California dreaming

After our arrival in California on 22 Oct, it took me a good few weeks to track down the URL of this site. It's bookmarked on my computer but not on my wife's laptop, which is the one we brought with us. I tried Googling variations on diabetes but never got the right one. Then I wondered if there was a word that appears on this site but not on many others - so I typed in "hanadr" and bingo - here I am. Apologies to Hanadr, but her name wasn't taken in vain.
I thought some of the participants here might like to hear about my experience as a diabetic in the US. I brought a sufficient supply of my meds to last for the whole of our three month stay as well as enough test strips and lancettes. We're in a small town called Aptos, close to Santa Cruz, so we were expecting difficulties in finding low carb products as it is so small. In fact, it was quite the contrary - there is a Safeways a short drive away, and several other supermarket chains have branches nearby, such as Nob Hill and Trader Joe's, while specialist shops such as De Luxe Foods is about a mile away. We've managed to find the equivalents of our usual grocery items, and the nutritional information, while being in a slightly different form, is easy enough to understand.
The most difficult food item for a European here is bread. Now I know that as a Type 2 I have to be careful with my bread intake but I can still enjoy the odd sandwich at lunchtime but so much of American bread is so sweet that it is more like cake than bread. After several disastrous purchases we finally settled on sourdough bread, which is not too bad carbwise and tastes like the kind of bread we are used to.
There are lots of sugar-free products to be found and all the usual vegetables, in addition to types that are new to us, mostly of Mexican origin. Splenda and other sweeteners are available in more variations than we find in Britain or Luxembourg. Dreamfields pasta and other low carb types are available in the supermarkets, whereas backhome I have to order it online.
We've even found Christmas puddings and mincemeat on sale in a couple of supermarkets, so we'll be having a traditional Christmas, even though the sun is shining and the Pacific Ocean is deep blue just outside the window.
Turkeys were on sale at Safeway for $5.99. Imagine paying £4 for a 13 lb turkey in Sainsbury's! One is now residing in the freezer in our kitchen.
To be continued

Thank you, Hana, for your gracious response. I'm just posting the second episode. Our sojourn in California is for three months but the time is racing past so fast that it seems impossible to feel that we've been here almost 7 weeks already.
I've been trying out the various sugar-free products that are on sale in the supermarkets. As I said, Dreamfields pasta and other brands of low-carb pasta can be found in most supermarkets. Mints, fruit drops and chewy candies are all available in Long's Pharmacy. They're pretty good and don't have the unpleasant side effects of sorbitol products which have you trying to break the world record for the short distance dash. I bought some sugar-free chocolate chip cookies a couple of weeks ago and they were excellent.
On the other hand, Americans seem to have a sweet tooth nationwide as so many products are very high in sugar. My wife is having great difficulty finding a plain, natural yoghurt that doesn't have high sugar content. The lowest she found was 15 grams of sugar. Now, as far as we can remember natural yoghurt shouldn't have much in the way of sugar at all.
On the whole, keeping my BGs in line isn't too difficult, and the meds are very effective (Glucophage and Januvia).
Out and about, we've been struck by the high level of customer service in all the shops and stores. I don't think either of us has been in a shop yet where a member of staff didn't approach us and ask if we had found what we wanted and if everything was to our satisfaction. The checkout always asks if we had found what we wanted, packs our groceries and even offers to carry them out to our car.
We went to the cinema in Capitola a couple of weeks ago to see the new James Bond. This is the first time we've ever been to see a film in the States. We even got a reduced price because we are seniors. A very pleasant experience all round, so we went to another cinema last week to see Nicole Kidman's new film Australia. Both cinemas smelt of popcorn.
Being English usually creates quite a stir among the local population. You don't get too many of us in a little town like Aptos. Most visitors from the UK tend to visit San Francisco and then head south non-stop for LA.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary in November we drove up to the Napa Valley for a few days and took a full day tour of some of the wineries. We tasted a lot of good wine during the day, though I stuck to the reds as my endocrinologist had warned me off whites unless they were very, very dry. On the way up we drove over the Oakland Bay Bridge and on the way back we took the route over the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped in Sausalito for lunch, a beautiful little seaside town from which you have a great view of the SF skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Prison and the full sweep of San Francisco Bay.
This evening we're going to drive down Highway 1 a couple of stops to get some photos of the sunset over Monterey Bay. After that I shall be cooking Hungarian Goulash for dinner.
To be continued.

