California dreaming — and eating | New Jersey Jewish News

My sister and brother-in-law moved across the country a year and a half ago. When they lived in Maryland, I could get into my car and drive the three hours and change and it wasn’t a huge deal. When I had kids in Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, it was even better, because then I could kill two birds with one set of tolls. Now that they are on a totally different coast, near a totally different ocean, it isn’t as easy. So, as I said last week, my selfless husband gifted me with a vacation where there was nary a flake of snow. And that brings us to this column…

Lemon trees, grapefruit trees, apricot trees, avocado trees, lime trees, orange trees — who knew that California had all of these cool fruit-bearing trees? Okay, maybe you did, but seeing them up close is pretty darn cool, and using lemon from my sister’s neighbor’s tree in my Diet Coke was especially refreshing and delicious. Very exciting.

Also we went to a restaurant called Toast in the Sherman Oaks area, right across the street from the Chabad of Sherman Oaks. Again, who knew? And it was cholov Yisroel, so that is always a delicious bonus. Took out dinner from La Pizza in the Valley Village neighborhood — it was a little pricey but very yummy, and you know I am going to tell you that yes, it, too, was cholov Yisroel. Baruch Hashem! If only my Oreos could be with me!!

We didn’t just eat. We went to the Getty Museum, which was just magnificent and had the most spectacular views. I saw snowcapped California mountains AND the Pacific Ocean — just beautiful. And the art was moving and enlightening, truly. So, yes, Day One in California was delicious, intellectually stimulating, and so much fun.

And I learned how to play Rummikub. No, I did not know how to play it before. And it still makes me nervous because I am not very good at math and counting up to 25 on my fingers is not as easy as it used to be.

Day Two in California consisted of the Warner Brothers Studio tour and a bus tour of the movie stars’ homes. Yes, I am that kind of tourist. The studio tour was awesome, but it made my sister and me very reflective about our beloved father, who was a huge movie buff. Every actor or movie that was mentioned from before 1950 just made us look at each other and say, “Dad would have loved this.”

There is just something about siblings.

As for the tour of the stars’ homes, our bus driver was bordering on stalker as he spoke about seeing some famous musician’s yellow SUV and how they wave to each other. A tad creepy, but it was still cool to see $20 million homes that Madonna may or may not have lived in sometime over the past 30 years.

And dinner number 2 was at a place called Lenny’s Casita. Okay, folks — I have never been to a restaurant where the food was out in mere minutes, fresh and delicious, and the owner came to the table to find out how everything was. It was a very pleasant surprise. And they have a liquor license. Of course it was a Mexican restaurant and I still ordered a hamburger, but everyone else loved the Mexican fare they ordered.

In conclusion, I have really good news for the Jews. I really only fly to Israel, which means that I really only fly with other Jewish people. When they announce boarding for a flight to Israel, everyone stands up and tries to be first on on line, regardless of what your boarding pass says.

Well, I flew Alaska Airlines and guess what? Those folks did the same thing! I was so happy. But wait, it gets better. You know when your flight is over and the plane comes to a stop and everyone in every row on your El Al flight stands up because they all need to be off the plane first? THEY DO THAT ON ALASKA AIRLINES ALSO!!!!!

It made me so happy to know that it isn’t just the Jews. Universally, as a human race, we all think we are entitled, so, yeah, that made me happy.

It’s the little things.

Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is looking forward to sharing Part 2 of her trip next week — she is sorry if her readers don’t feel the same.