Leaving California

We had an open day on Friday and decided to drive into the city and have lunch at Hunan Homes, the grammatically incorrect, but delicious Chinese restaurant I've been going to in the city ever since my dad first moved to the bay. We had to shuffle naps around so that we wouldn't have a complete meltdown on our hands by the time we got seated for lunch and then we were on our way. Ritual Roasters was on my list to hit up while in San Francisco and a friend recommended Philz Coffee to me as well, so before lunch we went to both.




Philz is supposedly the highest ranked coffee 'chain' in S.F., but it was pretty bad. The people were friendly, the environment was nice, but my cappucccino came out looking like old bubble bath water and they put a sprig of something green in it - mint maybe? Weird. But smart, I guess, if you're serving up crappy coffee. Neither of us finished our cup. From there we drove to Ritual Roasters and had the good fortune to show up right as they were doing their weekly cupping. They had five coffees available to taste - on the table they lined up 5 large jars of roasted coffee, and in front of each jar were three bowls. The practice is to take a tasting spoon and loudly slurp a spoonful from each bowl. The reason they allow three bowls for each coffee is to ensure that an acurate taste is provided in case one of the batches has a bad bean in it. If one tastes different than the other two, you have a better idea of the actual taste.





The first one was Las Delicias, Colombia, the second, Finca Fernández, Cup of Excellence Honduras #8 (cup of excellence is an honor given to coffees submitted to a cupping challenge that is the best of the crop from farms world wide, it's then sold at auction for high prices), then two Brazilians and finally an AMAZING Ethiopia Gedeo that blew them all out of the water. It had notes of lemon and bergamot and the lady next to me was talking about lavender and lilac notes too. I asked what she did at the shop, because it was obvious she belonged there. Turns out she was the owner, Eileen. So inspiring to see women running these nationally recognized coffee roasters!!!!



A girlfriend of mine from high school had offered to meet up if I got into the city, so we ended up picking her up and taking her to eat Chinese with us. Kathy Kurtak. She is an architect and moving to Columbia in NYC for her masters in June. She was always brilliant and kind and it was good to catch up with her. Lunch was fantastic, as always - the honey walnut prawns were the show stopper, as always.

After lunch we headed home and laid low. There's only so much excitement these little people can take in a day. Saturday we spent just puttering around and packing up the van so that we could get back on the road Sunday morning. And on Sunday we met up with Rasha, Tim and their kids for breakfast at Joy of Eating in Vallejo before leaving to head north.

Wine Country and Coffee

I wrote this a few days ago and just forgot to post it :)

The last few days have kind of blurred together. In fact yesterday we realized we hadn't taken a single picture all day! Two days ago though we went to Imagery and Benzinger wineries in Sonoma and tasted. I discovered a Spanish grape I'd never tried before that I just love called "Tempernillo", it was just fantastic. Imagery also put out a chocolate port that was absolutely perfect.

You know, guys, I find myself running out of synonyms for describing things. I like it all so much!!!

On our way of of Sonoma we stopped at a market that carried the Sonoma Syrup Co. brand and I got a bottle of Vanilla Almond syrup to bring back. Michele and Wendy, you'll need to come over and try some!!

Oh, and I have three cases of wine I was able to get from my dad's now 2000+ bottle cellar, so if anyone's dying to host a wine/cheese/chocolate party - you'll need to be sure to invite me. In fact, my homecoming might even be reason enough to throw one. I'm just saying...



Today, Thursday the 18th, we visited Rasha, a dear friend of mine from Tacoma. She and I met at a mom's meet-up group that neither of us returned to after that. We spent a lot of time together in the evenings during the time John worked nights and her husband was deployed and we kept up our friendship after her husband, Tim, returned and John returned to working days. They moved to California, their home state, a few months before we left Tacoma and now they live just 10 minutes from Dad, so it's great they're so easy to visit while we're down here!

