Thanksgiving Weekend Road Trip - Hearst Castle, Day 2

I spent the night at Courtesy Inn of San Simeon. It's just down the road from Hearst Castle, and its rate included a continental breakfast. The room was clean and the staff was friendly. I would stay there again when I visit Hearst Castle in the spring. I had dinner at Big Sur Cafe just steps away from Courtesy Inn. The place is a bit pricey since it is for tourists. The staff was very friendly and polite, and they showed a Hearst Castle video for its customers.

In the morning, I got some coffee and grabbed a couple Danishes before checking out from the motel and headed over to Hearst Castle again. As I passed by the Hearst Castle Ranch off Highway 1, there were zebras grazing with the cattle.

I left my jacket in the car before getting on the tour bus. That was a mistake. It was drizzling on top of the hill and significantly colder. Tour 1 group was much larger than the Tour 2 I went on yesterday. We had a tour guide and an other person staying behind the group to make sure that no one wandered off, touched anything, or used flash photography.

As I toured the castle for the second time, I imagined what it would be like to come here to work on a regular basis. It could be my dream job. This place reminded me of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. I prefer to think of it as a magical floating castle for children of all ages instead of an extravagant hangout for Hollywood celebrities. Mr. Lorenzo Lago, the tour guide from yesterday, mentioned how interesting it would be to write tales about the castle. I could already imagine my characters in it.

The tour ended at the indoor pool that's covered in 24k gold infused tiles. As soon as we got back on the bus, the rain started to pour down hard. After leaving the castle, I put on my rain jacket and went look for elephant seals along the coast, but there was none to be seen. I decided to take Highway 1 back home instead of 101. I passed many huge pine tress along the coast. I bet there were some porcini growing under those pine needles.

Thanksgiving Weekend Road Trip - Hearst Castle, Day 1

I like castles and historical castles. My first trip to Europe, I made sure that I visited Edinburgh Castle. My second trip to Europe, I traveled all over Italy. For some reason I did not visit Hearst Castle until this past weekend even though it is only 4 driving hours from Sand Village Farm. I left home at 8:30 A.M. on Friday morning. I made a stop at Wendy's in Salinas to try their new natural-cut fries with sea salt and got a caramel Brulée latte from Starbucks. Both were quite tasty!

I arrived Hearst Castle around 1:30 P.M. I wanted to start my tour with Tour 1 since it was my first time there, and this tour is designed for first time visitors to give them an overview. However, most of Tour 1s were sold out until much later, so I got a ticket for Tour 2 at 3 P.M. and a ticket for Tour 1 on Saturday morning at 9:30 A.M. Tour 1 included the companion movie Hearst Castle Building the Dream shown on the giant 5 story screen in the Hearst Castle Theater, which I was able to watch before my tour began at 3 P.M. The movie answered many questions I had about how the castle was built and the story behind its owners.

 

Five minutes before 3 P.M., we lined up next to the doors inside of the Visitor Center to have pictures taken then got on the tour bus to take us up the hill to Hearst Castle. On the way up the hill, we passed by the cages that used to house bears and other carnivorous animals of Hearst Castle Zoo. For ten years, Hearst Castle had its own private zoo. Some of the herbivorous animals such as zebras, big horned sheep, and antelopes can still be seen on the property.

My tour guide was Mr. Lorenzo Lago, who was quite humorous and informative. He told us that his first book, Romance on the High Seas, just got published, which will be available on Amazon.com in a few weeks.

There was so much to see in the castle - every door, door knob, tile, ceiling, lamp, painting, statue, etc. I could spend all day there and still be amazed at every little detail. Its architect, Julia Morgan, was one of the first women to graduate from University of California at Berkeley with a degree in civil engineering and the first woman to receive a certificate in architecture from the Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts.

I was fascinated by the huge 24-hour kitchen that had every thing any cook could ever wanted. Hearst Castle raised much of its food supply. It had a poultry farm and a cattle ranch (still operational). It also grew many fruits and vegetables. Its water supply came from natural springs above, piped into two reserve tanks of tremendous capacity. In many ways, it was self sustained although extravagant. I wanted to see more of its garden, but Tour 4, the garden tour, is only available from April through October. I will have to come back next spring. Photos are allowed inside of the castle but no flash since harsh light can damage the artifacts. More photos can be viewed at my Hearst Castle album.

Planting Snow Peas

Remember those snow pea seeds I collected back in June? It was then I first started blogging. Now more than 100 blog entries later, I have planted some of those seeds before leaving for Mendocino Woodlands Camp and left them on my new propagation table. I covered the potted seeds with a tray (shown in photo below) to prevent birds and squirrels from eating the seeds.

