Continuing Cider Quest

When daughter C borrowed the car on Friday, she went to Liquorama in Upland.  I had never heard of this place, but apparently it has a variety of spirits, and I was bestowed a gift of Ginger and Blackcurrant Unfiltered Pear Cider by my favorite Fox Barrel.  We split the bottle while enjoying the Stanford/USC game (which was a nail biter through the 3 Overtimes).  

About the cider - there is a reason that Ginger is listed first in the title.  Wow.  It is very strong.  But I noticed that after a few swigs, it became less pronounced.  I'm not sure I would buy it, but it was an interesting flavor.

Cable Airport Breakfast

When my daughters were toddlers, we thought about taking them out for breakfast at Maniac Mike's, the little restaurant at Cable Airport in Upland.  I'd heard that it was a great place for eggs and watching the little planes take off and land.  Fast forward, and now that my daughters are grown-up, we finally made it to the airport for breakfast!  

Here is my food - two eggs over medium with bacon, hash browns, and biscuit with gravy.

 H had "The Trainee" which is diced ham in scrambled eggs with biscuit and gravy.

 After breakfast we went outside to watch the planes.  I got a little crooked with this one, but I like the second picture where the pilot is looking towards me out his little window.

 This is a little ultralight-type plane that landed.

 This little airport reminds me very much of the Airport-in-the-Sky on Catalina Island.

Homecoming Parade

Signs of fall abound in Southern California (despite the rush to the Christmas season which merchants are already advertising) and Claremont High School celebrated homecoming yesterday during perfect weather.  I would have had more pictures of the parade, except this year, for some reason, they changed the parade route.  Usually the procession comes down College Ave, but by the time I figured out it was headed down Harvard instead, I had missed the CHS band.

I did, however arrive in time to see the floats, and I gather that the theme had to do with video games.  Seniors were Mario Brothers.

Juniors were Pokemon.

 Sophomores were Pac Man.

 Freshmen were Donkey Kong.

 Following the floats came the El Roble Color Guard and Marching Band.

According to the reports, the football team lost big time last night.  About 8:25 I heard fireworks which I assume were at the football game, but they coincided with the Cardinals winning the World Series.

The Tiger's Wife

Based on a friend's recommendation, I read The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht.  I imagined that the book might take place in China or India, but no, it's set in the Balkans (I'm not exactly sure which country) in the 1990s and earlier.  For such a young author (she is now 26), she writes beautifully, spinning in legends throughout the narrative.

However, I found the whole story arc difficult to follow.  I'm not sure if it's the kind of book that if I read it again it would flow better, or not.  I will definitely read her next book.

You can see a video of her talking about this book at Amazon.

German Poet and Minnesota Energy

Carleton College isn't known for being a nerd college for nothing.  Facebook directed me to this blog by a junior bio major in which she chronicles the dedication of the second wind turbine the college has erected.  This new turbine will power one third of Carleton's energy.  If that isn't nerdy enough, Friedrich Schiller made an appearance at the dedication.

If you are familiar with this German poet, you know that he is no longer with us, and you are sort of right.  A bust of Schiller, however, is one of Carleton's most famous residents, although few know where exactly he resides at any given time. He appears at special occasions, usually arriving with masked people, and disappears quickly.  You can read more about this crazy tradition at this wiki page.

The blog post features more photos which are worth viewing.

Another New Recipe for Fall

Yesterday I googled "sweet potato quinoa" and came up with Mexican Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad.  This recipe makes quite a bit, so I'm sure we'll have it for leftovers for a day or two.  Eating with tortilla chips adds just enough of a salty taste to compliment the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

Pumpkin Chili

Last night was a great night to try my friend Lynn's Pumpkin Chili recipe.  It's a great mixture of sweet and spicy.

Pumpkin Chili

1 pkg ground soy (fake ground beef, or real, if you are so inclined)

One onion, chopped

1 t pepper

1.5t salt

1 t brown sugar

1  - 2 T chili powder

2 t pumpkin pie spice

1 c canned pumpkin

1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 16 oz can beans, drained

1 bottle cocktail sauce 

Brown onions and "beef" in enough oil.  Add spices and brown.  Add remaining ingredients, simmer about an hour.

