Our friends D&D - parents of Axl & Rosie the best Brittany Spaniels in the world - recently both had work trips canceled, so we were able to get together for an impromptu Tuesday night dinner party.
On the menu - Steaks, salad, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin bread for dessert. Easy & delicious for a chilly night.
But our real reason for getting together is so the dogs can play - these three LOVE each other and tear around the yard (and house) for hours.
Rosie checks out what's on the menu
Difficult to see but this is all three dogs wrestling on the couch. Oops.
Amazed that we got them to sit still long enough for this picture!
We finally made it out mountain biking last Sunday. Although TD and I both bike a lot in town, we couldn't remember the last time we went mountain biking (probably 5 years?). TD used to be really into it; two big crashes have made me much more cautious but I was still looking forward to it.
One clue that its been awhile since we have been out was the state of our gear - my hydration bladder gave up the ghost while I was filling it and all of our water bottles were leaky and had been given away. But we persevered and were excited to get to the trail head when it was still cool and misty. We joked about being unprepared (no pump or patch kit) but figured our friends could help us out if we needed it.
But about a third of the way into the trail, I unclipped during a particularly tricky uphill section. Except I didn't unclip, the entire sole of my shoe peeled off, while remaining firmly clipped into the pedal. oops.
The remaining ride was interesting to say the least, trying to balance my now sole-less shoe on the very small clipless pedal. It was my dominant foot of course which made getting started all the more interesting. Thankfully TD was beyond patient & I eventually got some of my courage back and figured out how to coordinate starting off the other foot.
The place was beautiful though, and we look forward to going back. But in the meantime, I am trolling ebay for some new cycling shoes.
She has a hotspot between her back toes which she licks incessantly. Admittedly, we should have caught it earlier, but for the last few days we have been applying ointment & wrapping her foot to help it heal. She doesn't love it, but it has been working reasonably well.
Cue last night - At 1 am Pdog jumped in the middle of the bed (resulting in startled yelling from me and shattering both of our sleep); I took her outside to potty and left her to sleep on the couch; barking and scratching on the couch ensued; Tom brought her back to our room where she wandered around the room for the next several hours, intermixed with obsessive licking of her (bandaged) foot; at 4 am I got up to rewrap her foot with a simple sock since the only cause I could think of for her refusing to settle was that her bandage was too tight/twisted/wet; she settled for the next couple of hours and was then whining to get up this morning bright and early as soon as the sun was up. Thankfully sweet TD took over her exercising her this morning.
Fingers crossed that last night was an aberration and her foot heals soon. I don't know how we will ever be able to survive a tiny human one day - I hear they have even less regard for their parents sleep than a 3 year old GSP.
After living in northern California for five years, I haven't been back since I left, except for a short weekend trip when TD graduated. I have such wonderful memories of that time and place, so during our trip to the Bay area and Sea Ranch I was looking for a quintessential Northern California experience on Sunday, our last travel day. I really wanted to pack in all of that Bay Area - Sonoma - Mendocino goodness into our very short trip.
But what would the quintessential Northern California experience be? Hog Island Oysters at Bodega Bay? Cheeseboard Pizza or Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto? Eating pastries from Tartine while hanging out in Dolores Park? Wandering Golden Gate Park and visiting the de Young Museum?
I wasn't sure, and spent the weekend asking friends what they thought we should do. However, I should have known that the perfect Northern California experience sometimes finds you - sometimes when you are driving down Highway 1 and everyone is feeling either famished or terribly car sick, you might stop at the first sign of civilization and it just might happen to be next to a delightful coffee shop, that just happens to serve chowder and breakfast all day, and it just might be next to the water, and there might be an awesome bluegrass band playing while the fog rolls in. And that, my friends is the quintessential NorCal experience (at least for me).
After the lovely ceremony, T & M had a magical reception at the Gualala Arts Center, complete with heartfelt toasts, delicious food & wine, and lots and lots of dancing.
The party even continued into the wee hours of the morning but thankfully no pictures were taken at that point.
I made this delicious pumpkin bread this week during a cold snap. Sadly it was so good, it didn't last more than 24 hours in our house. But, its not too naughty for you given the whole wheat flour and lower sugar.
Healthy Pumpkin Struesel Bread
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 in loaf pan.
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t allspice
1 stick butter melted
3/4 c sugar
1 c pumpkin puree
1 T vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
Mix together dry ingredients (flour to allspice) in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl thoroughly combine wet ingredients until smooth (butter to eggs). Fold in and gently mix dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pan (batter will be stiff). Mix together brown sugar and remaining cinnamon and sprinkle on top.
Bake for 50-70 minutes - check for doneness with a cake tester. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove from pan.
