Best Linguine And Clams Ever

From the first bite I was in love! Nicely cooked pasta, small clams and a light sauce with rich seasoning in every mouthful. Was it the mullet roe? Whatever it was, it was dynamite!

Best linguine and clams ever. This was truly a California surprise.

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I’m learning more about SoCal every day. For instance, at least a half dozen people have told me the worst traffic is on Thursday afternoon. Did all the former college students who arranged for no Friday classes figure out a way to preserve that as adults?

It was with this is mind that we set a halfway point to meet our friends Farrell and Vered for dinner last night. They live near Palm Springs, but were visiting in Los Angeles. We headed to Long Beach. Traffic on the 405 did not disappoint.

None of us know much about Long Beach, so we set out to find a restaurant using Yelp. That’s always scary. Yelp can be swayed, good or bad, with enough effort.

Our second worry was Vered and Farrell dine… we eat. Their tastes are more sophisticated.

IMAG1037We ended up going to La Parolaccia. In Italian, the name means “the bad language.”

Long Beach is a beach community (duh). La Parolaccia is in a neighborhood away from the water. It seemed like a locals place.

The TV over the bar was tuned to RAI! It’s an Italian place with Italians who speak Italian! A California rarity.

IMAG1038Helaine had lasagna, Farrell salmon, Vered a simple spaghetti dish and I had “Linguine alle Vongole con Bottarga.” That’s my go to pasta dish, linguine with clams. At La Parolaccia they add “bottarga,” grated dry mullet roe (dried fish eggs).

From the first bite I was in love! Nicely cooked pasta, small clams and cherry tomatoes in a light sauce with rich seasoning in every mouthful. Was it the mullet roe? Whatever it was, it was dynamite!

Best linguine and clams ever. This was truly a California surprise.

Helaine and I were worried when we picked a place sight unseen, but the service was great, the bread hot and the food tasty and genuinely Italian.

We sat, shmoozed and ate. Good friends are always worth the drive.

An hour ten there, thirty five minutes home. Thursday traffic!

Oatmeal: It’s What’s For Breakfast

IMAG0745-w1200-h1200I live an odd schedule. It’s ten of two. I’m on the patio. I’m having breakfast. A bowl of oatmeal has been invited.

I have oatmeal for breakfast every day. Helaine usually prepares it. She’s out today. She left an oatmeal kit. Like so many guys, my kitchen skills are limited.

No one eats oatmeal for the taste. Neutral. I sprinkle a little Splenda on. Passable.

I do enjoy the texture. Good oatmeal has loads of texture. It feels best when slow cooked.

Oatmeal maintains heat for a long time. Walk away from oatmeal for ten or fifteen minutes, its still piping hot. I am baffled by this ability.

IMAG0746-w1200-h1200Oatmeal sticks to everything! The pot must begin soaking with hot water as soon as the oatmeal is served. When dry, oatmeal could easily be mistaken for cement.

I don’t want to think about what it sticks to inside me.

If my twenty year old metabolism decides to reappear I can switch to bagels. Until then it’s oatmeal, my top choice.

Guests Mean Baked Goods… And Guests

Helaine's baked goods

Guests are arriving tomorrow. My sister and brother-in-law are flying in from the ‘burbs of Milwaukee. Brutal winter. We’ll reintroduce them to the Sun.

Their trip from Milwaukee to Orange County will take nine plus hours.

I’ve done my part. I’ve been to the store to pick up my sister’s favorite goodies.

Helaine has been baking. Oh, my. I was skinny when Helaine and I met.

There are baked delights so delicious and unhealthy they can only be baked to convince a recalcitrant boy not to be scared of you. I don’t get those anymore.

“I don’t think these came out right,” Helaine offered as I walked into the kitchen earlier today.

I’ve heard this before. She’s so wrong.

Pastry. I heard the word “almond” float by. Slender, twisted, pale in color. I took a bite. Flaky. Oh. My. God. Nirvana.

I offered to take them off her hands, no questions asked.

Also appearing on tonight’s show… chocolate chip and thumbprint cookies. Both killer.

The cool thing about Helaine’s baking is how much she enjoys it and how good she is at it. Where is my 21 year old metabolism when I need it?

Beside eating, we plan on showing Jeff and Trudi around. It’s a nice place and we have access to the Sun.

My Night At Ralphs

Helaine is past the mid-point of an awful chest cold. For the last few days she’s sounded like geese heading south.

Then the nose part kicked in.

Between sneezing and coughing she pulled a muscle in her back!