Hello Dennis - Thanks for the reply. We have been here several times before and know Carmel well. Coincidentally, my wife suggested this morning that we could drive down to Carmel tomorrow for lunch. We had intended to go to Clint Eastwood's Mission Ranch but they don't serve lunch, only dinner, and since I don't fancy the long drive back up Highway 1 in the dark I think we may well go to the Hogsbreath Inn (Clint's previous restaurant) for a Dirty Harry Burger.
I'll keep you posted.

You're lucky, Hana. I bought some sugar free jelly beans in the Gilroy outlets but unfortunately they gave me the runs. I could have beaten Roger Bannister to the 4 minute mile :x
Dennis, did you try the River Inn on Big Sur? At Sunday lunch they have a Dixieland band playing in the garden and you put a dollar in the cup, give them a title and they will play it for you. They know even the most esoteric Dixieland numbers. The food's excellent, too.

Thank you, Suzi. I was in LA a few years ago but didn't make it to Disneyland, even though I've visited Disneyland Paris three times. We did make it to Universal Studios, however, and had a great day. I haven't driven much on Highway 101 but I think you would've enjoyed Highway 1 more as it follows the coast and takes in Big Sur, one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the world. I think Dennis will back me up on that. There is also Carmel and Monterey, both worth a visit. And Suzi, do you realize that you have given me the green light to bore the pants off everybody who reads this thread? :wink:
A couple of weeks ago we went down to Monterey to take a whale-watching cruise. It was one of those rare days, chilly, overcast and somewhat breezy. We saw humpback whales, 4 different kinds of dolphins, seals and sea otters. The sea was a bit bumpy and I was feeling not a little queasy by the time we got back into Monterey. However, on the boat we were given a token that would give us a free starter at the Old Fisherman's Grotto Seafood Restaurant which soon settled my stomach. The free starter was fried calamari, we shared a bowl of clam chowder and I had a seafood combo. When that was combined with a Jack Daniels on the rocks before the meal I felt well set up.
Monterey has a magnificent aquarium (Google Monterey Aquarium to find the website). We've visited it several times and they always have new exhibits.
For lovers of John Steinbeck's books this is the area where he was born and grew up and where he set many of his books. The first Steinbeck book I read was East of Eden and I was so captivated that I read it in a single weekend. I quickly moved on to his other works and I've read virtually everything he wrote. I've visited the house in Salinas where he was born and grew up and where there is now a Steinbeck Centre which tells about his life and his work. We visited Corral de Tierra which inspired his novel The Pastures of Heaven, and the Salinas Valley, setting for his books The Long Valley and East of Eden. Cannery Row is in Monterey, somewhat changed from when he wrote Cannery Row and its sequel-cum-rewrite Sweet Thursday. Doc's laboratory, Pacific Biological, is still there, next to the Monterey Aquarium, though there is nothing to show the place this building holds in American literature. One of the charming towns we like to visit is Los Gatos (named after the large numbers of mountain lions to be found there) and I recently discovered that this is where he was living when he wrote The Grapes of Wrath.
Oh dear, I think I am wandering into the realms of boredom for our fellow diabetics, so I'll sign off and give everyone a break.

Well, Dennis, if you had my wife and her camera as a passenger in your car she'd have had you stopping at every turnout to take pictures. We went down as far as Cambria, visited San Simeon castle while we were there and went out to Paso Robles, which is where we got stopped at a level crossing and sat waiting for what seemed like the longest goods train in the world to pass. We also visited the San Robles Mission. Visiting the California missions is an informal pastime of ours - if we're in the area of one we never fail to visit. We're hoping eventually to visit them all. The next time you're in the area you would enjoy a visit to San Juan Bautista. This is where Hitchcock filmed scenes from Vertigo, although if you look for the tower where Kim Novak fell to her death you'll look in vain - the tower was added afterwards in the studio. There is also a superb Mexican restaurant where you sit in the garden enjoying wonderful food while the cockerel de la maison struts around the tables keeping his harem under control. It's called Jardines de San Juan (the website is at http://www.jardines restaurant.com).

