Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

The Slanted Door

Located in the northwest corner of the Ferry Building, The Slanted Door is an incredibly popular restaurant with a super fantastic view of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge.  I think the space is more like an office park than a restaurant, but when you've got that great view outside, floor to ceiling windows and an open floor plan make a whole lot of sense.

The Slanted Door has been tremendously successful, and provides San Francisco with its own Horatio Alger story, as Charles Phan and his family left Vietnam as part of the exodus of boat-people in 1975. The original restaurant opened in the Mission in 1995, moved to larger quarters in SoMA in 2002, and moved into the Ferry Building when its restoration was completed in 2004. Slanted Door is now number 61 on the list of the Top 100 Independent Restaurants, serving over 275,000 meals per year and taking in more than $12 million. Last weekend we visited this restaurant for the third time and had another wonderful meal.

Surprisingly, in San Francisco food circles, The Slanted Door is somewhat controversial (see below). I've never regarded Charlie Phan as the Vietnamese Thomas Keller, but I've always enjoyed my meals at his restaurant. I was there last Sunday and Paul and I enjoyed:

crispy imperial rolls  with shrimp, pork, glass noodles and peanuts 

shrimp and pork wonton soup  with five spice pork and egg noodles (small bowl)

green papaya salad  with tofu, rau ram and roasted peanuts 

caramelized tiger prawns  with garlic, onions and chili sauce 

lemongrass chicken  with red onions, jalapeños, roasted chili paste and peanuts 

broken jasmine rice

This is clearly California-style Alice Waters influenced Vietnamese food with an emphasis on fresh top-quality ingredients. But that's fine with me. Although some folks are annoyed that this isn't "authentic" vietnamese, and others are in a huff that the prices are higher now than when Slanted Door was in ints previous incarnation in the Mission, neither complaint seems fair. The food at Slanted Door has always been ingredient-driven, and, just between you and me, I'll bet the rent is higher in the Ferry Building than it was in the Mission.

Everything was quite good to excellent. Every one of the dishes we ordered was as expected. We also made an effort to order some things we had not tried before (previously we had enjoyed the Imperial Rolls and the caramelized prawns).

This restaurant is so popular that Mick Jagger and former President Clinton made stopovers at its previous location when they hit town. Why? The restaurant serves incredibly fresh and flavorful (albeit relatively expensive) Vietnamese food.  The message - if you're going to be in town, make a reservation well in advance of your visit, stop by and enjoy one of the nbets meals you can get in the city. The Slanted Door

1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA
415.861.8032

A Long Weekend in California - the Round Up

As you know we flew to California last Thursday and flew back yesterday, arriving at home at 1 this morning. It was the antithesis of slowtravel! Having said that we had an amazing time!

We picked up out car at SFO and headed down the coast. Our first stop was Gilroy where we had lunch at the always wonderful In-N-Out Burgers.

It was sunny and 57 so we sat out on the patio to eat lunch. The native Californians looked at us as if we were nuts. They were wearing hats and gloves (although we did see a few brave souls in shorts).

As you can see from this picture, we did some damage to the bank account at the outlet malls. We arrived in Paso Robles just after 7:30. We were wiped!

We were so tired that we skipped the festivities at the house. Instead we dropped by a well-reviewed Mexican restaurant and feasted on the one food we always have to get when we're in California. As usual we commiserated about the dearth of quality Mexican food in our area.

On Saturday we visited four wineries.

We also had a tour at an olive oil farm.

That night we joined close to 50 other slow travelers at the house rented by a group. The food, wine, and company was all wonderful. At about 9:30 we were fading fast and we had a big day on Sunday so we headed back to the motel. My goodness, the first to leave a party. I am so embarrassed.

On Sunday we left Paso Robles at 9 and headed north to San Franciso, arriving at 11:30. Our plan was to visit some of our favourite haunts before heading back down the peninsula to our hotel for the night.

We shopped in the Ferry Terminal Market and drooled over the wonderful things we would like to have at home.

Lunch was at the Slanted Door where I had an unfortunate encounter (for her) with a silly woman. In the midst of knocking back 4 drinks (not that anyone was counting) she started blathering about how George W Bush would be remembered as the greatest American President. I was unable to control myself. Entertainment ensued.

Leaving the market we made our way to Union Square where we shopped in many of our favourite shops. Finally we faded so we headed to our hotel, checked in, and promptly had a nap.

