The Mesquite MusicFest sounded like something that would be worth attending.  Besides I had been hearing a good deal about interesting events taking place in this low key city just an hour past Las Vegas on Interstate 15.
The MusicFest was billed as 'classic shows, just like Vegas used to be'.  This sounded particularly interesting to me since I had spent a good deal of time in Las Vegas during the sixties and early 1970s covering conventions and business meetings as a reporter.
Those were the years of the Rat Pack, Louie Prima, Peggy Lee, Big Bands and Bobby Darin.  The hotels were the Dunes, Sahara, Sands, El Rancho Vegas, and Tropiciana and they all featured top name lounge shows.
The MusicFest was three different performances.  The first featured Art Vargas, a Vegas performer for 25 years.  The second was Roadhouse Legends, a country western production with singers,dancers and country impersonators of Tim McGraw, Kenny Rogers and Reba McEntire.
The third was called Killer, Cash & Elvis as a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.
All the performances in the showroom of the CasaBlanca Resort, Casino and Golf Course.
Mesquite has been featuring a series of weekend events.  Just past was the Balloon Festival and following the MusicFest a week later a world class Motocross.
More about Mesquite and my stay there tomorrow.

A restaurant that can stay in business for twenty five years must be doing everything right.  So to find out more about "this legend in its own time" I recently made a visit to Misto Caffe and Bakery located in Torrance.
There I met Chef/Owner Luis Alvarez who gave me a tour of Misto and the story of how it has become part of the community.  It is located in Hillside Village which offers a provincial atmosphere and decor for the many businesses that are located there.
The Old World bistro look of Misto fits in perfectly here.  The restaurant includes a series of intimate dining rooms and flanked by a large all season patio, that is especially popular.  And yes, one room includes the bakery and seating for those with a sweet tooth.
The menu here is large offering both American favorites and some entrees with a Latin background.  There is a daily special luncheon menu.  The wine list is international and offers a wine special each day.
My dining partner and I enjoyed a long, leisurely lunch while meeting Luis and his manager, Opie Lepe, who has been with him for twenty three years.
Misto is open for lunch only on Monday, the rest of the week serving both lunch and dinner.  On Saturday and Sunday there is a brunch served.
Misto is located at 24558 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance with ample free off street parking.  Telephone 310 375-3608, web www.mistocaffe.com.

At last we were able to visit one of the most talked about new restaurants in Orange County.  It is The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar in Newport.  The restaurant, located on West Coast Highway,  is adjacent to the Marina offering diners and lounge patrons serene views of the harbor.
Our visit proved that all the good things we had heard about this restaurant were true.  The decor is spectacular with bars, lounges and dining rooms on two levels including an  all season patio on the second level with two fireplaces and view of the harbor.
If you wish to arrive by boat the restaurant has its own dock.
The menu has much to offer including a whole list of wild game prepared to order.
The Winery lives up to its name with over 5000 bottles of wines from all over the world.  There are also over one hundred wine storage cabinets for private use by customers who wish to store their wines in  climate control condition.
My partner and I started with a calamari that was tender and most flavorful.  My entree was jumbo Maine scallops, and wild white shrimp over risotto.  My dining partner ordered the slow braised angus beef short ribs which were so tender a knife was not needed.
The Winery is located at 3131 West Coast Highway in Newport with valet parking.  It is open seven days a week for dinner.  For more information call 949 999-6622.

The one place we would have loved to visit on our Catalina port of call was the Rusack Catalina Island vineyard.  It is located on the west side of the island and is not accessible for visitors.
Actual name now is Santa Catalina Vineyards and presently three wines are produced:  cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and zinfandel.
And with the zinfandel there is a story.  We learned about it first on our recent visit to the Rusack Vineyards tasting room located a short distance from Solvang.
At the tasting room Georgia Hunter poured us a glass of  a remarkable 2012 Zinfandel from vines almost one hundred years old.   Originally they were planted in the garden of a ranch located on Santa Cruz Island.  The ranch is long abandoned but some years ago someone discovered these old zinfandel vines.  Presently they were moved to the Rusack vineyard on Catalina which has the exact same terroir.
The places where you can taste these wines in Avalon is at C C Gallagher Restaurant And Avalon Grill.  

Our dining on Imagination gave us ample opportunity to try Carnival's new American Table and American Feast menu.
Also we met with Guna Chellam, Hotel Director, who gave us a full briefing on how Carnival's culinary team developed  the new dinner concepts.  Once they are developed they are used on four Carnival ships for six months on a trial basis.  Imagination is one of these four ships.
American Table is offered as a modern American restaurant style menu with both traditional and new style cuisine.  There will also be 'rare finds' on the menu with the unusual, frog legs or spicy Alligator Fritters as examples.  There is a new menu each evening on the cruise.
This new menu also has a feature called 'Port of Call entree"  This is a local food or entree that is traditional at the place the ship is currently visiting.
American Feast will be offered a few times on each cruise as a special dining event.
We were impressed both with this new menu and as usual the service staff was outstanding.

Besides the Cruise 2 Jam Blue Grass musicians aboard Carnival Imagination there were a group of disabled veterans.  This came about when Jerry Turner, organizer and founder of the Blue Grass event decided to take disabled veterans and their families along as guests of the group.
This Writer made it a point to  meet and and interview these veterans.  Each night aboard ship we dined with one of these veterans and his family.
One evening it was with Jonathan Schumacher, a Marine who lost both legs in a  roadside mine explosion while serving in Afghanistan.  With him aboard was his wife, Courtney and two young sons.
Another evening we were at the dinner table with Geoffrey and Samantha Quevedo.  He was with the U.S. Army on an eight month tour in Afghanistan when he lost his left arm during a fire fight.  He and his wife had married a month before after being high school sweethearts.
We also met another U.S. Army veteran, Rallace Fanene.  While serving in Iraq during a fire fight he stepped on a mine and lost his right leg and arm.  This occurred just two weeks before finishing his second fifteen month tour in that country.  We also met his wife Scarlett and two children, daughter, Nahia and son, Lokepa.
Jerry Turner calls this program for disabled veterans Friends2Veterans.

Once again it is off on a Carnival cruise to Mexico, this time on the Imagination.  And once again I will be aboard with the Cruise 2 Jam group of Blue Grass musicians.  This is seventh year that lovers and performers of Blue Grass have gathered on a four day Carnival cruise to Santa Catalina and Ensenada.
And for this Writer the third time.
I first met the group quite accidentally when on a Carnival cruise four years ago.  I was captivated by both the music and the musicians who were aboard from many different states and localities.
Then I had met the man responsible for this coming together of musicians.  His name is Jerry Turner and this whole congregation of musicians was  his original idea and goal.
This year there were about 110 aboard and soon were picking and jamming in groups scattered around different parts of the Imagination.
Tomorrow we will cover another important aspect of this Cruise 2 Jam event.