Lunch with Mom

2011 June 21 - U-Pick Orchards
Brentwood, CA

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Today is the first day of Summer so mom and I are headed thirty miles west of Stockton to what used to be a small farm community in eastern Contra Costa County. Brentwood, CA has become a city of 50,000 and more and more of the orchards are being replaced by housing developments.

We used to visit a few of the U-Pick-Em farms when dad was still alive. Then mom would actually take a bucket and pick the fruit while dad waited in the shade.

Mom at her 10:00am daily exercise class

Mom headed to the car

Stockton has become a warehousing town with its proximity to water, rail and road transportation.

This is a big Toys R Us distribution center at the west edge of town along Hwy 4

We will be traveling over the San Joaquin Delta islands. The farm land here is a rich peat soil since the land here in prehistoric times was a big inland sea.

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat has a high carbon content and can burn under low moisture conditions. Once ignited by the presence of a heat source it smolders.

One of the warning signs along Hwy 4 in the Delta

We arrive at one of our favorite spots the Canciamilla Ranch in Brentwood.

Mom heading to the cashiers table

Mom quit picking her own a couple of years ago and now just buys the fruit for sale that is at the table

One of the four U-Pick orchards at Canciamilla

Lunch today will be at a fairly new spot in downtown Brentwood, MJ's Cafe. It was opened about a year ago by some locals and is open for breakfast and lunch only.
Brentwood is in the middle of a downtown renovation project.

MJ's is near the old movie theater

Wow. Seniors (55+) can get in for $4.50 any day, any time

Heading into MJ's

What to order?

The interior is laid out with a lot of space

Mom settles on the half sandwich with home made potato salad and I have the Eggs Benedict

The sandwich was just okay, but the potato salad was excellent

MJ's also has fresh baked goods

Then it is back to Stockton.

Brentwood Corn Festival
A summertime barbeque is just not complete without some sweet Brentwood corn. Brentwood is probably where a large part of the bay area's corn supply comes from.