Santa Cruz Inspired Dark Chocolate Chip - Cranberry Cookies

 On one of my visits to Santa Cruz, California, Pauline and I were strolling down Pacific Avenue when the wonderful aroma of baking cookies lured me into the Pacific Cookie Company. The awesome smell of the cookies was only surpassed by the selection of cookies and other treats. It was an excrutiating choice - I could not leave empty handed and I had to try more than one. I chose 2 oatmeal raisin cookies and 2 dark chocolate cranberry cookies. Oh, man were they good!! The dark chocolate cranberry cookie was probably the best cookie I have ever tasted. The combination of the tasty semi-sweet chocolately flavor of the dark chocolate mixing with the tartness of the cranberries and contrasting with all the butter and sugar was unbelievable.

About a month later we were invited to a potluck lunch at my sister-in-law's house in Irvine and I decided it would be a good opportunity to attempt to replicate the cookies. I got the basic recipe from a package of Nestle Tollhouse cookies but modified it to my taste by using Ghirardelli bittersweet chips (larger than usual chips) and, of course, adding the cranberries. Although the recipe says it yields 5 dozen cookies, my batch yielded about 16 palm-sized, delicious cookies. I will try this recipe again next week (pre-Thanksgiving office meeting) and will use Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips. That should taste even better!

DARK CHOCOLATE-CRANBERRY COOKIES

2 1/4 cups all-purpouse flour

      1 tsp. baking soda

      1 tsp. salt

      1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

  3/4 cup granulated sugar

  3/4 cup packaged brown sugar

     1 tsp. vanilla extract

     2 large eggs

     2 cups (12-oz. package) bittersweet or dark chocolate chips

     6 oz. dried cranberries

PREHEAT oven to 375°F

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop (usually rounded tablespoon or whatever size you like) onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool.

If you try this recipe give me your feedback. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Enjoy!

Of Spam in a can I am quite a fan

I'll pop off the top, slice it up in a pan

With fresh plain ol' rice my tummy will tingle

One can'll do but not a Spam Single

A Ham Called Fud

In the latino market is where I stood

When there I found this ham called Fud.

I couldn't help but crack a grin.

I scrathed my head and rubbed my chin.

And in a moment I construed

In espanol it's pro-nounced "food"!

Los Olivos, California Day Trip

Olive Oil in a Bottle
When I was a kid one of the crank calls I made was calling a market and asking if they had Olive Oyl in a bottle. They would say, yes, they do. "You better let her out 'cause Popeye's gonna get real mad!" Click.
My wife, son, niece, sister-in-law and I took a drive up to Santa Ynez and Rancho Olivos, California. It is just north of Santa Barbara and right next to Solvang. This one place we stopped at is Olivos Ranch. They have 3 acres of olive trees - Spanish olives and varieties of Italian olives. They send them to the press and produce very good oils. My favorites are the Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Spanish) and the Garlic Flavored Olive Oil. I got one bottle of the Garlic Flavored - I'll be back for more!

Murphy Eating Maggie Mae
No, not really. These 2 dogs live at Rancho Olivos and are the 2 friendliest of the ranch dogs. They really made our stay at the ranch enjoyable. They followed us around like they were our own dogs. We'll be back for more oil and to visit Murphy and Maggie!






Murphy Eating Horse Poop!
Yep, that's what he's doing. 'Nuf said.












Horse Whiskers













Majestic Oak, Los Olivos
The golden hills of California are dotted with beautiful oak trees. This one, right in the middle of town, was one of the biggest and most majestic oak trees I have seen. I am sure it is at least a couple of hundred years old. I did not think of it on this trip but next time I will ask one of the locals to see how old it is.

Dash the Beggar Dog
We stopped at a little market/deli in town to have lunch and we soon had an uninvited guest. This dog, Dash, as his tag read, was very polite. He did not whine, bark or do anything else that was annoying and I think that is what made him endearing - he just sat there and waited. I liked my tri-tip sandwich and was too hungry to share it with him, but I did offer him some pepperoncini which he declined. I then offered him an onion slice, a piece of tomato and a small piece of sourdough bread. He snubbed them all! Nikki, my niece, was secretly (I was on to her and gave her a wink) dropping small bits of her ham sandwich, Dash obliged. Turns out he likes ham and cheese. He's big enough where you can't not notice him. He's not too big to be intimidating. And he's not so small that a tourist can just pick him up and take him home. He's the perfect size to be begging for food. Yes, other patrons did toss him scraps. After lunch as we walked around town and checked out some of the small shops, we spotted Dash at another sandwich shop with outdoor seating looking for more suckers!




Fat Cat on a Barrel
Dash obviously has not gotten a hold of this one.

Wooden Eye?
Smiley face spotted on one of the planks on the Santa Barbara pier where we topped off our day trip.

Break Time!

Break Time! This factory of a couple thousand workers in Xin Lo, China is letting them out for one of their 15 minute breaks. Many larger factories in China have their own dormitory to house the workers as most are from the countryside or provinces far from the cities. As well as housing them, they also have large cafeterias where the workers are fed. Labor laws in China have started to be strictly enforced as of January 2008 resulting in better working conditions and higher wages. Another result was the closing of thousands of factories that could not keep up with the new laws. I was told by the the owner of this factory that just a very few years ago, where this factory stands was all farmland!

Hong Kong Scenes

Over the Sea of Okhotsk

This is the sea ice breaking up in the Sea of Okhotsk in Late February. On my first flight to Asia I naturally assumed I would be seeing nothing but water beneath. The flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong actually goes all the way up the west coast of the U.S. and then down the east coast of Russia, Japan then to Hong Kong. I was fortunate enough to be sitting on the right side of the plane and enjoyed the beautiful view until I was ordered by the stewardess to close my blind. (She asked me nicely the first time until I told her I prefer to leave it open to look out the window). I flew Cathay Pacific and the service was outstanding. Food and drinks were available during the entire 14 hour flight. You can either ask the stewardess or get up and get it yourself at your leisure. What a great way to fly!

Hong Kong Bay Junk

This Chinese Junk was coming in to port on Hong Kong Bay. All hands on deck.

Street Crossing - Hong Kong

Street scene in the vibrant city of Hong Kong. Walking in this city is a sensory adventure.

Hey Mister, Need a Lighted Toy?Hong Kong Bay waterfront.Window Chef

I'm not sure what he was cooking but it all smelled appealing.

Know what they call Chinese food in China?

......................................Food। ;-)

At the Garden Store

Crocs on a Wall
Armstrong Gardens, Carlsbad, California


Crayola Box Fungi were found in several pots in this one spot. It got me to think that most people would buy one or 3 of these and place them around their garden, but having a whole garden of these would be quite a sight!

Spherical Self Portrait