Madison—and the World!
”Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” —James Beard I love traveling—here, there, everywhere. Right now, we are in Madison, Wisconsin, where […]
musings about food, travel, creativity and life
Books
A Little Sun, A Little Inspiration
The sun is out today—woo-hoo! We need that! These last few months in California with one atmospheric river after another have been challenging. To stay strong and resilient, everyone had to look for hope and inspiration wherever they could. For me, some of […]
Close to Home
We have been doing mini-trips lately…easy little jaunts that give us new tastes of local-ish life. I have been amazed at how “little” and “close” can give so much. Take our trip to Santa Cruz the other day…just under 60 miles from our Carmel Valley […]
‘Tis the Season
How are you doing out there in holiday land? I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for comfort and joy this holiday season. Oh, yes. And here’s what I’ve come up with so far… ❤️My morning lattes with my chocolate almond waiting on the […]
Yummy Treats for the Holidays
On just one day last week, I found three fun treats for the holidays…wine, chocolate and a new cookbook. First, the wine. 🍷 “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!” Yes, this year’s vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau has arrived! It was just released in […]
Happy Fall, All 🧡
Yes, Happy Fall to you all. May it be filled with health, beauty and joy. After my summer reflection time about what next for my “Bring Joy to the Table” blog, here’s my new approach. Rather than having a regular posting schedule, I’m […]
Ciao for Now
Here I am with my morning coffee and biscotti, musing about summer, good food, and life. Ah, yes. I’m also musing about what next in terms of “Bring Joy to the Table.” Since August marks four years of my blog and 80 years—omg—that […]
What a World
I’m sitting here on my porch watching two mourning doves take turns drinking from our bird bath and listening to chickadees and house finches as they vie for spots on the feeder. Their flitting and flying make me smile. Flowers, too—peonies, sunflowers, Gerber daisies—are […]
It’s Flower Time
Happy May! 🌸 It’s Spring and flowers are a-bloomin’ 💐 And what a joy they are —hits of light, color, beauty and happiness. I seem to be buying more and more each day. And I want to display them the best I can. To […]
Spring Forward
Welcome, Spring! May you bring warmth, health, and smiles to all. Here’s what have been making me smile of late… 🌷…our home garden… where our 10 foot planter, which housed last year’s “corn field,” is now our daffodil patch. The red tulips right in front […]
Travellin’
We are currently on a road trip to the desert—Joshua Tree and beyond. We will be hiking with Wisconsin friends, revisiting spots we encountered forty years ago (!) when we took our first trip together to Palm Springs, and visiting new-to-us spots like the Desert […]
The Power of Words
My book club recently met at a local winery to have a discussion. But we didn’t meet to discuss a book. Rather, we met to explore what word we would each choose as a theme for the year. This idea was based on a New […]
Wow!
How do you begin a New Year? Create goals? Join a burning bowl ritual? Eat black-eyed peas or lentil soup for good luck? For good measure, I do all of them! And this year, I even started the above vision board. The first word that […]
“Per Natale”
Many years ago I made “Per Natale,” the doll shown above, to honor Christmas and my grandfather. Whenever my grandfather said “Per Natale,” he was questioning how long he would have to wait for something that was supposed to happen soon. “Hmmm…’Per Natale’—maybe by Christmas”…. […]
Take Heart
When I turned 79 this August, I decided to celebrate each day of my 80th year on the planet by making an origami heart. I started out with traditional origami paper, six inch square, but have branched out since, buying Italian marbleized and other […]