Pasta Social at Dolly Sinatra Lodge

We do enjoy these very much so when Brian and Carol said they were in town for a month and wanted us to join them, we said yes.  We introduced them to these in the Fall and they are now fans.

They stay very close to where the lodge is...just across from the Arrive Hotel.  It's a cool area that is new to us.

I loved this painting on the wall of their place...very Palm Springs.

There is always super food,  good wine,  good music and lots of camaraderie.  There were a number of performers and lots of audience participation.

The soup is always a bit different....homemade and excellent.  Wine from Sicily, of course.

Brian and Carol

The volunteers serving up penne and meatballs.

One of the performers

The audience getting into "Sweet Caroline"...lots of laughs.

TV UNAM...some great programming and now a daily schedule

TV UNAM (also known as Teveunam, tvunam and tv•unam for its stylizations) is an educational television network owned and operated by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City.

Programming on TV UNAM generally consists of educational telecourse programs for UNAM students, plus public affairs, documentary and cultural programming. Some TV UNAM programming can also be seen on the nationwide Edusat service.

-  from Wiki

Jim has always been raving about TV UNAM but it was hit and miss for knowing what was on.  For years he has enjoyed just tuning in and getting some Spanish practice.  Now,  with a schedule, I can enjoy it too because there are a lot of interesting things in English with Spanish subtitles and also in French.  Last night was a good example.  There was a half hour special on the Monet painting "Impression, Sunrise" in French which was very interesting and also to know it had been stolen and recovered.  In the program they estimated its value at at least 50 million Euros.  The Vancouver Art Gallery recently had paintings from the Marmottan Museum where it hangs...obviously they didn't let this on out of their sight again!
And then we saw the movie, West Side Story, and realized we actually had never seen it. I guess we saw a stage production.  Tonight a musical with Dustin Hoffman on Lenny Bruce. That looks to be interesting as well.

From The NY Times:
PARIS, April 16,1991— The celebrated painting by Claude Monet that lent its name to the Impressionist movement went back on display today at the Paris museum from which it was stolen more than five years ago.

"Impression, Soleil Levant" ("Impression, Sunrise") suffered no damage "except that of being shut up in a cubbyhole for five years," said the curator of the Marmottan Museum, Arnaud d'Hauterives. The painting, featuring a rising red disk of sun over the French port of Le Havre, was recovered by the French police on Dec. 5 in Porto Vecchio, Corsica.

The 1873 painting, rehung along with eight others stolen at the same time, is in even better condition than it was before the theft, Mr. d'Haute rives said. Experts have removed yellowed varnish applied to it, and the colors have been restored to their original tones.

Palm Springs Art Museum

It was a free day yesterday so we took advantage of it.  It's so nice to see the Rowan Hotel in the space across from it and downtown Palm Springs was chock full of people.  Obviously businesses were doing well.

We do love this horse made of driftwood.  Somehow we never tire of looking at it and it's in a much better place now amongst the western themed art.

This was a new display...it was fun to see these old clips of westerns that we watched as kids.  I'm sure they were in black and white.  We're pretty sure we did visit "Pioneertown".  Jim has a recollection of a bookstore there that had the complete Oxford English Dictionary.

Another new display.  It was interesting to read about the restoration process of this painting.

These are the studies he did on location for the painting.

And finally,  the painting,  with some of the restoration materials.

Getting in the mid 80's now....

These temps are apparently average highs for more like the end of March and beginning of April.  I always find average temps a bit misleading.   From my experience average temps seem to be more in the mid-90's at that time.  That's the thing about numbers.  For anyone coming to PS the end of March I would say,  "It can get pretty hot and sometimes hit 100 F".

It is such a gorgeous morning that I thought I'd take my "big" camera and take some shots of what we see when we're swimming in the morning.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Need to Know"

"Need to Know" by Karen Cleveland

Louise Penny recommended this and I saw it in the PS Library in their Hot off the Press section so picked it up.  It is quite a gripping thriller and somewhat amazing for a debut novel.   The female protagonist is in the CIA and in real life she was a CIA analyst.  It was a good read and I look forward to the next one which will definitely be coming I'm sure.

