SANTA BABY

 

She likes Santa only from far away.

CLASSIC

EL CAP

Life has been busy, but who isn't busy in December, right?  No excuses, though, I admit to having abandon my blog for quite sometime.  That said, the past month and a half has been amazing catching up with friends and family.  One of the highlights thus far has been camping at El Capitan State Beach last weekend.  It was Annie's first camping trip and I think she loved it.  At the very least, she loved eating the ice that was keeping the keg cold.  Better that than loving the campfire, I guess?  Nevertheless, it was such a pleasure spending quality time with best friends and their little ones, in the clean, cool, salty air.  Thank you so much to the Lyman's for planning such and amazing trip.  We are looking forward to our next camping adventure.

SB LOVE

This weekend we fell in love with Santa Barbara all over again. There is just something about the way the mountains transition to the sea, the intoxicating smell of tar and eucalyptus in the air, the charm of the Spanish-style buildings, and the way the palm trees dot the skyline that call out to me. Although I only lived there for four short years while in college, the town will always hold a special place in my heart.  Since graduating, Nathan and I have spent many weekends in SB visiting friends who have been lucky enough to make it their permanent home (so jealous).  It is the town where Nathan and I met, and where we have shared many happy memories.   This past weekend our dear friends, the Lyman's, offered us their cozy home while they traveled down south to celebrate with their family.  Nate and I enjoyed the comforts of their home, while Annabelle reveled in playing with Ruby and Milo's toys.  Saturday morning we walked downtown to get coffee then played hard at Alice Keck Park on its old-school, wooden playground.   Then off to the Santa Barbara Zoo just in time to beat the rain.   During the storm we drove through the Riviera picking out our imaginary future home and later joined the Degner's at their new home for an amazing dinner (thanks Jess and Joel!).  Sunday morning Nathan woke up early to surf Jalama with Drew while Annabelle and I took a nice long walk to the Mission.  Before we took off for Westlake, we slipped in a quick walk on the pier and a visit to the Sea Center.  Wow, what a weekend.  Santa Barbara - someday soon we will return - if not for good, then for another visit.

LITTLE PUMPKIN

My parents love to tell the story about how I used to hate going to the pumpkin patch.  Supposedly, I would mope through the field, find a pumpkin, sit on it and pout.  I don't remember doing this, but I vaguely remember being unbearably hot and feeling dusty and dirty which leads me to believe the story is very much the truth.  Although October in Southern California is still incredibly warm, the pumpkin patch is a far cry from what it used to be.  Last week Adrienne, Nathan, Nani and I took Annabelle to Tierra Rejada for her first visit to the pumpkin patch.  The patch has been "enhanced", so to speak, with a petting zoo, a corn maze, a singing chicken puppet show, a playground, haystacks, hayrides, pony rides, pig races, and even a gold panning station.  Wow.  If they had that when I was a kid, you can bet there would have been no pouting from me.  Even though it was a bit commercialized, we all enjoyed our visit to the patch and left with some farm fresh produce and some beautiful pumpkins to carve in time for Halloween tomorrow.

For more pics click here.

THE PARK WITH POPS

HEADING BACK TO THE WEST COAST

On Sunday afternoon we pulled away from Lucia’s farmhouse to begin our journey home to California.  As we drove down the dirt road leading away from the house tears sprung to my eyes.  I was suddenly overcome with sadness that this amazing part of our lives that will always live in our memories, was coming to an end.  I reached for my sunglasses to hide my welling eyes and concentrated on appreciating the brilliant views of the French countryside for the last time.  I wanted to fully capture those final moments road-tripping in the Puegot (a.k.a the Puge) with the man I love and the wonderful miracle-of-a-toddler riding in the back seat.  Appropriately, we listened to the Coconut Records album that has sort of become our theme album since we began packing to leave New York in June - in particular the song, HeadingBack to the West Coast (for obvious reasons).  I love how music can bring you back to a specific place and time, and already hearing the beginning notes of this song play I picture our European road trip.   I see us driving on the toll roads, heading to Hossegor for a beach day with the tall skinny pines lined up out the window.  We are in summer traffic, cruising through roundabouts, driving from the market in Biarritz back to Bidart.  We are threading through Pyrenees heading for Spain, catching glimpses of the Atlantic to the east.  We are searching for castle sightings amongst the farmland in Portugal.  We are amazed by the endless Spanish desert and ruins in the distance.  We are relieved to see the lights of Barcelona, arriving in the night.  We marvel at the topography change as we snake along the switchbacks through mountains of Andora and back to France.  Eventually we are in the central southwest of France looking out at amber fields, rolling hills speckled with the richness of autumn, catching glimpses of stone walls and farmhouses that have been there for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Map in my hands, feet on the dash, we are tracking.  Then we are not.  We are lost, we are found again.   We are constantly finding our way, reading the road signs in our terrible accents, counting Euros for tolls.  Sometimes we are tired, other times silly.  Sometimes we are chatty, other times alone with our thoughts.  Occasionally we are frustrated (mostly when we are lost), but mostly we are happy.  I could not think of a better way to be spending these moments while our lives are in limbo, just counting the miles, dreaming out loud, anticipating our next destination, and imagining the lives of the local people so different than the American life we lead. Sometimes I ride in the back with Annie E, playing games and reading books and on the very rare occasion will take the wheel, provided there are minimal hills and traffic (I’m still not great with a stick shift).  Mostly, however, I hold court in the passenger seat assuming the role of co-pilot/navigator/observer/snack administrator.

