meal one of three at High Horse Dinette/Basecamp
Unseasonably cold in LA too but not as cold as New Mexico or….Iowa. Plus there is sunshine, green grass and red, purple and yellow flowers and trees with oranges and lemons so not complaining. We have eaten well twice at a great new neighborhood place in Burbank — the High Horse Dinette/basecamp for food and coffee. Excellent rare hamburger, salads, Cafe cortado, southwest chicken wrap and cheerful hip vibe with several outdoor picnic tables set up in the driveway upside small dining area at the end of a quiet residential street. Amazing what one little place can do to change (improve) the feel of a neighborhood.
Later we visited my sister at her cool new apartment on Detroit street in the miracle mile neighborhood, in a pretty 1920s Spanish style building with an entryway courtyard with a bubbling fountain. Dinner was a short stroll away at Commerand where we had another good meal— moist flavorful chicken, chicken liver mousse, a kale and Brussel sprouts chopped salad.
Sisters hike, near Amir’s garden, Griffith Park
The next day we hiked in Griffith Park and then walked around the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, which includes an odd mix of houses perched high above Pacific Highway 1, with stunning views of the O’Connor and LA in the distance.
Pacific Palisades staircase to heaven
We were following a walk suggested in our guidebook that as promised always strenous, with lots of uphill steps through foliage and at one point a walk through a nearly washed out trail and worn out steps that left us on the wrong side of a “Private “ sign (that we then crawled under.)
Next stop: Camarillo, a pleasant LA suburb where dirck’s sister recently over. We had an excellent Peruvian meal at MOuthful Eatery in Thousand Oaks, eating lomo Saltwdo, chicken Aji stew, crispy yuca, cucumber mint lemonade and coconut flan while catching up,and occasionally watching the Olympic figure skaters on a big screen TV.
a mouthful of Peruvian food in Thousand Oaks Eatery
Road trip Day #1 from Albuquerque! The theme was Pueblos. First stop the Pueblo Culural Center in Albuquerque, a pleasant southwest adobe building with interesting exhibits on the history, art and culture of the Pueblos, primarily in New Mexico. Good gift shop and nice looking restaurant too. Then we drove about an hour west through flat range country with giant buttes. mesas and other-worldly rock formations rising from the ground like strange abstract sculptures. Tumbleweeds blew, rather than tumbled, across Interstate 40. Unfortunately, Acoma Pueblo was not open to visitors when we arrived. Winter hours. But we could see a few adobe houses atop the Mesa where about 15 families still live. Off season was not a bad time to see it (from a distance, if not up close and personal) because you could get a sense of the isolation. It’s way out and up there. We drove on a two Lane highway up to an overlook atop a rock outcropping where a few native Americans were selling pottery from their car.
