Stan’s Obligatory Blog

This afternoon we got some rain. The first rain of the season here in L.A. So Lucinda put on her coat and went outside to stand in it. Rain is a novelty around here.

It was gray and dreary all day, so it seemed like a good day to be cooking. I made short ribs with lentils and rice for dinner, and I also made an apple pie. It was an experiment, since I used Granny Smith apples this time, instead of the Fujis that I’ve used before. I think I like the texture of the Fuji apples better. I also tried making the crust in the food processor, instead of by hand with the pastry cutter. That was a whole lot easier. I also experimented with decorating the top of the pie with shapes cut from crust dough scraps. It was a good pie.

Today’s bike ride was the Triple Crown route. This is a tour of central Los Angeles, with several nice hills to climb. Normally, the Saturday rides break up into faster and slower groups. But today, the faster group was just me. Oh well.

The route went down through Eagle Rock and Glassell Park to climb Mt. Washington by a different route than usual. I got to ride on Future St. There were some nice views on the way up the hill. And I saw some of the iconic houses on stilts that Los Angeles is known for.

Coming down the other side, I passed the Southwest Museum, and also the artwork at the Gold Line station there.

On the way to Montecito Heights, I passed the giant dragonfly. On the way up the hill, I saw a car parked in front of a “No Parking” sign. I wanted to put a big “FAIL” caption on the picture.

Next, I rode down into Chinatown and then up the hill to Elysian Park. Along the way I crossed over the Pasadena Freeway and got a nice view down between the tunnels. Then it was up and over the hill by Dodger Stadium.

The route then went back up into Eagle Rock, where it went up and over another steep hill on Ave 51. Then down the other side and around the same hill to get back to South Pasadena. Then I rode back across the Colorado St bridge and home.

It was a solitary ride, but not bad in other ways.

41 miles.
cycling