Who do I bake for now?

five lbs.

can

be

so

STUBBORN

....

they just hang on

and don't

budge.

I read this article

about

the

devil's invention

of

sugar,

wheat flour,

canola oil

and

preservatives

and

how

they

creep inside

you

and

find happy homes

on your

belly,

thighs

butt

and

other places.

I read that these

devilish

delights

need to be

exorcised.

aaaauuuuggghh!

You know

how

I

LOVE

to

bake,

cook

eat and drink

oh, no!

(and so

does

hubby, John)

(especially the eat and drink part)

...

John

is

going

to

try

to

exorcise

the little devils,

too

aaauuuggghhhhhh

WHO DO I BAKE FOR NOW?

*****

HAPPY

FIRST

BIRTHDAY

HUCKLEBERRY AND PHINN!

Baking is my therapy!

I love

the

process

of reading

a recipe,

and bringing

the words and ingredients

to life!

and then

reaping the benefits

of an

outstanding

therapy session,

Carrot Dog Cookies

3 carrots

(why did I

start to

I peel carrots for

dog cookies?)

cut into chunks and microwaved until soft

Puree carrots

with a handful of parsley and 4 cloves garlic

(it smelled really good...)

Mix

2 c. unbleached flour

(I had way old rye flour that needed to be used up)

1/2 c. homemade whole wheat bread crumbs

1 c. oats

Add

the carrot stuff

to the

flour mixture

and 2 eggs

and mix

until a ball is formed

Roll

out onto a floured surface

and grab

your

fave

cookie cutters

I had quite an audience at this point

I wonder

if they knew

the birthday cookies were for them?

Cut the dough

into

shapes

onto the cookie sheet

and

bake at 300 degrees for about an hour

Carrot Dog Cookies!

I made

the

boys

new green scarves

which didn't last

Happy Birthday, Phinn!

(scarves back on for the picture)

Happy Birthday, Huck!

glad you came to the party, Nottie!

They actually ate the cookies,

no throw up

no "drop and walk away"

...

another

successful

therapy session

...if the

exorcism

of

the devils

ingredients

works

to

shed

those

nasty

five lbs.

t.b.a.

......

Reggie the Randy Rugby Rover

Yup!

I

miss

Toulouse!

He was just a get- along

kind of car

but

Reggie

and

me..

we are

working it out

and

doing some time together

...

trying to

tell each other

when there is a problem

like

F

with the engine light on

means

you didn't screw the gas cap on right

and

air is either getting in

or getting out

and

beeping

means

we are

too close

to

something

and

you don't want to

drop your purse

on the

button

that

lowers Reggie

because

the

bell rings

and you have no idea why

and

it

just keeps

ringing

and

ringing

and ringing

but

cruise control

rocks!

and the

big

windows

are wonderful!

and

F O U R

D O O R S

are the best

The

big

space in the back

holds

massive amounts

of

Costco

toilet paper,

food,

cleaning supplies,

paper towels,

dry cleaning

and other

STUFF

for Petit

and home

the best!

Reggie,

you know he is British,

and

I went

to see

Andrew

play

rugby

(Brits love rugby)

Andrew

loves

Rugby,

too!

He

was playing in a

SLO Rugby vs Beaumont Rugby

match.

If you have

EVER

watched rugby

you

will

know

that it is

very

cOnfusinG

and has

a language

of it's

own

They use words

like

RUCK

SCRUM

HOOKER

TRY

22 METER LINE

INFRINGEMENT

and

other

incomprehensible phrases

...

what

do they all mean?

I

don't

know!

That's Andrew quaffing water

Rugby

appears

to be a

combination

of

American football and soccer

and

other things

Men

(or women)

lift their teammates

up by their shorts

no doubt

causing

quite a wedgie

and the

other

teammate

throws

the ball up

to

him

or her

Andrew played

hooker

at this match

(No,

I am not proud

that Andrew is a hooker)

he

threw

the ball in

and

off

they

ran

For

some

reason

it is decided

that a scrum

is needed

...

loud noises

and

a massive

mess of players

cause

the rugby

ball

to

pop out

from the scrum

and

off

they

run

scrum

It

was

all quite

fun

and exciting.

I

don't think SLO won,

because

I heard

'"Good game!"

- What is automatically said to members of the opposing side at the conclusion of the match. Whether or not it was a satisfactory game is another matter entirely.'

all

was

well

because

the

beaten

battered

and bruised

players

all

go

to

McCarthy's

or

Bull's Tavern

or

Frog and Peach

and

throw back a

few pints together

and call it a day.

