A Hop Up to Portland

being

spontaneous

isn't always

easy

when you

have

Petit Soleil

and

three dogs

but being

spontaneous

can be really fun!

I

came home from

pilates

at 6:30

Thursday night

and

John says

"Hey,

you want

to go

see

Flogging Molly?"

Hello.

duh!

YES!

"They are playing Tuesday night in Portland"

Covering all the bases:

Andrew and Annie

in charge of Petit - check.

1000 Hills

in charge of

Nottie, Huck and Phinn - check.

drive to San Jose,

fly to Portland...

We

arrived

into PDX

checked into

the Hotel Monaco

and cruised out to

get a bite to eat

at

Urban Farmer

we had

marvelous

deviled eggs with maple bacon

charcuterie

homemade potato chips

and

king salmon tartare

satiated

and excited

we cruised over to the

Roseland Theatre

where

I

danced

and

sang

with

Flogging Molly

.SO.

.MUCH.

.FUN.

the next day

we shopped

(cool cork display at Anthropologie)

Cargo

in the

Pearl District

we walked

and shopped

and ate

and took

pictures

and

inhaled

the

fabulous

urban

edginess

of

Portland

Brix Tavern

and

Brix Chips

(pulled pork, chipotle, cheese and home made tortilla chips)

eeeek

DE licious!

On the

way back

we

stumbled

into

a gallery opening

and

the most amazing artist

she

"tags"

on huge

canvases

and

jagged

pieces

of concrete

making social

and

political statements

the

colors

and

the energy

of her

street art

knocked me off my feet

this huge

heart

made

of

crushed spray cans painted white

and

encased in

lacy copper wire

was

fabulous

I want it!

If you

happen

upon

Kirby Kendrick

inhale

her

Ka-Pow

collection!

Portland

is

a

clean

fun

city

..good restaurants

fun bars

shopping extraordinaire

art

and lots of green

(due to lots of rain)

..

a

really

perfect

getaway!

Fish Tacos number uh, eighteen?

I have two favorite numbers:

three

and

eighteen

...

I like things to come in

threes

and

when I

exaggerate

I always use

eighteen

who cares?

you ask...

it may,

or may not be

fish tacos # 18,

but....

SLO

is

NOT

know for it's

Mexican food

..

but

I

must say

Chili Peppers

is

the

BEST

traditional

Mexican

restaurant

in town

Years ago

way before John

I used

take

the kids

from my Spanish classes

to

Chili

Peppers

so that they could order their

dinner in

Spanish..

quite fun

craving,

once again,

fish tacos

we

said

"Hey!!! What about Chili Peppers!"

I ordered

salmon tacos

and

John got shrimp tacos

who knew?

they have

a

fish tacos special

every

Thursday

(sadly, today in Saturday)

Seriously funky

a patio

(well, kinda)

in back

my salmon tacos

were

delicious!!

guacamole, grilled zucchini, peppers and carrots,

perfectly piquant salsa

a bit of lettuce

and

perfectly grilled salmon

John's

shrimp tacos

were grilled like fajitas

(same condiments)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

If you are craving

real

Mexican

and

like

f U N k Y

C h i l i P e p p e r s

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish"

This

is

one

of my

MOST

favorite

times

of the year

...

COMMENCEMENT.

the minute

Pomp and Circumstance

begins

I

blubber...

good tears,

happy tears

tears of promise for the future

beautiful,

bright,

brilliant

young adults

beginning

..

commencing

forward

.....

I am teary eyed

just

writing

this

I

suppose

this

post

is geared

more for parents

than

for the

graduates

as

here

in

SLO

Cal Poly graduates

(and often their parents)

hit the bars

at

6 AM

in celebration

and

they

hoot and hollar

joyously

through

the

e n t i r e

weekend

(what commencement speech?)

I love

watching

the

brilliant

speakers

give

commencement speeches

..

sending the kids off

into the world

with

hope

and

promise

and

the

attitude

to

always

reach

for the highest drawer

My very favorite

speech

EVER!

Stanford University

2005

Commencement

Steve Jobs

was

extraordinary

brilliant

humble

honest

my very fave..

and then

Ellen

Tulane University

2009

Commencement

positive,

cute, funny

honest

So with tears of pride

I

celebrate

our girl,

Annie

with

her

B.A in Literature

and

our Andrew,

with

his

Masters Degree in Education

and

a

most

joyous

heartfelt

Congratulations

to all

the

scholars

high school

college

post graduate

YOU

ARE

OUR

FUTURE

Stay True to Yourself

Stay Hungry

and

Stay Foolish

balls balls balls

Balls

are

so

fun!

........

(foodie blog today)

At

Christmastime

I made

lots of

balls:

Oreo Balls

and

Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls

both of which

received

RAVE

reviews!

