The Vegetarian Guy

Every morning we harness our companion Tea-Bird and walk through the neighborhoods of Mission Hills. It is an area that was laid out in the beginning of the 20^th century exemplifying the Southern California lifestyle much in the same way as towns such as Pasadena. The railroad connected San Diego to the rest of the country in the 1880’s sparking a boom in tourism and seekers of fortune. Concurrent with the Belle Epoque in Paris, San Diego had its own renaissance before the sobering effect of The Great War. The founders of Mission Hills included names like Marston, Johnson, Nolen and, of course, Kate Sessions, who had landscaped Balboa Park. Kate Sessions’ original nursery, still in operation since 1911, is just down the street from us and is nestled among an eclectic mixture of Arts and Crafts Bungalows, Spanish Revival homes, swaying eucalyptus, towering palms and rushes of bamboo. Many homes contain architecture elements from the 1915 Pan American Exposition which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and started the Spanish Revival movement of home building on a national level. The building boom in Mission Hills coincided with the construction of the Exposition which began in 1911. San Diego was a city of 39,000 and the smallest ever to hold a world’s fair style event.

The streets of Mission Hills follow the original slopes of the terrain as the founders believed in the Arts and Crafts notion that living spaces should harmonize and work with the earth, not define it. This now historic neighborhood retains much of the original charm, which, in addition to the beautiful architecture, is greatly enhanced by wonderful natural landscaping most of the homeowners take pride in. As we walk down the sidewalks, each yard has fragrant flower, fruit trees, cacti and tender perennials. Common are creeping rosemary and bushy lavender which add savory fragrances as we brush by.

Beauty is not just the view, but how people live as well. Mission Hills is always full of dog walkers, runners, bike riders, kids and strolling couples, making it a friendly and social environment, greatly enhancing the storybook feel to the neighborhood. Here in San Diego, the sunshine and bright, often cloudless blue sky, are backdrops to the movie-set perfection of the neighborhood. I often marvel at the foresight of the small group of visionaries who designed Mission Hills. While the future is difficult to predict, they created a neighborhood that stands out from the crowd of poorly thought out developments and accomplishes much of their original goal. Every walk we take is different and stimulating, very good for creative thinking.

The Mission Hills Garden Walk is an annual event which offers the opportunity to see beyond the beauty of curb appeal and catch a glimpse of our neighbors’ lifestyles. We also enjoy meeting people who put their hands in the earth and use it as a canvas for organic expressions. Every home on the tour is unique, but one thing in common are outdoor living spaces, often as an extension of a kitchen, or an entertainment area of its own. Similar to the Mediterranean, the residents of Mission Hills frequently create spaces for casual gatherings centered about food. Alfresco dining and the chatter of company intermingling with fluid songs of mockingbirds are frequently part of the soundscape in Mission Hills. The star house on the tour, designed in the 1920s by William Templeton Johnson, even had a loggia-style bar that opened onto a patio overlooking fountains, a patio and a panoramic vista looking past an infinity pool added by subsequent owners. Houses like this help honor the ritual of food in a social setting. Like drinking from crystal making the beverage taste better, dwellings like this help us to savor both food and company. For the rest of us who cannot afford to live this way, the restaurant industry has thrived on the same principle.

Jenny, Sara and I walked through Old Town as we tend to visit tourist destinations when guests come into town.  The streets were bustling with families and bar hoppers.  Not many people shopping, but large populations in the bars.  Mexican food is abundant and many restaurants have women in traditional Mexican dress making fresh tortillas right on the street.  The rich aroma of toasted corn wafts throughout the entire neighborhood.  Each tortilla maker uses their own method.  Some use tortilla presses with wax paper, others roll with a pin, but the most impressive were those who formed each tortilla in their hands, perfect each time before they flipped it onto the griddle.  

Reminiscent of days when we cooked chapatis in quantity, I started to contemplate making tortillas for dinner.  As the evening approached, I made the masa ahead.  In addition, our neighbor Joe had given us Tabasco peppers, Italian mild peppers and habanero chiles, so I also decided to put up Tabasco sauce, Pepperoncini and Hot habanero sauce.  The kitchen air soon filled with spicy aromas laced with vinegar, causing the casual passerby to immediately start coughing.  Sometimes, that is what it takes to clear a room! 

The dinner menu took shape as tortillas were hand rolled and cooked one at a time.  The main course of corn, pepita and lime enchiladas with walnut sauce would use the fresh tortillas to help define the dish.  The filling was made with corn off the cob and pepita-cilantro-lime pesto with a fresh, green flavor.  The creamy walnut-shallot sauce was ladled on top of each filled tortilla and the dish was garnished with fresh local avocado. 

The home brewed Tabasco was served on the side, for those with a passion for heat.

Inspiration often can be unexpected as food is intimately entwined in the life of every person.  

As the seasons change, the Hillcrest market transforms to accommodate the wares of the moment and the people who provide them.  The throngs who frequent the bazaar style market are participants in this grand and timeless exercise of humanity. 

This visit did not disappoint.  Jenny, visiting from British Columbia, joined me exploring booths I tend to neglect, but nevertheless find interesting.  The Eye of Buddha booth had singing bowls complimented by colorful clothing and sweet scented incenses from Tibet and Nepal.  They sponsor monthly singing bowl concerts, (www.deepsoundmeditation.com).  We also ran our fingers through French cotton tablecloths and sampled raw Peruvian truffles from Guanni chocolates.  

Jenny bought an Indian stainless steel “tiffin,” which is like a stacking lunchbox or indelible carryout container. Jenny found some wonderful fresh mango juice and I purchased some sugar snap pea plants for the garden.  Of course, we stopped by my usual haunts, such as Koral’s Tropical Fruit Farms where Barry had just returned from a raw foods immersion trip in the Caribbean.  He had 4 kinds of avocados, chermoya, guava, Meyer lemons, Persian limes, kumquats, Paige tangerines and blood oranges. 

Down the aisle, La Milpa Organica was clearly in between harvests, yet provided a variety of beets that turned out tempting and sweet.  Sage Mountain Farms was also somewhat low in stock, but I managed to find some beautiful radicchio, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce and baby bok choy.  We finished this week’s journey buying fresh organic pomegranate juice and Satsuma tangerines.