Our Juicy Life

Acupuncture visit

                  

Bruce and I used to be addicted to rock climbing...we climbed a lot!  In fact I met Bruce rock climbing - 13 years ago.  I wanted to learn how to climb and Bruce was a professional rock climber (yes there is such a thing).  He was also a private coach and became my coach.  We were friends for 1 year before he asked me on a date (probably because I was married at the time...but that's another post).  Anyway, we climbed everywhere....Los Angeles, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Northern California, Mexico, Arizona, Spain, France & the island of Mallorca.  It was so great...it was our life,  until I was pulling too hard on a hold and felt this pull in my arm, right where my elbow bends.  It stopped my climbing, forever.  I could never get it to heal.  I stopped for 1 year and then went back to try again and I re-injured it.  So I stopped climbing, so did Bruce.  We moved on to surfing and then cycling. 

3 weeks ago we were in the gym and we were weight training.  I had been using pretty light weights and Bruce said "add a bit more", I didn't want to, he said it's wasn't that much and dropped on 10 lbs..I pull it up and "OUCH"....I knew that I re-injured my arm again.  It hurt when I picked up a bag, when I reached into the fridge and pulled out the soy milk, it started to hurt all the time and it would wake me up at night.  Not good.  So....off I went to the acupuncturist. 

Last year I had really bad shoulder pain.  One of our clients works at Yosan University, which is an accredited acupuncture university.  You go to school there for 5 years and then spend 1 year practicing in the clinic under one of the Dr's.  It's $30.00 for a visit.  Last year they fixed me up in 3 visits.  Wham bam, done!  So I called them up and went yesterday for my first visit.  It feels a bit better, but I have to go back on Thursday and the Monday and they think that should be enough.  It seems to be a pretty easy thing to treat.

I must say the whole Eastern medicine "idea" intrigues me.  The ying and yang, the meridians, it all seems to make sense and it works.  It also doesn't hurt at all.  The needles are so thin, they slide right in, then you lay there (i have a heat lamp on my arm) for about 20 minutes with the needles in and then they pull them out and off you go.  I had 3 needles in my right arm, around my elbow and then 1 in the left side of my left knee.  She started with the 1 in my left knee, she put it in and then made me hold my bag and lift it up and down while she twirled the needle into my leg (again, didn't hurt a bit)....there was pain at first, but then as I continued it was almost gone.  Amazing. 

If you haven't tried acupuncture and have back, knee, ankle, arm, shoulder or pain anywhere else, try it....it works!  It also helps with sinus problems, headaches and other internal problems (with kidney, digestive, thyroid, etc....). I'll keep you posted on my progress.  I don't like being in pain, all day, all the time...especially when it wakes you up in the middle of the night - that dull ache is such a drag.

Think I'll stick with my light weights!

Scallops wrapped with bacon

               

I have never made scallops.  Not sure why, but just haven't.  But I have had a craving for them and figured to try a recipe that I saw in bon appetit (can't seem to find the ' that should go over the e).  It turned out great.  This was a huge hit with Bruce and I loved it too.  Make sure before you buy the scallops you ask to smell them...it's not insulting...but you don't want a fishy smell to the scallops.

First, wash scallops and pat dry.  Cut slices of bacon in half widthwise and lengthwise, getting four pieces to a slice.  Wrap bacon around scallops and place in a long baking sheet/pan that can go in the broiler.  Make a lemon, butter, garlic sauce by melting butter, adding a tablespoon of lemon juice and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Brush this mixture on scallops.  Garnish with dry parsley and paprika for color.  Put in broiler and watch carefully.  When they are golden brown, turn them over and brush with butter mix again.  Scallops are done when they just stat to brown.

This dish was so easy and so good.  I served it on baby spinach with dried cranberries, dried blueberries, toasted almonds and a balsamic vinaigrette...perfect.  We also had our staple - french bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar and a great bottle of French wine!   Yum yum.  If you try this, let me know how you liked it.

Cold, wet and tired...not the perfect day!

