Text 3338, 67 rader
Skriven 2006-07-14 14:03:42 av hap newsom (1:275/311)
Ärende: CA trip
===============
Hey gang!
Woo hoo, the hotel has wi fi!
We left tacoma about 7 am on tuesday and headed south on I-5....I like to 
drive..........I mean I LIKE to drive......so we ended up in Davis CA tuesday 
evening...well, I said I liked to drive! We had dinner in a bistro (named
Bistro 
oddly enough!) sitting outside as the night fell, and the temps dropped from 
the 90's to the 70's. I had a bloody mary that was superb...no salt on the 
rim, but red pepper flakes...yum! For eats Anne had a vegetarian risotto that 
was superb even if the rice was slightly overdone. I had a meatloaf dish with 
the meatloaf being made from lamb, beef, sausage with a hot pepper 
sauce...oooooh goood! Wednesday morning we had breakfast at one of my 
favorite places in Davis; Crepeville. Crepeville is an interesting approach to 
morning eateries. A roomy venue, with all the menu up on a large blackboard 
above the counter various regular breakfast combos...but they are all 
wrapped in a large crepe! I had the denver crepe, scrambled eggs, ham, bell 
pepper, and a bit of salsa in a crepe with "house potatoes" cubes of boiled 
red potatoes that have been fried like hash browns. delish! You can also get 
lunch crepes ,and even dinner and dessert crepes. 
Then of to Petaluma and bodega bay! Amanda is fine, working hard, 
scrambling around in intertidal mud looking for invasive sea slugs. (they are 
cute by the way in a slimy ghost white sort of way) Dinner Wednesday night 
with Amanda was a sushi place in Sebastapol...very good not too pricey and 
the sake was delish too! Thursday while Amanda was back out in knee deep 
muck, Anne and I went up the coast a bit enjoying the day. Lunch time found 
us at the mouth of the Russian River, replete with a large raft of kayakers 
and a sandspit filled with about a hundred california Sea lions...overlooking
all 
of this is the River's End, a rustic looking restaurant with a wonderful view 
and a decent looking menu ( and a wine list as big as an encyclopedia). Since 
it was essentially the only place to eat nearby and we were ready to eat 
lunch we went in. We were the first customers of the day. I ordered the 
tuscan chicken, a chicken breast (doesn't ANYONE use the thighs 
anymore???) stuffed with sundried tomatoes, pesto and other bits of 
somthing I could not identify. The dish came with "local vegetables" which 
meant blanched carrots that were almost raw. Anne ordered the Vegetables 
Neopolitan...a veggie medley over portabello mushrooms. It took about 39 
minutes for our dishes to appear, during which time a german couple came in 
and consumed three oyster appetisers (and champagne) and an entree 
(salmon and scallops on a skewer)...when our dishes did finally emerge from 
the kitchen my mashed potatoes were almost cold, my chicken was only 
slightly warm and the baby carrots were only slightly warmer than the 
chicken. The idea of the dishes was good, the presentation was decent, and 
had they been brought out promptly (and the carrots at least a ltttle more 
cooked) it would have been a pretty good meal...as it was the delay really 
made the difference and the dishes were demoted to barely adequate at 
prices that were more for the view than they were for the meal. Then we 
went back to the lab to pick up Amanda...and back to Sebastapol to look for 
a dinner spot. That spot ended up being Lucy's Cafe, we ate in a covered 
patio while across the park a local band was playing a free concert in the 
gazebo...Old CCR tunes, and Steve Miller tunes...nice. I ordered a calzone, 
Anne ordered deep fried Polenta with summer vegetables, Amanda had a pizza.
It was hot..and suddenly I was no longer hungry...just HOT, our dishes came 
and my calzone was huge, the size of a big dungeness crab, and about 3 
inces high. Filled with mozz cheese, pesto and I have no idea what else it 
was over whelming to me....I broke through the crust and a lava flow of 
cheese began to well outwards...I asked for a box after about 3 bites. 
Amanda's pizza was delish and Anne's deepfried cornmush seemed to satisfy 
her so I sat and enjoyed the tunes and tried to get cool drinking icewater. 
After dinner we drove Amanda back to her housing and we came back here to 
the hotel. Today we won't see Amanda till sometime after five...and tomorrow 
we are off to Muir woods...today Anne and I will bum around Petaluma and 
enjoy  a day just for us!
CHat with you soon!
hap 
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