Venice Beach

Los Angeles / Southnern California is a popular tourist destination.  But most visitors see little besides Disneyland and maybe Universal Studios.  It's too bad -- there are so many other worthy sights to see and things to do.

Venice Beach is one of them.  It's just a few miles north of LAX airport and is at the south end of Santa Monica, about a mile from the Santa Monica Pier (another worthy destination).

Venice Beach is famous for its Muscle Beach outdoor body-building gym, where Arnold Schwarzenegger trained in his early body-building days.  Onlookers once gathered to gawk at the heavily muscled (and doped-up) strongmen.

If that's what you expect to see, you'll be disappointed.  On our recent visit, the only participant was a flabby man in his sixties.

However, the anything-goes carnival / freakshow experience lives on.  There are regulars that you can expect to see on any given weekend:

The Venice Beach Gold Robot Man 

Harry Perry - Rollerblading Musical Genius

And some guys just come and go:

Bongo Drummer on Venice Beach Boardwalk

"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells... Help me get drunk tonight"

Yet another street musician on the Venice Boardwalk

I love the guy with his own little soap opera:

An ambulance comes for one of his characters

A happy ending to his story

The street gymnasts are incredible.

Street gymnast jumps over one kid

But wait... here's ten, including two adults!

He literally flies over all ten of them!

There is plenty more to see and wonder at:

The variety of artwork is amazing

Don't be too shocked though, Venice can be dirty, smelly (incense and pot), lawless and kind of sad:

They don't show this part in the travel ads

Yes, it is legal (kind of)

Making his living as an "artist" ...

... He is very specific about his needs...

Venice is worth seeing -- it is not an experience easily forgotten.

Roasted top sirloin

I grabbed a large top sirloin at the market the other day -- it was dirt cheap and a good looking cut:

I roasted this sucker up -- it was easy and produced a great roast beef that we served for guests this weekend -- it served five very hungry people and we still have enough for days of sandwiches.

There were several tricks to making this roast come out beautifully.

1.  The Au Jus.

I started the Au Jus a day ahead of time.  It's not much work but requires a long slow boil.  I used leftover New York Strip from the other day (mostly bones and trimmings).  I placed a strainer inside a very large pot, filled with water, the steak trimmings, onions, bay leaves and some old parsley.  I then boiled it for about 24 hours, constantly adding water to keep it covered.  I also added a touch of beef bouillon (not much, because it adds salt and possibly MSG).

Several hours before beginning the roast, I removed the strainer so that all that was left is a rich but watery brown liquid.  (You could omit the strainer and just strain into another pot at this point).  At this point the mixture was about 1/2 gallon.

Now -- Under careful monitoring the heat was turned up until the liquid reduced by 50% (to about a quart) to concentrate the flavor.

Later on, I did a little bit of back-and-forth -- Some of the Au Jus was used to baste the roast and to make my "mop" but the liquid in the roasting pan made its way back into the Au Jus for extra flavor.

2.  Searing & preparation for oven roasting

This makes the roast!  Heat a large skillet or heavy roasting pan on medium heat.  Lightly rub oil over the surface of your roast.  Get your hands dirty!  Now drop that sucker into the hot skillet or pan and brown each side so it looks like this:

Remove, let cool and then make small slits into which you should insert slivered garlic.  Slice an onion or two and place in the bottom of the pan, setting the roast on top, fatty side up.

3.  Roast at 200 to 300 degrees until the temperature (get a meat thermometer!) inside is at least 125 degrees.  I cooked to 135 for a medium-rare to medium roast.  Remember that the internal temperature will continue to increase for a few minutes after you stop cooking.  For truly savory juiciness, baste every 15 minutes.  It's best to start with some of the Au Jus.

4.  When done, transfer the drippings back to the Au Jus.

5.  Slice and enjoy!

More detailed cooking instructions here.

The BlueJacket

My family has a rich military history.

Oompa served in Germany with Elvis!  Grandpa L. served in WW II in the European theater.  My Dad served on the USS Dixie, a destroyer tender.

My Grandpa P. stands out because until his death his passion, his best friends, and his hobbies all revolved around his experience in the Navy.

He served as radioman on SS-12, The USS Peto, a Gato-class diesel submarine, in the Pacific theater during WW II.

Until he got too sick, he never missed a submarine vet's convention.

He took me on a tour of the USS Pampanito a few years before he took ill.  It's a similar class to the Gato.  His cot (shared in shifts with two other submariners) was about 24 inches by five feet.  His office was about the size of a typical airline lavatory.

The Peto made its mark on history by rescuing dozens of downed airmen from the Pacific.  The flag below gives a good idea of just how effective the Peto was.

My grandpa to this day makes me proud.  I wish my Grandpa L. had shared more stories with me so I could relate his experiences too.  Next time I am with Oompa I willl ask what he can remember Grandpa L. telling him.

Two types of antennae

We're home briefly before our trip to Japan.  We got close-up views of two very different types of antennae right here in our back yard.

This guy found his way into our kitchen.  In a rare feat of bravery, Crazy Girl calmly invited me to come and remove him.  He is a Green Stink Bug.  My amateur etymologist's eye didn't detect any similarities to the shiny black monsters that I grew up calling stink bugs.  Check out the giant antennae on him.

Bugs in the house!

Here is a different type... a radio telescope that is part of the CARMA array of telescopes which spans across the Southwest and Hawaii.  When signals from these hundreds of telescopes are combined, it creates the effect of one giant telescope that is thousands of miles across.  This one is huge - at least five stories high.  Note the staircase and door at its base, and other telescopes in the background.  These are about 3 miles from our house just on the other side of the Owens River.

