TravelswithCharie

Nom Nom Dont just eat. Nom! Food trucks have been called many names, "roach coach" for one. But they serve business areas where there are no restaurants nearby. You can grab a soda or muffins, candy and chips besides a hot meal.  We used to have a food truck come to our office. It was driven by a very personable Vietnamese who allowed his hungry patrons to "eat now, pay later". I always ordered a bacon and tomato sandwich from him. After he retired, his niece took over and I bought steamed rice from her. She no longer comes to our office as she found a more lucrative location to park her truck. I now buy rice (Mexican style) from the taco truck down the street. Lobster sandwich from the Shack Mobile Recently I read that the famous gourmet trucks from San Francisco are now serving the Peninsula in two locations, San Carlos at the Hiller Museum parking lot and Palo Alto at Embarcadero. So I told a friend and we went to investigate. It was pouring hard when we ar

It was challenging to rewrite this children's rhyme so I could allude to the glass pumpkins.  It was worth a try: Peter, Peter pumpkin eater Found a pumpkin but couldn't eat her Ripe and luscious Oh so sumptuous But alas Peter had to pass The squash was made of glass!!! Thousands of glass pumpkins were on display at Rinconada Park in Palo Alto for the 16th Annual  Great Glass Pumpkin Patch. What a delight to see the unique artistry in each of these fragile pieces neatly arranged in rows. There were baby pumpkins. And there were see through and candy striped pumpkins. A pumpkin teapot.  Don't you wish you had one of these? Alas, October 2nd  is the last day of the exhibition and sale. Don't miss it! The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch is at Rinconada Park, 777 Embarcadero Avenue, Palo Alto.  Go to this link for more info: http://www.greatglasspumpkinpatch.com/ *  *   * Images by  Charie

Outdoor Dining Nothing beats outdoor dining when the weather cooperates. We've been having warm and sunny days lately so when our office staff had the opportunity to eat lunch together, I suggested we go to the Empire Tap Room in Palo Alto where we could sit outdoors in their beautiful patio and enjoy Indian summer temperatures. When you enter the main door of the restaurant, you are immediately confronted by the shiny and well polished bar which extends the length of the dining room.  Then your eyes are directed to the patio where vines cover the walls, trees and white umbrellas provide ample shade and the drip drip of water from the fountain complete the relaxed ambiance. It feels like a mini getaway to sit in this patio. Dungeness Crab Cakes It's been awhile since I've had crab cakes. Very few places around here have my favorite crab cakes on their  menu.  How terrific that they serve them at this restaurant!  The red bell pepper sauce heightened the taste of the te

On September 27, 2011, I will celebrate six years of blogging at Blogspot. Prior to that, I had a travel blog in the now defunct Yahoo Geocities where I took my baby steps into travel writing. The first article I published here in 2005 was about my visit with my friends, Klara and Sonya in Berlin. It was called Berlin - a Tale of Two Sisters .  I have not gone back to Berlin since but I keep in touch with both Klara and Sonya who are now octogenarians. They don't travel anymore and live in a senior home. Both of them have had health issues but have survived them. I'm hoping I'll be able to see them again soon. Yesterday I watched this video of the Sing-Off contest on NBC where the contestants sing a cappella. I really enjoyed the group Kinfolk 9 singing " Secrets " by One Republic . I kept replaying the video. Couldn't get the song out of my head. Let me share with you this beautiful music on my blog's anniversary. Here's part of the lyrics: &quo

The Court  of Abundance A super find in my neighborhood are the gardens in the Allied Arts Guild  in a quiet part of Menlo Park, California. They are as beautiful as the Alhambra's Generalife gardens after which it they were planned. The Guild is an organization that raises funds to support the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. All its profits from the shops, restaurant and private events held onsite go to the hospital. Fresco Painting by Maxine Albro Maxine Albro learned the art of fresco painting in Mexico with Paul O'Higgins, an assistant to Diego Rivera. Later she painted side by side with Rivera while working on some projects in San Francisco.  Notice the woman carrying a heavy basket laden with fruit. It is reminiscent of Rivera's  The Flower Vendor series where the vendor is carrying a basket of calla lilies on her back. The little girl to her left is holding white lilies which further alludes to The Flower Vendor. This mural with a Mexican motif compleme

Update: Clark center for Japanese Art and Culture is permanently closed. The collection is now at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.  https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-institute-of-arts-given-25-million-japanese-art-collection/210139451/ The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture is unique among its peers. It has an unlikely location in the middle of a vast orchard in the small town of Hanford in the Central Valley of California. Which makes it all the more interesting. The Four Elegant Pastimes by Shibata Zeshin The Center boasts of a considerable collection of nealy 250 woodblock prints, 500 scroll paintings, folding screens, sculpture, kimonos, baskets and ceramics. Unfortunately only a tiny fraction of these are on display at any given time. When I visited the museum this month, there were no woodblock prints at all on display. There was one beautifully preserved 6 panel folding screen, some baskets and ceramics and two scroll paintings from the collection. The museum i

Bingata kimono In the first of two rotations, Woven Identities of Japan highlights the Ainu and Okinawan textiles from the late 19th c to early 20th c. Now on display at the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in Hanford, California are kimonos and robes worn by these two distinct ethnic groups. The contrasts in the types of fabrics, ornamentation and color used by the Ainu and Okinawan people speak of their traditions, beliefs, social divide and geographical influences. In  Okinawa, textiles were embellished with a stencil dyeing technique called bingata which was for the exclusive use of the Ryukyuan court. The Ryukyu Kingdom was established in 1429 and was a maritime power in Asia. Cotton, silk and banana leaf textiles were solely for the use of the upper classes  The kimono shown above is light and transparent, appropriate for the tropical climate in southern Japan. In contrast, the robes of the Ainu from Hokkaido in the north were made from elm tree or nettle fibers whic