West Coast Whirlwind

We just spent three and a half days in LA and San Fran for my hubby's step-brothers' graduations--one from college, one from law school. (Congrats again, guys!) It was a whirlwind tour filled with ceremonies, festivities, and a lot of eating. And just to boost the zany factor even more...We drove between LA and San Fran, encountering lots of food-related stuff along the way. Here's a list of everything foodie from our West Coast celebration:

• Fish tacos at Manhattan Beach
• Coconut ice cream with fresh mango chunks on top
• Duke's Malibu: tiki joint practically in the ocean
• Endless orchards
• Giant wooden cutouts of farmworkers propped up in the fields along the road
• Castroville artichoke farms
• Gilroy garlic advertisements
• Factory/Industrial farming and animal feeding operations (sadly)
• La Bicyclette restaurant, Carmel-by-the-Sea: asparagus and morel lasagna, which I declared at the table to be one of the best things I've ever, EVER consumed
• Really tasty and inventive tapas at Andalu, San Fran
• Shopping at SF's Rainbow Grocery, scooping up as many beautiful, local vegetables as the cart would hold
• Cooking a feast with two of my favorite women in our SF kitchen with a view (below): crudite platter, grilled chicken and salmon, baked portabella mushrooms stuffed with quinoa and veggies, roasted zucchini, and mixed greens salad
• A giant orange gummy bear
• As much avocado as I could get my hands on
• As much CA wine as I could drink
• Picking lemons from the tree in our SF garden (thanks for the pic, Mom!)