TRAVEL: LOS ANGELES FEBRUARY 2011

Above is the view from the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles with Catalina Island just perched on the horizon, some 26 miles across the sea.  That's also the view when I walk around my mother-in-law's neighborhood during visits to the peninsula, which I was fortunate to do in February during a stretch of glorious SoCal weather: a full week of sunny and 70 degrees.  I left my weekend in San Francisco and headed down south, though I didn't drive along the coast.  I zoomed down a mostly empty Interstate 5 to make it quick since this week was not about the journey but definitely about the destination.  I didn't plan to stray far off the peninsula that is 20 miles south of downtown LA, but had plenty to look forward to, including spending time with family.  With a mid-day pit stop at my favorite fast food restaurant, I cruised into Rancho Palos Verdes (with bags of avocados and oranges acquired from the vendor across from the In-n-Out) in the late afternoon sun to stay with Wenche (pronounced "Venka" in her native Norwegian) in the Garden Terrace Guest Room.

The first order of business on Monday was a ladies luncheon at the home of family friends Earl and Marion.  Wenche has a small contingent of Norwegian lady friends that live on the peninsula and all have been part of the Hansen/Karner family for years.  Marion hosted the luncheon for Wenche, Olaf and me to show off her newly re-modeled kitchen and to serve an old school Norwegian lunch specialty: Aspic - a dish whose ingredients are set into gelatin made from meat stock or consomme.  Marion served her aspic with a creamy sauce made from sour cream and mayo in a cool accompaniment to the veggie seafood dish.  Aspic is one of those classic dishes that no one makes anymore, so it was a treat to try Marion's version in such excellent company. 

Olaf and Marion

Michelle and WencheOn Tuesday and Wednesday I doubled my in-law quotient when Ted's sister Linda joined us for various outings, including the Wayfarer's Chapel, Abalone Cove and the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.  Built by Lloyd Wright, the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Wayfarer's Chapel is a Swedenborgian church known for it's glass, stone and redwood architecture and it's location overlooking the Pacific.  Constructed in 1951, the glass-walled chapel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a prime example of Wright's Organic Architecture: a philosophy promoting harmony between buildings and nature.  The chapel is surrounded by gardens and a commanding ocean view, enhancing the organic component of the structure.  An evening candlelight service here must be extraordinary.

Wenche and Linda

The persistent rumor in Palos Verdes about the chapel's most famous wedding party concerns Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.  However, after some research and the potential for bubble-bursting, I determined that another famous blonde - Jayne Mansfield - was married here in 1958.  After waiting to hear the noontime chimes from the chapel belltower, we sauntered across the road to the Abalone Cove Shoreline Park.  The Palos Verdes peninsula is dotted with coves filled with beaches and tidepools.  Though some beaches are private, you can access the ocean at Abalone Cove and Malaga Cove.  We spent Christmas Day at Abalone Cove in 2006, combing through the tidepools along with our niece Ingrid and nephew Bjorn.  On this day, Wenche, Linda and I walked the bluff-top trails and along the beach to the point.  The tide was too high to spot tidepool critters (except the packaged kind we noticed on the beach), but the sunny day made for a great beach trip.

In the colder climes of the Sierra Nevada, I had read that the Wednesday Farmers' Market in Santa Monica supplies local chefs with the ingredients to do their thing with a vast array of Southern California produce.  Winter is the height of citrus season and there were piles of oranges to prove it.  If you keep up with this blog, you know I have a weakness for farmers' markets, and this is quite the largest I've ever seen.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the vendor selling oysters and I found plenty of plenty to inspire me for dinner.  I made off with beautiful greens, blood oranges, basil, Japanese tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, squash blossoms, cara cara oranges, smoked tomatoes and the largest head of cabbage on the planet.

We had a plan for lunch, and thanks to Linda's skillful navigating, we made it to some random commercial park in El Segundo just in time to jump in line for Kogi BBQ.  Perhaps the king of mobile food trucks in LA, I had been coveting Kogi's famous Korean short rib taco for a long, long time.  My mother-in-law was quite bemused by the food truck phenomenon, though both she and Linda were very supportive in my quest (they were also somewhat mollified by my dining determination once they tried the short rib taco).  The truck was scheduled to serve from 1 to 2 PM (follow them on Twitter for real time location updates), and we arrived just before start time to some 20 people in line already.

