Pedroza's Place

Today I went on a walk with AJ and saw this sign:

New menu, same great food? I think the Stockade needs to pick a side. That or stop eating grubs…

Oh well, on the other hand AJ really enjoyed his Chocolate milk today.

The joy comes complete with a chocolate milk dance, but unfortunately my video capture didn’t work right. BTW, we buy the chocolate milk at the Stockade. I really doubt that they even have chocolate milk in there. The chocolate milk came from Paula’s Cafe. A place where they make really good omelettes.

Having a Relief Society President as a wife has a lot of positives. You know as long as she is in that calling you are safe from any calling of serious responsibility yourself. You know that you will be invited to some really nice dinners. Unfortunately, you also know that if there is a blood drive in town your going to be donating. That is exactly what Denise did today. Actually she had both a blood drive and a clothes give away at the church today. Attendance was good, in all she got 27 pints of blood today.
If your interested in donating blood yourself it is a fairly simple procedure. All you have to do is find a local blood donation center, register, answer a few questions, and then you can donate. It does hurt a little bit when the needle enters, but it goes by fairly fast. If you have rare blood or A+ blood they might even pay you for it. Usually it is just by donation though. In today’s case I did get a coupon for a free pint of Baskin Robbins ice cream.

Our last day in camp was a rainy day. We had scheduled to stay longer and maybe do some more fishing, but with the rain everyone just wanted to pack up and go. So after a quick breakfast that is exactly what we did. The only thing that was interesting was the night before one of the leader’s tents was attacked by an army of red ants. We tried everything we could to keep them away from the tent. In the end the only thing that worked was drenching the area around the tent with lots of water.
On the morning of our last day it was interesting to see the pollen pool. It was kind of like a river of yellow fuzzy things:

Click on a picture to enlarge.

Today was the Crestline Jamboree Days here in Crestline. The Chamber of Commerce puts it on every year. Usually, it consists of a parade, fair, and fireworks, but this year there was no money for fireworks. Lucky for us the parade starts right in front of our house.

The parade is fun it has lots of different types of entries:
<
AJ got a couple of pictures with the local celebrity:

AJ’s favorite part of the parade was the candy. He definitely got a lot of it:

After the parade they have a little fair:
For three dollars I got a Cream Cheese Wonton, Chop Suey, and some Teriyaki Chicken. For those of you who say that I wasn’t very American I would remind you that all of those things were invented in the United States (really Google it). The celebrations here in Crestline are very small town, but it was really fun. Here is a little video I made of our festivities:

UPDATE: Thanks for coming I made a $140.
My junk is your treasure. I haven’t done a yard sale in a long time. I have a bunch of spare electronics to sell, baby clothes and toys, yard tools, fishing equipment (fresh water and deep sea), books, bolling ball, and anything else my wife can smuggle out the door. Anyhow, if you have the time and a few spare dollars some of my stuff can be yours. Hope to see you there. 7am-4pm. No early birders please.

This particular post goes into the category of “better late than never.” Anyhow, back in March we spent a sunny, albeit windy, Saturday looking at planes in Riverside. Every year the city of Riverside sponsors an airshow (yes, Riverside, CA has an airport). The new price for entry (free) was noted and it was really crowded. In past shows they charged a few dollars for entry, but not this time. They did charge $10 for close parking. It was fun and AJ really liked climbing into everything they would let him touch.
I made a little video:

Dining in California is fun, but if you are going to be in California for a long time it is going to get expensive if you go out to eat all the time. An easy way to get over this is, of course, to go to a super market. California certainly has its share of markets. While there are your traditional national chains (Target, Walmart, etc.), I am going to focus on some California chains.
Trader Joe’s:
Trader Joes is now a national chain, but its roots are firmly founded in California. Trader Joe’s describes itself as a “your unique grocery store.” In it you will find a lot of organic, vegetarian, imported, and unusual frozen food. With its uniqueness comes a “unique” (high) price.
Vons/Pavillions:
The first of the big three, this is a large market that caters to the higher end of the market going buyers. Their prices are higher, but you will find all the best items a market can provide. There will be a deli, in-store coffee house (usually Starbucks), televisions at the register, and even on the shopping carts!
(video here)

