California Eats

I called my dad about my first experience using the live chopper for a breaking news segment this morning. It was a crazy time. Thankfully, folks in the booth didn’t let me crash the segment (not the chopper…the actually show). My dad said I sounded happy. I am happy. I’m still training but I’m thrilled with everything I’ve gotten my hands on so far.

So far so good.

My dad and mom checked out the outside of my new job a few weeks ago. We’re grateful they came up from So Cal to help us unpack our insane number of boxes. This is our first dinner inside our new house. We picked-up duck, sesame chicken, green beans and beef and chicken noodle soup from the Golden Palace.

People from the California Wine Bar and work all recommended Tapa the World in Midtown. We had a fantastic spread of little Spanish dishes like these olives and paella. The light green ones had a buttery aftertaste. Yum!

We also tried the grilled sardines. We tasted this incredible fresh fish meat after pulling it away from the bony spine. I also loved how it tasted with lime and chunky salt pieces. These sardines went nicely with the buttery olives.

It took 45 minutes to prep the seafood paella and it was worth the wait. Our waiter warned us against filling up on tapas and bread….saying this dish will fill us up in no time. I fell in love with the saffron flavored rice. It was a yummy treasure hunt picking out the fresh shellfish, seafood and smoky chorizo pieces from the steaming hot pan.

We also checked out a beer meet-up after church. We met at the Sacramento Brewing Company and they recommended the Novemberfest. They said it was actually a late brew made for Octoberfest…by a month or so. It had a nice smooth, hoppy-tinged flavor. I was also fascinated by their tales of home brewing and beer fests.

During my weekend, we tried out the Thai Bistro in Davis. This was after a particularly grueling hatha flow yoga class. I’m still sore in my abs, shoulders and quads. Good times (and good exercise…totally needed after eating way too much good food). This is the young coconut meat soup with chicken. The coconut meat reminded me of chomping on those delicate bites back in Ixtapa. I also liked dipping in spoonfuls of rice into the soup. The broth reminded me of my favorite Japanese cafe next to Reuters in London. I thought both flavors worked wonderfully together.

I know this is only the tip of the iceberg for my eating adventures in this area. So far so good.