Enjoying food for the soul and for the belly with my favorite people. (Taken with instagram)

withextralove:

When our children were growing up, I was the chief chef in our household. My husband worked at his job outside the home and I stayed at home to work at my job of managing the household. For over 20 years I planned, bought, prepared and generally made all the decisions regarding what we would eat…

I have such beautiful memories of you in the kitchen, kids playing, you cooking, us talking. You are so in your element when you cook and engage in relationship and I’m thankful that I’ve been present for some of those precious times.

I remember seeing so many cooking utensils I’d never seen in my life and asking what they were for.  I remember you trying to teach me how to make a pie, which always taste better when you make them:) I remember spending Thanksgiving with you one year and helping you make your famous stuffing.  I never thought I’d like it more than our family recipe, but I did.   I remember the time you invited me over to make t-shirt dresses (back in the 80s) and you were helping me, baking a pie, caring for the kids as they played, cooking a meal and spending time with me.  Little did I know that you were preparing for a dinner with invited guests from out of town and you never once, not once seemed stress.  You were completely relaxed and you loved and enjoyed me and the kids fully.  I stood in awe.  It brings tears to my eyes now.  What a gift your life and your cooking has been to me.  

The thing I can’t live without during this god awful season of influenza and cedar. 2 sniffs from each nostril and I can breathe again. I love you Vicks.

Teresa made homemade biscuits for us when we were at the beach and she said if they weren’t perfect she would make them again when we returned to Morgan Hill.  Of course, I think her biscuits are perfect every time, but I was glad she was going to judge them for herself.  In her opinion, they were flawed. You wouldn’t have known it because I alone ate 4 and I believe Jeanenne ate just as many, too.  Lucky for me, she baked them a second time. I could eat Teresa’s and Jeanenne’s homemade biscuits every morning until the day I die and never get tired of eating them!

Under Construction singing Do, Re, Mi acapella!

So you can’t go to San Fran and not go to Ghirardelli. I had a little taste of Jeanenne’s hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl. It was beyond delicious. While sitting outside and visiting, we overheard these college students singing “Do Re Mi” from the Sound of Music. They’re from Harvard and their group is called Under Construction. What a treat for us.

We took the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf and it stopped at nearly every corner. It was like riding a slow moving rollercoaster because of these amazingly steep streets…I mean steep as in it felt like you were looking down a cliff steep. And we decided not to take the “rollercoaster” back (not sure who decided this…I know it wasn’t me), but instead to walk up these steep streets to get back to Tara.  Talk about a thigh burner and a heart racer.  Hated it, but loved it.  Know what I mean?

WHEW!

Took a day trip to San Francisco to visit with Tara and see the sights.  Had lunch near her building in a cute little sandwich shop called Bread and Cocoa and spent time taking pics of the historical building where she works. I’m excited for this phase of her life.

We spent the day in Carmel having lunch, shopping, and eating chocolate. Several of the shops were cute little cottages.  The one we frequented twice within an hour was “The Cottage of Sweets”, where we bought chocolate imported from England.  Once we had our chocolate and we had bought a few things, we were ready for the beach.  I was struck by the landscape…fertile, moss covered hills right beside the ocean.  Every day since we’ve been here, we’ve seen nothing but beauty, including the sunset that our eyes bestowed at the end of a long day. Sigh. 

Teresa and Jeanenne having lunch at The Tuck Box. the first cottage we visited.

Our first trip to “The Cottage of Sweets”.

We’re back again…we couldn’t get enough of that chocolate.