Our newly replastered pool, and the view to the west.

In case you hadn’t heard, we had a significant 5.4 magnitude earthquake here in Southern California on Tuesday. At 11:42 am. It lasted for about 15 seconds, although the most severe portion was only about 8 -10 seconds, then it gradually faded after that. If you’ve never been in an earthquake, it’s hard to describe. It is a very deep roaring-wrenching sound first – you hear it initially, in the half second before you feel the earth start to shift. I was near a major beam in the house, so I didn’t move. Light fixtures swayed, the water in both our pool and spa began sloshing around, although no water lapped over the edges. (Ten minutes later the pool water was still moving.)  The wrenching noise continues. It feels like forever. It’s frightening, yes. The fear, of course, is that maybe this is going to be the BIG one, the one that’s going to bring down the house. Sometimes I run to a doorway; other times, depending on the severity, I’m frozen, in suspense, listening for sounds that indicate major damage. glass breaking, pictures falling and shattering, or worse. Part of the wrenching sound is the house itself, the structure, the beams and wood screaming against the bolts and screws, leaning from the nails that hold a house together and to a cement slab foundation.

People who don’t live here wonder why we’d possibly live in earthquake country. Well, for me, this is paradise. We’re some miles away from the San Andreas (an-DRAY-us) Fault, the deep, underground schism that the experts tell us has been caused by thousands of years of shifting ground, where the greatest amount of movement comes. There are many other fault lines here in California too, but that’s the major one, the San Andreas. We, perhaps, delude ourselves, that since we’re so many miles away from the Fault, therefore we’ll be immune from significant damage.

In response, I ask – why do people live along the shores of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, in known hurricane country? Why do people live in the midwest in the land of tornados? There are negatives, I suppose, about lots of places to live. For us, it’s earthquakes.

Did we have damage? Yes and no. Yes, we had some damage, but no it wasn’t major as far as we know. During the hardest wrenching when the noise was near-deafening, we didn’t even hear the cans and bottles fly off the shelves in the pantry just 10 feet away (albeit behind a stained-glass door). They landed in piles, some shattered – jam, jelly, salsas, oozing out on the hardwood floor and glass shards flew in every direction. About 10 bottles made huge dents in the wood floor as they broke. Sardines in a tin were hit with something which made a hole in the metal, so the area smelled of fish for awhile. Sigh. Dave made a quick survey upstairs – nothing major. Later I did discover about 15 books had fallen off shelves in my office upstairs. Drawers throughout the house (except in the kitchen where they’re held by a magnet) were ajar. No windows broke. No pictures fell off walls. But we had aftershocks for hours. About 2 hours later I was sitting at my office computer. The screen has a partial reflection of the window across the room. Although I couldn’t feel it at first, suddenly the screen/reflection began shaking. Concentrating, yes, I could feel the movement. We had several of those.

Our biggest concern was our newly replastered pool and spa. Fortunately there appears to be no change there; no drop in water level. The picture above is of our main pool and the view toward the ocean. You can vaguely see the mound of fog way out there, that usually bothers us in June, not July, coming in from the sea. [And yes, I know, I need to write up a post about our back yard . . . I’ve had a couple of people email me privately asking about the status of our leaning flagpole and our hill/patio/leaks. I promise, I will do it soon . . . just when I think we’re “done” with our back yard, something else happens, and we’re not finished with our 6 months and counting problems.]

The epicenter was about 15 miles away as the crow flies, about due north, in an area called Chino Hills. There, there were broken water mains, some ceiling falls, a Macy’s had to close because of water damage, broken windows in businesses and homes. But I haven’t heard that anyone was injured. Thank goodness.

As a native Californian, I read, years and years ago, a fascinating book called The Last of the Late, Great State of California. It’s a novel, based on an earthquake aftermath when the western half of California sinks in the ocean after the BIG one. It addressed issues (some immediate, most long term) that one wouldn’t think about. Huge problems. Financial and political mostly. I thought the author was brilliant in analyzing how such a big one would affect those left behind.

We have earthquake insurance for 3 of our 4 houses (2 homes we live in and 1 rental home are covered; the rental condo isn’t covered) – a very expensive proposition, I’ll tell you! But if we did have a big one, once we paid the huge deductible, we’d be covered. Most people don’t have it. I understand why, because it’s so costly. Life has returned to normal here, however. For now. Until the next one, which we know is coming.

