harriet neal

Finally made the jaunt. I live in Monrovia, CA (SoCal), one of my
co-workers and I decided on Friday afternoon to make the trip. Since
yesterday was her birthday I said I would buy lunch, and not knowing the
Torrance area, I downloaded several pages of restaurant reviews for places
in that area from the L A Times. My friend lives in Tujunga (Ta-hung-a),
which is about 20 miles northwest of Monrovia, I drove to her place and we
began from there.

Since she was driving, she chose the route, which was to take the 210
westbound to the 118 westbound to the 405 (freeway from hell) southbound
towards the Southbay area. When we got to the "top of the hill" at
Mulholland, we were speeding along at about 35 mph, so we got off at Getty
Center Drive and took Sepulveda south (Sepulveda is parallel to the 405, so
while we were on the city streets, driving at 40 mph, in city traffic with
traffic signals and stop signs, we were still driving faster than those
folks on the 405 southbound at 2:30 PM. It was a slow cruise thru suburbia
on the westside of Elay.

We got back on the 405 at Century Blvd, (LAX area) and got off on Hawthorne
Blvd, (store address is 21301 S. Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA) and proceeded
a few miles south to our final destination...Penzey's. We found a parking
spot in front of the store, and began filling our basket. Distance was
about 65 miles from Monrovia. The store was very nicely laid out, and the
spices/herbs were displayed in nice wooden boxes, that my friend was
interested in buying, as she has decorated her home with a lot of antiques
(stove circa 1935 and still works well!). The sales staff said the boxes
were not for sale, as they were made by the carpentry staff in Wisconsin.
Too bad.

This was my haul:

Freeze Dried Shallots (4 oz jar).*
Trinidad (Lemon Garlic Marinade) (6 oz jar)
Fox Point Seasoning ( 1.7 oz jar)*
Sandwich Sprinkle (1.2 oz jar)*
Raspberry Enlightenment (9.8 oz jar)*
China Szechuan Peppercorns (.55 oz jar)*
Buttermilk Dressing & dip (.55 oz jar)*
Horseradish Dip (4.0 oz bag)

*New stuff I've never tried, but have wanted to do so for awhile.

Total Cost $44.40.

My friend spent twice as much, but she bought a small BBQ gift set for a
friend, in addition to the haul for herself.

When we left the store, I told her to decide which place she wanted to dine
at; she chose a sushi place, a few miles south of where we were, in Redondo
Beach, so we headed there. We found the restaurant, but it was no longer a
sushi place, but a Mediterranean place. Time to make another choice. This
time it was a Malaysian place, but we weren't sure exactly where it was
located, so I called and got directions, and we found it easily enough. We
ordered chicken satay on skewers and a pancake dish for appetizers; a lamb
dish and a vegetable dish, plain rice and hot tea, all of which were very
good. The desserts we choose, were a cold one made with ice, molasses, and
coconut milk and green beans, which did not have a taste of any kind; and a
hot dish that was made of taro and coconut milk. We decided the desserts
were an acquired taste.

Now it's time for both of us to get cookin'.

Harriet & critters (J J the world famous jack russell terrior who is under
the computer desk; P K the lady manx who has chosen to live in the basement
of our building during the summer and will return inside when the weather
cools down; and my son Joseph, who is somewhere else.)