CARMA radio telescope

Home made tomato and onion salsa

One of the kitchen tools I simply can't do without is my Cuisinart food processor.  It's solidly built and reliable.  I have the 14-cup model.  Somehow I've lost several of the cutting blades, but I still have the critical chopping/mixing blade.

I probably use the Cuisinart at least five times a week.  It's simply irreplaceable when it comes to pureeing and mixing smooth sauces.

My Cuisinart - I couldn't imagine life without her

Today I saw it sitting in the corner of the kitchen, silently pleading for attention.  I had a fridge full of fresh produce from Jon's so I decided to make some simple baked tortilla strips, roasted salsa and a smoky & spicy black bean dip.

Mmm... fresh, healthy and bursting with flavor

As always, I started with the freshest ingredients possible:

Fresh onions, tomatoes and garlic, black beans and adobo paste

My list includes:

2 pounds roma tomatoes
2 bunches green onions
4 yellow or white onions
1-2 red onions
1-2 bulbs garlic

The first step is the most tedious - quarter the tomatoes and remove the seeds and white core.  Arrange them in cooking pans (coated with Pam cooking spray to make clean-up easier):

Tomatoes ready for roasting

Pop them in an oven.  Temperature is not critical, but the hotter you make it the more closely you have to watch them.  I chose 350 degrees.

While the tomatoes are roasting, start work on the onions.  Slice them thickly (1/4") and lay them in a medium-hot skillet to dry-fry.  Add a touch of oil if you want, but my sweetie likes it when I eliminate oils and salt from any recipe.  You want to see them get blackened on each side, and become a little soft throughout.  Use tongs to flip them - don't worry if they begin to fall apart or cook unevenly.  We're not trying to win a beauty contest.

Dry frying the onions

You can add some serrano peppers to the pan as well.  After they blister a bit, let them cool and remove the stems and seeds.  I don't put peppers in my salsa any more because my sweetie won't touch it if I do.

When the tomatoes start to brown on the edges it's time to remove them.

The smell of fresh roasted tomatoes is fantastic!

All this roasting will bring out the flavor in the onions and tomatoes.  Now we add some fresh stuff as we run it all through the food processor to finely puree.  A whole lot of cilantro and green onions (chopped first) for starters, then (optionally) a little lemon or lime juice, salt, fresh black pepper and olive oil to taste.

Set the salsa aside (if possible, let it rest in the fridge overnight before serving) and get to work on your smoky & spicy black bean dip!

Peel two full bulbs of garlic, remove the brown woody stem part and crush the heck out of them!  No need to chop them as they'll be visiting our friend the Cuisinart later.  Put them in a wok / skillet over low heat with about a tablespoon of oil (I used sunflower).

The smell of simmering garlic is close to heaven

Chop some onions and add them to the pan once the garlic begins to soften.  Keep it cooking low & slow, stirring often - we want them to soften and release their flavors - we don't want to brown them.

Add the fragrance of onions and I'm in a state of bliss

Once the onions are translucent, add spices to your taste.  Dried spices are best added at this point as the hot oil will draw the flavors out and infuse the dish with them.  But -- don't do this over high heat or for longer than five minutes or the dry spices will release bitter flavors.

I added cayenne pepper (dried in this case), cumin and a touch of sage.  You can always raise the heat level later.

Time to spice it up!

Then I added some adobo paste, which benefits from a brief bath in the hot oil.

Finally, I emptied a full can of black beans, with the liquid, into the pan.  Note that this adds some salt, so take that into account if you're adding salt later.

Simmer over very low heat for about 30 minutes.  Then remove to the food processor, add green onions, cliantro and raw red onion.  Run the food processor until it's a smooth paste.  During the processing, add salt and additional pepper to taste.

You're done.  Now we need something to dip in our wonderful fresh salsa and bean dip.  We prefer my home-made tortilla strips to store-bought any day.  For one, they're warm and fresh.  Two, we can cut down on the salt.  And three, I often use flour tortillas for a unique flavor.  They're very easy to make.

I often use home-made tortillas for these.  That will be the topic of a future post.

It's simple - take tortillas and cut them into strips.  For this I used my KitchenAid kitchen shears, another tool I couldn't live without.  Lay them on a cookie sheet that you've sprayed with Pam cooking spray.

Ready to make our chili-lime tortilla strips!

Spray lightly, then sprinkle with seasonings.  I wanted a chili-lime flavor, so I used cayenne pepper, sour salt and kosher salt.

(Sour salt is not salt at all.  It's citric acid -- the stuff that makes lemons and limes sour -- in a powdered form.)

Homemade is always better!

Bake for roughly 10 minutes at 300 degrees -- you will have to watch as cooking time varies depending on the type of tortillas you use.

Everything's best warm, so heat up the salsa and bean dip and serve the chips fresh from the oven!

Manzanar - WWII Japanese Concentration Camp

Lying just off the highway near the middle of the the Owens Valley near Mt. Whitney and the town of Lone Pine is an inconspicuous piece of history -- Manzanar.

This desolate and dusty place, which ranges from bitter cold to unbearable heat, was home to roughly a tenth of the 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned for the majority of the war's duration.  A full two-thirds of the prisoners were native-born American citizens.

Anti-Japanese sentiment ran hot

A visit to the small museum is a welcome break if driving between LA and Mammoth.  It's a moving and personal view of the tragedy inflicted on innocents during wartime.

A page from the roster of prisoners

The displays include reconstructions of daily life inside the prison camp, personal accounts and many stirring accounts of personal tragedy, persistence and triumph.

It's also free.

Row after row of barracks

furaha ya maisha

The joy of life.  Celebrated here.