                  

This is what we road in today.  We got up and the weather said "mix of clouds and sun".  That was OK with us.  We decided to do another long ride, back down to Palos Verdes (just like last Sunday), 50 miles.  It was cold this am, well, cold for Los Angeles.  I think the temperature was 50 degrees and it was windy.  So I bundled up, biking leggings with biking shorts over, performance shirt under my jersey, arm warmers and covered up with my warm biking jacket.  Also had my full finger gloves and headband under my helmet and my warm shoe covers - ready to go.  We went about 1 mile and I seriously thought I was going to have to turn around, it was freezing (much colder when you are going 18 miles an hour).  Bruce said to stick it out 5 miles more and then make a decision.  After 5 miles I was warming up, so we headed south. 

It was windy, but not too bad (just no sun).  We got down to Palos Verdes and decided to stop for some coffee and warm up.  5 minutes after we stopped it started to sprinkle, no big deal.  But then the sprinkle started to turn into rain and the sky looked very gloomy.  We were 25 miles from home.  So rather than sit there we decided to head back home before it got worse.  Well, the rain did get worse and it was actually pelting my face so hard that it hurt.  I was drenched!  30 minutes later after dropping down from the Palos Verdes Peninsula I felt a patch of sun on my back.  Ahh....le soleil, I love the sun!!!!

Bruce and I did a couple of back-country trips in the Sierras (one for 5 days the other for 7 days) and I would wake up in the tent and Bruce would be up making coffee but the sun wasn't on us yet....so I'd get up, bundle up in my jacket and gloves and hat and head to where the sun was hitting.  I'd sit there until the sun got to our campsite.  I don't do well in the cold.

Anyway, the sun hit me and I instantly felt good.  I figured it would be with us the rest of the way home (which was about 1 hour).  Thank goodness for the sun, because the wind picked up and it was coming straight at us.  After 40 miles I felt a drop of rain and the sun was gone, then it got worse and started to rain really hard again.  I was just about dry!  So, the last 7 miles were in the rain.  I was cold and tired and couldn't wait for a warm shower and a nap.  Both were great!

Our weekly french movie

                                             

Each week we watch a french movie, in french with english subtitles.  This week I was so excited to get "Charlotte Gray" because it was filmed in our favorite french village St. Antonin Noble Val.  Charlotte (Cate Blanchett) is a Scottish woman searching for her missing pilot boyfriend during World War II. Going undercover as a housekeeper in a French town (St. Antonin Noble Val), she meets a local farmer (Michael Gambon) and his son, Julien (Billy Crudup), a leader in the resistance who's harboring two Jewish children. When the children's lives are threatened, Charlotte must choose between finding her lost love and taking a stand.  Sounds great.

But when we put it in I was disappointed to find out that it was in English.  What?  It's filmed in france!  It's not good for our french practice to have a film in english with french subtitles.  It's so much better to have the movie in french with english subtitles. We tried to watch it anyway and it brought back great memories when we saw our favorite village on the screen. Make us realize that we need to send some emails out to our friends that we met when we were there in September.  Jacques, who is a wonderful man, loves bikes, loves to cycle and took us out on some great rides.  He also had us over for dinner one night with some other friends.  What an honor - to be invited to someones home in France!  We also have to send an email to Anka and Fabrice.  They are also cyclists and we met them through Jacques.  They are a wonderful couple with 2 adorable girls, we did a beautiful 50 mile bike ride with them - going through St. Antonin Noble Val.  We hope to see them soon.

       

Last week I ordered "Chocolat"...but little did I know when I ordered "Chocolat" that there were 2 french movies with the same title.  Who knew.  So when we got this in the mail (gotta love Netflix) I was confused when I read the description on the sleeve.  This wasn't the Chocolat that I expected.  You know, the one I'm talking about - a single mother (Oscar-nominee Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter move to a village in France and open a chocolate shop -- that's open Sundays (unheard of in France) -- across the street from a church. At first, Binoche's rich, sensuous desserts scandalize the town, but soon the villagers welcome the newcomers with open arms.

This "Chocolat" that I got, is based on director Claire Denis's childhood memories, it examines the devastating effect of French colonialism through the eyes of a young girl coming of age in 1950s West Africa. When a plane makes an emergency landing in the isolated colonial post where 8-year-old France (Cécile Ducasse) lives, a diverse group of whites and Africans is stranded and must stay with France's family, forcing sexual, social and class tensions to arise.  All I can say is this is a wonderful wonderful film.  We watched it twice.  The scenery is beautiful and the storyline amazing.  I highly recommend this film.

