We enjoyed some quality kid playing time at the Kidseum in Santa Ana this past weekend. The spacious play rooms, hands on instruments, dress up area, art room and what not made for an activity filled morning. That meant that as lunch time was approaching we were thinking more about food and less about play. We were eager to try something unique in this part of town. The lady that works at the kidseum, though most friendly and helpful during various kids projects did not provide us with good suggestions. They were mostly the usual major fast food chains. We searched on our smartphone and several well reviewed places popped up. Gypsy Den appeared solid and not too distant. We called them. They replied to our main questions. They were open, no big crowd and they had high chairs. Cool. Let's go.
Rate and Review : Lunch at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana, California

Total lunar eclipses are not that uncommon. What makes this one so special is that it is occurring on the day of the Winter solstice. That is the longest night of the year. Then to make it even more interesting there will be a total lunar eclipse that will last for seventy two minutes, not including the time it will take the moon to get into position, so to speak. The event will be visible to a large population on our plant, but North America and South America seem to have an advantage. Since it will start around 9.30 Pacific Time, Los Angeles and California residents do not have to stay up late either to view it. How awesome is that? Lunar eclipses do not require special viewing apparatus either, just look up and do not strain your neck. Happy lunar holiday eclipse!

If you are thinking that you may have missed out on some deals in November, worry not. Ninety percent of Travel companies we list have extended their offers until the end of the year. Some may actually get better prices this year by waiting and procrastinating. I am not suggesting that as a strategy though.

Check out the article below and see if you can use some of the savings in your travels. December 2010 deals just below:

Have you made your travel plans for the holidays and booked the tickets? Me neither. It's time to check out the deals and offers and make the reservations. Prices sure will not go down for flight and hotels during Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Day and more. Discounts provided by travel companies below might help. For this month there are very many hotel deals. Seems like every hotel company is offering a price discount for multi-night stays. Here is a summary of best deals for November:

If you bank with Bank of America, bring your ATM, check or credit card along with your Photo ID to any of the 120 participating museums throughout the country and get free admission. The program is available every first weekend of the year. In Southern California that includes LACMA, Orange Country Discovery Science Center, Muzeo, Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach and more. All info at http://museums.bankofamerica.com.

Parents with small children are always on the lookout to find interesting places for visiting with their little ones. If there is an element of fun, learning, exploration or physical activity all the better. Southern California is blessed with amazing weather enabling kids to spend a lot of time outdoors. Perhaps due to that fact kids' indoor play areas on a large scale are not that common. That's where Pretend City Children's Museum comes into play. We just recently learned about it and decided to take our two and half year old to test it out. It is a relatively new venture, opened only in August of 2009. As the web site states in their mission : Pretend City is a community which builds better brains through fun, whole body learning experiences and empowers children and their grown-ups to meaningfully connect with and expand their world.

Rate and Review : Weekend Visit to the Pretend City Children's Museum in Irvine, CA

The Sunday open air antiques stalls at Lagunilla in Mexico City, the expansive roadside collectibles shops just north of San Miguel de Allende, the stores and weekend marketplace at Los Sapos in Puebla, and good old fashioned picking in the state of Oaxaca. Each provides a fruitful avenue for acquiring antiques and collectibles in central and southern Mexico. Of course there are many more, but over the past two decades this transplanted Canadian has found success pounding the pavement (often in the case of Oaxaca barely passable dirt roads and pathways) in these four venues.

Rate and Review : Antiques and Collectibles in Mexico: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico City (Lagunilla), Puebla (Los Sapos)

The sleek and modern mini mall at 400 N. Sepulveda in El Segundo is slowly filling up with tenants. Rubio's and a credit union have been there for a while but vacancies outnumbered businesses. Recently, several new ventures moved in. One of them, Malibu Fish Grill, moved into the prime South West corner location nicely visible from busy Sepulveda Boulevard. I stopped by there for lunch several times in the past few weeks and what follows is my verdict.

