What's for Lunch?

Having been woken and re-awoken this morning, from 5:30 am onwards, by our relentlessly hungry cat, I ended up ready to go to the barn even earlier than usual. As I drove alongside the fifty acre paddock, which is a rolling hillside terrain studded with mature oaks, I saw a half dozen happy horses relaxing in the morning sun. One was laying full out on his side, with the rest all serenely dozing with their legs tucked beneath them.
As I parked my car, I noticed Roger, the resident coyote, trot over to the herd, roll deliciously in something and then settle down right next to the horses. Was he there because they're friends? Was he there because that's the best darn spot in the fifty acre field? Or was he being Wily Coyote, immersing himself in horse scent and expecting an unsuspecting rabbit to present itself for his breakfast?
My riding lesson was empowering and the camaradery of  the usual gang of riders is a large part of  the experience. We all want to know more and everyone is supportive of one anothers' small achievements. Some of us can remember the planned course we should be taking and some of us get so swept up in riding the moment that it's a rare day without bursts of laughter and missed poles. A new rider joined us recently and her reputation is worse than mine. We decided today to work together and call ourselves "Team Lost".
I made it back home by noon to find a salad prepared and a weeks supply cauldron of vegetable soup bubbling away on the stove. TAO had been working in the kitchen but had not planned beyond the salad for our lunch. I turned away from the quick shower I had hoped to take before setting the table and started looking for a possible menu improvisation.
Butter, garlic and sliced zucchini heating in a pan; oven turned on in anticipation. I threw some frozen green lip mussels in an oven to table pottery dish with a lid, added broth from the soup, saffron, fennel and salt and pepper. I plucked a few leaves of basil and parsely from my garden and chopped them before adding them, white wine and whipping cream to the mix. Covered and shoved in the oven to bake, I tossed some rice and water in with the zucchini, which I also covered on the stove and was able to take my shower and set the table before serving our impromptu feast.
I admit to being drawn to the lazy luxury of a nap this afternoon. The cat was kind enough to snooze on the bedroom chair, rather than glue herself to my side like the nocturnal heat magnet she really is. I'm refreshed now post-nap and I only had to stop writing once to feed the beast.

The Party

The party is behind us.  A happy crowd of forty guests all found seating around three big tables and chowed down on a whole salmon; wrapped in foil with lemon slices, fennel, pastis, green onions, ginger, garlic, thyme and bay leaves; ensconced in the wood-fired BBQ for close to an hour; with occasional additions of fresh, fragrant rosemary to enhance the smokey aromas.
We had 15 lbs of succulent, tender beef, turned into the best Boeuf Bourgignon and 20 lbs of Gratin potatoes, which I'd started peeling at 6am. Dish after dish of Provencale tomatoes; topped with toasted goat cheese from a farm on the nearby coast, and oodles of parsley and garlic; green salad, cheese and two birthday cakes fed carnivores, omnivores and vegetarians alike, with plenty of wine and bubbly available to wash it all down.
It was a huge success, to the point that I turned on the sprinklers at the end, to dislodge the family members who tend to encrust themselves, without regard to the hour or the fact that they are the final stragglers and their alcohol-clouded political opinions are not anything I want to hear. There's a broken sprinkler head in the lawn (thank you tree trimmers) that squirts right onto the patio.
"Somehow", or "As Usual" the Birthday Boy was surrounded by a phalanx of female guests. They were first to be offered our magic potion, or Secret Sauce, as some have dubbed it. The big airtight jar contains cherries, kumquats, apricots and any other fruit we buy in season. Topped off with cognac, ginger liqueur, rum and brown sugar, the mixture sits quietly in the dark of the cupboard, waiting to be shared on special occasions. My brave equestriennes are not afraid of a drink or two and respectfully sipped at their glasses. Eyes widened and brows went straight up upon biting into the surprisingly lethal fruit of the tipsy cherries. The jar has been refilled now and will bide its time until the Christmas Party season. Thank goodness birthdays are only once a year!

Worth Getting Up For!

Top of the morning, ten minutes up the hill from home, at what would have been 7am yesterday and is 8am today.

Using up a credit I had left on a gift certificate, I went on a trail ride with a friend, who needs to get her behind in shape for a 200 mile pilgrimage ride in Spain, come May.

