Day of Surprises. A little before noon a good friend of mine, Bishara, called and checked if I was in town and surprised me with the news that he was here too, staying at the Four Seasons, and would I like to have lunch? Naturally, I jumped at the chance to see an old friend who lives out-of-state and travels far and wide. Bishara favors ethic and hot food, so I introduced him to "King of Thai Noodles" on Geary. It's not fancy, and no appetizers, but consistently good (that's why there seems to always be a line), and Bishara was impressed with the array of 'hot' condiments on a tray at every table. It was nice catching up. I spent a little time at the Sports Club LA (since I parked my car there, why not?), and returned home. Not long after I had my second surprise, a quick e-mail query from Carl about having dinner -- from the club! Just missed him. We decided to meet in the Marina, and had a nice catch up dinner at a crepe house (I'll have to revise this when I remember the name!). I enjoyed their inventive Chinese Chicken Salad. I thought I'd put a shot of the evening sky at my place on this entry, I never tire of the light playing on the water at different times of day.

The Long Ride Home. I decided to take the trip home to Mill Valley in one fell swoop on I-5 from Long Beach. It was a very boring but quick ride compared to Hwy 101. On the way I stopped for lunch at "Willow Ranch". Having looked at my choices of "Express" fast food this-or-that, I decided to try out the decidedly local hang out off the Buttonwillow exit. There was also a "Taste of India" which looked intriguing, but it had a sign "Closed on Tuesdays" at the door.



The hostess and waitress were both charming and welcoming. I was greeted by six gentlemen (locals) waiting at the front for a booth and being questioned about my Prius. The newness has worn off in most places so it was a pleasant surprise to have my car noted and curious questions asked after a break from these in the bay area. Willow Ranch is well-worn and well-loved by the locals. It was plain and homey, and as I suspected a better and more creative choice than one of the fast food hangouts nearby. I had a country fried chicken salad which had a variety of garnishes and tasty fried chicken breast on the top. Their ice tea came in a huge glass - country generosity.

I drove from there, aside from a gas stop, straight to my favorite comfort food, sushi, at Akira's, then home.

September 8-11th: Family Time. Didn't pay much attention to food, but lots of attention to family. Shuttling between Rancho Mirage and Long Beach while I supported my niece Erika in getting Yurika's affairs in order. The coroner is not able to tell us the cause of death for 8 weeks.

We enjoyed some favorite family places, the Daily Grill in Palm Desert (Erika loves it), and Mimi's Cafe. I enjoyed time with Colin and Collette, taking them to the 3-D version of Monster House, and to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. This is where I showed them what happens to kids who don't mind their Auntie -- a bed of nails for them!



Collette:



Colin:

Biscuits my mother would approve. The Madonna Inn really is a unique place. I've discovered it has an equestrian center and is opening a huge pool, tops optional, European Style. Naturally I couldn't check out the famous men's magical waterfall urinal in the men's room. But I did check out the Copper Cafe for breakfast this morning. There is an amazing amount of intricate woodwork and woodcarving in this place, if you appreciate ornate carved wood it's not to be missed.




Also not to be missed is the biscuits. Someone actually knows how to make real biscuits. They were fresh, warm and tender, and served with honey. Awesome! The Copper Cafe also makes an effort to include locally made products on the menu and make note of it, like Linguica or Swiss Sausage as an ingredient choice for their 3-egg omelets. It's true that the Madonna Inn isn't in my taste, but I appreciate that someone made the effort to give the place a personality. It is refreshing in the age of sterile, copy-cat lodgings. You'll also want to check out all the 'pink' themes -- even the bicycle rack is pink!

Madonna Inn. Here I am at the very (deliberately) kitschy Madonna Inn. It is in San Luis Obispo, and is well known for its creative themed rooms. I'm in "Desert Sands". It's just like it looks. In the days of free wireless at even the cheapest hotels, I was rather surprised at the $9.95 per day charge for your choice of wired/wireless. I'll be taking some photos in the morning of the grounds and posting when I'm home again. I had lunch at Robata Grill & Sushi today and still find their daily lunch special at $9.95 a nice bargain and with good food. I finally left after having to go to Goodman's a second time to have them re-do my mail keys so a friend can check my mail while I'm out. The travel was very good, and it certainly was a plus that my clean air vehicle tags arrived in the mail today, just in time to place them on my bumpers and go! I sailed through the usual San Jose/Santa Cruz bound traffic in the carpool lanes with my perky red Prius hybrid.

