Love is a Verb

IMG_0010, originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse.

Isn't this perfect!
Love is a verb!
This little vignette was in Natellie's (well, her family's) bathroom.
a great thought to start the weekend off with.

Plum Crazy..

I have been told that I am a bit whacky,

quirky even

but now

I think I'm

PLUM CRAZY!

Our plum tree is loaded with

plums~

a plethora of plums!

"John!!

let's make jam!"

recipe search....

.a jam that is not too sugary as the plums are really sweet!

Eating Well!

One of my favorite foodie magazines with

great "healthy" recipes!

John picked some of the plums -

like a bucket load!

We pitted about a third of the bucket.

followed the recipe ...

cooking away

added the sugar

and the pectin

cooking...cooking ...cooking

HOT!!

and messy!


Finished!

let cool 24 hours

and then freeze

Making jam reminds me

of taking pictures

using

F I L M

you have to wait to see how the pictures turn out.

The jam seemed a bit liquidy in the jar

not like real

JAM

Hopefully,

it will jam up.

If it doesn't,

what to do?

Fage yogurt with plum sauce and granola?

(don't you just l o v e Fage yogurt?)

Duck with plum sauce?

Chicken with plum sauce?

Lamb with plum sauce?

Tofu with plum sauce?

Plum smoothies?

hmmmm........

Keep your fingers crossed that the Plum Crazy Jam jams up!

........

Meet Natellie ~ a Most Amazing Artist and Cute as a BUG!

Travels

to Morro Bay

brought me and Toulouse

to the home of

Natalie Saia,

a young artist who's art is

knocking my socks off!

I actually met Natellie about

four years ago.

Her mom, Barbara, is the rock star

that raises funds and runs

marathons

and half marathons

for Team in Training,

and for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I knew Nat as a runner and

serious basketball athlete

and a neat "kid".

....

flash forward

.....

I casually pop by one of my favorite junk haunts,

Ruby Rose.

There is Barbara (HI Barbara!)

and her daughter Natellie

and

Natellie has her

OVER THE TOP

fun

Mixed Media art

cheerfully

displayed

among all the really cute things

that Ruby Rose sells.

WOW!

I bought a couple of cool pieces:

1. a cool knife, fork and spoon drawing

and

2. an amazing drawing of keys and more keys and more keys

(like to your heart)

titled

"ESQUELETOS"

(skeleton keys)

the keys unlocked my heart

and I love

Natellie's art!

So, we talk! Natellie is studying Graphic Art and plays serious basketball and has only a couple of weeks left in SLO -

I am thinking that maybe Petit Soleil

would be the perfect

"second"

stage

for

Nat's art.

Toulouse and I went to Morro Bay

to discuss this further

...

Nattelie has been

seriously

painting and creating

beautiful

works in a little,

tiny corner of her bedroom!

Every nook and cranny was

colorful

with amazing stuff

to look at

Natellie collects everything NIKE...

she has some

300 pairs

(or some crazy number like that)

There are Nike shoes,

Nike shoe boxes and

Nike shoe drawings

(that she drew)

proudly displayed

everywhere.

In the kitchen

are these

precious little

cupcakes

(that look almost good enough to eat!)

Back in her bedroom hangs this super cool chandelier

(surrounded by Nike boxes)

It was a feast for my eyes - everywhere!

And you know,

Barbara, her Rock Star mom,

is an

avid collecter and artist

in her own right....

(that will be a whole other adventure with Toulouse)

Natellie has a portfolio

of really creative

work

that she did

for school

...

I ESPECIALLY LOVED THE CRANES!

like the origami cranes

in Japanese legend that

come to life and grant wishes,

good health

and healing.

the colorful

Dia de los Muertos art

were tucked in

behind

baskets of cherries

..

Back to her little corner

next to the closet door that she drew

a

Nike shoe on

she creates

...

and types little quotes

and

goodies

on

an electric typewriter

I had such a fun couple of hours,

inhaling all the

colors,

the collections,

the smiles

and cheeriness

of the home that

Natellie

lives in

(while she's home from college)

and

creates in

and shares with her family

and dogs...

Thanks, Natellie (here with Betsey Johnson)

I had so much fun

and

I cannot wait to see all the fun,

colorful

amazing creations

you will

show at

Fete d'Arte

at Petit Soleil!

Au Revoir,

Well here's a fun coincidence....

so,

you know I posted a recipe for

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

a while back?

Well, who knew?

There is a fabulous blog

called

Zucchini and Chocolate

or

Chocolate and Zucchini

that I fell in

L O V E

with

and there is a recipe,

under chocolate recipes,

for a

Chocolate Zucchini Cake!

Is is quite similar

to the bread recipe,

but it doesn't have

yogurt and I used

olive oil .

