Palmabella's Passions

We started off the official Desert GTG by gathering for dinner Friday night at Amici Italian Trattoria. We had the perfect size private room for our group of 15 early arrivals.
Here was the great menu selected for us:

Starter (Choice of One)

Asparagus and Artichoke Salad
Fresh asparagus and artichoke in a citrus dressing

Zuppa
Tuscan Bean & Italian Sausage Soup
Cannellini bean with mild Italian sausage

Entrée (Choice of One)

Veal Sassi
Roasted veal medallions with baby artichokes, wild mushrooms and herbs in a light brandy sauce served with roasted red potatoes and vegetables

Pork Tenderloin
Served with figs, gorgonzola and served with risotto and spinach

Grilled Salmon
Pacific Salmon in a lemon, caper, butter sauce served with risotto and vegetables

Pollo Eva Basilico
Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast stuffed with ricotta, sun dried tomatoes, black olives, basil and served on risotto and finished with a sun dried tomato sauce

Rigatoni con Prosciutto e Piselli
Rigatoni sautéed in a parmesan cream sauce with prosciutto, wild mushrooms, peapods, and fresh tomatoes

As you can see, we were happy campers! They also discounted our wine to "Happy Hour" prices, and we were quite happy!

Our friends, Fiona and Steve (new Slow Travel members), also joined in the fun.

After dinner, we stopped at Mango Tree Gelato bar for a scoop of our favorite flavor. We were too busy eating to remember to take a photo!

We had a BLAST!

Check out all the photos here.

EVERYONE asked, "When is the NEXT GTG?"

Sunday morning, my hardworking house crew "slept in" til 7 something. Jerry was the first one up, and already blogging off a neighbor's wifi. He, Sandi and Paul had done a great job cleaning up my kitchen last night. They are guaranteed rooms for next year! I could NOT have done it without them. Not only do they follow directions when I bark out orders on kitchen prep, are willing to be tasters, sous chefs, grill, run out for more wine, and make several trips to Trader Joe's and Bristol Farms (The BF store thought Sandi was a stalker, as she kept returning to the liquor department for "stuff they don't have at the Piggly Wiggly"), they also are great at kitchen clean up!!! Who knew? (Well, actually I did, as they were also very helpful in Montisi.)

Shannon came by and we had some pre-Keedy's prosecco before leaving for breakfast.

Keedy's is our favorite dive breakfast spot. It has been around for over 50 years, and is a local landmark with the original formica tables, and great breakfasts or lunches. We needed some eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns or huevos rancheros to get over last night's food coma and soak up all that wine! I think most of us were looking pretty perky!

There were lots of hugs, and good-byes, as most were traveling home on Sunday.
Kathy, Terry and Colleen set off on a visit to Joshua Tree National Park, Jerry and Paul returned to San Deigo, and Shannon, Sharon, and Sandi came back with Brad and I to help get rid of some of that leftover prosecco and "clean up" those partially consumed wine bottles.

It was a wonderfully lazy afternoon.

Sunday evening, and we are still laughing and drinking wine and eating crab dip, artichoke dip and shrimp dip. Sandi and Sharon left for their flights, and Kathy, Terry, Colleen, Shannon and Diana joined Brad and I for a leftover supper.

We had quite a feast.

All About Caramel Cake with caramel ice cream and the best caramel sauce ever!

Saturday night, Ann and Scott hosted a lovely dinner party at their home outside of Seattle. They have the art of hosting and cooking great food down to a science. Marta was also able to join us for an evening of fun and laughter. We began outside on the deck with prosecco and antipasti.

We moved to the dining room for a wonderful dinner: Spinach salad with peaches and bacon, pasta with tiny sweet tomatoes and basil, crab-stuffed salmon, and sauteed zucchini.

During a delicious dessert of raspberry-browned butter tart with creme fraiche, we watched dvds of our recent trips to Umbria and Rome.

Slow Travel friends are just the BEST people to hang out with! Thank you, Ann and Scott for hosting a delightful evening! Sheena and Terry were missed, and we expect everyone in perfect health for the next time!

Brad and I have hosted a Slow Travel GTG every October for the past three years. This year, we decided not to have one for two reasons: financial, and because of the 2010 Slow Travel Gathering in San Diego in March. Many of our far away ST friends will be flying out for the big San Diego event, so we didn't want to tempt anyone away from anyone coming to that!

Then east coast Slow Travel friends, Kim and Chris, took a weekend get-away to Palm Desert! Cause for a party in October. An easy pot luck evening was quickly planned for those close by.

The weekend started out with Shannon driving up from San Diego on Friday night. I thought she was at our front gate when she called, but instead, she was on HWY 74, about 25 minutes away with a flat tire. Brad and I jumped in the car, and he got to be a "boy hero" with her spare.

When we arrived, we were looking at each turnout for a little green bug, but we clearly saw Shannon waving from the hilltop (where she had to climb to get cell phone coverage). Three people had stopped to help her, but she waited for our arrival and a guaranteed safe tire changer!

At home, we quickly revived with some great chilled white wine that Shannon brought, and hosed off the dirt before joining Kim and Chris at their hotel for a drink. Then we went across the street to Acqua Pazza for their late happy hour appetizers and wine for our dinner.

Saturday afternoon, friends arrived for a pot luck spread that was amazing, as always.
(food photos tomorrow)

See what fun friends have on a sunny desert weekend:

Eden, Marcia, Jane and Sharon

Bill Chris and David relax with wine.

Barb and Mike love a party!

Nancy and Bill chatting with Jane.

Mike, Lou and Sharon share their September birthday. Who knew?

Shannon, Lou and Pete are happy guests.

Kim and Chris are the "guests of honor".

Marcia, Eden and Barb...lots of laughter going on!

(left to right) Kim, Marcia, Diana, Jane and Eden taking a break with cold water!

Big Smiles!

Jane and Palma prepping for dinner.

Everyone's favorite Wine Queen

I loved having a pot luck! The food was wonderful! Let's start with the antipasti table. I don't have photos of everything, as I got called away by one of the cooks, but trust me, it was all great!

You can see Marcia's pumpkin humus, cheesy breadsticks, and my bacon baklava.

Sharon's Bristol Farms Antipasti basket was amazing!

Kim made a fabulous cheese tray with cheeses, sopresatta salami, grapes, figs, and candied pecans.

Not pictured, were Lou's yummy ham and cheese puff pastries and Shannon's Ruffles Jamon, all the way from Spain!

For dinner we ate my lamb lasagna, pasta with broccoli, caramelized onion and sausage, pumpkin polenta bites, and three fabulous salads from Nancy, Jane and Barb!

Lamb lasagna (recipe tomorrow)

Pasta with broccoli, caramelized onion and sausage

This week's Sunday Small Bites: Pumpkin polenta with cheese and sage

Jane's salad of avocado, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes (with San Antonio olive oil)

Barb's refreshing spinach salad with mandarin oranges, candied almonds, onions and a sweet-tart dressing

Nancy's now famous apple-gorgonzola salad

Dessert!

Mini-dessert platters with an assortment of lemon tarts, chocolate cheesecakes and ooey-gooey toffee bars

Apple Cake with cream cheese frosting

Wine??? We managed to polish off a few bottles of white, red and prosecco!