Rob's birthday and other milestones

I'm not sure when the summertime became so filled with birthdays and other anniversaries. I suppose it really started right after I met Rob just days before Courtney's birthday. One of our first events together was celebrating his birthday. I made him a Black Forest cake, but the cherries and all the chocolate kept sliding off, so it looked terrible. It was tasty, though.

Now June with Alex's and Courtney's birthday, and Rob's and my anniversary is busy and July is busy with Rob's birthday and my AA birthday (four years :-). Rob's brother Jon also has a birthday in July as does Jon's wife Suzette.

It's a busy time, which is odd because summertime should be all about long, languorous days and this year it's all about running around and covering events in Ventura County. I'm so delighted that my freelance career is taking off. I've always loved writing but my biggest hurdle has always been getting people to read what I write. I remember one editor at the Dayton Daily news giving me all kinds of advice about my writing and seeking other opinions so I could improve. "So you've read my work?" I asked. "Well no," she said, and then she went on with her "tips." It was odd. I would give my clips to my bosses and they would just ignore them. Whenever people would read my stuff, however, they tended to really like it.

I finally gave up and decided to go ahead and pursue a job on the copy desk, something I resisted in Dayton, but decided to do in California. Biggest. Mistake. Of. My. Life. Looking back I can see it was an experiment destined to failure. Frankly I don't give a rat's ass if groundwater is one or two words. I don't care if the blues is plural or not. I tried to make myself care. I tried to fit in. But creativity and copy editing tend to be mutually exclusive terms and the truly creative people get kicked off early.

Now I'm back to writing and I've never been happier. I get to go all around Ventura County -- my favorite place on earth -- and talk to people, share in their lives and tell their stories. There was a time -- back in my "drinking days" -- when I knew I was in real trouble with alcohol because I couldn't be happy without it. I realized that was probably the most dangerous thing that could happen to me, and I was right. Nonetheless, it was true.

But just recently I've been walking through the hills in Ojai working on a story about a Boy scout Camporee or trudging on the beach at Ventura Harbor to do a story on outrigger canoes, and I realize I am truly happy, happier than with alcohol. There are those who say that such a statement invites the evil eye, but on the other hand are you being ungrateful if you don't express thanks for good fortune and appreciate it as such?

This summer, I've been able to work and to have fun. For Rob's birthday, we drove to Malibu -- one of my favorite drives -- to Hows Market to pick up some prime t-bone steaks. One of the first things we noticed about California is the death of good beef. I'm not sure why. There are lots of cows around, but the beef is crap. We found some steaks at the high-end markets Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres, but they were obscenely expensive. Then we discovered Hows, which has a store by Trancas Canyon in Malibu.

For Rob's birthday, I bought a bunch of the steaks to grill. If I may say so myself they were perfection. I rubbed them with crushed garlic cloves and olive oil and salted them. Four minutes a side over a hot flame, and they were perfection.

I made some fresh corn using my patented microwave method, (wrap shucked corn that's been rinsed in water. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave for a minute and then turn the corn and cook for 50 seconds. Remove the hot corn from the oven and let sit for five minutes.) Rob, Lindsay and Ryan had baked potatoes and the meal was perfection.

Finally, I had some "dragon beans, we've been buying at the Ojai farmers market. Rob was the first to discover them and he had to have them because they look so weird. I cooked them up, you just put them in salted boiling water for about 3 to 4 minutes and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking. But they are also delicious raw. The unfortunate part of cooking them is that they lose the purple markings in the hot water. But they are our latest discovery and they are delicious.