We sampled Short Rib tacos, a Calamari Taco, a Spicy Pork taco and the ladies tried Chicken Tacos.  We opted out of soda or water beverages and took our tacos to the nearest facility selling alcoholic libations.  Then we illegally tailgated with beers and tacos, savoring every last Korean barbecue morsel.  The short rib tacos live up to their stellar reputation, the calamari was very spicy and sabrosa, the spicy pork was delightful and the ladies thought the chicken was just okay.  Long live short rib tacos!!

Short Rib and Calamari Tacos

Chicken and Spicy Pork Tacos

And if you check out the Kogi site, you'll see that they are now serving an Angus Young all prime beef double cheese burger with buttered kimchi, sasa, sesame mayo, and salad.  Seriously Angelenos, what are you waiting for?!

In keeping with our food-related day trip, Wenche and Linda offered to show me around Surfas, a restaurant supply and gourmet food market with a little cafe.  Though I purchased wonderful things: balsamic vinegar, canned tuna from Spain, sweet chili sauce and a heftily economical box of kosher salt, I took no photos.  Perhaps Surfas wants to protect celebrity shoppers?  Perhaps they have the super secret recipe for Coca Cola posted in the store?  Perhaps they have hideously ugly staff members?  Or maybe they just don't like food bloggers.  I didn't ask, but I did respect their gentle mandate:

With the haul from the market, I prepared a dinner for Wenche and Linda in gratitude for carting me through LA traffic in the quest for good food.  The market selections inspired me to make Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta with Goat Cheese - a little specialty of mine - with the smoked tomatoes and fresh Japanese tomatoes besides.  You'll find my original recipe in a little cookbook called "A Springdale Sampler: Recipes Celebrating Life in Zion Canyon" published by the Zion Canyon Lions Club.  You can support the club by purchasing a copy of the cookbook for $12.95, which includes many wonderful recipes including really exceptional dishes by my friends Bonnie and Sunny - great women and great cooks!  Squash blossoms were also on this evening's menu, stuffed with a goat cheese mixture, battered and fried for a delectable appetizer from Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations by Lois Ellen Frank: Fried Squash Blossoms with Celery Sauce.  My experience with squash blossoms dates back to my garden in Utah where I would take blossoms straight from the garden to the kitchen for cooking.  Once blossoms are picked they will only keep for a day, and even then the longer you wait to prepare them, the more they wilt and become unusable.

The makings of Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta

Photo courtesy of The Local Beet

The smoked tomatoes stood in for sun-dried in the pasta dish, and they were a just right.  I assume the tomatoes were smoked over low-burning charcoal or wood fire, just like trout or other smoked meats.  The smokiness was a perfect complement to the goat cheese.  Along with other fine meats, I will be adding tomatoes to my barbecue repertoire this summer.

Thursday dawned - you guessed it - sunny and beautiful, so another trip to the beach was in order.  The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro is a small facility that is part of the Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park.  I checked out the aquarium with about 8000 school children and then walked the beach to the tidepools.  The aquarium building was designed by Frank Gehry and the park also contains the historic Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse, built in 1932.  The beach is on the harbor next to the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in America, where I believe that Jack Bauer once thwarted a terrorist plot.  The beach is clean and uncrowded with picnic tables, plenty of parking and extensive tidepools.  You must pay to park at the beach for a dollar an hour and the aquarium asks for a $5 donation - a very inexpensive and low-key way to spend a day at the beach in Los Angeles.

Photo courtesy of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

Photo courtesy of discoverlosangeles.com

The tide was coming in during my visit to the tidepools, and once I rounded Point Fermin, the waves rolled in much larger than on the side closest to the breakwater.  Viewing the waves from shore I caught an interesting perspective of kelp strands clearly visible through the water as they were pulled up by the motion of the waves.  Most of my ocean experience comes from my time in Florida and so the wild Pacific never fails to provide some astonishing new flora or fauna.

Speaking of astonishing flora, Palos Verdes is also home to the South Coast Botanic Garden "The Jewel of the Peninsula".  Wenche and I took a walk here, amongst the flowers and the ducks, really enjoying the winter sun.  Most impressive?  The cactus garden had some large specimens and the swiss chard in the vegetable garden was brilliantly beautiful.

