Under a blue moon

1.24.11

 

We had a fabulous weekend.  We decided, rather spur of the moment, to go visit our friend Kath who lives in Lake Tahoe. 

I'm not sure how people that live in vacation destinations do day to day life.  I mean seriously how do you get up and go to work?  I would just want to stretch leisurely when I woke up at 9:30am then go sit in my nightgown looking at the view while I sipped my morning tea. 

Kath has an adorable cabin, nestled in the pine trees.  It is cozy and comfy and decorated in her eclectic style.  Kind of a shabby, beachy, Poconos mix that totally works.  When I come home from her house and look around my own I always think "well this is....staid and boring and safe."

 

So let's go back to the photo at the top.  Does anyone have any idea what that dish with the small hole in the lid is for?  The dish hasn't lost its handle or finial or anything like that.  There is a perfectly formed hole in the center of the lid that serves some purpose - but what?  I assume it is to vent steam or something but is there a name or special use for the dish itself?

She has a full 12-piece place setting set of Haviland Limoges china along with a very extensive collection of the serving pieces.  They were her Great Grandmother's passed down to her grandmother, to her mother and then to her. 

 

The weather was perfect for us. We left mid-afternoon on Friday and arrived at her house just as the sun was setting.  We had a wonderful dinner and watched trashy TV.  On Saturday we got up to sparkly blue skies.  We took a drive around the lake and had lunch at a local pub. 

I love impromptu get-aways like that.  My goal for 2011 is do something like that at least once a month.   When I look back at 2010 the best parts of it were the little trips like that we took.  Even the ones that were just an overnight stay somewhere.   

Marisolio

On Friday Rick and I took a little road trip to the town of Murphys.  I had a table to drop off for my niece Sara and we wanted to see the new olive oil tasting bar she manages in Murphys, CA.

The drive from our house to Sara's is one of our favorites.  It takes about 90 minutes and most of the time we are on a gently meandering two lane highway through low hills with grazing cattle and charming farmhouses.  Bucolic comes to mind.

Wouldn't you know it I forgot my camera again (I've been doing that a lot lately) so these pictures were taken with my cellphone and don't adequately capture how lovely Murphys is. 

The owner of Marisolio, Mary Lou Schuster, has a 43-acre olive oil ranch with over 4000 olive trees in Copperopolis.  She has been selling her olive oils locally and decided to open up a tasting room.   The tasting room features over 25 varieties of olive oil and over 20 varieties of balsamic vinegar. 

She also has olive related items; dipping plates, linens (like the hand embroidered towels above), jars of olives and tapenades. 

But the main event is the tasting bar.  There are metal casks (called a fusti) filled with different varieties of olive oils and ceramic casks with balsamic vinegars. 

Sara first set me up with a taste of chipotle infused olive oil with fig balsamic vinegar.  Sweet with a warm kick to it.   Then I tasted the honey ginger white balsamic vinegar which has an Asian flavor to it.  I can see it used in a vinegrette for a Chinese chicken salad or to marinate chicken for a stirfry.

I ended up buying a herb infused olive oil, the fig balsamic vinegar and the honey ginger white balsamic vinegar.  I could have easily picked about ten more but I showed some restraint. 

I kind of wish I had also bought the chipotle olive oil because while Sara was ringing me up Cathy, one of Marisolio's staff, mentioned that she had made hummus with it and immediately I had a craving for hummus and crostini. 

Well I'll use it at an excuse to go back up there.

After visiting Sara we strolled down Main Street.  Murphys really is a charming little town.  Lots of wine tasting and nice restaurants.  We popped into Nelson's candy store for some toffee before heading back to our car and heading home. 

Marisolio is located at 488 Main Street, Murphys, CA.  Stop in and say hi to Sara.  And try the blueberry balsamic vinegar and the basil olive oil.  Both of those are next on my list.

 
  
 
 
 

More Mendo

We are going on a house tour of Mendocino.  

