Captured this image this morning after a big storm passed. “Stormpocalypse.”
Click to embiggen. It was a big rainstorm, and we need more of that, please.
Cafe Paradisio in Redding
“The Paradisio Experience: Simple food prepared extraordinarily well, served in a casually elegant atmosphere.”
That description from their website is quite accurate. This downtown Redding restaurant is remarkably good.
The walls are lined with art from local artists that you can peruse and purchase. Nice.
For a late lunch, we shared a Chicken Bacon sandwich and the Baked Brie Platter with roasted garlic cloves, olive tapenade, and crostini. That was no rubber chicken sandwich! Tender and moist. The soup of the day was an outstanding East Coast style Seafood Chowder. The Paradisio menu is online at the link. They have a number of dishes we’ve yet to try, but which sound really good, and reasonably priced.
Seen here on a blustery Winter day, the Cafe Paradisio lives up to their promise. Located at 1270 Yuba Street, 530-215-3499.
You can check the Cafe Paradisio website for upcoming music events, too. On Dec. 22, they are featuring Redding musical treasures Bernie Baker and Stephanie Foos. Try a taste:
Reservations recommended, It’s Really Redding.
In opposition to the Moody Flats Quarry
Every citizen of Shasta County should read the draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the proposed Moody Flat Quarry north of Shasta Lake City. They are taking written public comments until December 18, and you need to voice your opinion. You, and every individual currently tasked with making the decision whether to move forward will be long dead by the time this project is in full production over the next 100 years.
Moody Flat Quarry EIR document can be found at this link. The project proposed to turn a 1380 ft and 1950 ft peak into 2 deep pits (pg 89). At peak, hauling 2 million tons of aggregate a year in a 24 X 7 operation, using rail and 560 truck trips each day (pg 90). Starting about page 20, the report outlines impacts to air quality, noise pollution, and visual degradation it labels as “Significant and Unavoidable.”
The impacts are entirely avoidable, at this point.
We’ve seen these companies and schemes before in Shasta County. With the (not insignificant) promise of some middle-class jobs, they exploit our local natural resources for profit that wont stay local. Millions, perhaps Billions in today’s dollars worth of gold and copper were taken from the hills surrounding Redding, leaving only hundred year old scars and polluted Superfund sites. Anyone in Redding can look to the northwest and see the actual and present legacy of the Iron Mountain Mine. Where did all those mining profits go? To Lord Keswick? Evidently not to the town of Keswick.
Shasta County has long played the foolish virgin. Too eager to give up her natural resource charms for plunder with little to show for it later. Our virginity in these matters is long vanished, and we should take heed of our own mining history. There may well be a need for the jobs and products this project will provide. But on balance the tradeoffs are simply too great, the impacts too substantial to permit the Moody Flats Quarry under the current proposal.
You can find a website opposing the Moody Flat quarry at the link. From my perspective as a local real estate agent, there is no upside to this project. I suspect the project is crucial to raising Shasta Dam, but will ultimately have a much larger impact on Redding area property values.
Unless there is “Significant and Unavoidable” impact to 3M in the form of leaving a big portion of our mineral wealth profits local, I oppose the project.
Jurassic yard
Love this whimsical yard art, seen in the Quail Ridge neighborhood of Redding.
Muldoon: [Just before he gets attacked by a raptor] “Clever girl.”
Actually, our region was once home to a very large dinosaur, Shastasaurus. From Wikipedia:
Shastasaurus (“Mt. Shasta lizard”) is an extinct genus of ichthyosaur from the middle and late Triassic, and is the largest marine reptile that has yet been found.
If we again return to being an inland sea, Really Redding may be beachfront.
Crystals inside Lassen Peak make Wired Magazine
Here’s some interesting research results about nearby Mt Lassen recently published in Wired Magazine.
“This National Science Foundation-funded project at the Lassen Volcanic Center looked at the three most recent eruptions from Lassen Peak and Chaos Crags – the 1915 Lassen Peak dacite, the 1,100 year old Chaos Crags rhyodacite and the 27,000 year old Lassen Peak dacite (see above). Of those three eruption, the 1915 is the most famous and the 100th anniversary of that eruption is around the corner. However, it was tiny, coming in at just short of 0.01 cubic kilometers. The eruption at Chaos Crags was 100 times larger while the 27,000 year old eruption of Lassen Peak was over 200 times larger.”
Wow, bet that was impressive. Still, happy not to witness it in person.
BTW Here is Lassen today, with just a bit of snow. More please! Click on the image for their webcam.
“Redding photographers have it lucky.”
So writes Photographer/Dentist Dr. Chris Nelson on his gorgeous website.
It’s true. And he has the photos to prove it. Click on the image above to be taken to his site and gallery. Skilled work!
All you need is a camera and some imagination. Redding provides the backdrops.
That’s ReallyRedding.
Chatty-Kathy’s Cafe in McArthur
This restaurant is a fine example of a rural, small town cafe. They serve breakfast and lunch in the classic American style. We stopped in for a late lunch on a rainy day recently.
I’ve seen it packed for the noon hour. A cafe like this serves more than food for this small agricultural community. It’s a place to see your neighbors, and talk about things. Hence the name. Chatty.
The lovely Karry opted for a Patty Melt. I ordered the special, a Jalapeno Burger.
The food was good, but the Ham and Bean soup was really outstanding. A tangy, rich flavor that triggered memories of similar soups I’ve enjoyed in the past. Taking me back, as though an elixir of youth. It really hit the spot on this blustery day. Warming the bones.
Located in bustling downtown McArthur, about 75 miles due west of Really Redding on Highway 299E. On the south side of the street, you can’t miss it. They don’t seem to have a website, but that doesn’t mean much out here. Although I had good 4G reception, fiddling with my phone seemed somehow out of place. People don’t come here for the wi-fi. They come for much more.
Best to find yourself fully in the moment, in the Chatty-Kathy.
Active NorCal Magazine pursues fitness and outdoor action
Active NorCal publishes a fine magazine devoted to all things relevant to our active lifestyle in the northstate. It comes to us by mail.
Fitness and outdoor activities are a big deal around Redding, so this publication targets a fertile niche. In Redding, the number of sporting goods stores is only slightly outnumbered by physical therapy practices. Active NorCal also found online at http://activenorcal.net/digiedition so can be read when you are not engaged in your active lifestyle pursuits. Or Like Active Norcal on Facebook. We keep a link to them in the sidebar, if you are browsing this blog in desktop mode. And increasingly, you are not at your desktop. At least according to our blog view statistics.
Mobile, online, and active, it’s ReallyRedding.
Our Thanksgiving bird
The lovely Karry decided to try cooking a turkey that had its main bones removed first. We ordered this partially de-boned 22 lb bird from R&R Quality Meats of Redding. Laid out flat over fruit, fresh herbs, and garlic. Cooking it this way an experiment.
But hey, we found the recipe on the internet. What could possibly go wrong?
Lucky for our guests, it turned out great. And it seemed to cook faster and more evenly.
Falling off the bone, turkey for days.
So much, for which we are thankful. It’s ReallyRedding.
Thanksgiving 2014 arrives
And we know this, because the lovely Karry breaks out the…
More info at the Special Shit website. Chalk it up to me being easily amused.