Upon waking we became the two Americans not to watch the Superbowl. Instead we headed to Pacifica where we had dinner reservations at a restaurant called Barolo. People looked at us funny when we said we were having dinner in Pacifica. Well, even though folks said it was impossible we can attest to the fact that it is possible to have an amazing meal in Pacifica.

Back at the hotel we packed, and faded to black.

Yesterday morning we discovered to our dismay that our flight to JFK had been canceled. After calling about we discovered that we had been booked on a later flight from SFO to Atlanta and then on to Buffalo.

The connection in Atlanta was very tight. After running from Terminal B to E we arrived just after the doors were closed. We were allowed on the plane and collapsed in our seats.

The stewardess took pity on Paul and was concerned about his beet red flush. After downing a bottle of water he seemed to recover. Me, the fat, out of shape one didn't break a sweat.

After an uneventful flight we arrived in Buffalo. Sadly our luggage didn't. The good folks at Delta declared that they would deliver it to us within 24 hours. We doubted that.

Leaving the airport we drove to the border. I had a wee bit of custom's rage with a customs officer who clearly had allowed a grade 5 education and a uniform go to his head. After driving home on deserted, rain slicked roads, we arrived at about 1 am. Tired, but satisfied (although not as happy as we had been had we known if our luggage would arrive).

Just before 10 this morning our luggage showed up, the only thin g that broke was a Styrofoam wine carrier! Our purchases were intact and ready to be enjoyed.

Our first trip of 08 is over. Next up? Savannah in April!

A Long Weekend in California

This is a re-post. I originally spent 45 minutes working away on this post with Victor sleeping by the computer. When he decided to get up and wander about wouldn't you know that he would step on the back arrow key. Poof! Post gone.

If all goes according to plan we'll be on a plane heading to California when this post appears. A group of the slow travel are gathering in the up and coming wine area of Paso Robles for an anti-super bowl celebration. We really enjoyed our visit to Paso in the spring so we were quite tempted by this. When I found flights on Delta for $ 203 return the temptation gave way to certainty!

We fly out of Buffalo tonight and if the weather gods are with us, we will arrive in SFO at 10:46. We connect through Cincinnati. When I booked the flights we had about 50 minutes to make the connection, tight but doable in a small airport. Of course, the twits at the airline changed the flight and now we have only 30 minutes to make the connection! We may make it, I'm not sure about our luggage. We know how airlines act so we have an alternative plan, just in case.

Anyway. If all goes according to plan we will arrive at SFO late in the evening, pick up our luggage (year, right), get the rental car and head to a hotel by the airport that I booked with points. One of the alternative plans includes bringing a change of clothing and our toiletries on the plane with us, just in case our luggage gets stranded somewhere in Delta's system.

Tomorrow morning our plan is to get up, have some breakfast, and head south to Paso Robles. Of course when Paul discovered that we would be heading past one of the largest outlet malls in the US he indicated that a pit stop in Gilroy might be in order. He couldn't care a less that Gilroy is the largest garlic producer in the world or home to a fabulous garlic festival - he sees bargains in his future. After he exhausts his VISA card we'll get a burger at In-N-Out and continue south to Paso.

Our plans for Friday night are quite flexible. A group of folks are gathering at a house that has been rented by some of the slow travel moderators but I think we'll be tired and so will just hang around the town. We might stop by the house for wine or we may not. We may just wander around the downtown square. Or we may visit some wineries. We may just crash in the motel!

The fun starts on Saturday. Shannon, one of the slow travel moderators, has arranged the events for the day. Because it is a large group (close to 50) everyone has volunteered to bring food to the house for breakfast or dinner. This presented Paul and I with a dilemma: we can't cook in the motel and we can't bring food with us. We ended up teaming with Wendy and Rob to provide the cheese, crackers, nibbles, and snacks at the first winery the group is visiting: Castoro.

Here we are enjoying dinner with Wendy and Rob last spring. Yet again I apologize for the pic Rob, it was the waiter darn-it! *smile*

After our visit to Castoro the group splits up. Shannon has arranged visits to two wineries and an olive grove. We opted to go to Pasolivo. We've been to lots of wineries but never to a working olive farm. Plus we have had olive oil from Pasolivo before and it is great.

I think that our trip to Pasolivo ends at 2:30. Paul and I will likely spend some time exploring the winding roads west of Paso Robles. It seems as if there is a winery every mile or so along these roads. This will give us lots of time to visit some wineries and be back at the motel with plenty of time before the party starts back at the house at 6:00.

