Oh my Gosh! How easy is Tortilla Soup?

I

do

believe

that everyone

that reads my blog

loves to

cook

and

bake

as much as I do

...

I figure

what the heck!

Maybe

all you foodies

have

forgotten

that

Tortilla Soup

has to

one

of the easiest

dinners

when

you have

no time

but do have

torts

and leftover

pork

or

chicken

or

beef

or

turkey

or veggies!

Fry up

some tortilla strips

I cut up a red onion and a few jalapenos from our garden

and after I took out the

crispy fried torts

I added the onions and chiles

to the pan

and sauteed them

until soft

I cut up a few tomatoes

from our garden

and added

them to the onion mixture

I added

leftover

veggie broth

and chicken broth

to the

onion mixture

(maybe 5 cups

or so)

We had leftover

grilled port tenderloin

(yum)

so I cut it up

and threw it in the soup

I tossed in chipotle,

garlic,

chile powder

salt and pepper

and a zucchini from our garden

and the

soup

simmered

for

oh,

hmm

about an hour

to serve

toss some of the fried torts

in your bowl

pour the soup

on the

torts

add some cheese

lime

more jalapeno

(if you dare)

So

yummy!

I wish I had had

an avocado

and sour cream

to toss and swirl

on top

It was still gooood.

Nine months old!

IMG_0244, originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse.

Can you tell that these two scruff bags hate the doggie brush? I mean, Huckleberry screams like a baby before I even begin to brush - Phinn just takes off running and dives under our bed.
We are thinking maybe a dog whisperer might be helpful......
or maybe dreads!

Oreos, owls and Oktoberfest

Owls....

they

are

wise,

kinda spooky

whooooooooooooooooot,

they

are

in

a movie,

and they

are

Annie's

current collection

I love to indulge

in

a

good

collection

and owls

are

really

happening

To

celebrate

Annie's

completion

of the L.S.A.T.

last

weekend,

I made

some

Pumpkin Owl Muffins

I

found then

in

another fun

blog

by

Taylor Thomas

and

I

copied

them!

First,

you detach the oreo cookie halves

and stick a

Reese's piece

in the middle

I made pumpkin muffins

Frosted them with cream cheese frosting

Stuck the eyes on

and

stuck in a

candy corn

for the nose


So goofy

silly

and easy!

Yesterday

I found

these

oh so

happy

Autumn

napkins

at

Picking Daisies

and

napkin rings

at

World Market

owl napkin is Annie's

and

this

will welcome her home

As for

Oktoberfest,

it was

an

"O"

word

and

there is

an

Oktoberfest celebration

tomorrow

at Avila Beach

and

we

will celebrate

Oktoberfest

at

home

for

John's birthday

Ein Prosit

und

Happy October!

Sunset's Victory Garden

Last

April

John and I

(and Toulouse)

attended

the

"ground breaking ceremony"

for the

Sunset

Victory Garden

at Santa Margarita Ranch.

The

garden

was to

be

organic,

using

compost

and

sustainable

gardening

techniques.

I was intrigued

to see

the outcome

of

this

one

acre

garden

fast forward

October 2, 2010

The

entrance

to the Victory Garden

Hi John!

I

am

in AWE!

The

garden

is

absolutely

magnificent!

There is a scheme,

well, duh!

I guess every

good

garden has a SCHEME

There

are small plots of herbs

here and there

Gorgeous

olive trees

surround the garden

And

exquisite

veggies,

integrated with

flowers

are everywhere!

Thai Chiles

Bok Choy

amazingly beautiful

Swiss Chard

hundreds of

tomatoes,

peppers,

cucumbers

melons and pumpkins

beans,

eggplants

peas

onions

garlic and leeks

recycled wine corks

used

kinda like

bark

for weed maintenance

and to

keep the ground moist

(great idea, I am saving our corks!)

