Best Dog Park in Napa

The weather has finally warmed up. I decided that I had to get out of town and go explore while I had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off even though I am still recovering from this latest sinus infection and agonizing coughs. I did a quick overview of surrounding counties and thought Napa would be a nice day trip. I Googled for dog parks in Napa, and sure enough there is a highly rated one called Alston Park. It's being compared to Point Isabel without the ocean. I could certainly enjoy a change of scenery and away from the cold ocean breeze. I packed up all the essentials and Kelsey and got on the road around 10 a.m. heading over to Napa, which is less an hour away from El Cerrito.

There are two enclosure for dogs to roam around and play with each other. One for small and/or shy dogs. The other one for large dogs. Kelsey is friendly with all dogs but she really isn't a run-around and play-catch kind of dog. The other dogs can charge at Kelsey at top speed hoping to get Kelsey to run with them, but they only get a dog who stays at the same spot and looks them with a wagging docked tail. After Kelsey sniffed around the enclosure and greeted other excitable dogs, I took her on a trial walk. The trails were beautiful and surrounded by rows of grape plants, a signature scenery of Napa.

After we walked around Aston Park, I took Kelsey to Downtown Napa. Many people are out at the riverfront enjoying the sun and the view. I was surprised how friendly and well mannered the kids were as they came up to me asking for permission to pet Kelsey. Kelsey absolutely loved the girls and just leaned herself on them. The younger girl told me that their 3-year-old lab ran away that morning, and they haven't been able to find her. I sure hope they get their dog back.  

Napa is now one of my favorite neighboring cities for a day trip for sure.

New Year's Day in Mendocino

The main building

I have wanted to go back to Mendocino ever since I attended the 3-day Mushroom Camp back in 2010. A couple months ago I happened to see a great deal on Travel Zoo for 2-night stay at Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites, which allows dogs for a small extra charge. I purchased a voucher for it and made my reservation for January 1st through 3rd, 2013. I wanted to start the new year by taking a relaxing trip in a small town next to the coast, where time seems to stand still.

The Victorian style hotel was established in 1878 and located on the Main Street of Mendocino facing the coast.

The ocean view from the main building

For people traveling with their dogs, they get to stay in the garden suites behind the main building. I was delighted to see a little garden outside of my room. Inside of the room, there's a fire place, a walking closet, and Victorian style furniture and decor. It's like stepping back in time.

Garden suites behind the main building

The hotel also has a Victorian style dining room, which is beautiful and romantic. Since I was only traveling with Kelsey, I didn't want to leave her by herself. I also didn't see the point of having an expensive fancy dinner all by myself even though the menu looks quite delicious.

My room

After settling in, I took Kelsey for a walk around town.  According to 2010 census, Mendocino had a population of 894. The town is very small. I walked around the corner and found Harvest Market which was open on New Year's Day. I bought some clam chowder, dinner rolls, and pasta salad back to my room for dinner. Tomorrow I will go explore some of the state parks in the area.

Kelsey immediately made herself home

What to Do on a Rainy Christmas Day in San Francisco

People waiting to enter Contemporary Jewish Museum on Christmas Day

My friend S and I have been talking about our tradition of hanging out on Christmas Day. She is a modern Muslim, and I am an atheist. Naturally we just hang out and do whatever on Christmas Day. I have wanted to go hike in a regional park but it's been raining cats and dogs for days in the Bay Area. At 1 a.m. on Christmas morning, we decided that we would go help out at San Francisco City Impact's Christmas Day Block Party. S has just moved to San Francisco a few months ago, so I met her at her new pad in the Mission.

By the time we arrived at City Impact's office, the event was winding down already. S and I each carried a box of hot meals to hand out around the block. This was in the Tenderloin district, an area just around the corner from downtown where all the designer shops are, but it's night and day in comparison. The Tenderloin is full of homeless people, drug addicts, alcoholics, and people who are just down on luck. It didn't take us long to hand out all the hot meals. We went back to City Impact to help clean up the facility before we headed over to our next stop, Contemporary Jewish Museum.

