Under a Blue Moon

Hyancinth for your soul

A few years back somebody, who wishes to remain anonymous in case their husband is reading, went a little wild ordering bulbs from Brecks . We’re talking thousands of bulbs. Tulips, hyacinths, all manner of daffodils. It was like the tulip mania of the 1500’s.

The tulips are a little labor intensive here in No. California because you have to dig the darn things up and pop them in the fridge for a long Winter’s nap every year – who can exactly remember where they are when Fall rolls around? But hyacinths and daffodils, now they are accommodating little things, coming up year after year in ever increasing abundance.

I have a curved flower bed on the South/East side of the house. During the Summer it’s all about the roses and lavender but in early Spring its personality is very different. A sea of yellow as the daffodils start to come up. It’s too early to really be out enjoying the garden just yet so I keep cutting them and bringing them into the house by the armload. I can’t remember if I did this on purpose or not but I planted early and mid Spring varieties so the show just keeps going.

If that isn’t enough there is always Daffodil Hill.

Serendipity and Ina

This post is going to have two parts. The first is a little bit of serendipity relating to Wisteria that happened years ago and the second part will be about food. Specifically Ina’s food.

Our family used to spend a lot of time down in the Monterey Bay area when the children were younger. So we have been shopping at Wisteria for years. One of my sisters and I were heading over there and I was telling her I was keeping my eye open for a certain pitcher. I could see it with my mind’s eye – it was blue and white with a floral design. Not too much blue – a good balance of blue and white.

We got there and walked in the house and other buildings then went out into the gardens which were in full bloom and really spectacular. I decided to make one final pass through the main house before we left. When I was in there, this second time, I noticed an antique china cabinet with one lone piece tucked way back in a shadowy corner. I opened the cabinet and pulled out a blue and white pitcher and it was exactly what I had pictured in my mind. I turned it over to see the price and there was a sticker on the bottom that said "Andrea."

Okay ~ onto the food. My sister, well two of them actually, gave me Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa At Home for Christmas. This weekend my sister planned both Friday and Saturday’s dinner from the book.

I think I gained five pounds this past weekend and I’ll probably gain another five just talking about it. The food was amazing. And the recipes were not terribly complicated. Ha! I say that like I had much to do with the actual preparation when in reality I may have chopped a shallot or two and swilled a lot of wine.

Friday’s meal was Eli’s Asian Salmon with a gingery panko crust. It has a nice Asian flavor to it and the salmon was very tender. The only thing we thought should be different is to use a low sodium soy sauce and maybe cut back on the amount. It was just a tad salty. My sister served it with roasted potatoes and cauliflower. She served it on a huge fish shaped platter and surrounded the salmon with the vegetables.

On Saturday we had Chicken with Goat Cheese & Basil, Garlic & Herb Tomatoes and Couscous with Pinenuts & Currants. Each dish was wonderful on its own but combined the flavors were just out of this world. The chicken dish was really easy – just take boneless chicken breasts and make a slit or pocket in them, insert some goat cheese and fresh basil leaves, a little salt and pepper and bake.

The tomato dish was done in a saute pan using tiny cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil. My brother in law demonstrated his flipping technique (where you shake the pan just so to flip the contents) ~ if I had tried that there would be blistering hot tomatoes missiling through the air.

The couscous dish had roasted pinenuts, shallots and currants that came together pretty easily. I love roasted pinenuts. The little bit of sweetness from the currants offset the savoriness of the rest of the meal nicely.

You can do the prep work ahead of time (roasting the pinenuts, chopping the shallots and garlic, preparing the chicken) so this meal would be be great for a dinner party.

The subtitle to Ina’s book is "Everyday Recipes You’ll Make Over and Over Again" and it is so true. All the dishes were simple, beautiful and tasted sooo good. See? I did just gain five more pounds.

Bliss, continued…

On Saturday we woke up to the kind of weather that makes your heart sing ~ clear blue skies, mild temperatures, gentle breezes. Spring has sprung kind of weather.

Nicki and I left her house and headed to the Salinas farmer’s market to admire the handwoven baskets and totes but the African man that is usually there selling them decided to take this fine day off. I don’t blame him. Instead we stopped by the Russian baker’s booth and bought an apple tea cake to share for our breakfast. Big chunks of juicy apple in a firm, not too sweet cake. Heaven. He also let us sample a bite of a tomato, spinach and feta blintz that was just out of this world. More heaven.

