Raindrops keep falling on my head..I hope!

Rain drops from the clouds and onto trees,
Down the tree trunks and off the leaves.
Down a mountain, into a brook,
Past a chipmunk in a nook.
Into a pond, off a log.
On top of a turtle and onto a frog.
Onto roads, onto the grass,
Onto trains and trucks that pass.
On top of bridges, cars and boats.
Even onto people’s coats.
Onto houses and my windowpane.
I just love to watch the drops,
The drips and drops of rain.

- E.B. (1938- ) MotherGooseCaboose.

San Luis Obispo

well, actually

CALIFORNIA,

has had such a dry winter

Normally

the hills in January

are

lush and green

not this year…

until

yesterday

THE RAIN.

it came.

cool

lovely

fresh

the creeks filling up again

and

little animals,

well, turkeys anyway

came out to play

this

babbling

creek

is at the

foot

of the

hiking trail

to

the Irish Hills

beautiful

p.s.

Hwy. 1

just south of

Big Sur

by Lime Kiln

is closed

due to rock slides

from the rains

..take 101 when traveling between Salinas and SLO

Happy Birthday, H & P!

Two years ago

we

said

good-bye

to our

big

irreverent

Airedale,

Waldo von Airedale

aka Wally.

We miss him still!

as the old cliche

states

"when one door closes another one opens"

today

we

sing

*HapPy BIrThDaY*

to

our

two

two- year old

Welsh Terriers

Phinny and Huckleberry!!!

I

decided

for their birthday

to bake

them

homemade

dog cookies

(if they like them, we will be serving these

special

cookies

to

our dog friends at

Petit Soleil)

The recipe is

easy...

all in the

food processor

...roll out

the dough

and cut into shapes special for your doggie!

So easy

and healthy

with

parsley for good breath!


Huck got a bit

of the

cookie dough


as did

Phinny


as did

their sister, Nottie

the cookies

bake up

nice and crunchy

I could barely

get a picture -

the boys were

SO

excited for

their birthday treats!


Phinny smiled

so did Huck

and

Nottie

grinned, too!

They LOVED the treats

and we

WILL

begin

to have them

at

Petit

for

our special

four legged friends!

(here's the recipe

so

you can make them, too)

Petit

Dog Cookies

...

2 3/4 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 c. parsley

1/4 c. carrot chunks

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 Tbs. oil

1/4 c. water

In the food processor, using the metal blade,

grind up the parsley and carrots.

Add

the remaining ingredients

and pulse

until a

ball is formed.

Empty out onto waxed paper

and

roll out dough

to about 1/2" - 3/4" thickness.

Cut into desired shapes.

BAKE at 350 c.

for 25 - 30 minutes.

Mother Nature's Seaside Gallery

5

miles

north

of

San Simeon,

the southern end

of

Big Sur,

is

a

a half mile

of

Mother Nature's

creative

artistry

Mother Nature

put

quite

a sense

of humor

into her craft

She

created

massive blobs,

with fins

and tails

and

big ugly noses...

and

she

called

them

"Elephant Seals"

There

is about a half mile

of

boardwalk

along the beach

where

you can

enjoy

Mother Nature's

gallery

quite

up close

baby

Elephant Seals

are

born during

winter months

here

in the

Central Coast

there

is

a baby

alongside

virtually every female...

.....along

the expanse of

Elephant Seal beach

Mother Nature

was not

so

kind to her

female

seals

as

their life is

basically

grow -mate -give birth - nurse - mate - give birth - nurse ...

but then

those

babies

are so darn cute

that I guess it is all worth it

and those

blobberous

(is that a word?)

males

they

just eat

grow to be massive

mate

eat

fight

and mate

and chase females

Mother Nature

does

provide such

a beautiful playground

for

her

creations

..

lots

of

cold, clean water

to play

Elephant Seal games

in

warm sunshine to sleep in

fish to eat

and humans to keep the playground well protected

You can

spend

hours

watching

the

hundreds

of

Elephant Seals...

the babies squawk

as they

play,

the bulls

growl

as they fight for

their

ALPHA status

they flip sand

and

scoot,

dive in and out

of the water

and then

all snuggle

together

and

warm themselves in the sun

we

took

it all

in.......

warmed our faces

in the sun

breathed

the fresh sea air

and

took in

Mother Nature's glory

heading

back south

we

stopped

for lunch

at

Moonstone Beach

(near Cambria)

lots

of good food

on the menu

and

really delicious

grilled fish tacos

(the salmon was perfectly delicious!)

and

the view?

spectacular!