It will be a fun night. I've met many of the group before at Palma's party in Palm Desert so I know that the wine will flow , the food plentiful and tasty, and the laughter won't stop until everyone leaves!

On Sunday a group is getting together for brunch and a tour of another winery. We decided to forgo that fun. Instead we will hop in the car and head north to San Francisco. We hope to hit some of our favourite haunts in the Ferry Market and the Union Square area.

We have lunch reservations for 1:45 at our favourite Vietnamese restaurant: the Slanted Door. For dinner we were torn. We could visit yet another of our haunts or we could check out a new restaurant outside of the city. In the end we decided to check out Barolo in Pacifica. It is well reviewed and only 15 minutes from our hotel (again booked with points) plus it will allow us to check out a part of the peninsula that we have never visited before.

We head back east Monday morning at 9 am. Of course it will be the usual mad dash to pack our wine, olive oil, and other purchases and get to the airport in time but somehow we'll manage it. We connect through my least favourite airport for connections (JFK) and arrive back in Buffalo at 10 pm. Talk about a whirlwind!

Yes, I am taking Tuesday off of work to recover.

A SE Asian Feast

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest.

Our photo is currently number 16 out of 464 photos.

You can vote by clicking here

Remember a 10 is good!

Feel free to e-mail the link to friends and loved ones!

*smile*

---

This is my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging round up.  The blogging event was started by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. The host this week is Simona from Briciole.

A few years ago when we were in California Paul and I decided to sign up for a cooking class offered through Ramekins in Sonoma. Because we love Thai food we elected to take a cooking class offered by Kasma Loha-Unchit. She has taught Thai cooking classes in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985. She grew up in Thailand and learned the art of cooking from her mother. After working for many years as a marketing analyst in the Bay area, she wanted to return to her cultural roots, and she chose cooking and working with people as her life's work.

She was an excellent instructor and we learned a great deal about Thai cooking from her. Here is a pic of Paul and I preparing the duck curry with pumpkin . . .

Paul and I have been craving Thai food so we decided to cook up a feast on the Sunday. We called mom to see if she was hungry and she was over in record time!

We started with soft spring rolls:

Vietnamese really, hence the SE Asian title.

This was followed by a coconut curry soup with chicken and mushrooms:

For the main course we enjoyed a green pork curry, a spicy stir fried chicken dish, and steamed jasmine rice.

The curry featured tiny Thai eggplants (ma-keua puang), which because they are so difficult to track down, are often replaced with peas (YUCK). We managed to find the tiny egg plants at the Asian market so the dish was perfect and authentic!

Gkaeng Kiow Wahn Moo

• 2 cups or 1 14-oz. can coconut milk
• 2-3 Tbs. green curry paste
• 1 lb. pork, cut against the grain of the muscle into bite-size strips about 2 x 1 x 1/4 in.
• 1/2 lb. small, round Thai eggplants (ma-keua bprawh), cut in halves or quarters, or substitute with 2 long Asian eggplants, cut in bite-size chunks
• 1/2 cup small pea eggplants (ma-keua puang), or substitute with shelled fresh peas
• 2 kaffir lime leaves (bai ma-gkrood)
• Fish sauce (nahm bplah) to taste
• 2 tsp. palm sugar, or to taste
• 1/2 to 1 cup fresh Thai sweet basil leaves and flowers (bai horapa)
• Slivered chillies, to desired hotness

Do not shake the can of coconut milk before opening, so that the cream remains on top. Spoon about 2/3 cup of this thick cream into a medium-size saucepan and heat over medium to high heat. Reduce until smooth and bubbly and until oil begins to separate from the cream. Add the curry paste and fry in the cream for a few minutes to release the aromas. Then pour in the remaining milk.

Bring to a boil and add the pork. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes uncovered before adding the Thai eggplants and pea eggplants. Simmer a few minutes more, then stir in the peas (if using instead of pea eggplants) and kaffir lime leaves. Season to taste with fish sauce (may not be needed if the curry paste is already salted). Add palm sugar to balance and enhance the spice and herb flavors to your liking. Continue to simmer until eggplants and peas are tender. Stir in the basil and chillies (as desired for added hotness) and cook another minute. Serve hot over plain steamed rice.

Beringer Comes to Burlington

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest.

Our photo is currently number 18 out of 382 photos.

You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

Feel free to e-mail the link to friends and loved ones!

