Blog #20

April 13-18

If we could live anywhere, would it be here? It’s the question we’re always asking on our drive across the USA. Honestly we could see ourselves almost anywhere but driving through California, we see the appeal. The weather, the mountains, the ocean — we get it. On the other hand, the taxes, the earthquakes, the gas prices, the drought, electric prices, politics. It’s a hard call for us.

When we went just slightly up the coast to visit my niece Nadine, I was floored by the landscape. Driving from the coast, you see the ocean on your left and farms and foot hills to your right. On Long Island, all this land would be developed. According to my sister Linda, this land is saved from the one thing we grow well in America – houses – by a tax law that allows people to stay in their homes without a tax increase, every year. Also, California’s Proposition 13 allows you to pass the land to your heirs without a tax effect. While that might impact schools, it doesn’t force people to leave their homes, family farms or businesses due to property tax increases. Hmmm…

Stepping off the soap box and back to the travel log: the 20-minute drive to Rockaway Beach was amazing. There were horse farms that abutted the cliffs of the beach. We drove up some hills to a tunnel and on the other side, it was another world filled with a thick cedar forest. The smell wafted through our truck and overpowered the dog smell that has permeated it for a few weeks. (Two dogs in the crew cab is a blessing and a curse!) The cedar forest descent gave way to more horse farms and finally a beachside town that was small and had a locals only beach that allowed dogs off leash. Rey and Jack scampered in the sand, touched the water and wended their way along the tidal pools and rocks.  Nadine then took us to a wetlands area that was mostly beach. It used reclaimed water to develop a reedy area with trails for people and pets. VERY fun.

The next morning after David’s morning call, we hitched up and drove to my sister Linda’s house in Los Gatos. The 101 to the 85 is like every other highway in a metropolitan area with wide roads and not much to really see. Google took us a good way to the Swenberg house, but Linda and Johanes’ street has a small cul-de-sac at the end, so David thought the best way to enter was to actually back down the street. So my talented husband put the truck and trailer in reverse and navigated at least 1/10 a mile, avoiding parked cars, mailboxes and delivery trucks. Go David!  We parked in front of Linda and Jo’s, with permission of all the neighbors and consulting all the local ordinances, for the better part of a week.

After we got settled in and introduced the dogs to Linda’s Pointer Valentine, Linda and I butchered the whole brisket that she bought from Costco. I love cooking, but never bought such a big piece of meat. Luckily, I had Linda to show me cut the brisket into more manageable sizes. I may do this in the future…

We started our tour of Los Gatos. Linda and Johanes took us to a great dinner at The Tasting Room. It is a wine, cheese and chocolate shop with tasting menus and tapas paired with wines. DELICIOUS. I am thinking about all the foodies and oenophiles I know who would LOVE this place. We had a Spanish charcuterie board paired with a Tempernillo that was outstanding. And many other things. Yum. We went to their market a couple of days later.

The next day, I got a chance to meet up with a friend from college. It was so great catching up with Carol Meyedierks Tsao. We got to see her house, meet her new dog and briefly talk to her husband Andy, also a Colgate grad. Then Linda and I went out to lunch with her and talked about all the places she’s lived – Boston, London, Los Altos – what she loved about each, her previous career in law, how her kids are, etc. Somehow she extracted more info from us than the other way around. And at the end we stopped by a store that sells flying cars.  Yep.  Because Silicon Valley.  We had such a great time, and still made it back for Linda to get to her tutoring appointment on schedule. 

For dinner, we went to a great Taiwanese Hot Pot restaurant. Maybe you saw the stinky tofu variety that Johanes and his mother Mei Lei shared.  I chose kimchi. Luckily, we brought cool rainy weather to the drought-stricken area, so having warm soup made sense.

Friday morning, Linda and I walked to the local Lunardis, a gourmet supermarket, for produce we needed for the Seder.  We purchased more than planned – and then had to carry it back! It’s only a half a mile or so, but that gets heavy. Didn’t need an arm workout that day.  We started some of the cooking which we finished later because we had plans for lunch.  We had our last leavened meal at a Chinese dim sum restaurant.  There is nothing like going to dim sum with people of Taiwanese descent.  They don’t just give you the stuff for Caucasians.