My "Desert Sands" Room from the outside:

Akira. I had a big shock today -- Yurika, my niece's little sister died suddenly. She was only 39 and in good health, so it's a shock. I'll be leaving town tomorrow for Long Beach/Palm Springs with an open return so there may be a pause in my blogging.

I had a strong feeling yesterday that I should have my car serviced right away, and made an early morning appointment this morning. It was just for routine maintenance (can you believe 50K on my hybrid 2004 Prius?!) , but it was a good thing I followed my intuition since I'll be driving long distance from tomorrow.

I took advantage of being in the city to do some business and have lunch with my friend Masami, at the Sapphire on Sacramento Street. Sapphire does a decent job for what it is (like Panda Express, but in great surroundings) and the food is very inexpensive. Took the cable car back to my car, and came home and knocked about for awhile.

Feeling like I needed to be out with some light companions to get my mind off things, I decided to go to one of my favorite hang-outs, Akira Sushi Bar & Restaurant in San Rafael. The owner, Hiro, was off today, but his staff were doing a marvelous job of putting out fabulous sushi creations and keeping a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. I sat at the bar and enjoyed catching up with Takeshi (see in photo above) and the other friendly staff.

I caught up with the news at Akira -- there is a website now, and they are expanding into San Anselmo. From the looks of the picture on the website, it looks like they are taking over the previous "Yahiro" sushi place. Akira should be an exciting new treat for the neighborhood as it is consistently excellent. Success seems to be flowing through the door at Akira, and they deserve it!



Tonight I enjoyed the mushroom miso (above) and the chirashizushi (below.) Surprisingly, I had never tried the chirashi before, and it was really a great mixture of fresh and beautifully arranged sashimi over sushi rice with marinated mushroom surprises tucked in. I think it is going to become one of my favorites, although it's hard not to have a lot of 'favorites' there!

O Water. A cool find indeed at Molly Stone's! It was on sale too for $1 a bottle which had to have influenced my purchase. O Water has several flavors with just a blush of fruit taste. Very refreshing!

I picked up both peach and lemon/lime flavors.

There are a couple other drinks in this class of barely flavored, non-sugared beverages that I also enjoy:

Metromint and Hint - both of these hail from San Francisco, while O Water is located in Massachusetts.

I have a personal preference for the local these days, especially after seeing a graphic of how much oil it takes to ship bottled water in proportion to the water bottle.

See "Bottled Water = Oil". Although I have a water filter, I still find that I consume more water if it has just a slight flavor. And who doesn't need to drink more water? I especially like the brisk refreshing taste of Metromint. I image fresh mint leaves scrubbing my cells as it flows through my body.

Japanese Potato Salad. Since it's been a bit since I posted a recipe, I thought I'd make something up, and log in the instructions.

Given that I also had some organic ingredients -- and needed to use them while fresh, I thought I'd make some Japanese Potato Salad and pair it with some left over chicken breast tenders for a meal.

The essential ingredients for this salad are potatoes (duh!) and Kewpie mayonnaise.

Kewpie mayonnaise definitely qualifies as a 'cool find' though I found out about it when I was in Hiroshima, Japan at age 16. Actually, my home economics teacher there, Dotan-sensei nicknamed me 'Kewpie' because she thought I looked like a Kewpie doll! So began my relationship with Kewpie mayonnaise.

Kewpie mayonnaise is somewhat sweeter than typical American brands, and it give a distinctive taste to many Japanese dishes. In recent years, this mayonnaise has been added to sushi, okonomiyaki, and even curry! There seems to be a Kewpie mayo craze in Japan where it was the first mayonnaise introduced to the Japanese public in 1925.

As for Japanese Potato Salad, my first introduction to it had some surprise... the Japanese have no inhibitions about adding unusual ingredients to the mix. As long as there are potatoes and Kewpie mayonnaise they feel free to add such things as carrots, apples and yes, even octopus arms. It was the octopus arms that gave me a jolt the first time I tried potato salad in Japan.

My recipe today uses carrots as the unusual ingredient.

Japanese Potato Salad

Potatoes (creamer) and carrots, peeled and filling 2/3 of 2 1/2 qt. pan, filled with filtered water
Thinly sliced celery (3 ribs)
Minced garlic (3 cloves)
Kewpie mayonnaise
Sea Salt

While potatoes and carrots are boiling, thinly slice celery and mince garlic finely. Put the celery and garlic in a mixing bowl. When potatoes and carrots are done (not mushy, but so that you can easily put a fork through), pour off water and let cool slightly. Add the potatoes to the mixing bowl first, salt and add Kewpie mayonnaise to taste. Roughly mix the potatoes so that they are not left whole, but are in irregular chunks. Don't go overboard and get mashed potatoes! Add carrots, and more Kewpie mayonnaise. Fold in carrots so that they do not break. Cool to lukewarm or colder, and enjoy!