It looks really moist and

I love the coffee addition

to

bring out the

C H O C O L A T E

flavors!

I sent half of the cake back to

Santa Cruz

with Annie~

She LOVES

ANYTHING

AND

EVERYTHING

CHOCOLATE!

I'll let you know what she thinks!

and

if you make the cake

or the bread

or

BOTH,

please let me know what you think~

My Serious Addiction - I confess!

Hello!

It was so fun to see that I actually have a couple of followers!

What a crack up!

Thank you!...I am flattered!

Sadly,

TODAY

I am making a confession.

I may have to go to Betty Ford's place,

or to the rehab facility that

what's her name (?)

is at, or some other place that deals with

ADDICTION PROBLEMS!

I ADMIT!

I AM AN ADDICT!

I AM ADDICTED TO RECIPES!

AND MAGAZINES!

AND COOKBOOKS!

They are everywhere!

In every room.

In every nook and cranny.

In baskets.

On tables.

On shelves.

On the floor.

On my desk.

On John's desk.

In Toulouse.

At Petit.

In the laundry room.

Outside.

E V E R Y W H E R E !

I have hundreds of past issues of

Bon Appetit

Eating Well

Gourmet

Saveur

Cooking Light

Food and Wine

Food Tv Magazine

(why do I get that magazine when I watch Fo TV all the time?)

And I have thousands of recipes torn out of magazines that I did part with.

Many hundreds of torn out recipes are in file folders named

"to be filed"

and many hundreds of recipes

ARE FILED

in really cool binders.

(I use those a lot)

Many many recipes are at

Petit Soleil,

either being used for our

breakfasts

or

appetizers

or

are in file folders named

"to be tried".

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I have many magazines simply titled

Appetizers

and

Pillsbury's Best Desserts,

Summer's Best,

Fresh and Easy,

and

A Christmas to Remember

This is our coffee table!

And these are just a few of my cookbooks!

I cannot resist,

or walk by

a new cookbook

at

Costco,

or

Barnes and Noble

or Borders.

I can't SAY NO!

John thought when we moved,

that I would take the hundred of past issues of

Bon Appetit

Food and Wine,

Gourmet,

Saveur

Eating Well and

Cooking Light

to Goodwill or to the library.

I tried!

I really tried!

They made it into cardboard boxes,

but I just knew that I would find

at least

ONE

really good recipe

in each

magazine.

So

I went to World Market

and found

these really cute

boxes

and

I

categorized

most,

not all,

the magazines into themes.

Fall

Winter

Spring

Summer

Vegetarian

and then

like a true addict,

I get this

urge,

this overwhelming need,

to pull out

my magazines and

go through them

again

and again

and again.

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This Cooking Light magazine from 2005

had

some killer

Crab Cake (aka Crabby Patty) recipes

in it,

AND

I found

this recipe

that

I

must

make

with our abundanza

of zucchini

we

have in our garden.

ZUCCHINI WITH RICOTTA-BASIL MOUSSE!

yum

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I couldn't get rid of this magazine!

It had great ideas

for appetizers

and cocktails!

IMG_0629">

And, of course,

I need recipes from Van Gogh's Table,

and

Monet's Table.

Why?

I DON'T KNOW!!!

BECAUSE

I

AM

AN

ADDICT!

THEY

SAY,

that the first step to

conquering an

addiction, it to admit to it.

and

they I think there are

six or seven other steps

that

I need to take.

or

maybe I can do it on my own

without Betty's help

or Lindsay's advice

(that's her name)

......

Maybe, I can make this into a

life changing experience..

Maybe I can help others,

feed others,

invite others and share recipes with them?

In the meantime,

while I figure this out, I am going to

go through some

recipes

for dinner!

maybe

ZUCCHINI

BOATS

WITH

RICOTTA -BASIL MOUSSE!

BON APPETIT!

Barn Again

Saturdays are great days to grab Toulouse,

and a camera,

and go

on adventures!

Today we are "barn again"

and on a barn explore!

Actually, the history of BARNS

is quite interesting.

I thought that barns

were just used for storage, or store houses for animals or equipment.

They are really much more!

I did read that they

also served as places of business,

and farm factories,

and barn floors were

great places to thresh hay and grains.

Hay and feed were stored in the lofts

and animals in stalls.

A "barn raising" was a community activity - the barn was the heart of the farm,

and a place

for

dances, playing, prayers

and courting.

Who knew?

San Luis Obispo has bragging rights to

one of only a few octagonal barns

in the country.

It was built in 1900

by Portuguese immigrants.

They are sprucing it up as we speak

to be used for fun events and

educational stuff in the future.

Read about it here!

