Greetings all from sunny Pasadena!
You might say, "Why, Becca, you're so chipper today! You're usually tired and a bit grumpy, if we could be honest. What's happened?"
There was no driving today. That's what happened. For one glorious day, we didn't drive more than ten miles. For one glorious day, there was no carrying suitcases or truck stops or using public bathrooms. As the multiple uses of the word glorious may indicate, it was glorious.
...We didn't really know what to do with ourselves. I got up relatively late (8 am) and meandered upstairs for breakfast on the deck. Can we talk about that? Breakfast on the deck. In November. It's so warm here. After breakfast, I wandered back downstairs. The internet was calling to me. It has the sweetest siren song.
In the end, Mom and I decided that we wanted to take a small walk around the Rose Bowl. So we drove down. Haha. But we walked for quite a bit. Longer than we meant to walk for, in fact. This is in part due to these inconvenient things called "fences" that are on this earth only to thwart my mother and I as we attempt to get back to the car. Fences. I hate them.
Eventually we defeated the fences. One day, there will be a book written to commemorate our valiant triumph over them. We got back in the car and drove over to the shop, where we were once again given a fantastic lunch, courtesy of Peggy. I won't add that much in the food description section, mainly because Mom ate the sandwich I'd already described, we both had a Caesar salad, and I had some pasta salad, which was light and creamy with a beautiful palette of colors and crunch because of the vegetables mixed in with it. Don't you worry, though. I'm saving the food descriptions for later.
Next, Peggy joined us and the three of us went to the Norton Simon. It's a museum that's based off of a private collection. And what a private collection it is! There are Rembrandts, Goyas, Picassos, Degas (a lot of Degas), Botticelli, Van Gogh, and many more. I hadn't known it, but the museum actually contains one of my favorite paintings, a Renoir called "Reclining Nude" which I have always found a simply mesmerizing piece. It's a beautiful museum, well arranged with a fabulous little garden. And they gave us a free Degas print as we left! That was nice of them.
After that, we returned to the house and hung around for a bit. I'd give you a blow by blow, but it would be kind of boring. We just had a nice, relaxing day. Eventually, our cousins Ted and Ted showed up, so we spent some time chatting and hanging out with them.
Then we all went to dinner. Because this is a food blog now. Gale's Restaurant is a long-time favorite out here, and tonight was no different. We started with some bruschetta, which featured wildly fresh tomatoes that perfectly complemented the thin Parmesan cheese and the lightly toasted bread. Next, Mom and I split a platter of roasted figs. Figs are my favorite. They're robust and flavorful without being too filling, and the way the flesh splits underneath your teeth, so soft and supple! Not too mention the quiet crunch of the seeds hidden in the flesh, just enough texture to make it a little more firm. These particular figs were stuffed and roasted with blue cheese, which heightened the fruit's taste. The sprinkle of balsamic kept the food from being too sweet with a hint of acid. Delicious.
My next course was gnocci with mushrooms and oven-roasted pork. The gnocci was handmade, which I could tell because they looked a bit more like little pasta blocks and from the way they melted in my mouth. Flour and butter and pure deliciousness. The mushrooms were perfectly sauteed and melded beautifully with the cream sauce, while the pork simply fell to bits in my mouth. Spectacular.
Okay, I'm done with food now. In part because I am still too full to really think about food. So that's what you get. And dinner was, of course, filled with great company and lots of laughter and cheer. Always a good time.
The rest of the night will also be relaxing; Mom and I get up early in the morning for the final leg of the journey. This time tomorrow, I will be in San Jose, my new home. It's all very exciting and a bit surreal. I cannot wait for my life to unfold, and I'm so pleased that all of you decided you wanted to read about this journey that's the prelude to the real journey.
This is most likely the penultimate post on this blog; I truly hope that you've enjoyed reading and that I've made you laugh (or at least smile...come on, I at least made you smile) at least once. See you tomorrow night.
Total miles today: NONE.
Total mileage: Go look at the other post. How lazy can you get? (I am too lazy to look at the last post to put the mileage here)
Tomorrow is a new day.
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