Pink House

A breakfast twist on yogurt & granola

Since I learned to make my version of Smith River Granola after our float trip last summer, I've been experimenting with different ways to use the granola. This has become one of my favorite:

When I get up, I'm not ready to do anything but head straight to the coffee pot and brew some fuel for my brain.

While the coffee is brewing, I pour a few berries into a bowl (fresh or frozen raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries - or a mix of the 3). It takes about 15 minutes for the berries to thaw and I can sip my my first cup of coffee and read through the paper while I regain consciousness.

When I return to the kitchen, the berries are ready for their toppings: Oikos all natural greek yogurt and my Smith River Granola.

If you haven't tried Oikos yogurt by Stonyfield Farm yet, I would recommend it. I don't like yogurts that are overly sweet and artificially flavored. I love the thick texture of Oikos, the NON-sweet flavor, and the fact that it is completely fat-free! The description on the package states: "An authentic, old-world strained recipe makes this 0% fat Greek yogurt thick, creamy, and rich in protein." So true! 

Oikos yogurt only comes in 3 "flavors" too: plain, vanilla, and honey. So they are the perfect blank canvases to add your unique additions to create your own breakfast or lunch creation as I did. So, back to my breakfast:

I simply pour a small carton (about 6 oz, but they also sell large cartons) onto the top of my berries, and then top with a handful of my Smith River Granola (see the recipe over in the right side bar under "recipe collection".) I especially like the honey flavor of Oikos as it sweetens up the unsweetened berries and nutty granola.

The perfect combination - smooth and creamy, crunchy, and tart with natural berry flavor. Satisfying enough to keep you going until lunchtime. Nothing artificial and good for you too.

I'm a new Featured Publisher of Food Buzz!

Hi readers -

You may have noticed a few new appearances on my blog. I have recently been selected as a Featured Publisher of FoodBuzz which is a great cooking-dining out-sharing site. This will bring about some nice benefits and perks for me, and some that I can pass on to my readers. If you enjoy my blog, then please share it with your friends by sending them my link.

My Pink House blog will be the same as always, except better as I will be posting more often and feature even more photos of cooking, recipes, dining out, and travel. Please bookmark my blog and visit often - I promise to keep things fun while sharing more creative adventures!

Thanks for visiting!

Shelley

I would like to credit this awesome photo to a great friend of mine, Sara Ruff. She took it while we were winery touring in Paso Robles, CA in August and her's turned out better than mine!

Roasted Fall Dinner

Herb-marinated pork tenderloin with roasted brussel sprouts and Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes.

The other night I made a dinner for us that was both simple and especially tasty. It encompassed the perfect fall flavors as well as had a nice variety of savory and sweet flavors. Sometimes we think that using the oven isn't fast, but when you can quickly turn on the oven to warm up while you marinate, chop, and season the ingredients, it really is.

For this I did a quick marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs for the pork tenderloin. The brussel sprouts were sliced in half, sprinkled with olive oil and salt & pepper, and spread out on a baking sheet. I then quick-chopped some Yukon Gold potatoes (no peeling necessary) and peeled and chopped a sweet potato, tossed them with olive oil and rosemary, and dumped them out onto another baking sheet. The marinated pork tenderloin then went into a small roasting pan and they all went into the oven (love my new Kitchen Aid double ovens!) on the "roast" setting of my convection oven - it provides a top heat that helps add a toasty brown to meats and vegetables, and the fan of the convection helps speed up the cooking time. Then you set the timer and just go on about your business for 45 minutes or so. Set the table, plop on the couch for some dog-time, watch the evening news, put on your slippers and sort through the mail. You can take it easy now - your dinner is roasting and will soon be ready!

If you want to just prepare simple fresh ingredients without lots of fussing - try oven-roasted meats and veggies. This was delish!

Fall in the Slow Cooker

Well, not literally fall into the slow cooker! But there's something about fall that makes me drag out the crockpot and set it on the kitchen counter where it keeps busy a couple of times a week until Christmas. So far I've used it twice, and Kev even used it once to make roast beef, onion, carrots, and potatoes. Brown the meat, peel the carrots, put it all in there on low, and 6 hours later dinner's ready! We've started using it on lazy Sunday afternoons, shopping and putting in the ingredients about noon when we're still energetic, and it's nice getting to smell the savory dinner cooking all day until dinnertime in the evening.

