Reflection of Pie

It has been three years since I have moved to California.   In those three years I have met many people and I can say that some have become good friends.  It is interesting that my parents immigrated to this country in November and Thanksgiving has always been an important holiday of welcoming others to our family celebration.  This year, as was last year,  Jim and I have been welcomed by another family to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with them and their friends.  Life is full circle and I can only say thank you to all I have met and to all that have been so welcoming. 

 

Pecan chocolate chip pie and dutch apple pie have been made and are ready for tomorrow's feast.

 

 

 

My life is good and our children are all well.

 

I give thanks for all that life has given me and my family.

 

 

Women's Wellness Weekend

 

My friend Liz asked a few months ago if I was interested in going to the Women's Wellness Weekend at the Granlibakken.  I discussed it with Jim and thought it would be a great and informative weekend to attend.  Didn't really think much about it being in November. Remember I have lived my formative years in Texas.   The biggest weather issue might be some rain.  But this is not Texas and guess what? Tahoe City might be a mere hour and a half from home but a totally different elevation.  An elevation that started to get snow Thursday night.  Friday we headed out with our intrepid driver Carolyn into 

 

S

N

O

W

 

A normal 1 1/2 hour drive took 3 1/2 hours.

  

 Isn't it beautiful?

The high for both Friday and Saturday was 28 degrees.

?

 The lows around 14 degrees.

 

Needless to say I didn't spend much time outside. 

 The Women's Wellness Weekend was phenomenal with a great variety of speakers, local vendors and health  providers. 

 

They are planning another one again next year.

I'd love to go just don't know if I want to tackle the  weather.

It's cold up in them hills!!



Fall in Napa

Enjoy the view!

 

Green Olives

My oldest daughter, Rachel, came to visit us for a week.  While she was here we drove to Sonoma to check out the cheese trail, which I will rant about in another post, then continued on to San Francisco and spent the night in Japantown at the Hotel Kabuki.  We spent the next day wandering Japantown. My favorite place is the $1.50 store in Japantown.  We had more fun going up and down each aisle.  I managed to pick up a few stocking stuffers.

After a drive down Lombard Street, the very crooked street,  we headed to the Ferry Building and Saturday's farmers market.

 

 

Our first stop was for macaroons, Rachel's favorite, at Miette.  We got a bakers dozen.  Our only complaint was we wished they were color coded so we knew what flavor combination we were about to eat as we had purchased two of each with a chocolate extra.

 

We also picked up some sourdough for Jim from Acme Bread Company , a seeded wheat from Della Fattoria and some sausage from Boccalone to add to the cheese we had bought the day before in Sonoma. 

 

Along with some delicious Warren pears from one vendor we found green olives at another.  If you bought a pound from this vendor you also received a recipe to cure your own olives.

 

I LOVE olives, black or green, so we bought a pound.  Why only a pound I'm not sure. 

 

Today was brining day. 

 

To prepare the olives for brining I first slit them lengthwise.

Next I sliced jalapenos, lemon, celery and peeled some garlic.

I split up my pound of olives in to two pint jars layered between the lemon, celery, garlic and jalapeno.

To this I added brine, fresh lemon juice and red wine vinegar.

 

Now I have to wait three months for it to ferment. 

 

Check back February 2nd for the unveiling.