Bright Sunny Days Return

Another hike this morning.  Another warm and sunny day in California.

Steep climb.

I walked ahead and waited for Mike.

Looking upward, more to climb ahead of us.  Going back tomorrow morning to do it again.

Tea Date with Friends

Today I went to another tea house, lucky me.  I think I am enjoying this tea house thing, seems to me as if I'm determined to visit them all.  It is fun to get dressed up a little and treat yourself once in a while.  There is one special tea house in San Francisco that I'm dying to try. 

This time the tea house of choice was Ciocolat in Davis.  I went to the tea house accompanied by my daughter, Shilah, along with my friend, Jan, and her daughter, Laurie.  I found out about this place on Groupon and purchased their High Tea special.  It's a quaint shop in downtown Davis and I think that I read somewhere they are known for their desserts.  I can certainly see why, the desserts are small bites of pure decadence.

Our server (it was her first day) greeted us in a friendly manner and served us tea and scones.  We each received two nice sized cranberry scones along with a small bowl of lemon curd to share.

Before the four petite sandwiches pictured above had arrived, they brought us a small green salad to enjoy.

A tiny marbled chocolate cup with cream and strawberry.

Chocolate Decadence Cake. 

Lemon Tart topped with blueberry.  After dessert they brought a small plate of fruit and cream.

Some cakes in their display case.

Apple Kale Salad

Apple Kale Salad

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (cold pressed)

3 tsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/8 tsp. salt

6 to 7 cups bright green organic kale (I used Dino Kale, it's more tender)

1 fresh apple (use a crisp apple) peeled and sliced thinly and cut into 1 inch pieces.

1/2 cup walnuts, lightly toasted

1/4 to 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (if you love blue cheese use the larger amount)

Wash kale leaves and put into a colander.  Have a large wooden bowl ready to mix the salad in.  Gently pull away the tender green kale from the center rib.  Throw away the ribs or use in compost bin.

Mix oil, vinegar, lemon juice and salt in a bowl with a whisk.  Pour and massage the oil mixture into the leaves very well.

Toss the apple, walnuts and blue cheese into the kale salad.  Enjoy.

Gambonini Ranch

Last week after we left Walker Creek Ranch, we headed down Marshall-Petaluma Road and passed by this cool looking ranch.  We slowed down and pulled over hoping to get permission to take pictures.  No one was home and two dogs were barking.  Across the street this cute little old lady came out of her house because of the dogs going crazy and at first I thought she was just trying to keep an eye on us.  I walked over and asked if she knew who owned the property and she said that she did and kindly gave her permission for us to mosey around so I could get some shots.

Lots of cool rusty old trucks.

A junkyard of old cars behind the large barn.

A rusting old buggy.

Pair of rusty refrigerators.

Tons of stuff in this barn.

The Gambonini Ranch.

The barn photograph above was taken a little further down the road.  I asked Mike to stop the truck and I quickly hopped out and ran down the road to get this because I love the shadow play on the roof from the tree.

Aunt Helen's Birthday

My Auntie Yvonne decided to invite several ladies (and myself) to a birthday tea for my Aunt Helen.  These aunts are my father's two sisters and I hadn't seen my Aunt Helen in several years.  

The location: Tyme For Tea in Fremont, CA.

Auntie Yvonne (with hat) and Aunt Helen, the birthday girl.

Sue and Cindy trying to settle on a hat choice from the trunk of hats.

Perhaps purple?

Me and Auntie Yvonne.

Nancy, my cousin.  It's been many, many years since I'd seen Nancy.  It's funny, she lives so close to me, too.  Perhaps now, we might keep more in touch.

The birthday party group.

A little girl and her mom.  She had her favorite dolly with her.  You can see the top of the doll's head sitting below her left arm.  When we left she had her doll sitting on her lap.  Cute.