Sake Sake Sushi

Yesterday morning my dear husband just knew that he wanted sushi for dinner.  Of course.  That's pretty typical Memorial Day fare, right?  Since our favorite Claremont sushi restaurant is not open on Mondays, yelp led me to Sake Sake Sushi in Upland.  We led off with one bowl of udon which was huge, so we shared it and still didn't drain every drop.  I opted for the Green Dragon Roll which has tempura shrimp, crab, and is topped with avocado.  H had the Salmon Lovers Roll which he declared pretty spicy (it contains spicy tuna), so I did not try it.  We agreed that the sushi was very good, and we will return.

Salmon Lovers Roll

Green Dragon Roll

Another Open House

Another Sunday, another Open House of  a Claremont artist.  From the realtor brochure, "The renowned ceramicist, Rupert Deese and his family, made their home here. ... This mid-century classic features block construction, walls of glass, a sweeping fireplace, north-facing vaulted ceiling family room, 3 bedrooms and updated baths."  The house reminded me of something I would have seen in a Sunset magazine in the 50s (without the avocado / harvest gold color scheme and matching shag carpet) and sits on a large lot with views of the mountains.  Among other features, the front door was particularly interesting with the various styles of translucent glass. (Click on photo to see detail.)

Thank You, Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen

 I do not remember how long I have been listening to Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR, but I don't remember doing so before Liane Hansen was the host.  I remember listening to the Puzzle Master Presents with Will Shortz and Liane back in the day when entrants had to mail in postcards with their answers.  When the radio plays the Sunday theme music on piano, I lie in bed and know that it is (usually) a day of rest and that the reading of the Sunday paper awaits.

Audie Cornish

Now Liane is retiring, and today was her last broadcast.  Instead of saying "good-bye" she told her audience, "thank you."   Thank YOU, Liane for 20 years of Sunday mornings.    Time to say Welcome to Audie Cornish (starting this fall).  Onward!

(After listening to all the voices on NPR, I always find it interesting to match the photos and spellings with the sounds I've become familiar with.)

Pulitzer Prize Winner

It seems that when a book wins a big prize, I can be sure not to like it very much.  Many are hailed as "instant classics".  Although I couldn't make book club last Sunday, I read the recent Pulitzer Prize winner, Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad that everyone else read.  Yesterday I got to discuss it with Kim, from book club, over coffee.  Neither of us particularly liked the book, but it's always good to talk about it.

Each chapter is a separate story with connected characters, many of whom for which I had zero empathy.  Each story looked at time (the goon squad) from a different point of view.  The penultimate chapter is a powerpoint presentation, and I thought I wouldn't like that one, but it ended up being my favorite chapter.  The subject of the powerpoint is gaps of silence (time) in different rock songs.

Duane Jackman Invitational Track Meet

Duane Jackman, left / Ley Yeager, right

I have no idea how many years Vista has hosted the Duane K Jackman Invitational Track Meet, but Duane was the principal at Vista for many years before Ley Yeager (who is retiring next month after 20 years at Vista).

4th-6th Graders from all of Claremont's elementary schools come to our campus for races of 60 yards, 100 yards, 300 yards, relays, long jump and softball throw for a morning of great fun.

Alexander Technique

This week I attended a workshop featuring the Alexander Technique.  Never heard of it?  Neither had I until my friend, Wendy, got interested and involved in it. From the website:

The Alexander Technique has a long history of helping instrumentalists and singers to perform with less stress and likelihood of injury.

By helping musicians release undue tension in their bodies, the Alexander Technique makes possible a performance which is more fluid and lively, less tense and rigid.

With a few new ways of thinking about muscles in my body, I was able to notice an immediate difference in the way that the viola sounded when I played it.  One of the things that happens at a workshop is the manipulation of ones body to feel the release of tension by the practitioner's hands.  One of the funny parts was after my left side had a work-over, I felt very lopsided, and apparently I looked lopsided, too until my right side got the magic hands application.

Time will tell if I can continue these new good habits, but I think I will be able to.

