Elation to Cabo San Lucas

Well, that was fun.....making the slide show, I mean!

Our Day with Joey in Newport

For those more interested in what we do when I try and forget I am sick....Which is often.....

I am sure a lot of you who have ever had serious illness's can relate to.... How do you balance your *real* life and enjoy as much of it as possible? How do you go about the day to day business of life, family, friends, jobs, etc?

I find it actually kind of funny. When I first found out how sick I was and my Dr's so *nicely* informed me that I might not make it out of the hospital alive and wasn't sure I would make it a few months....until now... Well, it kind of changes your perspective. Especially when you are supposed to be in the middle of your life and not near what you thought would be the end of it.

I decided to go on the 2 cruises I had booked at the end of the month I got out of the hospital....I took it slow but Joe and I decided it was time we spent some quiet time together, just the two of us, along with the rest of my company whose conference it was. So what if we got some Caribbean Sun and fresh air along the way!!!! Look here for a post on that. And here for a couple of pictures. If you click on the photos, you can see how yellow *jaundiced* I was.

Anyway, it is a year later and here are some photo's of our family at a doggy friendly shopping center where we took our bulldog and then at the Golden Truffle. We went to his apartment, viewed the lone jar of mayo in the fridge and one can of cream of mushroom soup in the cupboard (????) and went to Trader Joe's for some shopping, then went out to one of our favorite restaurants *The Golden Truffle*.

I worked for the Golden Truffle and Alan Greeley, Chef-Owner way back in the day when I was fresh out of Culinary School. (Didn't know THAT did you? lol) Before Joey was born. I will save my chef tales for another day.... But here is the story of The Golden Truffle and a couple of pics of dinner.

We had a beautiful 5 course meal that was specially prepared for us and were greeting and treated as VIP's as Alan had left instructions with his staff before he left that evening for a catering event. The tall thing is their *soup and sandwich* appetizer of a lovely vichyssoise with a zesty seafood, crunchy bite on top... I didn't take photos of the beautiful lobster appetizer, grilled scallop (which was HUGE) or the lovely little desert tray.... I should have...when will I learn?

Chef Owned, The Golden Truffle began as a caterer. The restaurant seems in appearance and atmosphere to be Bistro-esque, but those who have experienced the food realize that the Chef has taken a road-less traveled.

The Chef’s myriad influences, with France, Spain, the Caribbean and Asia leading the way, conspire to produce dishes that manage to combine simplicity and comfort with dazzling, complex flavors and colorful presentation.

The Golden Truffle achieves that perennial ambition of most restaurants and satisfies customers of all tastes, serving up adventures cuisine alongside nostalgic homage’s to home cooking.

The Golden Truffle is a favorite of restaurateurs, wine-makers and chefs. The abundant and interesting wine list offers many intriguing and unusual fairly priced wines.

The kitchen’s attention to texture allows each bite its own magical quality. The racy chef-proprietor has a bold approach to food so remarkable that all our senses simply merge with the spirit of the moment; a kind of stream of consciousness cooking that is like opening a storybook with the imagination of a child.

Here is a link to their menu and web-site. The Golden Truffle We had a very nice day together. It is so good to have our son so happy and moving on into adulthood. I hope I am around to see what his future holds.

All in all, a great day. Today is Tuesday and I am headed down to my LLU support group which I missed last week due to our appt's at Scripps so I am anxious to hear all the latest from my friends there. I have to get ready so I will leave you now. Tomorrow I am headed back to San Diego and Scripps for a mandatory transplant class which I am also looking forward to.

Meet Mark

This is MARK!

Well, the little pictures are of the baby tree. The other pictures with flowers are what *Mark* will grow into!


Mark is a Cercidium hybrid ‘Desert Museum’ This semi-evergreen, Thornless, Palo Verde hybrid exhibits qualities found in
Foothill, Blue and Mexican Palo Verde, provides ample shade, distinctive rich green trunks and branches that, similar
to the Palo Brea, remain smooth as they mature, and abundant brilliant yellow flowers that appear in spring and intermittently
during the summer months.

And this is how he got his name:

In the late 1970's Mark Dimmitt with the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) began noticing Blue Palo Verdes that exhibited characteristics suggesting they were hybrids of other Palo Verde species. He collected and planted seeds from the assorted trees he had observed and began evaluating them. By 1981 he had identified a thornless seedling as clearly superior to the others collected. Careful evaluation of the genetic composition of this hybrid, named 'Desert
Museum', revealed it to be a complex hybrid having genetic characteristics from Mexican, Blue and Foothill Palo Verde.

This information came from Arid Zone Trees

I have never planted a tree before and Joe has only planted one a long time ago and a very different kind of tree.