I am certainly not an expert on Mendocino history but what I gleaned from various travel guides and websites is that it was settled by disillusioned gold seekers who decided to make their fortunes by selling lumber.  In order to transport the lumber it became a shipping port and much of the architecture is owed to homesick sea captains' families building in the New England style they were accustomed to.

Okay - that isn't even the cliff notes version of the cliff notes version of Mendocino history but you get the gist.

There are a lot of pretty houses in the area.

And lots of lovely white picket fences. 

I really just wanted to pick up a house and take it home as a souvenier.  Mendocino has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful coastal towns.  Works for me.

After our leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning we drove into Fort Bragg to hit up glass beach (I'll have to do another post on that - it was just amazing) and do a little window shopping.  

Look! I found my people:

Fort Bragg was okay.  We had fun poking in the shops but honestly - it seemed to be either touristy souveniers or Carharts at the local hardware shop.  We did pick up some baked goods at lovely bakery and toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo (not).

After Fort Bragg we drove into Mendocino (where the house pictures above were taken) and lunched at a local hot spot, Mendo Cafe. 

Across from the Cafe there was an interesting building with a statue on top that I snapped a few pictures of.

I'm not sure what the statue depicts.  It would look rather solomn if it weren't for all the birds perched on their heads.  Nothing ruins a dignified moment more than a bird roosting on your head.

I'm going to jump ahead a bit.  After lunch and picture taking we headed back to Glendeven Inn where we had our wine and earthquake.  Then we headed back into town for dinner at the Mendocino Hotel (old school Mendo).

On Sunday we reluctantly said goodbye to our room at the Inn and headed down the coast to Point Arena to see the lighthouse. 

Now I expected we would just walk up to the top of the lighthouse and have a quick look around and then hop back in our car and be done.  But it was way more interesting than that. 

I truly expected us to be the only ones there but actually there were a number of other people visiting the lighthouse and it was staffed with several docents that gave us a tour of the lighthouse and talked about its history. 

It was built in 1870 and the government hired and housed four civilian families to "keep" the lighthouse.  In 1906 when the big San Francisco earthquake hit it was damaged and had to be torn down (except for the spiral staircase which is still original) and rebuilt. 

We climbed up to the top of lighthouse and saw the view from up there.  Here is looking down onto the original fog horn signal room (okay not the official name for the building but that is what it was used for).  Now it is the museum.  That odd, pointy shaped grey thing to the left of the building (inside the fence) is a whale skull. 

It was kind of dizzifying to look down from up there. 

Even more so looking in this direction:

The California coastline really is gorgeous, isn't it?  Very austere and rugged.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit a light house do so.  It really was fascinating.  Point Arena is run by a non-profit group and they are very knowledgable about the history of this particular light house and about light houses in general.  Did you know every single light house in the United States has a unique signal - both for its light signal and its foghorn?  That is so any sea captain sailing past can tell exactly where they are by the light or by the foghorn.

After the light house tour we just headed on down Highway 1, making our way back home again. I used this shot on my Monday's post but it deserves another posting:

Really magical - the entire weekend. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

You whooo - where are you?

 

Sorry for the absence.  I've been off buying a new house.  Lovely old mansion in New Orleans.   It's a little bit haunted though.  And overrun with tourists.

Oh okay - that's the haunted mansion at Disneyland.  I do love the iron work and the widow's walk though. 

I just got back from a four day trip down to Los Angeles with a group of women.  We were celebrating my cousin's 23rd birthday in Disneyland and I don't know what is more tired - my feet from all the walking or my face from all the laughing.

I have tons of pictures but I left my camera at my Dad's house so I can't upload them until Sunday.

I did take a few with my iPhone so I could email them quickly to the poor folks that couldn't make it. 

I love Disneyland.  My sister Kate says that if she ever runs away from home that is where we can find her.  I know exactly what she means. 

Road trip

 

Yesterday Rick and I decided, quite impulsively, to set aside Saturday's usual mundane chores and go on a road trip.  Just a nice drive, end up somewhere pretty, have lunch and then head back home.