I switched

Balls

up

a bit

to include

Carrot Spice Balls

Mint Oreo Balls

and

then

Cake Balls

which were good,

but

I

am not a

huge fan

of

canned cake frosting

SO easy!

As in

many o' blogs

before

I

am

once again

lamenting

that

John and I

no longer

eat

sugar

nor flour

and

still

we can't

seem to

rid ourselves

that

bad- boy Sweet Tooth

So

check

out these balls!!!!!

they

are

SO NOT

Oreo Balls

or

Pumpkin Balls

or

Cake Balls

but

they are

** pretty good **

(in a no sugar no flour kind of way)

no sarcasm intended,

but

I

simply

call them

BALLS

Grab your food processor.

1 c. walnuts (grind finely)

1 cup coconut flour

(it's a

"good flour"

from Whole Foods

1 c. medjoul dates (cut up)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. unsweetened coconut

1/3 c, Agave syrup

1/4 c. Cacao nibs (optional)

Process

all together

until

mixture forms a ball

Roll into bite size balls

enjoy!

(attitude is everything)

BALLS

variations:

Use real maple syrup instead of Agave (I like much better)

Use dried apricots instead of dates (omit cacao nibs)

Use Brazil nuts instead of walnuts

Use almonds instead of walnuts

TTT with Toulouse and Friends: corked

TTT with Toulouse and Friends: corked: "IMG_0952 , originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse . I love what Anthropologie is doing with corks! They are creating amazing art pieces, ..."

corked

IMG_0952, originally uploaded by TTT with Toulouse.

I love what Anthropologie is doing with corks! They are creating amazing art pieces, and hanging things and dyeing them crazy colors and throwing them in a beautiful bowl...
Who'da thunk?

Two Falls and the Case of the Disappearing Post...

WHAT THE HECK!

have any

of

you

bloggers

had a

post

just

disappear?

I mean,

where

did

it

go?

poof!

gone...

the post

was about

our

Mother's Day

adventure

we

adventured

to

Salmon Creek Falls

I was

rocking

my

brand new

Adidas

trail shoes

(Happy Mother's Day present from me)

so

NOW

I have to try

to recreate

that

post

here's

the gist

of it

...

********

Salmon Creek Falls

is

about

1 1/2 hours

north

of

SLO

on

Hwy 1

on the

southern end

of

Big Sur

not too

far

beyond Ragged Point

this is

what

you see from the highway

The

waterfall

is crazy

wild

because

of all the

rain

we

have had

this past spring

the trail head

is

just off

the highway

our goal?

Estrella Camp!

On

to the falls -> -> ->

Annie leads

John and Andrew

follow

I am

lollygagging

a bit

taking pictures

..

a short hike to the

waterfall

crashing

down

...

lovely

the air

is

clean

and

thankfully

cool

the water

pools

and

cascades

down

again

down

to

the

Pacific Ocean

below

If

you

are

brave,

you can climb

up

on to the

rocks

Off the

rocks

and

back

on the

trail

we

charge upwards

up

up

up

UP

(I am breathing a bit heavy now)

that's

highway one below

because

it

was

Mother's Day

a nice hiker

took our picture

there

are

beautiful wildflowers

along the

trail

(and Poison Oak)

huff -puff

up

up

higher

still

"hey! Let me take a picture!"

snap

the views

are

spectacular

After

hiking

about

an

hour

or so

I hear this

voice

from

behind me

"I should have eaten something.

I'm hungry"

..

no food

or

water

with us

I am feeling

a

grumpy attack

coming on

from

that

hungry hiker

time to turn around

and head

back

down

the trail

If

you

remember,

I

did mention

that the

trail

is quite

steep

and very rocky

and

full

of blooming Yuccas

(Andrew snagged one for my hair)

and

back

to

that

steep trail

...

all those

loose

rocks..

I tripped

BOOM!

for

whatever reason,

B O O M!

down

I went

knees bloody,

hands bloody

and

scraped

(Yucca flower flew off somewhere)

John,

my dear hubby,

so empathetically

muttered

"thank GOD you weren't carrying the camera!!"

shaky

and

wobbly

we continue down

a little

fresh

water stream to wash off all the blood

ouch..

looking

back up

...

there

are the Yuccas!

the hike

was

fun

breathtakingly beautiful

and

we are

planning

a

return trip

to

Salmon Creek Falls

soon

...

Pearls of Wisdom:

1. go before 11:00am

2. eat a hearty breakfast before you go

3. take a backpack

4. bring water in that backpack

5. bring power bars, trail mix, fruit or another munchie

in that backpack

6. bandaids

7. new Adidas trail shoes

8. sweatshirt around your waist

9. shower immediately after

(to clean off the Poison Oak oils)

the views

along

hwy 1

ARE

so

spectacular

and dramatic

Morro Rock

...majestic!!!

The

best

adventure !