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I’ve had very few days since I started this blog when I didn’t have a recipe to post. Uh, that’s today. Having been away for the weekend, I enjoyed preparing a simple meal on Monday night. Yesterday I spent catching up on one thing or another. My 2nd book club met in the morning and we discussed A Kiss From Maddalena, a touching story which takes place in WWII Italy. It was my suggestion we read it, and we all enjoyed it. It’s not really a romance, although from the title you’d think so. Sure, there is a romance in it, but mostly it’s about the hell that happens to the village itself and all its inhabitants during and after the war. The book is a tad bit hard to find. I read about it in Bas Bleu, a book catalog that I so enjoy reading. Sure, I can buy books cheaper at Amazon, but I like to support the little guys too, so at least once a year I order books from their online store. The book is no longer available there, though. What I love about Bas Bleu is the write-ups about books. My other book club is reading another Bas Bleu recommendation for our meeting tonight, The Covenant by Naomi Ragen. Really interesting read about an abduction in a Palestinian neighborhood in Israel. I’m leading the review tonight, so have some homework to do about that. It’s deeply discounted at Amazon, and no longer available at Bas Bleu (just a guess – because the author has been sued or accused by two different people/publishers for possible plagiarism in writing two other books).

Last week I made another batch of the roasted balsamic strawberry ice cream from a couple of weeks ago. That ice cream is so darned addicting. In my first batch I used a product called Tulocay’s Made in Napa Valley Blackberry Balsamic Vinegar with Pear. Having made the ice cream a second time with more pedestrian balsamic, I’m now craving more of this pear balsamic. So far I’ve been unable to find it. I’ve phoned several sources listed on their website, but they don’t carry that particular product. Will have to widen my search, or pony up to have it shipped from the producer. I bought it last year in Healdsburg (wine country) near where it’s made.

A second batch of the Thin & Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies yielded a different cookie altogether. I made an alteration (know that it’s problematical anytime you make a change in a baked good) by using some Splenda instead of white sugar. I wanted my DH to be able to enjoy some of them. It totally changed the chemistry. Not a great cookie did it make. Although maybe it’s a good thing because I’m not craving them like I did the first, the virgin batch. I suspect, however, that I will make these again using the original recipe. They’re that good.

Last night my DH and I went to Laguna Beach. First it was dinner, at the Sundried Tomato Café, a fabulous restaurant (serendipity, since we didn’t have a plan about where to eat). I had a glass of Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc (one of the few white wines out there – other than champagne – that I truly enjoy, since I’m mostly a red wine drinker), an exceptional Caesar salad and a perfectly ripe avocado stuffed with a spicy-dressed Oregon bay shrimp salad (an appetizer, but was ample as an entrée). We ran into friends, Jackie & Don, as we were leaving. The restaurant is one of their favorites! Then we walked to the Laguna Playhouse to see The Marvelous Wonderettes. That may have been one of the best plays (actually this was a musical) I’ve ever seen there. We both just loved it. It’s all the music from our past – a step back in time to 1958 with four girls who are friends, who are asked to sing at their Senior Prom. In the first half they tell their stories (of love, school, teachers, growing up, etc.) using music of the era. In the second half they have returned for their 10-year reunion, and sing more of the 50’s and 60’s era songs. The costumes were just darling (I can’t believe we wore stuff like that, but sure enough, I did) and the four women had great voices. If you live in Southern California, I highly recommend you try to see this musical. It’s playing through August 31st. (And it’s opening in New York at the end of August.) Go have dinner (at about 5:45 pm, to give yourself ample time to walk back to the theater for the show at 7:30) at the Sundried Tomato over on Forest.

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Can you hear the lyrics? I’m taking a short trip to San Francisco. My daughter who lives in Northern California is going to meet me there and we’re spending a weekend together. I’ve spent hours plotting nearly every minute of the 48 hours we’ll be together. I wish I’d realized the trip I was planning coincided with the BlogHer conference in San Francisco – I didn’t put two and two together in time to go a day early and attend that too. Maybe next year. Several of the food blogs I read are written by women I’d just be thrilled to meet and they’re going to it. Alas.

I’m not taking my laptop – there simply won’t be time to blog while I’m there, so I’ll post again on Monday, most likely. And at the moment I don’t have any recipes lurking around to be posted. So, Tasting Spoons will be silent for a few days . . .

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It’s been nearly a year (in just a few days) that my DH Dave and I went to San Diego (about 90 miles south of us) to spend a few days on our sailboat. And it was on July 3rd that I stepped off the boat, twisted my ankle and broke my foot. Until a few days ago, I hadn’t been back. My DH goes there all the time, usually stays for one night, sails one day, tinkers around on the boat another, before returning home.

