Category Archives: Northern California

day 116 – The Chocolate Box Shoppe, continued

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Dani had a way of coaxing a life story out of anyone.  People felt at ease and relaxed in her presence.  Her amiable countenance felt open, cordial and they always let down their guard and effortlessly chatted while selecting their chocolates.  She knew most customers by name and warmly welcomed them whenever she worked the front of the house.

By the time Dani filled the rather large box meticulously with handmade confections, she had learned the young man’s name, whereabouts he resided, what he did for a living and some idea about his relationship with his mother.

Nicholas lived in the stylish North Berkeley neighborhood. He was staying at his family homestead while he spoke and gave lectures for the Archeological Department at the University.  He had just come back from a dig and a long furlough in Pompeii, Italy.  He was writing his first book on his findings and conclusions.

“I’m sure you have tried all the chocolates.  What’s your favorite, Dani?”  He inquired.  He had four spots left to fill and peeked at her nameplate pinned to her pastel, aqua smock.

She didn’t hesitate.  “Oh, I have tried everything, indeed and my top favorites have to be the Coconut Macadamia squares and the Hot Chili Pepper with Lime.”  Clients always wanted to know what her favorite morsel was and the question was common.  She never wavered and knew the answer by heart.

“Ok.  I’ll take your word for it and try them.  They sound intriguing, not too safe, but possibly delicious.  I’ll take two of each, please.”

Dani smiled pleasingly.  She liked a man who tried new things and braved the unknown with such assurance.  She asked politely.  “Is there anything else, Nicholas?”

“Yes.”  He coughed and put his right fist up to his lips.  “ I was just wondering if you were available anytime this weekend for a cup of coffee or tea or whatever?” he stammered out rather awkwardly.  “I’m sure you have plans, just throwing it out there.  Are you?  Available?”

day 115 – The Chocolate Box Shoppe

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My daughter E challenged me to write a little something to go with a picture I was musing over.  I DO miss Berkeley where this was taken.  And I wanted to take a break from memoir ( I am so sick of talking about me) and write a little fiction to wet the whistle.

     “Here’s another tray, Dani!”

     “Oh thanks, Poopsie.  Now the whole display case is set and full of chocolates.”  Dani arranged the toppled shiny red candy hearted peanut butter filled bon bons neatly, lining them up behind the viewing case.  She raised her head as a passerby walked in front of the glass front of the Chocolate Box Shoppe and then returned to her former stance, head and hands focused on her task.

    Jangling, a brass bell, attached to the entry door, announced a customer.

     Dani stood up straight and swishing back her auburn, blond wavy locks, first on the left and then behind her right shoulder, inquired.  “Can I help you?”

     “Yes”, the handsome broad smiling stranger answered.  “I’d like to get an assortment of chocolates for my mom.  I’ve never been here before but I was walking by trying to figure out what to get her for her birthday and it dawned on me, she’s crazy for beautiful, artful sweets.”

     “Would you like to try a sample?” piped Dani.  She could not help but notice he was not wearing a ring of any sort and his green, brown eyes, framed by dark, long and curled up lashes were absolutely “Mesmerizing!” she thought.

     “Thank you.  I’d love to.”  He replied.

to be continued? 

 

 

day 80

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Do you remember Around the World in Eighty Days written by the famous French author Jules Verne and the Oscar winning 1956 movie?

Do you know that Interstate 80 runs from New York to San Francisco?

Today is my 80th day of writing everyday continuously, consistently and constantly publicly on the Internet.

I hope whoever is reading it is being entertained in some way.

Some of you I know are following, and I thank you.  I love receiving comments whether on the site, by telephone or in person. I thank all the readers.  It reinforces my writing habit.  (Check the side for my reply or click on the page you commented on).

Plus, I encourage you to share my link with others if you think it is worthy of doing so.

 

 

 

day 57 – garden party

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One of the few books I brought back from New York when I moved to California (via a pit stop in North Carolina for ten months) was my Herb book.

My very first book purchase in CA was the Sunset Western Garden Reference Guide.

My love of plants can be traced back all the way to my parent’s first home in a small suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  In pictures, I am proudly displayed on all fours, probably four or five months old, next to a dwarfed colorful Pinocchio.  This ceramic statue is placed strategically in my mom’s treasured tiny first garden of hopes and dreams.

Trees, flowers, shrubs and gardens in general have become a familiar backdrop to most photographs of myself up to this day.  Close ups of flowers also tend to be the majority of my litany of pictures. A trip to the local botanical, historical, indigenous, private or public garden has long been a destination wherever I am.

