Goodbye for now

I am off to "the youngest country in Earth" until late December, so farewell for now.

Saturday 25 August - Heading home from Cornwall

Breakfasted on a cantaloupe, some blueberries, coffee

Left Hayle at 08:30 and arrived at Exeter to return AA Rescue loaner car at about 10:30. Fiona's mate Tony (father of the girls) met us there and drove us back to Fiona's flat in South London.

I snacked on an apple, a banana and a custard cream in car.

We drove back on A303 and stopped at a Burger King someplace along the motorway for lunch. I had some fries; not a lot else on offer for non-meat eaters.

We arrived at Fiona's in south London around 16:00. and I got mini cab home which set me back £25.00

At home had 4 ribs of celery, 2 carrots and 1 bag of REAL Cheese & Spring Onion crisps I had bought at the services.

My lower legs and feet very sore, puffy and itchy from sunburn compounded by prolonged sitting in the car. It is pretty uncomfortable. I applied some calomine lotion, which seems to help a bit.

No real dinner - snacked on some Gorgonzola and an apple.

A kind of "bitty", boring and tiring day.

But I heard a great line on the telly:

"Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, they shall never cease to be amused."

Friday 24 August - Hayle, Cornwall

Sand crocodile with a fish in his mouth

Breakfasted on the usual 1/8th cheese loaf, coffee

Walked on beach from 09:30 -11:00 (to Gwithin's and back) then read from on hour or so on beach. Someone had sculpted a nice crocodile in the sand. He was more or less life sized and had a fish in his mouth - and foot prints all over his back where someone had tried to destroy him. Shame.

For lunch, had some leftover vegetable soup and a cheese & mushroom omelette with 2 tomatoes and 2 slices supermarket bread.

Went back to beach around 14:00 and walked the other direction to the rocks on Hayle beach. Sat on beach and read until about 16:00. Best day weatherwise so far - not so bloody windy!

Walked down to park shop and bought rock for Lisa's boys and a small bottle of scrumpy for Lisa. Had a pack of Walker Ready Salted crisps.

We are getting ready to head home tomorrow, so need to use up some of what is in the fridge. Lots of odds and ends of veggies. Fiona had made a pasta salad for herself and there was some leftover cooked pasta too.

So, for dinner, I made a salad of 100g spinach, ½ head romaine, 200g cherry tomatoes & ½ red onion dressed with oil, lemon, sugar & mustard.

For main course, I made some

Pasta with Veggies
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion
2 garlic
½ red pepper
1 chilli
1 carrot
100g broccoli
100g asparagus
1 cooked cup pasta
50g half fat Cheddar cheese
½ teaspoon Marigold bouillon powder.

Melt together the butter and oil. Saute the onions, garlic, pepper, chilli and carrot until soft. Steam to broccoli & asparagus and add the the pan along with the cooked pasta and Marigold powder. Toss well to combine everything and scatter in the cheese. Toss again and serve.

Finally, had a punnet of blueberries for dessert.

I got too much sun today. I am OK pretty much everywhere but tops or feet, ankles and lower calves. All the walking by the water's edge meant reflected sun and washed away sun block. The skin is very tight and sore!

Sand crocodile

Thursday 23 August - Cornwall and Mount St Michael's

Breakfast was another 1/8th cheese loaf & coffee. I ended up freezing it on day two, when it became obvious that I was the only one with a barge pole long enough to be interested in it. So, I just pop it in the microwave and nuke it to defrost. Plus, has the added bonus of re-gooey-fying the cheese.

Went for a long walk on the beach - 1½ hours, most of the length of Three Mile Beach and back again. I was surprised to see a dead rabbit in the surf at the waters edge. Wonder how he came to be there.

Stopped into caravan park shop to buy some odds and end - picked up some biscuits for the girls - Maryland cookies and custard creams.

Maryland cookies always make me wonder... I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived for many, many years in Maryland and we NEVER had "Maryland" cookies or "Maryland" style chicken that seem so popular in the UK.

Maryland is known for one thing - CRABS. When neighbouring Virginia launched the slogan "Virginia is for Lovers", Maryland retaliated with "Maryland is for crabs"



For lunch I made some vegetable soup:
1 onion , chopped
3 garlic , crushed
½ yellow pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery heart, chopped
1 broccoli stem, trimmed and chopped
½ can corn
3 tomatoes, peeled, deseeded & diced
1 tablespoon Marigold vegetable stock powder
Add water to cover and "cook until done", as my grandmother would have said.