Ralphs
Ralphs is Vons’ main competition. The prices are not as high as Vons, but you will still find everything the same as Vons. If you use Ralph’s free membership club card you will almost always beat out Vons.
Albertsons
Is known as number three of the big three. In this store you will find quality produce, but not quite all of the services you will find in Vons and Ralphs. The prices, however, will be lower on average than Vons and Ralphs, so if you don’t mind not watching television at the checkout stand or buying an espresso while you shop this might be your place.
Staters Brothers
Not in the one of the big three, this store got famous for its meat. Most grocery stores these days in California do not have a meat counter, but you can guarantee that Staters Brothers will have one. We have put them to the test with some of our less known cuts and they have always done a good job. Less gimmicks (no club cards, no double coupons, etc.) at this store means that if you a looking for the best deal without already having a coupon this is your store.
Food-4-Less/Winco
These two grocery stores are known as “do-it-yourself” stores. Very minimalist stores, they save on prices by having the least amount of personnel possible. The produce is usually what is considered “category 2” food meaning that it passes inspection, but isn’t going to be the best produce possible. At the checkout you will not have bagger and so you will have to bag all the groceries yourself.
Fiesta Market/Rio Rancho/Cardenas
These are the big three Mexican shopping markets. Being so close to the border, you better believe that we are going to have Mexican style shopping markets. Catering to their Hispanic clientele you will find that these markets will always be the lowest when it comes to Hispanic foods (tortillas, salsa, etc.). Also one thing a lot of people don’t understand is that Hispanic people typically buy produce every day. This means these markets will have the lowest prices on produce, but if you don’t get there at the beginning of the day you might find that it has been picked through already.
Fresh-and-Easy
This is the newest market on the horizon. A British invasion backed by Testco, this store has brought a new model to the supermarket business in California. Touting new low prices, this store simplifies itself by only carrying a limited amount of brands. Everything thing at this store is fresh and in small quantities (no bulk here). When you check out you scan the items yourself and bag them. The computer will tell you how much you owe. This store does not accept any coupons, but if you go there early in the morning you will find many items marked 50% or more off. This store does not like to keep any inventory more than a day.
Anyhow, this is just a primer for some of the stores that you will encounter here in Southern California. It is by no means an exhaustive list. There are several other stores that I have not mentioned. Also, I have listed these stores in their relative cost ranges (highest to lowest), but depending on the item and the day you will find deals at any of them. There are many ways of getting the most from these stores (maybe if I am lucky Denise will write about it one day), but that is for a different blog entry.

California is world renowned for its citrus industry. It all started back in 1870 William Saunders, a horticulturalist at the United States Department of Agriculture, sent Eliza Tibbets a navel orange tree he had received from Bahia, Brazil. The tree got to Riverside in 1873 (not exactly speedy delivery) and it started California’s citrus industry. According to the book, A History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, three tree were planted. During the first year they were planted, one got trampled over by a cow and died. Later President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 transplanted another tree to the Mission Inn Hotel. According to the hotel management that tree died in 1922 (where was the CCC on that one??). In order to protect the last tree the City of Riverside moved it to the corner of Magnolia and Arlington (which back then was the outer limits of the city) and surrounded it by a big fence.

This last tree is still surviving today. In fact on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 we went to go see it. Sure enough, over 100 years later this tree is still doing well. In fact, when we saw it there were plenty of oranges on it. Can you imagine? Over one hundred years and it is still bearing fruit. We cannot say if the fruit was good or not, the fence is still there. No hundred year old oranges for us!
We did make a video however:

There are also some grapefruit that was planted there in 1958, but let’s face it, who cares about 50 year old grapefruit when you can look at 100 year old oranges…

It was 5:15 AM and I heard the alarm clock go off. Thinking it was Saturday I ignored it. At 5:30 AM I remembered that AJ and I (John) had a race to go to and so I had better get up. Two bowls of oatmeal later (one for each of us) we were on our way to Riverside. The course was described in the literature as a beautiful run with easy lifts. It was beautiful, but there were two hills that I wouldn’t call “easy lifts.” I suppose it would have been easier had I remembered to check the inflation levels on the stroller tires. Oh well, that will be next time. For our $20 entry fee we got a bib with a number on it and a long sleeved t-shirt. The weather was good, it had rained the night before, but this was good because it made it nice and cool for the race. Along the way we got to see many sights. My favorite sights were the houses that surrounded the parks.

After the race we meandered about the little fair they had setup. AJ was happy because they gave him a granola bar. Anyhow, if you are thinking of doing this race I would tell you it is a very fun course to run through. It isn’t the fastest course out there (no PB’s on this course), but it has really good scenery.

Every few months or so we make a trip up to Bakersfield, California to visit Denise’s parents. We always have a good time with Denise’s parents, but the highlight for me is to visit one of Bakersfield’s many ice cream shops. A dying breed, the ice cream shop is still alive and well in Bakersfield. The oldest and arguably the best of these shops is Dewars.
Dewars started in 1909 when James Dewar moved his candy making business from Ventura to Bakersfield. James Dewar’s claim to fame is the peanut butter chew. Unlike normal taffy, these chews have actual peanut butter inside of them (no artificial stuff at this place). The chews cost about .25 cents apiece (less if you buy in bulk). In addition to peanut butter there is peppermint, caramel, almond, and chocolate almond (peanut butter is still my favorite). If you want to try to make them at home you can, the recipe is no secret. They even offer tours of how they do it:

Although I have to say I doubt yours will taste the same…
In addition to the famous chews there is the ice cream. The star of the show is the Dewars Black and White:

The Black and White will set you back about $5.75, expensive but it is really big and really good. In addition to the black and white they sell all the popular flavors, plus something called ice milk. Ice milk is basically ice cream, but without the cream (think low-fat milk). I wouldn’t call it healthy, but it is not as fattening as regular ice cream. Here is a small video of our experience with Dewar’s ice cream. As you can see in the video I went with the legendary Black and White:

Anyhow, if you happen to be in Bakersfield I would highly recommend you go to this California original. They have two locations in Bakersfield but you have to go to the original one across from the high school at 1120 Eye St. Yes, there is only one table and you will probably have to pry yourself out of your barstool when you are done; but you will leave with a smile.