Top 10 Hikes and Dive Spots

The website Gadling has a list of what they consider the "World's best Hikes." One of the hikes is the Mt. Whitney climb which I did in one day in 2008. Maybe it was the trauma of the 22 miles that day, but I would not consider it one of the "world's best." Either way, the ten hikes listed are all trips I want to do.
They also listed the top 10 dive sites.

http://www.gadling.com/2010/01/26/10-great-destinations-for-scuba-diving-adventure-videos/

I now have 20 trips to do in the near future.

Empowered by Gaiters

There is something empowering about wearing gaiters. When combined with durable snow pants and hearty winter boots you feel like you could be walking through knee high lava flows and be fine.
Mine are the Outdoor Research Verglass Gaiters. They are affordable ($45), durable, waterproof, and not vomit inducing ugly. Over two days of snowshoeing and potholing up to my knee my feet remained dry and these remained in place. The calf strap is sturdy and never came loose. The leather straps were easy to adjust (before they were frozen over). The velcro front made putting them on easy even after the spent the night getting coated in ice.
They are not without their problems though. Maybe I have skinny legs for my shoe size but the calf strap had to be cinched almost all the way down to stay up on my leg. While the strap never came undone I did end up with an annoying bunching at the top of the gaiters and the actual strap sticking out to the side. This could theoretically get snagged on something. My second complaint may happen with all gaiters. The lace clip at the toe always came unhooked. This never impacted the performance of the gaiters but had circumstances been different I would want these more firmly locked onto my shoe. I may add a little ring onto my boots so that I have something more secure than crossed laces to hook my clip around.

La Botte

My parents were in town after a desert valley road trip and requested we go to La Botte for dinner. We had eaten there on my last birthday and had an amazing culinary experience.
We went on a Tuesday night and the restaurant was mostly full. I am not sure if they expected this because we ended up with one thoroughly overworked waiter. He looked a little like Christiano Ronaldo and had the accent of an Italian characterture. After dropping off our menus we didn't see him for about 30 minutes. Our wine took an additional 30 minutes to arrive. If it wasn't for very stimulating conversation this meal would have been miserable.
For food we tried to order the Scallop salad but the waiter informed us they were out of scallops. We ended up starting with the cured duck (duck prosciutto) which was tasty and the red beet ravioli. The ravioli was absolutely amazing. The flavors burst out of the homemade shell, the presentation was perfect, and the dish tasted earthy (the beets), cheesy and a little sweet.
My entree was the pork shoulder served on chard with a kobucha squash mustard. The meat was a little undercooked (it didn't fall apart completely, just mostly, I almost had to use a knife) but the mustard was perfect. It had the consistency of sweet mashed potatoes but the spiciness of a hot ground mustard. And I love mustard.
My dad ordered the filet mignon medium rare. It came out cold so he sent it back to be reheated. When it came back it was closer to medium than medium rare. He said it was delicious but overcooking your cold meat is not acceptable.
Ariel ordered the lamb ragou which was pretty good. The homemade pasta was smooth and floury (just right). I thought the lamb flavor was overpowered by the cheese, but the dish was still quite good.
So in summary, the service was deplorable but the food was delicious. The two bottles of wine we drank were also top notch (the first was a reasonably priced Montepulciano, my dad ordered the second but it was also smooth). I still recommend this place even with the bad service.
http://www.labottesantamonica.com/

USA! USA!

I am much more of a Daily Show fan than a Colbert Report fan, but this sticker is awesome. I wish I had a giant eagle to ride and a flaming flag. Thank you Shepard Fairey

Scoops

Full disclosure: I love Baskin Robbins. I grew up eating it and have many fond childhood memories. Uncannily consistent, you can go into any BR on the planet and find staples like Gold Medal Ribbon and Mint Chip that never disappoint. They are always creamy, sweet, and delicious.

But the advent of designer ice cream has taken the frozen sweet in a totally different direction. After a friend's show at the Fake Gallery we hit up Scoops, the Hollywood hipster version of Baskin Robbins. Scoops is known for exciting flavors like Lavender, Goat Cheese, Brown Bread, and Oolong Tea. They are all amazing and made with fresh ingredients that really bring out the intricacies of the taste. The ice cream is made that morning and the flavors are served until they run out. The past few times we have been there they have run out of a few items (Banana Oreo, which is right in my wheelhouse, is frequently gone).

Ariel and I decided to split one cup (which is two scoops) for $2.75. The price is right. We ordered Blueberry Black Tea and Black Sesame. The BBT tasted like, well, tea infused with blueberries. It had the perfect balance of sweet cut with the bitterness of black tea. The Black Sesame was amazing. The ice cream was basically sesame seeds and ground sesame with a creamy base. It is hard to describe the flavor but imagine if sesame seeds tasted so good you didn't want to stop eating them - that is basically how this ice cream tasted. I don't think I would pair these two flavors again, I would pass on the BBT, but the Black Sesame was delicious.
Other Scoops thoughts - The Honey Lavender is the best flavor I have had there. It may be the best flavor of ice cream I have ever eaten (sorry BR). The flavor is complex, delicate, sweet...it is like eating heaven and potpurri all at once.
The Berkeley version of Scoops is Ici. Simply put, Scoops DESTROYS Ici. The consistency of the ice cream, the variety of flavors, and the complexity of the tastes at Scoops surpass the four flavors we tried at Ici.

Umami Burger

Ariel and I went to Umami Burger last night. I will go ahead and say it was delicious, but here is an item by item breakdown with my final opinion at the bottom:

Pickled Plate - We started with this appetizer that consisted of all things pickled: peaches (which the waitress identified as pears), cucumber (obviously), hearts of palm, fennel, and one other thing that I cannot recall. The pears stood out for their texture which was soft but interesting; the pickles were not good at all and far too sweet; and the fennel was the only thing that I would say was good.

Sweet Potato Fries - I love me some sweet potato fries. When they are on a menu I order them. This craze started a few years ago and so far the best ones are at The Counter with a close runner up at Father's Office. Umami probably delivered the best ones yet. They were perfectly fried and had a sprinkling of sugar (maybe brown sugar, not sure) that made these more sweet than they need to be. With the added garlic aioli these were excellent.

Socal Burger - This is a very basic burger with lettuce, tomato, some other spreads and carmelized onions. I did not notice the onions at all. The burger was good but a little too salty. There should have been more onions to cut the salt and balance out the flavor. The actual patty was delicious though and charred to perfection.

The Umami Burger - The eponymous menu option really brings it. Toppings include a little piece of portabello mushroom, a baked parmesan lattitce, a baked tomato, and some type of aioli. The center of this burger, where all of the toppings were located, really tasted like nothing else (Umami means "the fifth taste"). Those few bites were transcendent. The edges of the burger, like the Socal, were charred perfectly but were over seasoned and too salty.

Bottom Line - I would go back for the fries and Umami burger but mainly to try some of the other options. I like that they use creative combinations of items on their burgers. I do not like that they have no other items beyond a turkey burger. And never order the pickled plate.

A Sweet Jacket for a Friend

My friend Tommy and I do not always see eye to eye when it comes to politics. He is from the more rural Inland Empire in San Bernadino and I from white collar blue voting Marin County. He watches 24, I watch the Daily Show. He listens to Tom Licus, I listen to NPR. But one thing we CAN agree on is how ironically tasteful this jacket is. I think I am going to surprise him and send it to him. It is available here for the irrationally low price of $20.95 USD.