Well, if you know me and know how I can research ANYTHING to death....Well, I can. It took a month or more for us to figure out what to plant. We wanted something light and airy, preferably flowering but not to messy. Not over 15-20ft high. Interesting branch structure and native to the desert. We had considered other Palo Verde Trees and although we both liked them they are normally VERY THORNY !!!! Bed idea if you ever want to touch or prune it.

We were wandering through the nursery the other day and Joe says....*How about this?* and poof Mark has a new home...

We will plant him as soon as the finishing touches of the fountain are done!

I am soooooo easily entertained these days! ;-)

Enjoying our Summer and our projects

Well, hello again..... Here it is the end of August and I thought I would catch you up with how we have been filling the past few weeks outside of our day to day stuff we all do.

We certainly have been enjoying the pool this year, especially with Joe's new schedule. His working so close to home has been wonderful for us both. He can spend more time in the morning before work, come home for lunch and a jump in the pool, back to the office for afternoon appointments and home for the evening..

We had a couple of medical appt's and all went well including Joe's rotorooter exam. HEY, it's only fair he gets poked and prodded too! Ewwwwwwww, I know, I know. I couldn't help it.

My mom, Mary, came to visit for a week. It was great having her here for several days and she enjoyed the new guest room. I have a few more decorating things left to do but will post photo's for you soon.

While she was here we went to a wonderful restaurant we have found a couple of miles from the hospital in Redlands. Called Farm Artisan Foods . It's a great little place in an old downtown environment. It is a chef owned restaurant with innovative/california/gourmet cuisine. Most of their foods come from local organic farms and dairy's. They even buy their meat from a local butcher that purchases 4-H animals that have been certified as organically raised. We can't remember we when we had a better pork loin than here.

They offer a prix fix *lunch* that is served from 11:30-4:30 that consists of a choice of appetizer, entree and desert for $19.50. It is a real deal. The same meal at dinner could easily be $45.00.

Even their coffee is roasted locally just for them. Served in individual french presses with your desert of caramel creme and handmade chocolate truffles.... hmmmmmmmmmmm... If you are local. Go there!

We have also been working on the garden and fountain projects. Some of our garden is doing well some not so good. The aphids really got a hold of my squash....and there were lots of ants...Did you know that the ants and aphids have a relationship going on? Apparently the ants like the sticky substance left by the aphids so they will carry the eggs to the leaves of the plants so they can multiply and make the stuff for them much to the demise of my plant and ME! Joe also adds that the ants will actually HERD them and MILK them.... who knew... (Joe!)

The fountain is coming along. The mosaic is taking a while mostly because I don't get started to early as most of you know and it is so hot lately then I am tired in the evening when it cools down.....trying to get in an hour or two when it isn't blazing out here is tough. We are making progress though. I am ALMOST finished with the tile. Next step is plumbing the fountain, grout, sealant, then WATER! I can't wait to see it finished.

I also really need to decide on a tree for the area. We want to plant it this fall so I better get going on that...

Joey is doing well in his job and apartment. He likes both and is happy to be living close to the beach. He and his friends have been spending as much time as they can there. Bonfires and everything... I plan on having a Mom and Son beach day with him next week. He is getting ready for school to start on soon. I am so very proud of him. He is really growing up and getting down to business while having some fun in the process.

Blogging from the car!

I am going to try this and see if I have it set up right.



We are on our way home from the concert.

A good time was had by all. A picnic basket dinner in the woods with Joe, Joey and roommate Pablo. This was the first time we had met Joey's new roommate. He seems to be a great *kid* and they are getting along good. Getting ready to start school in a week.



I think I will nod off now while Joe pilots us home.



Hope this works! Now I need to figure out how post photo's and video from my BB.......



Bobby?.... Tehe......

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

Off to a concert in LA

We are off to meet Joey and his roommate for a concert at the Greek Theatre.

Check out who we are seeing!

BBQ Area

Since I am showing you garden pics....This is the BBQ Area. My Brother, Doug built that beautiful BBQ for us out of tiles we had made in Rosarita. We shopped for them with my Dad when he lived down there. It is a great memory. He picked out the mural above the BBQ.

Courtyard/Fountain project

This is another current project. This is an area outside of our master bedroom that is a lovely area but we had been neglecting a bit and decided it was time to do something about it.

First step was to get the patio overhang painted and Joe installed Sun Shade Screens over portions of the top. We ripped out the old fountain that some workers in the yard had broken a couple of years ago and searched and ordered the new one you see pictured online. they are staining it to order and shipping it FREE from Ill. Can't beat that! You can find Henri Studios here. Then Joe resealed the fountain basin getting it ready to hold water better than it was and prepare it for new tile.