You can learn a lot about the climate and culture of a place by their local customs, foods and gardens.  Gardens have been used to bury art and family treasures when invaded by the enemy, they have been used countless times in movies, in art and can teach you math, science, design and the list goes on.  They are an expression of your wealth (think Versailles), your hope (Victory gardens) and your creativity (Disneyland comes to mind).  They can be small, out or indoors and potted.

When I lived in my first apartment, hanging plants hung from WWII ceilings.  The care and nurturing of those first plants reflected the care and nurturing I did or did not give myself.  Plants can be revealing as well as healing.

Gardens, plants, fauna, flora, landscapes and the variety of Earth’s beauty intrigue, fascinate the soul and give us sustenance.

 

 

day 42 – Travelogue – Seattle

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I indulged in rabbit stew and a buttery, slightly sweetened butternut squash soup at the Local 360 restaurant.  All of their food is sourced from no farther than 360 miles away, hence the name. Washington has game, dairy, seafood, berries, cherries, and nuts to name only a few resources.  The creamiest, sweetest milk and butter from local and no hormone given, free to roam and live and eat grass- fed cows. I believe they massage them as well.

Which brings me to Beecher’s handmade cheese house on Pike Street where we fondly experienced their signature smooth, sharp and dreamy macaroni and cheese.  Displayed next door is a floor to ceiling glass enclosure where cheese is made for all to see and be educated about (always learning) in immense containers.  Supposedly, Martha Stewart’s favorite cheese is Beecher’s Flagship cheese, which is used in the sauce we partook of.  I am sure she shops back east from their Flatiron, NY store.

We also ate and I brought home roasted and caramelized pecans, bought at a stand in an indoor food court by the Space Needle.

After exploring the theatrical, twinkly night view from the top of the World’s Fair Needle and the exquisite, ethereal and colorful Chululy gardens and glass museum, we ate at Skillet Counter, in the food court. Again, I devoured butternut squash soup (even fresher and creamier, less buttery than the first one from Local 360) and picked at my son’s incredible lemony pancakes.  Crisp and lusciously fried up on the outside, fluffy and tangy with an essence of vanilla on the inside that lingered in your mouth, these were absolutely the yummiest, most delectable and tender battered up cakes my taste buds had ever tasted, ever.  Next opportunity, that is what I am ordering at Skillet Counter, no matter what time of day or night.  And as simple, bare and unassuming as the place may appear, it actually may be the first chain of eateries I want to be taken to, next time… a la In ‘n Out Burger when out of towner’s come back to visit us in CA.

Pike Street Market is unbelievable.  Imagine stand after stand of artisan food, supplies, groceries and goods with samples for everyone, dedicated fellow foodies oohing and ahhing too and a boisterous roar of activity, languages, song and laughter.

I ate cherries, observed fishmongers entertain, listened to modern washboard minstrels, and beheld every manner and vast quantities of remarkable crustaceans, unfamiliar crazy looking fruits and unusual vegetables I had never even conceived or heard of.

I tasted and purchased cinnamon almonds, rose petal jelly, chocolate hazelnut sauce and apple ginger chutney.

There were numerous and assorted types of pastas, sauces and homemade wares, including soaps, soups, dips, breads, t-shirts, etc.  It reminded me of the Ferry Market in San Francisco or Eataly in Manhattan.  The best of the best local fare  – served up in the quickest, closest, oldest manner of selling your wares. Ahh. A delight and a pure rush to all the senses.

On the morning of my return, we ate brunch at Toulouse Petit, a corner-dining establishment that had a wait and a line outside the entire time before, while we ate and after we left. For a darn good reason.  A bustling staff hustled and continuously brought customers delicious fare from the busy kitchen. I had fresh crabmeat eggs benedict. I had to have more fresh seafood.  The day before we had gorged on fried fish in baskets on the pier by the Aquarium.  Looking back, it seems inconsiderate and debauched of us to devour seafood by the fish museum.  Needless to say, I came back a few pounds heavier, even with all the walking and sightseeing.

After brunch, and right before we had to head out to the airport, the clouds lifted and I was able to peek at snow-capped Mount Rainer.  The Cascade Range is visible from hilly, steep Seattle, across the Puget Sound.  I was amazed repeatedly, all weekend and in retrospect, at how J easily parks backwards and on a slant, as M runs out to purchase a parking ticket you stick to the inside of your window.  I suppose the strategic placing of automobiles is not to test you on your parking expertise and maneuvers, but to keep the vehicles from sliding down the precipitous hills.