 

I know I apologize for the quality of my picture a lot but most of these were taken from a moving car, through a bug splattered windshield (anyone that travels across the Yolo causeway with any regularity knows what that is about...).

We decided to drive to St. Helena in the Napa Valley, taking the backroads.   There used to be a program on television called Bay Area Back Roads that would feature out of the way places to visit.  We wanted to do our own version of that.  

 

St. Helena (the entire Napa area for that matter) is just so pretty.  Grand wineries, old Victorian style houses, acres and acres and acres of vines.   St. Helena itself is a smaller town with a typical Main Street of restaurants, shops and lots of visitors.  We just parked at one end and walked down one side and back up the other. 

We picked a smaller coffee shop type restaurant for lunch and then afterwards wandered over to Woodhouse Chocolates to buy a treat for a friend of ours.   It is the prettiest chocolate shop I have ever been in.  Beautiful cream wood work, chandeliers, hanging tapestries.  I wish I had asked to take pictures inside but I was all agog at the chocolate selections.   Even the distinctive pale blue, round boxes are the prettiest candy boxes I've ever seen.

 

After lunch we hopped back into our car and drove around town.  I think we like looking at old houses more than anything else.  If I had an extra couple of million dollars I could see buying a little place here.

 

If you have 3.8+ million dollars this house can be yours too.  There are other, more affordable options but they might not come with their own barrel room.

This may have been a morbid way to end the outing but I made Rick stop at the local cemetary so I could walk around and take pictures.  Even in the afterlife you can live in a perfectly charming place in St. Helena.

 

Lobster roll, anyone?

 

Page 2 of the travel wishbook.  The places depicted are in no special order, by the way.  If someone waved their magic wand and said I could go anywhere I'd be on a plane to Paris faster than you could say au revoir. 

 

But since there doesn't appear to be a travel fairy godmother in these parts we'll just head for Maine in my imagination. 

As with the New Orleans page each item represents something uniquely Maine-ish.   Can you guess them? 

 

I stitched that spider web onto the page.  I saw a Halloween card where they had done that and filed the idea away for future use.  Now what could a spider web have to do with Maine?  Hmmm?

I've always wanted to eat a lobster roll and I never have.  There is something kind of appealing about taking a rather luxurious food item and serving it in such a simple, accessible way.

 

I think the next stop on our journey will be somewhere in Europe.   Not sure yet where.  Paris would be the obvious choice but I have to let the images and embellishments inspire me. 

Beach glass

 

On Tuesday my youngest son and I went beach glass hunting.  There will be no pictures of beach glass because 1) The pickins' were slim and 2) My camera batteries died after taking three shots.

For those of you familiar with the California coastline we picked a spot a little South of Pescadero beach.  It was a typical June day - a bit foggy and cool but still lovely.

 

You need to be part moutain goat to get down to the beach.  I'm not sure if I should be flattered that Evan thinks I can scamper down the rocks like he can or worried that this might be some evil plot to do me in.....

No crabs were harmed in the filming of this blog.  I think this one needs a few more years before it ends up on someone's table.

 

After about an hour we climbed back up the rocks to the car and headed North into Half Moon Bay for some tacos and then stopped off at my very all time favorite nursery, the Half Moon Bay Nursery.  If you live in the Bay Area it's worth the drive.  It's on Hwy 92 just before you get into Half Moon Bay (if you are heading West on 92).  They have the best selection of plants. 

(The remaining pics were taken with my cellphone so the quality is a bit poor)

 

I resisted the geraniums.  Rick has a peculiar prejudice against them and I've already snuck a few into the garden.   Gorgeous clear, cool pink though, isn't it?

 

The wall fountain in the previous post came from this nursery about 15 years ago.  They have a good selection of pots, wicker edging (I was wondering where one would purchase that if one didn't live in England), plant stands and garden decor.

 

They also have a good selection of indoor plants.  Which seems harder to find these days, for some reason.  They also have a huge succulent section which Evan liked.  He has quite the succulent garden going. 

