Bath Time with Jacob

What more can I say but it is a delightful time! Take a look for yourself.........

Third Day in Truckee - Dinner at River Ranch

Bob and Linda babysat Jacob and Justin, and Jen, John, David and I went to the River Ranch for a special celebration dinner out for "adults only." Jen and John suggested the restaurant and we enjoyed the atmosphere and food very much.

David and I at the house right before we all left to drive out to the River Ranch.

We were 15 minutes early for out reservation, which was when the restaurant opened, so we had a cocktail in the lounge while waiting.

Jen and John -- the birthday girl! After taking our time over the menu, we decided to share three appetizers. We brought our own wine for the evening -- Silver Oak Cab.

Appetizer One was the steamed artichoke -- David and John's favorite.

Number Two was sashimi - Jen's favorite (I love it too)

Third was fresh heirloom tomatoes with homemade mozzarella and a basil viniagrette. My very favorite.

Part of the view from the window at our table. The river is just gorgeous, and the waiter opened all the windoes between each table so that you could hear the water. It was so lovely and peaceful.

The entree portion of the menu.

All four of us chose the filet mignon with cabernet and roasted Gilroy garlic sauce. It was perfect with the Silver Oak Cab.

After dinner Jen had a glass of cognac and I had a chocolate martini. Very disappointing for me. I think it came out of a bottle! Uck. Nothing like Sarah's chocolate mint martinis!

David's dessert was the lemon cheesaecake with a fresh blueberry sauce. In my humble opinion his was the best choice!

John had a cholate truffle cake with fresh berries. Another winner.

The birthday girl and her hubby John at the end of the meal. A very special evening indeed.

Second Day in Truckee Continues

I had planned a celbration birthday meal for Jen including Jen's mother anf father-in-law Linda and Bob. It was a seafood anfd fish inspired meal. Jennifer with the help of Linda surprised me by turning it into an anniversary celebration dinner as well. Linda went out secretly to the party shop and bought 25th anniversary decorations. It was an appreciated surprise and effort. I think I can safely say we all had a fun evening.


The appetizer table. Marinated and grilled shrimp for one of the appetizers served with Italian Prosecco. John and Bob opted for beer.

The dinner table.
The dionner table senterpice. That's a vase from Jen and John's wedding.

One of the decorations Linda surprised us with. It was placed on the appetizer table.

And a celebratory balloon too!

Bob and John enjoying the shrimp and their beers.

The second appetizer was bacon wrapped scallops dipped in an Asian-inspried sauce. If pictures were taken later at dinner, I do not have any. Dinner was Provencal fish filets on a bed of brown rice with lightly dressed spring greens as well. We shared a bottle of VJB Barbera and opened presents after dinner. It was very special being together.

Second Day in Truckee

Our second day in Truckee followed a day of shopping and lunch at Casa Baeza. We headed to historic downtown Truckee and enjoyed stopping in a few of the shops.

This is where Jen and I had lunch with foodie friend Deborah and her hubby Jeff last year which we enjoyed very much. In case you can't read the name, it is The Pacific Crest restaurant.
The Cooking Gallery is one of the kitchen shops I look forward to wandering through. I found some fun things to add to Jen's birthday present here -- a very good pair of tongs that lock closed with a flick of a finger making storage very easy and a distressed looking wooden sign that says "la cucina" on it for her new kitchen when tshe, John and the kids move.
There is a relatively new wine tasting bar and gallery in town called Bacchus & Venus we decided to stop in to. The three of us (Jen, David and I) shared tastings of 2 flights. Many of the wines are from boutique wineries or from famous wineries but the grapes didn't quite make the cut for $100 plus bottles of wine, yet made very decent wine. We came across some interesting finds. Jen and I especially liked the 2007 Laird Family Cold Creek Ranch Carneros Pinot Grigio. Very clean, very smooth, very bright in the mouth. Great sipping wine for anytime and big for the summer months. (That's Jessica our hostess behind the wine bar. She was delightful and well knowledged on wines and pairing foods with wine.)

Jen and I also loved the J R Storey 2005 Tempranillo Paso Robles. This red with its ripe fruit flavors creates a wine of elegance and grace. (That's Jen tasting by the way.)
David's favorite was the 2004 Mt. St. Helena Brand Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. We bought some of these three wines. We tasted 8 wines in all, and though some others were enjoyable, these were the ones we felt worth purchasing.

