Making an apron

Have you ever noticed how the standard bib front apron leaves a whole lot of area uncovered? Have you noticed how spattering food has this nasty habit of finding all those areas that aren't covered up? I went in search of a "better" apron and decided to make one that works for me. I found a Simplicity Pattern #2950. This is what the pattern looks like. As with all things, it was a little too cutsey for me plus I don't look good with a square neck and I wanted "big" pockets and the pattern called for ties in the back which I always find annoying. So I made a few adjustments and voila - I have a "better" apron/smock which provides me with more coverage and will even allow me to push up my sleeves and get them tucked under as well. Velcro solved the tie problem and elastic allows the sleeves to be protected. It was lots of fun and it works.

A great day for a walk on the beach

We had an unusually warm day here in central California. So what does one do on such a fine warm, sunny day in central California? - Well, one goes to the beach! The high pressure over us was bringing in the warm "offshore winds" which means warmer, dry, air. In some places it got to 90 degrees but at our house and at the beach it was in the mid-70s. T and I drove to the closest beach and walked for about an hour and a half from Oceano, through Grover Beach to Pismo Beach. There were many folks on the beach and believe it or not, in the water. Tom put his feet in the water and said it was still cold but bearable. They had a kite surfing exhibition on Pismo beach during the afternoon and there were many folks left over from that.

In Oceano they allow vehicles on the beach and bonfires and barbeques. The place was packed. Here's a video:

Yesterday A Hand Up had "the big move" with many trucks and other vehicles and many volunteers they were done in 2 hours! It was an amazing effort.

Here's a picture of the team who helped out.

New relatives, thrift shop excitement and cakes

Last night we met a second cousin I'd never met before. She and her husband live in Santa Cruz and have 2 daughters both at design and art school in LA. They stopped in SLO to visit Aunt L and to meet us. One of the daughters has an internship in Providence this summer and we thought it would be great if she could email E and K and ask about life in Providence. My cousin said there are many relatives still living in Brooklyn - who knew.

In other news, there was excitement at the thrift store last week. The Wednesday morning team was startled by a man who ran through the shop to the back room (where I usually work), jumped over the railing that leads to the basement and ran out what would be the garage door. Then he rushed back in the front door, hurriedly bought a 50 cent cap, saw the police officers at the front door and bolted for the path he took earlier. Knowing the route by now, the workers told the police officers that he would probably be exited via the garage and sure enough they arrested him and put him in the police car without any explanation to the store!

In baking news, I made a real dud of a cake the week before trying to make use of the wonderful strawberries we have out here but the cake was really heavy and tasted undercooked - yuk! This week I took a peanut butter cake which was a take-off on a pb&j with yellow/peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting and raspberry jam on 2 of the layers and chocolate frosting in the middle. There were crushed salted peanuts and chocolate curls on the top. That cake totally disappeared. Guess I can do that one again but the strawberry cake was a real dud!

Rotating dinners

Back in March we had a dinner for the t'ai chi chuan students and their spouses as a combination reward for completing the series and also as a way for us all to meet more people in the community. We just got an invitation for the whole group to go to one of the students' homes for dinner. This time the focus will be Louisiana cooking as these folks moved here from New Orleans. We are all looking forward to it.

The Clark Center sent out its schedule for May and June. T and I have signed up to volunteer at the Clark Center. They put on nearly 300 shows a year and it's almost entirely volunteer run with 10,000 hours donated last year. We've signed up for a five of high school performances starting the first week in May. They ask you to sign up for 5 shows every 2 months.

Road work and the price of gas

For weeks the CalTran folks (California Transportation I think) have been saying they were going to close off one of our main routes off the mesa. It was supposed to start on March 30 and go through June 30. Well, as you might suspect, it didn't happen when advertized although they planted signposts warning of the imminent closure back in late March. Starting last week they wheeled in those large lighted signs flashing warnings that starting April 21 they were closing S. Halcyon Rd. Lo and behold it actually happened and now we are down to 2 major routes off the mesa and traffic can get pretty heavy at "rush hours" as one of the roads is this areas Route 1. There really isn't much traffic around here and one can usually measure the delays in minutes.

Gas prices have skyrocketed here and the paper said that the first station in the area posted regular gas for just over $4 a gallon yesterday. We're really glad we bought those Priuses.

Wildlife

Our development is designated an Audobon Signature Sanctuary, and there are many protected areas all around the place including our side and back yard. T enjoys observing the bird population that visits our back yard daily from mocking birds, and redwing blackbirds to owls and hawks and many varieties we don't know the names of. There is also a healthy population of lizards, snails, gophers, and moles (no squirrels that we've seen). The families of quails are particularly entertaining and the scores of coots are very troublesome, leaving droppings all over the golf course.There is also a large variety of larger animals as well. On our way to Santa Maria we saw a herds of buffalo, goats, sheep, llamas, horses and of course the contented California cows.

Asian Food Stores

We went to Santa Maria to look for the Costco there and to investigate other Asian food stores in the area. We visited a small Asian market run by Filipino owners. The store in SLO is small and doesn't have much in the way of fresh vegetable or prepared foods like you find at A Dongs in WH. You'd think that being here in California there would be a huge selection of Asian markets. As it turns out on the central coast there are not that many Asians. There were many more in the early 20th century when they were building the railroads but for whatever reason many of the Chinese people have moved away. The owners of the little market in Santa Maria said there were many Filipino people there, enough to support 3 Filipino social clubs. This store has fresh produce on Tuesdays and Fridays and they said they get many of the more popular Chinese vegetables.

Asian markets have a kind of "dirty" feel about them. It reminds me of the markets in HK and the Philippines where everything was at least a little untidy, if not in disarray and the shelves looked dirty and the display areas and floors all looked like they need a good washing. I don't know what it is about these markets but they all seem to be the same. Although I must say that the one in SLO runs counter to this impression. The owner there is very friendly and tries to get things you want if he can. They say that to get good Asian food (vegetables and prepared foods like roast pork, duck and ribs) the closest place is in San Jose.