I kinda made an issue with my DH. I wouldn’t go back to the boat until he bought a new step (read better, HIGHER) for me to get on and off (would you believe those little things cost about $150?). We had had one, but somebody stole it, and my DH replaced it with a 7-inch high step from Target. I’m very short, so getting on and off the boat using that very short step was nigh on impossible – my DH is very tall and has no problem, even with two artificial legs. You can see the new TALL step in the picture above (just behind the s in sailboat).

The boat is really mostly my hubby’s. He adores sailing. I get seasick. So when I go to the boat with him, we stay inside the harbor, or relax at the dock. We were only there for a couple of days this trip. The weather was absolutely plu-perfect. Couldn’t have asked for two nicer days of sunshine and cool nights. Next time I’ll take a pix of the tiny galley. I have a very hard time doing much cooking on board. Usually we go OUT.

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You won’t find very many recommendations on this blog for frozen foods. Especially fish. Although Trader Joe’s stocks a wide variety of frozen fish, I’m usually disappointed. The fish is usually watery and cooks up dry and not all that tasty. But I was stopped in my tracks when I saw this box of Morey’s Wild Caught Alaska Salmon (I think I bought it at Trader Joe’s, not Costco). I rarely buy farm raised salmon, or hardly any other farm-raised fish. After watching a documentary some years ago about how those poor creatures are raised in very confined beds, having to eat their own poop, I consciously decided not to buy the stuff. So, when I see a label that says wild caught, I home in.

In the photo above you can see the cooked product (larger photo). In the photo that I inset at the left you can see the exterior of the box and down below are two of the individually sealed  fillets. When you defrost it, it’s ready to cook, marinated and everything. There are six in a box. Remove the fillet from the plastic sack and place on a baking sheet (I lined it with foil), bake 15-22 minutes and you’re done. It was very nice. I overcooked it a little bit (18 minutes), but the flavor was delicious. I suggest you try it, if it’s available near you.

And now I’ll tell you about another product I buy via mail order. Albacore Tuna. For some years we’ve been warned about the mercury in tuna, so I started buying tuna from Carvalho Fisheries (Pacific Northwest) because they only catch small albacore tuna. These fish are still young, so haven’t ingested as much mercury. Carvalho’s tuna is deliciously tasty stuff. It’s what I use when I make Joanne Weir’s Sicilian Tuna Salad.

Yes, it’s expensive. Certainly more money than we pay at the grocery store for albacore (the albacore hold more mercury than other of the tuna species). But their tuna contains a fraction of the mercury as we’d get from the grocery store brands. I buy it by the case and it lasts me many months.  But then, I only make tuna salad sandwiches every couple of months. I also buy Carvalho’s smoked albacore. A special treat. I have fond memories of time with family friends years ago. He used to catch tuna and have it smoked. It was a frequent offering for appetizers – with small rings of red onion and Ritz crackers. Delish. (tuna photo from Carvalho website)

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There was a time when I was a younger woman, maybe still a teen and even a young adult, when I had no interest whatsoever in the few old antique type things my parents had in their home. Like the antique cabinet that I do have (but I’ll save that story for another day), or particularly all of the mix and match fancy plates my mother used now and then. Only on holidays were the plates removed from the cupboards in the dining room to grace the table for a holiday meal. My mother must have sold one group of plates – she didn’t even remember them from my recollection – so maybe they were a figment of my imagination. They were the only dinner sized plates my mother used for these sit-down-at-the-dining-room-table special occasions. They had cut work around the outside edge, and I recall having an occasional pea or something fall through the kind of lattice-like edge.

After my paternal grandparents died, my dad saved a few things from their house – likely my mother had something to do with the plates – like a big gnarled bed and dresser, a 5-foot high mirror on a stand, the music cabinet I now have, one painting that has an interesting story (another day also). Oh yes, there was also a rather ornate silver (plated) tea service, which I finally gave away some years ago because it was completely and solidly black from improper storage. I tried numerous times to clean it up, and never was able to make a dent (ha, so to speak) in the black tarnish. If I’d paid to have it dipped, am certain it would have lost all its plate. At the time I had no place to display it. Nor funds to have it re-plated. Never, likely, would have used it. I kind of wanted to make a lamp out of the cream pitcher – thought that would be a clever use of it. But the solid black tarnish kept me from pursuing that idea. I hope somebody else was able to do something with it.

But, let’s get back to the plates. My paternal grandmother, as I have mentioned here before, enjoyed baking and regularly entertained some of her lady friends on an afternoon, for some tea, coffee and a cake of some kind. I remember looking at her loose-leaf recipe book after she passed away. It contained only desserts, all clipped from magazines. Very elaborate affairs they were, layers of cake, meringues, frosting, fillings, etc. (a King or Queen would have approved, I’m sure.) There weren’t any recipes for salads, or meat dishes. Or vegetables. She died when I was still quite young, so I don’t have many memories of her. But, what did eventually get handed down to me were all of her dessert plates.

