Thank you so much for stopping by my website. I hope you will find something here to interest you. So let me introduce myself. I am a novelist, a civil and mechanical engineer, a Vietnam-era Air Force veteran, a Catholic by faith. Politically I am a centrist who subscribes to neither party, although I like […]
My mother used to make Yorkshire pudding when I was young, and popovers are just a “personal” serving of Yorkshire pudding. They are one of those trademark side dishes some guests remember even more than the main dish. The Buena Vista version takes an old James Beard Cookbook recipe and adds a little rosemary as […]
Since preparing a memorable meal involves a bit of effort, I like to serve dishes guests can’t order in most restaurants. To do this, I like to lean on California native herbs straight out of my yard and gamey meats such as elk, venison, or wild fish. Venison can be hard to find in Los […]
Cooking a seemingly exotic meal doesn’t have to be difficult. Here’s a simple recipe for wild salmon. Find a reasonably large non-stick pan (mine is 14” diameter). Empty a pint of your favorite beer into the pan. Add a half-pound to a pound of wild salmon to the beer. Add a half cup of wild […]
Ever been to one of those expensive Italian restaurants that charge you a fortune for that itsy-bitsy handful of pan-fried sage leaves. Well if you happen to have sage growing wild in your garden, here’s a way to cash in and serve a memorable party dish or appetizer for your next gathering that is sure […]
If every writer needs a writing cave, so do I. At a remote location, nestled in the San Rafael Hills, overlooking Glendale, La Cañada-Flintridge, and Los Angeles, California, on an acre lot surrounded by wildlife and chaparral, here is where I try to make the magic happen. I like my writing space to evoke the […]
For those who enjoyed their stay at Venice Pier and the Ship Café, if they wished, they could return toward L.A. on Washington Boulevard and stop by to see the Al G. Barnes Zoo. Al G. Barnes owned a circus. When Abbott Kinney invited him to bring his winter headquarters near the Venice lagoon so […]
Before there was a Brown Derby, or any of the dozens of L. A. area restaurants built to look like frogs, dogs, cats, hats, airplanes or doughnuts, THE place for Hollywood stars to be seen in Los Angeles was a dining establishment on Abbot Kinney’s Venice Pier built to look like a Spanish galleon. The […]
As a society, we tend to either revere or demonize our celebrities, politicians, sports figures, philanthropists, and other public figures. Ignoring the grey areas demanded by the human condition, we determine these people be good or bad, acceptable or unacceptable, hero or villain. Knowing little about who they are in private, we accept at their […]
So what might validation rackets like the Klan teach us today? I would like to think the Ku Klux Klan was just an aberration, but I doubt it. Too much profit is made in monetizing misery. The far-right and far-left have no incentive to change their game. We’ve been conditioned to believe the great divide […]