California Fever

tea

Although Thursday was my last day on the job for awhile, today feels like my first real day of vacation.  I was late getting out of the office on Thursday and we ran errands that evening.  Up early on Friday morning to spend HOURS straightening up and cleaning the house in preparation for my mother's visit (I'd hardly been home on the weekends for weeks). Jeffrey left that morning for two days of gigs in Hermosa Beach in a rented cute yellow PT Cruiser.  My mother was here from Friday afternoon until yesterday afternoon, and although we kept our schedule light, it was glorious to wake this morning not feeling like I had to jump up to entertain.  I hit the thrift store yesterday in search of vacation reading and found they had trade paper books on sale for 50 cents.  I finished this novel yesterday and late last night, I started this one.

My mother turned 73 in early June, but her birthday gift was a delayed surprise.  On Saturday afternoon I took her to high tea at The Camellia Tea Room in Benicia, a small town where she'd lived for a couple of years in the early 70's and had hardly been back since.  I lived with her (and my then-stepfather) briefly when I first moved to the Bay Area.  Many native Californians don't know that in 1853 Benicia was briefly our state capital before it was moved to Sacramento the following year.  She LOVED the tea room, the high tea and the surprise of being taken back to Benicia.  We chose the lavender-rose tea and it was wonderful.  So wonderful that we bought some to bring home.  There was a large bridal shower group having a very good time in the center of the room.  It really is a lovely setting and I can see how it would be a popular venue for showers.  After tea, I drove us through the hills on the east side of town in search of the apartments where she (and briefly I) had lived.  With the help of a mail carrier, we eventually located them, only to discover that they look exactly as they did when we lived there...and no worse for wear!    That apartment had a couple of balconies and a wonderful view of the Carquinez Strait (which borders the town) and the Carquinez Bridge. 

Jeffrey arrived home mid-morning yesterday (having left right after his gig Saturday night and stopping only for an hour's sleep in a rest area).  He brought me a great shirt from a shop in Hermosa Beach--a sheer turquoise leopard print with a high collar and cool buttons.  One big advantage to a long-time relationship:  the gifts get better...because after all those years together, they finally figure out what you like!  ;)  We had a lazy rest of our Sunday.

I slept in this morning and read for awhile in bed.  He's already been home for lunch.  Golf course maintenance workers have early schedules...on the job by 4:30...lunch at 10:30...home by 1:00.  So it's nice--I get to have him in the afternoons.  Not sure what we're doing for the 4th--may just stay home (J may work half a day) or might join my brother's family at their place for a BBQ.  Mom flies out Friday afternoon...we pick up our rental car Friday night...and we're embarking on our nine-day vacation on Saturday morning.  In the meantime, I plan to unwind and just let myself BE.  I feel like my life has been filled with so much busy-ness the past couple of months that my internal life has fallen by the wayside.  One thing's for sure though--I truly value the 'life' I have here.  I value the relationships I've established through the connections I've made through blogging.  I miss all of you when I fall behind in reading about your lives.  I'm going to spend some time this month getting caught up.  I just need to do it in bits and drabs so it doesn't feel like obligation when I open my Bloglines.  So please bear with me--I will be by eventually...as I transition from feeling like I'm constantly doing to allowing myself to stay more in a state of just being.

Wine Country

The perfect recipe for a Wine Country weekend?

Mix equal parts FRIENDSHIP...

...GOOD WINE (make sure you have a designated driver, of course!)...some BOCCE BALL...

...and some fabulous CUISINE.

Season with swimming and soaking...lots of sex talk...and some sisterly love.

Bake at 80 degrees for 26 hours.

For several years now, my stepmother and stepsisters have planned a weekend getaway to the Napa Valley wine country over Father's Day weekend while my Dad and brother take their annual fishing trip to British Columbia.  This year they invited my sister-in-law, my step-niece and me along.  We met in Calistoga at noon on Saturday.  We spent Saturday afternoon at my stepsister Susie's friends' place high on a hill in Angwin, where our hostess served us a fabulous al fresco lunch and where the others (I don't drink, so I was driving) enjoyed our hosts' homegrown Sauvignon Blanc and finished the meal with the last sips of our hostess's homemade limoncello.  After a leisurely lunch, we moved to poolside chairs where we caught a few rays while watching their two large dogs frolic in the pool.  We stopped briefly back at our motel and then we were off to Rutherford for a private BBQ on the picnic grounds at Rutherford Grove Winery (the owner is a friend of Susie's) where our afternoon hosts joined us for the evening.  While tri-tip was being grilled on a BBQ so large that it took a forklift to maneuver the grate, we partook of the Valley's favorite pastime--Bocce.  (Apparently it's quite popular in the Valley and both of our Saturday hosts had bocce courts on their grounds.)  It was a wonderful dinner in a lovely setting, sitting next to century-old eucalyptus trees and being hosted by a third generation Napa Valley resident.