Next in our queue is the other "Chocolat", which we'll be thrilled to see again, but this time we'll be more prepared to understand it.  Last time we watched it we didn't know any french, but now we have taken 3 years of private lessons, so hopefully we will understand some of it without having to rely on the subtitles.  Damn, learning a new language when you are in your mid 40's is hard!!!

Their Perfect Day

Every day we take the kids to the park.  It's not an official "dog park", it's an open park with lots of room to run.  We used to take Dashell there when he was a pup so he could play with the other dogs there, but then he discovered his favorite toy in the whole world....MR. ICE CREAM CONE.

This is Mr. Ice Cream Cone.  Dashell's best friend.  Now when we go to the park he has no interest in the other dogs. All he wants to do is chase Mr. Cone.  He even gets bummed when other dogs want to play with him and Mr. Cone.  He's very nice to Mr. Cone at the park, but if Mr. Cone came with us in the house Dashell would rip him apart - de-squeak him and pull off his head (so he never comes in the house...he lives in the car) and is only for the park.

Stella loves the park too.  This is the park where we found her the day after Thanksgiving 2006,  she was scared and a woman found her under a bush.  No collar, no chip.  The lady couldn't keep her so we took her home.  We put up flyers but nobody responded..luckily for us, she is a great dog.  She is not obsessed with her friend "Mr Funky Alien" like Dashell is with Mr. Cone.  She loves to socialize with other dogs, but also loves to chase her funky alien.

She also loves to attack him!

One of Stella's tricks is "turnaround".  She actually gets air and Bruce is convinced that one day we'll be able to teach her to do a flip.  She's almost there.  She is such a circus dog.

It was a bit windy!!!

Augie always come too.  He doesn't play with balls, he doesn't play with other dogs - he just roams around.  Because he can't hear I have to keep a close eye on him because sometimes he wanders off, not really sure where he is going (don't think he knows either).  We think taking him to the park keeps him young!

They all love their park and when they miss a day (if it's raining) they are sad!  So part of our daily routine is packing our pack in the car and heading to the park for some play.

The Perfect Day

                  

Today in Los Angeles, at the beach where we live, it was 70 degrees.  It's January 13th!  This is why I love Southern California.  Days like this in January when it's warm & sunny.  We got up and decided to go for a long ride.  We biked from our house in Marina del Rey to Palos Verdes and around the PV peninsula (this picture is from the PV peninsula).  Round trip - 50 miles, 3 1/2 hours.  Right now my legs are a bit sore, but it was a perfect day for a long ride.  We had our 1/2 day fine art camps over the holiday break (3 weeks) and it sure put a wrench in my biking.  I was also sick (or is it allergies), not sure.  All I know is that one day I went for a ride with Bruce and after 8 miles I had to turn around and come home...just didn't have the energy.  But not today, I'm back!  I'm feeling great and had a great ride.  As I was biking, which was along the beautiful pacific ocean, about 45 miles out of 50, I realized how lucky I was.  Look at my view...can't beat it and the temp - oh my!  When I came home I had to check the weather in France, YIKES....40 and rain.  Can I really do 40 and rain in January?  I'm not so sure.  I love California for this weather in January, but don't like it for many many other reasons.

I also decided to try another recipe from my French Market cookbook.  This time is was "Gougere au Jambon"  which is a choux pastry filled with ham.  Another winner!  This cookbook rocks.  Very very happy with each dish I have tried.  I highly recommend this, if you like ham (which we do).  It's not heavy.  In fact we had it with salad and some red wine, it was perfect - we both had enough room for dessert.  Apple/cranberry turnovers (I had some puff pastry just laying around).

We had a lovely day today.  Great ride, great food, great wine and scrumptious dessert.  Wish every day was like today.  Try this dish.  I know you'll be pleased.  Would love to hear if you made it and what you thought.

GOUGERE AU JAMBON

    The traditional gougere, make from choux pastry is baked as a single large ring.  It's simple to make, and     works with a simple green salad or as an aperitif with a glass of wine.  I made this gougere in an                 ovenrpoof dish (that I bought in Aix-en-Provence) that roughly shapes the dough and makes an easy and     tasty supper dish.

