Hanging with My Homies

I

got an

email

from my

homie,

Gail,

with

an invitation

to lunch

at

Chez Panisse,

in Berkeley

with

our two

other

hometown friends

Melissa

and Nancy.

Nancy,

who lives in Japan,

is

actually

"chef-ing"

a few

long nights

in the

kitchen

at

Chez Panisse,

while

finishing up

her own

cookbook.

I must back up at bit...

I grew up

with

these

fabulous

women!

I think we even

went

to Nursery School

together

...

then Laurel School

then

Encinal School

then

Menlo Atherton High School

....

We lived

at each

other's

houses,

rode bikes together,

had crushes

on the same guys

and

shared

many

of the same

growth

perks

and pains.

Toulouse and I

drove to

Santa Cruz

to hook up with Gail

I

Gail is my homie,

yup,

she is!

We share so many memories

Gail is a new grandma.

This is her

Mia

We drove to Berkeley

together

and met

Melissa

and Nancy

at

Chez Panisse.

Chez Panisse

has always

been

on my short

bucket list

of

restaurants

to try

before

I die.

Before

I introduce you

to my

homies

check

out

this menu

This is Nancy.

She

is

playing

in

Chez'

kitchen for the

next

week

or so

And this is gorgeous Melissa

when did we meet,

girl?

in Kindergarten?

Sadly,

Gail

was parking

the car

..

didn't catch a

candid

of her

But I did catch

a shot

of

my

heavenly

salad

cucumbers and beets with creme fraiche and chervil

and

the

butter bean salad with celery and bottarga

We

all

inhaled

our

own

individually

beautiful

and

delicious

Pizzetta with artichokes and rosemary

Sorry, Nancy,

I had

to

highlight YOU

in

those

glasses

A

delightful

catch up

on

our lives,

our families,

old friends

and

the 'hood

I tried

to get

a

few

Random shots

of

the

restaurant but it was really busy

..

tried

not to embarass

myself

too much

Taming the Second Sister

Cerro San Luis

AKA

San Luis Mountain

AKA

Madonna Mountain

is the

sister

second

from Islay.

Annie and I started our trek up

the mountain from

Laguna Lake Park

(the best doggie park in SLO)

One of the nice things about hiking in SLO

is that mornings

are generally

cool

often times

foggy

and

the perfect weather

for hiking

You see the trail?

That is one of three

(or four)

ways

up

the mountain

It is really not a

REALLY

tough

trek

...

It is

much tougher

than

Islay

though

and

I

did

huff and puff

quite

a

bit

That's Annie.

She hates when she hears my camera

clicking

behind her

You couldn't see

the

"cerro"

(the top)

as

it was

really foggy

but you

could

look

west

towards

Los Osos

and

the other

sisters

and

have

a beautiful

clear

view

Laguna Lake

and

the

Irish Hills

were still

fogged

in

but

the view

was still

quite breathtaking

Look

to

the

east

and

you see

Islay Hill

the airport

and

the Edna Valley

This is about

three quarters up..

see the trail?

Huffing and puffing

is the breath

pattern

at

this

point

and

then

ta-da

the

TOP!

The views

sans

fog

are

alarming

spectacular!

Annie and I

posed

and

patted

each

other

on the back,

and said

"good job"

and

we headed down.

It is a

bit steep

in some

areas

so

you

really need

shoes

with

decent

treads.

the hike

is

about

three

miles

up

and back

The

next

Sister

will

be

Bishop's Peak.

As Annie is heading

back

to

UCSC

to finish

up

her

senior year,

Toulouse

and I will need to grab another hiking buddy

to

tackle

Bishop's

...

mademoiselle petit soleil

mademoiselle petit soleil, originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse.

Toulouse newest friend, Mademoiselle Petit Soleil, just had a face lift and had her colors done to be quite "ooh la la"
more about Mademoiselle P.S. later
(she is the new Costco car - lots of space!)