One of my recent slow cooker experiments turned out especially tasty and was so EASY it was crazy! The "before" and "after" photos are below. I'm going to repeat this one very soon.

"After" (sorry for the blur)

Turkey Breast  & Butternut Squash for the Slow Cooker

Fresh Turkey Breast - boneless

Bag of frozen Butternut Squash Cubes (could use fresh but should add later as they'll get too mushy)

Poultry Herbs - fresh or freeze-dried (I used Litehouse Freeze-Dried Poultry Herb Blend - includes onions, thyme, safe, marjoram, garlic and rosemary)

Salt & Pepper to taste.

That's it folks. I put the turkey breast in the bottom of the crockpot, sprinkled with the herbs, and poured the frozen squash cubes over the top and seasoned with salt & pepper. Put the lid on and turned it on low for 6 to 8 hours. Easy to do before you head out the door before work.

(You can add a little chicken broth to the bottom of the pan  - about 1/2 c. or if you're so inclined a can of cream of chicken soup over the turkey breast. It would blend with the turkey juices to make a nice sauce later.)

When it was time to eat, I simply cut some greens in cross sections (Kale and Swiss Chard) and sauteed them quickly in olive oil and garlic. I think the bitterness of the greens contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the butternut squash. The turkey was cooked through, but was still moist. Yum! We gave it a thumbs-up for an easy and tasty fall dinner.

"Before"

Fall Dessert - Pumpkin Gingerbread with Caramelized Pears

Last week I made dinner for a friend who was recovering from surgery and wanted to include something special for dessert. I love gingerbread...and pumpkin....and pears and decided to combine the three into a perfect cake. It was spicy, moist, and looked pretty too. I was excited about how it turned out.

This recipe is a keeper! Think I'll put it on the menu for Christmas Day as well.

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Caramelized Pears

A dense, moist cake full of the flavors of fall

(adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit magazine, Sept. 2008)

Topping

2/3 c. dark brown sugar

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 T. molasses

2 to 3 firm but ripe Bartlett pears, peeled and sliced

Cake

2 c. all purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. ground ginger

2 T. crystallized ginger, minced

1 T. Valencia Orange Peel (dried)

½ t. salt

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 large eggs

½ c. molasses

¾ c. canned pure pumpkin

½ c. boiling water

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 x 9 x 2 inch  or 12-inch round metal baking pan with nonstick spray.

Topping:

Combine sugar, butter, and molasses in heavy small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking until sugar dissolves and syrup is smooth, continue boiling for 1 minute. Pour evenly into prepared pan.

            Peel, core, and slice pears into even ¼ inch slices and arrange in single layer in symmetrical design in syrup in pan.

Cake:

Whisk together first 8 dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside.

            In large mixer, beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat to blend. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in molasses, then pumpkin. Beat in dry ingredients just until blended, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in ½ cup boiling water. Spoon batter evenly into baking pan, being careful not to disturb pear layer.

            Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan 45 minutes. Place serving platter over pan and invert. Let stand 5 minutes. Gently lift off pan.

            Serve cake warm or at room temperature with fresh whipped cream (add sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon) alongside the slice of cake.

6-course Farmer's Feast at Quiessence in Phoenix

Last week when we were in Phoenix for a meeting, I researched a restaurant for our group of friends to go to one night. I typically use a variety of sources including food websites (trip advisor, yelp, chowhound) and food magazines (Food & Wine, Gourmet, Bon Appetit), and city newspaper reviews to find what are considered the best food or most unique dining experiences in the cities that we visit. Quiessence was highly rated in all of the sources that I checked.