Oh dear, Suzi. Vertigo is a terrible complaint as it spoils the enjoyment of so many experiences. I hope you can manage by just closing your eyes when you come to a big drop. So when your other half retires just get on a plane and go. My wife and I are inveterate travellers and we've told our kids (now grown men) that they shouldn't expect to inherit much in the way of cash. We told them that they'll inherit two decent cars, the house and our life insurance but we're SKIs (spending the kids' inheritance) and travelling until we become too decrepit.
As a child of the Blitz I never dreamed that one day I would be spending so much time in California, seeing so much of the world and having such wonderful experiences. So now we have the time we are taking advantage while we can.
Talking of experiences, the last time we were here there was a pretty hefty earthquake. It was 6.4 on the Richter scale but fortunately didn't damage the house. We heard the rumbling a couple of seconds before the house started shaking, the cat dived downstairs and then the shaking stopped after a few seconds. No damage done except that the local libraries had thousands of books shaken off the shelves.
I have to close now as we are leaving to visit my younger son's in-laws and everybody's nagging me to sign off.
I'lll write again soon.

Never trust a habanero pepper :twisted:

Our eldest son and his wife arrived on Saturday afternoon from Luxembourg. After the snow in Luxembourg they were looking forward to the gorgeous weather we had been telling them about. On Sunday it rained torrentially and the temperatures dipped quite a bit. It is, believe it or not, snowing on the higher ground in the Sierras above 1200 feet. Here on the coast it rained a little this morning and now the sun is shining although there are some clouds about.
One of the things that make life that little bit more pleasant here is the sheer friendliness of people. Just walking from your car across to the stores will find several people smiling at you in passing or wishing you a good morning.
It's the same on the roads. Californian drivers are much more relaxed than in Europe and don't seem to feel obligated to overtake everything that'sin front of them on the road like so many drivers in Europe, who seem to have an 'overtake at all costs' attitude. Speed limits are mostly respected and it's normal to overtake on the right if that lane is free while the left lane is full (we're driving on the right here, don't forget). Another practice that makes driving more pleasant is being able to filter right at a red light, as long as it is clear to do so. It reduces queues dramatically.
On the travelling front we've been off on several visits to the local redwood forests. These trees are enormous, some more than 2000 years old. They are the largest living forms of plant life on the planet. Yet, for such enormous trees they have surprisingly shallow root systems and grow in few other places as they need a foggy climate to survive.
Incidentally, Dennis, it was Ocean Avenue in Carmel that you were thinking of. The Hogs Breath Inn is just off Ocean on San Carlos. There is a sweet shop on Ocean that specialises in sweets from the UK and they have an enormous variety of licorice. I have a terrible addiction to licorice but my halo was pretty shiny that day so I put on my holier-than-thou face and passed on by.
Next to the Hog's Breath there is a wonderful shop that sells CDs and DVDs, either with a Clint Eastwood slant or jazz of all types. One of these days I'm going to go bankrupt in there, buying all those classic jazz tracks.