Ch ch Changes

crocodile tears

I

think

crocodile tears

are

tears

that

are

happy and sad.

like

at a wedding

or

at your baby's graduation from

high school

or college

or

when you see

a person

special to you

hold

her newborn baby

in her arms

for

the first time

...

crocodile tears

come

when you

close a door

and

you know that

another door

is

opening

I

am

known

to

be a

BIG FAN

of

crocodile tears

changes

bring

on

crocodile tears

...

I said

Au Revoir

to

my dear

friend

Toulouse le Car

yesterday

oooops more crocodile tears....

here they come

...

Toulouse

was feeling

way

too

stuffed

the past few years

with

Costo stuff

and

Smart and Final stuff

for

Petit Soleil

He thought

I

needed

a

bigger

companion

to

stuff

STUFF

into.

ch ch changes

crocodile tears

bye bye

adieu

and

au revoir

Sweet Toulouse!

Ello, gov'nor!

Please

meet

Reginald the Randy Rover

Reggie,

(my new adventuring bud)

and me

well

we are getting to know

each other.

He

is making me

feel

like an

A D U L T

as

he is

quite

serious

and

so

beautiful

but

we will start

adventuring

soon..

and I

promise

to

keep

you

informed

of

all the

randy

stuff

we find

and

will

do

together..

m a y b e

RAMBLINGS

WITH

REGINALD

THE RANDY ROVER

It

is

2011

in

Australia,

Europe,

New York,

Chicago

and soon

here

in SLO

Crocodile tears.

Changes.

Happy New Year

Happy New Decade!

The Necklace

I

cannot

begin

to tell you

how many

truly

SERENDIPITOUS

moments

we

have

had

at

Petit Soleil!

I

do

believe

"There are no coincidences

simply

The Universal Source

guiding us"

I

BELIEVE!

A few weeks ago

I read in

the blog

(our

in -house

info-blog

where

the

Petit staff

write a

about

stuff

happening

currently in the hotel

i.e.

good/bad guests,

food,

messages

etc)

about these ladies and

"the necklace"

What necklace?

Kristyn

and

I

waited

to see if

"the necklace"

would

come

to breakfast

Sure enough.

Inbound,

two

charming

and beautiful women.

No make-up,

in sweats

ooozing style

and

charisma

We all chatted

I

am

good

at

chatting,

as were they

and

I noticed

"the necklace"

dazzling

brilliant

sparkling

zircons? rhinestones?

I

mean

this

was

an

18 inch

tennis bracelet

encircling

Patti's neck

Whoa!

"Is that real?"

I ask?

"You bet!

You wanna wear it?"

mmmmmmhmmmmmmmmmm!

To make a

long blog short

this

118 diamond,

brilliant cut

15.24 carat

diamond

necklace

was the

heroine

of

a

book

entitled

The Necklace

It

is

the

journey

of

thirteen

extraordinary

women

and

one

mesmerizing necklace

Patti and Mary

are two of the thirteen women

We talked

about the necklace

and the book

and

the

diverse

yet

inspiring women

that

wear

the necklace

and

share

their

inspirational

and

heart-warming

adventures

"Never before has one piece of jewelry changed the lives of as many

women- and created a lasting legacy of charity

in the community they live in. I laughed, I cried....

now I'm window shopping at Tiffany's"

-Leslie Lehr,

author of

Wife Goes On

The Necklace

is

inspirational

period

.

It is

humbling,

funny

thoughtful

and it makes

me

wonder

what would the

world

be like

if it was

ruled

by

women?

I

have

yet to figure out

why

Mary

and Patti

and Jewelia

touched

our lives at

Petit Soleil

...

I do

feel our

meeting

was

s e r e n d i p i t y

The Necklace

Thirteen women and the experiment

that transformed their lives

by,

Cheryl Jarvis

Megan

Kristyn

Mackenzie

and me

Read it

and

share it

with

a friend!

Christmas Now and Then

Annie

and

I

just

watched

Now and Then

the perfect

little movie

to watch

after

trimming

the

Christmas tree

It

is

starting

to feel

like

Christmas!

My

wish

of

finding

an

uNshEaREd

Fir

or

Pine

Christmas tree

(one that doesn't look like a upside down ice cream cone)

in San Luis Obispo

was

an

IMPOSSIBLE

task!!!

l

was

hoping for a

happy

tree

(like this one)

but

BIGGER

but,

alas,

we went

for the smell good tree.

a

Grand

Fir

Backing up

......

it

is

tradition

for

the whole family

to decorate

the

Christmas

Tree.