Then we all went to Mount St Michael - had to get boat out as it was high tide. Walked around the castle & grounds, then walked back across tidal flats.

View from Mount Saint Michael

Bought t-shirt with cat face on it and stopped for local ice cream on way back - 1 scoop mint chocolate chip.


Dinner was a salad to start - cherry tomatoes, red onion, mushroom, spring onion, spinach and hard boiled egg dressed with oil, lemon & garlic.

Then I had some noodle salad, which again, no one else wanted to try.
¼ red onion, sliced fine
100g mange tout, blanced and sliced
1 carrot, julienned
½ yellow pepper, julienned
½ green pepper, julienned
1 block Chinese egg noodles, cooked
2 garlic, crushed
1 thumb ginger, grated
1 chilli, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon oil
mint
romaine leaves

Today's junk food: 3 Maryland cookies, 3 custard creams, 30g M&S Cheese Tasters.

Wednesday 22 August - Cornwall

Breakfasted on 1/8th cheese loaf, some cherries, a nectarine & coffee

Walked down to camp recycling centre with stuff so far, then another good 40 minutes walking on beach. It is pretty obvious that I am the only early riser in this group. I am usually up and about by 8:00 at the latest and Fiona & the girls are in bed until at least noon, so I picked up 2nd key at reception due to the differences in our time keeping.

Went back to beach and read for an hour or so, then home for lunch which was the other portion of bean salad, some lentil soup and supermarket bread.

Went into Penzance again to get bus ticket for Analiese - all sold out, so had to get train ticket instead so she can get home for her results. Stopped into the M&S at the roundabout on the way back and picked up a few things, including Cheese Tasters. I can NEVER resist these in M&S.

For dinner, I had a salad of romaine, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrot & spring onions dressed with oil & balsamic vinegar. Then had a small baked potato with 50g of half fat cheddar, 125g mushrooms and ½ onion sauteed in a little olive oil with some garlic.

Had ½ kiwi and a punnet of raspberries for dessert.

More weird foods today - 1 "snack sized" Muller Choco/Vanilla Balls yoghurt - disgusting. and an M&S chocolate covered biscuit (not disgusting).

Tuesday 21 August - Hayle, Cornwall

Some weird jelly fish washed up on the surf's edge

Breakfast was - you got it - 1/8 cheese loaf (plus coffee, a nectarine & 2 clementines).

Long walk on beach - about 1½ hours. Finally starting to feel a bit better from the car crash - leg, wrist etc easing off a bit

Lunch was a salad of ½ bag spinach, 3 mushrooms, ½ red onion, 1 medium avocado, 100g prawns and dressing made of 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, Colman's mustard, salt & pepper.

Then set about snacking on holiday rubbish - 3 chocolate toffees, 2 squares Cadbury chocolate, small Time Out bar, 1 bag M&S Sweet potato crisps, 1 M&S teacake, 1 chocolate cream caramel wafer thingy - all stuff I don't normally keep around! Bleugh - not good.

Went for another walk on the beach in the afternoon. Gotta work off some of that lardy junk food.

For dinner I made a

Bean Salad
Make a simple dressing of
1 tablespoon oil,
juice of 1 lemon,
2 garlic cloves,
1 teaspoon sugar,
1 teaspoon mustard

Combine and pour over
1 small green pepper
100g cooked fine beans
½ can kidney beans
175g cannellini beans
½ red onion, sliced fine.

Toss well and leave to stand for 30 minutes or more so flavours can develop. Makes 2 servings.

I had one serving on ½ head romaine,with some slow roasted cherry tomatoes and a hard boiled egg.

Monday 20 August - In Cornwall

Three Mile Beach is full of mysterious caves

Well, someone has to eat this "rustic cheese loaf", so I had another portion plus a nectarine, a clementine & coffee.

Still feeling quite sore from smash-up, but went for long walk on beach again this AM.

Lunch was a salad of
- radish leaves,
- romaine lettuce,
- ¼ tin tuna,
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise,
- ½ small can corn,
- ½ small can kidney beans,
- ½ small red pepper,
- 4 spring onions,
- garlic,
- chilli,
- 2 ribs celery,
- 1 hard boiled egg,
- 1 handful roast tomatoes,
- 1 tablespoon oil and
- juice ½ lemon.

Drove in to Penzance and spent 2 hours wandering around the shopping precinct. Stopped into Renaissance Cafe on the waterfront. I just had an iced coffee (and nicked chips off the Fiona's plate).