*smile*

---

It was about two years ago that Paul and I spent a wonderful two weeks in northern California. We rented a spectacular house in the redwood forest of the Russian River Valley and spent our days touring wineries. Horrible!

Generally when we are in that area we avoid Napa; to us it is too busy, too snobby, two glitzy, and too commercial. On this trip we thought that perhaps we would check out the northern Napa valley to see if it was different than the southern part of the valley. It was, but not by much.

We stopped into Beringer, drawn by the allure of the oldest winery in California. I'll admit that our tasting spoiled us - it was the day after Robert Parker had been tasting at the winery and they had some high end wines left that they had opened for him. I am sure that we ended up tasting things that we never would have had otherwise. It was an incredible visit!

When I read that our local liquor store was hosting a tasting of Beringer wines we quickly signed up; if the guys couldn't get to Napa for the crush than Napa could come to us! Today when I was at work I mentioned that we had the tasting this evening to my friend Jane and she laughed and said that she and Ruth were signed up as well - clearly it would be a good night!

This was the sight that greeted us when we arrived. My kind of tasting. The ad for the session indicated that there would be six wines to taste but we were provided with 8. Actually, we received 9 because there was confusion about when the class was to start. We arrived at the advertised time of 6:30 but others showed up at 7. While we waited we had an extra taste of a reserve white wine.

The eight wines we tasted were:

1. 2005 Stone Cellars Chardonnay
2. 2005 Beringer Founders' Estate Chardonnay
3. 2005 Kinghts Valley Alluvium Blanc
4. 2004 North Coast Third Century Merlot
5. 2005 Napa Valley Merlot
6. 2004 Beringer Founders' Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
7. 2004 Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
8. 2004 Kinghts Valley Alluvium

Look at the differences in the colour . . .

My favourites were the 2004 Beringer Founders' Estate Cabernet Sauvignon with its deep red colour and aromas of cassis, green tea, and vanilla and the 2004 Kinghts Valley Alluvium with its intense cherry, blackberry core. I can't say as if I cared greatly for the white wines but then again I may only drink a bottle or two of white wine a year.

Now for the silly pics:

Ruth cheating and reading the tasting notes so she can talk intelligently about the wine!

Jane demonstrating the two-fisted approach to wine tasting!

Palm Desert - The Pics

  a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest. Our photo is currently 21 19 out of 378 photos. You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

*smile*

---

Well now, if you have been lurking about here for the past few days reading about my fun and exciting trip to Palm Desert I have been promising pics but have not posted. I shall correct that now!

As you know, I travelled to Palm Desert to stay with my friends Palma and Brad. I met Palma on the slowtravel message boards. They live in a beautiful house which they built about four years ago.

Palma's back terrace

The living room

Palma in the kitchen

The front courtyard

I met many amazing people:

Terry, Sandi, and Kathy

John and Gail

Palma's husband, Brad

Ego

Palma and me

This group were all busy on Friday and Saturday with party preparation. We helped to make the food, set up tables, and assisted in the decorating. Palma set 5 tables for her 48 guests:

The green table

The Deruta table (set with dishes from Deruta, Italy)

The gold table

The pumpkin table

The Positano table - the table top is 2 inch-thick pottery shipped from Positano, Italy

The guests started to arrive at 4 pm. Most were gone more than 10 hours later. WOW - a 10 hour party with great food, wonderful company, laughter, smiles, and chatter.

The antipasto table

Kathy and John fight over the baked brie with fig jelly

Guests mingle in the living room with their Proseco

Kirsta, Steve, and Pauline

We were entertained by the 'Slowchicks'
Terry, Kathy, Sandi, Palma, Gail, and Diana

The guests were from Canada, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennesee, and Alabama

The last of the party guests left at 2:40 and people crawled into bed (I presume anyway, I was in bed at 1!). This pic explains the long faces at breakfast:

OH NO!

Breakfast at Keddy's

Well, as trite as it seems to say it - a good time was had by ALL!

The Return Home

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest. Our photo is currently 21 19 out of 378 photos. You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

*smile*

---

Yesterday did not go as planned after I posted in my blog.

Why?

Because of the incredible Santa Ana winds pummeling California and the fires you see to the left (I took the pic from my airplane).

Gail and John headed to the airport at a truly ungodly hour. We all got up to say good bye. It is only seven months until our week in Montisi, Tuscany and already I can't wait! What an amazing group of people.

