A Winelover's Wanderings

It's hard to be a woman driving a long distance alone. Especially when the car decides to have a problem.

On my way back from Paso Robles yesterday, I had a flat tire on the 210 freeway just past Pasadena. I had an inkling that there was a tire problem before I left Paso because the tire was way down low, and I filled it with air when I got gas in Paso.

Flat tire just past Pasadena and Arcadia, but I wasn't sure which exit I had passed when I called the Auto Club. I stopped right by a call box on the freeway, and I gave them the call box number, but they couldn't determine the location.

Finally a tow truck pulled up in back of me and a very nice young man changed my tire after we unloaded all of the stuff out of my trunk that I was bringing back from Paso.

I asked him if he needed my Auto Club card, and he said he was NOT from Auto Club but was from a free service called the Metro Freeway Service Patrol, operated on Los Angeles County freeways. Luckily, I had not yet crossed into San Bernardino County, although I was very close. The driver wouldn't even accept the money I tried to give him.

Wow! I had never heard of such a thing! But, I was very glad to see that tow truck. Auto Club called a few minutes later to say that they still hadn't found me, and I told them it was OK because another tow truck HAD found me.

So, today I am thankful for free services that arrive in the nick of time!

I decided to make a quick trip to Paso Robles this week. When my sister and I sold our folks' house in August, I asked the next door neighbor to keep some of the gardening tools for me, so I knew I had to go and get those.

The weather had been beautiful, but I knew that winter would arrive here one of these days, and I hate driving in rain or snow (over the Grapevine on I-5)

But the determining factor was that my Slow Travel compadre and fellow "Wine Snob" Shannon was going to be in Paso for a couple of days, and I wanted to help convince her to put Slow Bowl IV on the schedule for 2010.

I stayed at my friend Marianne's, but it was really strange not to have our own house to go to. I did get to meet the man who bought our house when I picked up the gardening tools, and he was really nice, so that made me feel good.

But, back to Slow Bowl and wine . . . Shannon and Marianne had never met, so the three of us went to Villa Creek restaurant in downtown Paso for Taco Tuesday. Had some very tasty tacos with a bottle of Albarino and lots of wine-related conversation. Here we are:

On Wednesday, both Marianne and Shannon had to work, so I drove over to Cambria, my very favorite little beach town. On the way I stopped at Peachy Canyon Winery to see if they still had their great Viognier - I had tasted it at the Slow Bowl dinner last February and loved it. It must have just been released at that time because they still had it - in fact, it was the only white wine on their tasting list.

Peachy Canyon Winery is known for their red wines and specifically for their Zinfandels. They had seven Zins on their tasting list, only one of which is distributed widely (Westside). I liked them so much that I went ahead and joined their twice-a-year Zin Club and picked up the shipment of six wines that had just gone out. Zin is Bill's favorite red wine, so he will be happy!

On to Cambria for lunch! The morning fog had still not lifted by the time I got there, so I stopped at the little bakery in the East Village (they have a dynamite onion-dill bread that I love) and then headed down to Moonstone Beach Drive to sit outside at Moonstone Beach Bar & Grill for clam chowder in a bread bowl. Really yummy!

I had some seagulls to keep me company, but they had signs all over not to feed the birds, so I waited until I left and took the remains of my bread bowl across the street for them to eat. It was a lovely setting , even with the fog.

Continue reading "A Quick Trip to Paso Robles" »

This week's ingredient is olives! It was chosen by Jerry (JDeQ) of Jerry's Thoughts, Musings and Rants! He just returned from Greece and wanted to use some of the wonderful olives he brought home from there.

I found two recipes that I wanted to try, both from Abbyskitchen.co.uk One was a cheeseball with two kinds of chopped olives, but I had already done a couple of cheeseball recipes, and I didn't want to get in a rut, so I chose the second recipe.

Oven Fried Bleu Cheese Olives

(10-15 servings)

2-15 oz cans jumbo pitted black olives-drain well on paper towels
3 oz bleu cheese-crumbled
4 T cream cheese
1/4 t black pepper
2 eggs-beaten
1-1/2 c Italian bread crumbs
Cooking spray

Preheat oven 400*. Coat a 13x9 dish with cooking spray. Mix bleu cheese, cream cheese and pepper in a small bowl, blending with a fork. Fill a pastry bag with cheese mix. (I use a Ziploc bag, put filling in one corner and snip off a small hole in the end for all of my "filling"). Beat eggs in a bowl. Pour crumbs in a pie plate. Dip stuffed olives in egg, then roll in crumbs, coating well. Put in Pyrex and spray with cooking oil lightly. Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden. Cool and serve. YUMM!