I’m trying to be a helpful husband. I brought home dinner–cheesesteaks&#185. First, though, a quick trip to Ralphs.

Ralphs is a SoCal supermarket chain. It was founded in the 1870s by George Ralphs. It’s owned by Kroger’s now. It’s as SoCal as Cincinnati allows.

Talk about stranger in a strange land! Here I was, adjacent to 15 aisles of “I’m lost.” Could I have trained for this?

The sign above one aisle promised cookies AND gourmet cookies. Ralphs, you had me at cookies.

It was all coming back to me.

I walked past an end cap display of Oreos. Oreos! Why must we start with the hard stuff?

I remembered why the market was such a dangerous place. The force drawing me toward the Oreos was incredible. I fought back.

Helaine wanted minced garlic. Where?

I walked from produce to deli and back again. Nothing.

Finally I walked to the front and asked a bagger. She didn’t know.

She asked the girl on her register. Zip again.

The women running the next register said she thought it was on the table with the tomatoes.

Uh, no.

My guess is there’s no minced garlic at Ralphs. Or, if there is, it’s with the cards and magazines.

I never did find it. Helaine told me to just pick up a fresh garlic. That’s right. I called her from Ralphs… twice.

Milk, half-and-half, breadcrumbs (plain), an onion. My route followed no pattern. I did not have a qualifying time at Ralphs! Could I be more husbandy?

Usually I do the self checkout. Not tonight. With garlic, onions and some bananas in my basket I needed a pro to scan me through. I gave her my Ralph’s card.

I’m not sure why I have one. I don’t know exactly what it does. No one’s ever shown me my balance and I’ve never asked.

Helaine said Ralphs should hire personal shoppers for when guys like me to come. She wasn’t even there, but she knew.

&#185 – Real Philly cheesteaks, with real Amoroso rolls! Sweet.

Dinner At Pink’s

Helaine and I drove to Hollywood last night. Helaine had some goodies for Stef. It’s a 55 mile drive. An hour and a half last night. LA traffic is as advertised.

Stef met us after work.

She’s been to the Golden Globes, SAG and Grammys. She’ll be on the Red Carpet at the Oscars too. Stef’s part of the team that produces the ‘pre-game’ and ‘post-game’ shows on E!. They’ll be live seven hours at the Oscars.

OK, I’m her father. I’m biased. It sounds like a pretty cool job.

I’m especially glad she’s involved in live TV. It’s a rush when you’re on and there’s no turning back. I tried to explain the feeling before she started. Alas, you can’t properly describe an experience.

We brought Doppler along, which limits where we can go. Who cares? She’s an excellent traveler.

We ended up at Pink’s on La Brea. It’s a hot dog stand, built in 1946, still rocking it’s 1946 style. Pink’s is a reflection of LA’s early adoption of cars versus public transport. You could drive up, get out of your car and get a dog!

I had the “HUELL HOWSER DOG – 2 hot dogs in ONE bun – mustard, chili, cheese & onions.” Huell was a well known TV personality whose segments on LA’s quirky native culture are still played, long after his death.

I also had a Dr. Brown’s Cherry. That brings me back to Flushing, as a kid. The taste hasn’t changed. It was magical.

Pink’s no Glenwood! Will someone please tell Rob I said that.

Our drive home was much faster–a little less than an hour.

We’re very lucky to live so close to Stef. It’s a trip we enjoy taking.

No Place Like Home

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Stef and Roxie just arrived. Our little family is together in the OC for a few days.

Even if you didn’t know Stef was expected, you’d know something was up based on the state of the kitchen this afternoon. Every pot was out. The sink was full. The aroma of fresh food was everywhere.

Homemade soup tonight. Pasta with a homemade sauce too. This is the good life.

We brought homemade cookies to our neighbors yesterday. Today they reciprocated. No wonder people complain about Christmas weight gain.

I was skinny when Helaine and I first met. Consider me living proof of her expertise in the kitchen.

Last year was tumultuous for us, culminating in a 2600+ mile move. Things have started to calm down. Home cooking and baking are signs of stability.

A Day At The Sun

Mohegan Sun is one of two casinos ‘in’ Connecticut. ‘In’ is in quotes because these are sovereign nations–a term I don’t totally understand.

“I can’t believe it’s just over a day since we left.” That was Helaine referring to our whirlwind trip to Mohegan Sun. It was for an occasion, but I’m sworn to secrecy. Let’s leave it at that!

Mohegan Sun is one of two casinos ‘in’ Connecticut. ‘In’ is in quotes because these are sovereign nations–a term I don’t totally understand. It is a spectacular complex with two immense casinos, shopping, upscale restaurants, a large arena and giant hotel.

