Scenes from Sedona

We spent a wonderful long weekend in Sedona, Arizona, about two and a half hours north of Phoenix for my birthday.  Nothing takes the edge off gaining another year like a trip to a naturally beautiful place and a stay at a fancy resort!  We arrived late at night, so the only scenery we saw the first day were the zillions of stars in the very dark, very clear sky.  When we woke up and looked outside, we discovered that we were in a canyon, surrounded by huge, rugged red rock mountains.  We stayed at the lovely, Southwestern-style Enchantment Resort, the canyon location of which lent itself to enjoying the landscape at every possible moment.   We had a view from our room, our deck, at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, from the pool- you get the idea.   Even when I was at the spa, there was a full wall of windows so I would not miss another moment of gazing at the surrounding red rocks.   Great hiking in Sedona was close to our resort, easily accessible and again, all about the views.

*all photos courtesy of my husband/photographer except the last one, from Enchantment's website.

Weekend in Tennessee

Spent a beautiful/delicious weekend in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains outside Knoxville, Tennessee as a surprise birthday for my husband. I managed to keep the "surprise" until the day before we left, but unfortunately, it is really hard to surprise the person you live with! One errant airline webpage left open on the shared computer can bring down the whole operation. Will practice being sneakier for next time. Highlights were the food, more food and definitely seeing the seven week old truffle puppies! Did some hiking and exploring the farm to compensate for all of the time spent eating.

Scenes from san fran

Having a wonderful time on the west coast.

Some highlights from our 4 days in san francisco and the east bay:

Ferry building and gourmet saturday farmers market. We had deliciously strong blue bottle coffee individually dripped at the stand. Yank Sing, by far the best dim sum in america. Hog island oysters for lunch with sparkling rose. A visit with my friend maxine and her super cute family. A walk in muir woods and a picnic on muir beach. Delicious dinner on the mountainside in lafayette, the eggs on the lovely salad are from the chickens on the property!

Loretta's Bruschetta

Villa Bordoni

Loretta's Bruschetta

Loretta

On our recent trip to Tuscany we were lucky enough to take a cooking class on traditional Tuscan cuisine. The wonderful country house style hotel we stayed in, Villa Bordoni, was set in a hillside (on a dirt road) of the Greve in Chianti region with a working farmhouse next door. Our class was taught in the farmhouse kitchen by the matron of the house, Loretta Somigli, and the Villa owner, David Gardner. One of the first dishes we made was a fantastic bruschetta, very simple and oh so delicious!

Note: they make their own olive oil at Villa Bordoni and are not afraid to use it! When its says drizzle in the recipe, its a very generous "drizzle".

Loretta’s Bruschetta al Pomodoro

Ingredients:

Mature Tomatoes (Soft, Red and Sweet)

Crusty Tuscan Bread (or Ciabatta)

Young Basil Leaves (the small ones)

Whole Peeled Garlic

Salt

Villa Bordoni EVOO or The Best Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil You Can Find

Directions:

Griddle or Toast the crusty Tuscan Bread.

Cut the peeled garlic cloves in half and with the open clove, smear the garlic juices over the abrasive toasted bread.

Roughly chop the mature tomatoes and place in bowl. Salt and mix to allow tomato juices to drain to bottom of bowl. When there is ample juice collecting in bottom, tomatoes are ready.

Add the hand shredded basil leaves.

Drizzle in olive oil.

Salt to taste and allow the tomatoes to soak in the oil and basil to give its fragrance to the mixture before spooning it over bread.

Drizzle olive oil over finished bruschetta.

Postman

I'm back! Trip to Italy was really fun, gorgeous scenery everywhere, plus amazing food and delicious wines. Lots of yummy wines. One of our favorite things on this trip was emailing postcards with our own photos from our iPhone using the Postman app.