Ah, Dennis, I'd have been doing exactly the same except that our friends took me out and showed me a few things before they let me loose on the California highways with their car. How it works here (I don't know if it's the same in Phoenix) is when you arrive at a junction with a stop sign on each road, the first car to arrive at the junction is the one who goes first, then any other cars go in the order in which they arrived at the junction. It's all very polite and well-mannered and works surprisingly well.
Elder son and his wife went down to Monterey yesterday to take a whale-watching cruise, but they didn't see a thing, not even a sea otter. Believe it or not, they were given free tickets to go out again on another day, so they've gone again today. When they get back we're going to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner this evening.
It's also time for singing the praises of Long's Pharmacy. I found sugar-free licorice there this morning. and in Nob Hill they had a good selection of sugar-free cookies. I bought a box of chocolate chip cookies. I only eat one or two a day and by and large I haven't had too many problems keeping my BGs under control. I've been staying between 4.5 and 5.5 although I did have a spike yesterday at 6.5.
Suzi, the next time you come to California you might like to consider renting a small cottage or apartment. Here in Aptos there are lots of holiday rentals. You can then explore the area at your leisure, ranging up as far as San Francisco, if you feel like it. Or one of the things we're considering on our next trip is to rent a camper van and travelling further afield to places such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, Brice Canyon, Monument Valley or the Painted Desert. The prices to rent a camper are quite reasonable and the camping sites are very well equipped. We have roughly agreed with our friends to do a house swap in June next summer so maybe we'll do it then. Anybody who's curious can have a look at www.CruiseAmerica.com.
A couple of year's ago we bought a TomTom 910 GO which has mapy of Europe and the US. We switched to the US maps shortly after we arrived and the device has proved a great boon. I forget how much I paid, but it's been worth every penny here. It got us all the way to Napa Valley and back, door to door. San Francisco being a big city can be intimidating to someone not familiar with the area, but we made it without problems.
I know that Oscar Wilde once said that Britain and the US were 2 countries divided by a common language and there are certain striking differences. One of the ones that never fails to make me smile is the belief here that the word "herbs" is pronounced as "erbs" with a slight stress on the "er". All the TV cooks are forever going on about "erbs and spices" and I actually heard one talk about "erbifying" a dish. Fortunately for those who love the English language, one presenter did say that Martha Stewart insisted it was pronounced "herbs". So there's hope yet.

Suzi, I was in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago and our friends took us along to an open day at one of the dealers who sell campers and caravans. We were astonished at the fittings in both types of vehicles. Double bedrooms, fully fitted dining areas, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, toilets, showers and every other comfort you could think of. I would never tow a caravan but the campers were a very attractive proposition. There are fittings that you connect up at a camp site and your sewage and waste water are taken care of. You plug into a socket and all your electrical needs are provided for, and drinking water is piped in as well.
I didn't drive in Washington, our friends took care of that, but we visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and then had some problems trying to find our way to Baltimore.
One of the things I never fail to appreciate here is the ability to park virtually within a yard or two of the shop or restaurant you are visiting. Admitted the US has a lot more space than we have in Europe to create parking areas in front of their businesses, but the attitude to driving is different as well. They don't think parking should be charged for at extortionate rates.
At the moment we're gearing up for Christmas. Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day so Chistmas is a one day festival. Blink and you miss it. However, Younger Son and his wife are coming over so we're going to be together for the first time since 1999. We'll be defrosting our $6 turkey, and my wife found some British mince pies in a local supermarket. Younger son is bringing a Harrods Christmas pud. I shall indulge with great care.
The weather lately has sent most Californians into a state of shock. The temperature has dropped to the late 40s in the morning, rising to the late 50s during the day. On Saturday morning we took an early morning trip to a local farmers' market and I had to scrape the frost off the windscreen. Las Vegas was covered in snow at the same time and that's a place where they definitely have no snowploughs or gritters standing by.
We experienced another example of the friendliness of American society the other day. A neighbour across the street called and asked if we would like to come and watch the sunset from their deck. We dutifully trundled over, taking our cameras as instructed, and they had opened wine and set out snacks while we sat in their living room gazing at the beautiful sunset. It was breathtaking - the clouds were dark lavender on top but fire red underneath and it was all reflected in the ocean.
On Sunday, for lunch, we drove south towards Monterey then turned off HIghway 1 to a restaurant called Tarpy's Roadhouse. Now you'd think a restaurant with that name would be home to hillbillies and rednecks, with a spittoon by the bar. In fact, it has a lake in front with a fountain; inside the restaurant is elegantly furnished and the food and service is superb. The restaurant wouldn't be out of place in Paris and would probably be a great success there. We had crab cakes as a starter and my wife had halibut sutffed with shrimps while I chose a grilled New York steak.
It started to rain while we were eating and by the time we got home it was torrential. It rained like that for the rest of the day and was still raining when we went to bed. But everybody here tells us that California has been suffering drought for a couple of years so the rain is very much needed.