Panama

Our Panama adventure! 

(Panama City, Miraflores Locks, El Valle, Isla Grande, Gamboa)

WASP

image via Tomboy Style

Maybe in a past life. 

Sioux Wisdom

“The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man's heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans, too.” 

Luther Standing Bear

The Perfect Day

Just another beautiful California winter day. I have to say, jumping in the Pacific with three of my favorite men (Bengi, you need to move home from Oregon) is quite an amazing way to spend an afternoon!

Dive in

images via welcome back, oldtimer

Wisdom for the New Year

An Italian Night

Before Christmas we had an Italian dinner: polenta and bolognese.  To be honest, I don't think you can call yourself an Italian cook unless you've stood at the stove for 30+ minutes stirring polenta. The polenta is a family recipe, but the bolognese is super easy...


olive oil+onion+carrot+celery+flat leaf parsley+ground beef+crushed tomatoes+basil+parmesan


Mangia bene!

Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato

The perfect recipe to try out my new ice cream maker! Is it wrong that I'm totally willing to suffer (as I am a bit lactose intolerant) for this gelato? 

Moments

via K. Budig

Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful day. My resolution this year is to travel more. I would love to journey out of the country at least once (Mexico not included) before 2013.


In the new year, I would also like to ____


read for pleasure each day.
take more nature walks.
keep an herb garden.
take less and give more.
have patience.
open to grace.
ride my bike.
be a better friend.
try something new.






image via welcome back, oldtimer

Holiday Cookies

"White Christmas Dream Drops" via Sunset

(my first attempt at meringues!)

White Christmas

image via welcome back, oldtimer 

The sun is shining, the grass is green/The orange and palm trees sway/There's never been such a day/In Beverly Hills, LA/But it's December the 24th/And I'm longing to be up north/I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Immersion Blender

Finally used this to make an asparagus soup (it was a birthday present from September). It's kind of amazing. My new favorite kitchen toy!

Red Quinoa Salad

1 C red quinoa
2 C chicken or vegetable broth
1 can black beans
1 can corn kernels
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 C red onion, finely chopped
3/4 C Cilantro salad dressing
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
avocado
zest of 1 lime

Recipe via Trader Joe's (on the back of their red quinoa box). Thanks for the heads up, LM! It's kind of amazing...even if you can't pronounce "quinoa" hah!

Holiday Windows

images via Vanity Fair

It's after Thanksgiving...which means I'm officially allowed to start decorating for Christmas!  

Giving Thanks

Norman Rockwell's "Freedom from Want"

Heading south of the border, so here is my "thanks" a day early. Gobble gobble! xo
Eleven for 2011...
1. a home by the sea
2. a man that makes me laugh everyday
3. a family I'm proud of
4. lake walks
5. happy hour with coworkers
6. catch phrase
7. j.crew
8. dark chocolate covered acai berries
9. crisp fall days
10. cabernet sauvignon
11. Mitchell Creek, Glenwood Springs, CO

Thanksgiving Choices

OK, folks. I'm in charge of bringing an appetizer and a vegetable side to Thanksgiving dinner. Now I need your help to decide what to make! 


Appetizers:
Goat Cheese and Herb Stuffed Radicchio Leaves
Sundried Tomato Kebabs
Pizzettes with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese and Prosciutto 


Vegetable Side:
Pecorino Bean Salad
Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts 
Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta


What do you think? Any other suggestions? 

The Getty

An incredibly (post-rain) clear day at the Getty! Yes, that's the Pacific. 

On Veterans Day

...Finally, that when you go to war, you assume that the lives of people in another country are not as valuable as the lives of your own countrymen. If we really believe, as our most fundamental moral principles demand we believe, that the children in other countries have as much right to live as our children, then we must refuse the call to war. It is time, by public demand, by general outcry, to end "the scourge of war" .

The best thing we can do for Veterans Day is to pledge: "No more war veterans".

Howard Zinn

A War Prayer

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.


Mark Twain