Rate and Review : Lunch at Malibu Fish Grill in El Segundo

Intelligentsia has been part of the "best coffee place in Los Angeles" lists for some time. It often ends up in the top five. Only recently did I visit one location for the first time. We found ourselves in Silver Lake on Sunset Blvd., had lunch there and decided to complete a fine afternoon with some nice coffee. I love my coffee breaks and my mouth was watering much prior to our visit.

Rate and Review : Quick Coffee Stop at Intelligentsia Silver Lake Coffeebar

There are very few places in the country that can boast such a diversity of natural places of beauty as the Western Cape. The Garden Route follows the coastline of the Indian Ocean on the Eastern Cape Coast, between a belt of mountain ranges, the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma mountains inland. The Garden Route enjoys one of the mildest and most equable climates, with unspoiled golden beaches, beautiful lagoons and estuaries and boasts in excess of 250 species of birds.

Rate and Review : Budget Travel in the Western Cape South Africa

Leaving the temple precinct of Nanzen-ji in central Kyoto, I headed north on foot along the pretty canal-side path that is now more famously known as the Philosopher's Walk. Come springtime, this delightful walkway is one of the city's most popular venues for hanami, or cherry blossom viewing parties. This early in the morning the path was eerily quiet, though pleasantly so, allowing me ample time to reflect on my memorable visit the previous day to Kinkaku-ji and its fabulous "Golden Pavilion". My plan was to arrive at Ginkaku-ji, the "Temple of the Silver Pavilion", in plenty of time to beat the crowds and to absorb the beauty of its gardens in peaceful solitude.

Rate and Review : Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan - The Shogun's Silver Pavilion Paradise

What better way to begin offering children's cooking classes than with pizza and mango smoothies. The inaugural children's cooking lesson at Chef Pilar Cabrera's Casa de los Sabores, in Oaxaca, Mexico, imparted the basics of kitchen safety and hygiene, composting and recycling, and nutrition, all within a three-hour session. And at the same time, lead instructor Ninfa Raigosa infused the morning with helpful food preparation tips that even as adults we don't always learn early enough in our culinary lives. But best of all, it took place within the context of preparing recipes which are fun for children to make --- with the dreaded green salad snuck in at the end.


Rate and Review : Children's Cooking Classes in Oaxaca, Mexico

Just received this from the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau and it sounded like fun so I am passing it along. It's a free event, has a Caterpillar petting ZOO and involves butterflies. You can't go wrong with that especially with the kiddies.

Springfield, Mo. – Where you find clusters of white, blue, pink or purple flowers, you’ll find nectar-seeking butterflies fluttering about—and one of those places is the botanical gardens and arboretum at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, the natural setting for the second annual Friends of the Garden Butterfly Festival July 24-25.

The accolades tell it all: "I had a terrific and very inspiring time in Oaxaca. Your knowledge of the culture and region introduced us to so many interesting people, all willing to share their passion, whether it was for pottery, wood carving, frothy chocolate, the best moles or natural dyes"[Elizabeth Baird].

Elizabeth Baird, one of the foremost Canadian culinary icons of our time, was a participant in the May, 2010, Oaxaca Culinary Tour. So was prolific cookbook author and columnist Rose Murray, who endorsed a copy of her seminal work, A Taste of Canada, A Culinary Journey, with similar praise: "Thank you for sharing your vast knowledge of Oaxaca with us. We know it through your eyes."

Rate and Review : Oaxaca Culinary Tour Success Suggests More Gastronomic Opportunities for Visitors to Southern Mexico

LA Times (Irvine Co. gives 20,000 acres of open space to Orange County) ran a most interesting story a few days ago regarding a donation of 20,000 acres of open space and parkland to Orange County. The gift comes from the Irvine Company which owns and manages large swaths of land in this part of Southern California. This action doubles the park space available in Orange County. Most of this property is located at the foot of the Cleveland National Forest. Together with other protected bordering areas, it creates a large uninterrupted natural environment. A very welcome gift for the crowded Southern California landscape.