Mona Simpson

* The author of “Off Keck Road” will be at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this weekend at UCLA.

Soup Is Good Food: I’d start with dinner at Axe in Venice. It’s sort of my favorite new restaurant in the area. If you want soba noodles with miso soup and vegetables, you can get that, but it has decadent enough desserts that you can bring anyone and they’ll be happy.

More Good Food: Saturday morning, there’s a great farmers market in Santa Monica on Arizona Avenue, which is one of those places that makes you feel great about living in California. It’s got all kinds of organic and exotic beautiful produce and inexpensive flowers. Then I’d take a family bike ride all over Santa Monica. My son is 7, but my daughter isn’t quite 15 months, so she’d have to ride in one of those little seats.

A Hike With a View: Then maybe I would take a hike with my husband or my son and some friends, in Paseo Miramar, a beautiful hike off of Sunset. You turn up Sunset from PCH and take the first left at a nursery and drive to the end of a dead-end road to find the trail head. It’s a 2 1/2 hour hike and takes you through a lot of wooded areas to a summit where you can see out over the beach. Then I’d spend a few hours reading at home.

Early Riser: Every day would involve several trips to Peet’s Coffee, where I am a great regular, though I’ve never been customer of the week. So on Sunday, I would meet a girlfriend at Peet’s at 6 a.m. and we’d go to one of the flea markets, like in Pasadena or Long Beach, depending on the week. Usually we won’t buy much, but it’s an excuse to look at funny old things and walk and talk.

Concerto for Two: Then I take my son to his piano lesson with Tania Agins, and if we’re lucky afterward she’ll play something for us. And then I like to get a late breakfast or lunch. I’ll go to Real Foods Daily if I’m feeling virtuous; they have a wonderful tofu scramble. Or there’s a place on Montana Avenue called Cafe Madeleine which has the best croissants outside of Paris.