Thanksgiving in America typically means a lazy day of turkey, football and slumber. Some might venture out for a round of golf before the big meal while others head to a movie after dinner when they are tired of spending time with family. And, of course, most prepare for a busy Friday braving the crowds at the mall when the holiday shopping season officially begins.

But for me, at least over the past two years, Thanksgiving has meant something entirely different. It has been a whirlwind of cooking, travel and anything that could be described as antonyms for the words rest and relaxation.

It’s amazing to look back at how things change from just two years ago. I wasn’t married at the time but I did have a girlfriend, and when she decided to host her family for Thanksgiving dinner, for some strange reason I offered to cook the meal. I prepared everything from the turkey and stuffing to the gravy and everything went fine until it was nearly time for the meal to be served.

Family started arriving and everyone gravitated toward the kitchen. My gravy wasn’t quite right. The greetings and holiday cheer were reaching a decibel level typically only heard on an airport runway. Kids were running wild. My cooking was being taste-tested as bodies filled the otherwise roomy kitchen area.

In short, it was chaos.

I learned what Thanksgiving chefs across the country deal with every year in a quick 15-minute span. But the satisfaction of a well-prepared Thanksgiving meal – something I had never attempted before – made the day-long cooking procedure worthwhile along with the realization that cooking a turkey is something that I wouldn't mind bypassing for a long time.

I was able to accomplish that last Thanksgiving. After that successful turkey dinner, I proposed to that girlfriend of mine just before Christmas and we were married the following November – one Saturday before Thanksgiving. It was a perfect time to get married; the weather was perfect, out-of-town guests were able to take the following week off of work to visit in-town friends and family, and best of all, my new wife Monique and I were able to honeymoon the week of Thanksgiving.

Bypassing a huge trip to a tropical island, we decided to keep the honeymoon local and spend the first half of the week in Santa Barbara, then fly to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving without a worry of restaurants and entertainment being closed for the holiday. It truly was a magical week of food (Monique seemed to ask at every restaurant, “Do you have a cheese plate?”), fun (I played golf on Thanksgiving day with literally one other group on the course) and festivities (we saw the Cirque du Soleil show “Ka”).

Make no mistake about it, the trip was as exhausting as it was enjoyable and it was extremely difficult going back to work the following week. We wished that we had another week off to recover from the week away.

This year, the return to normalcy hits the Eubanks household. Our one year anniversary has just past and we’re looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. If I were cooking this year, I’d certainly use the recipes that the Bakersfield Fire Department shared with us in this month's Bakersfield Life magazine. Maybe that’s something you can use in your kitchen to make the holiday cooking chore just a little bit easier.

Just remember to finish dinner before the rest of the family shows up. The firemens' tips will come in handy when the Thanksgiving craziness in your home begins, helping to create that relaxing holiday that I’ve missed out on for the past two years.
 

There’s little doubt that people develop an emotional attachment to their cars. I certainly know I always have. Over the 20 years in which I’ve driven, I’ve gone from no car to junk car to used car to what is now developing into a series of impractical but fun-to-drive cars.

The days of no car for a teenager is never fun. And honestly, which is worse: Begging your parents to use the car or actually driving their minivan around? There then comes a time in everyone’s life when they purchase their first car with their own money, and I remember mine like it was yesterday.

I was competing on the CSU Bakersfield track and field team and one of our standout javelin throwers had an old junker of a car that he offered to sell me for $500. Believe me, it wasn’t even worth $5, but I wanted my own car so bad, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a gorgeous (note the sarcasm) white 1976 Honda Civic, but apparently it was just the body of a Civic placed atop an Accord chassis. And the fun doesn’t stop there.

The passenger door was broken, so this superstar javelin thrower decided to use his ingenuity to wrap a jump rope through the door and tie it to the emergency brake to keep the door closed. Not only did that make a safety hazard (which I’m sure was highly illegal), but it was also very attractive on a date when my passenger had to climb through the driver’s-side door and climb across sit back in a seat that was secured by an old, fraying jump rope.

