Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/77

 HOTELS RESTAURANTS CUISINE 55 lean cooks are still so neglectful. Chow mien is a paste of flour and eggs, fried in oil and served with shreds of ham. Some varieties of California fruit are undeniably disappointing even when picked by one's own hand from the burdened branches. Peaches are often bigger than they are sweet or juicy. The Wash- ington or Navel orange is not at its best until April when most tourists have returned home. The best cost 40 to 50 cents a dozen, windfalls, 2 cents a quart. Oranges and lemons which are to be shipped are usually picked green and " sweated " four or five weeks while they ripen and take on colour. Many who come to California find the juicy, pink-cheeked apricot the most satisfying fruit that grows in its orchards. Its half-sister, the nectarine, is a worthy relative. The loquats or Japanese plums, the pears of the cactus and avocado, the persimmons, the pomegranates, the custard-apples or cherimoyas, the pineapples, dates and bananas which mature in the frostless belt, the guavas and the strawberries which are ripe nearly every month in the year, the black- berries which may be picked from June to Decem- ber, the cherries, peaches, grapes, apples, figs and melons which grow to luscious size, the quinces, prunes, lemons, limes, oranges and grape-fruit, known also as pomelos these showy fruits heaped in California markets can scarcely be