Today I'm Listening to This...

Perfect for this rainy tuesday, LOVE her voice!

5/10/11

Happy Friday!

Today i'm inspired by this...

Photo by. Noemie Goudal

Photo by. Noemie Goudal

While listening to this....

May Recipe: Greek Panzanella

The last couple of weeks we have had the most beautiful summer weather.  There is nothing that I love more in the summer than sunday fundays, picnic lunches, and hot late night dinners. This is one of those recipes you can make for all of those occasions and more.  Light, flavorful, and such beautiful colors.  You could serve this as a starter, a light lunch, or a side dish with dinner.  I decided to make it for Mother's Day and it was just wonderful.  Served with pan cooked rock fish, jumbo shrimp and scallops it was seriously the perfect meal!

Ingredients

• Good olive oil
• 1 loaf rustic bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
• Kosher salt
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, large diced
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, sliced in half rounds
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

For the vinaigrette:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup good olive oil

Directions

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread cubes and sprinkle with salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 5 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Add more olive oil as needed.

Place the cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.

For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper in a small bowl. While still whisking, add the olive oil and make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta, olives and bread cubes and mix together lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe Via Barefoot Contessa

Berry Crisp

With so many beautiful berries in season I could't resist making one of my favorite desserts for Mother's Day.  This is one of those no fuss recipes where I really dont have a recipe except for the crisp.  You can make it with apples, peaches, plums, really any kind of fruit that is on season at the time.  Serve warm with ice cream and you are in Heaven!

Ingredents:
Berry Filling:
-3 containers of strawberries
-1 container blueberries
-1 container raspberries
-1 container blackberries
(You don't have to be exact, and can add more or less of anything)
-1 cup of sugar
- the juice of 1 lemon

Crisp topping:
-1/2 cup unsalted butter
-1 cup firmley packed brown sugar
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 cup flour
-1/3 cup quick cooking oats

Preheat oven to 350'. Wash and trim up berries if needed.  Toss in sugar and lemon juice.  Place in baking dish and set aside. Melt butter and stir in brown sugar and salt.  Add flour and oatmeal and stir until just incorporated, do not overwork! Crumble over berries. Place in oven and bake 50 to 60 minutes till golden brown and bubbly.

Today I'm Listening to This...

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Mother's Day !

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Mommies in my life, especially mine! Love to you all!

Remnants of the Past Weekend

This last weekend my Mom and I escaped for a couple days up the coast for the Remnants of the Past flea market in Nipomo. It was a wonderful trip and we had so much fun spending girl time talking, and shopping at the flea market.

We stopped along to way in Santa Barbara for lunch on the wharf.

 Piso Beach, there is something so  neat about the fact you can drive your car on the sand here.  Just don't get stuck in the soft sand, wink wink!

We got into San Louis Obisbo late that night and ate at Big Sky Cafe for dinner.

Ahhhh Goodmorning S.L.O. and the Petit Soeil B&B.  Such a cute little place with such big Parisian ambiance.  We had a wonderful breakfast on the patio in the early morning before heading out to the show.

No words, except due to the article in Country Living Magazine there we sooo many people.  That certainly didn't stop us from shopping away the afternoon.  Everything was so beautiful and unique. I found some really great treasures and can't wait to make part of our home.

The Dana  Powers House. Beautiful!

Tired and ready for lunch we headed to DePalo & Sons for lunch before we headed home. Such good food and a fantastic specialty market.  Wish there was one like this close to me.

We had a wonderful couple days escaping town and visiting such a beautiful place that felt so far away but was only a few hours up the coast.  I cherish the time I spend with my Mom and I'm so glad we have such great memories like this!

P.S. I love you!

We spent my birthday this year in Palm Springs and it was everything I would of wanted and more. Here is our mini vacaction in pictures...

We loved our patio room with our own fireplace,  private patio and record player.  They even had an eclectic mix of record to set the mood.

Rum punch, perfect for lounging by the pool

Birthday cheers!

Our little friend that lived in the tree outside out room.  Its weird to see a humming bird be still

Afternoons of lounging in hammocks by the pool listening to the drum circle get louder and louder as the night went on

Chips, salsa and ceviche 

Bingo and dinner at Kings Highway

A morning hike through Indian Canyon

The waterfall

The view

Heaven

Woke up to this on the patio

And room service, my favorite

Last afternoon at the pool, what a beautiful day!

  Slurpees on a hot day, nothing better! Goodbye  Palm Springs, see you soon.

Cocktails

Looking for something in iphoto and ran across these oldies but oh SO goodies.  This is a timeline of a hysterically drunken day 6 (maybe 7?) years ago with a bunch of pirates on a boat in Long Beach.

On our way

Just arrived, so excited!

Getting into the spirit

Cocktails anyone? 

The end of the night! We will keep this photo smaller so my husband doesn't completely kill me for posting this.  Such a great memory of a crazy sunday funday from our much wilder days of youth.

Happy Tuesday!

Photo by. Roman Lysenko via 500px

Happy Tuesday! This last week has been an unbelievable roller-coaster that I will never forget.  I am so thankful for the wonderful friends and family in our lives that have poured their love and support onto my family.  Today I'm looking forward to catching up on blogs and spending the rest of the day laid up next to the pool, the weather has just been amazing! Loved this picture, it just made me smile, hope it does the same for you!

Julian Bialowas

It's funny sometimes how things come into your life when you need them the most.  I stumbled upon these beautiful photo quotes by artist Julian Bialowas last week and at that moment it was just what I needed.  Check out the rest of his work and support him on his 365 quote project!