Brad went back to bed for some well-deserved sleep while Palma and I drank coffee. After looking at my watch I panicked and went to get the packed. Once we were ready Brad and I loaded up the car. Then came the hard part - saying good bye. It is always such a challenge to say good bye to folks who are so damn wonderful!

Once the long goodbyes were over Brad and I headed for the Ontario airport.  We panicked that I was going to be late. I managed to get checked in and through security just in time to hear that the plane couldn't land at ONT because of the extremely high winds so it was diverted to LAX. I did what anyone else would do - went to Carl's Jr and had a bag of grease.

Trees uprooted outside the Ontario Airport

Delta was good. There's a phrase that you don't hear often!

They brought in buses to take passengers to LAX where they would fly to Atlanta. Some folk elected to be bumped to other flights. I went to the carousel to get my luggage and lined up for the bus. While in line I took pictures of trees in the airport area that had been uprooted by these crazy winds.

There wasn't enough room on the buses so the good folk from United allowed the rest of us from the Delta flights to board one of their buses to LAX. Yeah United and Delta for working together to take care of passengers!

At LAX there was a wee bit o'chaos. Delta had opened up an entire section for the ONT passengers and extra staff were trying to process everyone through. Unfortunately people weren't human-like in their behaviours. In fact, some of them deserved to be bumped again in my not so humble opinion!

The good news . . . I could get to Atlanta tonight. The bad news. . . I was staying there!

Our plane arrived in Atlanta late in the evening. While I waited for my luggage I used the Internet browser on my Blackberry to Google hotels by the airport and called around to make a reservation. By the time my luggage rolled down the chute I had a room to stay in. I scooped up my luggage and headed to the taxi line.

It was close to 1 am by the time I hit the sack - fortified by my dinner of chocolate covered caramels which Palma had given me to take home to Paul. I carefully set the alarm for 5:30 so I would get to the airport by 6 am to try and get a fight home.

I woke at 6 - the alarm didn't work! ARGH

By 7 I was at the airport and the good folks of Delta tried to find a spot for me on a plane to Buffalo. I presume that I looked like crap because the agent gave me a package containing toiletries as well as a Delta t-shirt.  I was touched at the time but now I'm thinking 'the bitch'!

After an uneventful flight to Buffalo I arrived home at 4:30 pm. I missed both of my meetings today but I really don't care!

The trauma of the 32 hour trip home aside, it was a brilliant weekend.

Coming Home

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest. Our photo is currently 21 19 out of 378 photos. You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

*smile*

---

Today is that sad day when the reality of 'heading home' sets in. You know the fun is over and after a trip from hell - you'll be back to reality. I say trip from hell because I leave here at about 9 am and likely won't get home until some time between midnight and 1 am tomorrow. ARGH

One of my colleagues called me at 5 am Palm Desert time so I didn/'t need an alarm and while I tried to get back to sleep - there were no more z's on my page.

Gail and John headed back to Atlanta at 6. After Palma, Brad, and I hugged them good bye Brad went back to bed for some well-deserved sleep while Palma sat by the pool, drank coffee, and debriefed.

I have to go and pack soon so this will be a short post!

Yesterday was a blast.

We got up and puttered about, tidying, organizing, and trying to clean the cobwebs that had been induced by lack of sleep, NO lack of wine, an excess of amazing food, and non-stop laughter out of our heads. There was just NOT enough coffee to do the trick.

Once everyone was up and ready to head out we drove to Keedy's for breakfast. Palma had reserved the backroom for the 23 slowtravellers who wanted a hearty breakfast before they headed out on their drives home. Once again the food was great but it was far eclipsed by the company. Say what you wnat about meeting folk from the 'net' but generally slowtravellers are a grand group!

I had flashbacks to camp momments when it came time to leave. Everyone hung about on the sidewalk, knowing that they had to hit the road, but not really wanting it to end! Unfortunately, like all good things, it had to and as each group trickled away there were hugs, references to future get togethers, and of course, in true slow traveller form . . . advice on the best route home.

Palma, Gail, Sandi, and me decided to go shopping. We stopped in at the street fair where we wandered from stall to stall looking at the items for sale and making some purchases. Later we popped into Trader Joes where I did my kid in a candy store routine.

Back at the house we puttered around while Palma napped. Lunch was an assortment of leftover desserts from the night before. By about 5 the place was looking normal again. Terry and Kathy arrived back at the house - they had taken the tram up the mountain west of Palm Springs and had hiked a bit. Everyone checked e-mail, and re-checked our flihgt arrangements for the next day.

