Thanksgiving Day began with a storm bringing 12 hours of rain to Princeville. With the bridge into Hanalei closed for many hours due to flash flood danger, there was not much to do but hang out close to home.

Hideaways Beach, Kauai

I went down to Hideaways Beach located below the rental condo at Pali Ke Kua. It is a a very small beach and very few people come here so it was very peaceful. On the east end, near the black lava rocks, I discovered several small red and pink Ni’ihau shells. Small fish swam in the tide pools created by the lava rocks. On the bluff above, pairs of Nene geese foraged on the grassy grounds of the condo complex.

Nene geese graze on Pali Ke Kua grounds in Princeville, Kauai

After a busy stretch when I was unable to blog, I went to Kaua’i for vacation in late September. The video below shows the Waipa Farmers Market held in a field just outside the village of Hanalei on the Northshore of Kaua’i.

The nearby Foodland supermarket in Princeville is convenient but like most supermarkets, the fruit is harvested long before it is ripe. A mango bought at Foodland took one week to ripen before it was ready to eat!

At the Waipa Farmers market, the fruit and vegetable are plucked at their peak, ready for consumption soon after purchase. Some of the produce is expensive as costs are high on this remote island but items abundant in season are usually cheap. This September I discovered the bland but crispy rose apple, and the luscious heart-shaped egg fruit. The mild hard-boiled egg yolk flavor and texture made me wonder if it could be made into a vegan substitute for the Spanish candy, yemas de Santa Teresa.

One stand sold a Mayan-style spiced chocolate drink made from local cacao. It is a concoction that reminds me of chai and expresso, and which will perk anyone up on a hot, lazy afternoon!

Last Monday, I made a trip to visit the Cartier store on Rodeo Drive which was opening a jewelry exhibit to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French company.

We arrived around 11 am but the upstairs portion of the exhibit was still not ready. We looked around for a few minutes on the ground floor which had regular merchandise on display and plus some of the remarkable jewels designed in the past century and which had been gathered for the special show. I started asking questions but the sales lady did not know enough so she got a docent to give us a guided tour. For over half an hour we were treated to a dazzling display accompanied by information on the advances in techniques in design of jewelry, watches and other luxury items that Cartier so famously produces.

The most impressive piece of the show was a wreath of diamonds that held together a cascade of diamonds and deep green emerald drops. This brooch was designed for Marjorie Merriweather Post and it was accompanied by a picture of her wearing it in the Roaring 20s. Pinned near the shoulder of her dress, the cascade of glittering stones almost reached her waist.

Another celebrated jewel collector, Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor, was represented by no less than three displays. Her diamond and ruby suite was in the street window. Upstairs, her fabled engraved and heart-shaped Taj Mahal diamond that Shah Jehan bestowed on his wife Mumtaz centuries ago, hung from a ruby-studded gold rope designed by Cartier to replace the original silk cord. Nearby was her pearl and ruby necklace, featuring the enormous La Peregrina, a teardrop pearl once worn by Mary Tudor and generations of Spanish queen consorts. Next to the necklace was the design sketch on which Ms. Taylor scribbled a request to change the setting from gold to platinum. Richard Burton was a remarkable husband to lavish so many magnificent jewels on his wife.

Although we were clearly not high-rollers, I appreciated the courtesy that the store extended to us by giving the private tour. That is what I call great customer service. I was so dazzled by the display I did not take any video of the store’s exterior. Sadly yet understandably, I was not permitted to photograph the displays inside. It was a great marketing effort featuring skilled craftsmanship, rare gems, celebrity and romance.

After browsing the windows of other fabled jewelers such as Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, Garrard,Tiffany, Buccellati and Bulgari, we stopped for a late lunch at McCormick and Schmick’s. Our booth overlooked Wilshire Boulevard and the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Great spot to count the Rolls Royces and Bentleys on the street. Food and service was very good. We enjoyed a salad of arugula with goat cheese, seafood in a flavorful lobster broth, and a moist thick slab of shark with grilled vegetables. Dessert was a trio of sorbets and a dainty key lime pie. A tad too dainty for my hearty appetite. After all, every jeweled bracelet we saw that morning had larger diameters than the pie!

The produce in France is quite different from what we get in California. For example, organic (biologique in French) produce is relatively rare and expensive, and for some reason, white asparagus seems much more popular with the French than the green.

White asparagus at farmer's market on Boulevard de Strasbourg, Toulouse

Toulouse, one of France’s smaller but vibrant cities has several farmer’s markets which are fun to visit when traveling. On Tuesdays, the city’s elegant main square, Place du Capitole, is the venue for a market that does offer organic produce. When I was there last year, a bakery demonstrated their artisanal breadmaking. Also on Tuesday mornings, a mile or so away on the Boulevard de Strasbourg where it passes Place Jeanne d’Arc, a smaller market lines one side of the block.

