(stay)cation: mori point hike

I wanted to spend the day in the ceramics studio with my best clay friend, Meral. But first she said, let's go hiking in Pacifica. I googled and messaged, "Mori Point?" "Perfect," she messaged back. And the vistas even though windy and chilly were spectacular.            

 

The climb up to the headland was arduous, but when in nature, it's all copacetic.

 

I kept looking down at crashing and ebbing waves.

And when we got to main viewing area, there was this guy doing handstands.

Cameron was in San Francisco for business, and in Pacifica for his last day. Of course, he wanted us to take his picture in beautiful Northern California.

Cameron also asked where he should catch an Uber, and I pointed to the pier in the distance and told him he could run to the bagel shop there as a landmark. We also filled his water bottle. And then Meral and I watched a couple whales (not pictured)from that same headland spouting and breaching from where we took his picture. And then we were hungry and started back.

Luckily I could see Meral's bright yellow car from a distance to find which steep trail to climb down and return.

Amazing that there's civilization and suburbia behind such a rugged and gorgeous seascape.

cook: seaweed foraging

My friend, Cybil emailed me a link to a class from forage sf on seaweed hunting. I said, yep, let's sign up and go. And so on a very early Friday, I got up at 4:00 a.m. and we drove at 4:45 a.m. in the dark to Miramontes Beach to meet up with the instructor and 3 other students at 5:30 a.m. Luckily, I had walked this beach before, and so we weren't too lost in finding the instructor and our other classmates. Tanya, the teacher and herbalist showed us her favorite guides and handbooks. 

  

And so I'll be checking them out from the library and buying an identification handbook. Wished the Bookshop Santa Cruz had had it. At this low a tide, I got to hike a stretch of beach I could not previously, and so I appreciated this "new" beach. I watched an heron fish along the algae-covered rocks.

 

Then the foraging began. I gathered lots of of the mazzaella, which I've since cut--for a seaweed salad and some which I laid on a sheet pan to dry. And I tasted and chewed everything pictured in this post.

 

I liked the Ogo and Sea Spaghetti a lot, which I rinsed in the saltwater and didn't rinse in fresh water (as it would then start to degrade the seaweed) and promptly put the mesh bag of seaweed in the back of the refrigerator.

.  

Tanya had said the stipes can be pickled from the Feather Boa (I didn't and just took the fronds for my salad) and put the rest in the compost. I really liked the Sea Lettuce, and so that went into my salad.

 

I promptly labeled my photos as Tanya told us the common names. She mentioned that her Korean friend considers the Rock Weed a find which she loves to fry--yep I'm gonna hunt for more of that on my next forage and try that recipe.

 

Tanya said I was cracking her up with my calling the seaweed below, the anal beads seaweed, and the photo on the right with all the mussels but isn't labeled is Dulse.

  

Further out in deeper sea is the wakame, which we couldn't forage and that was disappointing. But it was cool to identify later the red seaweed or nori or what the English call laver.

After all the seaweed gathering, I explored the tidepools. The mussels were tiny and unfortunately are in quarantine or not to be consumed this time of year. And we were told to step on bare rock or on mussel beds and not squash anemones and starfish.

  

If low tide happened at a later time, I would certainly have Meral come and help identify sea creatures with me in the pools.

I parked in the coastal access spaces of the Ritz Carlton parking garage, and I showed Cybil where I used to hike alongside artichoke farms on one side and the Pacific coast on the other side during the pandemic.

We'll see if Cybil ever wants to go seaweed foraging again, but certainly we saw more kinds of plant life on this excursion than we did in the Cabrillo College class. Afterward, I said let's go find breakfast. I googled and found my new breakfast and brunch diner in Half Moon Bay. I liked the lemon and hummingbird decor, especially these throwback yellow chairs at the white quartz counter- and tabletops as well as the light fixtures (wondering if they came from Schoolhouse).

I'd been craving a Benedict, which I didn't order at the Harbor Cafe in Santa Cruz (because theirs was atop a croissant rather than a split English muffin).