Nathaniel Davis

Last week, Claremont lost a treasure.  Nat Davis, former US Ambassador to Chile (among many other jobs in the Foreign Service), finished his career as a professor of 19 years in political science at Harvey Mudd College.  Nat and his lovely wife, Liz, have been longtime members of Claremont UCC where we would see them every Sunday sitting in their usual spots near the front of the sanctuary.

A true diplomat, Nat, was a gracious human being with a quiet, but sharp sense of humor.

He will be greatly missed.  Here is a link to his LA Times Obituary.  A more in-depth obituary can be found in the May 23 edition of the NY Times.

Tango Baires

When my parents were here over the weekend, we decided to try out an Argentinian restaurant that someone recommended to me - Tango Baires Cafe in Upland.  Right in front of the cafe are 20-minute parking spaces, but we were assured that it wasn't a problem.  It didn't seem to be.

• The waitress (owner?) was very friendly.
• The empanadas were very good.  We had six for appetizers, one of each kind.  They are not large.
• My parents and husband had the cannellonis which were very good.
• I had the grilled chicken breast (pictured here) which was listed as an Argentinian specialty with vegetables.  I would not order that again.  It was just a grilled breast with some kind of marinade, but the vegetables were overcooked and soggy.  

If we go back, I would try some of the recommendations from yelp.

Grown-Up Birthday Party

Last night I went to a birthday party for a friend of mine at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and sat in a part of the hall where I have never sat before.  Jennifer had reserved thirty tickets for her friends, and we started out before the concert with cheesecake and other goodies at the table outside of the box office.  One advantage of this kind of party is that you don't have to clean your house for it! 

You can read about the concert at my other blog here.  

Thoughts on Rapture

Predictions of the rapture are not new.  Yesterday's non-rapture gave me reason, yet again, to think about my own ancestors' brush with a false prophet.  Starting in 1880, groups of Russian Mennonites packed up all their earthly possessions and headed east in wagon trains towards what is now Kazakahstan following a man named Claas Epp, Jr.  Epp predicted Christ's return on March 8, 1889, and then recalculated the date to 1891 when the first date came along with no apparent rapture.

After the second date came and went, most of the group disbanded, and my ancestors found their way to the U.S.  My great-great grandparents were married along the way in a Turkish mosque and the great grandfather was born on this journey.

Amgen Tour of California, Stage 7

Claremont has been all abuzz with the big bike race that came to town today.  The Amgen Tour of California chose our fair city to be the start of the Stage 7 which you can read about here.  The riders came up College Avenue at about 11:52 and whizzed by in a matter of moments.  Here are two of my photos - others are currently uploading to my Flickr site.

Errands

When you drive to Claremont from Fort Collins, Colorado, of course there are certain things you should do when you arrive.  First, you must go to Trader Joe's since there are no TJs in Colorado.  Then you take your car to the Foothill Car Wash and Detail for an $11 inside and out cleaning.

Mom and Dad have escaped the end of the winter weather in Colorado to come to the warm So Cal spring.   At least today it was significantly warmer and sunnier than it was earlier this week.

Treme

Having just finished watching this first season of this HBO series on DVD, I have to say that I am smitten with the show.  Treme (pronounced /trəˈmeɪ/ trə-may) is the name of a New Orleans neighborhood just above the French Quarter where so much of New Orleans history and music started.

The story starts just 3 months after Katrina and the season ends just after the first Mardi Gras after the storm.  The producers, David Simon and Eric Overmyer (of another favorite show of mine, The Wire) have done a marvelous job of creating characters and music, using native residents, real musicians and great actors all together.

I can't wait for the second season to come out on DVD.

100-Mile Club

Once a week Vista's primary students drop their backpacks off at the beginning of the school day, grab the card with their name on it,

and head off around the track.  They mostly walk, but sometimes they run.  

 Once they make it around the circle once, they stop by their teacher (or teacher's aide) and get a hatch mark recording their progress.  The goal is to see how far they can go over the course of the year, and soon we will find out if anyone has made the 100-mile mark.  This is why it is called The 100-Mile Club.