Quiessence is the main restaurant, fine dining option, in the "Farm at South Mountain" development just south of downtown Phoenix, near Chandler and Tempe. We called ahead for reservations for a party of 8, and arrived after dark. It is a challenge to find where you're going, even with directions and a good map, but after a few wrong turns, we  spotted the lit sign in the dark. After entering the main entrance, you still have to continue in through the "farm" area, past some shops and park-like areas. At the end of the road ahead, I could see some lights and we continued driving through. We parked in a bark-covered field, and then walked down some rock pathways toward a farm house in the distance. Fortunately, there were some glowing outdoor lights that guided our way forward. It was worth the drive and navigating to get there!

Quiessence is in an old farm house that has been converted to a restaurant. Therefore, there are several rooms within the house for dining, rather than one big area. Some diners were seated out front of the house (love those warm Phoenix evenings) on the patio. Inside the screened front porch is a waiting area, and the hostess walked us through two separate dining rooms (one with a cool fireplace), into the back where our group was seated in a private dining room at a large 8-person table. It was kind of cool to have our own room!

Quiessence's food is focused on locally-sourced produce and meats from local farms and ranches. They have a regular menu, but our group chose to have the 6-course Farmer's Feast (everyone in your group must order it).

The Farmer's Feast at Quiessence is a "signature multi-course culinary journey through local farms and pastures, land and sea". It is $65 a person, well-worth it in terms of quality of food as well as the unique dining experience.The menu states that they EXCLUSIVELY source all of the ingredients for the Farmer's Feast from:

• Local and organic fruits and vegetables
• wild foraged edibles (mushrooms)
• organic and heirloom wheat grains
• pastured and humanely raised meats
• wild and sustainable game
• overnight flown-in sustainable seafood
• sundries from small Arizona businesses

It sounded great to all of us! We were there for the dining experience, not just to "eat". We had a wonderful waitress who explained the Farmer's Feast dinner to us and warned us that it takes a couple of hours to prepare and serve all courses. We smiled and said "great! Bring it on!". Two of the guys looked through the good wine list and selected a red and a white for the table. Then we settled in to enjoy ourselves, and we certainly did.

Our waitress had the help of a few other waiters, so that every time they brought in a new course, they brought in all eight dishes together and sat them down in front of us at the same time. Impressive! The service was WONDERFUL the entire evening - very pleasant, professional, and attentive without being overbearing. GREAT SERVICE!

Two kinds of bread with herbed butter and orange blossom honey

As they brought out each course the waitress described in detail what each item was. Everything was made in house. I'll do my best to remember, but I just won't have the detailed info that they provided us. I did take photos of everything because I was planning to blog about it.

The first official course was charcuterie and cheese platters.
All of their meats are house-cured, but the cheeses were from a local farm.

They brought out two large platters, one for each end of the table, with carefully arranged salumi and cured meats and local artisan cheeses. Looking at the menu, this is called the "Chef's Spread" on the appetizer list. Some of what we were served was head cheese on house crackers with relish (in the middle, rabbit pate on crostini, and the cheese were Applewood Smoked cheddar and Fossil Creek Havarti. It was very interesting to sample these. I like how they were very careful to provide 8 samples of everything for our group of eight. A thoughtful detail!

Smoked Sturgeon Salad with shaved radishes and apples, creme fraiche and baby arugula.

2nd course was Salads and Soups. What surprised us a bit is that after the first course, each course came with four options. So when they served the salad and soup course, they brought out 8 dishes of 4 different options. They set them down in front of each diner and described what each dish was. We then had the option to trade amongst ourselves or most of us just ending up sharing bites with our spouses so that we could sample different dishes. The variety was fun to see and sample. Everyone was really happy with each dish though! They were all delicious.

Another salad: Chiogga Beet Salad - roasted chicogga beets, frisee, toasted walnuts, creamy dill vinaigrette, shaved red onions, and roasted red peppers.

Tomato Bisque - with oven-dried tomatoes and crispy fried shallots
(this was Kevin's dish)

And I didn't take a photo of my salad! But I can see from the menu that it was a tomato and eggplant salad - and it was very tasty! By the way - all of the portions of these courses were SMALL and for the most part light as well. That, paired with the relaxed pace of the meal (and the fact that we didn't have dinner until 8 pm!) made it not so filling to have these many courses. It really was not over-filling.

My 3rd course: mussels with garlic and mushroom linguine! Heaven!

