worm in the bottle.  Apparently bottles of tequila never contained worms but a bottle of mezcal has always contained a specimen of the larval form of a moth that feeds on maguey.  Don't let your husband put the worm in your shot glass like mine did.

Carne asada tacos and grilled chicken

Fish tacos

Exquisito hot dog

Though the restaurant/cocktail scene in Alamos is small, there are some real gems.  Some hotels offer good restaurants and bars: super luxe Hacienda de Los Santos' Agave Cafe and American hangout Casa de Los Tesoros features Chato's Bar to name two, but excellent meals we found in three places.  Wenche and I became ladies who lunch, sampling the Agave Cafe and Teresita's Panaderia y Bistro (bakery and cafe).  Teresita's cozy location is surpassed only by the smell from the busy bakery, the lively menu and excellent dishes.  The generous salad with dreamy artichoke souffle was served with fresh baked bread and soft creamy butter, accompanied by even more creamy Tarascan bean soup with a heap of shredded cheese and crunchy croutons.  Owner and operator Teri Arnold-Shannon ran the Puerta Roja Inn for many years in Alamos, known for excellent hospitality.  The Shannons were also very gracious with an invitation to attend a barbeque at their home in the Challeton neighborhood of Alamos.  Teri and her husband Pat spend their winters in Alamos and summers on their boat in Alaska, so we had the most amazing crab appetizer with our cocktails and I should've asked Pat for the recipe.  Speaking of seafood, we had an excellent shrimp dinner at El Mirador Restaurante located on the hill above Alamos known as the Mirador (lookout).  With the best views in town, the humble restaurant specializes in seafood dishes so we ordered shrimp in chile relleno, in mojo de ajo (garlic) and a el diablo (with spicy tomato sauce).  Yum, yum and yum!

Wenche enjoying lunch at Los Santos' Agave Cafe

Ted enjoying margaritas at Chato's Bar

Wenche enjoying lunch at Teresita's

Alamos at night form the Mirador

Restaurant at the Mirador (back building - ice cream stand up front)

Seafood at the MiradorTed is sick of dining with a blogger

No photographic evidence from me, but we also dined at Casa de Los Tesoros' Charisma restaurant run by Executive Chef Joseph Biggert from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Ted and I had the gourmet spin on pizza and hamburger (can you resist serrano ham on pizza?  I cannot.) that we thoroughly enjoyed and our dining companions, Wenche and her friend Naoma, enjoyed salad and salmon.  We mowed through two seafood appetizers: deliciously prepared calamari and crab cakes with tasty dipping sauces and lovely presentation.  However, as great as the food was, the decor at Charisma is really a knockout, creating a beautiful social atmosphere for dining that makes you want to linger.  And linger you do, since each dish is prepared from scratch once you order, so order up your favorite cocktail and be prepared to wait - but you will love every minute of it.

Stay tuned for part two: Adventures in Alamos where we explore the area's natural and cultural attractions.

Junket Ratings:

Alamos Street Food (Exquisitos!): Junk in the Trunk!

Hacienda de Los Santos' Agave Cafe: Junk-O-Rama

Teresita's Panaderia y Bistro: Junk in the Trunk!

Casa de Los Tesoros' Chato Bar: Junk-O-Rama

El Mirador Restaurante: Junk-O-Rama

Casa de Los Tesoros' Charisma restaurant: Junk in the Trunk!

Sorry, none of that predictable fall color travel blathering this month (see last year's post here).  Actually no travel this month at all so it's time to relive my travel glory days in the great state of California.  For my 40th birthday I chose to go where all the old people go: Palm Springs.  But before you get all down on my choice of venue for the gracefully aging, remember that Palm Springs is also where all the gay and retro hipster people go too, so it's got a lot to offer.  Personally, I'm a mid-century modern kind of girl so desert modern architecture is what I yearned for with the added bonus of great outdoor opportunities for the Outdoor Guy (husband Ted).  We also embraced low season in July where it's 115 degrees in the shade and got a great deal on a swanky room at the coolest hotel with a saltwater pool.  But on the way we stopped at the casino, the outlet mall, and Hadley's for the requisite date shake.

From http://coolshots.blogspot.com/

From http://ironingboardcollective.wordpress.com/From http://www.homeofourfathers.com

From Saveur.comThe Palm Springs visit pre-dates my status as California's best blogger, so I didn't spend any time annoying Ted by insisting on photos before consuming any food purchases.  Instead, I have turned to my fellow bloggers to steal their great photos of food in the Palm Springs area (attractions too).  Thanks, Bleeps! (That's a shout out to "blogging peeps" not masking the fact that I used derisive language).