From The Good Life France

I always enjoy taking a look at this online magazine that arrives Saturday morning.  I love scallops and this looks like a great recipe!

Scallops, parma ham, leeks and mango sauce....what not to like.

https://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/roasted-scallops-with-parma-ham-leeks-and-mango-sauce/

Our wonderful world of international cuisine

People our age in North America had a pretty dull meat and potatoes diet when we were kids.  Then came Europe on $5 a day and we were introduced to all that wonderful foreign stuff and eventually we got better things at home and sometimes cheaper than in Europe....thank you Trader Joe's and Peninsula Bakery in Palm Springs.

Well, we were at our favourite Chinese restaurant yesterday and had our usual Pepper Beef,  Roast Duck,  and Hot and Sour Soup....delicious.  And the owner always knows exactly what we will order and has a very nice reasonable Australian Shiraz on hand for us.  I think we got the best of this food exchange deal.  I was reading about the popularity of SPAM for Koreans in the Desert Sun the other day.

I didn't know SPAM was so popular with Koreans until I saw that display in H-Market in Vancouver but it seems it was the US Military connection that got it all going.

Some of these are almost tempting to try.  I might not be able to resist "Stinky French Garlic".

"Spam was first introduced overseas by way of the U.S. military during World War II. Its long shelf life and convenient pull tab tin container made Spam a GI staple when a million pounds of Spam were shipped overseas. In the 1950s, Spam also was sent with troops during the Korean War. By the end of the war, however, South Korea had plunged into crushing poverty. Meat was scarce, and obtaining a tin of Spam was not only unaffordable for most Koreans, it also required a military connection.

Resourceful Koreans were able to find scraps of discarded Spam near military encampments, said Byong Moon Kim, a Korean War historian based in Shoreview, Minn. At the time, Koreans could only afford to eat meat during their two major holidays. Spam became revered as a special treat and represented nutrition and fortune.

Tins of Spam eventually made it to the black market, but at an inflated cost. Some U.S. troops gave out their extra rations of Spam as a humanitarian act amidst the widespread hunger. Spam’s shiny packaging appealed in a country where anything new and foreign was a novelty."

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

Don,  Jim, and Elaine at the Union Club.

We had many Robbie Burns Day Suppers at the Union Club with Don and Elaine but we began with more simple dinners at our homes. Don got the idea to celebrate Robbie Burns Day  and Jim's job was to do the Ode to the Haggis.  He really got into it and borrowed a kilt outfit from Bill Thomas which Bill gave to him in the end.  He even wore this kilt outfit to his class on Robbie Burns Day and recited Burns poems in his perfect Scottish accent one year!

If I remember correctly Don served Cock a Leekie soup,  Scotch eggs  (a hard boiled egg with saucage meat around it,  and of course,  haggis.  The last two items bought at a Victoria butcher who always had these Scottish specialties around Robbie Burns Day.Jim also did the "Selkirk Grace"

May you all "hae meat"  and can eat!

The Selkirk Grace, is a prayer said afore eatin that's attreebute tae Robert Burns:

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be Thanket!

I definitely remember the prunes in the soup.

And of course a wee dram of Scoth is essential with the haggis.

My goodness....vegetarian haggis...Robbie Burns must be turning in his grave.

I just went onto FB and there was a memory from 5 years ago.  I had a terrible cold so wasn't doing any celebrations that year but I did blog about our Robbie Burns Suppers with the Curlings.  Jim is wearing the socks Susan knit for him.  Thinking about you guys,  Susan and Alan,  and all our happy times together.

http://janicesextonart.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-robbie-burns-day.html

It was fun looking back on my posts around this time as John and  Carol  "kindly" offered to go to Palm Springs in our stead if we were too sick to go and we could look after Mr. Darcy.  He sent this photo of him.  He really is a sweet cat and I never saw him like this...well,  you rarely see Mr. Darcy.  It's possible I hadn't glimpsed him yet.

Hi Janice,

Sorry to hear you're sick again. Since you probably won't be able to travel and have already bought your tickets and reserved rooms etc. Carol and I have volunteered to take your place so the money won't be wasted.

While we're gone you can amuse yourself by coming over to our house three or four times a day to feed the cat.

