Backpack

Like Cliff, Backpack happily escaped the cold to welcome in the New Year in sunny Southern California. However, as his travel usually involves heading to another country he felt slightly confused upon finding himself still in the United States after a long flight on a United 777 (his airplane of choice to Europe). To remedy the situation Backpack decided to look for the foreign in Los Angeles.


His first stop was Olvera Street, the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles. He took the Metro Gold Line from Pasadena to Union Station (contrary to popular belief there is public transportation in the LA area…and some people even walk), and crossed the street into a bit of Mexico in LA.


Backpack wandered around the colorful marketplace and plaza, and took a peek inside Avila Adobe, the oldest house in Los Angeles. The sight of all the Mexican food made him rather hungry, but as the restaurants were crowded he decided to wait and indulge in Mexican food at Señor Fish, just a short walk from where he was staying in Pasadena. He greatly enjoyed his big glass of horchata and a very yummy vegetarian sope (he has yet to find a decent sope in DC…if anybody knows of a place please let him know!).


Having gotten his taste of Mexico, Backpack decided to take further advantage of the city’s diversity and get in some German culture. He thus made his way to the Alpine Village in Torrance, where he wandered the shops in search of German Christmas decorations and accessories.


Of course the highlight of any trip to the Alpine Village is the grocery store, which is stocked with German treats and has a great bakery. Backpack tried to be good, but couldn’t resist a fresh poppy seed Kranz, which he devoured rather quickly. What can he say, he likes his carbs, and calories don’t count on vacation anyway.

Cliff

Cliff is always sad when the holiday season comes to an end. One of the things he dislikes most is taking down his festive Christmas decorations, which he typically does on Epiphany. Because he finds the décor so cheery he thought about keeping it up until Candlemas, but knows that would just be putting off the inevitable. What he does not understand, however, are the many neighbors who take down their trees the day after Christmas (apparently they are not familiar with the twelve days of).


Cliff had a wonderful holiday season, which included celebrating the New Year with friends in Pasadena. He arrived the evening of the 31st to lovely weather, a Mexican feast and lots of bubbly (he was particularly fond of the Henriot Souverain Brut). His friends’ home was filled with beautiful Christmas decorations, and there was still plenty of festive holiday spirit to be found.


He enjoyed waddling the streets of Old Town Pasadena, where he shopped the sales and admired the Christmas tree covered in shiny gold and red ornaments. And of course no trip to Old Town would be complete without indulging in frozen yogurt from 21 Choices.


During his trip Cliff was also able to partake in the 35th birthday celebration of one of his hosts. They marked the occasion with dinner (and a drink or two) at The Parkway Grill, a restaurant specializing in Regional American cuisine. Of course Cliff, never one to resist a good breadbasket (especially when filled with tasty cheese breadsticks and fig-studded bread), was full by the time his meal arrived.


Cliff had a wonderful visit with his friends, and was sad to return to a rather chilly Washington. But, at least he can console himself with the knowledge that in less than 11 months he can start thinking about Christmas again!

P.T.

Although P.T. will always be a California boy at heart, he recently felt it was time for a change, for a new adventure. Ignoring all warnings of cold winters and terribly humid summers, he thought it would be fun to give life in Washington a try. Before leaving, however, he made certain to hit all of his favorite spots and savor his favorite treats. He first stopped by 21 Choices, where he indulged in the shop's delicious frozen yogurt. P.T. was delighted that one of the flavors of the day was Reese’s Overload, a combination of white and chocolate Reese’s, NutRageous and peanut butter…yum yum!


Later in the day, P.T. made his way to the Ford Amphitheatre. Located in the Hollywood Hills, the Ford is the perfect setting for a relaxing evening of wine, food, conversation and culture. P.T and his friends enjoyed a picnic on the grounds, noshing on tasty cheeses, salads and wine, and finishing their feast with homemade chipotle peanut brittle, and vanilla and pistachio éclairs from Bottega Louie (Even though he’s not usually an éclair kind of guy P.T thought that they were very tasty!).


They then made their way into the amphitheater to hear the enthusiastic Gregorio Luke give his talk, Life-size Murals of Rufino Tamayo.


Wanting to fit in as much as he could before leaving, P.T even made a stop on the way to the airport. While he cannot recommend the city of Torrance itself, it is home to the Alpine Village, a fabulous place for picking up German delicacies, dirndls and holiday decorations. The Alpine Village hosts the largest Oktoberfest in Southern California, and even has its own chapel! After some shopping P.T. indulged in a just out of the oven pretzel and German potato salad – of course only in Southern California was he able to enjoy it with Tapatío hot sauce!

Abbie

Abbie, like Admiral, also had the opportunity to spend a few days on the West Coast last week. However, while Admiral was checking out the local museums, Abbie was checking out the local treats. First on her agenda: a frozen yogurt tour of Southern California. Stop number one was Cherry on Top. She loved that the yogurt was self serve, as she could try little bits of the many flavors, something she took full advantage of, indulging in chocolate, cookies and cream, coffee, cake batter and peanut butter (perhaps having more than a little bit of the latter).


As tasty as Cherry on Top’s yogurt was, she preferred the less sweet frozen yogurt at Golden Spoon, stop number two. She sampled the pistachio and cake batter, which were ever so tasty, but ultimately went with the peanut butter, which Abbie thinks might be as good as the peanut butter frozen yogurt back home at Thomas Sweet.


After all of the frozen treats Abbie decided to diversify her indulgences, and stopped by the San Marino restaurant/gourmet market Julienne. She had a hard time deciding between the different edible treats and wines, but eventually made up her mind, and picked up some goodies to share with her new special friend, Cal.


Although Abbie had never thought of herself as a summer fling kind of girl, she couldn’t resist Cal’s charms, and spent much of the trip with him, lounging lazily by the pool (and occasionally sneaking off to a shaded private spot under the palm trees).

Admiral

Admiral, like many of his penguin friends, loves to travel. In fact, he just got back from the West Coast, where he was visiting friends in Pasadena. Besides catching up with his buddies and just generally enjoying beautiful sunny Southern California, the highlight of his trip was the visit to Pasadena’s fabulous Bunny Museum. Located in a private home, the museum houses 25,000 bunny items – ranging from bunny plush to figurines to Rose Parade float bunnies - and is also home to three very cute pet bunnies (Admiral brought them some apples to eat!).


Admiral enjoyed talking to Candace, who told him all about the collection. Candace and her husband Steve began exchanging bunny gifts in 1993, and opened their home as a museum in 1998.


The diverse collection includes animals dressed as bunnies; Admiral was sad to learn that there were no penguins in this section of the museum, so he drew a chalk penguin dressed as a bunny in the museum’s garden.


Even though the museum is penguin-free, Admiral has added it to his list of favorite museums, and recommends that you visit The Bunny Museum if you happen to find yourself in Southern California.


After visiting the museum, Admiral decided he needed a little treat (or two), so he hit the South Pasadena Farmer’s Market. Blatantly ignoring the no animals allowed rule he waddled from stand to stand. He had a hard time deciding between all of the delicacies, and in the end opted for some vegetarian goodies from Dave’s Gourmet Korean Food, tamales from Corn Maiden’s gourmet tamales (his favorite was the blue corn, roasted chile and Monterey jack cheese one) and a big bag of Kettle Corn.