A Couple Days at Tom and Kitty's

Posted this Jan 6 2012, next post parade days and homeward bound!


Monday, Dec 26^th, we had an hours drive to Tom and Kitty's home. Along the way we stopped at the Fullerton Arboretum

it's a small garden but time for a walk with a Doctors house at the beginning.

We stroll thru the park, running stream with a small waterfall, GREEN grass, dirt trails and many monarch butterflies flittering around. The dessert cactus are near bloom. A neat pathway with ornamental gourds hanging from it was nice to walk through.

The GPS got us back on the right track and we arrived at their home about half hour later than planned, but for the amount of traffic right on time. It is always a big welcome when you arrive there. We sit down and talk about what's new and what's old. Kitty had made a scrumptious meal for us if we wanted, my mind raced. Should I put her through the trouble? Well, she was kind enough to make it so I said yes. I looked at the fresh garden salad and those fresh vegetable colors popped out at me.

Almost looked to good to eat. But tried Tom's favorite mustard dressing on it, wish I could remember the name? A penne salad was sitting in front of us, Kitty said there is one left over one new. We were to guess. There was a nice meaty tomato sauce with yellow squash and zucchini pieces, yum. That evening we sat and reminisced, wish I had Tom's memory of things old.

Tuesday Dec 27th

A nice breakfast, egg, ham and bread sandwich with gallons of coffee. As we talked it soon became time to eat lunch.

As we head to our favorite Long Beach restaurant Joe Jost's for our delights, we had their polish sausage split with a quarter pickle and cheese wrapped in a piece of caraway bread. Tom and I had two schooners of beer, pickled eggs and pretzels.

Tom - Kitty - Shirleen - Jerry

Kitty had an egg salad sandwich and not to embarrass her I had a liverwurst, raw onion on rye sandwich. This time I bought a T-shirt, saw one on a guy in Alaska.

The place was packed at 2pm front and back.

Evening, ate at Original Fish Company Restaurant & Fresh Fish Market,

Call to Dinner by a Flashing Lobster

again I made a mistake on ordering, I switched from my calamari of a couple years ago to a Alaskan Halibut, over cooked. Tom did share a piece of his with me, and as he said, only because he was full. One consolation, now we have to come back. We again talked till midnight. I had brought along a bottle of Schell's Reichbeir (smoke beer), one of their special runs.

Wednesday Dec 28^th we had another nice light breakfast, more than I eat at home. We are going to meet Joan, Shirleen's first cousin, for lunch. What a fun time we had visiting, talking about family and catching on old times.

I wanted to include a picture on their family room wall.

Donny's Daughters Fabric Wall Art

After a couple hours kibitzing we left for Tom's. We ate at a very nice white cloth table restaurant – Patty's down by Seal Beach. The hair dressing place next door was the site of a mass murder a couple months ago. A crazy man shot his wife, a hair dresser, and six other people. It sure is a grim place to observe. Well the good part was the restaurant. The atmosphere was upscale. The food was easy to order, the gals had an 8 ounce lobster, the guys 16 frog legs lightly fried and tender.

A couple salads were ordered, the dressing was a champagne vinaigrette. A double baked potato, spaghetti with a green pesto sauce and two orders of rice pilaf. I have to try pilaf's as it is a favorite I have never personally made. This one had a secret ingredient in it that the waitress did not know was in it – busted angle hair pasta, almonds and taste abounded. Back home we sat and talked.

Thursday Dec 29th a quick breakfast for some coffee for me. I gave Tom a copy of Klinkhammer and Groebner genealogy material and pictures. Now I have it backed up on the coast also. Valarie came over to visit and tell us about her hike up to a lookout the day before. Sounded like a nice hike but long and rocky, pics looked neat. We felt it was time to give Tom and Kitty a break and as we all know after three days fish start to smell.

Palace of Tom and Kitty's

A nice ride to down town Long Beach although GPS gave us a shorter distance but a block off a main street. We pull up and park the car at the Renaissance Hotel on the bay. Time to walk around the area. We have stayed down the street at a Westin a couple years ago and ate on the pike at Parkers' Lighthouse Restaurant, so no need to go there again. Rarely do we eat again at a restaurant. It turns out that we ate at the Westin that eve. We ate at our hotel restaurant, Shirleen had a deliciously rich tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. La Brea county white bread and Sonoma jack. I missed the boat, some potato chips and animal braised pork, garlic, with jalapenos and jack cheese, no mention of French fries, I missed the fries mention also not much taste in the aioli sauce. The a walk down the steep hill to the bay and a look around. The marina housed a small amount of boats and across the bay was the ocean liner Queen Mary, a nice sight.

A slow stroll of sightseeing and a couple of blimps flew over.

Maybe his name was Morton?? salty sailor

Tower out our room window at 6

A meeting with the tour group was next, it was a great surprise for us. The tour group is big, three bus loads. We were, as she was, that we had the same person as we had on the Alaska trip in July. As we left the room a couple behind us asked where we were from. North Mankato; we asked, they were from, yes, New Ulm. It turns out there were 13 people from there and the area. This guy knew Shirleen's sister and double dated with her husband. This brought on a new slant to the tour also.

As I said we ate at the Westin. Shirleen a cold chicken salad, we forgot to ask if hot or cold. I a spicy Thai sauce with rice and mussels with shrimp, ooooh, so good.