Turning away from the vineyards, the vista of San Francisco Bay stretched below us.

Home for a much deserved cup of coffee. The garden is showing some color by my front door.

Cheerful nasturtiums, black-eyed Sues, freesias, primroses and geraniums wrap the corner out to the sidewalk.

Cymbidium Orchids tantalizingly close to flowering, need attaching to support canes.

Spring color palette continued right onto the lunch table.

Thank goodness for pressure cookers. Lamb Shank stew in 35 minutes, seasoned with fennel, brown mushrooms, rosemary, Worcester sauce, shallots and beer.

More green and orange stuff.

These strawberries looked too good to be true, but their sweetness surpassed the brown sugar and calvados.
I have another 500 mile road-trip planned for tomorrow, so I may take a nap. This time it's not dog-related. It's about a designer who needs some support in a meeting to explain to a client why she's a million dollars over budget and she hasn't finished closing in the walls yet. This promises to be fun!

Eye-Balls, Golf-Balls, Equestrian Egg and Spoon Race.

I have had a very satisfactory weekend. I started yesterday by turning off house and cell phone and ignoring an email from a client who hasn't given any sign of life for several weeks and suddenly thought it would be convenient to meet on a Saturday.
I went early to Curves, exercise club for women, that I had put on hold in favor of Foster-dog walking and training for months. I like the variety of working different muscle groups. I like the friendly atmosphere and I liked that my new shoes seemed to help rather than aggravate my gimpy toes.
All pink in the face and a-buzz with blood circulating in temporarily neglected body parts, I stopped in at the best veggie store you could wish for, which is in the same group of businesses. Ultra fresh produce, great bread, cheese and all kinds of hams and sausages to inspire the lunch menu. The Mexican family that took over this shop last year have worked their asses off and seen amazing results. They've just pushed through the wall into the space next door and there is always a line, despite running four cash registers. It's so great to see people do well.
My garden has been calling to me, in desperate need of tidy-up and prepping for the next season. All summer long my front door, garage driveway and entry patio/walkway are in the deep shade of two silk trees. As those leaves begin to fall it transforms into a full-sun area. The afternoon sun is at a long low angle and powers into that otherwise shady space, until it dips behind the hillside.
Most of my plantings there are in pots and containers of different sizes. I have a dolly that I can use to move them around, depending on what is in bloom or what needs more or less light. The nasturtiums are appearing, showing their umbrella leaves and a few bright blooms. The first of the paper-white narcissi are in bud like mini-cousins to the equally fragrant Hawaiian Ginger plants. Geraniums cheer in red, pink and coral and I threw in a few pansies and iceland poppies to fill any gaps and dug out an unhappy fuchsia to plant a wisteria vine in its place. Whew! I hadn't realized how overgrown that had all become. I was able to tame it all in one eight hour session. There was lunch and a short nap somewhere in the middle but I didn't have to stop for any dog-walking so I was more productive and had more energy left to get the job done.
Sunday morning is the highlight of my week. My riding class is small. We are three or four "mature" women in the 9 am class. We get there early enough to bring horses in from the paddock and groom and tack up our own mounts. The class varies from dressage to small jumping courses and I've been getting to know the different horses and my class mates.
Today our teacher showed up in a unicorn hat and wanted us to play games, in honor of Halloween. Bending poles (slalom) with candies to be picked up at one end and then tossed into a bucket at speed at the other before crossing the finish line. I was far enough ahead that I was able to halt my, rather tall, horse and drop the candy vertically so that it actually went into the bucket and then gallop home. An accidental win as there is not a competitive bone in my body where games are concerned. I was trying for good style and balance rather than resembling an elbow-flapping banshee that might inspire a Thelwell cartoon entitled "Mad Old Women on Horseback".
Next we were given plastic spoons and golf balls with eyes painted on them, the goal being to ride around until the last "eye-ball" hit the dirt. The dry-run quickly had us all holding empty spoons. We tried harder at our second attempt. Two of us made it through walk, two-point position, posting trot and even sitting trot. Canter transition foiled both of us simultaneously. It was fun, in a juvenile kind of way. I look forward to resumption of our more mundane curriculum next week.
Lunch was salad, followed by stir-fried zucchinis/courgettes, from my veggie merchant, and an omelette made with free-range eggs we bought at the farm.
No major plans or obligations this afternoon. A little catch-up reading blogs I've missed and an otherwise tranquil (read lazy) afternoon and evening, before being swept away in the Monday Morning Maelstrom.