Speaking of pork & beans, one last food adventure before I left town: a visit to Alpine Village and dinner at Inka Wasi.  Alpine Village is a quaint old-school German themed restaurant and marketplace including some bric-a-brac gift shops that have seen better days.  Linda worked at the restaurant in high school.  Wenche shops at the Alpine Village market regularly where she can purchase food near and dear to her Norwegian heart that may be hard to find elsewhere.  She often shows up at our place with many tasty items that end in -wurst, and I was delighted to visit the source of these meat goodies. 

Rows and rows of spaetzles and wursts housed in true California kitsch.  I loved it.  I walked away from Alpine Village with sauerkraut for Ted, pickles, wieners in a jar (yum!), a German beer and the best liverwurst I've ever had.  Check it out:

After re-supplying the house with liverwurst and meat salad (oxymoron or pure genius?!), Wenche and I took a load off before our dinner date.  Inspired by our friend Joe from Yosemite who was spending the month in Peru, I found a Peruvian restaurant in the Peninsula Center just down the road and wanted to introduce Wenche and me to Peruvian cuisine.  Inka Wasi is fairly new to the peninsula, but the owners are not - they operate a sit down service Peruvian restaurant in Torrance called El Pollo Inka.  Inka Wasi has counter service (but they serve beer and wine) with a friendly and knowledgeable staff and a clean, attractive dining room.  We perused the posted wall menu for a while, and then decided to ask the staff for recommendations.  The girl taking our order at the counter cheerfully guided us to choose appetizers and meals based on our food preferences: Ceviche Mixto appetizer, Platanos on the side, Aguadito Soup for both of us and Mariscos Satados dinner for me and Vegetales Saltado dinner for Wenche.  I tried Cusquena beer "The Gold of the Incas" from Peru and Wenche ordered a demi bottle of wine.

From the soup to the plantains to the rice dishes, all of the food was very tasty, though I was particularly taken with the ceviche.  I've had plenty of ceviche in Mexico, but this was something else entirely.  The marinade for the seafood was exceptional and the inclusion of various potatoes and the corn cob with the most gigantic kernels ever was inspired.  The hot green sauce particular to Peru was also a welcome and tasty addition.

If you notice on the menu page above that the Saltado dish is served with a saute of onions, tomatoes, cilantro and french fries along with a side of garlic rice.  Again with the potatoes.  Sides of rice and french fries may seem like overkill to your American fast food palate, but here's the catch: the french fries are included in the saute along with the other ingredients (see my Mariscos Saltado below).  Though there is a sogginess factor for the fries mixed in with the rest of the dish, my impression is that they are not meant to be enjoyed like crispy American fries, but rather as fried potatoes - another vegetable in the saute.  But why include the fries in the first place?

Because potatoes are native to Peru.  Some 400 years ago, potatoes were cultivated in Southern Peru and then spread to the rest of the world via the European explorers visiting/exploiting the Americas in the 1500s.  Now the world's fourth largest crop, potatoes are as integral to Peruvian cuisine as tortillas are to Mexico and tomatoes are to Italy.  And speaking of tomatoes, another crop native to the Americas, what was the rest of the world eating before contact with North and South America?  Foods native to the Americas include: potatoes, tomatos, turkey, chile peppers, peanuts, corn, pineapples, strawberries, avocados, chocolate AND vanilla (we won't mention the more dubious gift of tobacco).  Seriously, I cannot imagine a world without tomatoes.

I left sunny SoCal to return to snow-covered Yosemite, grateful for the opportunity to see more of Los Angeles.  Return trips are sure to unearth more hidden treasures, in addition to the obvious charms of America's second largest city.  If you can make it to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, bring your camera and if you have a Peruvian restaurant in your neighborhood, go now.  And if you ever get invited to Marion's for lunch or to Wenche's Garden Terrace Guest Room, thank your lucky stars!

Junket Ratings:

In-n-Out Burger: Junk in the Trunk!

Wayfarer's Chapel: Junk-O-Rama

Abalone Cove Shoreline Park: Junk-O-Rama

Santa Monica Farmers' Market: Junk-O-Rama

Kogi BBQ: Junk in the Trunk!