Cat N' Fiddle. The weather in Sausalito today was outstanding. I took a walk along Sausalito's waterfront and decided to enjoy the Cat N' Fiddle for lunch. I've lived in Marin 9 years, and have never been to it, mostly because friends labeled it 'mediocre'. However, there's nothing like seeing for yourself, and often things change.

First, the photo at the left is what you normally see from the road but when you go around to the front entrance, shoreside, it gets colorful!


Your eye is so caught by the bright red that it takes you a minute to realize that the true entrance is actually a little further down the sidewalk.


Walking up to the second floor and entering the bar and dining area, you'll see it's filled with sea-theme memorabilia and old pictures covering the wall. There is a cat and fiddle against one side of the bar wall. The proprietor is very friendly and seats you promptly. Water and bread is brought out instantly. There is old music, like my Dad would enjoy, playing in the background. Looking around it looks like the lunch crowd is close to that vintage as well. I'm the youngest there.



The view is fabulous outside the window - the bird in the corner is wooden. The two menus are handed me, one the standard laminated one, and one a photocopy of a full page of handwritten specials, thick with description, and the writing has flourishes. The specials certainly are described best!



My order is taken promptly (from the handwritten menu naturally) and soon comes my cold Indonesian noodle salad at $17.00. Very nicely composed, very fresh. The only fault I had with it is the 'spicy' dressing wasn't, and the dressing was a bit heavy on the olive oil side. I left some of the lower spinach leaves which were over saturated, and there was a visible green virgin olive oil pool left behind. It seemed a little pricey for the surroundings, but then, the view was worth a few extra dollars.

It looks like it may be a fabulous place for appetizers and drinks sometime. I'll try it again.

Lesser-known eating places. In my July 12th post on Las Camelias I noted:

"I'm going to be making some effort to go to out-of-the way, smaller places which may be missed by the standard reviewers. Hopefully, this won't mean a slew of poor reviews, but I think there may be some hidden gems for more casual and inexpensive dining. Stay tuned."

Thought it was time for a round up of the smaller places in Marin County!

Most are too small to have a website, or much in the way of reviews. I've linked the best external source I could find as of this post for each. Here are the ones I've reviewed in my blog:

Sushi Lin in San Rafael (reviewed July 6, 2006)
Panchitos Restaurant in Terra Linda - San Rafael (reviewed July 11, 2006)
Gourmet Garden To Go in Mill Valley (reviewed July 14, 2006)
Strawberry Gourmet Delicatessen in Strawberry Village - Mill Valley (reviewed July 18, 2006)
Saigon Village in San Rafael (reviewed August 17, 2006)
Caffe Oggi in Mill Valley (reviewed August 30, 2006)
Sartaj India Cafe in Sausalito (reviewed August 31, 2006)

I am also working on adding the ability for readers to add comments to this blog... stay tuned!

A visit to Sonoma. I picked up Dad and we tried a new place on Sonoma Square - Sunflower Caffe. It is not a full service restaurant, but really a casual, but upscale, sandwich and salad place.

There are two doors, one leading to the line to order (left) and one (right) that opens you to the hall where there are seats and into the garden.


Dad and I ordered our sandwiches and chose a seat in the relaxing garden in the back.

Dad enjoyed a vegetarian vegetable sandwich on foccacia. It contained roasted vegetables and hummus. The salad was some crisp, blanched crudites lightly dressed in Italian vinaigrette and arranged on a lettuce leaf. He enjoyed his sandwich.


I chose the roasted pork loin sandwich with carmelized onions on a baguette. It was delicious! The Sunflower Caffe has gourmet touches and the food was good. The garden was quite pleasant, although I think the interior would be a bit too noisy for my taste. There is also a Labor Day barbecue from noon - four p.m. in the garden. The barbecued items looked promising as well, including a lamb burger and grilled oysters.

After lunch, I visited Linda, Yalda & Olivia in Glen Ellen and gave Linda an Excel lesson. We went to Cafe Citti, one of our favorite hang-outs for dinner, and we all enjoyed their lasagna. Coming back, I noted the traffic on 101N was entirely stopped and backed up all the way past my exit near Seminary Drive, to the Richmond Bridge exit and beyond. The Bay Bridge closure is really affecting Marin traffic.