The 3rd course was pasta which they said were all made in-house fresh each day. There were four different varieties!

Another pasta course option: Farmer's Cheese Gnocchi with fennel sausage, sage and cream
This looked so good and the diner eating it thought so too!

One of the pasta courses was Short Rib Ravioli which looked amazing! But I didn't get a photo of those.

The 4th course was seafood. They were all small portions of two different seafood dishes, either scallops or halibut.

George's Bank Scallop with Garlicky Spinach, Cherry Tomato Jam, and Creamed Corn Sauce.

This was outstanding! Probably my favorite dish of the entire night. I loved it!

Roasted Alaskan Halibut with Spaghetti Squash, mediterranean relish, and roasted red pepper sauce.

The 5th course was the meat course. This time they served two different varieties, either steak or pork. I was happy to get the pork tenderloin and Kevin was happy to be served the steak. Again small tasting-size portions with the 6-course meal.

 Kevin's meat course: Wood Grilled Grass-Fed Beef wtih Red Potato Hash, Roasted onions, and Chanterelle Mushrooms.I think this was a hit with the guys.



My meat course: Wood Grilled Pork Tenderloin with butternut squash mash, roasted gala apples and braised fennel. Delish! Really nicely prepared!

The last course was dessert, of course! The surprise though, was that there were four options that were served to our table ...so some sharing of desserts took place. I'm actually not a big dessert fan, so I can't even remember what these were and they are not listed on the menu that I brought home. So the descriptions here are pretty generic:

An apple/pear tart on mini-crepes with creme fraiche and caramel sauce.


This was a apple walnut bread pudding with some kind of sauce (bourbon?). I think this is what I had and all I remember is that I really liked it and only shared one bite with Kev!


Kevin was served the flan with some kind of sauce. Poor guy - he was probably dying to have the apple tart now that I look back at this. The luck of the draw, I guess.


The other dessert option was some kind of berry sorbet served on shaved pears. Pretty and healthy!

And that concludes our lovely dining experience at Quiessence in Phoenix! A delightful and yummy dining experience. At the end of the evening the chef came out to see us and we gave him our thanks and a round of applause over the wonderful meal. It was really fun! I highly recommend Quiessence if you like locally-sourced gourmet food prepared in healthy and interesting ways.

Quiessence Restaurant at the Farm at South Mountain
Phoenix, Arizona (Chandler area)

"Hand-crafted American Cuisine"
Menu changes nightly!

Happy diners!

Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix - Score!

When we flew into Phoenix last week, I had a game plan. A serious one. Our goal was to get into an early dinner at Pizzeria Bianco before heading out to the resort where our conference was. We actually tried to get into Pizzeria Bianco last fall when we flew into Phoenix, but we were there at lunchtime and they only open for dinner. So...another year to wait. But this year, we scored. Big time!

What is Pizzeria Bianco and why would I care about going to just a "pizza place", you ask? Pizzeria Bianco is possibly the most famous and popular "pizza place" in the U.S. And rightly so. It has been featured on news and talk show (Today Show  etc.) and food magazines numerous times....even Oprah has been there. It was on my bucket list. Crossed that one off.

We arrived at the airport and rented out car and drove a couple miles to the downtown location, a couple blocks from Chase Field. Pizzeria Bianco opens at 5 p.m. and is well-known to have a line of people waiting to get in the entire evening. That's how popular it is. We parked in a garage and walked around the block to find it. It's a bit disorienting because it's located in a little group of historic buildings and at first you think there's no one around. And then we came around the corner...and I told Kevin, "Oh! There it is." He asked, "Where?"  And I pointed and said "See the line of people? That's it. They're waiting." At 4:30 on a Wednesday in the fall. Yeah.

Bar Bianco next door

So we walked up and asked where the end of the line was. People pointed and I talked to the young man next to us who told me that they were "group #11" which made us group #12. A few minutes later more people starting arriving and filing in behind us on the sidewalk. Lucky we got there when we did.