Back at the holiday park, I went for a stroll on beach in the afternoon and stopped into bar near surf school for a pint of Kronenbourg.

For dinner, I made 100g prawns sauteed in butter with garlic, spring onions and asparagus along with 2 slices of supermarket bread.

Sunday 19 August - Settling into Hayle

I got up early and had another 1/8 of the Rustic Cheese Loaf and some coffee.

Woke up very sore on left side - jammed wrist, sore shin, sore neck - sheesh. Went for long walk on beach - it was sunny but very windy.

Oh dear - ate a bunch of junk back at the caravan, waiting for everyone to wake up. One pack M&S Sweet Potato crisps, 2 chocolate eclair sweets, 5 Haribos, 2 Aero Mint Bubbles, 1 M&S teacake and a clementine (yay! not junk!)

Fiona and girls finally up around 12:00 noon. Went shopping at Morrison's in Penzance to stock up for holiday.

Made a big tray of slow roasted cherry tomatoes, only 2 find out that no one but me likes cooked tomatoes, Oh well!

Looks like no one else will eat the bread I brought as no one else likes

1) cooked tomatoes (except in Heinz Tomato Soup & maybe ketchup)

2) olives

3) Camembert

I have a LOT of bread to eat...

Lunch was as salad of ½ bag spinach, 3 mushrooms, sliced, 1 hard boiled egg, some cherry tomatoes and a dressing on lemon and olive oil with loads of black pepper.

After lunch, went exploring around the caravan park for and hour or so. Staying at St Ives Bay Holiday Park in a 3 bed caravan. Two bed rooms are teeny-weeny, one is large. Right on the beach - a bit windy (and then some!) while we were there, but a nice beach and a good site. Park has a small shop, bars surf school etc.

St Ives Bay Holiday Park

For dinner I made lentil soup, because others expressed an interest in trying it. But none one did try it.

Anyway, I had 2 bowls with some sliced supermarket bread.

Lentil Soup
1 teaspoon oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 small onions
2 small green peppers
2 carrots
250g dry green lentils
1 tomato, chopped
2 pint vegetable stock

Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until softening. Add the vegetables, lentils and stock and simmer, covered, over low heat until the vegetables are soft and the lentils are cooked, about 35-45 minutes.

Puree or not, as you prefer (I like it chunky).

Dinner Sat 18 August - Car crash on the A30/M5 and not a lot else

Three Mile Beach near Hayle, Cornwall

Drove down to Hayle, Cornwall with Fiona. Snacking along the way from Fiona's chilly bin - ate 2 packs M&S crisps, 3 oranges and a couple of sweets (a Percy Pig, & 2 chocolate eclairs) en route.

The, we had a big crash on A30/M5 interchange in Exeter. It was raining, we were a bit lost and next thing I knew we had smashed into the car ahead of us (which was stationary at a traffic light) . I sustained an enormous contusion on my left shin where it slammed into the under dash. Ambulance workers insisted on taking me to hospital as they thought my leg was broken.

Went to hospital in Exeter and waited AGES to be x-rayed, but swelling went down with ice pack from chilly bin and some pressure/elevation, so we left after a couple of hours of waiting and a quick once over by a gaggle of staff who were hanging around the A&E station, doing not a whole lot, by all appearances.

Fiona had gone to collect the rescue vehicle supplied from AA Recovery - Fiona and the girls (her god daughters) went to drop off totaled Rav4 and collect while I waited in hospital.

Carried on down to Hayes and arrived around midnight, shagged out, starving and in dire need of a glass of wine and a bed.

Ate 1/8 of the Rustic Cheese & Tomato loaf I made to take along.

Shitty day - Fiona broke her bridge on a chocolate eclair sweet, the first Little Chef we stopped in was run by morons who could not make a cup of coffee (we waited ages!), 2nd Little Chef was closing as we arrived and we were starving (post prang), then tried McDonald's - also closing as we arrived.

Managed to pick up some supplies at a petrol stations nearly there (bread, coffee, tea etc) and a bottle of wine for me. But of course - no corkscrew at caravan! Still, I strong armed the cork out with a knife and had a well deserved glass of plonk.

And we could not find the damn caravan for ages, driving about in the dark.


