Remembering TTT with Toulouse..

Back in the day

my little blog

was

called

Travels Tastings and Temptations

with

Toulouse

Toulouse

was my little

convertible

VW

and

we 

went on

adventures together

consequently

Toulouse

found another home

and

I 

now

drive

Reggie the randy Rover

I 

was

rereading

a few blogs

and

I thought to repost

some

..just for fun

click on what you want to read!

*Hiking about Salmon Falls for Mother's Day

*Sunset Magazine's first "Savor the Central Coast" event

*Ruby Rose

*Barns - a post on the coolest barns around SLO

*The most delicious Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe

*Memories of Christmas

*Picking Daisies

*French Apple Cake recipe

*Shopping at Luna Rustica

*Thousand Hills Dog Resort - the perfect pet-vacation!

*Meze- deliciousness by Railroad Square

*Hiking Bishop's Peak - Yikes

*Nattelie Saia - artist extraordinaire

*Easy Tortilla Soup recipe

lots of 

Tastings Travels and Temptations

with

Toulouse 

posts

about

my obsession

with finding 

the 

BEST

Fish Tacos 

recipes

and hikes

etc etc etc

Go explore

tttwithtoulouse.blogspot.com

It's a Whale, It's a Whale, It's a Whalefish he cried"

Avila Beach

was

in

the

national news

a 

few mornings ago

a 

pod

of

Humpback Whales

were

hovering

around

Avila bay

in between

and

 around the piers

and causing quite

a

scene

 pelicans

were

everywhere

kind of felt

like

that

eerie

Hitchcock movie

"The Birds"

fish

must

be crazy

there below the

surface

pelicans dive-bombing

seals

dolphins

 and

huge

glorious

Humpback whales

slow dancing

in and out

of

 the water

awesome

magnificent

so

close to

the pier

diving

in and around

fishing boats

putting on

quite

a

 performance

for 

all

who came 

to see

….

…..

and they 

slow-danced

back

out

to sea

..

and were gone

the whales

reminded 

me 

of a song

from

1962

sung by the Limeliters

The Whale

a song

that I played

many years

later

when 

Annie and Andrew

were little

I 

cannot

even imagine

how

anyone could ever

kill

or even harm

those

magnificent

creatures

…just saying

Thank you, John Conner

for 

all the 

wonderful

photographs

A Really REALLY Good Cookie - continued……….

My

Aunt Martha

was

so

right-on

with

her

Pearl of Wisdom

ONLY

yes, only

eat a 

really really good cookie

here

(courtesy of Isabel)

is

a

Really Really Good Cookie

remember

the 

Speculaas

blog?

(it is highlighted for easy referral)

I

baked

these 
Speculaas Nutella Cookies

as

a

birthday treat

for an

old

(not OLD…..  but old)

family 

friend

that was 

born in

the Netherlands

you 
mix up
Speculaas
with
butter sugars flour….
then
s w i r l
in
Nutella

then roll

the

dough

into

balls

make a criss cross

with

the

tine

of a 

fork

bake

and

indulge

crispy

on the outside

and

perfectly 

chewy

in the inside

Here's

the

recipe:

Izzy's Speculaas Nutella Cookies

1/2 c. Speculaas spread

1/2 c. softened butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. Nutella

375 degree oven

In a mixer (or with a mixer, if you like the hand kind better) combine Speculaas

and butter until well combined and pale in color

Beat in sugars, egg and vanilla.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and soda and mix into Speculaas batter until just combined.

Swirl Nutella into dough.

Form into walnut sized balls and criss cross with the tines of a fork

Bake about 12 minutes until a teeny bit brown around edges.
Cool on a baking rack (if you can…  …)

This would be an amazing Christmas Cookie !!

Speculoos

Speculoos

or

Speculaas

is a

Dutch 

or

Flemmish

Cookie Butter

What is a cookie butter?

Isabel,

our 

Petit Soleil

Belgium waffle expert,

tried

desperately

to explain

"cookie butter"

to 

me and Ashley

….."it is really popular in Belgium and the Netherlands.  It looks like peanut butter, but like Nutella, but not chocolate, with cookies in it - like gingerbread"

uh?  what?

        the next day,

             Isabel brought me Speculoos

                      from Trader Joes

                                and she wrote down three recipes 

                                          for me to try

this

is

SPECULOOS

Speculoos

does

look like

peanut butter

and it

does

taste a

bit

like

gingerbread

and

the

recipe

bakes

up

into

a 

beautiful

light

fragrant

banana bread

a bit spicy

and

so

delicious

and

like Nutella,

Speculoos

would be delicious

spread

on toast

or graham cookies

or apple slices

IZZY'S SPECULOOS BANANA BREAD

3 ripe bananas

1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt

1/2 c. Speculoos

3 TBS. melted butter

2 eggs

1/2 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

350 degrees - I loaf pan, or 3 mini loaf pans, greased (or Pam'd)

In the bowl if a mixer, combine first 5 ingredients until creamy.  Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon

Slowly pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until batter forms.