You can ride your bike by the barn, as it is at the beginning of the Bob Jones Bike Trail,

or if you are a runner,

you can run by it on the City to Sea Half Marathon

(soon to be a full marathon, I hear)

or you can drive by the barn.

Off of Los Osos Valley Road, by Costco and Home Depot is the Froom Ranch

"Nestled against the Ir

i

s

h Hills at the southeast end of Los Osos Valley, today the historic Froom Ranch sits all but obscured behind the bulk of a big box store. The oldest, now derelict ranch buildings date from the early 20th century. The milking barn the only round-end barn in the county originally stood on the eastern end of the ranch, and was later moved to its present location. The larger residence, woodshed, wash room, storeroom, and bunkhouse joined the ranch complex in 1915. Picturesque in setting and appearance, until recently the Froom Ranch has been a popular subject for local landscape artists. Originally swampy Los Osos Valley had been drained early and developed by family farmers and ranchers into prime grazing and row-crop land. Canadian immigrant John Froom came to the valley in the 1880s. He first worked this ranch as a hired hand, leased it in 1890, acquired ownership through marriage in 1904, and ran cattle on its 500 acres until his death in 1929. His son Bill continued the family tradition until his retirement; the new owner, Alex Madonna, agreed to postpone property development until Froom had lived out his natural life on his ancestral turf. The future of the Froom Ranch is uncertain. It stands today as an artifact of changing times and shifting land use priorities, a symbol of progress and of loss."

I think Froom Ranch and it's barn

are really pretty and rustic

and a great place to

take pictures

(Petit's former manager, Cole, and

her fiance, Steve,

took their engagement pictures

around the Froom Ranch and barn

..the pictures were

B E A U T I F U L !

On the road again from

Los Osos Valley Rd. and on to Foothill

you can see this

delightful

pink barn.

Don't know what it's called, but it is kinda pretty.

You can see it when you

hike around

Laguna Lake Park

..the barn is towards the west.

I wonder why they painted it pink?

If I find out

I will tell you later!

The late Alex Madonna, of Madonna Inn fame, I believe

built this double barn.

That's kind of cool

two barns must be better than

one barn.

and below is the barn at one of the few remaining

RANCHOS

in California.

Here's a bit of the scoop on

"Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia

This 14,000 acre former Mexican land grant is on of the last of the great Ranchos. The Rancho still includes buildings dating back to the days of the Chumash Indians and Mission San Luis Obispo. It is one of only two Mission Assistencias with buildings still maintained and in tact.

You will see the great rocked-wall barn where priests came regularly by horseback up the grade from Mission San Luis Obispo to conduct mass for the Indians. "

The Santa Margarita barn is really beautiful and is now

used

for

weddings and all sorts of events.

Infact,

Sunset Magazine's Savor the Central Coast

will have lots of really fun events in and around the

barn here at Santa Margarita.

inside the barn is a most spectacular cross..... I can only imagine the feeling that the original

occupants had when the sun

shined behind that window

....

This is another barn at Santa Margarita

Maybe it was a

dairy barn,

and the silo housed food for the

cows.....

And a special addition to this

day of being

"barn again"

......

Ancient Peaks Winery

is at the entrance

to the Rancho.

Travel on, and you, too

can be "barn again"!

Abundanza and a Wickedly Rich Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe

e

sweet nectarines

Beautiful ripe plums

apricots

Baby yellow pear tomatoes not yet ripe.

and zucchini!!!!!

I am going to snatch this zuke .......

..

we have had many many zucchini, I mean many zucchinis this year! We have had baked zucchini, and fried zucchini, zucchini in salad, zucchini fries, zucchini fritters, zucchini muffins ... (does this remind you of Forrest Gump?)

What else?

I needed to fulfill a menopausal chocolate craving

hmmmmm

Something chocolatey

really chocolatey

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

...

I grated that bad boy

sifted the dry ingredients

mixed them all together in my mixer

Into the oven

SO moist, chocolatey and delish!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

350 degrees - loaf pan

3 c. grated zucchini

3/4 c. canola oil

3 large eggs

1 tsp. good vanilla

1 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

Mix the above in you mixer, or by hand (often times hand mixing is good therapy)

2. c. whole wheat pastry flour

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Trader Joe's)

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

Sift the dry ingredients and add them to the wet ingredients in the mixer. Mix just until incorporated.

At this point you can add chocolate chips, or walnuts.

Pour into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with Pam.

Bake for 1 hour or so until the toothpick comes out clean.

We enjoyed a piece with a glass of Grey Wolf's Lone Wolf wine.

It would be good with ice cream,

whipped cream,

raspberries,

just about anything that goes well with chocolate!

I am a new person ...

sans grumpiness or hot flashes!