If you ever have to wait in a line for a restaurant, this is the place to do it. Not only is the weather GORGEOUS and comfortable, but PB has made the wait as pleasant as possible. There are tables and chairs where people can have a drink and visit while they wait, or read, or play cards, or even a game of Scrabble like a group of gals was doing. Cool! Everyone seems pretty happy to be there and content to wait. I guess they know it's worth it.

PB has also, wisely, purchased the building next door and turned it into a bar, Bar Bianco, which serves wine and beer for waiting customers. So upon arriving to wait in the queue, parties send in someone to order glasses of wine or beer, and bring them back out to the group. There are benches and chairs to sit comfortably. PB even planted a little green lawn to make the wait more pleasant. And the famous long table and benches that are sandwiched between the restaurant and bar. Kev took my photo there.

At 5 p.m. sharp, a young hostess opened the door to the restaurant and the line surged forward. There was one group of 6 retired-age couples who had called ahead for a table and arrived early (only large groups can reserve). They were let in first. The hostess then let in one party at a time and let them select their own table. Even the 8-seat bar with single chairs was filling up as we inched our way to the front of the line. I didn't think we were going to make it in for the first seating. But we did.....we nabbed the last 2-top table, right in the middle of the restaurant. Score! We were happy as could be as more crowds lined up outside, waiting for the next seating.

Look! There's the famous owner/chef in the open kitchen!

This was one of my most-happy-restaurant-experiences ever. Just perfect in every way. We took it all in - the tall-ceilinged room (so tiny!) and exposed brick walls, hardwood floor, open kitchen, brick pizza oven with glowing flames. Smile and sigh.

The menu is small - but the waiters know it well and can recommend how much food to order (they don't even try to upsell you because they know they can fill your table again as soon as you leave). The service is professional, quiet, and swift. They know how to serve well but you don't feel rushed. It was fun to be able to see the workers make pizzas from our central seats.

And there was the owner/restaurateur/chef right behind the counter, making pizzas! I've seen him on TV! This is the guy that makes the magic happen.

Our waiter recommended that we order two salads or appetizers, and two pizzas to share (they're small, thin-crusted, cut in 6 slices). Sounded great. Every day they feature a new "Farmer's Market Salad" which is composed of fresh local ingredients. The salad this day was baby arugula (tiny micro leaves!), parmesan cheese, thinly sliced apples, and a light citrus vinaigrette. It was delicious! Really fresh and tasty.

We ordered two pizzas: The Sonny Boy (tomato, fresh mozzarella, salami, greek olives) and the Wiseguy (roasted onion, smoked mozzarella, fennel sausage, and we added roasted cremini mushrooms. No tomato sauce on this one.) Both were excellent. We realized why people LOVE the light, crisp, tender crust. SOooooooo good!

We had a couple of pieces left at the end that we took with us. We wanted to stay and just people-watch but the tables are a very precious commodity here, and we willingly gave it up when we were finished so the next happy twosome could enjoy dinner.

Such a great place! Outside groups were waiting in the dark, under the street lights and twinkling lights. Talking, drinking, and waiting their turn to go inside. The warm weather made it even better. What a fun, delicious, and magical place. Yay for Pizzeria Bianco! Hope we can return someday!

Cafe DeCamp - a locally owned Billings restaurant serving locally produced food

A few weeks ago a friend of mine texted me that there was a cool new restaurant in town that I should go check out. Cafe DeCamp in Billings, Montana. She loved it and thought that I would too.

And so, two weekends ago, I headed to Farmer's Market on my scooter and it was such a nice fall day - sunny and warm, that I decided to treat myself to lunch. I had my Kindle along and wanted some coffee and so I felt comfortable going it alone on my adventure. I walked in, picked out a table where I could observe others and then pulled out my Kindle and settled in. I enjoyed seeing what others had ordered, and I myself ordered a BLT served on toasted sourdough with a side of waldorf salad. It was the BEST BLT I've ever had! I loved reading the menu - about how all of the produce and meats are from LOCAL farms and when possible are organic too. Farm-to-table concept in Montana! I never thought that I'd see the day (because there's only so much you can do with beef and wheat). This was exciting.

So I went home and told Kev how much I enjoyed it and insisted that he go with me next time (he'd been out golfing with friends that day). So last Saturday morning, we headed down together with my favorite USA Today Weekend Edition in tow.