Her daughter, Marley, is 6 months to the day older than Kate, but she was in preschool. But since the last time I saw them they'd also had a son, Dylan, and I found out today that she's just 8 weeks pregnant :) We had fun hanging out and letting the kids run free. We were able to catch up and we shared watermelon together. Tim arrived home about a half hour after I got there and I got to catch up with him as well. I really like their family, it sucks that we probably won't ever live near each other again. We're having breakfast together again just before we head out on Sunday morning.

After hanging out with them for the morning we drove down to Berkeley for lunch. Sometimes I'm not so bright. Sometimes when I have a big day I eat only toast, and then I put off eating again until I'm so cranky I'm pretty much unbearable to be around. So, we drove around Berkeley looking for a place called Naftali Caffee, I was cranky, the directions sucked, my following the directions sucked and my attitude sucked. After 30 or 40 minutes of driving around we finally found the right streets and got there. The upside was that the panini and salad were pretty good :)






Because I was already so far south I decided to jump into Oakland to visit another roaster I'd heard a lot about, Blue Bottle Coffee. It was in a weird location in an industrial district, and I realized that this was their actual roaster and the cafe was more just gratuitous because they had the space and a few blocks in a different direction it was developed into condos. But the initial impression was pretty skeezy. But once you stepped inside it was a little oasis of clean modern lines and delicious aromas. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice, so I decided I'd buy the beans they were using in their espresso machine, but they were out :( So I got a cappuccino and a blend called "Three Africans", which, for my love of east African coffees I knew I couldn't go wrong. The cappuccino was excellent with more chocolatey notes, but still, it couldn't touch the one I'd had in Santa Cruz, but I really doubt I'll find one that could.

From Blue Bottle we stopped by Sweet Maria's, which for home roasters is kind of like a mecca. It's THE online store for buying roasting and brewing supplies, and is a virtual wikipedia of coffee information. The it was back home and we've been relaxing watching "Stardust" ever since. I think this is the first time on the trip so far I'm actually caught up on my writing :) Enjoy!

VERVE

The next morning in Monterey we woke up and visited a local breakfast place called "First Awakenings" where I had a great mushroom and salmon benedict. From there we headed to the Monterey aquarium which was wonderful! I love a good aquarium :) I could just sit all day though in front of the jelly fish, I don't really need much else. But this one also had a large tank in a dimly lit room with a large school of sardines and several other fishes. The kids were entirely enamored with the room and we got several good shots of them there.





After the aquarium we drove up to Santa Cruz in search of Verve, the roaster they featured at "The French Press" and also featured in this month's issue of "Imbibe" magazine. It was tucked down towards the water on 41st and surrounded by vintage shops and surf stores. We only had a few minutes while Dad and Herc stayed with the kids, but I had the insight to ask the Barista, Ian, to make me his best coffee. The cappuccino he made me was to die for. I can honestly say it was the best coffee I've ever tasted. It was rounded, beautiful and full of berry notes with just a hint of citrus. It was a wet processed Ethiopia Sidamo and while I've alway been fond of the Ethiopian varieties, I've never had one so amazing. I'd bought a lb. of Panama and regretted not buying the Sidamo, but I'm hoping I might be able to buy some from "Barista" in Portland who periodically features them. It was amazing. Amazing. Have I mentioned it enough? Amazing. Kristen agrees completely. Nothing like it. Amazing. After coffee we hit up a place called "Kelly's French Bakery" where I had a gruyere, gorgonzola and apple panini and a mango iced tea. From there we split up from Dad and Herc and went to explore surf shops before heading back.







We'd had lunch at the opposite side of Santa Cruz from Verve, so we decided we'd wind our way back along the beach front to Verve and stop at any interesting surfy places along the way. As we wound along we saw a great beach with lots of surfing and decided to get the kids and hop out. It was a process to get ourselves and the kids dressed and then get everyone covered in sunscreen and safely to the beach, but we made it :) Jack, again, wanted to stop and dig in the sand, and Kate wanted to run straight into the water, so Kristen and I split up duties and I took Kate down to the waves. She loved the water, so long as it never lapped up higher than her ankles. After a few minutes Kristen wanted to go take pictures of the surfers, so I kept both kids further up on the sand and let them dig. But Jack looked like he was curious of the water, so, the three of us walked down and let the water splash up on us. That was awesome until a wave hit them both square in the face. Then we were pretty done. But we made it for a good 30-40 minutes before that! On our way out we asked a surfer and found out we were on the 26th Ave. Beach. We walked back and tried to figure out how to get them free of sand, dried off and back in the car, that took another 15 or 20 minutes. Then we headed off again to get another amazing, delicious, scrumptious, happy cappuccino before heading out again.