Spring Strings

These penguin-clan 4th-6th graders are playing their grand finale in last night's concert - Star Wars.  This piece is challenging, but the kids were so enthusiastic about it that they worked hard both in class and at home.  Our beginners and the El Roble Orchestra also played very well, making the whole evening a grand time for all.

No Joy in Joyland

While reading this local blog, I found out that the amusement park of my youth, Joyland, in Wichita, Kansas, has been closed since 2006.  Nature is reclaiming the park, and you can see more pictures of its demise at this site.

The best thing to do when school was out in May was to take your report card to Joyland, and they would give you tickets for your grades.  I seem to remember that for every A you got 4 (or was it 5?) tickets, and fewer tickets for each lower grade.

The roller coaster was pretty scary, not only for its drops, but it looked like it would fall apart at any moment, even when it was running.

Class of 2011

Despite the early morning rain (rain in May?) the sun came out for the Harvey Mudd Commencement at 1:30 this afternoon.  Usually it is so hot for the grads and their families, but today was lovely.

The featured speaker, Marissa Mayer of Google, spoke about how her plans to become a pediatric neurosurgeon took a turn when she took a computer science class at Stanford and ended up in this little upstart company in the Silicon Valley.  Follow your passion, not necessarily your plan.

Stubbornness As a Virtue

In one day I finished reading True Grit by Charles Portis and watching the movie The World's Fastest Indian, both of which I enjoyed very much.  First, the book.  What makes it good is it's voice - told from Mattie's point of view.  The Coen Brothers did such a great job of casting and directing that character in their recent movie that I heard her voice while I read the book.  The story is not complicated or unusual, but  what I particularly enjoyed about Mattie Ross was her strong character, and by strong, I mean so focused and stubborn and unfailing, that she gets what she wants in the end.  Mostly.

The movie is based on the true story of New Zealander Burt Munro who brings his motorcycle, a 1920 Indian, to the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967 to see if he can set the world record for speed.  Against all kinds of odds, his stubbornly charming character perseveres throughout.  Of course, that is a very simplified version of the story, but it's the character (played by Anthony Hopkins) which is quite the charm of the film.

Recorders in Concert

Here's a little video from the Recorders and Orchestra concert last night.

Some Crust Mocha Cookies

This blog post starts out as a Mother's Day remembrance and then takes a turn through the internet.  My days can frequently be like that.

I did not mention in my Sunday post that part of my wonderful Mother's Day involved a homemade mocha cookie (a la Some Crust Bakery) delivered to me at 9:30 a.m. by my friend Lynn.  The cookie was so tempting that I not only ate it for my breakfast- dessert, but it was so delicious that I ate it before I thought about taking a picture of it.

Tuesday I asked Lynn where she got the recipe, and she told me that the LA Times had printed a copy of it a while back.  Of course I had to google the recipe (Some Crust Mocha Cookie) and found it immediately.  Here it is.

Of course, then, I wanted a picture to share, so I looked through google images, and this one popped up.  It was on someone's Flickr site.  This photo was part of a set called Claremont, and it turns out that all the photos in this one set are of food from Claremont, most notably Patty's, Some Crust, and even a Walter's brownie.  Turns out, if you look at this person's other Flickr sets (about 300!), they are all of food from many places.  So, don't laugh at my food photos is all I'm sayin'.

Open House

While on our Mother's Day walk, Claire and I came upon an open house on Oxford and 10th.  We decided that we really wanted to see inside, so we walked in.  Not only were we struck with the beautiful, newly remodeled kitchen, the skylights everywhere, the tucked-away corners and loft, but we learned that the house had been built in 1939 for noted watercolor artist Milford Zornes.  The New Deal mural in the Claremont P.O. was his creation.  Zornes lived in this house until his death in 2008 at the age of 100.

Catch-22

Both of the book clubs I'm in read a variety of kinds of books from current fiction and non-fiction to classics.  Next week the women's book club will be discussing Joseph Heller's Catch-22.  It has been on my "to read" list for a while since I didn't get to it when I was a student.  (And I don't count that I saw the movie in college.)  I have also wanted to read it because it is a very favorite book of both of my daughters.

