Monday, September 30, 2013

Away









We have driven past it so many times; the Italian stone house made by the same Italian that built La Punta Norte, but if the weather had been warmer, lunch under the pergola would have been a nice change from IL Vecchio.




It was jacket and touque and gloves weather so it was a quick walk to the look out after lunch.




It's just like Italy; you check-in and have breakfast at the main hotel but your room is down the street.
































We had a great walk along the trestle through the vineyards and orchards; our eyes feasting on the abundance of fruit ready to be harvested.















A walk through the village while we waited for our pizza, checking out houses and gardens and vignettes that make this little spot so unique.







We started each day at the Heritage Inn with a breakfast that almost rivalled the ones we had in Italy when we stayed in Levanto and were hiking the Cinque Terre. Prosciutto, croissants, raw milk cheddar, home made jam, fruit platter, crispy bacon, farm eggs, freshly baked bread, muesli, and lots of freshly brewed chocolatey coffee.


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Labour of love














First running all over town looking for  a one inch heart-shaped cookie cutter (finally found it at Michael's), then baking two batches of brownies, one each night because I only have one square pan, then freezing the brownies, then getting up at 5:30 this morning to cut all the brownies into two inch squares with a huge knife because, yes, they are still frozen, then cutting the bottoms off the brownies because they are too thick, then cutting out the heart shape in each brownie, then gently pushing out the heart from the cutter without mashing it, and then putting the hearts into their opposite colour. Arrange on silver tray and serve. Nothing to it!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Teacher's biscuits






Maura surprised us with a delectable batch of Raspberry Cinnamon Biscuits; a craving or to celebrate what was in the mail today?

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Clinton


I have been collecting Vallance Pottery for a very long time; we would stop in Clinton so that I could add to my collection. But, as I found out this weekend, Bruce Vallance has retired and  now devotes his time to painting. The selection was not great; there was a lot of green and black pottery, two of the colours I do not collect. But I did find a round platter with handles in the blue stripe pattern. Is this the last piece of Vallance Pottery that I will buy? It certainly looks that way.

On our way home we stopped by the new library in Cache Creek.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

North, again





Another visit to the old homestead.



Even had time to run into town and visit the library.



Fried bread pizza; always good!



You never know what you're going to find growing in the grass.



Firewood for winter.



After all the chores are done, a  meal that takes you back to the Amalfi coast.



Prickly pears; the best fruit ever!



One bite of this pizza and you'd think you were in Napoli.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Terry Fox





From the Market we bought a red cabbage; after roasting chicken we sauteed the cabbage in the drippings from the chicken. Great stuff!











Walked 9.4 k for the Terry Fox Run; weather was good but sadly not very many people on the trail.












After that it was a quiet Sunday; reading, napping, enjoying the view.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Pizza!






This was so good I had it for three meals. The recipe is for Wheat-Free Pizza from the Wheat Belly book by William Davis. Maura did a great job of making the cauliflower crust and the tomato sauce. The red peppers were roasted, the onions were carmelized, and the hickory-smoked ham and pineapple were great toppings.