If the car became too hot, it wouldn’t start unless I let it sit for several hours, the radio and air conditioning didn’t work, and eventually, the front axle broke leaving me to sell my amazing 1976 white Honda Civic/Accord to a junkyard for $150.

Things did improve over time in the auto category. I think it peaked when I lived in Seattle and I purchased a Jeep Wrangler that I really enjoyed driving, especially for the two or three days a year it didn’t rain in the Pacific Northwest. Not learning my lesson, I traded in the impractical Wrangler just before gas prices jumped to more than $4 a gallon for a very big, very nice truck that only dreams of the 20 miles per gallon benchmark.

For most of us, with age comes nicer cars. We advance in our jobs and salary, and we show it in the comfort and luxury that we drive. This month, Bakersfield Life previews six 2009 luxury cars that are clearly a far cry from my first car.

It was a thrill getting five of these cars together for our photo shoot and seeing such luxury and technological advances in one place, from the luxury of the Mercedes and Lexus, to the pure power of the Corvette, to the sporty Jaguar convertible and the space-age design of the Audi. These are cars that I might not be ready to purchase just yet, but cars that I aspire to owning as I progress in my career.

But when looking at these cars and longing to drive one off for my own, several things became clear. These cars are certainly more practical for everyday driving than a Jeep in Seattle, they’re more fun to drive than a truck, and most importantly, they’re miles and miles more attractive to look at than a Civic/Accord combo with a jump-rope door stop.

So for those who use this 2009 car preview as a buyer’s guide, congratulations. I’ll be seeing you on the road in my BMW some day, hopefully sooner than later. And I’ll love driving it just as much as I enjoyed the freedom of my very first car – I just won’t have to worry about a loose knot letting the door fly open.
 

Just like seemingly everything in life, this magazine is a work in progress. And it most likely will be forever. If I have learned anything in my nearly six months of working here at Bakersfield Life, it's that no one here – form myself, to Art Director Joe Simpson, to Managing Editor Chris Thompson and even the management upstairs – will ever be satisfied with this magazine. In short, we know there's always room for improvement and we're going to continue to strive for excellence.

That's why it took me by surprise to look directly to the left of this Editor's Note and find the following at the top of the page: "September 2008 / Vol. 3 / Issue 1." What do you know? It's Bakersfield Life's birthday and there is no party, no celebration, and, except or this note, no mention of our turning two years old anywhere in this magazine.

In my still short time here, I've spent time going over the past two years worth of magazines to see what's been written about already, who's been featured and what's been missing. While looking back at the November 2006 edition just last week, I realized just how far we've come to get where we are now and the transformation of this publication is simply stunning.

Monthly departments have been cut and new departments have been added. Section have been expanded while others have faded out. In fact, in my time at Bakersfield Life, it seems that the magazine has done another 180, seemingly adding new segments every month and continuing to evolve as time moves on.

For example, the beginning of the book now has the Up Front section, introducing an everyday person in Bakersfield, looking at what's hot and what's not in the city right now, along with other little features that are quick, entertaining reads. We've also added our Food and Wine department which has been as much fun for me to write over the past two months as anything else we produce. And The 64 Greatest Things About Bakersfield – which has now been narrowed down to 16 – has been an overwhelming success.

I don't need to drone on and on about the changes that have taken place any more than I already have. But we have some more changes this month that I'd like to take a second to point out. The most noticeable of those changes comes in the form of "Top Shelf." Every month we will feature several items available right here in Bakersfield that not all of us could ever justify spending that amount of money on, but they are amazing products that can be purchased locally and things that many of us would love to have.

You will also see the continuing brilliance of Simpson in his smart and attractive page design. While I would personally be sad if you didn't read a word of this magazine, the design is certainly enough to enjoy on its own as you will see throughout the book this month.

In short, we're constantly adjusting, and that's clearly what has made Bakersfield Life the most read and most looked-forward to magazine in the city. But don't worry. We're not satisfied with that. And on our third birthday, I'm sure we'll have plenty to celebrate.

