The Surfline report was unremarkable. I almost didn't go. It turned out to be the best morning I've had on the board.

Four ingredients on a post-it note — soy sauce, sugar, garlic, white pepper. No measurements, no instructions. Twenty-five years later, I finally made my Jii-jii's teriyaki flank steak.

The garden is filling out, the tomatoes are still green, and the corn isn't sweet yet. We're buying it anyway — it's that time of year.

Between the full-time day jobs and after-school activities, finding the time and fortitude to make a nourishing home-cooked meal that all five of us will eat is a minor miracle. The solution? Spend an hour on Sunday and make a sauce.

This last January, inspiration struck again. I grabbed a packet of cilantro seed — bolt-resistant, no less. Then a heat wave hit in mid-March, and we headed to the beach. If only the cilantro was so lucky.

My friends Steve and Scott and I paddled out at Seal Beach Jetty, the water oddly warm from the nearby Edison plant discharge. The waves looked promising — long, slow-peeling, and consistent. Somehow I knew in that moment that I'd be chasing this feeling forever. That was thirty years ago.