The red blooms of Bottlebrush trees (Callistemon rigidus) bloom everywhere in Santa Cruz right now, and I’ve been inspired to cook red and orange foods in my cabin kitchen, like young dandelion greens with bacon and spring garlic (I added poached eggs for a frisée aux lardons riff),

steel-cut oatmeal with local apricots,

and migas with local eggs, Early Girl tomatoes, avocados, and squash blossoms.

When I first moved into the cabin a few weeks ago, it rained in the mornings on the garden’s roses,

and raindrops sparkled on sloping plant leaves.

Lately, the sun has been out early, like these bright flowers at the Cabrillo Farmers’ Market last Saturday morning,

where local producer Farmhouse Culture set up small barrels of tempting sauerkraut (I am partial to their garlic kraut that I like as a probiotic beginning to the day’s cooking—I haven’t started taking their popular kraut juice shots yet).

Meeting my friend Margaret and her family at the market, Roman decided he wanted an elevated view as he ate his carrot (Margaret is such a fun mom),

and I took an aerial view of my soba noodles with scallion sauce later that afternoon, grating carrots over daikon, adding sprouts,

and taking the bowl with some quick pickles I made shortly after to Renata’s house for a women’s potluck, I was surrounded by company as good as the food they had brought—artichoke bread from Pescadero,

salad with blossoms and vegetable curls,

and all the conversation that went on for hours,

with the fourteen of us preparing plates and then sitting in a circle, talking,

pausing only, really, for dessert (this is a beautiful gluten-free bavarian tart that a feng shui accountant brought).

On Sunday, I pulled off Highway 1 for local cherries for the drive to Los Angeles,

marveling, as I always do, at the views around Big Sur,

and smiling to see my good friends Ben and Jeremy, who pulled a homemade vegan pizza out of the oven soon after I arrived at their East L.A. apartment.

We reminisced and caught up on the news about our shared Charlottesville friends, and Ben told me about his spring semester classes that are ending and how the upcoming summer semester looks, calm as he always is, with much to impart to his fortunate students.

I woke to a quiet Memorial Day morning in their neighborhood before heading to Laura’s apartment in Venice,

where LJ joined us later in the day and found her new hula hoop (in appropriate holiday colors).

Laura effortlessly made a simple syrup for mojitos with mint from her herb box that we sipped from Mason jars,

while she added the crucial ingredient for the shrimp boil: Old Bay,

that did give the shrimp and stock a Maryland flavor,

and Laura, LJ, Allison, Jessica, Daniel, and I dipped bread in that nice stock and told memorable stories over the shrimp, andouille sausage, potatoes, and corn (that was even better in leftovers the following night).

Tuesday, Laura introduced me to Venice Beach Wines for lunch, and her sandwich with brie and grapes was almost as beautiful as mine,

with whitefish and pickles, another reason it was hard to leave yesterday morning, knowing how much of the menu I still needed to try (and Laura is always working on new projects and incubating new ideas, which is inspiring).

Back in my Santa Cruz cabin late in the afternoon, the spider webs began to glow on the deck as the sun faded;

and I made a sunny provençal sauce (my recipe) with Happy Dan chicken, overripe tomatoes from the market, local Sonoma sea salt, Gayle’s olive sourdough for the rest of the sauce,

that held a splash of Salinas, California’s Morgan Winery Pinot Gris.

I raised my glass to Louise Bourgeois (video, images), known for her spider sculptures, who died over the weekend at 98,

and I wished for the strands of my life to yield art as nearby spiders continued to spin furiously…

Related posts:

1. the sun shone brighter than doris day
2. sun light, Ms. Albright, first spider I see tonight
3. Spinning Syntactic Sugar

1. Laura:
   June 3rd, 2010 at 10:02 am

   Thanks for the lovely surprise visit! Here’s to California….
   xoxo

2. Kristen:
   June 4th, 2010 at 9:15 am

   Indeed, Laura, here’s to California, and thanks so much for letting me visit, so good to catch up—

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Posted by Kristen Taylor on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010, 9:10 am * Filed in Food, holiday, light, Photography, Travel. * Tags: california, kristen, kthread, taylor. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.