If you are staying at a hotel and have no cooking facilities to make a meal out of market produce, then stop for lunch at L’Os à Moëlle, at 14 Rue  Roquelaine, just around the corner from the Boulevard de Strasbourg market . At L’Os, you can create your own first course from the buffet cart, charmingly called the chariot. This salad buffet is laden with typical items like shredded carrots, beets, potato salad, hard-boiled eggs, cold seafood including pickled herring, and olives. For the main course, the chef offers regional specialties like cassoulet with confit of duck. You can’t go wrong if you pick the region’s famous red wine, Madiran, to sip with your meal.

Being the Saturday before Mother’s Day, today brings the traditional Fair Oaks Street Garage Sale in  San Francisco. Located one block east of Dolores Street, Fair Oaks is 5 blocks long, running from 21st to 26th Streets. This address is considered Noe Valley in spirit although technically part of the Mission District.

The annual Fair Oaks Street Garage Sale in front of Victorian homes

It is amazing that an entire neighborhood can get so organized to have this major block party and sale which serves as a fundraiser for the Jamestown Community Center, a nonprofit organization benefiting Mission neighborhood youth. Then again, they’ve been practicing for over 30 years. There seemed to be many vendors selling jewelry, clothes and junk who appeared to be professionals so  I am not sure that their proceeds go to the community center.

Vintage toy train accessories at annual Fair Oaks Street Garage Sale

In any case, it is fun to just watch the activity or find a Mother’s Day gift. Food sold along the street include traditional fundraising goodies such as cupcakes, popcorn, carrot cake and cookies. Since this is San Francisco, not to mention the Mission district, tamales were also being hawked. Filled with moist chicken and a surprise—diced carrots—these were a delicious treat for $3.

The best treasures are perhaps to be found in other garage sales in the area capitalizing on the Fair Oaks traffic. At 25th and Dolores, outside a Victorian mansion, the offerings included antique wrought iron and a Thonet washstand.

Such a long name for a patch of forest! As in all of the surviving forested preserves in the San Francisco Bay Area, the majority of the redwoods here are second growth. Douglas firs are abundant too in this part of the Santa Cruz mountain range. In many parts of the Purisima Creek Preserve, you will encounter classic Mediterranean chaparral vegetation such as sagebrush, manzanita and madrone. The drive to the trailhead on Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) itself is quite scenic, as is the road that continues twisting down to Woodside. At the junction with La Honda (Highway 84) , the fabled Alice’s Restaurant is the favorite pit stop for motorcylists and other travelers. It was extremely crowded this Sunday so I did not stop to sample the fare.

Alice's Restaurant in Woodside, CA

Motorcycles fill up the busy parking lot at Alice's Restaurant

Turning onto La Honda heading West towards the coast takes you through more beautiful rolling hills, past farms and the picturesque, ramshackle white Victorian stagecoach stop at San Gregorio, before arriving at Highway 1 at San Gregorio Beach.

Red barn seen from La Honda, Highway 84

I went back to the festival to get the grilled duck hearts that were sold out last week. But I was not destined to taste them today (at time of writing, April 19th). The O Izakaya Lounge foodstand at the Hotel Kabuki did not have enough to serve them to the crowd so they offered chicken skins instead. Coated in a light batter and fried to golden crisps in the kitchen before being put on the outdoor grill for a light toasting, the crunchy skins were served with dainty wedges of lemon. This traditional Japanese snack was an unexpected first-time treat for me but I resolved to make yet another trip to Japantown to nosh on the duck hearts.

The parade arrived in Japantown soon after I finished my snack. I stood under a fir tree pruned into a bonsai outside the hotel for shade. It was very hot for San Francisco, reaching a recordbreaking 87 ^oF (30 ^oC). George Takei, the parade’s Grand Marshal was near the front of the procession. He gestured the Vulcan salute, to the delight of the huge crowd lining Post Street.

George Takei does the Vulcan salute in the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade

Dancers in kimonos parade down Post Street in JTown

Taiko drums, politicians, diplomats, marching bands, martial art and dance troupes went by. And several floats carrying beauty queens. I have never seen an anime costume contingent before but this parade had one.

A contingent of anime costumes at the S.F. Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, 2009

Ladies in kimonos float by

The end of the parade was suitably raucous and festive with a a Shinto shrine stacked on a tower of sake barrels, guarded by three almost naked men . This shrine, the Taru Mikoshi, was carried by energetic men of all ethnicity, mostly in traditional Japanese garb such as hapi coats, and a few in fundoshi. the traditional diaper-like loincloth. The bold graphic patterns on the coats were a visual feast. Would love to have one myself.

Since circumstances do not allow me to do international travel now, I am grateful that a festival in my own hometown offers such a sensational show of Japanese culture and a much needed dose of joyful exuberance .

This is the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival at Japantown that continues next weekend. When I got there this afternoon, sunshine and a strong breeze which kept the the sky of clear of clouds provided fine Spring conditions for the event. My first stop was at the Peace Plaza to watch a few minutes of the martial arts demonstrations.

Peace Plaza tower and cherry tree in blossom

Martial arts demonstration at the Japantown Peace Plaza

Then I went indoors into the Hotel Kabuki where meeting rooms were used for various demonstrations and exhibits: swords, traditional music, origami, paper dolls, and Ikebana. The Ikebana floral designs were breathtakingly beautiful and some were very unusual.