Yesterday morning, I found what looked to be a good bakery listed in the Yellow Pages and my sister-in-law called the others' rooms for coffee orders.  Then she and I drove down the street to downtown Calistoga for our first experience at Calistoga Creamery & Bakery.  (I was hoping that no one would notice that I was dressed in my pajamas, lime green flip-flops and a straw cowboy hat.)   We ordered the espresso drinks, grabbed an assortment of their fabulous European pastries, and just for kicks threw in a couple of their plate-sized cookies.  Then she went off to get a massage at the little spa at the motel and the rest of us threw on our suits and hit the pool.  My sister-in-law has always wanted to dine at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, so went to their Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for lunch.  We had no idea if we'd even be able to get in without a reservation on Father's Day, but we asked if we might dine on the patio with its gorgeous view and within minutes we were seated.  I can't even begin to describe how delicious the meal was.  I had French Onion Soup as my first course, which elicited a lot of ooh's and aaah's when it was brought out.  And yes, it tasted as good as it looked.  And for my main course I had the best pork loin I've ever had in my life.  The dessert menu looked very tempting, but by the time we saw it, we were at our limits.  :)   We parted ways after lunch and as we headed south, my sister-in-law and I stopped at Rutherford Grove Winery to pick up some of their Chocolate Hazelnut Merlot Fudge sauce which we'd spied the night before...I grabbed a great-looking cap for J (he collects them)...and on impulse we both bought bars of Napa Soap Company's Ocean Potion.  We took the Silverado Trail on the way back home...stopped at Target in Vacaville so she could pick up a hammock for my brother for Father's Day (he and Dad arrive home this evening)...and hit Jamba Juice when we got to Davis.  The rest of my Sunday was spent taking a quick nap...helping Ciara on the phone with some computer stuff...moving the sprinkler around on the lawn...eating some sweet corn on the cob and salad for dinner (I was still stuffed from lunch...J went and did our grocery shopping)...and watching a movie while curled up on the couch with my sweetie.  For dessert we had scoops of vanilla bean ice cream drizzled with the chocolate hazelnut merlot fudge sauce and...man, is it good! 

Now it's back to work for me for the next two weeks.  And I've got plans for the next two weekends, too.  I apologize if I haven't been by your blogs in awhile--life has just been very busy.  I'm hoping to get all caught up once I get a chunk of time off in July.  Wishing you a wonderful week filled with special early summer moments.

2006...A Look Back

Day 37

Well, this is it...DAY 37.  When I set out on this latest '37 Days Challenge,' the end seemed quite far off, but now it feels like it's gone by fairly quickly.  On this last day of the challenge, I'm not going to go with my original "37th page of a random book" prompt, nor am I going to write a typical Sunday Scribblings post.  What I'm going to do instead is recap the last 37 days--a quick hit of what I posted about on each day.  Today's Sunday Scribblings prompt is "In the last hour..."  And in the last hour, I've looked back at where this challenge took me this time.  Here's a recap:

Day 1 - Fred Astaire...and making a fool of yourself
Day 2 - a bedtime story (poem)
Day 3 - a take on worldview
Day 4 - Saucepans and the Single Girl
Day 5 - mining our authenticity...and seeing stars
Day 6 - Just be.
Day 7 - mindful eating
Day 8 - on demand vs. old school
Day 9 - morning meditation (and I'm still not doing it)
Day 10 - not judging others' choices
Day 11 - Doesn't matter if you know someone's name if you don't really see them.
Day 12 - Sweet Charity...and Molly Ringwald
Day 13 - Rejoice in your own bright life.
Day 14 - Stars like to be stars...and not just in Hollywood.
Day 15 - Idleness is a friend of creativity.
Day 16 - piloting one's own life
Day 17 - 365 Days/365 Plays
Day 18 - needing a vacation
Day 19 - a funny Phillip Lopate poem
Day 20 - my bitchy poem about the Cheneys
Day 21 - Taylor's accident
Day 22 - I didn't post, but I had posted twice on day 21.
Day 23 - the extent of my grossly embarrassing shallowness as a young person
Day 24 - trying not to unravel
Day 25 - search strings on my blog
Day 26 - "Thank Your First Commenter Day"
Day 27 - creative DNA...being a visionary instead of a revolutionary...being grateful for the hard stuff...the obstacle IS the path...desire lines...loving the blogosphere...AND some Ze Frank - Dang, this one had some good stuff in it.  I can say that since it was all about what other people wrote.
Day 28 - an update on Darfur
Day 29 - Ohmygod!  I totally missed day 29!
Day 30 - nemesis
Day 31 - Enchanted Cottage
Day 32 - flying keys
Day 33 - how blogging changed my life
Day 34 - if these walls could talk
Day 35 - the one word meme
Day 36 - an homage to my musician mate
Day 37 - A big thank you to Patti for being a never-ending source of inspiration and inspiring me to do this challenge in the first place.  All of my "37 Days Challenges" posts are here (both batches--I also did it last Spring).

Thank you to all of you for reading and for your wonderful comments and emails over the last 37 days.

And now for an update on Taylor.  She's been sitting up in a chair, and her little brother Tanner (2-1/2) has been to visit her.  You can read more on her blog.  A BIG thank you to Liz and Patti and Mari for sending goodies for Taylor--it was very sweet and incredibly thoughtful of you.

And just because I'm so blessed, let me just recap a little extra magic associated with those three blogging buddies.  Liz is the only person I know in Sweden and she's friends with my coworker's (Taylor's stepgrandma) daughter in Sweden.  What are the odds?!  Patti's gift for Taylor led me to a gallery in Eugene, OR where I discovered they sell the pewter pocket angel I lost a couple of months ago!  And Mari not only sent a box of custom cookies for Taylor, she sent some extra cookies for Jeffrey and me.  I just assumed all of the cookies in our box would be undecorated.  So you'll know I'm not kidding when I say that I gasped when I opened our box.  Mari makes the coolest cookies EVER! What a sweet treat to celebrate the end of...37 days.  May unexpected angels show up in your life in the next 37 days.

wings

I just popped a batch of chicken wings into the oven and thought I'd share this very easy recipe with you.  It's not my recipe (hardly!), but one I found on All Recipes when we first lived in the tropics six years ago.  It's foolproof and an easy summer dinner.  Years ago, the West Indian boy who lived upstairs (our friend's son) invited himself to have dinner with me one night when Jeffrey had a gig.  He wolfed down several of these wings and in all of his 10-year-old maturity declared, "I gotta eat here more often--the food is good."  Little did Brittan know that it was one of the few dishes I knew how to make.  Here's the recipe:

Caramelized Baked Chicken
3 pounds chicken wings
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup*
1 cup honey
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.  Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Mix together the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, garlic, salt and pepper.  Pour over the chicken.
3.  Bake in preheated oven for one hour, or until sauce is caramelized.

Told ya--super easy!

(*Know those little ketchup packets you get at fast food places?  We always have extras left over, so I throw them into a Ziploc and keep them in the fridge.  Two tablespoons of ketchup = 4 of those packets.)

Caffe Trieste

Happy 50th Birthday to San Francisco's Caffe Trieste in North Beach!  The feature story in today's San Francisco Chronicle is here.  It was always fun to sit in Trieste on a weekend afternoon when I lived in the City and concoct imaginary lives for my fellow patrons.  After all, how many coffee houses in America have a rich Beat history and a jukebox filled with opera?  :)

(Photo taken last May when Jeffrey and I went into the City and played tourist for a day.)

Favorite Things Saturday blog
Favorite Things Saturday Flickr photo pool

Court is now in session.