M and J graced our threshold today.  They are visiting and staying with us for the holidays.  I desire to relive and to continue the discourse of our wonderful weekend together.  Our Seattle ex-pats are home.  Our New York college faction is here, cooking up a storm for Christmas Day.  Our tree is brimming with colored paper, ornamental boxes and cutesy decorated winter-themed bags.  Our family is one again, all three significant others adding interest to, enhancing  and revving up the hilarity, the festivity and joy!!  Let the teasing season begin.  My husband and I are beside ourselves with happiness, smiling from ear to ear, giving each other knowing, emotional nods.  We drink in our brood as they watch My Little Ponies, play X-Box together and create new memories.  It’s all about the kids, it’s all about our love, it’s all about the family….and….of course….it’s all about the food.

Make sure to put out special Christmas cookies and eggnog for Santa Claus and elves, tomorrow night.

day 39 – Travelogue – Seattle/digression into Berkeley – part two

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My son is a punster with words and he once picked fungi as a science term paper project because – wait for it – he’s a fun guy! Get it?  His fourth and fifth grade late great teacher, Ms. Blake, named him Mr. Vocabulary and considered him a walking dictionary, asking him often to give a definition for the class when the rest of the gifted and talented students were stumped.  Does my pride and joy show?

Let me tell you more.

He is amazing with languages and I guess all the video, Nintendo and computer gaming paid off because now I am the mother of a Computer Scientist.   His specialty is coding, using and mapping out computer lingo or whatever these young, super intelligent, computer savvy brains are up to in ‘hip’ and mod Seattle, running the entire Internet as if it were their own personal playground.  Certainly not mine, but I like to come and play, periodically, without an ounce of awareness of how it all works.

Seattle is home to a host of start-ups.  A few names you may recognize: Microsoft, Costco, Amazon, Sur le Table, Boeing, Nordstrom’s, and of course, Starbucks.

They are Very into the Environment.  They recycle more than they put into landfills – true fact.  They are pro-legalization of gay marriage and marijuana.  Seattle screams contemporary, stylishly young and current in its ideas and its values.  I love the vibe.  It was Berkeley to the nth degree.

People think, study, write, gather and read when it’s cold and rainy out I have come to realize.  And in my opinion if you give them inexpensive mass transportation and bad weather like in NY, the Bay Area and Seattle;  you have all of the time in the world to write your memoir, novel or article or read someone else’s.

I suppose a few silly sitcom scripts are written in LA traffic waiting for the cig alert to clear but people just look more intelligent to me in local lamb’s wool scarves, heirloom knitted hats and non-leather vegan gloves and jackets.

Once, on my very first trip to UC Berkeley (or Cal as we Californians call it because it was the first and only University of California for a long time) my son and I went to scout out the campus before he applied.    A bicycle zoomed by us and the cyclist was holding a book and reading while gently sailing down Telegraph Road.   I am convinced you surround yourself and sprout what you find attractive.  No fake wax museums or fantasy amusement parks exist here.  Publishers, new and used bookstores, herbal, homemade body care products and Vegetarian multi -cultured restaurants abound instead.

I saw a lot of professional ( I am assuming homeless) beggars too. Another time, right across the street from my Shattuck Hotel window,  I saw panhandlers lined up for coffee, doughnuts and later on in the day, soup and bread.  I always felt San Diego had a better climate for outdoor living but even though the bay area might get chilly, foggy and damp – they treat everyone warmly, are generous to a fault for every cause that can possibly exist and it is a bevy of superior minds.

What can I say? These are my observations and I encountered much of the same type of energy in Seattle, minus the begging.  More game, fish and dairy in Washington state too.  Which brings me to the topic of food……

day 38 – Travelogue – Seattle – Part one

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When it rains and storms, like in this instant -(the wind is literally howling through the gigantic pines) – It generates reminiscing.  I remember growing up on Long Island where moisture is always (duh, it’s an island) available.  Inclement weather patterns just make me introspective.

I also recall Berkeley, especially the time the girls and I visited their brother at Cal one January weekend.  We walked and walked for miles in the frigid rain, one umbrella (my leopard one).  They refused to use the less flashy, plain black umbrellas I packed.  Instead, all three of my darlings insisted on just covering their heads with hoodie jackets (not the rainproof kind, the sweatshirt kind).  I guess it’s just not cool anymore to stay dry.

I am reminded today of my most recent trip to Seattle to see my son and his girlfriend in their newly adopted city.  Watching Top Chef Seattle (I believe it’s the 10th season) and this storm I am experiencing up here in the mountains is making me relive that blistery, chilly, wet and teary – eyed three days of pure ‘mommy so proud of you and happy for you’ bliss.

I arrived at Tacoma, Washington airport early, second flight out of John Wayne in Orange, CA.  Lest no one tell you, you have to hop a subway in order to retrieve your luggage.  After successfully getting all that out of the way, I waited outside in the nippy, cloudy grey, drizzled air for my son’s girlfriend, J.   She scooped me up off the curbside waiting area almost as soon as I showed up and she whisked me off to my lodging accommodations.

I stayed in a wonderful suite at the Hampton Inn by their apartment in the quaint, residential Queen Anne neighborhood.   Unpacking by fireside, the small but well-appointed and newly remodeled space had a full kitchen (with granite counters!), a full marbled bath, a comfortable living/sitting area with a chic, minimalist and  ‘just turn it on with a switch/timer’ fireplace, a desk nook, an outdoor patio and a smartly laid out bedroom.  Designed with contemporary appeal, the rooms successfully spoke of the so-called Seattle label, ‘hipster’.  And using my AAA account, I congratulated myself, I scored a fantastic deal.

Back in the compact but roomy Toyota car, J drove us to meet up and pick M from outside his many-storied high building in the heart of Seattle’s downtown.  Neither visitors nor moms are allowed to enter or tour the top-secret goings-on and last minute developments of this highly visible, edgy, technological, consumer paraphernalia computer driven company.

“Why, M, you shaved off your beard!” I commented.  “You look like my young boy, again!” I blurted out, holding on to my seat belt in the backseat and leaning toward the front seat to at least touch and squeeze him on the shoulder with my gloved hand as he huddled in quickly and we steered away from the curb as the door latch closed shut.

“Yea, someone at work asked me if my parents were coming to town or something?” he explained and followed with, “Yup, my mom, I told them. Going to show her the town.”

I beamed.

Laughter, cheer and festive, amiable times were imminent, even in this inhospitable weather.

Yesterday

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The day got off to a shaky start due to my own misery making and character flaws.  Then I made proper amends (taking full responsibility and no excuses, no taking of hostages, etc…) and moved on.  By then it was 8am. Geez!!! When will I ever learn to pause before spouting out the first thing in my head? I guess that’s why they call it practice.

I had a date with my yogini mentor/friend/goddess, Dana.  We were supposed to go to San Diego to meet up with a medical intuitive and that fell through on the other end kinda last minute.  So she whisked me off to LA instead and I had no idea where we were going.  Everytime we get together we just spill, ask, validate, etc…She can go deep and wide  – love that!!

To my amazement there are incredible neighborhoods in LA.  Until we got to the gate I did not know where we were headed.  I teared up as I read the sign and she spoke into the intercom to let us in. It said Peace Awareness Labyrinth Gardens.  OMG!!!  The theme this week was conscious awareness.  Coinquidink? I think not.  They say that a coincidence is just  God  remaining anonymous.  Kind of a God wink or a God shot.

We enter a grand older Beauxes Arts Mansion behind iron gates.  This place was once a home for a wealthy Italian family.  They owned a very large vineyard in Riverside.  Their home is detailed in fine hand-carved woods and expensive marbles and accessories.  There is a wonderful modern kitchen and dining area where seminary students that live on the property get to enjoy.

And then there’s the gardens.  But before that – we walked the Chatres – based labyrinth.  Dana taught me what to do and we both meditated and went within.  All my questions were answered and thoughts were cataloged and I felt clear and knowing.  I felt a peace that is indescribable and a joy that was serene and steady.

After a quick tour of the estate, we then went off to a surprise lunch spot.  And as if Dana knew – she took me to Cafe Gratitude – a place that is divine dining. I always wanted to go to the one in Berkeley and have their un-cook book.    It is a vegan hipster kinda place.  We sat outside and had a scrumptious carrot/ginger soup and then I had a raw pizza. Raw desserts is what got me into being a raw foodist a few years back (not any longer) in the first place so we left with some sweet raw goodies in tow for the road back.

Then back in OC we stopped at a new (2 months old) raw juice bar and fresh food cafe.   I had a gingerbread smoothie and we ordered some salads to go for dinner later, after sampling.

What a wonderful day it turned out to be.  I learned lots of lessons and I felt blessed all day.  I used to let one good screw-up ruin my day, but I have learned to own my mistakes and then get myself back into the flow, get back into gratitude and abundance, letting the Universe unfold before me and not taking control of the wheel with my ego and small self at the helm.

Affirmation: I graciously allow the Universe to support and guide me today in all that I do for the highest good for all.