Rustic Cheese Bread
250g Camembert
3 tablespoons chilli oil
1 shot of brandy
3 cloves garlic, crushed
small handful fresh sage leaves, chopped
small handful fresh thyme leaves, stalks removed

25g black olives
100g mi-cuit (slow oven roasted) cherry tomatoes
500g strong white bread flour
50g softened butter
1 tablespoon dried yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Poke the Camembert with a knife all over. Place it in a bowl and add the chilli oil, brandy, garlic and herbs. Roll the cheese around in the oil mixture until coated and leave to macerate overnight.

Add yeast and sugar to 50mls warm water and allow to bloom. Add the butter, salt and flour, then add water, 50 mls at a time, until dough is workable.

Knead the dough until smooth & elastic and leave to rise until doubled in bulk.

Knock down and knead again, adding the olives & tomatoes. Then press out with the heels of the hands into a large round.

Place the cheese and marinade in the centre of the dough. Draw up to sides to cover the cheese and seal the joins well - it should be a rough and ready round loaf.

Leave to rise until doubled in bulk and then bake in a hot oven (gas 8) for about 20 minutes, until browned and hollow sounding when tapped.

Makes 8 generous servings

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 424.9
Carbohydrate (g) 47.0
Protein (g) 14.8
Fat (g) 18.7
Fibre (g) 3.8

Thursday 3 May - Home again, home again

Breakfast on the plane consisted of sauteed potatoes with onion, peppers and semi-dried tomatoes, a cinnamon doughnut, a minuscule fruit cup (4 grapes, 2 dice sized pieces of watermelon and 2 dice of cantaloupe) and some very drab coffee.

We landed at 09:00, two hours late. No sign of the driver I had booked. I had him paged twice and wandered around with my stuff for about 30 minutes.

I pretended like I was actually going to get on the Tube with my two suitcases and laptop rucksack for about 5 minutes before giving up and getting a black cab. £60 later, I was home.

Let myself in to be greeted by Miss Pris, curled up in my computer chair. She looked at me and let out a long, high pitched meow, furiously shaking her head from side to side like cats do sometimes when they are looking at a bird or some other prey. We had a good long cuddle and and I gave her some food, then popped over to vet to collect Kaspar. He was a bit shaken and cowed from his week at the vet's and his fur was pretty sticky and stinky - full of urine and a bit of blood as he never washes himself! Gave him a good sponge down at home and then went out to Sainsbury's and Chapel Market to get some provisions in.

Back home, feeling decidedly rough. Had a cup of Kikkoman instant miso soup (picked up in an Asian shop next to La Montana restaurant) and then had a lie down for a bit.

In evening, spoke to Pam (cat sitter) and made horrible discovery - I gave her the wrong return date, so Pris had no visits yesterday! Poor little mite had no food at all on Wednesday. No wonder she gave me such a greeting.

Feeling decidedly lurgy-ish. Typical me - I always get ill when I have been travelling. Had a very simple dinner - a herb salad and two slices of toast with a can of good old Heinz beans. Comfort food for the sickie.

Wednesday 2 May - Back on road, again

Well, time to wind up the California odyssey and head home to my kitty cats. Hope Kaspar is OK - I felt like a proper "bad mom" leaving him when he was sick with his FLUTD, but at least he is at the vets where I know he will be well cared for. Poor Miss Pris all by her lonesome at home... (with twice daily cat sitter!)

Anyway, day is a bit of a blur. Dragged unfeasibly heavy case, crammed full of food out to the car. Mike drove me to the airport and we dropped Lyn off at work en route.

Then I had a coupe hours to kill, so I checked my bags and headed to the business class lounge where I proceeded to cram my face with lounge freebies - coffee, bagel with Philadelphia (awful after the lovely Noah's bagels I had gotten used to), a couple of Nature Valley Granola bars and a banana.

Then the food service area started to shift towards lunchtime "snacky" things, so I bought a Bloody Mary (no free bar at SF lounge!) and ate some Pepperidge Farm crackers, some Goldfish crackers, a bag of Ruffles potato chips - junk, in other words.

Finally got on the plane and more or less immediately crashed out. I know there was a meal en route, but I can't remember what it was, it was that bland and unimpressive. I did manage to sleep quite a bit on the plane, which is unusual for me. I credit the two glasses of white wine I had on board.

As usual, I hate travelling, but love being someplace new. So long, California.

Tuesday 1 May - A Day of COMMERCE!

Port Costa

OK, I know I am not meant to be buying stuff, but I did spend most of today shopping; but only for things that I genuinely needed and/or food items.

Breakfasted on cantaloupe & blueberries, coffee and Asiago bagel, wholewheat bagel (well, half of one) and the usual cream cheese schmears.