Dinner consisted of leftovers and by about 9:30 Sandi, Terry, and Kathy had to head out to their rental in order to get ready to head home early this morning. Luckily my flight was more sensible ((although it will kill me later tonight and tomorrow).

This has been such a great weekend. Busy, for sure, but full of good fun, laughter, and lots of amazing food. I took more thna 150 photos so I shall be posting them later.

Now it is time to sign off, the shower, packing, and the drive to the Ontario airport awaits!

Palm Desert - Day 3

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest. Our photo is currently 21 out of 378 photos. You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

*smile*

---

WOW - that was a PARTY!

We had everything ready by 3 pm. The tables were arranged around the pool looking perfect. The appetizers were ready. The kitchen help had arrived and Palma was going over their tasks with them. There was an odd sense of 'what next' . . .

Well, what next was one of the most incredible parties I have ever been to. The guests arrived at 4:00 and soon the Proseco corks were popping, the trays of appetizers were being passed and the chatter and laughter was so loud that it was a challenge to be heard!

We were priviledged to be present for the return engagement of Palmabella and the slowchicks! Palma had written a song that had the crowd in stitches. After the slowchicks took their bows they were followed by a suprise act: Mary, her husband, and Linda preformed a marching song based upon slowtravel lore. Again they had the crowd laughing.

As soon as the entertainment was over Palma directed the guests to take their seats. Once everyone had found a spot the servers brought out tables of ceasar salad which had been made by Dave. This was followed by Palma's artichoke and lemon lasagne, and gorgonzola and pear ravioli. Of course after all the appetizers and these two courses we were full. The wine was flowing and before long the entire back yard was buzzing with conversation and laugther bubbled back and forth.

In many houses dinner would now be over. Not at Palma and Brad's! Next up was the main course. Palma asked each table in order to come into the dining room where she had a buffet set out with pork roast with a fig reduction sauce, lamb meatballs with mint pesto, roasted asparagus, the grilled vegetables I had whipped up in the early morning, chipolte onions carmelized with apricots, chesnuts, and cognac, and finally Palma's famous stuffed mushrooms.

My god I was SO stuffed!

Thanks goodness Palma decided to not served dessert immediately. We took a break and everyone came into the living room where we shared the item we had brought for the 'Italy in a bag' event. It was hilarious. My favourite was Shannon's grappa in a spray perfume bottle, followed by Barb's fascinating picture her daughter had taken of a ghost amongst the Italian ruins.

Next up . . . dessert!

Palma had made a caramel cake which had to have had about 12 layers of cake and carmel WOW! Panna Cotta, a multi-layered fudget and brownie cheesecake, and in case anyone needed more sugar - chocolate-covered caramels sprinkled with sea salt. We had the pleasure of washing this down with Brachetto provided by Pauline and Steve.

Soon people started to head home. When I looked at my watch I was stunned to see that it was 1 am. Now I know why I felt so darn tired. We tidied up a bit and I dropped into bed. Apparently some folk stayed up chatting and laughing. Not I, I was in a food (and perhaps) wine induced coma.

It is hard to think of what the best thing was about this party. The host and hostess were incredibly kind, gracious, and generous. The house was Architecture Digest incredible. The food outstanding. But the best? The company! It was great to meet folk I had chatted with over the last year on-line. I don't know when I have laughed so much! I think if I had had a dollar for everytime someone was overheard saying 'stop, if I laugh anymore I will pee my pants' I'd be able to afford three trips to Italy next year!

As people left more than one was overheard saying 'put me on the list for next year'. Well now, let me say it as well: Palma, I want on that list!!!!!'

Palm Desert - Day 2

a shameless self-promotion . . .

One of our photos from Italy has been entered in a photo contest. Our photo is currently 21 out of 378 photos. You can vote by clicking here.

Remember a 10 is good!

*smile*

---

Today is 'P' Day!

Later tonight 48 slow travellers will descend on Palma and Brad to enjoy an amazing meal. Terry, Kathy, Sandi, Gail, Brad, Palma, John, and I are racing about trying to complete our lists.

My big job was to grill the vegetables for the antipasto platter. I completed that task at 6:30 a.m. At one time I thought that I heard a fire truck and though 'good lord, one of the neighbours thinks a fire is underway!' but it raced by.

Palma is in complete control. Many would fade away at the thought of dinner for 48. Not this gal! She is clearly in her element!