Ikebana floral design

After an hour of flower arrangements, clever origami dinosaurs and spaceships, I came back out into the sunshine and made a beeline for the outdoor food stand featuring the chefs of the hotel’s O Izakaya Restaurant, who offered rather exotic grilled meats including duck hearts and tsukune (chicken meatballs). Unfortunately, the group ahead of me in line bought all those kebabs and I had to make do with walu. The skewer costing $4 held 3 cubes of the rich, moist and tender white fish alternating with 2 cubes of sweet, warm pineapple. A delicious combo.

Chef brushes skewers of walu on grill with marinade

Still hungry, I tried Okinawan soba noodles at the Festival’s Food Bazaar. The noodles were thick and surprisingly yellow. I guess I am used to brown buckwheat. A shaker of chili flakes was at the counter. It jazzed up the light noodle soup. This snack was tasty too, but in a different way. Rustic. Next week, I’ll try to return for a taste of the duck hearts and tsukune! As an extra incentive to return, next Sunday’s schedule includes a parade featuring actor George Takei as Parade Grand Marshal. I wonder if he will stop in at the origami room to see the Star Trek Enterprise spaceship made of paper.

When I was a kid growing up in multicultural Malaysia, I noticed some neighbors and teachers would quietly disappear just before midday on the Friday before Easter. They were off to church. After I moved to San Francisco and settled as an adult in the even more diverse and multicultural Mission district, I often visited the Mission Dolores church just a block away from home.

There are actually two buildings of worship at the Mission Dolores complex. A low white structure, the actual Mission Dolores church , was built circa 1782-91 of adobe brick, and survived the earthquakes of the 1800s and the famous big one in 1906. It is the oldest surviving building in San Francisco. Next to the Mission, on the street corner (Dolores and 16th Street) is the Mission Dolores Basilica. A Victorian Gothic Revival brick church on this spot was severely damaged in the 1906 quake and was replaced by the current Basilica. Although designed in the Spanish Plateresque style, the exuberant exterior decoration is not carved of stone, as at the cathedrals of Salamanca and Santiago de Campostela, but appears to be of cast material.

Mission Dolores church and Basilica

One Good Friday years ago, I went to the Mission’s Basilica to watch the Stations of the Cross, a rather long ceremony performed in front of a series of plaques illustrating the significant moments on the last day in the life of Jesus. Then I understood what my Catholic neighbors and teachers had experienced.

In the evening of this most somber of Christian holidays, a service called Liturgy of the Word is held simultaneously in both buildings at Mission Dolores. Conducted in English in the old Mission, and in Spanish at the Basilica. I went to the Mission for its Old World ambience. After about an hour and with no pause—so I did not know the service had ended—the congregation was led into the Basilica by singing choristers where the next ceremony called the Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion was conducted bilingually. There was a lot of kneeling and standing. Then a large cross was paraded up the center aisle by priests and attendants, and passed over the heads of the worshippers, pew by pew. This veneration took a while as there were a lot of pews. After the communion was celebrated, a solemn procession called Santo Entierro started from the Basilica’s portal into the street. Santo Entierro means Holy Burial in Spanish and it was interesting to witness the local, predominantly Hispanic Catholic community continue this old religious tradition at this historic church.

Santo Entierro catafalque with Christ figure on Dolores Street

Youth carried black and white banners at the front of the procession. Next was a wooden catafalque with a painted figure of Jesus lying down and covered in white fabric. The catafalque must have been heavy as the men in black robes carrying it stopped often to change positions. A statue standing on a slightly smaller platform decked with flowers and carried by women followed. I assume the figure is of the Virgin Mary. Worshippers singing softly formed the rear portion of this short procession. The designer in me wished they did not use fluorescent bulbs in the catafaque’s canopy to light up the Jesus figure. It might have looked better with LED lights powered by batteries. The LEDs bulbs could be discretely placed along the wood frame or even under the white shroud.

Statue borne by women in the Santo Entierro procession

This modest and mournful parade of about 100 participants. some carrying lit candles, slowly crept 2 blocks towards Dolores Park before turning around. In contrast, the noisy San Francisco Chinese New Year parade (see video) illuminated by klieg lamps draws an audience of over 700,000. San Francisco is certainly blessed to have such an incredible range of cultural events every year.

Driving on Cabrillo Highway (Highway 1), just south of Half Moon Bay,  it is difficult to miss this solitary white building sitting grandly on a gentle slope, set back from the road, watching over the Pacific. The house looks large from the highway but its simple New England salt box design seems perfect for its coastside setting.

Johnston House seen from the North-west

A garden on the south side is protected by a white fence

History buffs can arrange to tour this house which has its interior and exterior renovated. Tour dates are limited. In addition, a Holiday House event with crafts for sale is held for two weeks each November. A garden on the southern side of the has also been restored. The garden seat is an aluminum replica of the iron English original.

South garden with replica of antique English garden bench

The Johnston House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a treasurel as California does not have too many buildings surviving from the 1850s.