Again, it was perfect.

We drove up the coast and stopped just north of Half Moon Bay at a place known by surfers as "Maverick's", which is known for being one of the only mainland U.S. places to do big wave surfing. It was a little off the beaten path and once we got "there" there was still a small hike out around a cliff bend to see the spot about 1/2 mile off shore where the waves happen. It's incredibly dangerous, and only the most experienced surfers even try it. Those who shouldn't go out there sometimes do and many have died on the rocks and cliffs nearby. They took about 40 minutes to hike out, get pictures and come back and it was all at sunset, so she got some pretty great shots.




From Maverick's we drove up highway 1 and stopped in Pacifica at a great mexican restaurant. It's kind of ridiculous our luck with good food so far on this trip. WIth the exception of our ONE fast food stop we've had great luck with finding great places to eat. We had really been craving mexican food, but needed something to-go worthy for the car so we could continue the extra hour plus past San Francisco and Oakland into Benicia. We ordered two "Special Quesedillas" , they were like great big burritos filled with saucy chicken, and all the usual things you'd find on top of one rather than in one. Nom nom nom!

The rest of the drive was uneventful but when we got into Dad's house we had some wine and a great night's rest after another long, but wonderful day.

My Favorite Day

I've found my new home. It's beautiful - it's smooshed between beautiful ocean beaches and amazing green mountains. It has an amazing coffee shop, "The French Press", owned by a woman named Julia, who is my age my age. It has an amazingly beautiful downtown with cute boutiques and cafes. And it is home. I'm home sick already and I've just left. I'll miss you Santa Barbara, until we meet again. Next time, I'll come with husband too, and he'll fall in love and we'll stay longer. So much longer.

Today was a perfect day. I can't even describe. Kristen has dubbed it the best day of the trip. Even of the days we haven't lived yet, because she said nothing can top the fact that she now owns two surf boards. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

We started in Altadena at Rob and Jenny's house. Last night was relaxing, we sat around with brownies and beers and smoked cloves and I roasted them some 'thank you' coffee for hosting us. We sat out on a small terrace, criss-crossed with lights over under orange trees at a patio table and just talked. It was so relaxing. Then, to top last night, Rob and Jenny played with the kids all morning, and Kristen and I got a great chance to just relax and sip our coffee. We packed up and headed out later than we meant to, and from there we headed into L.A. to the Silver Lake neighborhood Intelligentsia, an incredibly famous cafe that I've wanted to visit for a long time. It was perfect. I had their Black Cat Espresso americano and I bought a bag of Zirikana, Rwanda: Bufcafe - it's described as 'Fruit-forward and sincere, Bufcafe pleases your palate with notes of peach nectar, grapes and a honeyed mouthfeel and a finish of walnuts', and it smells a little like what I imagine heaven must smell like. I feel like a kid with a piece of candy, trying sincerely to have the patience to resist opening it.







Right now, we're driving, and you wouldn't believe the landscape I'm ignoring to write this right now. It looks like a lesser Ireland. A warmer one too. The hills are bright green and rolling and every once and a while there is a tiny cliff off of a hill. And they're dotted and sometimes willed with twisted huge oaks, some of which are covered with a weeping pale green moss. Okay, so I just stopped to take pictures, otherwise, that'd be just teasing you. And for you map junkies, we're just south of Los Alamos, CA.



From Intelligentsia, on Sunset Blvd., we left L.A. due west towards Malibu. It wasn't at all what I expected. You know how stereotypes are so often wrong, well, so is the Malibu stereotype. I mean, I'm sure what you picture of Malibu is there somewhere, but, as we drove in it was just a wall of garages and doors on the seaside with the occasional gap between buildings so that you could see how these narrow houses all had balconies that reached out over the sea. But, for the most part, they weren't pretentious, just very ordinary looking buildings on incredibly expensive little lots of land and over-hanging the ocean. That was on the left. On the right, as we came in, there were just wild hills and cliffs cut out to make room for the road. After a while though the houses got bigger, but, still nothing that shocked me aside from the sheer amount of land some people had and the beautiful landscaping of others.