Between our destinations, we spent quite a bit of time in the Puge.  Overall we drove about 8,000 kilometers – along with the sand, Cherrios and croissant crumbs collected along the way.  We said adieu to the Puge in the wee early hours of Monday morning just before our flight from Toulouse to London and then on to LA to head back home to the West Coast.  When I think back on our trip I will always think fondly of our moments in that car - just the three of us, a little voyaging unit -sticking together, discovering the world.

LOVE-LY

Happy Anniversary, my love.  Cheers to 4 amazing years and all of the rest to come.  I look forward to everyday with you.

Mexico, 2007

CHECKING IN

It has been quite some time since my last post.  Between visitors and traveling to new places I have found very little time for updates and often when I did have the time we were unable to get an Internet connection. Since we are now well into the third leg of our trip, I foresee having to do a lot of catch up in the days to come.  It is sad to think our travels are almost over, though Nathan and I both feel the slightest itch to return home and get back to real world.  I can not believe how fast the time here flies and am so grateful to have made so many amazing memories thus far.

The remainder of our time in Portugal was absolutely wonderful spending time with the Teter's, Chenard's, Diane, Bryan and Carol.  From Portugal we took a few days to cross the Iberian Peninsula through Spain and now we are back in France staying at Aunt Lucia's farmhouse about two hours outside of Toulouse.  On the 5th, the entire Ellis-Caruana crew came together at a hotel near the Toulouse airport so we could caravan out to the country together.  Nathan, Annabelle and I arrived from Barcelona, Diane from Portugal, Michael from Virginia, Bryan from Ukraine, and Nathan's step-brother Matthew and his fiance, Steph, from South Africa.  It was quite a reunion and lovely to see our ever-expanding family.  Autumn has definitely arrived in France and we are bundled up, enjoying meals fireside and brisk walks through the country.  The swimsuits and sand toys are buried deep in our suitcases and we do not anticipate pulling them out until we are back in California.   Right now it is looking like we will start out trek home this coming weekend, but we still have some travel details to work out in regards to our car lease and flights back.  For our remaining days abroad we hope to relax, enjoy our time with the family, take long walks, and pick apples and walnuts and just enjoy the beautiful French countryside. More on France and the past 20 or so days to come!

SUPER TUBOS

On this foggy morning a little over a week ago, the swell really picked up.  We drove out to Super Tubos for Nathan to surf.  Unfortunately, after catching a few waves, he did something to mess up his shoulder.  After a few days of icing, stretching and ibuprofen, he is back, which means back to surf widow status for me.  Fortunately, we have reinforcements on the way.  The Teter's, Diane and Carol arrive tomorrow and the Chenard's and Brian later in the week.  Whoo hoo!

THE OCTOPUS TRIALS

On my birthday, we decided to experiment with making octopus.  We were inspired by a delicious octopus salad that we had in France, and wanted to recreate it at home.  The entire process ended up being quite involved with cleaning the guy (not for the squeamish), boiling, preparing the marinade and then grilling.  For the marinade I used olive oil, lime, cilantro, thinly sliced grilled red onions, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  Along with the grilled yellow and red peppers, the flavors ended up being quite good.  The octopus however I would rank as just average.   The tentacle ends were tasty, but the thicker the tentacle became, the more chewy and less enjoyable I found it to be.  Hmmm.  Perhaps this is one to leave to the pros.  I would, however, definitely make the peppers in the marinade for a salad on its own.  All in all not bad, but not great, and definitely a learning experience.