We hopped back in our car and zipped over to the coast to one of my all-time favorite places to shop and browse. Wisteria & Aptos Gardens. Two purveyors in the same location. They have taken an old home in Soquel and turned the house and other outer buildings into an Antique and home decor store and the outside is left to Aptos Gardens where you can buy all manner of plants, fountains, antique wrought iron bits and pieces. Anything you might need to turn your own garden into a romantic, magical place.

I bought the pretty blue and yellow tray pictured above, a glass candle holder/vase (I’m going to put a candle in mine) and a sweet little pot of Lily of the Valley.

After Wisteria we drove up Soquel Avenue towards Santa Cruz and hit a few antique stores where I picked up a few more handkerchiefs (this handkerchief business is becoming an issue. I think there might be an intervention in the works. My family members all stop talking when I walk in the room and look really uncomfortable…). All up and down Soquel Avenue there are a ton of antique stores. If you live in the Bay Area it’s totally worth the drive over the hill to check them out. I would start at the North end and work your way South, ending up at Wisteria/Aptos Gardens. Then you can continue on and have lunch at Seascape Resort like we did. This is the picture I took just sitting at our table.

Honestly – it’s hard to concentrate on eating when you have this to gaze out upon. But eat we did – heuvos rancheros and bloody marys. After lunch it was back into the car and we tooled our way further South to Monterey and Pacific Grove.

Pacific Grove is a very picturesque little town. The last time I was there the shops were all closed but not this time. We went to The Wooden Nickel where I bought a glass dome with a faded pink velvet flower in it.

My credit card was starting to make pitiful, surrendering kind of noises so we called it a day and went back to Nicki’s for yet another fabulous dinner. I’ll blog about that tomorrow. You must check out Nicki’s blog to see her treasures and her pictures. She is braver about taking pictures in shops than I am and she has some great pictures of Wisteria.

King Neptune

Well I didn’t see Clint Eastwood but I did see this fine fellow in a shop window in Monterey. The shop is called Diamonds and Rust and it had the most interesting mix of things. Quite a bit of Catholic idolatry mixed in with seashell motif things and antiques.

I really had a fabulous weekend – lots of amazing food and amazing shopping. Not to mention the amazing company. My Dad & I drove down on Friday and arrived at my sister’s house noonish. We didn’t linger long – instead we hopped in our cars and drove to Carmel Valley where we had a fabulous lunch al fresco at the Corkscrew.

We sat outside eating at an oilcloth covered table and one feels like they are in Provence. People bring their dogs and they sit peacefully under the tables (the dogs, not the people) and everyone just lingers over great food and wine.

Nicki and I didn’t linger too long because we had shopping to do. We bid the gentlemen in our party adieu and headed into Carmel for some shopping. Nicki knows the best stores. My favorite was a linen shop called the Elegant Set where I bought a table runner and a small tablecloth. We also stopped in the new Anthropologie at the Carmel Plaza and I have to say it’s the best Anthropologie I’ve been in so far. I’ll post pictures of all my treasures tomorrow along with a recap of Saturday (we power shopped on Saturday).

We finished the day by driving down to the beach and taking a late afternoon stroll before heading back home for dinner. This is looking towards Pebble Beach – the weather was spectacular and the views just gorgeous. I could so get used to looking out at this everyday.

brb

I am spending the weekend in Monterey/Carmel area and will be back with lots of pictures and reports of any celebrity sightings – you never know, I might just run into Clint Eastwood.

(I’m tired of waiting for Spring so I brought it to me in the form of a little pink rose in a little pink pot)

Photo love

I just love this picture (click on it to see the detail). I am smitten with those happy girls that so obviously love the photographer (who else would they give such pure and true smiles?). I love the scallopy fence behind them and the straight little bangs on the younger and the cowlick on the older.

Their faces are happy and relaxed but their posture is a little formal, like the occasion warrants (I’m supposing that getting your picture taken back then was a much bigger deal than it is now with our digital cameras with 2 GB flash cards).

I found this in a box of photos during my antique foray earlier this week. I love old pictures of people standing in front of their homes. Don’t know what it is about that configuration that appeals to me but it does. I also bought one that shows two elderly women standing in front of a small home with an inviting porch and the most interesting fishtail siding on it. A small house but beautiful details.

I have quite a number of these found photos – I’m going to have to write on the back that I have no idea who they are – I can just picture my great, great grandchildren going through my things and trying to figure out who these people are and where they fit in the family.

With digital photography I wonder if old photos will be a thing of the past? I rarely print out my pictures anymore – I just look at them online. I’m going to have to print some off and put them in a box for someone to find years and years from now.

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