MODERN NEW ENGLAND BATHROOMS

We stayed at friends' house in Maine. It is a lovely home designed by German architect Klaus Mueller, and with much contribution from friends of the owners (architects, builders) including myself. My input is realized in the bathrooms. The owners wanted a house that felt New England without being traditional, so in the bathrooms we used earthier colors and textures but installed them with clean lines and modern hardware.

We picked out the materials together, and I am really pleased with the results. As always, there are things I wish the contractor had done differently, and things I wish I had done differently (those pretty sinks splash water everywhere and I will never specify them again!) but for the most part, I think they came out great.

Soaking in the Master Bath tub while looking out at the trees is special.

Here is the little Guest Bath on the 1st level. Under cabinet lighting like this is very flattering to the person looking in the mirror.

GRILLED PEACH SHORTCAKE

It's dessert time.

Grilled Peach Shortcake

(adapted by Piera Gelardi from epicurious.com)

Serves 6

Shortcake:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 stick chilled salted butter, diced

6 tablespoons sugar (plus extra for glaze)

1/2 cup seltzer

2 tablespoons heavy cream (plus extra for glaze)

Preheat oven to 400, whisk dry ingredients together.  Add butter and mix with fingers, massaging until texture is coarse like cornmeal.  Add seltzer and cream and form dough into a log shape.  Put dough log on parchment paper and roll into a firmer log.  Cut into 6 rounds, place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet.  Mix bit of extra sugar and cream for glaze and coat.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Grilled Peaches:

3 peaches, halved

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sprinkle the peach halves with sugar and cinnamon and let sit 10 minutes before grilling on medium heat for 5-10 minutes.

Peach Sauce:

2 peaches, finely chopped/mashed

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons bourbon

Combine ingredients and cook on low heat until smooth.

Bourbon Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons bourbon

Whisk cream, add sugar and bourbon and whip until soft peaks form... not too much!

Put shortcake on bottom of bowl, place peach half filled with peach sauce on top, dollop with whipped cream, serve!

LABOR DAY MAINE

Back to New York for a hectic week of work and catch up.  Luckily I got to wash the stress away with another perfect trip to Maine.  It took nearly 9 hours to get there (I recommend NOT driving anywhere on Labor Day weekend) but it was worth it.  The weather was amazing, and we boated, hiked, antique shopped and ate lobster until we could eat no more.

Vintage Maine

Red's famous lobster rolls, in Wiscasset.  Very tasty, but they go the "plain Maine" route with their rolls: no seasoning, no herbs, little mayo.

Nothing plain about these fried clams.  Totally delectable.

We also stopped in Pemaquid for some hiking, followed by some down and dirty oysters harvested right there in the waters off the town.  Again, no frills: no minonette, no ice, no cracked pepper... just super fresh oysters and a lemon wedge.  Intense.  Sea.  Flavor.

A bowling alley in Cozy Harbor

ADIOS, SAN CLEMENTE

And it was time to go back home to New York. Here is the little apartment by the beach I was lucky enough to stay at, and which I decorated, all from Craigslist and La Tienda thrift store finds. I am particularly happy with how little we spent, how quickly we did it, and how fun it turned out.

Happy Labor Day, everyone. Enjoy the last days of summer!

TACOS: IT'S COMPLICATED

Mexican food is better in Southern California. It just is. Don't even talk to me about San Francisco burritos. Please. And the east coast? When I first moved to New York, you couldn't get a decent taco if you were willing to pay $20 for it. I remember almost killing my friends one night in college when I had to substitute scary generic taco sauce for real enchilada sauce when making enchiladas (it was all they had at the grocery store). This has changed significantly in recent years thanks to an growing Mexican population in the city. For me, however, nothing will match the tacos of my homeland. Above you see the restaurant that is my first love in the world of Mexican cuisine: Lucy's El Patio Cafe in Capistrano Beach.

The interior is junky, painted 1000 times with the same weird pink, filled with crappy posters and old arial photos of the area before anyone lived there. El Patio is a local institution since the 30's. We used to go as a family every Friday night.

The tacos at El Patio are chicken with a deep fried flour shell. They are topped with iceberg lettuce and mixed cheddar cheese. This is not an authentico taco, but it is mine. Still to this day, when I walk into the place, my favorite waitress, Joyce, greets me with a hug and puts my order in before I sit down. This place is home.