Surfas Restaurant Supply: Junk-O-Rama

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Junk-O-Rama

Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park: Junk-O-Rama

South Coast Botanic Garden: Junk-O-Rama

Alpine Village: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Inka Wasi: Junk in the Trunk!

HOME: SKI WEEKEND IN YOSEMITE FEBRUARY 2011

On Saturday at our house it looked like this:

So we decided to do some of this:

After I did this:

Originally we were going for downhill skiing, not cross-country as pictured above.  However, we were thwarted in our attempts to do some downhill skiing at Badger Pass by the National Park Service.  See, Badger Pass is the oldest ski resort in California and only one of 3 ski resorts located in a national park.  Being located in the interior of a national park, though certainly scenic, has it's share of drawbacks.  The most obvious being that the NPS is responsible for the plowing of park roads in the winter and let's just say they are somewhat casual in their attitude toward plowing snow and by extension, winter park visitors in general.  But with 2 feet of snow on the ground in Yosemite Valley, we were determined to ski!  Ted suggested skiing part of the East Valley Loop Trail from Camp 4 to El Capitan and back, making for one of our best days in Yosemite ever (despite my injured foot that is healing ever-so-slowly). 

Ted broke trail most of the way as we skied into pristine meadows and along the Merced River.  Except when under cover of pine trees, we skied in brilliant sun reflected back by dazzling snow.  The views of snow-covered Yosemite icons were spectacular, but the entire Valley is a spectacle in the snow.  This much snow on the ground in the Valley comes and goes during the winter, so even the locals are giddy when the snowfall coincides with a supremely sunny winter day.  Skiing along the river I could smell the California Bay trees - one of my very favorite floral smells signifying Yosemite in every season.

We stopped to rest when El Capitan loomed large and drank refreshing beverages sitting on our skis in the snow.  We met only 2 other couples out skiing this section of the trail in the 3 hours we were out.  How lucky not being forced to share with the usual hordes such a great day enjoying Yosemite Valley!

During the long holiday weekends in winter (namely MLK and Presidents' Day weekends in January and February), Curry Village hosts a Ski Buffet dinner at the Curry Village Dining Pavilion.  Many services in the Valley are generally shut down for the winter, but the holiday weekends provide a dining opportunity at Curry in addition to the restaurants at Yosemite Lodge and the Ahwahnee Dining Room.  We were pleasantly surprised by the Ski Buffet in January (live music, roast turkey, slices of pie, and 10 different types of salads!) so we planned to attend in February too.  Our second experience was not as great as the first - the band couldn't make it, the roast pork was dry, we sat in a heavily trafficked area - but we found the buffet to be a great value and a nice change from the usual in the Yosemite winter.

For $23.75, an adult can eat as much entree, salad, and dessert along with coffee, tea, and soda as they can handle with live music in the company of fellow skiers and other winter revelers.  Beer and wine are available at a cash bar and children 12 and under can eat for $11.75.  This night, the German Potato Salad, Marianted Cremini Mushrooms and lemony mousse style dessert was exceptional.  My serving of Maple Baked Pork Loin was delicious too, though Ted sawed his way through a rather dessicated slice.

Curry Village Ski Buffet Menu February 19, 2011

We rolled home after dinner and slept in the next morning before prepping equipment for a day of downhill skiing at Badger Pass, thanks to the hard work of the NPS crews allowing access by clearing the Glacier Point Road the day before in the afternoon sun.  Our morning laziness served us right as we approached the Chinquapin intersection near 11 AM to be confronted by NPS traffic control and closure of the Glacier Point Road since there were no more parking spaces left at Badger Pass.  It's tough to ski in Yosemite in the winter. Sunday was just as sunny as Saturday, though much colder at the Badger Pass elevation of 7000 feet.  I was a wimp both temperature-wise and ski run-wise:  I had a nice easy day on my Atomic fat skis.  Ted, true to his Norwegian heritage, is an excellent skier and encourages me to tackle steeper runs which I always decline.  However, for any truly experienced/skilled downhill skier, there really are no steep runs at Badger.  It's the perfect family ski resort that also offers groomed cross-country trails, snowshoeing and snow tubing.