Toasting Hemingway

Yesterday was Lovely-Daughter's 24th birthday. We met for dinner at La Bodegita, Cuban Restaurant. LD has had her hair highlights up-dated into very Glam, Long Summer-Streaks. Her make-up was focused on a "smokey eye". She was dressed to party with her friends after we "Oldies" went home and she and her handsome, well dressed, husband looked as though they were ready for the red carpet. ( She sure didn't get all this fashion sense from me. Blame/applause to the French side of the family). They were punctual; that she gets from me.

La Bodegita is very nice, it has warm surroundings, great service and food as well as a Rum Selection that would satisfy Hemingway.
I was advised to try a mixed drink with a subtle splash of rum. It tasted like wishy washy lemonade and had sugar coating the outside of the glass. Have they met me before? I don't want a sticky glass and please keep sprigs of mint to yourself; it is an aromatic weed and only vaguely useful in a sauce served with roast lamb.

The attentive waiter, hearing my disappointment, advised another cocktail, this one containing something called "Rum Agricole". Much more my style! I needed my teeth whitened anyway and now won't need the dentist to do them! I imagine that Rum Agricole is used to chase the rats out of the sugar cane plantations. Just what I was looking for.

We had Ceviche followed by Paella, which is always such a risk to order, not last night. The Paella deserved to be photographed, it was beautiful, but we were too lazy to get the camera from the car. The ingredients were fresh and tasty and the rice was moist and seasoned to perfection. Yum! Dessert involved flambeed bananas, of course, and we finished up keeping the men company in the cigar salon and sipping, a more sophisticated, mellow, aged rum which was like nectar of the Gods.

Today Hubby and I drove South to San Juan Bautista, one of the original California Missions, originally built in the seventeen-hundreds. The ground drops off suddenly beside the Mission. that is the San Andreas Fault Line, right there! It makes sense to pray hard in a spot where the plates of the Earth's crust collide. The Mission is still a functioning Church and the town around it is simple Western-Style with one main street. There are flowers, intermingled with enormous old cacti, everywhere. Today the roses were spectacular and the swallows were flitting around, as always in the spring. We were lucky enough to catch sight of a variety of flowering cacti.

Our favorite lunch spot is Jardine de San Juan, a Mexican restaurant with a huge interior courtyard, shaded by plane trees and accented with purple clematis, pink geraniums and a wandering troop of chickens, with accompanying roosters. There is a central fountain and live musicians.

It is hard to admit that we sometimes don't appreciate this little day trip destination, (easily bored), but today it was perfect.

Sharing My Sunshine

I live in California for a reason; I have paid my dues in colder climes and choose now to live in a place where it doesn't hurt to breathe outdoors in Winter. For those of you who are somewhere chilly, let me share a little of my sunshine with you today.

My morning started with a slow stroll around the block with my trusty canine. Diva has reached a mature age where slow and stop are her two speeds. She was never an athlete; although, in the past, a skate-board or UPS truck could provoke a moment or two when she more resembled a guided missile than a dog.

Where yesterday I noticed one small dark-pink blossom on a young tree there are now a flurry of them. White almond-blossoms and the fat, waxy buds of tulip trees are shouting "Look at me, I was first!" I have a couple of yellow crocus in the pots around my patio and the stiffly erect promise of daffodils protruding the soil.

I spent a hour with my book out on our deck; exposing pale, hairy legs, which luckily no one can see as our garden is not overlooked.

My French Artist and I decided that it would be a good day to eat lunch outside in the sun. I cooked artichokes that we ate with a home-made mayonnaise; the yellow color like sunshine in a bowl. The ingredients include lemon-juice from lemons I picked this morning in my garden and olive-oil which we import for ourselves from a family-member's olive orchard in the South of France. Egg-yolk, mustard, salt and pepper and voila!

We had fresh bread and cold roast lamb with some Provençale rosé wine, in moderation. The shiny fat blue of blueberries kept us smiling all the way to the end.