70 State Parks Slated to Close in California

The What:

Governor Jerry Brown announced today the closing of 70 State parks in California. Ba-stateparks08__0502926571_part6

Voters had a chance to save the parks back in November when proposition 21 was on the state ballot.

It would have imposed an $18 vehicle registration fee to provide a windfall of cash for ailing parks. The measure would have provided for $500 million a year as a new permanent funding source for parks, protected from the year-to-year roller coaster of the state’s general fund.

But voters gave the measure a strong thumbs-down.

It failed 58 to 42 percent, winning in only 10 of California’s 58 counties, nearly all of them in the Bay Area.

The Where:

So what parks will be closing?

  • Anderson Marsh SHP
  • Annadel SP
  • Antelope Valley Indian Museum
  • Austin Creek SRA
  • Bale Grist Mill SHP
  • Benbow Lake SRA
  • Benicia Capitol SHP
  • Benicia SRA
  • Bidwell Mansion SHP
  • Bothe-Napa Valley SP
  • Brannan Island SRA
  • California Mining & Mineral Museum
  • Candlestick Point SRA
  • Castle Crags SP
  • Castle Rock SP
  • China Camp SP
  • Colusa-Sacramento River SRA
  • Del Norte Coast Redwoods SP
  • Fort Humboldt SHP
  • Fort Tejon SHP
  • Garrapata SP
  • George J. Hatfield SRA
  • Governor’s Mansion SHP
  • Gray Whale Cove SB
  • Greenwood  SB
  • Grizzly Creek Redwoods SP
  • Hendy Woods SP
  • Henry W. Coe SP
  • Jack London SHP
  • Jug Handle SNR
  • Leland Stanford Mansion SHP
  • Limekiln SP
  • Los Encinos SHP
  • Malakoff Diggins SHP
  • Manchester SP
  • McConnell SRA
  • McGrath SB
  • Mono Lake Tufa SNR
  • Morro Strand SB
  • Moss Landing SB
  • Olompali SHP
  • Palomar Mountain SP
  • Petaluma Adobe SHP
  • Picacho SRA
  • Pio Pico SHP
  • Plumas-Eureka SP
  • Point Cabrillo Light Station
  • Portola Redwoods SP
  • Providence Mountains SRA
  • Railtown 1897 SHP
  • Russian Gulch SP
  • Saddleback Butte SP
  • Salton Sea SRA
  • Samuel P. Taylor SP
  • San Pasqual Battlefield SHP
  • Santa Cruz Mission SHP
  • Santa Susana Pass SHP
  • Shasta SHP
  • South Yuba River SP
  • Standish-Hickey SRA
  • Sugarloaf Ridge SP
  • Tomales Bay SP
  • Tule Elk SNR
  • Turlock Lake SRA
  • Twin Lakes SB
  • Weaverville Joss House SHP
  • Westport-Union Landing SB
  • William B. Ide Adobe SHP
  • Woodson Bridge SRA
  • Zmudowski SB

The When:

Expect the closures to begin in September, with all 70 closings completed by July 2012.

Happy Easter! Dutch Baby Recipe for a Wonderful Brunch

Dutch Babies have always been a favorite of mine for brunch. If you are looking for an easy to make brunch item that will impress your friends, family, titillate your taste buds and bring the kids hopping to the breakfast table, look no further.

Dutch Baby  A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes referred to as a German pancake, a Bismarck, or a Dutch puff, is a sweet breakfast dish similar to Yorkshire pudding and derived from the German Apfelpfannkuchen. It is made with eggs, flour and milk, and usually seasoned with vanilla and cinnamon, although occasionally sugar is also added. It is baked in a pan with sloped sides and puffs up like a popover before falling soon after being removed from the oven. It is generally served with fresh squeezed lemon, butter, and powdered sugar or fruit toppings or syrup.

The Dutch Baby was originally served as three small Dutch babies served with powdered sugar and fresh squeezed lemon juice but eventually the "Big Dutch Baby" was invented and gained popularity. The Big Dutch Baby is usually what is referred to when reading about Dutch Babies.