Michael had to go to work on Treasure ISand, ao Lyn & I had a drive around the little town of Port Costa, which is a stones throw from Crockett, on the Carquinez Straits. It is a charming little place and home to some quirky little businesses - The Burlington Hotel (also a cafe & restaurant) and The Bull Valley Inn and local artist and all around odd ball Clayton Bailey.


Then we went for a nice walk through the Carquinez Straits Regional Shoreline Park with Sherry.

Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline


Then a spot of SHOPPING! Stopped into BevMo where I bought a fancy bottle of tequila for Mikey - I can't even remember what I bought, but it is one of his favourite and has some special attributes that escape me. Then I bought a laptop bag in Best Buy - very nice one too. It converts from rucksack style to shoulder bag and has lots of padding & pockets and, best of all, it actually fits the 15.4" laptop I bought last year, unlike my current bag. And finally, we swung into Albertson's and picked up some food for dinner and a few treats.

Had a late lunch of salad (basically a reprise of the same sort of salad we had made at Butch & Ricky's.

Michael cooked dinner for us again - we had scallops cooked with soy, ginger & mint (yummy), brown rice, asparagus and artichokes. While Mike was cooking, we knocked back a couple Sapporo Reserve beers I had picked up in Albertson's and some edamame in the shell - not a good as the seasoned ones from Trader Joe's, but still OK.



After dinner, had a bit of a pig out on ICE CREAM. One thing I do miss in the UK is ice cream sandwiches. We just don't get them. So, I had remedied that by picking up some Klondike ice cream sandwiches in Albertson's. Lyn recommended the Heath Bar ones, too, so they were also bought (and eaten!)

Monday 30 April - A visit to Petaluma

Started the day off with yet another Noah's bagel (sun-dried tomato again) with cream cheese schmear and a banana.

I had picked up some tempeh in the Albertson's. I love it and L&M had never tired it, so I set it marinating. Like tofu, tempeh does not have a lot of taste on it's own, but it has an interesting texture, being made with whole soya beans and a bit more taste as it is fermented. I mixed some white wine, soy, ginger and brown sugar and add the tempeh, cut into strips. Normally, I would add garlic & chillies as well, but not this time due to Lyn's IBS.

Then we set off to drive down to Petaluma to visit L&M's friend Butch & Ricky. They have a nice house on a bit of land, set off in a bit of an out of the way location. It was a nice drive down, along the San Pablo Bay for a lot of the way.

Poodles Sherry & Tommy had a good romp around the yard and managed to get themselves TOTALLY covered in burrs & hitchhikers in the process. Lots of combing out followed and they were both pouffy as could be after.

Butch & Ricky share their beautiful home with an assortment of cats, so I had plenty of opportunities to pat, stroke, cuddle and cajole felines before lunch. Lyn & I had carted down a big cooler full of salad fixings, so we prepared a huge salad - lettuces, herbs, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, apple, bit of grated cheese, seeds, and some broken up tortilla chips as croutons - all sorts! It was pretty damn good. Butch had made a gorgeous focaccia with rosemary & sun-dried tomatoes of top, too - it was all I could do to restrain myself from eating half of it. He also produced some homemade brownies for afters - all very yummy and in excellent company yet again.

Back at home, had the tempeh for dinner. I stir fried it in the marinade until the marinade was reduced down to a glaze and served it on a bed of lettuce, mint, corinader, finely sliced shallots and spring onions. Michael whipped up a mixed squash & sweet potato bake to go with and we chowed down. Pleased to say L&M liked their first encounter with tempeh!

Sunday 29 April - Dalai Lama!

Up early today and excited - going to hear the His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speak to the San Francisco Civic centre!

Had a breakfast of cantaloupe, scrambled eggs and Noah's bagel (sun-dried tomato today with veggie schmear and onion and chive schmear) .

Just getting ready to head into town when we heard on the news that there had been a
collapse of a section highway at the 80/580/980 interchange. We had been planning to drive to the BART station and take the train into San Francisco, but now we were all in a frenzy to get moving EARLY as the highway collapse was bound to cause disruption.

So we all hustled into the car and set off, but the road was actually surprisingly empty and in the end, we drove all the way into San Francisco and park opposite the Westfield Centre.

Had a browse around the shops before opting for an early lunch at "Out the Door", an offshoot of the acclaimed Vietnamese restaurant, "The Slanted Door" in the Ferry Building , touted as the best Asian Restaurant in San Francisco. "Out the Door" is designed to be more casual and offers meals to take away as well as a cook shop .