 

Carrot Ginger Soup with Lime Creama - fantastic!

A tiny restaurant with an open kitchen, and a patio with more tables in the back (which can't be used 8 months of the year). The owner/chef worked at a lot of different restaurants before buying this old building (used to be a local Mexican cafe) and fixing it up to open their own tiny restaurant. A small menu, serving lunch and dinner five days a week.

 
Bison Burger - grass fed DDC Ranch Bison, sharp white cheddar, housemade cherry BBQ sauce,
shallot straws on toasted foccacia, with housemade potato fries.

We loved it - we each shared and sampled what we ordered. I didn't quite like these sandwiches as well as the one from the week before, but they were still very good. And unique. This place reminds me so much of a Portland or Seattle neighborhood cafe. The kind that I like and use to frequent when I lived there many moons ago.

Lazy Anchor Meat Loaf Sandwich - Montana organic beef meatloaf, sharp white cheddar, horseradish aioli, cucumber, caramelized onions, marbled rye bread, housemade potato chips, ginger cold slaw

We're going for dinner next time. Our friends went there for dinner and enjoyed it even better than at  lunch. But I always thought our town needed more lunch places and this one fits the bill. I hope that they make it. It can't be easy with the overhead and sourcing locally and working so hard. But I applaud them. And I plan to support them. I hope other "locals" do too.

Cool, quaint, fresh, organic, local, gourmet, urban.
Cafe DeCamp: www.cafedecamp.com
1404 6th Ave. N.
Billings, MT
406-256-7285

(If you're interested in learning more about the Eat Local movement, I recommend reading Barbarba Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". I read it a couple of years ago and became very interested in this.)

Summer Cooking

Just finishing up sorting through my summer photo files since I haven't yet uploaded the new batch. I noticed a smattering of photos I took of different things I cooked over the summer. Some experiments, and some worth keeping. Thought I'd share some here since summer's almost over (I'm in denial!)

First, there was my experiment with a french potato salad, one made without mayonnaise. I thought it turned out great, but I don't think Kev particularly liked it. He's pretty partial to his mom's potato salad which is really wonderful but also fattening. For this one above, I large-chopped petite red potatoes and boiled them until just done but still firm. In a mixing bowl, I mixed together: white wine vinegar, coarse-ground brown dijon mustard, chopped hard-boiled eggs, chopped celery and red onions, green onions, chopped radishes too. Some fresh dill, and salt and pepper. Cooled the potatoes, and then poured the veggie mixture over them and stirred gently. Chilled again. Kept in the refrigerator for up to a week.

This became my favorite green salad to take to summer gatherings this year. Simple, but a bit different. Baby lettuces and herb mix, chopped grape tomatoes and yellow pepper, shaved red onion slices, and pearl-sized fresh mozzarella balls. Fresh ground pepper. Toss at last minute with a homemade red-wine vinaigrette with some dijon mustard in it. Sprinkle with black pepper.

This photo doesn't look that great, but it's a dessert I threw together quickly one evening when we were having some people over last-minute. I used a frozen three berry blend (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries) and tossed with some flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Put in pie plate. Mixed up egg, milk, sugar and poured over. Bake. That's it - kind of a berry kuchen. Inspired after seeing a small-town booth of homemade pies and kuchens at our farmer's market one Saturday.

This was an experiment that I did - changing up my traditional apple-cheese tart into a summer dessert by making it with fresh sliced peaches instead. You can see my original recipe in my "Recipe Collection" on the right side bar. Click on it and then click on the photo of the apple tart. With the apple tart I add cinnamon and use a rectangular baking pan, and here I used mace and almond extract instead of cinnamon and vanilla (but a bit too much mace, I think it overpowered the peaches). Tasty though and good enough to tweak and try again.

