Terroir

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Another view of Santa Barbara County wine country. Such beautiful country.

A great visit

Our son is back on a plane to London, after a nice week visit.

Landscape photography

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The stunningly beautiful landscape of California's Santa Rita Valley. This transverse valley is home to some of the most amazing wineries in California. Here, we're looking at the limestone bones of the Purisima Hills, which run along the northern side of the valley.

Because this valley runs west to east, the ocean fogs and breezes blow in and temper the high valley heat, creating a microclimate that's perfect for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah grapes.

Pop Stars

 

The phenomenon of pop-up restaurants has been around for a few years now, and, although like food trucks, they appear to be something of a fad, they've also become a way talented young chefs can break into the restaurant business. By pooling resources, or by staying small and flying under the radar as a "supper club", chefs can focus on the food rather than the often frustrating and time-consuming nuts and bolts of opening a brick-and-mortar store.

Starry Kitchen began in 2009 in the North Hollywood apartment of Nguyen and Thi Tran, inspired cooks serving up an Asian/global cuisine to Facebook friends, food bloggers, and lucky Twitter followers. Staying a few steps ahead of the health inspectors, they opened a lunch cafe in an unlikely setting - downtown LA's soaring glass skyscraper complex at 305 Grand Avenue.

My guys

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 Downtown L.A., after dinner at Starry Kitchen Nights.

More about our meal later.

Icy-snow delight

Black sesame ice with cookies & cream

 Ohmigod! So delicious!

This is a treat called Snow Cream, served at Blockheads Shavery on Sawtelle Blvd. in West Los Angeles.

Green tea ice with red beans and rice balls

It's like shaved ice cream - creamy, milky frozen goodness put through a shaver so that it's icy and full of air and textured to melt in the mouth.

Black sesame ice

The shaving process creates a unique texture. The Black sesame ice was like little spiky splinters.

The green tea ice was more like thin flakes, similar to pastry. Both were amazing.

Is it a Hawaiian tradition? A Japanese tradition? A blend of the two? Five flavors - "original," green tea, strawberry, black sesame and sweet red bean - are on offer. You choose toppings from a list that includes fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, crumbled cookies or candies (butterfingers!), and Asian sweet treats like boba, rice cakes, mochi, sweet red bean, and something intriguingly called "grass jelly". Then you drizzle a flavored syrup on top.

Even the "regular" size appears too huge to eat when it arrives, but this icy sweet treat melts away in the mouth and doesn't leave you feeling stuffed.

Try some!

Looking outward

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I'm having so much fun this week with my family that it's hard to find time to write about it. We took a walk up Tuna Canyon this morning, where we found this chair, conveniently poised to look from the mountaintop to the sea, into the horizon.

Spring!

It's busting out all over!  The apricot tree is blooming. The sun was beautiful all weekend long.

Our son came to LA from London, where the snow was blowing sideways on the train platform when he left for Heathrow.

Now he is enjoying his visit. We've had some lovely outings, and are up for more the rest of the week.

Cruising on Olympic through Koreatown!

Floral food

Big Island albacore crudo with roasted pineapple, mango, orange ponzu and microgreens - at Blue Plate Oysterette.