Next on the list is Pedro's Tacos. Pedros is a small fast food style chain (2 locations in San Clemente and 1 in San Juan). The fish taco is fried, with crema, cabbage and Heinz hotsauce in a corn tortilla. Again, not the most authentic, but so unbelievably good. Sitting on a deck overlooking the Pacific helps make anything taste good, though.

Finally, a new discovery for me: El Jefe Mexican Cafe. Muy authentico, family run, and my new favorite.

Like I said, El Patio is like a first love... awkward, tender, nostalgic, but in actuality not as satisfying as a more mature, more developed relationship. Pedro's is great too, but more like a summer fling... good for filling up after a day at the beach. El Jefe's carnitas tacos with salsa verde and onions on a corn tortilla are a serious, deep love that fits you just right. Plus they are $3 for two on Taco Tuesdays. I mean, really, how can you top that?

GARDENS OF THE MISSION

The Mission San Juan Capistrano has a beautiful series of gardens scattered over its property.

One thing the (still Catholic Church consecrated) Mission is short on is accurate history.  The gardens are so quiet and peaceful, and the presentations in the mission museum paint a romantic picture of pastoral community.  In reality, the Spanish enslaved the native population to build the place, and essentially wiped out the local Juaneno culture.  What little was left was paved over by American settlers.

Orange County has always been friendly to the forces of development, and these forces almost always win.  A recent victory against the developers, however, was the nixing of a highway that was to blast its way through a state park, treasured surf spot, endangered species habitat and archeological site south of San Clemente.  The fact that it was even proposed shows how weak opposition usually is in the face of a money making proposal.

To learn more about the native heritage of Orange County, efforts to preserve what little is left of it, and of the natural environment in Southern OC, check out the local division of the Sierra Club or the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

FINDING HISTORY

When I tell someone that I am from Orange County, they usually look amused and ask if people are actually as trashy as "The Real Housewives" on TV. Well, there are plenty of shallow, out-of-touch people who drive Hummers with stickers on the back of Calvin kneeling before a giant cartoon cross. There are plenty of Republicans, plenty of "professional" surfers, plenty of brand new stucco tract homes, plenty of malls, plenty of bad, overwrought cuisine... but there is also a interesting and rich history that many locals themselves don't know much about.

All of California was once part of the Spanish Empire. When the Spanish came up from Mexico to colonize, the Catholic church was at the forefront of the effort. They founded a chain of outposts called Missons up and down California. Near San Clemente is the Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776. Once Mexico gained independence from Spain, the church's land holdings, including the Missions, were divided up among private rancheros. There is an extensive record of life in Mexican California written by Richard H. Dana. My elementary school was named for him, as was the town of Dana Point.

Even decades after the US conquered the west, most of Southern California was still large cattle ranches and huge family farms. Development came slowly at first, and the towns of Santa Ana (the new county seat), San Juan Capistrano and Newport Beach were sleepy rural retreats a day's travel from burgeoning LA. The Los Rios district in San Juan Capistrano is a picturesque remnant of a late 19th and early 20th century neighborhood in Orange County.

The oldest house in California occupied by a single family is the Rios Adobe, built in 1794. It forms the heart of Los Rios district.

My town, San Clemente, was founded in 1925 by former Seattle mayor turned developer Ole Hanson. It was designed to be a vacation retreat from LA or San Diego. All the buildings were designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style popular in California in the 20's. Hanson built a pool and beach club, theatre, dance hall, pier, and laid out the streets of the entire town. The depression stopped development, and most of Orange County still remained a sleepy farmland until World War II, when the defense industry brought an influx of arrivals from out the midwest (including my grandparents) and the freeway system allowed the suburbs to expand down from LA.

One of the original Hanson homes, Casa Pacifica, was owned by Richard Nixon. It is a spectacular example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.

Casa Pacifica is situated at the southern most point in town, and right at the edge of Orange County at the boarder with Camp Pendleton Marine Base, which stretches for miles down the coast, development free, until San Diego. Here, Nixon retreated after Watergate, and walked on the sand in his hard black dress shoes, thinking about what an evil person he was.