SINTRA

About an hour south of where we are staying is a beautiful hilltop town called Sintra.  Lord Byron called this hilltop town a "glorious Eden" and I can see why.  The highlight being Pena National Palace, a palace straight out of a fairy tale.  It was if Sleeping Beauty and Jonathan Adler got together to make their dream home.  The amount of detail in tile work, sculpture, and architecture astounded me, as did the color palate of reds, yellows and blues.  It encompasses the perfect mix of mod appeal with Romanticism.  The surrounding gardens and the hike up to the palace are equally remarkable.  I wish that my parents had a few more days with us in Portugal to see it - I think they would have loved it.  Next time, perhaps? 

PIRI PIRI POPCORN

The Portuguese love to spice things up with their signature hot sauce, Piri Piri.  Both of us being big fans of hot sauce, we could not pass up a chance to indulge in a little Piri Piri.   Our new fave snack: Piri Piri Popcorn.  Yes please.

BALEAL

It is hard to believe that we have been in Europe for a month and a half and in Portugal for two weeks already! Time is flying by.  France already seems long ago, as does living in New York.  Portugal is so different than France, though equally as beautiful in completely different ways.   In many aspects I have been surprised and in others, it is just as I imagined.  We are staying on a tiny island called Baleal that is joined to the mainland by a sand bar.  The island naturally separates two beautiful sandy beaches on either side.  The beach to the south stretches in endless dunes all the way to the town of Piniche, which is a fisherman's village and where we go to do our shopping.  To the north, the beach has beautiful rock formations with cliffs that line the sea.   The beach to the north is the one I prefer given its dramatic landscape and amazing colors.  From our kitchen it reminds me a bit of the Santa Barbara coastline, but up close the cliffs take on amazing hues of red rock, ash blue and slate grey.  The north beach also provides a sheltered little cove from the wind and has great tide pools for Annabelle to explore.  The island of Baleal is up on a rocky cliffs providing dramatic scenery, particularly when the surf is big.  The climate in Baleal has a desert feel.  Despite being on the sea, not much grows here, leaving the island quite stark with the exception of succulents and ice plant.   Just a few minutes inland, however, is lush farmland and rolling hills.  The central coast of Portugal seems part undeveloped So Cal, part Mex, and part Greece all in the same country. 

We have come upon what Nate calls the "dog days of summer".  Many of the homes on the island have shut their storm shutters in preparation for the winter ahead, and everyday the beach seems more and more vacant. We have had a few chilly days with high winds that make you imagine what it is like here in the dead of winter, but also have had those long Indian Summer days where the sun still warms your skin late into the afternoon when the sun begins to set.  We shared our first week here with my parents and are looking forward to more visitors in the coming weeks.  More of Portugal to come...

Baleal

Baleal North and South Beaches

Pinniche

View from the Kitchen

Piniche

SO BUSY

TO MARKET

One of our favorite activities on our trip so far has been going to the different markets and experimenting with the local ingredients.  The markets in France were truly amazing with each vendor's stall overflowing in abundance, whether they were selling produce, meats, seafood, spices, nuts, breads or cheese.  Everything is so colorful and fresh, allowing our culinary imaginations to run wild.  Our favorite market was in Biarritz, where we could shop from stall to stall picking up our staples and then end the shopping trip sampling a half dozen oysters on the half shell and a glass of wine. Bon appetite!  In Portugal we have found a market equivalent, though it is a little more bare bones and not as fancy as the market in Biarritz.  This is just fine by us considering the prices are much more affordable.  In addition, we have recently discovered  an amazing seafood market on the North side of Piniche that offers a huge variety of fresh fish.  Our house in Portugal has an outdoor grill, so we have been firing up the barbie almost every night.  The grill has added a whole new dimension to our cooking.  With a little help from epicurious.com and youtube for technique, we have been venturing into uncharted territory.  Nathan has been mastering the art of grilling whole fish and I am working on my fillet-ing skills.  Tonight we are attempting octopus.  Should be interesting. Here are some of our other meals thus far...

Paella

Chicken and Ribs (for the non-veggies)

Arugala Salad w/ Beets & Goat Cheese

Nicoise Salad

Pasta Aubergine (Eggplant)

Dorado w/ Roasted Potatoes

FRIDAY CACTI

Cacti, a photo by CBell913 on Flickr.

PORTUGAL WEEK 1