For the cream puff dough

1 cup water
8 TB unsalted butter, thinly sliced
1 cup flour
4 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature
1/2 cup grated Gruyere (my favorite cheese)

For the ham filling

2 TB olive oil
1 TB unsalted butter
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 TB flour
2/3 chicken stock
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tspn. whole grain mustard
ground pepper, to taste
1 lb. cooked ham, roughly diced

Heat oven to 400F.  Butter an 11x8 1/2 shallow baking dish.

To make the cream puff dough, bring the water and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Remove from the heat and stir until the butter melts.  Add the flour and rapidly beat until the mixture is smooth.  Return to medium-low heat and beat constantly until the mixture pulls away from the pan.  Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.  Gradually beat in the eggs until the dough drops easily from the spoon.  Stir in the cheese.  Spoon the dough around the edge of the prepared dish (leaving a hole in the middle for the filling).  Bake until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling.  Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the shallots and cook until tender, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle in the flour, and mix well.  Return to low heat and gradually mix in the stock, then the wine, mustard and pepper.  Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly to avoid sticking.  Stir in the ham.  Spoon the filling into the center of the dish with pastry.  Reduce the heat to 300F and continue baking until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 25 minutes.  Serve hot.

Two new winners!

                  

One of our customers Anne (her son who is a great artist comes to our studio) gave me this book for Christmas.  It's now my favorite cookbook.  "The French Market", by Joanne Harris & Fran Ward.  It's all recipes from Southwest France.  I'm in heaven.  This morning was great, very relaxing.  We got our coffee got back into bed around 7:30 to watch TV for a bit.  All the dogs were in the bed to.  I got a hold of the remote (very unusual) and went to the food channel.  Giada was making this lovely salad, so I decided to try it tonight.  I also decided that I was going to make one of the dishes in my new cookbook.  The first one I wanted to try was the  "Tarte au Chevre"....a goat cheese tart.  I already have a recipe for a goat cheese tart (which I have shared with you)  but I figured that I needed to try this one too.  It's amazing and our new favorite.  My old standby is great, but very rich, this tart is perfect, not too rich, just delicious.  If you have tried my old tart recipe, you need to try this one as well.  I guarantee you'll love it.  We just had it for dinner tonight.  We also had Giada's salad that I saw on TV today and it was excellent.  Here's the link for her salad.  Tuscan salad.

               

Here is the Tarte au Chevre recipe.  Would love to know what you think...do you like the first one or this one?

    TARTE AU CHEVRE

    If you want to use store bought puff pastry, go ahead.  But if you are adventurous, please try the pastry         shell recipe here.

        For the pastry shell

            1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
            pinch of salt
            4 TB unsalted butter, chilled and diced
            4 TB vegetable shortening, chilled and diced
            3 TB ice-cold water, as needed

        For the filling

            3 TB unsalted butter
            3 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
            2/3 cup half-and-half
            2 large eggs
            salt to taste
            pepper to taste
            5 ounces rindless goat cheese

            To make the pastry shell, stir the four and salt in a medium bowl.  Add the butter and vegetable                 shortening and rub it together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in             the water with a fork until the mixture comes together.  Place on a lightly floured work surface and             knead briefly until the pastry is evenly blended, shape into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate             for 30 minutes.  (I used my food processor and it's much easier and faster and made a great crust).

            Lightly butter a 9 1/2" tart pan.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry about 1 inch wider             than the pan's diameter.  Carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin and unroll onto the pan.              Press into the pan and trim off any excess pastry with a small knife.  Refrigerate for another 30                 minutes.

            Heat oven to 350.  Line the pastry with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans.  Bake until the                 edges of the pastry look set - 30 minutes.  Lift off the foil and beans, bake until the pastry is barely             browned, about 10 minutes more.  (If you are using store bought puff pastry - cook pastry for 15                 minutes covered with foil & beans and then 5 minutes without foil & beans)

            For the filling, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the leaks, cover and cook             for 15 minutes.  Whisk in the half-and-half and eggs, and season with salt and pepper.  Pour into                 the pastry shell.  Top with cheese and bake until filling sets, about 45 minutes.  Serve warm or                 cooled to room temp.
            Yum yum. 

Cold and rainy day here in Los Angeles.  Good day to stay in and cook.