For the first night of Passover, Linda and Jo’s good friends the Abene’s came over. I’ve walked with Michelle in the Susan G. Komen 3Day Walk to raise money for breast cancer. We had a blast, enjoying two of their kids who were home for the holiday and my niece Nadine and nephew Jacob who came in for the weekend. The dogs even had fun playing with Nadine’s dog Jack. Toby and Linda’s dog Valentine had their old dog creds out and got to relax their 13 year old bones since neither can hear any more. Passover started with too much tequila and maple bourbon and finished with a flourless chocolate cake and lemon almond torte thing. Coca cola Brisket (it’s a thing!), matzah ball soup and lots of veggies filled the void of the gourmet meal created by Linda with help from family and supplemented by Michelle. Thanks all!!

Saturday’s Passover was much of the same only with a slightly different cast of characters. One of Linda’s friend’s kids came to join us. We even found a way to use the big bitter lettuce (Treviso?) leave to create a brisket lettuce wrap. So much fun!

Easter Sunday is a joy when you live in a community. The street my sister lives on knows how to have a good time, setting out Easter eggs for all the little kids. We got to know some of the neighbors while we watched the kids running from lawn to lawn to find the plastic shelled rewards they found. We gave some a tour of the Airstream, and while we weren’t trying to sell them on it, you could see the glimmer in some people’s eyes.

David and I said good bye to Jacob who was catching a plane back to UCLA . He’s getting his math PhD in topics that are so over my head, they could be in the same stratosphere as the plane he was on. All my nieces and nephews are ridiculously brilliant and I’m always impressed when I get a chance to get together with them. Nothing beats visiting with family.

We got to see Nadine at her second job and first love, a new gourmet chocolate shop that a friend has opened. Even though we’ve partaken of See’s chocolate samples at the local store, we left room for the really good stuff from Chef Shekoh. I was immediately attracted to her honey marshmallows as I used to have a business making flavored marshmallows. Her rose and pistachio flavor is not my thing but sounded great. The chocolates were the real stars of the show and her flavors were so refined, I would highly recommend getting them for a special treat. She’ll have the Shekoh Confections Artisan Chocolatier website ready for shipping orders soon. We caught the tail end of the farmers market in San Jose, and got some great mushrooms and Asian pears. So lucky! A quick meal over Greek salad and we said good bye to Nadine.

That night we went to another fabulous restaurant, Teleferica, featuring Spanish tapas. The original restaurant is based in Barcelona and they only have a couple of outposts, one in Spain and three others in California. We shared some delicious paella and vegetarian tapas. The sangrias were light and refreshing and everyone enjoyed. That night, we introduced Linda and Johanes to one of our family’s favorite card games, Wizard. We can’t play it with just two people so it was a joy to us, and we think they liked it as well.

Monday morning we were supposed to leave. David and Johanes tried to get the truck washed before we left, but found it was just too big for the place they considered. In the meantime, David heard a problem in the F250. It sounded like something was wrong with the steering column. After many calls back and forth, we found a local repair shop that could look at it. It turned out to be nothing we need to be concerned about in the near future, but can take care of soon enough at a Ford dealership. We had a good by lunch at the Los Gatos Café, finally hitched up, gave hugs to mom, Linda, Johanes and Meilee and hit the road.

The drive down to Goleta, CA was beautiful in yet another way. After leaving the populated areas and getting on the 101, you enter the valley where all the food is grown. It’s not called the breadbasket of America for nothing. Mountains (not as high as snow capped peaks) line the valley, as do irrigation ditches that somehow manage to water the fields and fields of lettuces, other crops, orchards and vineyards. We headed more into mountains, hitting steeply graded roads and dropping down into the area along the coast. The sunset over the water was classically beautiful while we drove into the darkening skies.

Where to go where to go…