The wine bar and gallery is a very pleasant place to be. The art is all wine/wine country related; original oil paintings, hand made wine glasses, wine stoppers, et el.
We were tempted to purchase, especially for gifts, but it seemed to the three of us everything was a tad if not more overpriced.
Jacob sitting with grandad away from the wine bar (for legal reasons of course), though close enough to us he could see us, had to taste something too! He was good all day, but when he saw us all tasting, he screamed for a formula bottle to taste as well! It was a very relaxed and enjoyable day.

A Short Get-a-way begins

Not being able to take a proper 25th anniversary trip at this time due to David's heel, we did decide that a short get-a-way to see Jen and her family in Truckee and celbrate her 36th birthday with her as well was the thing to do. Having been pretty much housebound from ambitious trips all summer thus far, we were so looking forward to this trip.

The day before we left my neighbor Deborah came down to get the key to the house since she takes care of our 4 cats when we are gone. I had just completed taking care of her little kitty Fiona for 10 days and she brought me these delightfdul gifts purchased on their trip that took them to Montana, Idaho and Canada. Don't you just love the colors and print on the make-up bag? It was perfect for our get-a-way trip. The dip mixes look and sound delicious. Looking forward to trying everyone of them!

Once in Truckee the first stop of course is to see the progress on Jen and John's house. WOW! Jen took me on a walk through tour of the inside and you can see each room now and "see" where things will be. We know they will be very happy there.

Book Ends

My friend Kelli mentioned in her blog that she has a goal of reading 40 books this year and is almost at her goal. http://www.africankelli.com/2008/07/16/comfort-in-reading/ She does so much and where she finds time to read 40 books in a year amazes me! I have more time to read, and always have a book going. I never stopped to think how many books I read in a year until now.

Speaking of books, Volume Two of my personal home cookbook is just about complete! I have been working on gathering all the recipes I have made over my adult years that we enjoyed and putting them all together as well as all new recipes I make and are keepers. Volume One turned out to be huge; two cvolumes in 4-inch binders. Volume Two is a much more manageable size. I always feel pleased when I have completed one of these cookbooks.

As I think about books I have read and re-read recently I can come up with these at the moemnt:

1. "Eating Heaven" by Jennie Shortridge - This book was given to me orignally by my SIL Merle. I recently re-read the book. It's about the reality of what it takes to care for an ailing relative, a passion for food and cooking, a love story, and a woman becoming all see wants to be. I love this book.

2. "Wicked, the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregoray Maquire - This book is delightfully over the top at times, a page turner from the beginning, and definitely a stimulus for thought.

3. "More Than You Know" by Beth Gutcheon - I don't feel that many authors can pull of twelling two stories and not lose the reader before entwining them together. Gutcheon can.

4. "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle - This ia a warm-hearted and witty account of living ones long-cherished dream of moving into a 200-year old farmhouse in a remote country of the Luberon with wife and dogs. This book transports us into all the earthly pleasures of Provencal life and lets us live vicariously at a tempo goverened by seasons, not by days. Another favorite.

5. "The House of Mondavi, the Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty" by Julia Flynn Silver - A fascinating chronical of the Napa Valley wine family. The Mondavi's are in a sense the Kennedy's of the wine world. You do not have to be a lover of wine to be entralled by this account of ones family's rise and fall.

6. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck - I never tire of re-reading this book that was amazingly first published the year I was born. It is a definite masterpiece set in the Salinas Valley in CA oof two brothers raised alone by their father. Really it is a modern retelling of the book of Genisis.

7 - 20. The Stephanie Plum Series "One For the Money," "Two For the Dough," "Three to Get Ready" "Four to Score" "Five High" "Hot Six" "Seven Up" "Hard Eight" "To the Nines" "Ten Big Ones" "Eleven on Top" "Twelve Sharp" "Lean Mean Thirteen - by Janet Evanovich - My SIL Deb got me hooked on this series. What can I say about Stephanie Plum? She is outrageously funny. She's a sassy Trento, New Jersey, bounty-hunter in-training who's less than perfect and always stirs up action and amusement with her wit and "colorful" circle of family and friends. The books are laugh-out-loud funny. Fun reading.

21. Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Handbook" by David S. Sober MD & Robert Ornstein, PhD - Definite reading for learning new tools to have more control over your life and health.

22. "A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle - This is a spititual manifesto for a better way of life and for building a better world. Transcend your ego-based state of unconsciousness.

