More Vacation Workshops

                                                       Westport Sunsets Workshop

This was a difficult workshop as it required sitting in a comfy chair on the deck, drink in hand, waiting for exactly the right moment to pick up an automatic Canon digital camera, lift to eye, push the shutter, place the camera on table and resume cocktail hour. To get the perfect shot this process would require almost endless, precise repetition.
                         

                  How to love and care for your Geriatric German Shepherd Workshop

This workshop concentrated on proper food, water, treats, petting, hugging and plenty of "doggie talk"!
           Both students passed with flying colors and the old boy is a tough taskmaster!

Dory tried to get this cat to join the workshop. "No way" said young Mr. Cat, that dog is not my kind!

                                                  Manly Cooking Workshop
   

The first dish is an extremely manly breakfast (women like it too!) Heritage white, red and blue potatoes with salami, red onions, eggs and a butt load of cheese! All plates were cleaned.

A workshop supper favorite, a spin on coq au vin. Full head of garlic inside the chicken along with a half of red onion. The organic bird (it tastes like chicken) is rubbed with olive oil, salted, peppered and some lemon is squeezed on it. Pour about a 1/3 of an inch of white wine in the pan. Roast with breast side down until nicely browned then flip it over and roast until nicely browned. Time depends on the oven. Let it sit while you make the mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots to go on the side.

Another workshop project was making bread using Tom Micklin's recipe. I couldn't get the oven hot enough to make the "steam injection" work but we ended up with a nice, hearty, rustic, dense bread that was wonderful. Jan made brownies, they were gone so fast I couldn't snap a picture. We also had rib eyes, Kobe beef hot dogs with mac 'n cheese, fish that were swimming only hours before they hit the pan, pancakes, chicken apple sausage...the mind and belly boggles!

                                                         The Reading Workshop

                                                              Grandpa sets example

                                                          Grandson follows suite

                                                Synchronized reading, more difficult than it looks!

                                                              Model Airplane Workshop

This is an incredibly complicated Legos plane. Unlike his grandfather, D-Man reads the instructions!

                                                         The Private Art Studio

Perched on the edge of the cliff at the back of the property is a tiny little art studio. It has huge west facing windows and a small deck hanging in the air about 50 feet over the beach.

                                                              Various and Sundry Shots

This Ninja climbed the cliff at the Point Arena Lighthouse, appropriate because this is the closest spot on the coast to Japan.

Sharing dinner with the locals from across the street. The guy's name is Picasso, his parents were hippies from Topanga Canyon. Picasso's significant other Jennifer grew up in Westport with Bill Brazil's, the owner of the house, daughter Erin who is a musician in San Francisco. We had surf and turf, rib eyes and ling cod. Lots of wine and whiskey. here is Erin and her band, the Brazilionaires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zTZlCZoaeUI

Vacation Time!

Other than a week just after New Years, I've been doing 6 and 7 day weeks at DRIVE! for the past 7 months. The Cakes routinely works 55 plus hour weeks, believe me, we are ready for a week off.

We were going to do another Airstream trip but passed because of the scarcity of good campsites this time of year in California. If you want to go to Yosemite and stay in the park, reserve now for next August! We thought about Shasta, Mammoth Lakes, Crater Lake even trailering all the way to Colorado. I said to hell with it and because we've had good luck with VRBO, I started scouring their website.

We found this little saltbox house built in 1872 in Westport, California. Westport with a permanent population of 66 is about a half-hour north of Fort Bragg. The little house is right on the ocean and has a trail to the beach. It has 2 bedrooms, a bath and a half, a deck with a Weber. It has the original wood cookstove (and a modern gas stove too) a wood-burning stove for heat. No cell, no cable, no web, but it does have a landline. It will be hard to be unplugged for a week, even harder to be away from my baby business.

Westport has a little combo store-gas station-beer depot, the word is, it's open when the guy who owns wants it to be open. So the kitchen with this incredible view must be stocked with food we bring from home. We have our menus planned, roast chicken one night, Kobe beef hot dogs and mac 'n cheese another, tri-tip on the grill, and much more. We are bringing plenty of wine, Martini supplies, some good old Knob Creek bourbon, too.

We decided to take our youngest grandson with us. His sister left for Copenhagen and his older bro spent 10 days at Shasta Headwaters camp, so this is Dory's vacation. He is a cool little dude of 9, he likes to cook like I do. Thanks to old pal Tom Micklin we have a fantastic recipe for French Bread and we are going to bake bread in the original wood-burning cookstove. His great, great granma baked bread for years and years in a wood stove on the farm. I can remember her telling me, "Get me a piece of wood about the size of your thumb." knowing exactly just how much that stick of wood would raise the temperature in the oven. How did she know? Practice, I suspect.

I've downloaded 3 new books in my Kindle, Jan loaded up her IPad, we've got cards, a chess set, and dominos. And 5 movies on DVD. I can listen to the last week of the Olympics on sat radio, NPR for news, too. We're going hiking, see the sights and sit on our butts at the beach, on the deck, and probably on a rock or two. The old dog is coming along as well.

The weather this time of year on the North Coast; 80 in the daytime and 50 at night. August is the driest month of the year. We'll sleep with the windows open at night and listen to the crashing waves.

              I think this vacation may rank with the ones we took on our boat, maybe?

                   See you when we get back. Be safe, smile, and dammit be happy!

(I think the guy who owns the little store that's only open when he feels like opening it, may just have life by the ass.)