Monday Blog-Reading

This is a screen shot of the stats on this blog from just a few minutes ago.  Although Monday is not over yet, there are already quite a few more page views today than yesterday.  That's pretty typical.  I'm guessing that Sunday is not as big a day for surfing the web, but Monday mornings, when you are all trying to get back into the work week, it doesn't hurt to have a few distractions....

First Orchestra Concert of the School Year

Concert weekends are exhausting and fun.  The Claremont Concert Orchestra (featuring students from Scripps, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer and CMC along with some community members) performs four concerts during the school year, and we started the season off with a bang this weekend.  We played some real crowd-pleasing music - Carmen by Bizet, Peer Gynt by Grieg and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody for piano and orchestra.

A few notes for our audience members.  If you talk on your cell phone during the quiet parts, even if you are in the lobby, we can hear your every word.  Go outside, or just don't even bother to come.  Ditto for people who bring small children who talk in the concert hall.

Protocol for applause.  We appreciate that you like our music.  However, it is traditional to clap at the end of an entire piece, even if it consists of a number of shorter pieces.  (We will overlook this error, though, with a small smile.  We will not overlook, nor smile, about the cell phone faux pas.)

Thank you, and we'll see you next time!

Not About Village Venture

Every October downtown Claremont holds a street fair with booths for vendors of arts and crafts as well as organizations.  Children parade through the fair in their Halloween costumes (thus ensuring that they will be ready by the 31st).  People stand in long lines at their favorite food stands.  Music groups are scattered throughout the festivities.  Today was Village Venture.  This post is not about my experiences at this Claremont tradition.

For the past several years (or more, I can hardly remember), I have had a music educators workshop in Redlands on Village Venture day.  Here is the Facebook page for the Inland Counties Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association where I will occasionally post photos and announcements about our workshops.  Today we did quite a few play-party games, dances with accompanying music on the xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels.

Fall Updates

Following up on past blog posts:

1. The Montclair Costco Food Court is open again.
2. Our water no longer tastes moldy, but I still decided to get a water filter.
3. The LA Times has figured out its morning delivery (it took about 7-8 days).
4. After the rain 10 days ago, the hummingbird is no longer on the wire outside my window in the morning.
5. I've started my once-a-week thank you note campaign.  People have been so appreciative to get a nice note in the mail.
6. I've been riding my bike to Vista 2-3 times a week.  So far, so good.
7. That rally we ran into in downtown LA we now know was the start of the Occupy Wall Street protest in LA.
8. Leaves continue to fall and will continue to do so for another 8-10 weeks.
9. Thanksgiving is only about a month away!

What kids know

Yesterday in 2nd grade music I started listing characters one might be for Halloween (so the kids would have some movement ideas when I played the Funeral March of a Marionette).  The first ones I listed were Frankenstein and Ballet Dancer.  One girl raised her hand and said, "But Frankenstein is the name of the doctor who created the monster."  Um, yeah, she was right.  I covered by saying that she was correct, but that we would just move like Frankenstein's monster and call it Frankenstein.

Then, as we listed other characters, she was unhappy that someone had listed zombie which would move exactly like Frankenstein's monster, thus limiting her choices of movement.  (We did have a few other things listed, so she wasn't completely without options.)

What the Dog Saw

In my Malcolm Gladwell kick, I have just finished What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures.  This book is a compilation of his favorite work he published in New Yorker.  While there are three sections which have a central theme, this book does not have one overarching idea tying the thoughts together.  The upside to that is that a few of the articles did not interest me, and it did not detract from the book if I skipped or skimmed them.  But other articles grabbed my attention and put a spin on how to look at something in a new way.

This picture is of a paragraph which mentions three Carleton professors and the research they did on personality characteristics.

Sugar, Eggs and Flour

New blog of note.  I know there must be thousands of food blogs floating through cyberspace, but this one is my favorite.  (I also like Mennonite Girls Can Cook.)  One of the things I like about it is the new format.  The default view is Magazine (see in upper left-hand corner).  You need to click on the date to see all of the pictures in that particular blog post.  If you want another view of the blog entries, click on Magazine for the other options (Classic, Flipcard, Mosaic, Sidebar, Snapshot, and Timeslide). Pretty cool.

