Artichokes

Artichokes, hmm,hmm.

Artichokes, hmm,hmm.

Artichokes, hmm.hmm.

Down in Monterey the artichokes grow, 

Towsey headed artichokes, row after row.

They grow in Monterey 'cause it's comfortable there,

They like the sandy bottom and the cool salt air.

Artichokes, hmm,hmm.

Artichokes, hmm,hmm.

Artichokes, hmm.hmm.

When you eat an artichoke you take a little bite,

Stick you in the finger if you don't hold it right.

Take a little nibble, throw away the rest,

Enough left over for a google-birdie nest.

"The Artichoke Song" 

Malvina Reynolds

Artichoke that has gone to flower and has faded. In Italy, these thistle heads would be intensely purple.
From Treebone's garden

Steve in artichoke country

artichoke plant. This is from the Treebones' garden but outside of Monterey, there were fields and fields of them

Our car for the week. We found artichokes cheaper:12 for a dollar but hard to take back to Michigan

Most of you might be familiar with Malvina Reynolds from watching Weeds. Little Boxes 

was written and sung by her. A good friend of mine made sure our family was well stocked

 with folksy children's songs. The kids well remember the artichoke song as we love 

artichokes in our family. Even Maya has learned the joy of dipping the leaf into the sauce

 and scraping the little bit of goodness off with her teeth.

 California Route 1, which we were one for the majority of our trip, has some very steep

,twisty parts.  Yesterday morning for instance, I took it on the way to the airport  at

 5 am snaking through a particularly treacherous part known as The Devil's Slide. This was

 particularly fun in the dark after a very short, sleepless night. The tunnel bypassing this

 stretch is almost complete so road users will no longer have to worry about being buried in 

rock with no notice or the road splitting in two with your half falling into the sea 400 feet below.

 But heading south from Santa Cruz towards Monterey, the road enters

 an extremely flat stretch of land, flatter than southern Michigan, full of crops. Top crops seem

 to be artichokes, Brussel sprouts, kiwis and strawberries. Artichoke heaven.

When travelling, I try to eat the local speciality. Dungeness crab is fished right outside

 the harbor of my brother's town, so I had a crab roll there. Didn't try the sea dabs that 

seemed to be the top choice south of his place. In Pacific Grove, at a Thai restaurant,

 they had coconut artichoke soup. So so good! What I should have gotten too was the artichoke

 stuffed with seafood in red curry. I was put off by the inclusion of mussels but with the 

curry sauce, it should have been good. Earlier in the week, I had cream of artichoke soup

 mixed in with cream of green chile in Pescardero.

I am in Michigan now. Trying organize the millions of pictures and deal with whatever is here.

 I will blog more about my CA adventure later.