We had a burger on the deck and ran into our friend and neighbor, JR, hard at work collecting shovels.  Apparently the staff at Badger has difficulty adhering to the golden rule of ski resort operation: don't lose the snow shovels!  We also ran into friends Barb and Dave, who kindly offered us a ride back to our car at Chinquapin.  To earn our keep, I offered to pick up Dave and Ted at the end of Rail Creek while Barb ferried home a passel of children.  The Rail Creek drainage is a popular ungroomed ski run in Yosemite due to the start being in close proximity to the runs at Badger.  Just convince some unsuspecting friend with plenty of time to leave Badger in their car at roughly the same time you start to ski down Rail Creek and they can pick you up at the turnout on 41.  According to Tom Lambert in a guest post at YosemiteBlog, Rail Creek was created as a ski run when the early park concession Tressider family was grooming Yosemite in order to bid for the Winter Olympics in 1920 (Lake Placid won the games that year).  Tom didn't cite a source, but I'm sure you could find more information in Magic Yosemite Winters by Gene Rose.

JR and Ted

Barb, Dave and TedOur friend Barb is also the president of the Yosemite Winter Club.  Created in 1928, also by the Tressider family, the club was formed to "encourage and develop all forms of winter sports and to advertise and exploit the great advantages, beauties and healthy benefits of winter in the California Sierra to all lovers of outdoor life."  Today, the club supports the Yosemite Junior Ski Team, hosts the Silver Ski and Ancient Jocks Races at Badger Pass, provides hockey lessons, scrimmage, and ice skating lessons at the Curry Village Ice Rink, hosts cross-country outings to Ostrander Lake and Glacier Point Ski Huts and generally encourages locals and visitors to enjoy the winter in Yosemite.  Anyone is welcome to join and you can support the YWC by proudly wearing logo appropriate apparel available at Badger Pass and the Yosemite Village Store.  Benefits include Badger Pass lift tickets, ice skating passes, and insurance coverage for Yosemite Winter Club programs.

TRAVEL AND FOOD: XC SKIING AT LAKE TAHOE JANUARY 2011

Welcome to the second year of California Junket and Happy 2011!  Though we had a whirlwind holiday with family in Yosemite, it's never too soon to travel in the new year and when opportunity knocks, I always answer.  Never having caught a glimpse of the cool blue waters of California and Nevada's Lake Tahoe, I was enthusiastically envisioning our visit when our friends Bonnie and Hans from Utah called and said they were staying for a week at South Lake Tahoe.  A four hour drive from Yosemite Valley, Lake Tahoe is a weekend getaway for us, though we weren't going to get away from winter.  Instead, we packed our skis and snowshoes, rolled down and out of Yosemite Valley and headed north on historic Highway 49 through the Sierra foothills until we reached Placerville and ascended back into the mountains.  Bonnie and Hans have a timeshare at Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort so we swanked it up a bit and planned our Nordic skiing routes as we enjoyed cocktails with excellent company.

Bonnie and Ted

Though Tahoe has world class alpine (downhill) skiing, we opted for the budget-priced Nordic (cross-country) skiing for this trip and were pleasantly surprised to find a serious arena for skinny skis.  Miles and miles of groomed trails are spread across many public lands and the private ski resorts like Heavenly and Kirkwood.  The first day we opted for breathtaking Hope Valley south of town where Hope Valley Outdoors rents equipment and grooms the trails that wind into the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, leading to snowy lakes and meadows.  The photo of Hope Valley below is by Jason Woodcock (check out his entire portfolio of Lake Tahoe photos on photo.net).  We skiied until I re-injured my foot spectacularly (see the Death Valley post: diametrically opposed to Hope Valley in many ways), though Ted is not allowed to discuss the episode.

Photo courtesy Hope Valley Outdoors

I can't offer any lowdown on SLT restaurants because we spent our evenings in our swanky two bedroom suite cooking hearty winter dinners after swimming in the indoor/outdoor heated pool.  Not bad.  Hans gave a thumbs-up to my latest meatloaf endeavor, courtesy of my subscription to Fine Cooking magazine - a thoughtful holiday gift from my mother-in-law, and even requested the recipe.

