8:45am | february 6

T E N N E S S E E   V A L L E Y

marin county, california

Feeling that I am escaping winter while the rest of the country is experiencing bizzaro weather is a recurring thought for me lately.  We are thinking about a possible move to Seattle where the winter is real and dark and long and rainy so I am finding myself lapping up every sun ray, long shadow, and green mountainside I can find. I feel like Leo Lionni's character in 'Frederick The Mouse' gathering up images to sustain and inspire during the long winter months.

One of my favorite sunny day hikes is in the Tennessee Valley in Marin County which is across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco. You quickly climb above the Pacific Ocean and look up and down the sunny (albeit sometimes foggy) California coast.

nuns' farts

P E T S   D E   N O N N E S

My 7 year old and I were looking through one of my favorite cookbooks last Saturday morning trying to decide what to make for an impromptu lunch with our friend Pogey. We wanted to eat in the garden because we are having the most incredible weather this February - 68 degrees and sunny!! Our simple menu was coming together nicely but then we stepped it up a notch with dessert. I don't normally make dessert for lunch but Claude giggled so hard at this recipe that we just had to make them. Nuns' farts. How fabulous. And they were! Easy, too.

By the way, I am completely enthralled with THE CANAL HOUSE COOKING cookbooks. All of them. I love Christopher & Melissa's philosophy and their elegant ease to cooking. They inspire me to slow down and make me want to call my best girlfriends to come over to cook together. This recipe comes from Volume No 5, page 118. 

our winter garden lunch menu:   

leeks with a mustard vinaigrette, pan fried chicken thighs with thyme, a baguette with BARIANI early harvest extra virgin olive oil + sea salt for dipping, and sunglasses.

grace cathedral

C A R N I V A L E

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Once a year, GRACE CATHEDRAL moves it pews out of the nave and the majestic space is transformed into a place for the community to celebrate CARNIVALE. As always, it was a wonderful evening! Distinguished guest speaker, Linda Ronstadt and performer, Suzanne Mentzer inspired us with word and song as we celebrated 100 years of the Cathedral's Men and Boy's Choir. Bravo!

All proceeds raised support the Cathedral's outreach programs.