23 - 48. "Caroline and the Raider" "Corbin's Fancy" "Courting Susannah" Daniel's Bride" "Deadly Deceptions" "Deadly Gamble" "Emma and the Outlaw" "Just Kate" "Lilli and the Major" "McKetterick's Choice" "McKetterick's Heart" "McKetterick's Luck" "McKetterick's Pride"Never Look Back" "Second Hand Bride" "Sierra's Homecoming" Springwater" "Springwater Season's" "Springwater Wedding" " The Last Chance Cafe" "The Legacy" "The Man From Stone Creek" "The McKetterick's Way" "The Women of Primeose Creek" "Two Brothers" by Linda Lael Miller - My hubby turned me on to her books this year and I enjoy her writing for easy fiction reading. Oddly, I especially enjoy her books set in the old west which has never really intrested me before. However her characters are delightful; the women with minds and strengths of their own, and good men at heart who work hard.

49. "Bouchon" by Thomas Kellar - I recently re-read this cookbook. I love Thomas Keller and his recipes. He is of French Laundry restaurant fame. His cookbooks are gorgeously put together.

50. "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne - A very good book and I do reccomend it. However didn't we all really know this already?

51. "The Witch of Portobello" by Paulo Coelho - I loved this book but then I love the writing of Coelho. "The Alchemist" is an all-time favorite book of mine, and this offering didn't disappoint me.

52. "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson & David Olivier Relin - Yes, on person can make a very big change. This true story of a man bulding schools in Afganistan and Pakistan is a real motivator. and page turner.

53. "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert - This is a delightful memoir of Gilberts journey through Italy, India and Indonesia searching for everything. The lessons she learns along the way in her years journey, lucky for us, are entirely importable.

Some Days Just Make You Feel Especially Happy

All my days are good ones, but there are just some days that make you feel especially happy. This was one of those days for me. I mean I got to taste the new release of one of my favorite wines, be with a group of my close friends and wander through one of my favorite kitchen shops. Somedays are just too sweet!

Our friends, David and I started at Capitol Cellars an upscale wine shop in our general area for the release day tasting of the Silver Oak 2004 Alexander Vally Cabernet Sauvignon. Heart be still......this is the nectar of the Gods! Every year is a great wine prodcuing year for Silver Oak but our concensus is that the 2004 is a cut above the 2003 release. It has a dark ruby color with a deep red edge. The aromas are of fresh blackberries, violets, cola, nutmeg and licorice. In the mouth, the wine has a juicy attack and offers great expression of fruit and spice on mid-palate. It's fruit driven finish is long and elegant. This extraordinary treat and we didn't even have to battle the weekend traffic driving to the Alexander Valley to the Silver Oak winery, let alone fight the hordes of people at the winery for the always popular release day tasting. We sat at cloth covered tables in a much less crowded and quieter atmosphere to do our tasting.

There was also the newest release of Twomey's Merlot as part of the tasting. A very nice wine each year, though our general opinion was that it wasn't as good as last years release. (For those who may not know, Twomey is also owned by Silver Oak and only produced Merlot under that label.) As we enjoyed our tastings and conversation we shared an artisan cheese and cracker tray that included dried apricots and almonds.

We decided afterwards to stop at the new Sur la Table near the wine shop. No one had to ask me twice! Racing heart beat as the excitement grows. Yes! Yes! It is the smallest Sur la Table I have been in, but it was still jammed pack with fun and exciting kitchen every things! I picked up a new cast iron skillet. Wow, it is even seasoned for me! (Heart rate quickening.) Also a double insulated wine bottle bag. It's 70% Neoprene and machine washable. Perfect for carrying wines to a restaurant for dinner. LOVE the fingertip kitchen mitts. Just the right size for my smaller hands. Amazingly David didn't have to drag me out of the store like he has had to do at times. Ahhh. how happy I am.

Someone suggested we stop somewhere nearby for an early dinner. As much as I love to cook, my heart rate increased once again with happiness. Tasting Silver Oak Cab, shopping at Sur la Table and now I don't even have to cook dinner! Someone spotted a Mimi's so that is where we ended up. They overcooked 4 of the 5 entrees (4 of us had the same thing) and had to start them over again. They gave us a choice of a free dessert or muffin for each person since we had to wait so long for our food. We all took a carrot muffin to go. I didn't think this day could get any better but it did; I don't have to cook breakfast tomorrow! Life is good. Real good.