Anyone traveling to Palm Springs from LA passes by the unfortunately named San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm and most likely passes though the Morongo Casino  a.k.a. Morongo Casino Resort & Spa with it's funky architecture.  Ted never misses a chance to explore a casino food & beer deal, so we ended up leaving the car in the 100 degree shaded parking structure (better than 115 degrees!) to explore the Morongo food court.  A couple of beers, a spin around the casino floor and a hot dog later, we found ourselves back on the highway and lured into the Cabazon Outlets mall.  We found deals at the Adidas store and I admired from afar at the Le Creuset outlet.  It's not a large mall, but air-conditioned shopping is a valid daytime activity in the desert, so we did our best.  The last requisite stop before entering Palm Springs is the Hadley Fruit Orchard - home of the sinfully delicious Date Shake.  SoCal is known for date cultivation (see Death Valley post) and it's natural extension: vanilla ice cream with milk and bits of yummy, somewhat chocolatey, dates to create the world's tastiest milk shake.  Frosty goodness in the desert.  Cooled off and satiated, we rolled into Palm Springs to check into the Orbit In, one of the coolest hotels ever.

Along with a saline pool and free cocktail hour with sake-based Orbitinis, the Palm Springs retro mod decor made this the perfect desert getaway.  Discounted summer rates didn't detract from the service, though they did neglect to turn the A/C on before our arrival, resulting in a hot surprise in the Cha Cha Room where we stayed.  Once the air kicked in, we enjoyed the private patio and our room with the pink bathroom just steps from the pool.  The plan was simple: early to rise to use the hotels named cruiser bikes to survey the city's architecture or an outdoor adventure, spend the rest of the day in the pool, clean up for evening outings at local restaurants.  The plan worked like a charm.

Where Elvis and Priscilla spent their honeymoon from architecture.about.comThe Kaufmann House From designsigh.com

From www.oklahomamodern.us

From www.gowestusa.com

Learning to use the camera timer. Or not.

The best way to see the architecture of Palm Springs is to buy the map of the self-guided tour: A Map of Modern Palm Springs by the non-profit Palm Springs Modern Committee.  Don't care about architecture?  How about some desert adventure?  Just about an hour's drive away is Joshua Tree National Park, rockclimbing mecca and home to the tree on the cover of the U2 album (though not the exact tree - see Death Valley post again).  We took in sunrise at the park by leaving PS at 4:30 am to beat the heat and enjoy the desert before retiring to the pool for the afternoon.  I have to say that JTree has the coolest national park visitor center in the west.

You can also hie yourself out to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway that ascends 2 and one half miles to an elevation of 8500 feet at the Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness/Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument for a high desert experience that is some 25 degrees cooler - ahhh.  The World's Largest Rotating Tramcars follow Chino Canyon before providing a view of the entire Coachella Valley spread out before you like Auntie Entity's Bartertown, only with much more reliable electricity thanks to those windmills!  At this elevation, snow is also possible in the desert, though you have to settle for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter - no ski resorts in the park or monument.  Hiking trails and picnic areas make for a great day trip, and don't forget the restaurants and gift shops at Mountain Station - look for the small state park gift shop next to the concession shop to spend your dollars wisely.  I found this guy's video of the tramway where his low-key narration uses words like "exhilarating" "daredevil" and "lush" to describe his experience:

Coachella Valley from Mount San Jacinto State ParkPalm Springs is another of God's Waiting Room retirement cities, so the residents are generally loaded.  Rich people in proximity usually mean good restaurants, and PS has it's share.  We dined at two restaurants in town, Wang's in the Desert and Peppers Thai Cuisine, and ate birthday dinner in the neighboring town of Palm Desert at Pacifica seafood restaurant.  I remember raving about Peppers Thai, but since we have so little access to Thai food in our lives, we may have just been grateful.  I do remember ordering Crab Meat Rangoon and a Basil & Chili dish and it probably was the Seafood Combo.  The restaurant was right downtown on the main drag, but not located in one of those faux town square deals.  It had good atmosphere.  Wang's was a little further from our hotel (also right downtown), but not by much.  The food, service and location were all very, very good and we really enjoyed our dinner seated next to the indoor pond.  The locals seemed to be having a great time at the bar.  We drove to Palm Desert for Pacifica because I had a very specific seafood wish for my birthday dinner.  Located in the swank and kinda ugly shopping district, Pacifica was very busy and they took a minute to seat us, even with reservations.  However, all my reservations disappeared with the serving of many types of seafood delight.  Pacifica obviously changes the menu regularly but I'm certain I consumed scallops and some lovely dessert thing.  I believe Ted had the Sugar-Spiced Salmon which he quite liked.  During one evening's outing we also took advantage of Free Admission Thursdays at the Palm Springs Art Museum before heading off to dinner.