One morning I forgot to put the tray back down after checking on them. That night I found holes in the soil of cell packs. Some seeds were stolen. I planted a couple more 6-cell packs just in case. In just a couple weeks, the seeds have turned into seedlings. I cleared out the dried up green bean stalks in the the half wine barrel, collected seeds for next summer, and planted the snow pea seedlings into the barrel. This year I am trying something new with planting the snow peas. In the past, I always planted them next to the arbor. This year I am planting them in the wine barrel with a home made cage in the center for the snow peas to climb on. I think this may make picking the peas easier since I can go around the cage and pick them from all directions. We will see in a few months.

Surprise Tiny Visitor in the Garage

I walked into the garage this morning to get some shears to cut down the dried up bean stalks. Suddenly I heard the sound of rapidly flapping wings. It sounded like a huge moth banging against a light bulb. I looked up and was surprised to see a hummingbird frantically banging against the glass on one side of the garage. That side of the garage is composed of multiple panels of glass from the floor all the way to the top. I have no idea how long this hummingbird had been in the garage. Not too long, I hope.

The bird could see me and was freighted. I already had the big garage door rolled up, so I knew it was just a matter of minutes before it would find its way out. I have always want to shoot some photos of hummingbirds, and I have spotted plenty of them in hummingbird friendly Sand Village Farm. Unfortunately, they always buzz away as soon as they sensed my presence. This was the perfect opportunity for me to get some pictures of the tiny bird.

This hummingbird has some sparkly green feathers on its back. Poor thing was so confused as it could see the trees outside but couldn't get there. Finally, it turned toward the other direction and zoomed out of the garage through the rolled up door. Later on I saw the bird visiting the abutilon flowers right outside of the garage glass panels.

Thanksgiving Festival at California Culinary Academy

After roaming in the woods for 3 days with little sleep and hyperactivity, I came down with bronchitis. For the last 3 days, I drowned myself in organic tomato soup, pork ramen soup, and hot lemon honey tea. I also slept whenever I could with the help of Benadryl. Last night when I woke up from another nap and saw the invitation to attend Thanksgiving Festival at California Culinary Academy, I figured I was ready to go out again. I once considered enrolling in California Culinary Academy for its one year pâtisserie and baking program. I attended one of their open houses a few years ago when they were located off Civic Center BART station. Before heading out this morning, I thought that I'd double check the direction from the BART Station. I was surprised to find that the Academy has moved! It is now located at 350 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco. I decided to drive there since it is not exactly close to a BART station. It turned out that there is plenty of free all day street parking on Saturday and Sunday.

The event started out with a tour. The new facility is very modernized compare to the previous location, which was in a historical building in downtown area. After the tour, we got seated in a room for a Thanksgiving dinner cooking demonstration. As we entered the room, I got a cup of hot lemon apple cider which was perfect for my recovery from bronchitis. I wanted the recipe for that more than anything else. Chef Steve Moore demonstrated a main dish and two side dishes - Turkey Roulade with Sausage & Apple Stuffing, Sweet Potato Gratin, and Fresh Cranberry and Orange Relish.

I am not particularly into turkey, so I was more interested in the way that sweet potato gratin was made. This particular recipe uses curry powder, sour cream, and shredded extra-sharp white cheddar. I was curious what it would taste like compare to the traditional super sweet gooey Thanksgiving sweet potatoes with marshmallows. At the end of demonstration, we all got a small sample plate. You know that I ate everything. I was starving for some solid food after 3 days of soup. The sweet potato gratin worked for me. The curry powder and ground cumin gave it an Indian flair. The white cheddar gave it a semi-savory taste. It was a good balance of both sweet and savory. This is a dish that I will make because the sweet potato is ranked number one in nutrition of all vegetables by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and the recipe is not as labor intensive as the turkey dish.

Sweet Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

4 pounds of red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 3 1/4 pounds)
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream, divided
3 cups shredded extra-sharp white cheddar (about 12 oz.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook sweet potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes (do not overcook). Drain well and cool. Peel sweet potatoes; cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

2. Mix curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in small bowl to blend. Completely line bottom of 9-inch-diameter spring form pan with sweet potato slices, filling in any spaces with cut-up sweet potato slices. Press down slightly. Spread 1/2 cup sour cream over sweet potatoes. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon spice mixture over sour cream. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat twice with remaining sweet potatoes, sour cream, spice mixture, and cheese. Place pan on rimmed baking sheet; bake until cheese is melted and sweet potatoes are heated through. about 40 minutes. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill. If desired, reheat in 400 degrees F. oven until hot. about 15 minutes.

3. Remove pan sides from gratin; cut into wedges. Serve gratin warm or at room temperature.