October 31 is madness at our place.  The night of October 31, thousands of devils, demons, monsters and yes, even princesses, float up our driveway in search of treats, not tricks.  One must prepare for the onslaught, and that means help!  I always like to have a treat for the adults that come by to help.  Continue reading →

Our Fall Garden Swap was hosted in a beautifully restored Cape Cod home custom built in 1948 by Allison Honer, a famed local architect.  The theme was Pumpkins! and our host & neighbors fully embraced the challenge: Continue reading →

When we purchased our house, we had no idea that would join a community at the same time. Continue reading →

We use a fantastic travel company to help us plan our vacations, Gate 1.  One of the signature features of their trips is a local experience.  In the case of our trip to Peru, a “cooking” class.  I say “cooking” because we didn’t actually cook anything, but what we did make was fantastic.  Continue reading →

I love Peruvian food.  We have several great restaurants in Southern California, all of which offer a side of a creamy dreamy green sauce to spice up all entrees.  In 2018, we headed to Peru in search of Macchu Picchu, volcanos, llama, alpacas, ceviche, and Peruvian green sauce.  Over mountains and hills we searched, Continue reading →

At one of our garden swaps, a neighbor brought dried heirloom beans to swap.  Dried beans have always intimidated me.  Several years ago, I attempted to make my own black beans Continue reading →

Friday was our first garden swap of 2019. After literally months of being rained out, the skies cleared and the neighborhood came together on a perfect CA evening.  Stepping through the gate, however, you could swear you were in New Orleans, LA.  Hidden Continue reading →