When I get a hankering to change the view of my blog, I may decide to go with this dynamic formatting.

Falling Leaves

The leaves have started to fall in Claremont.  They will be falling until Christmas.  Every once in a while, our Chinese Elm, and the Chinese elms in the neighborhood drop huge chunks of small green leaves, all attached together.  I take some comfort in knowing that it isn't something that I am doing wrong in the garden since it is widespread.  This happens occasionally, and since these trees are green year-round and continuously drop leaves, I don't know if it is weather-related or not.  All I know is that it is time to get out the rake.

85 C

Back in April we went to 85 C, a Taiwanese Coffee Shop/Bakery in Irvine, and I blogged about it here.  I recently found out that another one had opened in Hacienda Heights - only about 30 minutes from Claremont.  While on business nearby yesterday, Lynn and I decided that we had to try this one out, and I was pleasantly surprised that there were no lines waiting to get inside.  Once inside, the wait to buy your goodies was not too long, either.  In fact, when we were done enjoying our pastries and iced sea salt coffees (large, thank you!), Lynn thought she ought to get one more pastry and popped back into line and got it.  This store is bigger than the Irvine location and is quite nice inside.

Unbroken

Our next book club book is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner and WWII bombardier / POW in Japan.  Laura Hillenbrand, of Seabiscuit fame, wrote this almost unbelievable biography of Zamperini's survival - first on a raft in the Pacific for 47 days, and then several years in various POW camps with worse than horrendous conditions.

After this very intense read, I am now ready for some lighter fare.

Student Letter

Yesterday our school office manager just had to come read those of us on lunch break in the staff room a letter.  Apparently a certain child is often in trouble.  Our office manager looked at him and asked him if he would be making this a habit, and he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know."  She looked at him and said, "It's picture day.  You look so nice.  Make it a good day!" Then she suggested that he write a note to the principal explaining what had happened.  So, he wrote a letter, and this is how it started.

"Dear Mr. Stewart, Today is picture day. I look nice.  But somehow I am still the same."

Ah, yes.  Somehow we are still the same.

Moneyball

The Laemmle runs a special deal on Tuesdays.  All movies all day are $7.  If you have a Premiere card, you get the usual $2 off (Mon-Thurs) in addition to the special, so each ticket ends up only $5.  Popcorn is $1 for a small, and then with said Premiere card, you get 20% off of that, so it really is 80 cents.  Total for date night - $11.60.

Anyway, we've been wanting to see Moneyball and tonight was the first free Tuesday we've had in awhile.  H had enjoyed the book, we'd heard good reviews of the movie, and we are such baseball fans, it was a no-brainer that we would go.

Yes, we enjoyed the show.  Quite a bit.  The acting was excellent, the dialog well done (Aaron Sorkin does it again - in fact, I want him to write lines for me to say....), the story engaging.  I've heard that even non-baseball fans liked it.  We recommend.

Daily Task

 In the fall, this tree next to the Vista music room is in full bloom with these pretty pink flowers.  Then said flowers fall, little by little, on to the ground right where the students walk.  When stepped on, they squish, almost like a banana.  So, every day before students arrive, you can find me out sweeping the walkway.

Oh, No!

Oh, no!  The Costco Food Court will be closed for about 2 weeks in order to remodel, starting today. What are we going to do for Saturday lunch for the next two weeks?????

Family Wedding

It was our pleasure to spend yesterday in Dallas celebrating the wedding of H's sister.  The ceremony was an intimate affair with family and some friends in attendance.  After the ceremony and photos, we all headed to Dunston's Steak House for a reception dinner.  We enjoyed the remainder of the evening chatting and catching up at their house before we headed off for some sleep and a morning flight back to California.

All Systems Go

This is the end of the first week of all of my classes.  Three weeks ago I started general music and this past Monday I started string classes.  The first week always wipes me out, but once I get going in the rhythm (so to speak), it's not as exhausting.

Check out my music blog to see one of the fun music activities I did with my upper grade students this week.

Let the Record Show

We had our first big rainstorm of the season yesterday.  Nice and early. We had our first district orchestra class yesterday afternoon, and it is usually quite hot for the first week or two of this class.  

