Up a creek without the keys

I'm sure it would make my parents proud to hear that I can add breaking into a car to my many list of talents. It would probably make them even further excited to know that I was coerced into the act by none other than my in-laws.

This past weekend while upstate...in California.... enjoying all that Sonoma County has to offer, including a canoeing trip, my in-laws, my husband and myself found ourselves locked out of our rental car. This situation my parents will be happy to hear was not my fault, although I did after some effort break into the vehicle.

First I used a stick to shimmy the lock through a cracked window. You would think this would be enough to obtain the keys, but alas it wasn't. The keys were in the trunk, and on the convertible, the keys had to be in the ignition (not the trunk) to operate the trunk latch. Also being a convertible, you couldn't just fold down the seat to get into the trunk. To finally fetch the keys out of the deep cave of a trunk they were in, we (I) had to go in head first and use every gymnastic move I learned in grade school to finally snag them.

This is the happy picture after the retrieved keys and after the long paddle down the creek.

1846 Lemoyne

Yes, it is true that Dave and I took the rather large step into adulthood by putting in an offer on a house this weekend. We even did a little adulthood dance in its honor. And I should note that the street is pronounced Leemoin kind of like Des Moines. I was saying it more like lemone and Dave informed me that its not French, actually far from it. And thankfully its not just Lemon, even though it does look a bit like one. It's yellow and it is in need of some good elbow grease. We are only more intrigued by the challenge. Anyhow, Dave and I are quite partial to lemons, especially lemonade.

Where's Melanie

And you thought I was just kidding about the pink hat....

Hold the soy sauce

A couple of Christmases ago, I placed a Los Angeles restaurant guide on my list of items I couldn't live without. Counter Intelligence by Jonathan Gold is not an ordinary guide pointing out the best of the best; but rather sets out to bring the reader a greater understanding of the roads less traveled as far as restaurants go. The book is filled with descriptions of dark alleys and street vendors. I know what you are thinking... Yum right? Well usually if a place is listed in C. I. it's well worth the trek to get there. Dave and I have yet to be disappointed. Which brings me to last Saturday night.

Dave was itching for some good sushi and I wanted to stay close to home; preferably within biking distance. If you don't have to get into the car in LA, my theory is its a good idea to avoid it. I found a couple of listings in C. I. One in particular, Sushi Gen had a great write up, was cheap and also a direct shot downtown under 2 miles away. We hopped on our bikes and set our for some raw fish. After a short wait we pulled ourselves up to the sushi bar. The waitress came by and offered us hot hand towels and a drink... but no menu. The chefs behind the counter stared at us; I turned and stared at Dave; He stared at me. Finally one of the chefs asked what we wanted to eat. Gosh, I don't know.. Raw fish?! Looks like we were going to have to wing this one. After finally getting a listing of all the fish they had for the taking; Dave and I settled on salmon sashimi, tuna sushi and fresh water eel sushi. All were excellent! We decided to push our raw fish boundaries and went for the scallops. This one the chef set on our plates and then gave us a stern look and said. "No soy sauce, No ginger!" Um... No soy sauce? That's like asking a Smith to hold the ketchup on fries. His stare didn't waver though, so Dave and I uttered a small prayer and then shoved the fish in our mouths. WHOA. The scallops were soaked in lemon and hiding somewhere was a bit of onion. We were hooked. The chef gave us a small smile and wink and kept the excitement coming the rest of the meal.

and it's pink

I believe it has become fairly apparent to the general contracter that I am the only female working on the job... and apparently they want to make sure that fact doesn't go unnoticed.