I prefer to make some vanilla sugar a few days in advance by adding a whole vanilla bean with some super fine sugar in a small jar for the recipe.

So how easy can I make this for you? Alton Browne of the Food Network has a great recipe which is easy to follow and produces a great Dutch Baby or Yorkshire pudding (less the sugar).

We'll top these with fresh berries and they're hard to beat!

Dutch Baby

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2008

Prep Time:

15 min

 

Cook Time:

30 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

4 servings

 

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
  • 2 3/8 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1/2 cup
  • 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar, plus extra for serving
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • Lemon wedges

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven. Set the remaining tablespoon of melted butter aside to cool slightly. Wait 10 minutes before assembling the other ingredients.

Place the flour, vanilla sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining tablespoon of melted butter into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown. Sprinkle with additional vanilla sugar and serve with lemon wedges.

 

Happy Easter!

 

 

 

 

Today’s Mystery QR Code

What is a QR code?

Wikipedia defines it as: "A QR code (short for Quick Response) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed."

You'll need an app for your phone to decode this which varied depending on your operating system. My Blackberry Storm uses ScanLife with good results but other blackberry devices may use code cruncher–just Google them and you'll find one that works. Then simply snap a picture of this QR code with your phone's camera (with the app open) and it runs out to the internet and delivers…well, in this case your FREE Friday photo.

We use these codes on our web site and flyers to deliver information to people's phones rather than wasting print advertising paper resources. You’ll also see them on our sign post at a listed home in case the flyers run out or someone has the ability to be eco-friendly and download rather than take a printed flyer.

Our Mystery FREE Friday Photo can be downloaded here by scanning this QR code–try it; we think you'll like the new technology.

 

Mystery1

Happy Friday!

 

UPDATED VIDEO Belmont Pedestrian Decoy Program Nets 77 and 1 Accident

Today the Belmont Police department held true to a promise to hold a decoy pedestrian sting operation along several locations on Ralston Ave. and El Camino Real in Belmont.

The message was clear; beware of pedestrians in the crosswalk. Unfortunately it also netted one accident. Sergeant Brake mentioned in the official Belmont Police press release that the decoy had yet to step off of the curb and into the crosswalk when a truck that stopped suddenly to yield to the pedestrian and was hit from behind. However, a witness spoke to us stated the decoy had in fact actuated the crossing light and stepped into the crosswalk causing the driver to react quickly and the driver following too closely behind to not react quickly enough.

To hand out this many citations is amazing in the short span of time the decoy operation was in progress. It just goes to show how important this operation was to elevate public awareness.

As for the unfortunate accident that occurred, it could have happened any day with or without decoys. 

 

 

The goal of the operation was to raise driver awareness of pedestrians.  Five (5) plain clothes “decoys”, all personnel from the involved agencies, crossed at intersections, in marked crosswalks.  “Our goal is to raise drivers’ awareness of their responsibility to stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks”, said Belmont Police Sergeant Braké, who was in charge of the operation.

 

In all, officers made 93 enforcement stops and issued 77 citations for pedestrian right of way violations.  There was one traffic collision during the operation, at Ralston Ave & Villa Ave, when a driver, who had stopped for a pedestrian, who had not yet stepped off the curb, was rear ended by another vehicle.  “That driver was following too closely and told officers he assumed that the vehicle in front of him would keep going” said Sergeant Brake’.  “The driver who stopped did the right thing”, “This shows how important it is for drivers to be alert and maintain a safe stopping distance”, Sergeant Brake’ added.

 

Since 2007, the City of Belmont has averaged three (3) auto-pedestrian collisions per year, all of which resulted in minor to moderate injuries.  According to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), pedestrians represent 18% of all traffic related fatalities and almost 5% of all traffic related injuries.  In 2008 almost 650 pedestrians were killed in California and over 13,000 were injured, according to OTS.