Next we cleaned out the rock in the mid section where an old tree was and a new tree needs to go...Well, we didn't actually do that but Jose did.....We are currently researching what kind of tree we want in there...It is more difficult than you would think! Oh, our pug, Aldo who is blind did have to learn about the new hole the hard way! Luckily he is tough and shook it off and jumped out!

Next was to figure out our theme for the mosaic in the fountain and I laid that out as you can see and we are still in the process of finishing that.

Joe is going to redo the walkway between the guest room and ours with flagstone and I am going to redo the cactus/succulent garden...

A few bird feeders, wind chimes and a nice place to sit and enjoy and we will be done!

Watch for pics to follow..............................

Our Day in LA playing tourist

We have decided that besides working on our garden projects...(more to follow) that we would spend our summer time exploring new things locally. There are so many things to do local to you/us that we never take time to do and especially being in So Cal there are a multitude of places to go and new things to experience within driving distance....(of the transplant center) for a day trip or a weekend.

On this day which started as two.....We had a very full day. I was a bit worried that I would get awfully tired trying to fit this all in but we took it easy and I did fine. We had a great day!

We saw something on the local news about The Getty Villa. Not the museum but the villa which in actuality is a museum unto itself. Here is a another link for details on free admission, etc.

It was designed and built by J Paul Getty to house his collection of ancient Greek and Roman Sculptures and art. It was designed after a villa in Rome that had been partially dug out. It is very beautiful in structure, art and location which is in Santa Monica with views of the ocean. Not to mention the gardens.

They also have a really nice outdoor Mediterranean cafe to enjoy lunch on the patio.

Next we went to a historical, famous Hollywood hot dog landmark. PINKS

It has been in Hollywood since 1939 serving hot dogs to the stars and star struck.... We stood in line for 1.5 hours for a dog...it was great fun visiting with everyone in line and the dogs were great. Their menu was even better..You have never seen so many different options.

Then it was off to the Greek Theatre, an amphitheatre in the hills and pines of Griffith Park under the stars. This is a park where they house the LA ZOO, Gene Autry Museum, A great planetarium and observatory, travel town for the kiddies and The Greek Theatre. We saw Crosby, Stills and Nash and it was a wonderful night. They sounded so good. I was surprised how good actually.

As most of you may remember David Crosby is a liver transplant recipient who received his new liver in 1995 and I couldn't help but think how lucky he was to be standing up there singing. He has had so many years that he would not have had without the selflessness of a donor and their family. I also wondered how many other people he had given hope to that he was unaware of, like me. I sat in the audience wondering if we were the only 2 who new what it was like to face the fact your liver is failing and you need someone else's to keep living and I thought not...There are many of us who are waiting or have had successful transplants...But it was somehow comforting to just watch and hear him sing those beautiful songs he wrote with his friends in perfect harmony.

Test 2 garden collage

How do you like all this? .... It'll have to do for now.

This is one thing that has been keeping me/us busy. I had tried a veggie garden in this spot years ago and just when things started to grow and I had everything on a timed water system we went on a trip somewhere....(as we USED to do...LOL) and when we came back....Guess what? No water/No plants....

So this year when my lovely next door neighbor offered to rototill my very hard dirt into nice soil to plant in I jumped with joy, started making plans and ran off to the garden center for *stuff*.

My friend Michelle suggested I try a seed catalog she has been using www.territorialseed.com It has been a wonderful resource and I was able to order some seeds for things like peas and spinach that are heat resistant. Joe put up a trellis on the stucco wall for the peas. Right now we have tomatoes, a watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, yellow and green zucchini, strawberries, 7 kinds of herbs and baby pea plants. I have just added some chard, carrots, spinach and beets and lettuce will follow soon.

I have also been getting advice from a site called www.davesgarden.com

The pictures of the bugs were something I obsessed over for awhile until I finally identified them on www.whatsthatbug.com Turned out to be harmless.

I also know that after transplant it is a BIG NO NO to do any gardening. It's on the top of the DON'T DO THIS list. So I figure... What better way to get a call for a new liver than to start something like a garden that I can't touch if my turn comes up!

So this is summer project #1

Party Report

I will tell you about my birthday party later...But it was a truly fantastic day and I was surrounded by great friends and couldn't have wished for more!

Steve Miller Band Concert

Last week before my birthday Joe and I along with our good friends, Dean and Michelle, went to see the Steve Miller Band at a local Indian Casino. IT WAS SO GOOD !!!!! We all had a great time. Steve played all his favorites and a lot of really great blues stuff. From start to finish he ROCKED and the audience showed their appreciation by having a great time, singing along and dancing in the aisles!

