Time Off

Hello my sweets....we are taking a few days off and hitting the road. Not really sure where we're headed.Wherever the wind blows, I guess...I'll be back towards the end of February ...I'll bring the camera and take pictures for sharing when I get back...I'll miss you all and I look forward to being back with all of you soon.....sending love, Kary

Girls Day Out

Sharon and I have been friends for nearly 40 years. I was the first person to work in her shop in Cambria called "Heart's Ease". It was the best job I ever had. I learned about herbs and gardening and all things New England. And I was hooked. Forever.And now all these years later I am still "pretending" that I live in New England. Sharon and Jeff live half of the year here in San Luis Obispo and half at their cottage in Christmas Cove, South Bristol, Maine. So we miss seeing each other for about six months every year. Sharon and Jeff are home.... and it was girls day out. We have a mutual friend, Susie Bassetti who came "over the hill" from Cambria to meet us for lunch in Paso Robles. We ate at "Artisan" and we had a lovely time. Susie brought us each homemade foccacia and olive bread made from the olives on their farm. Lucky us ! After lunch, Susie had to get back to tend to things at the farm and Sharon and I headed out for a late fall drive. Just to catch up. Girls-style.

Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles, CA

After lunch Sharon and I took a drive to one of our favorite places.Vineyard Drive. It takes you out into an area called The Adelaide. It is a drive where you find yourself amoung vineyards and wineries and farmhouses and barns. And we had a beautiful afternoon. The sky was a buttermilk sky. Big high clouds shading the bright sun, the vineyards were in full fall color, the crush for this year was winding down. Walking into the wineries you could smell grapes and damp leaves. In the distance red shouldered hawks swirled high above in the late afternoon sun. We drove lazily down the road enjoying the walnut orchards and olive groves. We came upon The Halter Ranch...a big old house that has been redone by a local architect. It sits grandly amoung stately 100 year old oaks. There are many out buildings on the property...the old barn..the little red shed. It is so peaceful and quiet there. A PERFECT Novemeber afternoon. As the sun began to sink we moved on towards home, but only after one last stop. To Nature's Touch in Templeton.

Pizza and Syrah

We're LUCKY ! We live in the Paso Robles wine region and we have some beautiful wines here. It really starts to feel like fall when John and I open one of the big red wines. They taste and smell of autumn in the woods. All earthy and jammy and winey. We have been making homemade pizza for Monday Night Football for nearly 30 years.And now we have Sunday Night Football so our new pizza night is Sunday. Any excuse, really. I made the dough in the morning and let it sit on the drainboard all day. When I walked by I could just feel the yeast growing..and it smelled so yeasty and lusty. By evening we opened our wine and rolled out the dough. I sauteed some mushrooms and we put on a few olives. Sometimes I buy "special" cheese....and sometimes I use what we have. Tonight was what we had. And it went pretty well. I had some mozzarella and some leftover fontina and some of the parmigiano-reggiano we had grated for the tagliatelle night.So we sipped our wine, rolled our dough, heated the oven and baked pizzas. We sat in our little cozy living room enjoying pizza and wine.

I told John, we have had pizza all over the U.S. And at some of the "it" places, but I don't know how you could beat this. Maybe it tasted so good just because we were.....HOME.