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Homemade iceream yummmmm.....

Thanksgiving 2010 - well its a little late but worth sharing....

 As we didn't have the kids this Thanksgiving Greg decided to take me away for a few days to a surprise destination to The Inn at Morro Bay... it was great! The first night we had cocktails with a couple at the bar that owned a winery in Paso as we watched the sun go down over the bay. Enchanting. We reitred to our beautiful room with fireplace and down comforter and lites out!

I must say it was a bit strange not cooking the big dinner for the first time in many years, but it was delightful! I missed my kids terribly but did not miss the clean up. We took a drive into Pismo to get some bubbly and then back to see the Monarch butterflies :)  It was a beautiful cool, fall weekend. We brought with us a beautiful bottle of our favorite Saarloos pino and enjoyed it

 with our Thanksgiving dinner that night! Another beautiful sunset over the bay as greg enjoyed his ham and garlic mash potatoe stack and I worked on a beautiful piece of fish with a squash risot. I wouldn't have ordered dessert but it came with the fantastic dinner so of course I gave in! Apple Tartain and Sweet Potatoe souffle with marshmallow and maple topping. So so good! We are excited to go back soon and hit some golf balls as we found there was a great course right across the street. We have lots to be Thankful for at  Thanksgiving and all year 'round; good health, family, love and laughter. Cheers to all who are a part of our flavors and adventures of life.

Cookie Rally & Bake Off 2011

We had a SUPER FANTASTIC event once again this year!Local Chefs made Desserts using Girl Scout Cookies  as a main ingredient. Here are just a few! Will add more pictues soon. (Top Photo) Kate's Bakery 2nd place Chocolate bomb using tagalong cookies (yum) Chef Andrew is an accomplished Exec Pastry Chef and if you stop by Kate's you can sample some amazing desserts. Second photo if from the Runner-up The Side Car for Samoa Cheesecake with caramel sauce and toasted coconut! Please Chef Tim, add this to the menu this month! Created in collaboration with a darling junior chef from the Culinary Academy! The 3rd photo is of the Crowne Plaza's Chef Nic's creation which was a wonderful fudge pie with chocolate tagalong cookie bar crust and divine choclate silk mousse. Delicious... The last photo is of the winning dessert from Mastro's in Thousand Oaks for their delicious delicious delicious Classic Cheescake with Trefoil cookie crust! They went through nearly a case of cookies before finding the perfect dessert. I will have to find a picture for you....

We also had some local celeb judges including Lisa McKinnon -VC Star & VC Eats, Christine Garboski Nestle Foods Kitchen and Geoff Dean Ventura County Sheriff! Join us next year! Your taste buds will be glad you did!

NYR#3 - On the quest for the best cupcakes...

To continue on the quest for the best cupcakes I tried a red velvet from The Bread Basket bakery in Camarillo,CA. Know for their yummy cakes filled with fresh fruit I thought I would try a cupcake. It was a good cupcake and moist but still can't beat the high bar set by Enjoy Cupcakes. They are just too good darnit, but if you have a hankering and need to go local it will sastify your need I am sure (tho at Bread Basket their layered cakes reign supreme!) Hmmm I am getting hungry might have to try a new place this weekend....cheers!

Catching up on the NYR..... Road Trip to Palm Dessert

Decided to go on a road trip after a long spring and summer of medical and mental recovery. We jumped in Red and off we went. Stopped at Hadley's for a date shake  cuz' ya just have to! Greg booked a great golf package deal at a wonderful hotel and course (Indian Wells) but did I mention that it was in August....? Yes it was hot so we decided to eat and sleep the long weekend away in the cool air conditioning. Along for the ride came several bottles of Saarloos & Son's wine- Yum. We ventured out for a late night bite to eat and stumbled upon Taqueria Sinaloense - a hole-in-the wall place but delicious, good horchata and even Mexican Karaoke!
Second evening in town we enjoyed a lovely romantic dinner at Castelli's Italian restuarant. The food and evening was so fantastic I forgot to take pictures.There was a great loungey Rat Pack type piano man and so I knew right away we were in the right place.  I can tell you what we ate as I do have a good memory for such things :) Started off with the best garlic bread and ceasar salad (with fishes!) I have ever had. Greg had big yummy martini and I sampled a new pinot grigio. Then came the Risotto tutte mare, lobster ravioli and to finish it off- tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert (yes dessert was "to go" because we were so full!)

New Years Resolution...catch up blog adventures...

Wow! I have such a back log of food adventures but there is no time like the present to jump in, so here goes.

Last summer (July 2010) we hosted a student from Spain for a month! 17 year old Pablo quickly became a part of the family and it was a great summer experience for us. Pablo's favorite american food is the "Hamburgesa" and so we set out to taste as many hamburgers as possible from "In n' Out" to Pablo's professed favorite "Greg's backyard BBQ burger". On our quest to share American culture with Pablo, we took a day trip to Los Olivos and Solvang, CA. Sure the boys wanted to see a few wineries (Los Olivos Saarloos and Enjoy cupcakes) and taste the tourist's favorite applerskiever (sp) in Solvang but it was all about finding a beloved burger. We found victory at the Big Bopper walk up restaurant on the main drag in Solvang. The boys were in heaven with the classic burger with American cheese of course! Not sure what they thought of the big adventure but they both fell asleep and took a "siesta" the entire ride home! :)

ARTICHOKES!

Worth the trip to Castroville for sure was the photo session with the Giant Artichoke and the fried artichokes! Merritt STreet in Castroville- you can't miss this Photo Opp and wonderful veggie fruit stand. Seriously one of the most delicious versions of an artichoke dish ever for $4!

One of the best things I learned as a child (as previously mentioned) was to "just try anything once..." so I encouraged my non-believing traveling partners to "try just one" and the small size batch suddenly dissapeared (how could it not?!). You can by them breaded and frozen if you have a way to get them home which sadly I did not! So if you are ever in Castroville stop by and treat your self- you deserve it!