The food was fabulous! We started off with vegetarian Imperial Rolls which were crispy spring rolls, stuffed with taro root, cabbage, glass noodles and peanuts & served with mint & lettuce wrap. For mains we had their Lemongrass Tofu with shiitake mushrooms, onions and chili sauce (Lyn's favourite) and Daikon (white radish) Cake with with shiitake mushrooms and shallots . I have not had white radish cake in ages - not since I was in Thailand or Indonesia and I had forgotten how much I like it. Must try to make some when I get home! Chef Charles Phan is terrific and I am an "Out the Door" convert.

The Slanted Door

From lunch we wandered down to the Civic Centre and got settled in to hear the Dalai Lama speak. There was a bit of a contretemps when he first appeared - a man emerged from the audience brandishing an apple (?!?) which he wanted the Dalai Lama to eat. I was impressed that the Dalai Lama was completely fearless of the man and approached him to accept the apple, before security staff intervened and hustled the man off. Not sure WHAT that was all about, but from there the talk proceeded smoothly. The Dalai Lama delivered a somewhat meandering address with the aid of an interpreter who assisted him with his English from time to time, but I was very impressed with his humour and warmth.

I found this article later on about the apple incident:

Apple Tossed at Dalai Lama

After the talk we mooched around a bit, wandering through the Yerba Buena Gardens before popping into the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for a quick look around.

Yerba Buena Gardens and SFMOMA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

It was nice to see San Francisco again after so many years, even if she did look a little tired and worn around the edges in some places, like a lot of urban centres in the US.

Back home, we opted for a quick and easy supper at the end of a long day and I made a salad which we ate along with some flatbread pizza from The American Flatbread Pizza Company. Very nice they were, too.

Saturday 28 April - A walk in Point Pinole

Started the day with some delicious, home-made-from-scratch pancakes, courtesy of Mike. Had them with some butter, maple syrup & more delicious California strawberries.


Lounged about for a bit, snacking on some Trader Joe's air popped popcorn and then had a small salad of broccoli slaw with tomato, soy sauce & rice vinegar before heading off for a nice long walk in Point Pinole.


Mount Tamalpais from Point Pinole




Point Pinole Regional Shoreline is a regional park in Richmond, CA. It is the site of many defunct dynamite & explosives factories, the remains of which are still dotted about in the forest. It was great strolling along the shore line with the dogs and L&M. Saw some nice sea birds and plenty of wildflowers - there is also a nice view of Mount Tamalpais, the name of which always puts me in mind of the song "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" by David Crosby. Clocked up about 4 miles, according to the pedometer, so a reasonable walk.

Had a little look around Parchester Village on the way back, a planned community that never really took off when locals found out if was planned to be racially mixed. It ended up as a more or less all black gated community, although from what I have read recently, it now also has a fair sized Latino community.

Anyway, had to get home and neighbours Henny & Priscilla were coming over for dinner. We had a delicious spread. Made some guacamole for a starter (one without garlic for Lyn, who suffers from IBS) and Henny & Priscilla brought some delicious marinated olives and cheeses. We noshed through these with some yummy soy & linseed tortilla chips (also from Trader Joe's) before settling into the main course, cooked my Mike with me acting as sous chef and salad maker. Lyn & I picked up some sea bass and prawns in the market and Mike quick sauteed them with mushroom, white wine, butter and herbs. The fish was accompanied by some brown rice and a massive salad, along with a selection of breads. Then for afters we had angel food cake with a sauce provided by Henny & Priscilla (strawberry & orange with honey) and some Haagen Dazs chocolate ice cream. All washed down with lashings and lashings of wine - far too much! But a lovely evening in great company, anyway.

Friday 27 April - Blow out Mexican lunch

Mike made us a breakfast of scrambled eggs (part whole eggs and part egg whites) which I ate along with a toasted Asiago cheese bagel from Noah's bagels. We stopped into Noah's yesterday and loaded up on 2 dozen varied bagels, garden veggie cream cheese, onion & chive cream cheese, low fat cream cheese etc. I had some garden veggie with my bagel.

After breakfast I wandered around a little strip mall and checked out the shops while L&M went to the chiropractor. I had a scoop of Tin Roof Sundae ice cream from Baskin Robbins and wandered around the mall.

Had a look at the Trader Joe's shop in the mall - really nice stuff! We popped back in after L&M were done and got some more food.