You just have to love Gordon Ramsay. The feisty, outspoken, hot-tempered chef turned international superstar is the host of “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares” and never fails to entertain on either of his hit television programs – no matter how vulgar his entertainment might be.

That exact vulgarity might be what has turned some people off from Ramsay. Calling his show’s contestants a “doughnut” or “big boy” might be funny in itself, but taken in context, the shar-pei look-alike might seem a bit more like a bully than a comedic friend. One of his comments, “It’s a (expletive) carrot, you doughnut!” suddenly loses its comical appeal when Ramsay’s bright-red face is screaming at you and throwing a saucepan past your head.

Make no mistake, though, when he compares food on a plate to baby vomit, it makes me laugh every time.

But one thing is certain: The man knows how to cook. My wife Monique and I recently had the opportunity to sit down and eat at Ramsay’s newest restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood. The color scheme of tans, grays, baby blue and pink somehow turns what might seem like a baby’s bedroom –without the vomit – into an elegant environment to enjoy some of the best food in all of Los Angeles. My beef fillet and Kobe short rib, cipollini onion and baby beets might very well be the best meal I’ve ever had in my life.

The trip to Ramsay’s place was followed shortly thereafter with dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio at The Venetian in Las Vegas. While I wasn’t worried about the owner coming around the corner and yelling the f-word at me, the culinary genius was similar in quality.

The point of this isn’t to mention every restaurant I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy, but instead to use this as a launching board into the newest department of Bakersfield Life that you will be seeing each month that we so cleverly titled, “Food and Wine.” The goal of this department is to give the reader a local look at the good life associated to food and wine.

For this department’s first article this month, I sat down with local wine experts Jeramy Brown, co-owner of Valentien Restaurant and Wine Bar, and the owner of Cafe Med, Meir Brown, for a pair of delightful conversations focusing on pairing wine with food. The best thing about the conversations I had with the Bakersfield Browns – who aren’t related, by the way – is that neither was stuffy when sharing their wine experience. In fact, they want to share their knowledge to help the city learn about the beverage they enjoy so much.

This month, the focus is on both food and wine. In the future, we might look more toward one or the other, or even concern ourselves exclusively on wine or food individually. Most importantly is that we want to bring you more ideas, experiences and luxuries from the culinary field and its connection to wine while tying a local connection to them.

Even though we don’t have a Gordon Ramsey or Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Bakersfield, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have access to some amazing culinary experiences right here in town and I look forward to sharing them all with you in the upcoming months.

So enjoy the new Food and Wine department. And if you don’t like it, please don’t call me a doughnut.

The sun had just set and I lounged in almost complete darkness on the middle of Stockdale Country Club’s well-manicured fourth fairway. It was the Fourth of July, and my wife and I gathered with friends, family and even a couple of people I had met just minutes before to enjoy what was meant to be a spectacular fireworks show.

We waited in anticipation in near pitch-black conditions, and then the eruption of the first firework lit up the sky, unveiling the excitement on everyone’s face. It was difficult to tell exactly where the first crimson lights floated lazily back toward the earth, but it appeared to happen just above Stockdale Country Club’s historic clubhouse. All we could see was the darkness, with a chute of night sky filling the space between the massive trees that line that fourth fairway. The blasts of light gave us a quick view of our friends’ two-year old daughter Emma’s face as she looked on in excitement, while the blasts of sound echoed throughout the golf course.

It was certainly a thrill being able to have such an up-close and personal view at that magnificent fireworks show and counts as just one of the many great things about Bakersfield. As I admired the rockets’ red glare and the bombs bursting in the air, my mind actually wandered back to this magazine and the exciting feature we’re debuting this month, titled “The 64 Greatest Things About Bakersfield.” And yes, my mind does seem to creep back into work mode even when enjoying fun times away from the office.

