Carmel-By-The-Sea

One of the things I love about going home is staying up at my brother's house in the Santa Cruz mountains.

He lives on a hillside near the ocean, in the middle of a Redwood forest.

While here, I listen to the birds sing, and watch the deer leap through his property. The other night we saw a fox by the water tank.
Truly peaceful and therapeutic.

While visiting on our vacation, we decided to drive down the coast to Carmel-By-The Sea. We spent the morning going through the wonderful little specialty shops in the middle of town.

Carmel's most notorious resident is Clint Eastwood, who served as Mayor during the 1980's.

When I was a young girl, I actually met Clint Eastwood once at a back lot of Universal Studios.

Daughter #1 Aubrey (The Birthday Girl)

Even though these shops are very exclusive, we had to be our silly selves.

I blame Mr. Cactus for influencing the children.

Mr. Cactus loves anything to do with Golf.

We stopped for lunch at a wonderful Japanese restaurant called Hanagasa on Mission Street.

They had very authentic food at a great price. The service was terrific, and we loved everything we ordered. I have children who love sushi.

And other exotic foods.

Elizabeth ordered this dish: Ohitashi. The topping is dried fish flakes (Bonito flakes)

Daughter #3 Elizabeth is in her last semester of college at the University of Utah. She is double majoring in International Studies and Linguistics, with an emphasis in Japanese. Once she graduates she plans on going to Japan for a year to teach English.

She was so happy to have Sashimi (raw seafood).

We are a family of "foodies". Elizabeth has Japanese friends who have taught her to cook many dishes.

The afternoon was spent at the beach in Carmel. Mr. Cactus was especially happy to look out on the Pebble Beach, the most famous golf course in the Western U.S.

He pretended he was on Pebble Beach, playing in the U.S. Open with Tiger Woods.

Ah...no, we are not in the price range to be able to golf here. A round of golf is $495.00 and in order to play the course you must also stay at their hotel which runs another $400 a night.

Mr. Cactus and me.

On the way home we stopped at the produce stands in Castroville, the Artichoke Capital of the World. They have an artichoke festival every May.

This is my kids favorite vegetable.
Artichokes have the compound Silymarin, a powerful antioxidant that some say may help the liver regenerate healthy tissue. In fact, artichokes are the best source of antioxidants among all fresh vegetables.

Of course, while we were purchasing artichokes, we also loaded up on figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and fresh herbs. I had to get my fix of fresh fruits and vegetables before heading back to Utah.