Malibu morning picture of the day - Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Dear Family, Friends, and Gentle Readers,

It's a little late, but here's your picture of the day...

The rain is gone, leaving crystal clear air over the ocean. It is so ultramarine blue today.

Turn the left and you get more of the same.

Breezy and easy on the coast, folks.

Spam musubi, in case you're wondering ...

I was two hours late today. Not for traffic, but for this stuff:

It's office holiday potluck day. A colleague specially requested this dish which I brought maybe three years ago?

It's easy enough, but the assembly takes a lot of time. The rice is everything in this--it is not a neutral element.

If you take this to a party and you are below the critical number people of Asian descent, there's a "presentation-wow" factor to this dish. All the middle-class whites will experience a vague recollection of that trip to Hawaii they took a while back, and be pleasantly predisposed.

On the other hand, if you're above the critical number of Asians, the conversation will be rather "Not bad. What brand rice did you use and how many times do you rinse?" And you will be judged (harshly) on how well you managed to have the individual grains of rice keep some sort of textural integrity in the mouth-feel. The sweet-sour balance in seasoning the rice is paramount. If they reach for the wasabi, you've failed miserably.

Since I was running late anyway and phoned it in, I stopped to take a picture on my route to add to my collection of pictures for the Unofficial L.A. Fall Leaf Tour.

Gotta tell you people, if you want a turning-leaf street, hit Topanga Canyon Blvd., the stretch between Ventura and Muholland, but you probably have to hit it about the first week of December, before the first rain comes and takes them all off the tree. A nostalgic, displaced East-Coaster city engineer must have planted that street back in the 1950s, but the color harvest definitely pays off today.

While you're there on Topanga, go to Blinkie's Donuts (Southeast Asian-run, what else were you expecting?) at Dumetz and partake of some of the best small-batch fat pills available in The Valley. I didn't stop, so no picture. Sorry. I was late, remember, second day in a row?

That's it for today. May you survive all your office potlucks...

Love,
Pops