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| Oliver's Fruit Basket Cake (Windsor) - Sonoma County 2026 |
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| Machado Burgers Burger (Windsor) - Sonoma County 2026 |
After arriving on the train we disembarked and walked around the town of Windsor. We hadn't been here in a while, so most of what we saw was new to us. Highlights: Oliver's, a fancy grocery store, and Machado Burgers where we got burgers with a combo fries and onion rings.
Then the return trip home.
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| Almonds - San Joaquin County 2026 |
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| Almond Trees - San Joaquin County 2026 |
I was driving east on highway 120 when I decided to turn down a side road at random and go off the main highway for a bit. I found this grove of almond trees, with a nice crop on the branches and a lot of almonds lying on the ground. (Maybe knocked off by the previous day's heavy rains?)
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| Egg McMuffin Meal, Sony RX100 - Alameda County 2026 |
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| McDonalds KPop Demon Hunters Poster - Alameda County 2026 |
The start of my most recent road trip, driving from Marin County to Mariposa County via Highway 49.
Alas, I wasn't aware of the Saja Boys breakfast meal when I got the same ole Egg McMuffin that I always get.
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| Costco Hot Dog - San Francisco 2026 |
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| Costco Asian Products - San Francisco 2026 |
For various reasons we found ourselves having the famous hot dog meal at the Costco in San Francisco.
What a value!
It was interesting that the various Asian food products available almost rivaled H Mart.
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| Tree, Lake Don Pedro - Tuolumne County 2025 |
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| Lunch at Lake Don Pedro Overlook - Tuolumne County 2025 |
Sometimes I stop at the McDonalds in Oakdale for lunch. Not this time! Fritos 'n Coke Zero and cheese sticks. Yum! Then the drive home in Friday afternoon traffic.
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| Soba Dinner, Beer - Bishop 2025 |
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| El Pollo Loco - Bishop 2025 |
Soba brought from home and microwaved. El Pollo Loco just across the street.
Wow!
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| McDonalds - Pleasanton 2025 |
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| Valley Inn - Escalon 2025 |
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| Carmel Valley Coffee - Monterey County 2025 |
My second visit of the year! Tasty as always!
I had scheduled my morning coffee visit to allow enough time to get to Point Lobos before the 8 AM opening. When I arrived I was surprised to find that I was maybe the 10th car in line, with more cars joining the line in back of me.
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| 19th Avenue - San Francisco 2025 |
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| 85C Pastry, Peets Coffee - San Francisco 2025 |
The start of a recent short trip I took down to Monterey. I drove south down 19th Avenue, stopping at the Stonestown Mall for a breakfast pastry and coffee, then continued on to Monterey.
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| Walking to Restaurant (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| Touchscreen Menu (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
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| Skewers (Tokyo) - Japan 2024 |
During our 2024 trip to Japan we ate at two skewer (yakitori) restaurants, one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto. However and alas, I didn't keep any record of the names of the restaurants! But I wanted to have a record of them on the blog.
Above, photos of our Tokyo restaurant that I found by doing a Google search of "skewers near me." After a short walk using our iPhones we came to a busy street, looked for the restaurant, didn't see it, walked back and forth a while before realizing that it was on an upper floor accessed via elevator. As I recall, the food was nice enough . . . we were somewhat constrained in ordering because I was still getting over my "bug." No beer!
***
Below, photos taken in Kyoto. We found the restaurant by walking around our neighborhood. This time, no constraints! Beer!
The corn was unusual . . . very good. Other items were quite tasty. Like I said above, didn't get the name of the place. Note to self: keep a dining journal next time!
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| Restaurant Menu (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Pork Belly (?) Skewer (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Corn (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Fruit Stand - Sonoma County 2025 |
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| Fruit Stand Art, Cactus - Sonoma County 2025 |
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| Kimbap (Daly City) - San Mateo County 2025 |
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| Kimchi Witch (Daly City) - San Mateo County 2025 |
Jagalchi is a new large, high end store featuring (mainly) Korean food items, located in the Serramonte Shopping Center in Daly City.
We wanted to go so we could compare it to H Mart. Well, they're different. Jagalchi is more upscale and pristine, whereas H Mart seems to have a more gritty, authentic flavor. As you can probably guess, we prefer H Mart. Too bad it's so far away from us!
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| Bakery - San Francisco 2025 |
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| Movies - San Francisco 2025 |
We were in San Francisco for two separate weekends in June (cat/house sitting)! We visited the West Portal commercial district a few times for restaurants and take-out food. I got a good morning bun at the bakery!
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| Blue Residence - San Francisco 2025 |
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| Pizza - San Francisco 2025 |
Cropping and perspective Photoshop control for the top iPhone photo. Taken while walking to my lunch date with Marilyn in the Avenues.
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| Carmel Valley Coffee - Monterey County 2025 |
I insisted that everyone visit my favorite coffee spot in Monterey: Carmel Valley Coffee in The Barnyard just off highway 1 near Carmel. Coffee and pastries: as I recall, I think that everyone liked it!
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| Japanese Drip Coffee Setup (Sea Ranch) - Sonoma County 2025 |
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| Japanese Drip Coffee Packet from Hakodate (Sea Ranch) - Sonoma County 2025 |
Our mini-vacation gave me an opportunity to use some coffee packets we brought back from Japan. Setup is a little intricate: the top margin has to be torn off very carefully, otherwise ground coffee will spill all over.
Then for dinner: pan-fried steak! Somewhat difficult for Hali to manage as the burners weren't quite level. But really quite good.
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| Steaks (Sea Ranch) - Sonoma County 2025 |
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| Nishiki Market Entrance (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| The City Bakery (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Bakery Order (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
Of course we didn't find this bakery until the very end of our trip.
"This is a bakery from New York City. Founder Maury Rubin has a unique background as a TV producer, and his creative pretzel croissants and hot chocolate are popular. At the Kyoto Nishiki St. Shop, the bakery offers a wide variety of products every day, including fifty to sixty different kinds of breads, pastries, and cakes made by the bakers and pastry chefs’ original recipes and some are available only in Kyoto."
Hali managed to bring a chocolate babka back to the US!
It took a while to pack all our clothes, gifts and such for the return trip.
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| Packing to Leave (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Nishimura Sign (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Nishimura Course (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
We saw this restaurant while walking down Teramachi Street. Looked interesting, so we had one of the ladies at our hotel make a reservation for us. Very good! As usual I filled up pretty fast.
Another review from the web: "We just arrived in Kyoto and by chance discovered this restaurant. Absolutely phenomenal meal - everything tasted delicious and the presentation was beautiful. It is a great deal for the quality of the food you receive. The owner was very friendly and welcoming and made us feel at home. We would highly recommend coming here!!"
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| Nishimura Course (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Dragon Burger (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Dragon Burger Burger (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
Yum! We had an enjoyable lunch here with Jim and Margaret in 2023, so here we were back in 2024. Again, quite good!
Yum!
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| Dragon Burger Beer (Kyoto) - Japan 2024 |
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| Autumn Mountains (Tanekura) - Japan 2024 |
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| Breakfast (Tanekura) - Japan 2024 |
I got up and wandered around outside viewing the colorful autumn hillsides and the rain-caused mist.
Then, a nourishing breakfast in the inn and a taxi ride back to the Sakakami station for the train back to Takayama.
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| Train Arriving, Sakakami Station - Japan 2024 |
