This is Jeopardy!

Driving in from the north to Pasadena we missed most of the rush hour traffic and arrived around 6 pm. Unloaded most of the car at Amanda’s house, since she and Jimmy are the inheritors, willing or unwilling, of our miscellany. They are rewarded by getting our leftover kitchen ingredients and picnic supplies, and stuck with disposing of the oddments they may not want. Jimmy is taking some of my collection of abalone bits from the beach and showed me a pendant he has already made (since last weekend when they visited).
Jonathan voted for a visit to Oinkster for dinner for the best pastrami in Los Angeles, and the line was much shorter than usual, so we dined on the patio. Definitely a place to visit if you are in the Eagle Rock, Glendale, Highland Park area.
Since the young folk have day jobs we were on our own the next day and I had gotten free tickets to a taping of Jeopardy. Haven’t we all wanted to be on Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune? Studio audience tickets are free. We met our friends the Riggall’s for lunch in Pasadena and then set off for beautiful Culver City for the taping. You show up at 1:30 pm and by 2:30 pm you have gone through a metal detector, handbag search, standing in line and filing through the exhibit of memorabilia to the auditorium. When the two shows we watched air on Oct. 8 & 9 we’ll be in the rear of the audience on the right side of your screen. I think they pan across us. It was a lot of fun.

In LA all activities are judged by traffic or potential for traffic, so our afternoon was a success because we did not get bogged down for more than a few minutes. That was important because we had to rest up for our dinner at Racion, a Spanish-inspired restaurant in Pasadena where until recently, Amanda (our oldest) was the pastry chef. Amanda and Jimmy Woodhead, his mom Connie, Jonathan and I probably had the largest table in the restaurant. This was my second visit, Jonathan’s first, and dinner was excellent as usual. The menu is tapas style, with the size of the portion increasing from the top of the menu page to the bottom. We sampled anchovies in tomato sauce, the most delicious octopus, beef tongue bunuelos, lamb meatballs, crispy prawns, milk-poached asparagus, and the divine chicken croquettes. Chef Teresa came out to say hello and brought us a cool creation she has been developing, cucumber granita with a froth on top, a sprinkle of dried creamy bits and eucalyptus powder. My description doesn’t do it justice, but take a look at the menu and visit if you are in the area. http://www.racionrestaurant.com/