Sometimes

I sigh,

looking at the

Pottery Barn catalog,

or

Romantic Home Magazine

or

Country Living Magazine

The

Christmas

trees are

always

perfect!!!!

Our

Christmas trees

are

a

family effort..

a family event!

..

we

ALL

decorate

the

tree

into

a

handmade

beautiful

mess

of

Christmas Memories

It

is

increasingly

more difficult

to

corral

adult

children

-

I bribe them

food

always works!

This

year

we

decorated

our

fragrant

upside down ice cream cone

after

a bribery

of

delicious

cheesy

Fondue

paired

with

Four Vines Zinfandel

FYI

puppies

and

ornaments

NOT

a

good mix

Christmas 2010

silliness

abounds

.....

Memories

of

Christmases Past

John and his three brothers circa 1953

Santa, Andrew and Annie 1989


After the SLO Christmas parade 1994


First Christmas card as our "new" family 1997


Serious Christmas card 1998

with Bingo and Betty


Our first Christmas with Wally 2003


decorating the tree 2004


Christmas with John's Family 2004


Christmas in Paris 2002 (just before we opened Petit Soleil)


Christmas 2009

Finding

Christmas

pictures

from

years

past was quite a

task

lost disks,

fried hard drives,

misplaced albums

etc.

It made me sad

to have

lost

photographs

of

Christmases

past.

now

driven

to preserve

Christmas

NOW

and

in the future

hair today - gone tomorrow

Remember

that

Bible story

about

Samson and Delilah?

Samson

believed that

he

got his

strength

from

his

hair

Delilah

had

Samson's

hair

cut

and

Samson's

strength

was

zapped

(or so he thought)

That story

reminds

me

of

the

most recent

adventures

of

Huck and Phinn..

Huck

with hair

(powerful, mischieveous, sneaky)

Phinn

with hair

(punk rock - mohawk)

Call

me

Delilah!

Our

Dog Whisperer,

Tressie,

suggested

we

call

the

doggie salon

at

PetSmart

and

make

an

appointment

for

Huck and Phinn

...
Saturday

...

the report cards

Phinn


and Huckleberry

(Huck

wasn't

really very

receptive

to having

his

strength

aka

hair

shaved)

The

new

complacent,

non punk rock Phinn

IMG_0132">

and,

Samson,

aka

Huckleberry

notably

hairless,

calmer

less mischieveous

less powerful

.....

Kind of

nice

right now

..

I wonder if they will realize that it really isn't the hair

.........to be continued

Toulouse

and

I

have been

slacking

in the adventure department

...

maybe

because

of the

holidays?

or

the rains?

or just

because

we are

slacking

..

I take

that

back!!!

We

DID

go for

kind of

an adventure..

to

Target!

last Saturday,

the 1st Saturday of December

not

a

great idea

too many shoppers

all the cool stuff gone

I went

to TARGET

because

Kasey,

(from one of my fave blogs)

(lola b's)

showed

this cute

little

bird ornament

for a buck

from

Target.

I

adventured

to

TARGET

(with Toulouse)

to buy

20

of

those

cute

birds

decoupaged

with

sheet music!

We

scooted about

30

miles

to

Target

and this was the only bird left

it

was in the

"broken thing tub"

...

I asked

the

Target lady

for

more

birds

nope!

...all gone

The nice

check-out girl

gave

me

broken

bird

for

free.

She felt sorry for me,

I think.

She said

"Merry Christmas"

that was nice...

but

no

birds

I do have a

new

FAVE

recipe,

though!

it

is from

Tyler Florence's

new

cookbook

so so easy

and

the

chicken

was

really yummy!

Yup,

Chicken Strips!

I cut up two chicken breasts

seasoned them

and set them aside

Toasted

four pieces of TJ's sourdough wheat bread

and whirled them

in the

food processor

with fresh parsley and

about 1/4 c. Manchego cheese

...ta-da! fresh bread crumbs!

So,

on one plate - flour

on another plate - two beaten eggs

and on the third plate - the bread crumbs

Dregded the chicken in flour, then the egg and then the bread crumbs

and on to the cookie sheet

(I made some sweet potato fries to cook along with the chicken)

They

all

baked

for

about

30

minutes

We had them with

German Curry Ketchup

and

Hartley Ostini Syrah

I

ate

all

the

leftover

chicken!