In “The 64 Greatest Things About Bakersfield,” we’re conjuring the NCAA basketball tournament and instead of asking you to guess who is going to win it all (and avoiding illegal office pools), we’re asking you to actually determine the winner, which will then be known as The Greatest Thing About Bakersfield for 2008. We, like the NCAA Tournament committee, determined the top 64 and you will narrow it down, month by month, until there is only one winner standing in December.

This is the first time that this sort of competition has ever been held locally and we’re expecting a huge response. Be sure to check it out and vote online each month at www.bakersfieldlife.com.

And next year, I’m going to have to push harder to get Stockdale Country Club’s Fourth of July fireworks show on the list.

I'm scrambling right now in an attempt to write this quick blog post before I lose Internet access. I have been out of civilization for a couple of days now and to be honest, I don't really know how to handle it. I've had no Toronto Blue Jays daily updates, no cell phone service, no e-mail. It's odd to say the least.

The reason? I'm in Death Valley. I guess I might be letting a little secret out early, but I'm in Death Valley writing a travel story about the legendary hot spot (literally) in California, and while I wasn't so hot (pun intended) about the story at first, what I've found has been fascinating. I've driven on roads that have bounced my Toyota Tundra all over the place. I've walked in canyons that have beautiful marble-like stone walls. I've stood at the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere at more than 200 feet below sea level, and from that point looked up at the mountain wall in front of me to see a sign that reads "SEA LEVEL" way above me. I've seen rocks that have traveled across a flat land though no one has ever seen them move. I even played golf at the lowest golf course in the world at 214 feet below sea level.

Most of all, I've been sweating. A lot. Anyone complaining about the heat in Bakersfield needs to go to Death Valley. It's a different world here.

So look forward to an up-close look at Death Valley next month. I'm going to begin my trek home to the cool weather of Bakersfield.

Bakersfield Life’s Dream 18 might have been the most difficult story I’ve ever put together. It had nothing to do with finding people who were willing to talk to me about their favorite golf holes or writing about the difficulties in playing each hole.

The reason it was difficult was simply because I did it with a broken leg – a tibial plateau fracture that was suffered on a golf course. But that’s a different story altogether.

I started the story while I was still on crutches and went out to take pictures ranging from five country clubs and courses in Taft, Wasco and Arvin after being taken off the crutches but still hobbling around.

So I was writing about golf, talking to people about golf, taking pictures of golf courses – or, as my wife says, my life was golf golf golf golf golf golf golf. My life was golf, that is, except for the fact that I wasn’t playing it. Instead, I limped around the Bakersfield area taking pictures of great holes like Sycamore Canyon’s 13th while watching everyone else play the game.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.

The good news is that last weekend I went out to play the game I love so much for the first time in four months, and while still not completely healed, I didn’t play too amazingly horrible. OK, I actually was horrible, but that’s beside the point. The key is that I was able to get out, have fun and sort of enjoy the great game of golf again.

Aside from not being able to play the game myself, Bakersfield Life’s Dream 18 was a joy to put together. Gary Johnson, Assistant Pro at Buena Vista, and Rio Bravo Country Club’s PGA Head Professional Jim Kiger gave insight that I hadn’t thought of about the local area’s golf courses no matter how many times I had played them.

And the amateurs – from near-pros to hackers – I discussed this project with offered opinions about certain holes that weren’t relevant to my game, mostly because I’m not as good as them, but that made a huge difference in the way this all shook out.

The truth is, it was sad to leave out Kern River’s 3rd hole, RiverLakes’ 18th hole, Sundale’s 7th, 16th, 17th, 18th and others, or any number of holes from Seven Oaks Country Club. We had several unanimous choices (Rio Bravo’s 11th, for example), but when all was said and done, the number of holes nominated for this feature listed at an impressive 68.

All in all, I guess that means that Bakersfield really has a massive amount of quality golf in the area, and that’s nothing to complain about. But even more importantly, I won’t be complaining because I’m finally going to be able to get out and play all of those great golf holes again.

I just hope my swing comes back soon…