 

Belmont Pedestrian Decoy “STING” Operation


The Belmont Police Department, in cooperation with, Millbrae, Burlingame, Foster City, San Mateo Police Departments, the San Mateo County Sheriff's San Carlos Police Bureau & the California Highway Patrol will be conducting a joint Pedestrian Decoy Operation on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 in the City of Belmont.  The Belmont operation will be conducted between 8:30 AM and 2:00 PM at several intersections in Belmont. 

[official story continued below]

EDITORIAL COMMENT: I poke fun at this piece but I literally sit near the crosswalk in front of our RE/MAX office next door to Vivace with our admin assistant and I watch day dreaming drivers nearly slaughter 30 pedestrians a day (her estimate not mine—she has a slightly better view).

And the pedestrians don’t help the matter. They wait until a car is barreling down upon them and set out in front of the oncoming car as if the crosswalk afforded them some sort of "force-field" protection from a ton of metal on four wheels at 30 mph with an oblivious operator at the helm–or not.

In my opinion both camps are to blame. I did a piece on this issue when they first installed the flashing lights on the street.

Many pedestrians approach this with an argument “Hey, it’s the law, the cars must stop when I’m in the crosswalk so I’ll just set right out and cross whenever I want to”, as if to tempt or defy Darwin’s evolution theory of survival of the fittest; and they don’t look first either. How else could a pedestrian get hit by a car except for stepping out when they probably shouldn’t while not paying attention?

PEDESTRIANS–Wait for the light at Alameda to turn red and all the cars will start slowing down anyway, and then hit the flashing light and cross the street once you are SURE the cars will stop. Unless it’s pouring rain, it’s the courteous thing to do and what you’d like a pedestrian to do when you are out of your shoes and into theirs—pedal to the metal.

DRIVERS–Now it’s not the fault of the cars it’s the drivers who are usually not paying attention. Focused with the tunnel vision seen only under the most stressful of situations they are glued to the mesmerizingly colorful traffic signal at the intersection of Alameda as if willing it to stay green will work—if they just stare at it hard enough. This is done all the while making dinner plans on their cell phones of course. They invariably miss the flashing crosswalk lights and fortunately the miss the pedestrians too—if only by a few inches.

Now much of this could be resolved if the city simply moved the crosswalk to the next block east near the video store and handed out "how to cross the street" pamphlets. You see the corner of our RE/MAX building harbors a blind spot to on coming west bound suburbanites and affords a perfect location for daring or unwitting pedestrians to hide before making their startling presence in the crosswalk just milliseconds after actuating the warning lights—sometimes performed with the adeptness of a track and field star. But don’t they use a closed course?

 

Police personnel in plain clothes will be used to cross the roadways in marked crosswalks, while motorcycle officers will watch for pedestrian right of way violations.  Motorists failing to yield the right of way to the pedestrian will be stopped and may be issued a citation under section 21950 of the California Vehicle Code. 

"Our goal is to raise drivers' awareness of their responsibility to stop for pedestrians in marked crosswalks," explained Sergeant Mike Braké of the Belmont Police Department.  "This is an opportunity to educate the motoring public on pedestrian right of way and related traffic laws", continued Sgt. Braké [and increase our city coffers]. 

The departments will carry out enforcement of pedestrian right of way violations on a continuous basis and will continue to work together on future pedestrian decoy events in their respective cities.

 

Corned Beef Brisket for Saint Patrick’s Day

It’s close to Saint Patrick’s Day and corned beef is all the rage—at least in AmCornedbeeferica. Those of you who think boiled meat sounds tepid might consider our twist on this celebratory staple.

Nothing beats a good barbecued brisket and a corned brisket can be just as delicious. But boiling the brisket extracts the same flavor out of the meat as boiled ribs. Sure boiled ribs are tender, but they’re only as good as the BBQ sauce you apply.

Narsai David had a recipe like this years ago and it’s pretty straight forward so we’ll give you our version.