Night at the Improv. After trying the new Pizza Antica at Strawberry Village with a friend, and a puttering around the house kind of day, I joined Daniel & Kit at the Improv at Fort Mason.

As for Pizza Antica, silly me forgot to bring my camera to the restaurant, but Sachiko and I enjoyed sharing a chopped salad and pizza with sausage, portabello mushrooms and grilled onion. Slow service, but good food, and a nice touch to leave a carafe of water at the table.

Daniel has been taking improv lessons from BATS Improv and has been inviting me to come for awhile, so tonight was the night to accept. It was enjoyable with a lot of audience participation -- they had a sonnet writing contest during intermission. It was done in the style of Shakespeare, which is a tough choice to maintain. Well done, but I think I would have preferred a different style. Will have to try again!

Sweet Ginger. It is nice working in Sausalito. EMU is the perfect setting, and only fifteen minutes by bike from my house. And I have a chance to reaquaint myself with some Sausalito-based eateries. Today I ventured to the crossroads of Caledonia and Litho for some oyako-don at Sweet Ginger.

I note the crossroads as the foliage has half-obscured the sign outside, and it could be missed.

The restaurant itself is bright and cheery and not having very much in the way of sound-absorbing materials, can occasionally get a little clattery.

The proprietors are quite friendly and prompt with greetings, orders and bringing out the food. This is especially welcomed when trying to get a number of things squeezed into a short lunch hour.



I was given a starter of some well-flavored miso soup, which was a very pleasant surprise as many restaurants do not make this pairing without a special order. The oyako-don had a bit of an individual flair as thin ribbons of carrot were included in the dish, which is not traditional. It added nicely without making the dish too soupy. (Restaurants innovating with this dish at other establishments sometimes get carried away with the watery veggies, making the oyako occur more as jook.) The only flaw in this dish was that the rice was ever-so-slightly undercooked. Just enough to lend a little discordance to the eating, but still edible.

I've been to Sweet Ginger a number of times in the past and have had consistenly good experiences. Their salmon over garlic soba and sprouts is a particular favorite of mine.

To Fisherman's Wharf. We stopped and walked along Fisherman's Wharf, and searched for a restaurant to wind up our day with. The girls were interested in crab, so we chose a restaurant based on their crab offering, loosely.

We ended up at Nonna Rose Seafood Trattoria.

The interior was warm and ambient, and although had the feel of a grandmother's lovely home, also had a very romantic air.


We started out waiting in the bar, corrupting the youth.



In at last, and a starter cup of Boston Clam Chowder, with tender clams and a nice rich base of creamy soup.



Anna's Filet of Sole Dore was served in a fish-shaped platter, with accompaniments of sauteed zucchini with mushrooms, and onions as well as some broth-flavored rice. The sole looked cheerful with capers, fresh tomato and fresh green onion pieces scattered across the top of its lemon glazed goodness. It reminded me of an Italian grandmother's kind of cooking, and was done to perfection, even if a little crispy around the egg edges.

The waiter told us that it was founded by the owner's grandmother, Rose, and were pointed to a lovely portrait of her on the opposite wall.


Collette grinned and posed with her bib, ready to tuck into the succulent fresh steamed crab with melted butter. Maya and Collette polished it off without difficulty!


After dinner, it was back through the Marina, over the Golden Gate Bridge for the last time this trip, and on home to collect Collette's things and say good-bye to Auntie Anna. It was a wonderful week together.

Flash Tour and the Japanese Tea Garden. So off we went in my car to the city, and stopped first near the shore so the girls could run some excess energy off. Then back to the car to do some neigborhood hopping.






We stopped for awhile at the Japanese Tea Garden, and took some jasmine tea there and relaxed.





The girls really got into the posing mood!










San Francisco and the Golden Gate Park started to get windy and dark around 6 p.m., so we continued our tour through Japantown, Chinatown and North Beach where the girl's noticed the colors of the Italian flag painted on all the light poles in the district.

Sartaj India Cafe. I introduced the group (Regina, Maya & Collette) to North Indian cuisine at the family-run Sartaj India Cafe in Sausalito on Caledonia. This is a very simple restaurant, some would call a hole-in-the-wall, but what fresh taste and care is put into the delicious food!

I understand that every morning the woman who you greet and order from gets up with the birds to make the fresh breads and other delicious garnishes.


I had the vegetarian combo plate, which was predictably full of fresh tastes.




And the taste testers Maya and Collette enjoyed the chicken curry combo plate! Now we're off to the big city for a flash tour!

