In the past month....

I haven't posted, but I have been taking photos!

 I have seen tarballs come up from the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and these smell something fierce. You can't smell them just being next to them, but pick one up and your hand smells like oil for a bit! Phew!!!

 and jellyfish, too.  These are so strange - they are clear as anything and look like a blob of well, just clear gel..

 This was a fantastic crepe I had at a place next to the Beverly Center.  Mangoes, strawberries and kiwi.

 We saw the spinning ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier

 and went to a potluck at the

 California office. The cucumber cups filled with red pepper hummus were awesome.  B made them from my idea.

 This house in Beverly Hills has a menagerie in its yard.

 This house in Beverly Hills is just lovely.

 The corner.

 A very tasty bhindi pyaaza I made. Great way to prepare okra. No slime, it's quick and very flavorful.

 A mass of people waiting for their American Idol audition at The Los Angeles Forum. Since we live 2 blocks from the joint, we walked over to check out the hubbub. There wasn't much hubbub.

 Guess where Mom and I ate when I visited over Labor Day weekend? 

 Why, Shalimar, of course. All that food was $10 - the salad and the dessert were "complimentary" from my buddy Kamran there. In addition to those two items, we had masala chai, saffron rice, naan, palak aloo methi and chana masala. Needless to say, we had no dinner that night.

 I made this from while grain pasta to which I added a fig-alfredo sauce, capers, fresh sage and freshly ground black pepper. YUMMY.   A lady at church brought us figs every Sunday for several weeks, so I had to come up with some ways to use them before they went bad. Some didn't make it, but alas.

 A millet-bell-pepper-onion curry that was easy and tasty with lots of protein.

 Another use for figs: fig-strawberry cinnamon rolls.

 Overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Laguna Beach.

 The highway at Laguna Beach.

 B looking into the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach after doing a Christian committal at the Riverside National Cemetery.

 A lifeguard station near El Segundo.

 Another okra quick saute with bell pepper, onion, parsley.