But first, Alton Brown from the Food Network offers a great recipe for brining your own brisket. We include this link more so you know what goes in a good brine. His recipe takes ten days advance prep and we’re already too close to Saint Patrick’s Day to try that. We recommend you simply buy an already corned brisket from your favorite butcher; And try to get the pickling packet along with it or get one from the spice department.

Like pork shoulder or ribs, brisket requires low and slow cooking to break down the connective tissues. You’ll typically find brisket sold as a flat cut or a point cut. We prefer a whole brisket for BBQ but for today’s recipe, the point or deckle end of the brisket is preferred. While the flat or thin part is leaner, less fat means that it will not be as moist or as tender (or flavorful). Let your conscious decide which cut is right for you.Beefbrisketshankcuts

Preheat the oven to 250.

Trim some of the excess fat from the top of the brisket leaving at least a half inch of fat.

Now slather the brisket with salt and pepper and a generous amount of Coleman’s prepared mustard.

In a roasting pan, add the brisket fat side up and cover with foil.

Bake it for about four hours and remove from the oven. How long you need to cook it for will depend on how big your brisket, or cut of brisket is.

Sprinkle a generous portion of brown sugar over the top of the brisket and add the carrots and onions around the side of the pan. Cover with foil again and return to the oven for two more hours. Depending on the size of your brisket, it could take anywhere from a mere 4 hours to 6 hours to get to an internal temperature of at least 145°—165° is preferable. In fact with brisket, you could go up to 190° with a whole brisket and it would still be fine.

The way you know when a brisket is done is by the feel. Since most people probably don’t know what that feel should be, you can simple whack off a small piece and test for tenderness by chomping down a few bites (it’s great to be the cook). Remember though that the outer pieces will be more done than the center so take your temperature reading in the thickest part.

The only trick with brisket (if you could even call it that) is to not let it get so done that it’s dry or stringy, but done enough that it’s not tough.

Once the brisket is done you’ll want to let it stand and rest covered with foil for at least ½ hour—again depending on the size. If you try and cut it right away, not only will you lose precious juices, if you cooked it right it might fall apart—and use a very sharp carving knife.

Meanwhile, in a separate pot on the stove you can add enough water to cover your new potatoes along with pickling spice and a bottle dark beer like Guinness—saving just enough to whet your palate. Bring the brine to just under boiling until the potatoes are near done, add the quartered cabbage and cook for ten more minutes or so.

Slicing the Meat

Think of the brisket like the trunk of a tree. The grain runs in one direction and you want to cut across it, not with it. When you serve you’ll have some nice caramelized carrots and onions along with the cabbage and some brined boiled potatoes and cabbage. The leftover corned beef makes excellent sandwiches but scrape off the brown sugar if you are making hash out of it. Now for the best part–you have five bottles of Guinness left over for a meal with your friends.

 

Do You Plan on Spending More This Year Than Last?

You all were so accurate at predicting the school bond poll results we thought we’d send out another one to see if this year retailers will get in the black.

We’ve been out shopping for Thanksgiving and are seeing a lot of activity in the stores. That caused us to wonder if people feel confident enough about the economy, and have the wherewithal, to spend more than last year on entertaining or gifts.

Let us know what you think and maybe you’ll even get an indication if that special gift you’re after will be on sale the day after Christmas, or fly off the shelves weeks before.

Houston’s Thai Beef Salad – or a Close Approximation

Anyone wondering where the beef was in the Ranger’s hitting squad during the 2010 world series need look no further–we’ve got a recipe for you to chew on straight from Texas.


When I was traveling to Austin in 2009, I would contemplate where I could dine next to pass my culinary time. A friend of mine and local Austin REALTOR, Jeff Niemeyer, recommended I try Houston’s near the arboretum; trying to stick to lighter fare when on the road, I’d often eat salads for lunch and or dinner, so when I arrived and found a Thai Beef Salad on the menu I was set.

Many of you may have already experienced restaurants by the Hillstone Group, who own, among other restaurants, own the Los Altos Bar and Grill.