Also popped into Pets Mart and - they had SPARKLE BALLS! Ages ago, I bought a bag of assorted cat toys off eBay. One of the toys was a sparkle ball or glitter ball, which Kaspar loved.

He played with it tirelessly until finally, he wore all the glitter off it. His favourite game with it is fetch - he brings me the ball, I throw it for him, he brings me the ball - lather, rinse, repeat.

Anyway, after lots of rough and tumble and many retrievals from under the fridge, sparkle ball finally died a death. Kaspar was most disappointed.

I picked up a laser pointer, too. After playing with Monkey & Cassie with their laser, I knew my guys would love one, too. It says on the card "more fun than chasing your own tail".

OK, so I bought a few things, but they are for the kitties, so I don't feel too bad about it.

Who's a happy kitty, then?

We had a late lunch at a local Mexican restaurant called La Montana. It was an innocuous looking place in a little strip mall, but the food was very good. I had an ENORMOUS margarita which Mike ordered for me (go own, twist my arm). Noshed on tortilla chips and salsa, then cheese stuffed jalapenos. For main course I had a combination platter which comprised a chile rellenos, a veggie soft taco and a prawn soft taco. I picked at the rice & beans, but there was so much food it really barely touched them. There were also nice crunchy pickled carrots and lots of pickled jalapenos.

I was so stuffed, I felt like I was going to explode. Could not wait to get home and get into some loose trousers!

Anyway, after that blow out, dinner was not required. L&M were wiped pretty early, but I sat up and watched some telly. I did snack on some seasoned edamame soy beans in the pod which we picked up in Trader Joe's, along with a couple of glasses of wine.

Here are a couple of links:

Noah's Bagels

Trader Joe's

Thursday 26 April - Trying not to shop in the land of shopping!

Woke up at about 4AM and laid in bed for a while before finally giving in and getting up.

Went downstairs and ate a punnet of strawberries that we had picked up the night before in Albertson's. Two large (454g) boxes for $3.00. Bargain! Then spent a good hour or so trying to figure out how to make coffee before I finally found a drip pot which led me to look for filters which I eventually found. Trying to be quiet so as not to disturb L&M who are having a lie in. Also rustled up a bagel I found in the fridge. Did some work on the website DB while they slept.

Later, had a ½ a melon with L&M when they awoke.

Lunch was ½ bag of broccoli slaw and a tomato dressed with some rice vinegar & soy sauce. Also ate a couple of string cheese packs which L&M use as dog training treats (!) and an couple nice wholemeal crackers and three fat dill pickles.

I had resolved to eat my favourite US snack food as well, so we had purchased a big bag of Cheetos's and I ate about ½ the pack with some hot pickled chili's I had also picked up in the supermarket.

Spent most of the day catching up and tooling around the various shops in the malls surrounding where L&M live. I am trying REALLY hard not to buy things. I will NOT buy anything that I have no need for, no matter what a bargain it appears. I have way to much stuff already.

Having said that, I am still on the lookout for things I "need" that I did not get in New York:

a laptop case
a swimsuit
some trainers (maybe)
a memory stick for Fiona (she was impressed w the price I paid for mine in NYC)

Looked at lots of stuff, but all I bought was the memory stick - 2GB for $25.00. It was, of course, made in China, too.

After a hard day of commerce , Mike cooked and we had sauteed sea scallops, brown rice & steamed asparagus on the patio by the pool, all washed down with way too much wine and loads of talk.

Here is the animal crew:

Monk


Cassie


Tommy


Sherry

Wednesday 25 April - California, here I come...

Started off with a couple slice of High Malt bread and some Korean chili paste (Doenjang) with my coffee.

Then, off to the airport en route to San Francisco.


Heathrow Terminal Three Lounge

At Heathrow, check in and make a bee-line for Business Class lounge where I stuff my face with usual junk. As I sat and fiddled with the laptop I managed to eat:
1 25g pack sour cream & chive pretzel nuggets
2 25g packs of salted pretzels
2 25g pack of cheese biscuits
1 bag Walker's BBQ crisps
1 25g pack stem ginger biscuits
1 Bloody Mary
2 Vodka & Slimline (why do I bother with diet tonic when I am stuffing my gob with garbage?)

I almost never eat stuff like this, when when I go to the airport, it seem to be de rigeur.

Anyway, on the plane I had United's vegetarian meal which was some sort of vegetable bake, a small portion of salad and 2 Ryvita with a little tub of strawberry ice cream and a Frusli cereal bar for afters.