From wangsinthedesert.com

Palm Desert from cityofpalmdesert.org

The Sugar-Spiced Salmon at Pacifica from yelp.com

From mypalmsprings.comWe rolled out of Palm Springs tanner, a little fit, a little more cultured, well-fed and well-rested, perhaps overall everything you are looking for in a vacation destination.  I'm looking to go back anytime, as we didn't visit the ultra-cool and dog-friendly ACE Hotel, haven't seen Modernism Week or checked out Shields Date Gardens to see the film, "Romance and Sex Life of the Date".  So much to do in the desert.

Junket Ratings:

Morongo Casino Resort & Spa: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Cabazon Outlets: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Hadley Fruit Orchards: Junk-O-Rama

Orbit In: Junk in the Trunk!

Peppers Thai Cuisine: Junk-O-Rama

Wang's in the Desert: Junk-O-Rama

Pacifica Seafood Restaurant: Junk-O-Rama

Palm Springs Art Museum: Junk-O-Rama

Tomatoes are my favorite fruit masquerading as a vegetable.  They are also my favorite vegetable.  Actually, without tomatoes, I would be a lot less interested in food in general.  So when the Mariposa Agri-Nature Trail announced that this year's Weekend in the Country event would be tomato-themed, I put it on the calendar with a little gold star.  Last year I dragged Ted to the Weekend in the Country in the spring and learned a bit about our foothill neighbors that farm and ranch just outside of Yosemite. This year it was my friend Beth's turn to attend, though dragging was unnecessary as she likes tomatoes almost as much as me (and we both like food).  The Tomato Fest featured a tomato-eating contest, salsa contest, heirloom tomato tastings, the Mariposa Farmers Market, food & craft booths and gardening tips from Master Gardeners at the Mariposa Creekway California Native Plant Demonstration Garden.

And this was just downtown.  Otherwise you could visit local farms, ranches and vineyards as part of the event and check out their goods.  The Mariposa Agri-Nature Trail is comprised of individuals who raise agricultural products on their lands and individuals committed to the protection of natural heritage with the following goals:

• Promote and protect agriculture and help maintain the county’s rural character
• Educate others on agricultural activities and practices by sharing our first-hand experiences;
• Learn from each other how to live on and with the land without harming its productivity;
• Promote long-term stewardship of our agricultural legacy; and
• Develop respect and appreciation for the county’s natural resources and wildlife habitats.

Last year the farm/ranch/vineyard open house tour took place on both days of the event.  This year's open house took place on Saturday only, so Beth and I hung around downtown for lunch and market shopping on Sunday.  Otherwise we could've visited places like this:

Mount Bullion VineyardWe also noticed that the winner of the Tomato Fest Haiku Contest got big props and Beth was kind enough to gift me with a copy of the Tomato Fest cookbook: Tomato Fest Recipes from the Garden.  Chock full of tomato style and many other recipes, the book features contributions by locals to raise funds for the event.  If you make it to Mariposa, you can purchase a copy at Casto Oaks Fine Wine & Art at 5022 Hwy 140 (corner of 5th St/Hwy 140) in town.  Did I forget to mention child prodigy Belle the Animal Balloon Maker?

Though tomatoes are a good reason to travel anywhere, Mariposa is one of Yosemite's gateway towns, so many park visitors experience the charm of this small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills before reaching the park.  Mariposa is also home to a small collection of that California culinary staple, the mobile food truck, and a unit of the state park system, the California State Mining and Mineral Museum where you can ogle the gold found in them thar hills.

From www.menupix.com

Baja Tacos Truck

Al Pastor tacos from Sal's Taco Truck

From www.mineralmuseums.com

Whether you visit for the tomatoes, the bling or the majesty of Yosemite National Park, Mariposa is one of California's historic small towns that charms in any season.