I was so proud of the audience............Seems that all of us who used to rock out at concerts in the day seem to like to plant our butts, (well, not me...........LOL) and politely clap to the same stuff we used to dance and scream at....well, not this audience and it made it that much more fun.

It really was fun and if you like this kind of stuff and see he is coming to your area, go get yourself a ticket or 2.....Have some fun.....You never know what is around the corner!

Dinner with Dr Cliff and Karen

Thursday night we also had Cliff and Karen, Joe's new employers, over for dinner. It was very nice having them over to the house and it had been awhile since we had had people over for dinner other than quick bites here and there.

They hadn't been to the house before and we all wanted to get together for a last minute pow wow before Joe gets started over there on Monday!

They are such nice people and we get along very well with them. We are all looking forward to a long and productive relationship together.

They ran a big ad in the local paper today, Sunday, welcoming Joe back to the High Desert and to the practice. We are very excited about the move and I will write more about the practice later. It will be a big change for us having Joe so close to home and we are looking forward to that as well. Joe will look forward to seeing you local friends and your pets here in town!

Eating Healthier.......................

I was going to make eggs benedict for us this morning. I do make a
mean hollandaise! My restaurant days did teach me a thing or too......But
instead we skipped the sauce and had whole wheat english muffins, poached eggs
and fresh fruit.

But that isn't what I wanted to talk about. Joe and I have always
walked this line between eating decadant lovely food spurred on by my
professional chef days and love of cooking and our love of travel and fine
restaurants, cruise ships, etc. AND the flip side of eating extremely
healthy and well balanced foods which hit it's peak during my extreme fitness
and body building days...

FRESH FOODS have always been at the heart of both and our taste buds still
do dictate a lot of what we actually eat... Now of course we both have
some specific health issues that we need to pay attention to and in striving to
keep us both in the best health we can we have specific things to
watch....

I am on a low sodium diet re: my Dr's...and I decided that it wasn't a very
good idea to put any chemicals in there to process since my organs are all
trying to compensate for all the jobs my liver is supposed to do...The biggie
which of course is ridding your body of nasty stuff. So organic produce at
home for me.

Joe is on a diabetic diet....which is good for me also... anyway, we
juggle a lot of different nutritional stuff.

I have managed to eliminate the grocery store from my shopping
regimen. We do have a SUPER Target up here now with full, very nice
grocery's at great prices so I do go there. We go to the farmers market
for whole grain breads I can pre-order and they have it waiting for me.
They have an amazing whole grain, seeded sourdough bread............(and I can
pick up some fresh flowers for the week) Trader Joe's of course.
There isn't one here but there is one by the hospital. So I can go there
once a week. And we joined a local organic produce co-op that is
absolutely fabulous. We get a basket every 2 weeks of produce in season
and all organic. Extremely delicious stuff!

So, except for the occasional pizza..... (did I say that?) We do
pretty good.

I don't know why I felt like sharing that but I did......
:-)

What I am making....

A couple of these: Lemon Curd, Fresh Berrie Trifle

Everyone loves these and they are my favorite.

I am also making a black bean and corn type salad to go with the taco's....

Want the recipe? Here it is. You can make the lemon curd ahead and I use orange juice concentrate instead of the Grand Marnier of course. But I used to make it that way and if there are no kids or it isn't an issue.... use it!

Make sure to use a great glass bowl if you don't have a trifle bowl and layer CAREFULLY, using all the colors. I also use a lemon and regular pound cake and you can double the recipe. Joe bought a trifle bowl for me at Crate and Barrel a few years ago and it's worth it if you like layered anything.

Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

6 large egg yolks 1 cup sugar 4 lemons, zested and juiced 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in chunks 1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved lengthwise 1 pint fresh blueberries 1 pint fresh blackberries 2 cups sweetened whipped cream 1 prepared lemon pound cake, sliced 1/4 cup Lemoncello or Grand Marnier liqueur (optional) Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

To make the lemon curd: Bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch, and continue to whisk. Keep working-out that arm and whisk it vigorously for a good 10 minutes, until the curd has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow. Don't let it boil. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the butter, a couple of chunks at a time, until melted. Refrigerate until the custard is cold and firm.

To build the trifle: put the berries in a mixing bowl and toss them together so they are evenly distributed. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled lemon curd to lighten it up into a mousse. Line a glass trifle bowl with pieces of pound cake to fit. Drizzle or brush the cake with the Lemoncello, spoon a layer of the lemon curd over the cake, and then a layer of mixed berries. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up, the last layer looks best if it's the berries. Chill before serving. Garnish with fresh mint.

Recipe Summary Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: 30 minutes Inactive Prep Time: 1 hours Cook Time: 10 minutes Yield: 10 servings.

This is the perfect time of year to make it with the berries in season.