I also ate another pack of pretzels, another pack of 2 Stem Ginger biscuits, a pack of 2 Chocolate Chip biscuits & a pack of 2 Oatflake & Honey biscuits which I had in my bag from the airport lounge. Why all the sugar all of a sudden?

During the flicks, United offered a mini Toblerone and a Walker's shortbread finger, which I duly scoffed.

Not the greatest of all flights. Unpleasant to say, but the woman who sat next to me had THE worst halitosis EVER. It was truly vile. We were in bulk head seats and she was pfaffing about because she could not find the tray table, TV screen etc. I helped her out, but after we were talking for a few minutes I could not stand the smell. Finally, I asked her if she was on Atkins and - surprise! she was. Unfortunately, she asked me how I knew and I had to tell her it was because her breath was so rank. Me and my big mouth. But honestly, it was so bad you could smell it even when her mouth was closed. The smell of ketosis just leaked from every pore of her body.

I pretended to sleep on plane and touched down suitably haggard.

First trip to California in 12 years!

L&M met me at the airport and we headed back to the ranch, with a pitstop at the Albertson's Supermarket on the way. Nothing like wandering the aisles of a massive, suburban American supermarket while you are in jet lag mode. Miles and miles of aisles.....

At Casa L&M, I met Tommy & Sherry (standrad poodles!) and Monk & Cassie (moggettes).

Wednesday 11 April 2007 - Back in the UK

Breakfast in the plane was an apple danish, some OJ and coffee. We touched down around 08:00 and I was home (and dead beat) by 10:30.

Lunch was, er, "eclectic" - I had a bag of Sainsbury's Bistro salad, a tin of Heinz beans and a pack of Quorn wafer thin "Ham" slices. I am partial to the Bistro salad because it has shredded raw beet root in it - very nice.

Spent most of the afternoon snoozing on the sofa and half watching missed episodes of East Enders before making a pot of Butternut Confetti Soup for dinner

Butternut Confetti Soup
200g celery, chopped finely
1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks (mine weighed 410g)
1 white onion, chopped
1 teaspoons olive oil
2-3 chillis, to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
500ml vegetable stock

1 small red onion, chopped fine
1 spicy Marmara style green pepper, chopped fine
1/2 red pepper, chopped fine
200g spring onions, finely sliced

Add the oil to a soup pot and add the white onions, cumin, chillies & half the celery. Sweat over low heat until the onions are translucent.

Add the squash and vegetable stock, then cover and simmer until squash is tender, about 20 minutes.

Process in a blender until smooth. Add the finely chopped red onion, peppers and the rest of the celery. Simmer over low heat for another 5-10 minutes, until the second lot of veggies are just barely cooked.

Stir in the spring onions, correct the seasoning and serve.

Makes 1 HUGE serving!

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 388.8
Carbohydrate (g) 61.4
Protein (g) 12.1
Fat (g) 12.0
Fibre (g) 16.0

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow...

Tuesday 10 April - Last day in NYC

Well, another travelling day, so expect more weird food choices, starting with lima beans for breakfast

What can I say? I love lima beans; I bought some that I had not had a chance to eat and it was my last chance to have them so I did

Breakfast was frozen lima beans, a pretzel and coffee

Went for a last wander around and ended up in the Village again. I had thought of going down to the former site of the World Trade Center, but heard on the news that they had closed off another street (Cedar Street?) down there to clear debris and look for more human remains. Somehow, it all seemed a little to ghoulish, even after 6 years, so I decided to pass.

Wandering around, I found myself coming up Sixth Avenue and spotting the fabulous Jefferson Market Library, which I had all but forgotten about.

And there was a Tasti D-Lite across the street, so I had a cone and continued my wandering
When I got back to the hotel, I was in sort of "clean up" mode and found myself eating all sorts of odds and ends - a pack of oyster crackers I had in my pocket from the Grand Central Oyster Bar, a bag of Lay's Potato Chips, 3 carrots, a bag or radishes, a couple of slices of Levy's Jewish Rye. I was just in "graze" mode.

Checked my email and found a little message from Alex with this attached:

In the afternoon, I got the bus out to the airport for my Air India flight at 19:45 and after that it is all a blur. I was tired, the movie was something I was not interested in and could not see anyway. Air India seem to be quite free with the wine, probably because most of their passengers don't drink it, so I ended up having three mini bottles, which no doubt contributed to my forgetfulness.

I ate Indian veggie meal of some manner and drifted in and out of sleep.