Fairyland. I got a surprise call from Regina who was coming to pick up Collette with her daughter, Maya -- the surprise was that they left at 3 a.m. and were already in town by 10:30 a.m. Collette and I were already on our way to Fairyland near Lake Merritt in Oakland, so we made a quick plan to meet them there.


Collette and Maya had a marvelous time in Fairyland which is a little girl's dream place. Even though I could see the faded murals and sometimes broken storyboxes, there was still an air of magic for those who had eyes to see it, and what little girl doesn't see magic?

They played hard until they got hungry, and then we got into the traffic to go back to Marin for some lunch...

Cafe Trieste. Collette and I tried going to the Dipsea, but there was not a parking place anywhere, even at 9:00 a.m.! So we did an about face and went into Sausalito to Cafe Trieste.

Although Cafe Trieste doesn't have vegetable omelets, they have a vegetable fritatta and graciously said that they could make it into a 'vegetable omelet' for Collette. She liked her omelet very much!

It was a busy morning, everyone seemed to be having a late breakfast! Collette wanted to know who all the people were, lucky enough to have a late breakfast. I told her that a lot of artists live in the boats, sailboats and houseboats nearby and so there were probably a lot of artists and authors in the room with us. She was impressed.



I tried their breakfast croissant, which has scrambled eggs and choice of breakfast meat (I chose bacon). It also was very good, the croissant was nice and flaky and warm!


Nice way to start the day!

Fun with Aurelia & Toran. Collette and I started the day at Caffe Oggi in Mill Valley, a lovely Italian deli-cum-coffee house.

Collette is posing in front. It is next to the now vacant Albertson's; I hope it won't affect their business, as it is a great place to have in the neighborhood.

Inside it is deocorated with photos of Italian scenes, and some graceful white columns are an added motif in the back upper wall. Often you can hear Italian opera being played as the background music.

I noticed an ad on the door for Italian lessons... sounds like a fun idea for that location.

I had my favorite vegetable fritatta, but was disappointed to be given roasted potatoes instead of the usual sauteed swiss chard. The potatoes were done well, but I so love the well-flavored swiss chard's inventiveness and antioxidant boost in the morning. Not to mention it's originality as a breakfast side.



Collette lucked out in our visit to Jo-Ann's this morning in that Toran was home from school because of severe allergies. He perked up a bit and they enjoyed some play time while I did some consulting work in Sausalito. When I returned we grabbed a quick bite of lunch, and headed off to a used bookstore that Jo-Ann had been wanting to show me. It's called "The Book Place" and sales benefit the local Marin libraries. I picked up 14 books that Collette was interested in reading for $6.25. The kids had fun picking out books and reading excerpts to each other. We then went to the creekside by the actual Novato Library a couple blocks away, and the kids alternatively played and read books.

Not wanting the day to end, all the kids came with me to have dinner with "Grandpa Charles". Collette will be heading home tomorrow so it was her last chance to have some time with him on this visit. After quite the food preference discussion, it seemed the best common denominator was the Black Bear Diner near Grandpa Charles's in Sonoma. I have to say I was impressed that their "Cubs" menu had REAL dinners included, like fresh roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce. All the kids chose this option, and it also came with a cute sundae at the end. We took the opportunity for a photo op with the bears afterwards.

Ceramics. Kids are good for getting you into new trouble. It would never occur to me to paint and fire ceramics, since I do not consider myself a graphic artist, or having any talent with a paintbrush. But since she was not inclined to bicycle ride (doesn't like anything on 'two wheels'), paddleboat, or shop for a yukata, AND her eyes lit up when talking about doing something with pottery/ceramics - was there any other choice?

So off we went to Doodlebug in San Anselmo, and we spent the entire day there painting our respective pieces. Collette chose a fairy sitting in a crescent moon, while I chose a plain tea cup and saucer.

Doodlebug is perfectly set up for children to enjoy exporing a number of crafts, but particularly ceramic painting.

We broke for lunch at Paradise in San Rafael, a Vietnamese restaurant with a quick buffet lunch bar. It is always better to go earlier in the lunch hour, as we were pushing it and the selection wasn't as good.

Back to Doodlebug, and it took until nearly five to get our masterpieces ready for glazing and firing. We won't see the final finished project until Thursday afternoon.


We scampered off just before 5 to get to Accepted, a comedy about a boy who when rejected by all the universities he applied -- created his own. It was entertaining and funny. Collette requested Auntie Anna's spaghetti marinara for dinner, which was certainly an easy fix!