The Elephant Seals

can be seen year around -

so worth

a visit

..

check here

for any special events

We delight in the

beauty of the butterfly,

but rarely admit the changes it has gone through

to achieve that beauty.
Maya Angelou

I

often

forget

what

a beautiful

place we live in

I

mean

it's

January

and it's

80 degrees

in SLO

rumor

has

it

that

it is

77

at the beach

a fish taco day,

I think!

and

let's

go find the

Butterfly Grove!

Brad's

of Pismo Beach

big menu

of

oak pit grilled

meats

and seafood

and

fish tacos

the fish tacos

were actually

broiled

(not grilled)

rock cod

with

tortillas

cabbage, avocado cream and salsa

good!

especially

in the

warm

sun-filled patio

John had

his

fave....

fried scallops and chips

Monster scallops!!

From

the Pismo beach pier

you

walk

along

the beach

about

1/4

mile

south

(or run)

and

head

inland

through

the Eucalyptus trees,

and

there you see

the

Monarch Butterflies

arrive

like clockwork

in October

every year

and stay until

about

the

second

week of

February

they

are magical

flitting

in the trees

silent

and

perfectly designed

Butterflies are self propelled flowers.
R. H. Heinlein

Not quite birds, as they were not quite flowers, mysterious and fascinating as are all indeterminate creatures. ~Elizabeth Goudge

hundreds

flying

in the soft breeze

and

hundreds

clustered

like this


you can

mistake

them for leaves

until

they

flutter

and move

to another

branch

there

are

docents

within

the grove

filled

with

Monarch Butterfly

information

and trivia

lunch,

a walk

(or run)

along

Pismo Beach

and a

visit

with

the butterflies

is

a glorious

way

to spend

a

winter's day

in

the Central Coast

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing

Memories of CAKE

A

New Year

always

conjures up

memories

of

the past

I

suppose

that

was

what

ol' Robbie Burns

had in

mind

with

Auld Lang Sine

and

why

the song is sung

on

New Year's Eve

he

wrote

that it was

a

time to remember

times gone by

I

had

a

"cake memory"

yesterday

(January 2, 2010)

the

memory

was

of a

cake

my mom

used to bake

my mom

didn't

really

bake,

or

like to bake,

but

she

often

made

this

cake

AND

I

LOVED

IT!

...

this

cake

was

fragrant

with

nutmeg,

crunchy

with

walnuts

and

oh, so moist

and

I

remember

it being

Armenian

or

middle Eastern

Gotta

love

GOOGLE

I

typed in

"nutmeg cake"

and

"Armenian cake"

and all sorts of words

hoping

to spark

the

"cake memory"

and

voila`

the memory

came

alive

in a recipe!

sweet

sweet

success!

the

"memory cake"

is

from

George Mardikian's

1944 cookbook

Dinner at Omar Khayyams

exactly!!

(I remembered the cookbook!)

My

folks

used to

enjoy

Omar Khayyam's restaurant

in

San Francisco

for

special

occasions

I think I was there once or twice

and

my mom

must

have

snagged

the

cookbook

I

found

the

recipe

"All Purpose Cake"

and then,

I

explored

and

found

an

similar

version

of

the

all-purpose

"memory cake"

****

Annie

(aka Dottie)

tweaked

with

the changes

baked

the

cake

for

Petit Soleil' s

breakfast guests

AND

the

cake

is

AS GOOD

if not better

than

the

original

Here's the recipe:

1 c. raisins

2 c. brown sugar

2 c. flour

1/2 stick cold butter, but in cubes

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 c. sour cream

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Cover raisins with hot water and soak for 15 minutes to plump. Drain and pat dry.

Heat oven to 325 f. and spray spring form pan lightly with Pam.

Combine sugar, flour, butter and salt in food processor and pulse only until crumbly.

Measure 2 c. of mixture and spread evenly on the bottom of the prepared pan. Press down to form a mock crust.

Mix baking soda into sour cream.

Mix remaining flour mixture with sour cream, egg, nutmeg and raisins. Spread evenly over crust and top with chopped walnuts.

Bake for 50-60 minutes

it

was

so fun

that

Annie

(aka Dottie)

baked my

"memory cake"

..

I

do

believe

my

Scottish

mom

was

working

through

her

for

auld lang sine