Bonnie and Hans dig in

Photo courtesy of Fine Cooking

Fine Cooking Meatloaf Recipe

We were gifted with clear and sunny weather over the weekend, to ski and check out the lake: Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and at 1645 feet deep, second only to Crater Lake in Oregon for depth.  The Lake Tahoe Basin, ringed with mountains, was formed 2 million years ago with the modern lakeshore created during the last Ice Age.  Lake Tahoe is split right down the middle between California and Nevada, so not only is the area known for exceptional outdoor summer and winter recreation, but also for proximity to casinos on the Nevada side.  We took a brief run at Harrah's Casino on Saturday evening, where Ted was justifiably excited to double his money playing Blackjack and Hans slowly whittled his wallet down on poker slots.  Ted posed proudly with all four of his gaming chips (we arrived with $30 and left with $60!!) and we were delighted by the musical entertainment: Arty the Party - a one man band with keyboard magic (not my video!). 

Our second day of skiing was spent at Camp Richardson, an historic mountain resort and marina located in the national forest on the lake since 1926.  Just a short drive along the lakeshore from the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort, Camp Richardson offered groomed trails through the U.S. Forest Service campground and into the national forest to more snow-clad lakes and meadows.  Our late afternoon ski afforded us late afternoon sun slanting through the pines and dazzling the snow.  It wasn't until I was creating this post that I noticed we were outfitted like twins.

We exited true winter for awhile as we left Bonnie and Hans to the heated pool and the swanky suite early Monday morning.  Ted was attending a trade show in Sacramento for 2 days and I had a lunch date with my friends Matthew and Eric in El Dorado Hills.  Winter days in Sacramento, California's capitol city located at the north end of the Central Valley, hover right around 50 degrees or so (upon exiting the highway in Sacramento, Ted spies a fully-loaded lemon tree in someone's backyard and says "Whoa!  Look at all those lemons that guy has. Hardly seems fair.").  My lunch date was scheduled for Tuesday, so on Monday I occupied myself with Barnes & Noble at the mall for several hours after dropping Ted at the CalExpo.  Very seldom do I have the chance to thoroughly browse a bookstore, so I took my sweet time and relieved B & N of several publications.  I satisfied my weakness for print magazines, architecture and travel with Atomic Ranch (Mid-Century Marvels!), Modernism, and AFAR, my love of literature with Tropic of Cancer, my love of food and travel writing with Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour and my weakness for cookbooks with Jamie's America: Easy Twists on Great American Classics, and More.

I spent the afternoon reading about 1950s textile patterns, the Palm Springs Modern Tour, a small ethnic minority of the Chinese population with the unfortunate name of Dong, oyster harvest and a Brit's take on American regional cuisine like jambalaya, BBQ, fried squash blossoms, and Waldorf salad.  I'm pretty impressed with AFAR magazine - it's quite a stretch from your average travel rag - and my favorite feature was a photo spread with close-ups of ears and earrings from various countries: a mini world tour through the presentation of personal adornment.  Food writer Robb Walsh led me back to the Southern Foodways Alliance and the passionate desire to see more advocacy for food culture in our country in addition to a great slideshow from his oyster adventures.  For some reason, I am always fascinated by pictures of food. 

We ate dinner that night with our trade show compatriots at a Mexican chain restaurant called El Torito, where I ordered the oxymoronic "Mexican Caesar Salad".  Since the Caesar Salad was created by Italian-born Mexican Caesar Cardini in Tijuana circa 1924, there's no need for extra descriptors.  However, the Caesar dressing was replaced by El Torito's Cilantro-Pepita Dressing (insert trademark here), so perhaps they meant "Mexican" as a variation of classic Caesar Salad.  Oxymoron or no, the dressing is delicious (which you can also purchase bottled in your local California grocery store or purchase on the web at MexGrocer) and I also ordered tortilla soup.  Everyone else seemed satisfied with their platters of rice, beans and tacos washed down with enormous Margaritas (and blanco sangria in my case).

Photo by Laura Lee Drum

During Ted's second day at the trade show, I kept my lunch date with friends Matthew and Eric who work at Impact Photographics outside of Sacramento.  Matthew, Eric and I have a lunch history together and they have never steered me wrong, so I looked forward to more El Dorado Hills culinary delights.  Congratulations are in order since they are both becoming fathers again in the Spring (not together): Matthew and Julia #2 in March, Eric and Melissa #6 (!) in April.  For lunch they suggested a new and not yet sampled restaurant nearby: Relish Burger Bar.

