Lemon tree very pretty

Right after we moved in back in 2001, I planted my infamous peach stick ,which is now a healthy, gorgeous mature peach tree and a small dwarf lemon tree. The lemon tree took years to fully establish, but in the past few years, it's finally taken off and we have all the fresh lemons we can eat.

When I first moved here there was another woman close to my age I worked with who once said she complained to the grocers about the prices of lemons. "You're in Ventura County and you're charging 50 cents a lemon? are you crazy?" She was right. There are lemons all over the place.

I'm often reminded of Steinbeck when I walk around here, with the abundance of fruit trees we have that you can just pluck food off of, if you so desire, as long as it's hanging over a public thoroughfare, and plenty fruit trees are. But there is fruit lying in the gutters around here. It's kind of amazing, really.

So this year I also planted an avocado, tangerine, Valencia orange and fig tree. I planed a banana tree a couple of years ago, and it's finally starting to take off. I figure that with the economy being as volatile as it is and us not getting any younger, it's probably a good idea to grow as much food as we can, and if need be, we can sell the leftovers or give them away. I always have a Steinbeck-ean existence in the back of my mind.

In the meantime, our little lemon tree keeps us in more lemons than we can eat, so lately I've been trying to incorporate them into more recipes. Rob said he wanted some lemon piccata, so the other day I threw one together using the lemons from our tree. It came out quite well. the first time I made this recipe, I made it with chicken. the second time I made it I uses pork. I like the chicken better, but the pork wasn't bad. This is a good recipe to put the Steinbeck fears to rest, as the delicious smell makes the house feel safe and secure.

I didn't use any agent for adhering the flours to the chicken because I wanted a very light, light crust. I find too much flouring and breading can be overpowering in some cases.

Chicken Piccata

3 chicken thighs
3/4 cup flour (I like King Arthur flour's white whole wheat)
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
A few pinches of salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large lemon
1 cup dry white wine
4 tablespoons butter
Capers

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pound the thighs between two pieces of plastic wrap until they are about 1/4 inch thick. Cut in half and dredge in flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt mixture, making sure the entire piece is covered with flour. Fry in hot oil.Using microplane grater peel lemon directly over the pieces of cooking chicken, making sure to just get peel, not pith (the white part). Make sure each piece of chicken gets some grated lemon peel. Pepper the pieces. Flip them and grate more lemon peel and pepper them on the second side. When all of the chicken has cooked until golden brown and cooked through, remove it and drain on paper towels. Wipe the pan clean and add butter and wine. reduce the wine by at least half and add the juice of the lemon cook for just a minute or two more, or until the sauce has reduced a bit more. Pour sauce over the chicken and top with capers.

In a separate pan cook 1/2 pound spaghetti noodles until al dente. Drain. Add two tablespoons butter to the noodles and about a half cup or more of grated Parmesan cheese. Squeeze half a lemon over the noodles and add freshly ground pepper and toss. Serve with the chicken.

My eggplant in my garden has also started to ripen, so I've been playing with eggplant recipes. This is a super easy one that makes a great side dish, especially with grilled steak.

Grilled eggplant and tomato with basil and cheese

Slice the unpeeled eggplant about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick lengthwise, after cutting off stem. Brush with olive oil and salt on each side. Slice some Roma tomatoes (I used my San Marzanos and they were fantastic) and place on top of eggplant slices. Shred basil by hand into large pieces and place on top of tomatoes. top with a good Italian cheese blend, or use your favorite. I used provolone slices and they were great. Place the eggplant slices on a piece of foil and grill on top rack, away from the heat for about 5 minutes. Take the foil and eggplant and let cool before serving.

The best weekend

Remember that old movie "The Lost Weekend" about an alcoholic descent into personal depravity? My Labor Day weekend was the opposite. I was able to take a four-day journey where I flitted in and out of some really wonderful people's lives, getting to know them and tell their stories.
Not only that along the way, I came up with some great recipes.

Friday, I went out to Malibou (That's how it's spelled on the signs there) Lake in Agoura Hills. Malibou Lake is actually up in the Santa Monica mountains and is a small community around a small lake with cute houses with small docks and little vessels. I was there to visit Corinne Morgan-Thomas who was the subject of a Lifetime Television movie "The Miracle Run," about her life with raising her autistic twin boys.

I'd never been back to Malibou Lake before, so I really enjoyed the drive because I love exploring around here. Then I was able to meet the family, which included the boys and a bunch of shih-tzus. One of the dogs had just had a litter and Doug Thomas, the dad of the family had also just found a baby squirrel that had been abandoned, so he put it in with the nursing puppies because the baby squirrel was dying. The shih-tzu bitch accepted the baby and now all of the animals are nursing together. It was amazing.

The next day, Saturday, I met the Dominguez-McCune family. Tracie Dominguez had given birth to a daughter, Laura, 20 years ago when she agreed to be a surrogate for Laura's parents. For this birth (Tracie has been a surrogate three times), they used Tracie's egg and Laura father's sperm. The conception took place in a doctor's office, which is an oddly unromantic way to conceive a child who is born with such love.

