June 2007

         Delicias Restaurant on the corner of Paseo Delicias and La Granada in the heart of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, (originally owned by the Santa Fe Railroad and part of an 1830s Spanish land grant) offers delicious food in a lush setting. Architect Lilian Rice kept an office on that corner in the 1920s as she designed many of the homes and buildings of Rancho Santa Fe. One of the first women to graduate in 1910 from the University of California School of Architecture, Ms. Rice's architectural designs followed California's Spanish Colonial heritage: terra cotta tiled roofs, creamy white adobe walls, patios and interior courtyards with black grillwork and flowering foliage.


       We sat outside; the sun and air were perfect. I dutifully ordered a salad and crab cakes. Mike ordered the "Dungeness Crab Sour Dough Panini" which comes with "Truffle Fries." I ate half of his. The best sandwich and the very best French fries in the world: delicate, crunchy, perfectly seasoned. A bottle of Clos La Chance 2004 Chardonnay from the Santa Cruz Mountains was a perfect complement. Our waiter John Fay was delightful. Bis!


    My dear friend, Fumiko Hattori from Tokyo, and I have known each other for 40 years. We became friends at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia. My father was stationed at the Pentagon; Fumiko's father had sent her to the U.S. for one year of school. We recently had our first reunion since 1967 when Fumiko visited her son in Boston. Hide Hattori is an MD/PhD on a research fellowship at Harvard and was our guest here in Oklahoma last weekend. What a delightful visit it was! Our "American Size" ice cream cones and houses amazed Hide. I hope to visit Fumiko in Tokyo before too long, continuing our 40 year reunion.

Books, Movies, Trivia~

    An Inconvenient Truth (which won an Oscar) by Al Gore is YBD. The graphics and photography alone are worth watching. But even his argument of the dangers of global warming is quite convincing. Mike insisted on having some champagne being that we are Independents. Even if you are Republican, watch it with your favorite glass of sherry. (This said for my mother's benefit.)


    Snow Falling on Cedars, winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award by David Guterson, is set in the Pacific Northwest. Vivid imagery and delicate descriptions of love, injustice, and forbearance cover this poignant story of San Piedro Island natives and their Japanese neighbors during WWII and for years afterward. YBD


    Turning Life into Fiction by Robin Hemley is an interesting analysis of the difference between memoirs, autobiographies, romans à clef  (lit. "novel with a key" meaning some or all of the characters are based on real people), and novels. YBD for the writers among us.

YBD- Your Bounden Duty    PYE- Part of Your Education (acronyms à la Archibald Edwards) MNH- you Might Need a Handkerchief (à la LA)