 

I loved the lemon-iness of the Hollandaise sauce and that there were the vegetables of spinach and tomato in addition to the ham in this Eggs Benedict. I'm thinking of telling my neighbors that Johnny's in Half Moon Bay is where I want to go for my birthday breakfast. And maybe I'd take them afterward to Miramontes Beach before or after.

clay: 4-taper holder candelabra

Clay Body: Laguna Speckled Buff

Glazes: Clay Life's Majolica (white gloss)

Method/Firing: Hand built/Cone 6  

After seeing one of my posts of one of my candelabras in action and after a basically no-sale pottery pop-up, Cybil offered $25 for one of my candelabra. I didn't want to give her the one I've been using, and so I made this one. And it was in my car, and so I gave it to her after seaweed foraging and told her to message me a pic of it with tapers in it because I didn't get a chance to photograph it in the light box. 

clay: sea-themed candelabra in workshop

I was home from Santa Cruz and was finally able to easily fall asleep at bedtime. I was also back to imbibing wine. Just for a little longer before another sober curious break.                     

I forgot to bring this bottle to the beach cottage. Upon my return, I stuck the Chardonnay in the freezer to chill, drank a small glass and then put the wine in the fridge and went to bed. Finished the white wine the next night. Oh shit. That was a lotta alcohol. But I’ve another bottle in the pantry. That’ll be for a supper to share with friends sometime this summer. A bottle of soju too, and so I may host a Korean supper to share and get rid of that bottle too.

Last week at Clay Club@Capuchino, I extruded coils of red clay and formed the shapes for a candelabra and humped a slab over a plaster mold for a base as well as hand built taper and tealight holders. I constructed the piece this past Tuesday and started embellishing it.

I liked the shape a lot though I worried that it was too large. I used the silicon molds I ordered from Temu in China. I like how the coral and mermaid sprig molds turned out.

I kept knocking the candle holder off kilter though while decorating and hoped that it would by Thursday. Jeffrey helped with bringing props and casting a critical eye.

And I just kept trying to build up a coral reef...

...but also embellish the sea floor with a little crab and seashells.

I wanted to paint porcelain slip over the piece, but this build took too long for me to do that. I was also trying to add texture with stylus and scoring tools. All that messing around with the candelabra led to its collapse on the following Thursday. I knew that would happen though, and I remember when trying to build with this red clay before that it just didn't have enough grog. IT'S ALL LEARNING and A-okay. I'm gonna attempt this sea-themed candleholder again, but with Dixon Red and then use the Smooth Red for the sprig molds.

cook: birthday breakfast burritos and a cake

For a Saturday morning to celebrate my neighbor, Helen's birthday at a breakfast party, I volunteered to make burritos AND bake the cake. She wanted bacon in her burrito, and so I decided to cook San Diego-style burritos with chorizo (fried the day before), bacon, eggs, tater tots, refried beans (also prepared beforehand), cheese, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole.                        

And first, the bacon and the tater tots, which I baked in the oven. I think I overcooked the bacon, but I knew the guests would want the meat very crisp.

I beat the 5 eggs for 7 burritos with heavy cream and dashes of Old Bay seasoning. And then I soft scrambled them in lots of butter. I constructed each burrito with a slathering of refried beans, slices of cheddar, sprinklings of chopped cilantro and red onion, the chorizo and bacon atop the scrambled eggs, then tater tots and a stream of my red salsa with chipotles in adobo sauce and roasted tomatoes with onions, garlic, and chili peppers.

 

Then it was a process of rolling and enfolding in aluminum foil and then setting in a 250 degree oven to stay warm.

Giant breakfast burritos done, but wait there was more and not really. And since I didn't want to add guacamole to the burrito to then bake in the oven, I opted to have my Christmas salsas alongside--the cooked red salsa and the raw green salsa with tomatillos and avocados.

I declined the steak and shrimp birthday dinner the night before, so I could bake Helen's cake. Unfortunately when I finished decorating, the cake resembled a mouse more than the dog that I wanted the cake to look like. I tried moving the ears. Nope.                         

 

And so I ran the cake over to my neighbor, Nancy's home, where Cecilia happened to also be and asked help. They had me flop the ears to look more like Sassy and Rosie (the white dogs belonging to the birthday girls), and that difference made it look much more dog-like. I also ran my fingertips through the icing to resemble dog fur, even better looking. 

 

The next day, I lit the candles and we sang happy birthday and sliced into the cake.

I love any occasion to bake a pride cake, and especially a pride puppy cake.