musings about food, travel, creativity and life
We had been talking for quite a while about going to one of our favorite foodie destinations—Gayle’s Bakery and Rosticceria in Capitola (home to my all-time favorite biscottis!)— to hear the Hot Club Pacific Jazz group which performs there every Thursday evening. Finally, we did […]
So…there we were in Grocery Outlet buying a bag of popcorn for the road when I saw the “home decor” item in the photograph above. I had to have it. It seemed like a perfect reminder of what made our recent week in Tucson and […]
Home—an oasis of comfort and beauty, a place of simple pleasures and little joys. It is where I watch our plums coming into their own and birds flitting from feeder to bath. It is where I water my newly planted basil and parsley and […]
We just returned to Madison from a two week escapade to London and Paris, our first international trip since the pandemic. Oh, my. It was filled with all the “Joie de Vivre” elements I love about travel, and life: ⋅great food,⋅beauty, art, fashion, ⋅wonderful people, […]
We are currently in Madison, Wisconsin, where autumn has a certain zing. It could be that it’s a university town with youthful energy everywhere; it could be the Farmers’ Market that overflows with sunflowers and dahlias, pumpkins of all sizes, apples and cheeses of […]
We just returned from a 10-day adventure to visit friends and places we love in Oregon. It was heartwarming and fun! So here is a mini-travelogue of some destinations and activities just in case you happen to find yourself in Oregon… ♥ In Ashland… […]
“No one is born a great cook; one learns by doing.”—Julia Child 🧡 Of late, my cooking has needed some inspiration. I’d fallen into too many […]
”Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” —James Beard I love traveling—here, there, everywhere. Right now, we are in Madison, Wisconsin, where […]
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 […]
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 […]
The traveler in me is looking for creative ways to be happy. Right now, close-to-home VW van trips seem to be doing it for me and us, and for that I am thankful. Our latest trip in Baci—our van’s name, meaning kisses in Italian—was to […]
I think there’s a fire pit in our future! We’ve been around a few, so to speak, in the last few weeks, and I t’s been wonderful— cozy and fun, a celebration of togetherness, a setting for uplifting conversations and a scene for great desserts—S’mores. […]
“What I like best about San Francisco is San Francisco.” —Frank Lloyd Wright It was time. Time to visit my childhood hometown of San Francisco. And to even stay over a few nights in the Marina District—woo-hoo! I got to see Golden Gate Bridge, hear the […]