Laura's newfound family was different from Laura's parents, who had brought her up in Dallas, Texas. With KISS posters on the wall, a stripping pole in the living room, the tattooed Dominguez-McCune family was a real-eye opener for Laura, who seemed surprised to feel right at home.

Rob's brother Rick was also in town and he came over Saturday night to hang out while I made food for the next day. He brought Duncan out here with him so they could shoot a movie with Sean. Duncan was felled by kidney stones, which mucked things up, but overall you could tell Rick was delighted and proud to be able to work with his grown sons.

Sunday, Rob and I headed out to the Ventura Hillsides Music Festival, which benefits the Hillsides Conservancy group, which is trying to buy the land surrounding Ventura to keep it undeveloped open space. We were already planning on going to the festival when I was asked to cover it. The thing we learned last year is that the picnic you pack speaks volumes about you. The coolest people bring the coolest picnics.

I prepared fresh shrimp ceviche because last year the people near us had fish ceviche and I was complete consumed with jealously. I loved the idea and had been thinking about my recipe all year. It came out amazingly well, and we enjoyed it along with some fried chicken, salami and cheese and fresh grapes from the farmers market. We were planning to get food from the vendors, but barely managed to touch the stuff we brought.

We saw a bunch of bands: Jay Nash, who was a lot better than we expected, Keb' Mo', who was amazing, and Dave Mason, who looked just like any other Ventura schlub you'd see at Vons, not like the rock star he is, although as Tresa wisely pointed out, here in Ventura we are ALL rock stars.

I wrote my story at the concert on a laptop I brought along, which proved to be wise because even with leaving early and being able to talk a very nice bus driver -- shout out to Phyllis -- into taking just Rob and me in an empty school bus to the Ventura College parking lot where we left our car, I was barely able to meet my 6 p.m. deadline, filing the story at 6:01 p.m.

Finally on Monday, I headed out to the Salvation Army food pantry in Oxnard, which was giving away food on labor day so the people who work could get there. Rosie Rico, who ran the whole operation with great good humor, allows her clients their dignity despite their circumstances. She said she was glad she was working because it took her mind off her worries about her mom who was terribly ill and as soon as she wrapped up the food giveaway, she had to go over to the hospital decide whether to keep mom on life support.

We also had Kaia come visit for the day and Rob made the mistake of letting her watch "My Dog Skip," with is, to me, the world's saddest movie. I sob like a baby each time I see it. Heck I'll even tear up if I think about it too hard. I told Rob I didn't think it was a good idea. I haven't seen the movie in about 10 years because it makes me so sad. But Rob thought it would be OK.

Later, when were were looking back, Rob said he probably should have known things were going badly when Kaia started crying at the beginning when the boy's dad tells him he can't have a dog, claiming "You're not old enough! Dogs are just heartbreak waiting to happen."

"I got Keba when I was 3. I was old enough!" Kaia sobbed.

By the end of the movie when the dog is fighting for its life, to be revived by its love for the boy, Kaia was crying uncontrollably. Rob turned off the TV with "See it has a happy ending." Actually, the dog grows old and dies in the end, but we were already in enough trouble, so it was time to bail.

Fortunately, we were able to assuage her pain by taking her to Ojai to the world's greatest toy store Serendipity Toys where she guilted us into a Webkinz and carrier. After, we got ice cream and went over to Libbey Park where Kaia only played on the swings, declaring herself too old to run on the play structure.

Later, when someone asked me about my weekend, and got a much longer answer than they anticipated I'm afraid, I could not help but reflect. You hear and see so many nasty stupid things people are doing and saying, either in online forums or at various public events, and it's hard not to lose faith in humanity. But when you meet these people, all of them trying to make the world a better place in his or her own way, my faith is renewed.

RECIPES
In addition to the shrimp ceviche, I also made some rosemary grilled pork chops with cucumber/watermelon salsa. Here are all the recipes:

Shrimp ceviche

1 pound Trader Joe's uncooked Mexico white shrimp with tails on, thawed, peeled and deveined
1 ripe avocado
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
3/4 cup jicima, chopped
1/2 red onions chopped
1 fresh jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper

Cook the cleaned shrimp by sauteed in a couple of tablespoons of butter and cooking very lightly, until the shrimp just begins to turn pink. Let cool and chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Toss with jicima, onion, cilantro, avocado, jalapeno and the lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste. refrigerate. Serve with tortilla chips or endive leaves.

Grilled rosemary pork chops with cucumber/watermelon salsa

1 pound (or so) pork chops, buy your favorite cut
olive oil
garlic cloves
fresh rosemary
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Cucumber/watermelon salsa

Mix together and chill

1 cup chopped watermelon (seeds removed if applicable)
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 fresh jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
1/2 cup red onion chopped

Rub the chopped with the olive oil and crushed garlic cloves. Chop fresh rosemary and sprinkle, along with fresh ground pepper and sea salt on the chops. Turn grill on high for five minutes, then turn to low and immediately add pork chops. Cook five minutes a side (for about a 3/4 inch chop. Remove from heat and let sit for five minutes before topping with fresh salsa and serving.