It was the only museum that's open on Christmas Day, and it was generously offering free admission for everyone. As soon as we got inside, we got some lunch at its cafe, which was serving Indian food for the day. These are some of the reasons I love the Bay Area. We could all go to the Jewish Museum and eat Indian food in the same building on any given day.

After lunch, we stayed in the museum reading up the history of Jewish communities in the Bay Area until the museum was closing at 4 p.m. I was in full rain gear, so I stepped outside in stride. My friend S unfortunately had to walk around in her soaking wet tennis shoes. I knew exactly how that felt and couldn't help not to tease her about the squishy wet socks. We headed over to one of the movie theaters nearby to catch a lighthearted comedy, Silver Linings Playbook, before heading back home.

Heavy rain resumed at 4 p.m.

My Plant Loving Hello Kitty

People sometimes ask me where I got my Hello Kitty charm that's attached to my cell phone. This special limited edition of Hello Kitty charm was sold during the sixty-first National Arbor Day Festival that was held on May 23, 2010 in Kanagawa Prefecture, which is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.

My brother and his wife were taking their annual vacation in Japan last year and brought it back for me as a souvenir. They knew if I'd like anything, this would be it (other than food, that is). Who else would be better to promote a national festival than Hello Kitty, Japan's tourism ambassador?

Come to think of it, I have no idea what day is our own national arbor day. Do we even have one? I know the City of El Cerrito holds annual Earth Day celebration and get the community to plant new trees. I planted a little cherry tree in December. I think Sand Village Farm is reaching its maximum capacity of trees, but I suppose I can keep a few more dwarf fruit trees. Remember those mulberry scions I planted last month? They are doing quite well, so I will soon have 5 little mulberry trees.

Homemade Karanji for Diwali, Festival of Lights

I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at my cubicle world this morning. My Indian cubicle mate, who taught me the Indian eggplant dish, handed me a brightly colored box. When I opened it, there were two pieces of pastries inside (I ate one before remembering to take a photo). She told me that they were filled with coconuts. I immediately ran upstairs to get a cup of coffee to go with the pastry. The pastry is not greasy at all. I thought they were baked although they looked like they were fried from the blisters on the shell. The coconut flakes inside were moist, spicy, and sugary. After I finished the first piece, I went over to obtain some information about the delicious morsel.

"Was there ginger in the pastry? It's sweet and spicy!" I asked her.

She was surprised to hear the mention of ginger as there was no ginger in the ingredients. There were just coconuts, sugar, jaggery, cardamon, and saffron." Oh, so it was cardamon not ginger that I was tasting. I couldn't believe how off I was. Must be still half asleep.

"What is jaggery?" I asked her. Jaggery (also translated as jaggeree) is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal sugar in India. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals. It's available in Indian grocery stores in blocks. You shave it from the block to use as a sweetener. It sounds great and tastes excellent. I will have to pick some up to experiment with.

I asked her whether the pastries were baked. It turned out they were fried. I was surprised again! She explained to me that the dough was made with all purpose flour mixed with an Indian flour similar to semolina. She went on to explain how the dough was stretched to make it pliable.

After hearing the process and ingredients in details - saffron, shaved jaggery, fresh coconut flakes and pastry made from scratch, I realized this was no ordinary everyday dessert that I just ate! I asked her if this was for a special holiday? Surely enough, the pastry, called Karanji, is for Diwali, which is a five day Hindu festival, often referred to as the Festival of Lights. She admitted it was a lot of work which normally is a community effort in Indian. A group of women would gather and spend a day making Karanji and socialize. She made karanji with a friend during the weekend to celebrate the holiday.

Wow, I feel incredibly special to have the opportunity to taste this authentic homemade Indian treat and learn more about the culture and history behind it. This is one of the reasons I feel fortunately to live in the Bay Area. You can experience world cuisine and culture without having to fly anywhere.