Malibu 5/21/2012

Did You Know? - Saganaki (Greek ????????, literally little frying pan) refers to various dishes prepared in Greek cuisine and is named after the single-serving frying pan in which it is cooked.

One popular example is an appetizer of pan-seared cheese. The cheese used in saganaki cheese is usually kefalograviera, kasseri, kefalotyri, or sheep's milk feta cheese. Regional variations include the use of formaella cheese in Arachova and halloumi cheese in Cyprus. The cheese is melted in a small frying pan until it is bubbling and generally served with lemon juice and pepper. It is eaten with bread.

Did You Know? - The first fire extinguisher of which there is any record was patented in England in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey, a celebrated chemist at that time and to this day. It consisted of a cask of fire-extinguishing liquid containing a pewter chamber of gunpowder. This was connected with a system of fuses which were ignited, exploding the gunpowder and scattering the solution. This device was probably used to a limited extent, as Bradley's Weekly Messenger for November 7th, 1729, refers to its efficiency in stopping a fire in London.

The modern fire extinguisher was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818; it consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 liters) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.

Did You Know? - During World War II, pilots on U.S. aircraft carriers adopted the thumbs up to alert the deck crew that they were ready to go and that the wheel blocks could be removed.

The gesture's popularization in America is generally attributed to the practices of World War II pilots, who used the thumbs up to communicate with ground crews prior to take-off. This may have originated with the China-based Flying Tigers, who were among the first American flyers involved in World War II. The appreciative Chinese would say "???" ("ting hao de"), meaning "very good," and gesture with a thumbs up, which in Chinese means "you're number one."

High officials in Chinese government see it as a sign of respect. Any person from China will recognize this numerical gesture, and it can be seen in movies and photos of the era, though this has not been verified in print by American Volunteer Group (AVG) pilots. American GIs are reputed to have picked up on the thumb and spread it throughout Europe as they marched toward Berlin."[4] Combat pilots in the United States and around the world still use this gesture.

Did You Know? - The first restaurant menus arose roughly one millennium ago, during the Song Dynasty in China - the only region of the world at the time where paper was abundant. At this time, many merchants often congregated in city centers and had little time or energy to eat during the evening. Because of the large variation found in Chinese cuisine from different regions, the restaurants could no longer cater to the local palates, giving rise to the menu.

Did You Know? - Like Topanga Cyn., Kanan Dume is more of a cut-through or commuter road than a place to test your skills, but that doesn't mean that the road is boring. It is considerably longer than most other roads in the area, but at 12 miles isn't exactly a long stretch of pavement. Still, when playing in Malibu a relatively long road that can be taken at higher speeds is the exception rather than the rule, so Kanan can be a nice change of pace after the shorter, tighter roads that surrounds it.

At the northern end Kanan intersects Hwy. 101 and can be used as a quick way to get down into the heart of Malibu. With most of the gas stations along PCH closed, the top of Kanan can also be a good place to start the day or take a lunch break.

While far from a straight, boring road Kanan is certainly a much straighter than just about anything else in the area save the freeway. This allows for the possibility of some higher speeds, although there is typically a fair amount of traffic on this stretch of road so getting caught behind a slow moving vehicle is certainly a possibility. However, while there aren't a lot of them, a few passing lanes are available and can be used to great advantage.

Another plus for this road is the fact that it intersects both Mulholland Highway and Latigo Canyon, two of the best roads in the area. Latigo intersects at about the halfway point between PCH and the freeway, with Mulholland crossing just a bit north of that.

Did You Know? - A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of tanks known as tank farms. The oldest winery in the world found to date is a 6,000 year old winery in the Areni region of Armenia, which is still a wine making region today.

Herbie was there when it opened for business....