This photo was from Sean's short visit this summer when I had over Jim & Bev for dinner (in-law's) as well. I think it's a good idea to have a Go-To Menu for summer entertaining, so that you can easily have some friends over at the last minute with a quick trip to the grocery store and another hour in the kitchen, and not have to spend all day thinking through your menu and cooking in a hot kitchen. Every summer I vary the menu a bit - but this summer, our entertaining menu was as follows:

Kevin's Spicy Ribs (seen here) or Shelley's Marinated Flat Iron Steak (both grilled outside)
Sauteed Snap Peas w/ Sesame Seeds (here) or Corn on the Cob
Green Salad (with some interesting ingredient to spice it up)
some kind of bread - purchased (can skip it)
Summer fruit tart for dessert - make or purchase

If you want an appetizer to serve as people arrive, I did both my black bean salsa (I'll post the recipe later) with blue corn chips or a simple sauteed shrimp with spicy miso sauce. In the summer, it's all about keeping it simple and not heating up the kitchen.

Do I can? No! But this was my favorite photo from a series of photos that I took while at the Farmer's Market downtown. Beautiful, huh? The Hutterite colony nearby has huge booths at the farmer's market and they also sell canned goods. I bought several jars - pickled petite beets and pickled yellow beans which I like to add to green salads for some interesting zip.

Justin Winery in Paso Robles and Avila Beach

Planning to finally finish up our CA trip here.....lots going on.

On Sunday following Chase's concert we headed to Justin for the special tour and Wine Society (not merely a "club" - ha!) tasting room with our guests - Dave, Sara, and Sean. After this we had lunch on the patio at Justin - gourmet, slow-paced, and with the winery dog, Churchill, laying at our feet. Who could hurry under such circumstances?

Then we said our good-byes to Sean who was headed back home north to SF while we headed south to SLO to meet up with Chase. We saw Chase's house (!)and his corn crop in his backyard (4 stalks of corn, as I remembered) along with the gas grill on the patio and a ping-pong table which may not be used for ping-pong. Ah, the life of college students. Apparently, the week before we arrived, they had a kiddie pool in the backyard (to entice the young gals in bikinis to come on over to "swim") but someone jumped in too hard with their cannonball and busted it. So the backyard consists now of tons of dead grass, 4 stalks of corn that Chase is diligently watering with a garden hose, a circle of mismatched lawn chairs, the ping-pong table, and the gas grill that we bought them last spring as a house-warming gift. You got the picture, right? Kind of reminds you of Animal House, huh?

Chase showed us the presentation boards that he'd prepared for a graphic design job the week before and we admired the desk and stool that he'd built himself out of 2X4's and plywood. We also saw the dresser that he picked up for free from Craigslist. That guy always was resourceful. We dropped off the new supplies we brought for him - new set of sheets and towels, and kitchen/cooking do-dads.

Then he gave us (and Dave & Sara) a quick drive-through tour of Cal Poly's campus, and we were off to the beach. We intended to go to Pismo Beach, but when we came over the hill, the entire coast area was fogged in, even though it had been quite pleasant in SLO. So Chase suggested we drive a few miles north and around a cliff to Avila Beach where it's often sunnier. Those micro-weather systems on the northern California coast are interesting. Sure enough, Avila Beach was sunnier....but very crowded. Sunday afternoons at the beach are obviously very popular with families.

We walked out on the Avila Pier and watched fishermen and had a good time watching the sea lions playing. This little guy (above)was begging for food. There were also birds do nose-diving fishing and we saw several catch and eat some. Then in the distance you could see some dolphins jumping in and out of the water too. Fun to just stand and watch.

 

We walked a bit on the beach, and then decided to go get some dinner. Took the recommendation of another student's parents and went to a restaurant right out on the historic pier. Very marginal and over-priced seafood. I wouldn't recommend it. But oh well, we tried it. Should have gone to McPhee's Grill instead because we KNOW that's good and they have more things on the menu for everyone's palate.

After that we took Chase to Trader Joe's to buy him some groceries to take home, and I stocked up on some Trader Joe's to take home in our cooler as well. Sure wish we had a Trader Joe's in Montana! Said our goodbye's to Chase (such a short visit this time!) and headed back to our hotel in Paso.

Monday we got up early and headed north - on the road to Twin Falls. A very long and boring drive! Then on Tuesday we went from there back to Billings. Road trip complete! We were lucky to have Dave and Sara along to keep it interesting!