More "Fish in a Bottle" 08-23-08

Yes, dinner out again and where else but "Fish in a Bottle" here in Placentia! I joined Carol and Dick Bednar and Carol's long time friend Rhonda from Nachadoches, TX, who has been here for the past week with job related business and, of course, visiting with the Bednars. She has been hearing about this restaurant quite a lot in the past year, so she was eager to try it, but this was the first chance on her schedule. It was a fabulous dinner with the organic salad and then five different sushi rolls that we all shared. We were all stuffed, but had to try the desserts again.

This is the banana cream cheese custard which I tried to describe in my post on 08-17-08. This time I managed a picture before we all dipped into it. Just as delicious this time.

These are the stuffed strawberries. They are stuffed with raspberries and topped with a little slice of kiwi to make a leaf. The sauce has balsamic vinegar in it and, I think, chocolate. But I don't eat strawberries and only had a tiny taste of the sauce.

Here is Rhonda tasting the dessert. She purchased her lovely silk jacket at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana earlier today, where they saw the Chinese soldiers exhibit.

What great company and what a fantastic meal!

Nerium oleander

When I was a child my sister and I rode the train to Los Angeles to visit our paternal grandparents. I spent most of my time with my nose stuck to the window, seeing amazing and beautiful sights going by. One thing I loved then and still do are the oleander hedges on the median strip of Hwy 99. Oleanders are ubiquitous in the Central Valley and all of Southern California; of all the 400 varieties we see mostly pink, white and a sort of peach. The plant requires little care, tolerates poor soil and is resistant to drought. Since it is one of the most poisonous plants it has few natural enemies, primarily the oleander caterpillar/moth. The plant was known in antiquity and originated around the Mediterranean.

I believe this is the variety Ed Barr. A house in the neighborhood has a towering hedge along the street which is currently covered with blooms, it would be more impressive if they pruned judiciously. This variety has no fragrance.

I think the flowers are lovely with their whirling petals, pure white color and the little fringe around the center - sort of like eyelashes. I keep taking pictures because one day I think I will make an oleander quilt.

I Love Figs 08-21-08

My mother had a fig tree in Portland on the side of the garage; it was understood that it was hers and so were all the figs! Fortunately for her I was the only person in the house that also liked figs - she could keep track of one person! In the winter she wrapped her tree in burlap sacks and in the late summer she check for ripeness everyday. Her tree was a Kadota. My choice would be 'honey figs' which are grown in SCarolina - they are small, tan and taste wonderfully like little packets of honey. I tried many times to get a plant to grown here in SCalifornia, but each one died a quick death.

The fresh turkey figs are in the farmers' markets right now and I have to be careful not to eat so many I get sick. One trip north I took a basket of fresh turkey figs to Mary as a special treat - only to discover that she hates figs! I was forced to eat them all.

I like to serve them cut up and covered with cream.

A few toasted almonds or pecans are a nice addition.

Fabric excess 08-19-08

There is still lots of fabric stashed in unknown places around my house. As I mentioned before, I have been sewing and quilting for a lot of years and I am a saver (NOT a hoarder:>)))). Liz is tackling her own house and just cleared out her kitchen and had it painted, including cupboards inside and out. So, she is not here to crack the whip and I tend to do a lot of lolly gagging. So, it will take a lot more time to get everything reorganized. Right now I have so many boxes of stuff to dispose of that I need to do some disposing before I can pile up more boxes. I have five boxes of fabric suitable for children's quilts in the van to deliver to a guild philanthropic project. But still another ten file boxes I hope to contribute to the BCQG Xmas sale and auction. A little early, but maybe someone on the committee will be willing to store them for a few months. Then I can fill up more boxes to follow those boxes. Although this is all quality quilting fabric some of it is forty years old w/colors and prints that are currently out-of-style. I hope someone can use them.

Freeway Pumpkins 08-18-08

I started this daily Blog one year ago today.

Fifty years ago I commuted from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles in a carpool. It was an interesting experience, but I have only two ongoing memories - how much I disliked riding in a carpool and the lady with a lovely voice who gave the morning radio traffic report. I've always thought her voice was the perfect radio voice - low, calm, expressive - and she was very clever with words. One morning she said the traffic was backed up because Cal Trans was harvesting the freeway pumpkins. Huh? Nobody knew what she was talking about. It took me awhile to figure out that she was referring to the orange bags of trash collected by crews and piled along the roadway for pick up (eventually).

Cal Trans still uses orange bags most of the time.

And they still grow into great piles along California highways. Some districts are quicker to pick them up, but in others the trash can be seen all along the verges and the bags are faded before they are taken care of. Nobody on the pick up crews can say they didn't see them - orange glows!

"Fish in a Bottle" again! 08-17-08

Carol and Dick Bednar 08-17-08

What luck, we are all three in town and available to share dinner. Where else would we go but our favorite restaurant "Fish in a Bottle". We keep a list of what we have tried in the past so that we can tackle something new. We have not eaten anything that wasn't wonderful.

We each ordered an organic salad (still fabulous) and the Bednar's had beer. We shared three different sushi rolls - Bora Bora (in the back), Mango Tango (on the left) and Crazy Boy (on the right). Mango Tango is topped with mango sliced very thin and has a hearty layer of cilantro underneath. I have already forgotten the ingredients of Bora Bora, but I won't forget the yummy taste.

We have had Crazy Boy several times. It contains shrimp and avocado and is topped with skinny deep fried ??. I thought they were onions, but have been challenged on that - next time I will ask.

For the first time we had dessert and it was almost gone before I could stop eating and get out my camera. Banana Cream Cheese Custard rolled into a cylinder of very thin pastry, cut at an angle and set upright on the flat ends. Drizzled with a carmel-y sauce and the plate decorated with a scoop of ice cream, kiwi slices and swirls of chocolate and raspberry sauce. As the saying goes, "it was to die for". Some day I will go in and have six little California rolls and a whole dessert to myself. Oink-Oink.

The not so great part of the evening was that Carol's friend Rhoda from Florida was flying in this afternoon and was to join us. But her flight was cancelled and she was delayed in Dallas/Ft Worth. She should be arriving right about now! Hope I will have another chance to meet her while she is in SCalifornia on business.