Here are my ingredients:

Waiting to be served:

This was my first time stuffing something and then coating and frying/baking it, so my olives don't look as good as they could. Next time I will do better.

We liked the olives a lot and would try them again, with a few little changes.

Our Gratitude Fridays began in July when Diana of Creative Structures inspired us to write weekly about the things in life that we are grateful for.

Coincidentally, my post this week is based on our visit to Diana's B&B in Acqui Terme, Italy. I am grateful for the dogs we met while we were there.

There was Max, of course, the wonderful and beautiful mascot of Baur Bed & Breakfast. He greeted us when we arrived and was always around to say hello.

We knew we would be meeting Max, of course, but we had no idea about meeting another wonderful dog when we went on our winetasting at Diana and Micha's friend Domenico's place. His dog is called Kika, and she joined us around the dining room table for the winetasting. She loved the sausage we were eating with our wines.

Here is Bill with Max before the two of them took one of their walks. Max liked having his ears rubbed.

And here is Bill with Kika at the winetasting.

Dogs are wonderful friends to have, and we are grateful for the Italian dogs that we met on our trip.

Just wanted to let you know that I have FINALLY posted the final two episodes of our Italy trip. Plus I have gone back to the first few posts and added the pictures. Here are the links in case you are interested:

Milano to Home Sweet Home

Alba to Milano

Milano - Second Day

Milano - First Day

Atlanta Airport - A Pleasant Surprise!

On Our Way - A Bad Start

Preparing to Leave Town

Deborah of Old Shoes - New Trip picked this week's ingredient, Pumpkin. It sounds like a good choice for this fall season, with Halloween coming up and Thanksgiving being right around the corner. So, check out the blogs of all of my Slow Bites compadres - you might find some great Thansgiving recipes!

I found my recipe here. It sounded kind of unusual, so I thought I would try it.

Pumpkin Cheese Ball

From AppeizersRecipe.net

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (2 1/2 ounce) package dried beef, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
Celery leaves
Crackers and/or raw vegetables

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin and pineapple. Stir in Cheddar cheese, beef and onion. Shape into a ball; place on a serving platter. Score sides with a knife to resemble a pumpkin and add celery leaves for a stem.

Serve with crackers and/or vegetables.

Yields 3 cups.

The only changes I made to the recipe is using whipped cream cheese instead of regular and substituting chopped prosciutto for the chopped dried beef. The whipped cream cheese probably made it too soft to form into a ball - I will know after I let it rest in the fridge for awhile. I will post a photo a little later today.

After refrigerating the Pumpkin Cheese Ball for several hours, it did firm up, but probably not as much as one with regular cream cheese would. It was nice and spreadable, but probably not firm enough to form into an actual ball (I used a round bowl for the shape, but I probably couldn't have formed it with my hands). It was very tasty, though, and I would make it again!

Gratitude Friday was started by Diana of Creative Structures to encourage us to appreciate the good things in our lives rather than dwelling on the problems.

This week I am grateful for the continuing good health of my sister's second daughter Patti. October 21st marks the 9th anniversary of Patti's heart/lung transplant at Stanford University Medical Center.

Patti was born with an inoperable congenital heart defect, and she wasn't expected to survive past her teens. She was put on the transplant list in 1998 for both heart and lungs - her lungs, which included no true pulmonary arteries, had been compromised by her failing heart. Her health was declining by 2000, and she had to carry a portable oxygen tank with her a lot of the time.

After 16 months on the waiting list, a matching heart and lungs became available on 10/21/00 and Patti's transplant surgery was performed. Here she is 30 minutes after the surgery - her sister Kathleen is watching over her.

This photo was taken in the first 24 hours - they have her up eating jello.

For two months she had to live in an apartment close to Stanford for her follow-up care. My sister stayed with her there to be the resident nurse.

This photo was taken early in 2003 and shows Patti with celebrated transplant physician Dr. Norman Shumway and Patti's own doctor, James Theodore, who was extremely proud of her progress. Both doctors have since died. Here is the story of that day.

And, miraculously, at one of the transplant gatherings, Patti even met the family of her donor. It was a bittersweet moment for all of them, but Patti has kept in contact with them and has even visited their home. Can you imagine meeting the person who has your loved one's heart?

Another miracle in this story was the fact that two years after her transplant, Patti ran in the Maui Marathon and raised over $6,000 for the benefit of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She was never allowed to exert herself physically during her growing-up years, so this was truly unbelievable to everyone who knew her.

I am so proud of my niece - she has been through a lot and has had the courage to press on. She is my hero! And I am grateful for the heroes in my life!

Go to page 2 to read the San Jose Mercury-News story on Patti when she ran in the Maui Marathon.

Continue reading "Gratitude Friday - Patti's Anniversary" »