NEIGHBORS : Eat and Think : The Gold Coast Community Chorus wants to go to Carnegie Hall, and vegetarians go creative.

Ventura interior designers Jone Pence and Paul Morse have learned to turn adversity--and rot--to their advantage.

Their refurbishment of a bathroom for Ventura Design House ’90 recently earned them a prestigious award sponsored by Remodeling Magazine and the National Assn. of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelors Council. Design House ’90 was a fund-raiser for the Ventura County Symphony.

“The bathroom wasn’t functioning for over a year because of a leak in the shower. We had to demolish it,” Pence said . “There was ivy growing in the walls and dry-rot all over the floor and leading to the master bedroom.”

The well-earned award will be presented in January at the NAHB convention in Atlanta.

The city of Moorpark’s Community Services Department just came out with its catalogue of winter recreation activities. To highlight the schedule, the department made up one of those puzzles in which you have to find words hidden within a grid of letters.

Some of the activities and phrases that puzzlers are asked to find include: “holiday craft faire,” “musical fun time,” “tree lighting ceremony” and “bus schedule.”

When there is a chill in the air, a light breeze, turkey and all the fixin’s--we don’t know about you, but our thoughts always turn to bus schedules.

More incoming info.: We received a fax from an ad agency telling us that McDonald’s is donating 4,100 trees to Thousand Oaks. (Or is that Five Thousand Oaks?) Anyway, the cover sheet of the fax read:

“If you do not receive, please call (the phone number).”

It’s just a good thing we received it. If we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have known who to call. Or why.

How does one get to Carnegie Hall? Avocado bread might do it.

The Ventura-based Gold Coast Community Chorus has been invited to perform at the famous performance center in July, 1991.

The string attached: Each of the 125 members must pay about $1,000 for travel, food and lodging. So to help with expenses, they are having a “Send a Singer to Carnegie Hall Bake Sale” in front of the Longs Drug Store at 50 N. Ashwood in Ventura on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Choir Director Kurt Berentsen understands the no expenses paid deal: “Obviously with an incredible amount of talent nearby they don’t have to pay to ship people from the West Coast.”

More thought for food:

If you’ve just been eating the stuff, you’ve been missing out.

“There’s just so much you can do with food when you start really thinking about it,” said Jeanette Scovill, president of the California Vegetarian Assn.

To prove it, she’s organized a decoration contest that uses only edible materials. She suggests herbs, dried flowers and chilies.

“It makes a lot of sense here in Southern California to use red chilies for the holidays,” she said.

Participants are asked to make an edible holiday decoration and bring it to the Conejo Valley Art Museum in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. The registration fee is $10 for groups and $2 for individuals. Winning decorations will be displayed at the museum. For information call 492-0811.

And remember, these are to be vegetarian. So no meat or cheese wreaths, please.