Last night, Doug and I took his new toy for a wander over the mountain, on winding roads through redwood forests and oak and something called chaparral (which I’d never head of). We eventually followed San Gregorio creek down to where it met the sea, watched the sunset over the ocean (this sounds more romantic than it was: the winds were freezing, and I huddled in the car while Doug shivered and took photos for practicing with in Aperture).
Then we drove down to Davenport along the coast in the twilight to the roadhouse, filled with organic goodness. We started with divine local scallops in a tangerine sauce with citrus greens and then “entrées” (what these crazy Americans call mains – I mean, honestly, this is one of the stupider language choices I will simply not get used to) were clam chowder and farmer’s salad (Doug) and a Chef’s Cioppino (a Californian dish that started with the Italo-American community who threw whatever leftover fish they had from the catch into a fish stew to share) for me. The stew was amazing: clams and mussels and salmon and prawns all stacked up with an aromatic soup. I tasted Doug’s Cricket Cola, an organic local cola somewhat like the NZ Phoenix cola at home, and had a glass of Santa Cruz Tempranillo, a little sharp on the tannins but good. We finished with a crà¨me brà»lée to die for and hot chocolate. Mmm.