Once, I tried the Thai Beef Salad at Houston’s in Austin, but I never ventured any further down their menu. It was absolutely one of the best salads I have enjoyed. People who know me know I enjoy the challenge of deconstructing something I have tasted while dining out to detect what ingredients were employed. Often, it’s fairly easy as some flavors overpower the dish and are easily identified. But every so often, a chef develops a recipe that is so complex, so well balanced that it titillates the taste buds with a mosaic of contrasting flavors where one could spend days attempting to deconstruct the recipes–or, as in my case, eating the salad many times and taking copious notes.

First and foremost, the salad plays with all the senses of taste- bitter, sweet, sour, and salty- and introduces spice with perfectly contrasting flavors of just enough heat and spice, followed by refreshingly chilled mango. It satisfies your sense of umami with refreshing rice noodles and a perfectly grilled beef filet.

The salad starts with a bed of rice noodles cooked, fried lightly, and brought to room temperature, then ever so lightly tossed with sesame oil. A medley of julienne red bell peppers, carrots, tomato wedges, shredded cabbage, and cubes of mango add complementing textures and wonderfully wild flavor combinations, which serve to enhance the colorful presentation further and add more depth with each irresistible bite.

The dressing offers spice and bitterness with fresh lime, orange juice, and fish sauce, while Sracha adds a kick and is well paired with shiso to create depth to the dressing. Finally, the scallions and crunchy dry roasted peanuts offer a nice contrasting crunch.

While each ingredient has been carefully chosen to perform its respective role of adding texture and color and smacking all the senses of taste, the warm cubes of medium rare beef filet lightly marinated in the dressing, then charcoal grilled, adds the ultimate umami to finish the dish.

When I returned home with my notes in tow, I checked on the internet to find out if Houston’s posted the recipe—no luck. But I found an interestingly close approximation written by Kayla Williams (with my notes added in pen as to what brought it closer to the recipe I had in Austin). For example, the shiso, which is most often associated with sitting alongside your plate of sushi as the Japanese equivalent of parsley, is introduced in the salad as a complex version of what might be confused as a mint and cilantro combination, and, if you can’t find shiso, that’s a relatively logical substitution.

So, without further ado, here’s my collaborated best approximation of one the best salads I’ve had:

https://morganhomes.com/recipes/Thai_Salad.pdf

Orion in the night sky in Belmont

Just thought I’d share this with everyone.

Orionweather 

We’ve always enjoyed astronomy and love it when there’s a new moon and we can get a good look at the night sky.

In Belmont, we’re pretty close to the city (San Francisco) and get a lot of city light which tends to wash-out the night sky.

If we look south-south-west however it’s much darker as we’re looking towards the Santa Cruz mountain range.

When I got up early this morning I had to grab my camera and capture one of my favorite constellations—Orion.

This was taken today, October 9th 2010 just after six in the morning.

I used our Nikon D70 with a shutter speed of 30” at f4.8 and ISO of 1600.

Garbage Strike Hits Belmont and San Carlos

What's that wafting about in Belmont? The rumblings sure aren’t from the Allied Garbage trucks but rather disgruntled garbage workers.Trash

If you live in Belmont you must have heard, if you haven't smelled it yet, that the garbage strike has left San Carlos and Belmont’s waste removal program canned for the time being. Apparently the garbage workers decided to strike when contract negotiation broke down with Allied Waste–while it’s actually the truck drivers who joined their co-worked in a showing of solidarity that stalled the pick-ups.

The only thing worse than the stench of garbage sitting on the curb for days is the foul way it was handled by the Allied Waste management.

Wednesday night at 11:05 we received two phone calls, courtesy of Allied Waste, telling us our garbage would be picked up on Friday. Couldn’t they have waited until morning? Pick-up would be for two more days. Another wasted opportunity to demonstrate customer service.

So if you’ve got the blues thinking your neighborhood is going downhill with trash littering the street take heart, Allied promises to dump their current strategy and resume pick-ups soon.