I bought a flat of impatiens which I have planted by the front door.  I'm hoping the shock of going from the cool, fogginess of HMB to the dry heat of Granite Bay doesn't do them in.

Let's just forget about the mantel, shall we?

 

Mantel still isn't cooperating but instead of trying to fix it I've decided to move on and just accept is as it is.  I'm going to be redoing it for Christmas in about 45 minutes anyway.

I did put away the Halloween themed decorations in the entry way and redid the library table in there.  And would you look at that....

 

It kind of reminds me of the old mantel. 

Maybe with bit more green in the mix.

 

This is how the mantel stands at the moment:

 

After staring at it for two weeks now I realized what I want is a mantel mirror.  Something kind of like this (I have seen prettier ones).

 

Day off

 

Yesterday I had the day off.  Actually, let me back up a bit.  I was SUPPOSED to have the last two weeks off.  It has been a busy Summer at work and my big project was winding down.  I scheduled to take the first two weeks of October off.  No big plans ~ just working around the house and not logging into work.  Just time to unwind.

My partner on the project was set to back me up on the last few items that needed finalizing.  And two days before I was set to be off he got appendicitis and had to have emergency surgery.  He has been out ever since.   So much for my vacation. 

I have managed to work just a few hours each day but it's just not the same as leaving it all behind for two straight weeks.

But back to yesterday.  I did manage an outing.  I worked for a few hours in the morning then picked my cousin Claudia and my sister Trish.  We drove down to Monterey and met Nicki at Tarpy's Restaurant in Monterey.

Tarpy's has an interesting history.  The restaurant is in old house in the area known as Tarpy Flats.  Named after Matt Tarpy, an early rancher in the Monterey area, who was lynched in the 1870's when he was arrested for the murder of his female neighbor over a property line dispute.  He claimed it was an accident but he was hauled off to jail and during the night he was lynched by the town folks. 

We had a lovely lunch (mixed greens, apple, candied pecans and Gorgonzola for me) and then poor Nicki had to go back to work but the rest of us headed into Carmel for a little window shopping.   Carmel Plaza has a fabulous Anthropologie (and great sales going on right now). 

I left my camera at home so the pics above are courtesy of Flickr Favorites.

Of course I'm feeling a bit cheated about my vacation, especially since I already turned in my time card for the time off.  I also have to take a lot of time off between now and the end of the year or I will lose the vacation time.  I'm thinking of taking every Friday off until then end of the year.  I just have to see how that flies with my boss. 

Think of all the projects I could get finished if I had three days off each weekend.

County Fair

This is going to be a pic heavy post.  I went to the Nevada Country Fair last night and I took over 200 pictures. 

I have gone to this particular fair since 1982.  It has won awards for being the prettiest country fair in the state.  It is held in the Sierras in a town called Grass Valley where the ferris wheels and corn dog stands are nestled in the pines. 

It is such a slice of pure, unaldultrated small town Americana.  We headed for the pigs first thing.  I think that pig is smiling at me.  The pigs below are six days old.  Makes me ever so glad I am not a mama pig.

After getting our fill of piggy cuteness we strolled through some of the exhibit halls where we saw prize winning jams and baked goods.  There was even a snickerdoodle division (Rick's favorite cookie).

There is an area called Treat Street that has every conceivable kind of fair food you can imagine.  Corndogs, steaming hot corn, giant baked pototoes, pasties, you name it.  Tough place to be if you are, ahem, on a diet but I managed to find a chicken taco salad at the Mexican food stand that was in dietary reason.

I avoided this place:

Okay I may have pressed my nose up against the window until I was shooed away.

After eating we went back to the livestock area and had a look at the baby goats.  I hate to say it but I think the 4H goats might be a little better looking than our goats. 

When it got dark we headed over to the carny games to try our hand at winning a gold fish or a ginormous Spongebob Square Pants.  Thank goodness we can't knock over a stack of milk bottles to save our life.

Going to the fair is always a little bitter sweet because to me it signals the end of Summer.  We'll still have a couple of months of hot weather but the days are definitely getting shorter and the evenings cooler.