We had a fun time in the City.  The weather was perfect.  The Phoenix was fun, although noisy well into the night (as we'd expected...don't go if you can't appreciate late-night partying).  When we checked in, both an interview and a photo shoot were going on poolside.  Our room was on the second floor in a back corner of the courtyard...as we walked around the perimeter of the second floor, we passed a room with the door open...it was full of models and hair and make-up people.  The guy who checked us in was your classic young hipster, with all the attendant snark (in a good way).  Dinner at the Bambuddha was nice, with great people watching.  We spent maybe half an hour in the bar afterward.  We were sitting right under a speaker and after awhile, watching SNL in our jammies started to sound like a better alternative.  Glide was great, as always.  My camera batteries died on the way into church, so no pictures or video from today's service...sorry.  I'd found a breakfast spot online that sounded like it might be a find--it was.  It's called J's Pots of Soul and it's at 203 Octavia in Hayes Valley.  I had the pumpkin pancakes, C1 had the meat loaf (which I tasted and was to die for) and C2 had a basic combo that was enough food for two people--huge pancakes, eggs, sausage patty, bacon.  I'll definitely go back with Jeffrey--it's his kind of place.  Fabulous food, excellent service.  After breakfast we hit Thrift Town in the Mission District for a little shopping.  I found a black leather Guess handbag in perfect condition for $5.99; the rest of my purchases were books.  All in all, a lovely 24-hour getaway in the City by the Bay.

Favorite Things Saturday

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One of the books I bought is Lunchtime Enlightenment by Pragito Dove.  I just opened it at random and saw this:

"Next time you're walking down a street, or sitting on a park bench or in a coffee shop, notice how you judge people as they pass by; for example, the way they dress; whether they smoke, are overweight, are chewing gum; how loud they talk, what kind of car they drive."

And this:

"Judgment clouds our sight; it's like looking at a view through a dirty window...Try just looking at a flower or some other small thing for a few minutes.  Don't say 'beautiful' or 'ugly.'  Don't say anything.  Don't bring in words.  Simply look.  The mind will feel uncomfortable; it would like you to say something.  Try to just ride through this feeling.  Try to just look."

At Glide this morning, Cecil mentioned a show he'd been watching late the night before, where young women were talking about shame...and how one said to another, "Don't let anyone tell you you're not pretty--you be pretty the way you want to be."  Later in his talk, he said almost offhandedly on his way to making another point, "We break others' backs with judgment." 

I believe we judge because we fear that which is different from us.  But here's the conundrum:  we're all unique individuals, therefore everyone is different from us.  Judgment Jackpot!  Life has afforded us the opportunity to hone our judging skills in every moment!  Lucky us!  Is our label gun permanently attached to our hand?  Are we ready to fire one at everything in sight?  Ready for the lightening round? 

For today, try not to aim your label gun at anyone.  Set it down.  Peel off the labels you've plastered all over yourself and those you've allowed others to glue to you.  And simply do this:  Be pretty...the way YOU want to be.

37 Days Challenge

Palms

I don't think I've mentioned this, but we're double-dating tonight with my brother and sister-in-law.  We're going to a show at the Palms Playhouse in Winters (west of Davis).  The Palms used to be out in a field in south Davis.  I went there once, with a friend who had a gig there, maybe 15(?) years ago.  I had no idea then that I'd end up living here.  The owners relocated to Winters a few years ago (I think they lost their lease on the Davis building).  We're going to see Joe Louis Walker, a blues guitarist and singer/songwriter.  (Click here for the calendar page of the Palms.)  We lost track of him years ago.  When we moved Stateside, the numbers we had for him no longer worked.  So imagine our delight when we saw that he's playing in the neighborhood (so to speak).  Jeffrey was in his band in '97 and they toured all over the States, into Canada and several cities in Europe.  We haven't seen Joe since late 2000 when he came down to St. Thomas to play a couple of shows.  Should be fun tonight.  And we're starting our evening at Winters' most famous landmark, the Buckhorn Steak & Roadhouse.  (Please don't click on that link if you're a vegetarian.  Both guys love a good steak.) 

I just realized that Deb tagged me for a meme days ago and I forgot to do it!  So here's the "4 Things" meme that's been floating around:

Four jobs I've had:

• selling $400 blouses to cokeheads in Mill Valley (okay, that wasn’t the official job title)
• television producer
• event organizer
• manager of a cybercafe

Four movies I can watch over and over:

• Thelma and Louise
• Amelie
• Mother
• Ocean’s Eleven (Vapid, I know, but Stanley Clarke’s soundtrack is slammin’ and the Ted Nugent joke at the end STILL cracks me up.)

Four places I've lived:

• Portland, Oregon
• St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
• San Francisco, California
• Blue Lake, California

Four TV shows I love(d):

• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Project Runway
• Entourage
• thirtysomething

Four places I've vacationed:

• St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands
• Paris (France, not Texas)
• Cayman Islands
• Fanano, Italy (my grandmother’s birthplace)

Four of my favorite dishes:

(Keep in mind I don’t cook.)