Both of said daughters typically like very different kinds of books and movies, so for them to both like this one so much surprised me a little.  That is, until I read it.  The humor and logic remind me very much of Monty Python which are some of the videos that our whole family can agree on.

I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it in high school or college, but there were certainly parts of it that I found quite funny, and I did enjoy that this book is unlike any other that I have read.

Mother's Day 2011

Mother's Day consisted of:

• Sleeping in and reading the paper in bed
• Watching the Dodgers beat the Mets
• Having Claire make me a delicious lunch (eaten so quickly, I forgot to take a photo - ooops!)
• Taking a Photography Walk with Claire (pictures on Flickr)
• Going to a great Open House on Oxford Ave.

Even if the weather was cool and cloudy, it was a great day!

Saturday Breakfast

Veggie Omelette with fruit and wheat toast

The debate over where to eat breakfast this morning went like this.  BC Cafe? Walter's? Village Grill? Probably not Everest this morning.  Hmm.  We're not feeling it.   Let's Yelp.

Ah! Although we really enjoy the Euro Cafe, we've never had breakfast there and didn't think about it until the internet reminded us.  A perfect place to start the weekend.  Next time we'll bring the newspaper as we saw other folks enjoying theirs.

Kogi Run

Line waiting for Kogi truck

We hadn't had us some Kogi since December, and now that our weather is nice and warm, we planned a Kogi run for yesterday.  The Korean taco truck comes near us either in Pomona at Valley and Temple or in Diamond Bar at Diamond Bar Ave and Grand.  (I realized yesterday that these two locations are actually pretty close to each other, though the Diamond Bar one is far nicer.)

Wouldn't you know it, but when we got home and read the paper, we found this article about LA food trucks in the LA Times.  I didn't realize that Kogi is only about 2 1/2 years old and is sort of the first of the gourmet food trucks.

Saving Water

Sycamore Elementary School has been transforming its west front lawn these past few weeks. First came the new plantings of trees and plants inside of stone circles.  Then the cardboard boxes, broken down flat and spread over the rest of the lawn.  Now a huge mound of mulch (perhaps free from the city?) is slowly being spread over the cardboard.  It's too bad that I did not get a "before" picture.

Looks Like a School, Feels Like a Family

Every year the Vista PFA provides a luncheon for the school staff.  As usual, this year it was during state testing which coincides with National Teacher Appreciation Week.

This year's theme was Fiesta, and we were treated to traditional Mexican fare.  We always appreciate time to socialize together since during our regular days we are so busy in our own classrooms.

Orchestra Year-End

The Claremont Concert Orchestra has had a new conductor this year, and last night we celebrated the end of a very successful season.  (Our final concert this weekend featured Schumann's 1st Symphony and Mozart's Coronation Mass.)  As per tradition, the orchestra, along with the choirs, met for dinner at Scripps College.  I always enjoy hearing the plans of the graduating seniors, reflecting on the past season, and hearing plans for next season.

This year, we worked harder than we have before, moving to a two-evening-a-week practice schedule (one more than before) with more sectionals, and I spent more time practicing on my own as well as listening to the music with my part.  As a result, our level of play increased significantly, and now I find myself already missing playing with the group.  Seating auditions in August, first rehearsal of the season on August 30, perhaps with Beethoven's 5th!

Hope in the Classroom

Today marks the start of state testing in the Claremont elementary schools.  Every year I marvel at the amount of time and resources this takes, and how coloring in little bubbles in a booklet somehow says something to someone about the way a child thinks and understands and solves problems.

And then I just finished reading this exhausting and exhilarating book about the life of a 5th grade classroom in an LA public school.  If you can't grab the book right away, you can go to the website for this classroom and read about the life of 5th graders who voluntarily come to school at 6:30 a.m. and stay until 5.  They learn Shakespeare and art and music as well as science, math, reading, social studies and real p.e.

Now, how can I incorporate some of those ideas into the music classroom?

Two Years' Growth

Garden on May 4, 2009

 Garden Today, May 1, 2011