John

Breakfast at Elmer's this morning

There was a sceduled power outage today from 7:30 -11:30 so we decided to go out for breakfast since we really can't do without our coffee.  Going out for breakfast is not our thing and this was certainly confirmed today.  Goodness...all these cheerful people...

The power was on when we returned home at 10:30 so more coffee and reading the paper.  I was thinking of a crab and avocado omelette when I looked at the menu last night but this morning that didn't seem like such a good idea so we both had the "lighter" portion of this (one biscuit)  with seasonal fruit instead of hash browns.  Still a lot of food...I don't know how people can eat like this in the morning.

Now for my morning swim in the sunshine....that's the way to begin the day.

The 99 cent store on Sunrise

We've been meaning to get to this place and it's close to the PS Library where we were yesterday.  It's an unusual type of "Dollar" store in that they have a lot of food including fresh produce and even wine.  The prices are pretty good...where can you ge 3 lbs of Granny Smith apples for $1.99?

We picked up a Sea Ridge Pinot Noir for $2.99 (average price coming in at $7.50).  It gets reasonable reviews.  It will be interesting to try.
https://www.vivino.com/wineries/sea-ridge-coastal/wines/pinot-noir-2015

I'm currently drinking some Celestial Seasonings lemon zinger herbal tea which was 99 cents for 20 bags..  I'm sure it's around $4 in normal grocery stores.

Lots of interesting stuff....not everything is 99 cents.

You never know what you might see in Palm Springs....

We were at the Palm Springs Library and I saw this fellow in a kilt.  Well,  Robbie Burns Day is Thursday so I guess he's a bit early.

Ok,  John,  you have fair warning now and I expect to see a photo of you in your kilt....maybe even walking up Dunbar Street although if it's still cold and windy I will accept an indoor photo.

Earthquake in Alaska creates a tsunami warning...now cancelled.

"Tsunami warning brought everyone out to Mt. Tolmie at 3 a.m. Great way to start your day in Victoria. " (a tweet in Victoria)

People in Victoria who were within two blocks of the ocean were advised to more to higher ground. That would have been us. We paid extra earthquake insurance for our house because we were in a tsunami zone. I'm glad I missed this event although it's encouraging that the alert systems seemed to work very well.

I hope things weren't too much of a problem for our friends and neighbours in Victoria...thinking about you guys!

**Update from our friends in Victoria in the tsunami zone:
"In Victoria, Mayor Lisa Helps says fire and police had just mobilized to begin evacuations when the warning was cancelled."  Well,  I hope that was the case but some people seemed to get alerts so it will be interesting to get more information on it all.

From Mary and Derek:
We weren't aware of the tsunami warning until I turned on the global tv news around 7 this morning!  Prov govt thought all went well in notifying people on the west coast but Vaughn Palmer, who lives in Victoria, begs to differ. He too slept through the night.  Warning extended down through washington and oregon.The quake itself registered 7.9 on the richter scale so a great relief...for now!

Thanks for thinking of us.  We'll see what emergency communications improvements this scare brings about.  Social media and going door to door don't seem like a plan at 4:30 a.m.

From Fern and John:
Thanks for thinking about us.  Thankfully we weren’t disturbed.  Given the high SE winds and high tide it could have been a bad situation if it had amounted to anything.
You must be very glad to be missing all this.  And yes, the Gorge is in the tsunami zone.  

From Susan and Chris:
I had no clue that this earthquake happened and that there was a tsunami warning until I went on Facebook this morning!  There apparently was an alarm in Victoria but I didn’t hear it.  My cousin, Scott, who lives in Port Alberni, had to drive to higher ground.  There were people in Victoria who drove or walked to Mount Tommie, Mount Doug or other high ground.  Wow!  All this drama and we were oblivious.  

We had a big storm two days ago and today it is also very windy, although only a mild 48 km. per hour wind instead of 80 km.!



Mt. Tolmie around 3 am this morning.

It seems Vancouver isn't a tsunami zone but of course it certainly is prime for a major earthquake as is Palm Springs. Ah well, no point worrying about it. Hard to worry about much with a brilliant blue sky and temps reaching 75 F today.