Before casinos Eastern Connecticut was the quiet part of the state. It was the section of Connecticut most like the rest of New England. Now the two casinos are the economic engine which powers the area.

By the time we’d driven the 65 miles to Uncasville we were hungry! First stop Bobby’s Burger Palace. In this case Bobby is Bobby Flay, celebrity chef. I’m not a fan of his persona, but I love his cooking.

I had a Chicago Burger with fries and a vanilla bean malted. Oh–it was ‘crunchified’ meaning potato chips were embedded in the burger. The taste was excellent especially the malted. I can’t remember the last malted I had.

This was going to be a one-meal-per-day trip!

I wandered over to the poker room. For years Mohegan Sun had gone without poker, but it’s back and the room is big. Later this month the Sun will host a large televised tournament. It’s a lot too rich for my blood with a $5,000 buy-in for the main event (though most qualify by winning smaller satellite tournaments).

I played three separate sessions Saturday and Sunday at $1/$2 no limit Hold ‘Em tables. I am not a big money player. I lost in one session and won the other two times. My profit was a little under a hundred dollars.

Helaine had gone online for tickets to a comedy show. We headed to the Cabaret Theater where the Treehouse Comedy Club is now booking comedians.

The format for shows like this is always the same with three comics: a headliner, featured act and the emcee. In this case that meant Richie Byrne, Tina Giorgi and Bob Dibuono.

Three for three! We laughed a lot. Helaine and I agree Tina Giorgi (a former schoolteacher) was our favorite of the night, though Richie Byrne (who does the audience warm-up for the Dr. Oz Show) finished very strong.

Our single meal today was brunch at Caesar and Pompeii. We’ve eaten there before, both brunch and for dinner. The brunch buffet was very good with lots of seafood, lamb chops and a dessert table that would make you fat just looking at it! Unfortunately, there’s no longer dinner at Caesar and Pompeii and even the Sunday brunch disappears Mother’s Day.

The best part of the trip was going with Helaine! We had a great time together. Even after twenty six years she’s a helluva date.

[pro-player]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_relvpL-meE[/pro-player]

Off The Wagon: The Chips Made Me Do It

These were Cape Cod Potato Chips–The Halle Berry of chipdom! Oh yeah. Halle Berry–beautiful and alluring and yet the relationship never ends well!

I fell off the wagon tonight. I’m not proud. Where was my willpower when I really needed it?

The potato chips were there when I walked into the newsroom this afternoon. This kind of stuff happens. There’s a guest on the noon show or a reporter is in the right place at the right time and all of a sudden treats appear. Newsies are selfless that way.

And these weren’t run-of-the-mill chips. These were Cape Cod Potato Chips–The Halle Berry of chipdom!

Oh yeah. Halle Berry–beautiful and alluring and yet the relationship never ends well!

I walked by again-and-again unconsciously thrusting my arm deep into one of the open bags. I had some this afternoon. I had more tonight.

“Aren’t you worried about germs?” Darren Kramer, a man of unwavering willpower and impeccable hygiene asked.

No, no. Chips trump all health concerns. After all, they’re chips!

Hopefully by tomorrow other newsroom leeches will have emptied the bags. I’ll be able to return to my carrots and Diet Pepsi.

Tonight I’m a broken man. Please, don’t tell the scale.

It’s Faux Spring In Connecticut!

We did one really good thing today. We barbecued! Helaine was the chef. My job was to rehook the propane tank to the grill. I can’t tell you why but they spent the winter unhooked.

There’s been a post on the blog every day for years. Today will be no exception though not much has happened. Pajamas all day for Helaine and me. Most of my day was at the keyboard doing a small web design project I’ve undertaken. The finished product will be used, but it’s more for my training and discovery than anything else.

While the child slogs through the California rainy season, Connecticut finally popped into spring tease season. I’m only saying that because winter will surely reappear–if only briefly.

Holy crap! Every year I’m amazed by the number of branches and limbs that crash to the yard each winter.

We did one really good thing today. We barbecued! Helaine was the chef. My job was to rehook the propane tank to the grill. I can’t tell you why but they spent the winter unhooked.

Over the years we’ve amassed a few propane bottles, so I hoisted the heaviest one and tried to attach it. It wouldn’t. After about five minutes I realized it had interior threads while the grill is looking for exterior threads.

How the heck did that happen? Where did it come from? What do I do with it?

In the end little of my tumult mattered because it’s faux spring.

The sky was blue. The burgers were superb.