Matthew and menu

A raucous party of lunching ladies had livened up the dining room since "Bar" in the name does not refer to a countertop filled with condiments.  We watched the young and obviously intimidated male waiter serve trays of Lemon Drop Martinis to the ladies who gave much verbal encouragement not to spill.  Everyone at Relish seemed to be enjoying themselves and we were no exception.  Feeling obligated to order a namesake burger, I pored over the menu which offered interesting fare like the Bordeaux Burger with a Burgundy wine sauce and the Black n' Blue Bayou Burger with Cajun spice.  I settled for the Dubliner Guinness Pork Burger, Matthew chose The Hills Bacon Cheeseburger with regular fries and Eric gamely went for the Gilroy Garlic and Jalapeno Burger, accompanied by sweet potato fries.

Michelle and Eric and a year's supply of fries

The Dubliner Guinness Pork Burger is described as pork shoulder patty with Guinness BBQ sauce, Cheddar cheese and crispy Tobacco onions (spelled incorrectly on the menu).  No sloppy red sauce here, the burger was perfectly topped with onion and BBQ sauce mixture.  Matthew and Eric enjoyed their choices too.  Relish Burger Bar is the brainchild of restauranteur Richard Righton who owns the Bidwell Street Bistro in Folsom.  Though we didn't take advantage of it on this winter's day, RBB has extensive patio dining outdoors that would be very comfortable on a summer evening.

After yet another successful lunch outing with Eric and Matthew, I bid goodbye to El Dorado Hills and returned to Sacramento to scoop up my husband and make the drive back to Yosemite.  I have friends scattered all over this country, and I am lucky enough to stay connected despite infrequent visits and treasure each and every shared meal with beloved companions.  Though sometimes they wish I would stop taking photos and just eat.

Junket Ratings:

Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort: Junk-O-Rama

Hope Valley Outdoors: Junk in the Trunk!

Camp Richardson: Junk-O-Rama

El Torito: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Relish Burger Bar: Junk-O-Rama

Update on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 3:18PM by Michelle Hansen

Here's an update I couldn't pass up:

The Southern Foodways Alliance blog announces an oyster app for your iPhone.  Check it out:

http://southernfoodways.blogspot.com/2011/01/oysterstheres-app-for-that.html

HOME/FOOD: HOLIDAY IN YOSEMITE DECEMBER 2010

If you can avoid rockfall on the road and drivers in the grip of Chain Control Panic, Yosemite is a great place to spend your winter holidays.  You can ski at Badger Pass, ice skate at Curry Village and snowshoe around the Valley before drinking hot toddies at the Ahwahnee bar or playing board games around the fireplace at the Mountain Room Lounge.  We invited some family to spend their holiday with us in Yosemite and successfully crammed 9 people for a Christmas Eve dinner into our tiny cabin where our Charlie Brown tree awaited the festivities.

Our Charlie Brown tree suited the tiny cabin perfectly.  A live potted Golden Cypress purchased from the Yosemite Lions Club as a fundraiser for community projects, we hope to keep the tree alive in our climate.  We also hoped to prevent our regular raccoon visitor from making off with any Christmas treats.  Raccoons live under our home in the winter and come into the house through the dog door every night around 3 AM.  We only have a single visitor, and mostly he eats any leftover cat food and then leaves, but lately I noticed that he is also washing his food in the dog's water bowl.  Raccoons do wash their food in water, though this has more to do with identifying the food then any sense of cleanliness on their part.  We don't close the dog door at night just in case the old dog has to go outside, so we try to coexist peacefully with our raccoon neighbors.

Preparation for the family visit included smoking some Sierra trout for Tyler Florence's Creamy Smoked Trout with Apple, Celery and Crisp Brown Bread in Eat This Book: Cooking with Global Fresh Flavors.  Ted caught quite a bit of trout this year and we wanted to share this taste of Yosemite.  Christmas Eve dinner also included a classic Ahwahnee Hotel dessert, Pine Nut Pie, and we attended Christmas Day brunch at the hotel to round out the dining experience in Yosemite.

