Pineapple Week!

Pineapple week!

We bought a restaurant size can of pineapple at the restaurant supply store.  Total impulse buy.

What to do with all this?!?

Baking day 1

First up, Caribbean cornbread.  Add creamed corn and pineapple.  The recipe I found used a ton of butter and cheese and eggs and full fat milk.  I just couldn't do it, so I made a plain version, adding in creamed corn and pineapple.  

Very wet and heavy.  The plain recipe bakes for 15 minutes, the fancy one for 55 minutes. 

Had to dig into the center to convince myself it was done after 35 minutes.  I don't think I will ever make this again, but it is fine.

Pina Coladas!

Next up, pineapple walnut muffins.  This is to use up my sourdough discard and walnuts.

It is practically pineapple and walnuts barely held together with dough.

Tasty!  Into the freezer for my go to dessert for the near future.

After that we still have 8 cups of pineapple and a big thing of pineapple flavored syrup.

Did also manage to get in some nice sourdough.

Chicken al Pastor

Here are all the marinade ingredients-blend and you are good to go.  The key are the chiles packed in adobo sauce.

Cover the chicken, onions and pineapples in the marinade.

Onto a baking sheet for about a half hour.  It looks like the dogs dinner, lol.

After baking, just chop up and you are good to go.  Best recipe of the bunch!!

Love the pineapple coconut combo.

Pineapple fried rice

Quick saute

Final product.  Pretty good, but I should have used a less sticky rice.

SoCal libraries, March 2023

 March 2023

During this trip, we visited quite a few libraries.

Cerritos library

The only library we have encountered where you must be a resident of Cerritos, not just California.  

It is a strange history, but the city has built an amazing library.

An exhibit of origami by a local high schooler in the First Ladies room.  All the books are about, or written by, first ladies.  Pat Nixon was sort of from Cerritos, so they went all in with the theme.

Chiluly in the entryway, an aquarium worthy of a Vegas hotel, art deco themed stacks, and plenty of cozy seating.  

Cool book themed art exhibits.

Nearby Cerritos, you can get your LA county library card in Artesia.  Cute!

Then there is the old school grandeur of the LA City library.  Lots of info about the 1986 fire and the immense effort to restore/repair/replace.

Fantastic story about how, in the 70s, they made a huge collection of photos using local people's home pictures.

Original ceiling.

Donors got their names on card catalog drawers.

Meanwhile, Santa Clarita's library is quite new.  Very fresh and up to date everywhere and a charming outside.

Love a good bike rack!

Touch of whimsy in the kids section.

Los Angeles, March 2023

 Los Angeles

LA Chinatown

I had never been to LA's Chinatown.  It is quite small and only a few tourists visiting the Bruce Lee statue on Saturday morning.  We went to try out the hand made vegan burger at Burgerlords.

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Tasty!

I was amazed at the lack of graffiti covering this old milling company wall

A super new set of housing right near the Metro station, seems cool

Then a matinee of The Lion King

Recently renovated theater is all Art Deco all the time.

We walked down Hollywood Boulevard to Mann's Chinese theater

The Star Trek set

A classic LA day

Across from the public library is a fountain I remember from my first visit in the 90s!

Outside the city is a park, Vasquez Rocks, where a ton of filming goes on.

In the visitor center they have posters of the old movies filmed here.  

We know it as the place where Kirk fought the Gorn in Original Star Trek.

Super fun to climb all over the rocks

And finally, in Santa Clarita, a little city park had these cuties hanging out in the sun