Category — Random

I’ve had this cute little picture on my desktop, copied from somewhere that now I can’t recall, for months and have been waiting for a time to slap it into a post. Today is just the day because I have no time to put up anything other than an explanation of why I’m not putting up anything. It is 5:35 AM and we (Dave, Marissa, my dad, and I) are heading off to Marissa’s storage unit to empty it and put all her furniture in our garage. Hopefully, it’ll only be there for a month or so, just until she can find a permanent place to live in her new home… San Francisco! 

Of course, we could’ve just decided to keep everything in the storage unit, as we have never had a problem with them before. But since we don’t know when she’ll actually be leaving, I think it’s better for us that we store it in our garage, as it will be much less hassle in the long run.

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Marissa gave me two valuable gifts for Mother’s Day last month. The first, is she guest blogging for me for two days, which you’ve already seen.  The second, a mother/daughter night out, I cashed in on last night. It became urgent to spend my gift ASAP because we just learned, the day before, that Marissa received a long sought-after internship at San Francisco Magazine.

Ironically she already has a 10-day trip for the wedding of one of her college roommates to San Francisco planned, she leaves for that today. Then she’ll be home for only 6 days before she needs to go back and report for her new position! It is a whirlwind (actually more like a tornado) around here now!

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A huge helping of gratitude, love, and prayers to all those we remember today… all the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom and democracy.

To help remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed in December 2000. It asks that at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe, in their own way, a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

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There are two wonderful restaurants in the town of Sonoma that Chef John Ash recommended to me and that I now highly recommend to you; The Girl & The Fig (110 West Spain Street) and Estate (400 West Spain Street).  They are owned by Sondra Bernstein and both have amazingly talented chefs. Be sure and make reservations before you leave for vacation.  We couldn’t get in for the days we were in town, except to sit at the bar (which was still great and probably more fun) at The Girl and for Sunday brunch at Estate.

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About eight months ago, Dave and I attended a Hospice fundraiser and purchased a Sonoma Wine Weekend. It included a 2 night’s stay at Benovia Winery’s Vineyard Hideaway, a great house in the middle of their vineyard. As luck would have it, the night before we left, I assisted at a cooking class with Chef John Ash, an expert in all things Sonoma/Napa. He suggested what wineries to visit and where to eat and shop, we honored each of those suggestions and it made for a perfect trip! [Read more →]

Dave and I just returned from a long weekend in the wine country of Sonoma, California. I can’t wait to tell you about all the fabulous food we ate and wonderful wineries we visited.  But before I can even think about that, I have to share with you an absolute gem that we stumbled upon on our arrival night in San Francisco – Gitane Restaurant & Bar. You absolutely have to go the next time you are anywhere near Union Square! I am in love with this place and now my mission in life is to recreate the dishes we had there!

“Gitane” means gypsy woman in French. Additionally, Gitane is the name of a French bicycle manufacturer and also a brand of French cigarettes. This place is exotic and ultra-sexy, exactly what you might expect from a gorgeous romanticized gypsy image. It is hidden away on Claude Lane, an almost alley-like, side street between Sutter and Bush in one direction and between Grant and Kearney in the other.

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This picture just makes me happy; the woman with her shiny kitchen stuff, looking all happy and the man outside shining his car, looking… I don’t know, a bit skeptical or jealous…. whatever, I just like it.

Another couple of things that make me happy are the sweet phone call I received today from my darling son, Connor, and one of the gifts I received today from my lovely and loving daughter Marissa. Marissa will be making me dinner tonight and doing the posts with the recipe, photos, and the whole shooting match for this blog for the next two days! Joy!

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A huge Birthday Shout Out to my baby sister, Sloane. Her birthday was yesterday, the same day we threw the big 8oth birthday bash for our Dad. So, she gave up her special day for him, what a selfless and beautiful daughter and sister she is! The ironic thing about me posting her birthday wish today is that when she was little, we used to think her birthday was on May 1st.  You see, all four of us (Sloane, our two brothers, and I) are adopted and for whatever reason, our parents thought her birthday was May Day. That was when we celebrated it, up until the day they dug out her birth certificate and saw that she was actually born on April 30th.

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And it has begun… the major party prep for my Dad’s 1931 Speakeasy-themed 8oth birthday party! Not certain how many, if any, recipes I may get up this week, but I will be keeping you up to date on the party preparations. Today’s tasks; find, get out and clean all of the glasses, dishes, bottles, and party decor. Out of that list, “finding” is the hardest part! I have SO much stuff and it is stacked, stored, and stashed all over this house. The good news is that I don’t have to rent anything, the bad news, is I have to find it first! [Read more →]

Several weeks ago, Karen Fernau, food writer for the Arizona Republic, called and asked me to submit an answer to a reader’s question for their “Ask A Chef” column. I did so and then forgot completely about it… big surprise! Anyhow, my mentor, friend, and boss, Barbara Fenzl, informed me that she’d seen it on AZCentral.com. Here is the LINK for it.  

This presents a good time for me to remind you about all the useful information you can find on The Basic Kitchen page, over there on your left. Things like a Glossary of Cooking Terms, a Pantry list, Kitchen Tools you should have, and even a list with some of my Favorite Cookbooks.

Those gorgeous eggs pictured above are this Easter’s Silk Tie Eggs that I made along with my friends, Lorie and Ronnie.  They turned out especially wonderful this year.  TIP: When searching your closet and thrift shop for 100% silk ties, look for bright colors. It’s tempting to choose the pretty pastels, but the colors don’t transfer as well.  Go for the reds, deep purples, and dark blues and you’ll end up with the best results.

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