Sometime after I reached adulthood, I began to like dishes, plates, serving pieces. That kind of thing. I don’t know what happened. Maybe it was nothing more than realizing I liked entertaining, and at the time I had nothing except my 1962 wedding dishes. It wasn’t until my parents moved into a retirement home that some of the dishes finally came to live with me. The furniture piece became mine a long time ago because it didn’t really fit with my parents’ style or décor. I never did want the huge bedroom set (a double bed . . . who sleeps in a double bed anymore? . . . we certainly don’t). The large mirror was mine for some years too, but without the stand. It got lost somewhere along the way. So it leaned onto a wall, but finally it didn’t fit with my décor either.

What brought this subject to mind was an article by Sarah B. Coffin in Martha Stewart Living magazine. It was a monthly feature called “Object Lesson,” and subtitled “dessert plates bedecked with blooms bring the fanciful forms and vibrant colors of spring right to the table.” A lovely sage-green painted wall in Martha’s house was decorated with a randomly placed group of about 18 plates. Every one different. Some color rimmed. Some medium sized, others larger. A real conglomeration of color and style. I studied the photo. None were even similar to my collection of dessert plates, but then, hers were mostly current designs by Vera Wang and Kate Spade. They’re not antiques at all. A second photo with a rosy pink background showed a similar collection of plates. All with pink in them. This looked much like my collection, which all contain some pink, various flowers. According to the article, in studying the history of dessert plates, in the late 18^th century, an array of desserts was reserved for honored guests of monarchs, aristocrats, and later, wealthy merchants. Large dessert arrangements connoted power and wealth. Porcelain finally found its way to European tables (from China) in the 17^th century, but was rare and costly. But revered because porcelain allowed the use of color and naturalistic decoration (flowers, leaves) and were considered appropriate for dessert.

According to the article, in 1742, Meissen, the German porcelain manufacturer, originated the idea of special dessert plates and produced small pierced plates. They were accompanied by compotes and other centerpieces and figurines. I have one small compote (see picture). Most of my plates are Haviland from France. In reading about this, I came across a really interesting online history of Haviland in Limoges. The Haviland family is American, and after years of trying to work with the French artisans, the family established their own factory in Limoges, France. It rocked the industry there, because Haviland had specific ideas about what would be manufactured and exported to America. Altogether new and different designs. Very interesting reading, if you happen to be intrigued by it. I have a new perspective and appreciation for my Haviland ware, made in Limoges.  Over the years they created nearly 60,000 patterns. Can you imagine?

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My apologies to readers who have migrated over to my new site and found it not functioning quite right. There is so much code that runs websites, most of which I don’t understand. I’m learning, though.

Subscribing through an RSS feed (an option over on the right sidebar) is common for people who read lots of blogs. That wasn’t quite set up right, either. Hopefully it is now. I was able to subscribe to my own feed, so I assume it will work fine for everyone else.

I’m working on the type sizes – when my post is read in an RSS reader it comes through in huge type. In the rules of cyber-etiquette, that’s like “yelling,” and certainly not what I intended. So, I have more homework there too. I’m posting this message in smaller type. Hope it’s not too small to read! Stay tuned. I promise to post recipes really soon.

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As I sat at the completion of our meal the other night (we were in deep conversation about politics with our son in law, who is visiting with us), I noticed that my fork and spoon (both used to slurp up all the good juices in the bottom of the pasta bowl) were arranged as you see in the left photo above. And I realized that the arrangement of my utensils was one of those visible messages used throughout Europe. 

When you visit in Europe, there’s a kind of utensil code – it’s etiquette, really – when you dine out. Most likely it’s the same when you dine in as well.

• The etiquette message of the left bowl – the arrangement of the silverware indicates that I’m still eating. The fork and spoon are in the upright position, and set so I can grab them easily. The message – don’t touch my plate. 
• The etiquette message of the right bowl – the two utensils are aligned together on the right side and turned upside down. Meaning I’m finished and you may take my plate or bowl.

For those of you who live in some parts of the world this is probably nothing new at all, it’s common sense, since you use these codes all the time. You learned it from a young age. But we here in No. America haven’t learned these codes. Why, I wonder? Maybe it harkens back to the early Pioneers – they had no time or patience with the fripperies of fancy manners. I like the custom and wish we’d use it more often. I have lurkers (lurkers are people who read my blog, but never comment) from all over the world. Won’t you chime in and tell me about your silverware or utensil etiquette? Is it the same as I’ve explained when we’ve visited in Europe. Or are yours different still?

