I'm on staycation. That's when you don't have enough money for a real vacation and stay close to home and take the time to enjoy what you've got all around you. Who needs a trip to Tahiti or Toronto or Tasmania when you've got it all close to home? I spent last weekend in LA, visiting my adorable new niece and, well . . . eating!
My staycation unofficially kicked off at the end of my Maze concerts. All that performing really works up an appetite after the post-concert hangover kicks in. A friend and I went out for Korean food. Actually, we were shooting for Thai, but the place was closed, but the Korean place next door wasn't. Boy oh boy do they know how to do the pickled vegetables right:
Then this past weekend I was off to LA. I wanted to see my niece, since it had been over 6 months since I'd last seen her, and in baby-time, that's like twice the person you saw last time. As soon as I got to LA, my Dad took me to my favorite, Phillipe's, for French dip sandwiches:
See how they cut it into a heart shape? And yeah, that's coleslaw and 10 cent coffee!The next morning, my Dad made me my other favorite--French toast! No one, and I mean no one, makes French toast like him. He gave me the recipe, which I will have to try one of these days, but I ask myself, why? I don't think it will ever be as good as his':
And here is little Jellybean, the cutest one-year old out there. I'm sorry, but she is. I'm sure your one-year olds are absolutely precious and all, but mine is the cutest. Daddy posed her like that. 
And she and I have an understanding. I love food, and she loves it too. One day we're gonna travel the world and eat all of it. Grandpa even hand feeds her, just like he does me, practically:
Monday morning I went on my usual trip to Marukai, a Japanese market. Stocked up on the good stuff like lau lau and portugease sausage, which I guess isn't exactly Japanese, but whatever. 
They had violet candy there. I had that once when I was a kid when I visited Lanai. You have to admit that the pretty purple wrapper and the exotic idea of eating candy made out of flowers is appealing. But OMG, that was one of the most disgusting things I've ever put in my mouth. I can still taste it after all these years. Yuck!
When I got back from Marukai, my Dad was on the phone, but he pointed to Jellybean, who was in a cage of fishing poles. He said she had just crawled in there and grabbed the smallest pole and held it like she was fishing. Oh, she sure knows how to go after a person's heart! I'm sure my Dad the fisherman will teach her everything he knows! Maybe she'll even bait her own hooks one day like he showed me. And she won't be the first grandchild he's shown how to fish.
For dinner, my Dad took me to Diana's, my favorite Mexican restaurant. We brought our own pot and they filled it up with Menudo and we took it home and ate it. Ah heaven! 
And they had a wall of spices there. A whole wall! Imagine all the wonderful food you could make with all that!!
After LA, drove back home to the Bay Area, crashed for a few hours, and then got to see dear freind Coke's performance at Interplayce. She does improv performance work there. It's a whole world of creativity going on there, and tonight I was welcomed back home to a wonderful performance. I love watching these folks. There are amazing accompanying musicians (I got goosebumps tonight) and very little is pre-set. They just go. It's so hard to describe, but what they create is magical and fun and funny and touches you on a deep level. The idea of such spontaneous performance is a difficult concept for me to grasp, but so exciting and inspiring and liberating to watch. And they've got a warm and inviting studio space:
So glad I was able to make it. Tomorrow I'm off to more adventures. North and Westward. To be continued . . .
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