cache river

Today, after years of thinking about kayaking the Cache, Wendyness and I finally did. We paddled past 1,000 year old cypress trees. We had the whole river to ourselves and just when things were a little too calm and peaceful, a big golden fish would jump out of the water and flip before our eyes. Perfect day.

new friends

marvelous morels

Once a year, these scrumptious beauties come out. They are such a treat in part because of their infrequent company- you are always delighted when they come back to visit. My chef friend is also quite happy that in our region, they are relatively inexpensive when compared to larger markets. So, after cleaning seven pounds of them, she began to experiment. In the last two weeks we have tried them with butter and sherry over Iranian saffron rice. With onions and parmesan over pasta. With olive oil and garlic. With rum and marsala. I am getting used to being a guinea pig for 4-star life.

happy may day

May Day is celebrated in different ways all over the world. This year instead of baskets of candy I made scrubs for some friends. The recipe is easy, thanks to Martha Stewart.