I wanted

to

do a "Peter Rabbit"

in

all the

lettuces

and kale

parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, basil, savory, oregano

so fragrant

The gardeners

were

on duty

seven days a week

to insure

that this

would be

the garden

among all

gardens.

IT

WAS!

Sunday at Sunset's Savor the Central Coast

Sunset Magazine's

SAVOR THE CENTRAL COAST

The main events

of

Savor

were

held

Saturday and Sunday

at

Santa Margarita Ranch

about

fifteen minutes,

or so,

from SLO.

The location was

majestic

nestled

among

the oak trees

with

an

old

historic train

chugging

right

through the middle of the property.

I

get

why

Sunset

chose

to

hold

Savor

here

....

majestic!

You enter

and

get

a

Riedel

wine glass

and

this

huge

green

bag

(for grocery or farmer's market shopping)

goodies in hand

you can

start

enjoying

the event.

Fall is in the air!

I

LOVE

FALL!

There

is

food and wine

sampling

everywhere!

Really

good

food

and really

good

wines!

That's Patty

from

Corner View Restaurant.

They were

serving

a

delicious

Smoked Salmon and Arugula Salad

mmmmm

John and I

found a

Pinot Noir

from

Ortman Vineyards and

enjoyed the two delights together

h e a v e n

....

I

had to

put my

camera

away

in

order

to

taste

the

food and wines

(or get a third hand)

Then I came across

these

marvelous

little wonders

from

Windrose Farm

in Paso Robles

Grilled Shishito Peppers

with lemon

they were my fave!

great people watching

while

nibbling

and tasting

That's

Dana,

one of the

"twisted sisters"

from

Calcareous Winery

amazing wines

and

a spectacular location

I had a glass of their Grenache

There is

also

a

beer garten

with

Stella Artois

and Leff

and other artisan

beers

(incase you don't like wine)

There was

so

much

to see,

and taste,

and

smell

and touch

SAVOR THE CENTRAL COAST

2011

around the

first weekend

of

October.

More EXTREME fun!

Remnants of the Past

.....

DAY 2

of my fabulous

weekend

was spent

at

Remnants of the Past.

Remnants

is

a feast

for

your senses

It

is filled

with

beautiful

vintage

rustic

extraordinary

STUFF

in

the quintessential

perfect

local,

The Dana-Powers Barn

in

Nipomo

entering

....Remnants

I brought my camera,

really,

I did!

but,

I was

so

mesmerized

by

all the

goodies

that I forgot

to

take

pictures

So

here

are

some

other

blogs

and videos

to enchant

you

Keep these pages

handy

and

watch the

dates

for

April 2011

Remnants of the Past

I

am

going

to

read

the blogs

and

mark

MY calendar!

Thursday before the BEST Weekend~

We,

as

in

John and I,

and

about a thousand

other peeps

have been

waiting for this

weekend

for

maybe

like a

year and a half.

It

is

hard to believe

that

it is finally here!

Ta-Da

Sunset Magazine's

Savor the Central Coast

The

Opening Ceremony

was

in front

of the

historic

Fremont Theatre

This guy

is

truly

one

of the

thousands

of peeps

really really

looking forward to

this day

For

Opening Night

there

were delicious

little

bites

from

local restaurants

and

tastes of wines

from the

county's

wineries

Even Mayor Romero and his wife were excited about the Opening Ceremony!

Woot! Woot!

A toast

to

SLO

to

Sunset Magazine

and

to

a weekend

full

of fabulous

Flavors of the Central Coast.

Cheers~!

......

Friday day

(it that correct...Friday day?)

well,

Friday during the day

various wineries

throughout

the county

had events,

winery and

vineyard tours,

luncheons

and tastings.

Friday evening

was

A

Most Amazing

dinner

in

Mission Plaza

we were there in spirit

Rumor

was

that

is

was

beautifully presented

and

beautifully delicious!

(next year!)

Saturday and Sunday

the

Event

was at

Santa Margarita Ranch

More about

Savor the Central Coast

later....