Perhaps it was fitting that it was the day that Steve Jobs died.  What a life that gave us so much.

Moldy Water?

For the past week or so, our tap water has had a very moldy aftertaste which has made it difficult for me to drink.  I finally started asking around, and someone at book club last night told me that it has to do with an algae that is blooming and that it wasn't hazardous.  So, when I got home, I googled it and found this article.  I think it's time to finally get that water filter that I always keep meaning to buy to see if that helps with the taste.

Sunday in LA

After a very restful night at the Hotel Figueroa, we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast.  There was no hurry as the LA Co. Museum of Art (LACMA) does not open until 11:00 on Sundays.  As part of the exhibition called Pacific Standard Time, many art museums were free on Sunday.  This series of lampposts is an installation called Urban Light, just outside the museum, and it offers lots of photographic ideas.  I have put my artsier photos on my Flickr site under the LA album.

Our favorite exhibit was the Monet/Lichtenstein room which featured four Monets of the Rouen Cathedral, and then four Lichtensteins that interpret the Monets.  This photo is from the web here since we were not allowed to photograph that room.

 I also really liked this sculpture of a guitarist by Lipchitz.

 Late brunch/lunch at Real Food Daily in Beverly Hills.  These "egg" scrambles were quite delicious.  We've eaten at the RFD in Santa Monica and had to try out this one.

LA Trip - Part 2

After lunch we walked back to the LA Public Library where we wandered around and then rested and read magazines.  This is a picture of the rotunda and one of the murals that was saved when the library burned in 1986.

 After searching on the web for a hotel with a jacuzzi in downtown LA, I found the Hotel Figueroa where we booked a room.  This building, near the Staples Center, was originally a YMCA built in 1926 and has been decorated in a Moroccan theme.  We had booked a room with one king-size bed, but the one they had reserved for us had plumbing issues, so they upgraded us to a larger room.  We were on the 6th floor overlooking the pool and jacuzzi.  While the hotel does not have alarm clocks or free wi-fi, they do have a tv.

 Being hungry, we decided to walk across the street to LA Live to see what looked good for dinner.  We decided on the Yard House and enjoyed sitting outside while watching both the Wisconsin/Nebraska and Stanford/UCLA games on big screens.  Here is my Thai Noodle Salad.

 The Nokia Plaza/Staples Center area is quite brightly lit, kind of like Times Square in NYC and felt a little futuristic to us.  It is a grand place to sit and people-watch.

LA Weekend Getaway - Part One

For six years, H was on the advisory board for the Petroleum Research Fund.  That meant that three times a year, he would read a box full of proposals and then fly to the meeting place for the board and help his committee decide which proposals to fund.  The upside of this was that I got to go along with him, and thus we were able to travel to many places across the US, including Puerto Rico.  Now that his term on the board is over, we still get a hankering to travel someplace, especially at the end of September when we would normal go.

With this free weekend, we decided to take a trip into Los Angeles.  I particularly wanted to see things that we have not seen before. With our interest in history and architecture, we signed up for an historic downtown tour with the LA Conservancy.  First stop, Pershing Square where we were really glad we had a reservation when we saw throngs of people milling about.  Then we realized that these people were holding signs and dressed up and were probably not taking a Saturday tour.  It was some kind of protest about the economy.  Here is a youtube video that someone else put up on the web of the rally.

 The tour itself, 3 hours in all, gave us a much broader picture of some of the history of downtown LA than we had ever known before.  Our guide was quite knowledgable, and we saw parts of the city we have never seen before (in the 25 years we have lived in Claremont).

The end of the tour took us to the very famous Bradbury Building which looks nondescript from the outside, but quite amazing on the inside.  It was built the same year as the Columbian Exposition in Chicago - 1893.

This signature wrought-iron was made in France and was displayed at the Columbian Exposition before it arrived in Los Angeles.

 At the end of the tour, we headed into the Grand Central Market for lunch.

 Based on yelp reviews, we chose Tacos, Tumbras a Tomas for lunch (the long line confirmed that this was a popular place). We were not disappointed.

 Carne asada burrito that H could not finish.

 Birria tostada (goat meat) was particularly delicious.