Nothing too Exciting

Hey Everyone!
Nothing too exciting in this post. We have enjoyed some time off during the holidays, and did many of the typical things I have blogged about before. The weather has been nice, with a lot of sunshine (what they refer to as "severe clear" here in SoCal), and so we have spent a fair amount of time hanging at the beaches. We went to Hermosa Beach today, taking along our folding camp chairs, and sat watching the heavy surf. We took a long walk along the beach at low tide (in a pathetic attempt to walk off some of the holiday goodies), and returned home after visiting Whole Foods where we purchased some nice cheeses and bread for an evening snack.

Last night we decided to go out for a nice meal in downtown Long Beach followed by a walk around the marina and then home. We took the Metrorail as there is a train station just a few blocks from our house. It is better for the environment, eliminates the cost and hassle of parking, and mostly allowed us to drink all we wanted without worrying about driving impaired. The train dropped us one block from our restaurant, L'Opera, a beautiful Italian place we had never visited before. What a meal! We had a 3 cheese platter appetizer, which contained a nice goat's milk brie, a peccorino, and a gorgonzola, along with a spoon of orange blossom honey, a dollop of quince chutney, and some candied walnuts. We asked the waiter to pair a nice wine with each course, and he brought a New Zealand sparkling white that complimented the cheese very nicely.
Then, we had a pasta course which was a plate containing three pastas of our choice from the menu. We chose a black truffle and wild mushroom ravioli, pasta pockets filled with butternut squash and cheese, and a gnocce. The waiter paired a New Zealand Chardonnay with this course. Delicious!
Next was the "third plate", a filet mignon for me and lamb chops for Laurie. The wine selection was a Napa Valley Merlot/Cabernet blend. Yummy!
We decided to pass on dessert, right up until the menu was placed before us when we chose to share a tiramisu and drink a cup of coffee.
WOW!
So, our walk around the marina was more of a drunken slog. Lucky we didn't fall in.

Tomorrow it's back to work, and back to a reasonable diet and excercise. We sure have enjoyed the goodies that arrived in packages from our friends, though. Thanks for thinking of us!

A Happy and Peaceful New Year to one and all! We love you!