IN-N-OUT BURGER

Santa Barbara from Goleta IN-N-OUT

When we move about California during the day, our primary source of food is IN-N-OUT BURGER.  What can I say?  You either love them or you don't.  They are freshly made with a hamburger (albeit very thin), a red tomato slice, a sweet onion slice (extra for us), a crispy, crunchy, hunk of green lettuce, and the ubiquitous sauce in a warm bun.  My limit is one a day.


For those who have never heard of this fast food joint, check out the link.  It is the only place I know of that has a secret menu.  Basically the menu is cheeseburger, hamburger, or double cheeseburger, fries, three kinds of shakes, and an assortment of help yourself drinks.  If you look around at other folks' choices, you will see some things not on the menu.  You have to know when ordering.


I love the fact that IN-N-Out started in the year in which I was born.  They have always used fresh ingredients; used only healthy methods of preparation; and always presented their food in paper products.  It is the only place I know of where you can make an "Arnold Palmer" to suit your own taste with fresh lemons on the side.


IN-N-OUT is privately owned and employs a lot of people because they are busy. Parking can be a problem at lunch time.  You can only find them in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.  They are more trouble to find than Trader Joes. Fortunately, they give away locator maps to us fanatics to know where to look for them as we go from place to place.  Sometime I should look up how many different places I have eaten an IN-N-OUT burger.

Atascadero IN-N-OUT BURGER Entrance

Notice the crossed palms and the ray of sunshine that points to great food.

Blue Clouds

Have you ever seen blue clouds?  I keep asking, but it seems as if most people have never seen blue clouds.  We have had a lot of rain lately (as noted earlier), but today the storms had started to break up and let the sun shine on us.  

On Highway 154 headed to Santa Barbara, I watched a short, fat rainbow (I've never seen one of those before either!) appear and disappear among the hills in the distance to my left.  

When I turned my head to look at what was developing outside to my right, I saw the blue clouds.  The blue clouds were centered in my view surrounded on the left, right, and underneath by gray clouds.  Directly above the blue clouds was a shock of white clouds and a bright blue sky.  

I tried to capture that view with my little digital camera, but I'm afraid it is just a pitiful attempt.  Use your imagination, and, I think, you might see the blue clouds in the lower center.   

     

Winter Solstice 2010

Today is the 2010 Winter Solstice and the first day of Tastes Like Sunshine On My Tongue.  It is a fitting first day for a growing eclectic compendium of esoteric thoughts, ideas, discoveries, et cetera about everything and anything.  Anyone dropping in here may come upon travel tales, recipes, queries, or trivia.   Please enjoy, become a follower, and participate by commenting.

I can hardly wait for the long, spring days.  And just to remind myself of that, here is part of my garden last summer from one of my bedroom windows. 

The weather has been rainy, rainy, rainy the last couple of weeks.  Yesterday there was the promise of gray clouds about to disappear, but it did not happen. Christmas is to be wet also, then it will dry up a bit.  Maybe my cauliflower and broccoli starts will grow some.  

A BIT OF HISTORY:  The name of my blog came about a couple of years ago when I made my first batch of marmalade from our orange and lemon trees.  The taste was so exquisite that I said, "It tastes like sunshine on your tongue." Hopefully, what you read and view will taste like sunshine on your tongue.