Xmas Eve Dinner Menu

In order to make room for 9 diners in our cabin, we moved the furniture onto the porch which then became the cocktail lounge.  Our friend Joe joined the Hansen/Karner/Whitaker holiday at his own peril which also caused us to have 3 dogs at our Christmas feast: Kaiser the Swiss mountain dog who belongs to the other Hansens, Cody the yellow lab who belongs to Joe and of course Fleabag.  Whitezilla the cat was traumatized by so many dogs and spent his holiday reclining on (and under) our bed with the bedroom door shut tight.

Cody and Kaiser on Crumb Patrol

Late on Christmas morning, Kathy, Wenche, Mort, Martina, Bjorn, Ingrid, Ted and I walked to the Ahwahnee for brunch in the dining room.  Brunch includes standard breakfast items but also prime rib, oysters, and sushi, along with pastries and chocolate confections.  Brunch on this day was $49 per person, though I can't say whether this was a special holiday brunch since we haven't dined here since before I left for Utah in 2008.  Ted particularly received his money's worth with 3 helpings, and the seafood I consumed was easily well worth the cost.  The Ahwahnee dining room is also a delightful place to share a meal with visitors - the architecture is spectacular and the atmosphere lends itself to dining in splendor.

Christmas night we received a brief but beautiful snow fall that glittered under the sun the next day.  A long winter walk was in order, so we left the Lodge to cross Swinging Bridge, past the Yosemite Chapel and across Cook's Meadow to Yosemite Village and back.  Wenche was inspired by the snowy landscape to make a snow angel that might impress family back in Norway with the sheer volume of California snow.  Later that evening, we noticed that the snow piled on top of the twinkle lights lining our fence was making a light show spectacle.

By Thursday before New Year's Eve all of our family had departed, just in time to avoid the road closure of CA SR 140 at the east entrance to the park due to rockfall.  I wasn't lucky enough to get back into the park via 140 after taking Mom to the Fresno airport before the rock fell, so had to do some extensive backtracking on CA SR 41, a road I like to refer to as the Worst Winter Road in America.  After successfully dodging all the lowlanders who stop in the middle of the snowy mountain road to adjust their tire chains all the way past Chiquapin, I had to turn the car into a snowbank to avoid plowing into the oncoming traffic that was blocking BOTH lanes.  After exhausting my complete supply of cuss words, I was grateful to receive assistance from many Good Samaritans in releasing my car from the snowbank (though they would be infinitely more Good if they would just not block both lanes).  Despite all the assistance, Park Ranger Heidi had to tow my car out, for which I am grateful and wish Heidi the happiest of new years.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.  On Friday, we spent a quiet evening at home toasting the New Year with prosecco and beer, watching hilarious 80s videos on YouTube and celebrating Fleabag's 14th birthday.

Happy New Year!  May 2011 bring you everything you need to live long and prosper.

Photo courtesy of NPS

HOME: CROSSING OUR FINGERS FOR SNOW IN YOSEMITE VALLEY DECEMBER 2010

We're a week away from family arriving in Yosemite for Christmas and the forecasted rain for the rest of the week will make what little snow is left disappear rapidly.  So much for White Christmas!  During the week of Thanksgiving we received phenomenal snowfall that lulled us into thinking that winter was here for good.  Cross your fingers for us as we've lured our southern California family here with the promise of Christmas snow (my mom coming from Michigan probably could do without).  In the meantime enjoy Yosemite Valley with a blanket of white in the photos I took 2 weeks ago and send snowy vibes our way!

The Thanksgiving snow storm moved in so quickly that the trees hadn't shed all of their leaves yet, as you can see on the sheltered tree outside the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room below.  Snow people begin to outnumber humans after every big snowfall.

The winter afternoon light in Yosemite is spectaular, resulting in alpenglow on the granite cliff faces.  The sky also takes on brilliant coloration in winter conditions as the low angle light reflects from snow and occasional fog.  A paticularly special example of winter alpenglow in Yosemite takes place each February at Horsetail Fall where the setting sunlight catches the falling water just right and turns it into a glowing ribbon of gold or fiery red.  This occurs for one week each year and the last photos below I took in 2008.

Hope you have snow where you are if you want it for the winter holidays, otherwise I hope you're on the beach somewhere with any icy cocktail instead!