Bake one hour for large loaf and 45 minutes for mini loaves

Sadly for Petit Soleil

the love for

Belgium

(and her grandpa)

has 

called

Izzy
away

…

we hope she 

will

return

to Petit

when 

she

gets back

to

Cal Poly

Thank you

Izzy

for

introducing

us

to 

Speculoos 


and for all 
the 
extra
little
special
things
you did 
for
 Petit Soleil


we will miss you!

A Really Good Cookie - #2

those

Lemon Fridge Cookies

were

good

but not

Really and Truly

"Aunt Martha"

worthy

…..

John

mentioned

Pecan Sandies

(obviously with Keebler's or Pepperidge Farm cookies in mind)

so 

I 

perused

through

a few of my

FAVE

baking blogs

and

found

a 

Pecan Sandie recipe

on

Brown Eyed Baker

I 

doubled

her recipe

and rolled the dough into balls

flattened

them

with a 

glass

and

baked them 
                took a nibble


                            and decided
                                               that
                                                      to be 

really 

R.E.A.L.L.Y

Aunt Martha worthy

they

would

need a 

DARK CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

yes,

indeed…

A

Really

Good 

Cookie

Keep Calm

and 

Bake on

You can go to

Brown Eyed Baker

or

just 

follow

the

doubled recipe

here:

Pecan Sandies

1 c. unsalted butter

1 c. brown sugar

3 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. flour

2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

350 degree oven - no need to grease cookie sheets

In an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Set aside.  Mix flour and salt together and add to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined.

Fold in pecans.

Roll dough into 1 1/2" balls.  Flatten balls with a moistened bottom of a glass.

Bake about 15 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Drizzle

1/2 bag Ghiradelli 72% chocolate chips

1/2 tsp. Crisco

Melt together in double boiler and drizzle over Sandies.

Leftover chocolate?

strawberries

graham crackers

……you choose

Only Eat a Really Good Cookie

My
Aunt Martha
just
turned
100!

She is a
Centenarian!

She
is elegible
to be
honored
by
Smuckers
 and
Williard Scott
on the
Today Show!


Seriously….

I cannot
even
begin
to
imagine
all
that
she has seen
or heard
or tasted
or felt
or
dreamed of
in
100 years.

Aunt Martha

is

my

 dad's sister~

there

were

10 kids

total

…

only two remain

This
is Aunt Martha
with
Uncle Bud
circa
1919


and
this
is
Aunt Martha
at her
100- year birthday
(I have some good genes,  you think?)

It was
 really important
for
me
to take
Annie
up
to Sacramento
to
celebrate
this amazing
lady…

She loved
my dad
and dressed him up in
doll's clothes
when they were little
…...
and she cried with me
when he went to
Heaven


she taught me to sew
and to bake
and
she has always loved to entertain

she has great faith
and
she
adores her family


and
she
always told
me

"Only Eat a Really Good Cookie"


because
one
really good cookie
satisfies
more
than
a whole box
of
 mediocre cookies

I 

combed

through

hundreds of 

cookie recipes

……hmmmmm 

which one would Aunt Martha 

         consider a

             really good cookie?

for 

whatever reason

I chose

a 

Lemony Refrigerator Cookie

using

lemons

fresh from 

our orchard

 that I finely grated

and

mixed
with
the other
ingredients


rolled
up in
waxed paper
and refrigerated
for two hours

sliced
and
baked

and drizzled
with
a lemony glaze

the
Lemony cookies
were
good

sadly
…not really, really, really good

so
I
decided to

Lemony Refrigerator Cookies

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. sugar

3 TBS. finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp. vanilla

4 large egg yolks

Mix flour and salt - set aside.

In a mixed, beat the butter, sugar, lemon, vanilla until fluffy (3-4 minutes), add egg yolks and beat to blend.  Add flour and beat until just incorporated.  Divide dough in half, roll into a cylinder, wrap in waxed paper or plastic and chill (minimum 1 hour - up to two days).

350 degree oven

Using a sharp knife slice dough into 1/2 " thick rounds and bake cookies 15-17 minutes.

When cool you can drizzle cookies

with a lemony glaze:

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

2 TBS lemon juice

whisk together and drizzle over cookies

(Bon Appetit December 2011)

I 

continued to bake………..

see the next blog for a really good cookie...

Celebrate life!

this post

today

July 9

is 

bittersweet

I just

 learned

that

a 

gal

that

I grew up with

passed 

away

I
remember
that

she 

was

bubbly

and

full of giggles 

and 

always

had

a

 warm 

genuine smile

she 

was

only 56……

way too young

my

mom

was

56

when

 she passed away

way too young

and

 today was her birthday

we
hear
that
Heaven
is
quite
spectacular
…….I do believe

Peggy Miller!

Happy New Life in Heaven!

you are

remembered

in the hearts of many

and, Peggy..

whisper

advice

encouragement

and wisdom

to your

children

                                                                                      like my mom has always done

…they will listen

celebrate life!