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The flagpole is just one of the symptoms of a bigger problem.

This post today isn’t about food, so if you’re looking for a neat new recipe, today isn’t it. Maybe panic soup? Distressing stew?

We’re experiencing one of those moments when you regret owning a home. When you wish you had thought twice about buying a home on a hill, with a slope. Even with a glorious view. When you wish you had a large apartment and somebody else had to deal with issues of maintenance.

Photos of different areas around our patio and pool area. These are relatively new cracks. Top right is the core hole where we can see standing water.

My DH has not been sleeping well at night for about two weeks now. We’re at our wit’s end trying to figure out what’s happening under and around our home. There were cracks around our pool when we bought the house 6 years ago, but the pool is about 28 or 29 years old, so we assumed it was normal. Anybody living in Southern California experiences some earth movement. And yes, we do have earthquakes too. Cracks appear here and there. It’s considered standard behavior. We had a geologist come look at things about 2 years ago and his assessment was: your house is built on a bedrock of sandstone. It’s not going anywhere. It’s solid. Don’t worry about it.

But, in the last 6-9 months or so, more cracks have appeared. A French door is hard to open. A small crack has appeared in our living room (the windows that look out to our lovely view), separating a vertical beam from the floor. A crack opened wider around our jacuzzi. New cracks and fissures have appeared all around the entertaining side of our patio (all covered in cement and brickwork). The flagpole is leaning, more than it ever has. A flower bed, lined with a block wall is tilting. Down. So we hired another geologist who brought in some high-tech seizmic do-dad, which sat here for 6 weeks or so measuring earth movement. None. (That was a huge relief, but didn’t solve the problem.) Then they went all around our property digging 6-10 foot deep core samples. Initially they found nothing. Finally at about core sample 6 or so, they found water. Lots of water. Uh-oh. We’d had neglible rain up to that point, so there shouldn’t be any water underground.

Our water company came out last week and again yesterday, to confirm that we have no leak from our meter. None of the neighbors seem to have any water leaks either. We don’t have much info on our 1978 house (no blueprints left with the house, and none on record at the county building dept. either) other than what we’ve learned over the years with plumbing and building issues. Normal, sewer drain backup kind of issues. And what we learned when the kitchen addition was built. Nothing really of any importance. Nothing to add to this water problem.

We have no water source in the area where the water is pooling. As you look down into this core hole (the top right one in the collage above) you can see water about a foot below ground. The hole is about 3-4 feet from our living room windows. The water company mentioned we might have an aquifer, one of those natural occurring water sources. Seems unlikely since most of Southern California is desert. Sandy soil. But, some of our drinking water comes from natural aquifers deep underground. So, who knows. Anything’s possible. If we have an aquifer, let’s tap it and use it for watering our property. We’d just have to figure out where to put a storage tank. Uhm. Hmmm. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The geologist thinks it’s just water that’s accumulated over a period of time (that was also a relief to hear since we were having concerns our house was sinking or sliding – he says no). He also assured us again, yesterday, that the house is built on solid sandstone, and it’s not moving. The plumber says there is a backup in one of our area drains, near where the water is, likely from tree roots. So today the geology firm is going to start digging. With all the rain we’ve had, it’s going to be pretty messy, but at least the soil is very, VERY soft. Part of our patio will have to come up. Maybe a brick walkway too. The geologist is going to open up an 18-inch wide hole, about 3 feet deep, so he can install a semi-permanent pump. If and when water reaches a certain level, the pump will turn on. And we’ll cover it with some kind of cap and leave it there.

The area by the flagpole is probably another problem – they will likely drill a hole horizontally from the side of our hill to try to find a water pool. That’s the thinking at the moment. Once they find it, they’ll install a more permanent drain. Then we’ll likely install some kind of new patio floor. Maybe interlocking paving stones so the water will dissipate more evenly all over the property, rather than just through the relatively few, but wide cracks, which allows water to pool. More will be revealed. Meanwhile, my DH Dave, is going to take a nap.

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We very rarely have views like this. Thunderclouds – or big massive cloud formations are more a standard in the midwest than here on the California coastline. But the other day, just after we’d had a couple days of rain, this was the view from our hill. This shot was taken facing northwest. If the visibility had been better, you might have been able to see the skyline of downtown Los Angeles just to the left of the two palm trees. It’s very rare that we can see those far off images since downtown LA is about 45 miles away. But on occasion we do see it.

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