• Breakfast in pretty much any restaurant or cafe
• Cheese enchiladas
• Thai food
• pie

Four (non-blog) sites I visit daily:

• cnn.com
• nytimes.com
• GoogleNews
• virginislandsdailynews.com

Four places I'd rather be right now:

• Magens Bay, St. Thomas
• Gasquet, California
• San Francisco, California
• Santa Fe/Taos, New Mexico

Four bloggers I'm tagging:

This meme’s been around awhile and I can’t remember which of you have already done it, so if you want to play along, please tag yourself!

49ers

Just a quick post to recap the last few days...

Saturday night, despite my cold (which is nearly gone, thank god) I accompanied Jeffrey to his gig at the Starlight Room atop the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in downtown San Francisco.  This is the view from the dance floor--that's Union Square.

Because he has to wear a tuxedo on that gig, I was picturing a room full of uptight, stuffy 60-somethings in cocktail dresses.  Not at all.  The dance floor was JAMMED and ages ranged from barely drinking age to seniors.  Attire ran the gamut, from floor-length dresses to jeans.  It was fun.

Sunday I never got out of my robe.

Sunday afternoon Jeffrey, via his diligent Craigslist surfing, found a couch for $75 in Rocklin (a Sacramento suburb).  We picked it up last night.  SCORE!  The owners had two identical couches and a love seat and let us take our pick.  The woman kept apologizing for a PINHOLE of a fabric hole on this one...I assured her it was quite alright.  The couch is only a year old, purchased at Costco.  It's FABULOUS!  So comfortable. It's exactly the kind of couch we would have picked out if we'd had the dough to buy a couch when we moved in.  Merry Christmas to US!  :)

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Buckhorn in Dixon to help my brother set up for an event he had last night as a fundraiser for the basketball program at Dixon High School.  (Zak is on the Freshman team.) We split for a few hours to retrieve the couch and take it home.  When we returned, things were in full swing.  My brother Marty's good friend Eric Wright and his pal Jesse Sapolu were there to lend support.  They were supposed to be the 49er "celebrity" bartenders, but they seemed to be having too good a time to do much bartending, so they left that to the regular bartenders.

This is Jesse, Jeffrey, me and Eric.

Chelle, gorgeous and sparkly as always, and her lunatic husband...also known as my brother...

Family friend Tommy served up a fabulous meal of barbecued ribs and chicken, and everyone danced to the deejay (who did a great job) all night long.  Things finally wound down about 11:30...

Here's Mandy servin' 'em up.  She's a kick in the pants...

There was a lot of sports memorabilia in the silent auction and raffle.  It's not a suprise (given what a golf nut Jeffrey is) that we ended up with a large photo of Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus teeing off at the Masters.  I told him that's his birthday present.  :)

I had to include this photo just so you could see the size of one of Jesse's four Super Bowl rings.  (Eric also has four.)

And that's your BLING for the day!

***********************************
It's Tuesday--time once again for the ThirdAge Blog Carnival.  Today's host is the fabulous Jennifer Warwick at The New Charm School.  Check it out--happy reading!

Black Pearl

My Dad and stepmother are down from Crescent City for several days.  There's been a lot of socializing this weekend.  This photo was taken last night by a family friend who accompanied us to dinner at the restaurant where Jeffrey plays on Sunday nights in Sacramento.  We had a lovely evening.  The food?  Raves all around.  Most of us had the mushroom ravioli served in sage butter with goat cheese and spinach...half of us had the house vinaigrette salad (my stepmother said it was the best house salad she's ever had)...and we ordered two desserts for the table:  creme brulee (my sister-in-law declared it "heaven") and a warm, gooey chocolate cake drizzled with chocolate syrup and accompanied by a scoop of ice cream and a big dollop of whipped cream surrounded by fresh raspberries.  The music was great and the bandleader (sax player whose steady gig is touring with Paul Anka) came upstairs to introduce himself on the break.  This is at the Black Pearl Oyster Bar on J Street in Sacramento.  If you're in the neighborhood, check it out.  Jazz on Sunday nights is from 8:30 to 12:30.  This was taken during Jeffrey's break (you'll notice my father has me in a chokehold)...stepmother Yvonne, brother Marty, sister-in-law (sister, for all intents and purposes) Chelle, father Wally, me, Jeffrey: