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| (top, left to right) Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple with Joy of Joy the Baker; Dianne Jacob; Khao man gai from Nong's in Portland, OR; (middle, left to right) Coava Coffee Roasters in Portland, OR; pomegranate seeds at Mercado Hidalgo in Tijuana, Mexico; lengua (tongue) and tripe tacos from Tacos El Guero in Tijuana, Mexico; (bottom, left to right) Minassian-Young Vineyards, Paso Robles, CA; Jenks Lake, near Angelus Oaks, CA, site of Camp Blogaway; Fentons Creamery, Vacaville, CA branch |
...because somebody likes to take over the keyboard and type with his muzzle. I was minding my own business, reading mmm-yoso!!! on Google Reader when Bear came along with his "Hey, pat me, not the computer!" act.
I tried to fix the red-eye, but he still looks possessed.
Anyway, it's been busy week and I haven't had time to blog. The backlog's becoming quite long, so I'll be posting quite a bit over the next week or so. For now, an amendment to my previous post about the Central Coast:
I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but one of our favorite stops is a strawberry stand in Santa Maria. Right off the 101, it carries huge and juicy berries for very reasonable prices. A flat cost $18 and the every berry (not just the layer on top) were plump and juicy.
Strawberry Stand
From 101, exit Betteravia Rd.
Head east on Betteravia
Strawberry stand is next to the Mobil station, just past the off-ramp
On June 17-19, we spent a lovely weekend in the Central Coast with M.T. and M.S. It was, like my previous trip up, the epitome of the lazy weekend. We revisited many locations from the previous trip, because I wanted D. to try them. There was another Carlock's run, dinner at Thai Boat (where service was much faster), and revisits to Justin, Adelaida, and Pasolivo. Check out Adelaida's walnut grove. In March, I took a picture of the same spot:
The trees are full of leaves, but the grass is gone. Ah, how I miss spring. We visited two new-to-me wineries: Eberle and J. Lohr. I didn't taste at J. Lohr because my stomach was upset (wine + large milkshake at lunch = angry belly), but the wines at Eberle were nice. D. bought two bottles of the Sangiovese. I was still a little off-kilter, but I liked it best. We also had the opportunity to tour the wine caves, which were interesting.
We also headed to Cambria for lunch at Robin's. I've been to Robin's several times and I really enjoy two things: the fish tacos and the lemon cheesecake. This time, however, I chose one of their specials, angel hair pasta with smoked salmon and a tomato cream sauce.
It was a fine dish, but there were two things... this was clearly not angel hair and there was about 1 cup of cooked pasta, making it an absurdly tiny serving for $13. I know, it doesn't look that small, but there's no depth to the plate. The huge wedge of yummy garlic bread was some consolation, though. Not that I expect three meals out of one serving, but I should be able to feel full afterwards.
Service was very pleasant, but very slow and absentminded. Lunch took over 2 hours, which would have been annoying had we not been on vacation. After lunch, the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas, north of San Simeon (aka home of Hearst Castle).
Fabulous stop. Turns out I have a 13x optical zoom that focuses really well, hence the close-ups. They're inviting you to the molting party. A shockingly low 16-ish% of these guys reach adulthood, so protecting them is something to think about. Always visit one of the knowledgeable volunteer docents for a quick update on how the population is doing.
Adelaida Cellars
5805 Adelaida Road
Paso Robles, CA 93446
J. Lohr Winery and Tasting Room
6169 Airport Road
Paso Robles, CA 93446
Robin's Restaurant
4095 Burton Drive
Cambria, CA 93428
Piedras Blancas Rookery
Highway 1
14 miles north of Cambria
As I mentioned, we didn't go out very much. However, we did have a couple of good ventures to the great outdoors. I had visited Carlock's Bakery before, since D.'s mom found it a year ago. However, I recently heard on Chowhound (thanks, Toodie Jane!) that Carlock's was making French-style donuts from scratch. Most places use mixes, including Carlock's, for their regular donuts. Fresh donuts? From scratch? I can't miss that.
Carlock's is a family-run operation in Los Osos, about 10 miles south of Cayucos. It's an incredible drive, which was the perfect way to start my morning. The service is fantastic and the donuts just as good. I believe donuts of this shape are typically called crullers, but when they're made from scratch, there's something magical about the texture. They're light as air with a delicate crunch to the crust.
They tasted a lot like any other donut, but... fresher. Like you could taste the eggs and butter in the choux dough. The sweetness was definitely dominant, but not overpowering. In fact, the dough was so nicely sweet that the glaze was almost unnecessary. Perhaps someone at Carlock's felt the same way, because the donuts were very lightly glazed.
Carlock's has a plethora of baked goods to choose from, but my favorite are their maple thumbprints. Oy vay. These things are amazing. Soft shortbread rolled in walnuts, then topped with a big dollop of maple glaze. It's like eating maple candy with a cookie on the side. I love maple candy.
For a late lunch, we headed to Thai Boat in Morro Bay. The name is rather apt.
The picture doesn't capture it all, but the building is shaped like a boat. There are four tables inside and the menu's not extensive or expensive. Perfect!
Kirkleton ordered the spring rolls. They were surprisingly good for a basic cabbage and vermicelli roll. Nicely fried and served with sweet plum sauce. The staff was extremely friendly and service was excellent, except that we had to wait 45 minutes for our food. Yikes. I thought take-out restaurants would have be very brisk, but not this one. One party ahead of us was served and finished their food 20 minutes before we received ours.
I loved my Thai fried rice with squid. It's pretty simple, but the flavors were excellent. Fresh tomato, lots of egg, and tender rings of squid flavored with curry powder.
Indira and Kirkleton both ordered pad see-ew, but K.'s was perfect while Indira's was overcooked and oversalted. That kind of inconsistency is strange. However, I would return to see if that inconsistency is... well, consistent. Next time, I plan on calling ahead and placing my order before I drive there.
We weren't motivated to go out and we also made the mistake of shopping hungry. The result was an enormous amount of food that lasted all three days. Ironically, Morro Bay (a few miles south of Cayucos) is home to the best Albertson's I've ever shopped at. It's well-stocked with surprisingly high-quality selections from the seafood, wine, and deli areas.
Thursday night, we made pasta with sauteed squash. We picked up spaghetti and butternut squash at a farmer's market and tossed it with onions, garlic, Italian seasoning (didn't buy any fresh herbs), salt, and pepper. The big kick this dish received was the California varietals olive oil from Pasolivo.
It isn't really squash season anymore, but perhaps that worked in our favor. The squash we bought were small, but very tender and fresh. I hate peeling and chopping butternut squash, but this was really easy. Spaghetti squash is a new favorite of mine. I love how it's crunchy and shredded when cooked. We served it with pasta, foccacia, and Meyer lemon olive oil for dipping.
For Friday's dinner, the MB Albertson's had American-farmed shrimp for $9.99 a pound and they were really fresh.
Ah, I love shrimp. I know shrimping involves a lot of by-catch, but it's still a favorite. I haven't given it up completely, but I eat less of it and look for U.S. farmed or wild-caught. It was marinaded in the Meyer lemon olive oil with honey and dukkah seasoning, all purchased from Pasolivo. Salt and pepper were also mixed in, of course. I was hoping the dukkah would toast nicely to give a fragrant crust, but I didn't use enough for that to happen. We could taste the cumin, though. The shrimp were cooked with garlic toasted in the California varietals oil.
Shrimp was served with a Spanish rice mix (pasta for Indira and Kirkleton) and rolled in flour tortillas with leftover squash and sauteed onions for a Moo-style burrito. I should note that the pasta was not rolled into a burrito.
Albertson's yielded two other good buys, a whole roasted chicken from the deli section. Normally, I'd be leery that a roasted chicken that's sitting in its package on a heated shelf all day would result in dry and flavorless cardboard. However, this was anything but. This was the salt-and-pepper crusted chicken and it was very moist. Even the breast meat was more than decent. I had fun practicing my carving skills. Home roasting is best, but this is a very good alternative.
Saturday's dinner was the Spanish rice, chicken, and Indira's freshly sauteed asparagus from the farmer's market. The asparagus was coated with Meyer lemon olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic. Yum.
The other great buy was a bottle of Chumeia's 2006 Chardonnay. With the white-wine-friendly dishes we had, this was an excellent choice. We also didn't have a chance to visit Chumeia during our wine-tasting, so this was a chance to try their offerings. I think this winery's high on the list for the next trip.
On Sunday morning, we decided to do brunch at home instead of going out. With long drives ahead, there wasn't much time to have a leisurely brunch out. Using the challah from the previous weekend, we made creme brulee French toast with this Epicurious recipe. The photo doesn't do the French toast justice, because I didn't photograph the gooey underside, but the egg/half-and-half mixture baked up into a sweet custard, which is the "creme" part, I guess.
Excellent recipe! Definitely one to repeat in the future.
Some resources that I find helpful:
San Luis Obispo County Farmer's Markets and other Events (search for specific dates and "Farmer's Market" under "Type of Event")
Monterey Bay Seafood Watch
I've just returned from a fabulous trip to Cayucos, a small beachside town on the central California coast. Indira and Kirkleton joined me for a long weekend of doing... nothing. That's the beauty of it all. D.'s folks were very kind to let us use their vacation house and the view from the deck was incredibly seductive. That is, it seduced us into sitting around and gazing at it all day long.
After a brutal drive on Wednesday afternoon (Los Angeles traffic can kiss my ass), we spent Thursday roaming around the area and filling up the fridge for cooking at home. First, we visited a couple of wineries out in the hills of Paso Robles.
Justin was our first stop. I had been to Justin before and it was a good visit. This time, it wasn't that great. Service was excellent and we were greeted by two adorable pooches, a Lab and a basset hound. However, the wines were very meh. I loved their '05 Tempranillo, though. Enough to shell out 45 clams for a bottle.
We ended up at Adelaida next, because our other choice, Tablas Creek, had a $10 tasting with mostly reds. Adelaida is a great winery. Beautiful location and fabulous service.
Sally, who was manning the tasting room, let us taste an additional four wines on top of the tasting menu. As she put it, the wines were "nicely balanced". Even the vignoier, which I typically don't like, was very good. I loved their '05 Rhone-style red. Indira bought the '06 Rhone-style white and Kirkleton invested in the '05 Cabernet Sauvignon.
And here's a shot of their orchard. Beautiful! Two days later, I found myself heading back to Adelaida after running errands in Paso. The whole drive from along Adelaida Rd. to Paso Robles is totally worth it. 5 miles of lush valleys and distant vineyards.
Last stop was at Pasolivo for olive oil tasting. Yum. D.'s parents had given me a bottle of their Meyer lemon olive oil for Christmas and I was excited to try the rest of their offerings. This is a great place to finish off a day of wine tasting. Kirkleton bought their California varietals oil and I bought their dukkah seasoning and black button sage honey (produced by Katz & Company) to go with my lemon oil.
More trip reports to come! Also, there will be a couple of posts from the culinary delights of D. and J.