Then we saw it. A Malibu garage sale. The curiosity was overwhelming, so I swerved across a lane of traffic and turned up a hill to the right and followed it until it grew into morphed into a dirt road and the top of a crest in the hill. We parked on the road and walked up and Kristen's jaw dropped. The guy's land was littered with over a dozen surf boards. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but she's a non-surfer surf nut. She's never been, but she reads the magazines, watches the videos and at every opportunity has stopped and gawked, mouth open, at every surf beach we've passed.



The house was a simple, single-wide mobile home on a hill top over-looking the most amazing ocean view. I've never in my life been on a piece of private land with a more beautiful vista. Kristen chatted the guy up about boards and she picked out two thouroghly worn boards that he said were about 15 years old. They weren't any good for actual surfing, but to just own one was enough for Kristen, so she got them to put up on her walls back home in Oklahoma. As he came out to help us strap them up on top of the van I mentioned my coffee roasting. Is it weird that after mentioning I'm from Arkansas that I like to mention that I roast coffee to shatter the stereotypes of others? That piqued his interest and he offered to take some coffee as a partial trade for the boards. The stuff I had in my grinder is nearing it's end, so, since it only takes about 30 minutes to roast a batch, I offered to make some up fresh for him. So I lugged my roaster up to his porch and roasted up a batch of Ethiopia Yirgecheff in the sun overlooking the sea. The kids had a blast running around in the dirt and brush in front of his place while we stood around talking. Toward the end of the roast we found out his name was Dane and he offered us some of his homebrewed beer. Since I was driving and we were taking off soon I declined and Kristen accepted. It was fantastic. I had a sip off of the glass he brought her, and then another sip. He called it an IPA, but it had none of the biter hop taste I normally associate with IPAs, it was smooth and almost fruity. We ended up trading straight up, my coffee for his beer. Greatest trade ever. Thanks Dane :)





We killed way more time than we meant to and after already having a late start we decided to take Dane's advice and go up CA-101 instead of the more windy, scenic CA-1. We left from there and had beautiful ocean panoramas for miles and miles before we hit our mid afternoon lull and started desperately seeking coffee. We were coming up on Santa Barbara and it looked like it'd be big enough to have something worth drinking if we could find the downtown. We took the downtown exit, but most of the shops we could find were closed on Sunday, so, we turned around and headed back a different way. It was a very cute and clean town with an over abundance of 'fresh mexican' restaurants. We finally turned down the right way and stumbled upon State St. which was just an over abundance of cute shops, restaurants and one -perfect- cafe called "The French Press". We got some amazing coffee, and I met the owner, Julia who I chatted up about their roaster, Verve, located in Santa Cruz. We grabbed a few coffees and headed back out on the road.

Beyond having the most amazing view of the ocean most of the way up, the last highlight of our trip on our way to Monterey that night was a stop at "Stagecoach Liquor". It was actually a gas station we stopped at on the way with the low low price of $2.99 - yeesh, I know, but that's LOW in Cali.... They had the widest selection of mircro-brews in the town of Atascadero and I was able to pick up a Chai Cream Beer brewed in local San Luis Obispo and an Anderson Valley Brewing Company Poleko Pale Ale. The cashier at this small stopover was mighty proud of his little shop, and when I told him I was amazed to find such selection at a gas station he replied "We're not -just- a gas station, we're THE Stagecoach". :)

From there we drove through the dark into Monterey and met up with Dad and his friend Herc (well, Bill, but I've always known him as Herc, which is short for Hercules) at the Holiday Inn. Dad had bought us a conjoined room and we put the kids down in one room, cracked the door and enjoyed some wine with the men in the other room. After having some road weary wine, we crashed out hard and fast in our room, ready for the new day...