Daily Photo

Peonies. 🙂

I received them as a gift this week.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Buuuuuut, they aren’t cat-friendly, so I have them on a very high shelf in a room Tabs isn’t allowed to go into.

I also love freesia, hydrangeas and sunflowers…and about a zillion other flowers, LOL!

What are your favorite flowers?

If you’re going to blow your calorie budget on your birthday, might as well go big or go home 🙂

Found my new favorite Italian restaurant yesterday, Ca’ Momi Enoteca at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa.

The market is like the Ferry Building in San Francisco but on a smaller scale. It’s a big upscale mall in a warehouse lined with food booths, gourmet meat and cheese counters, spice and culinary counters and small Wine County shops.

Ca’ Momi Enoteca, which is one of several places to eat there, serves traditional Italian food (they’re actually certified as authentic by the Italian government!), and it is LA BOMBA.

While we were up there in Napa, we also found a great Japanese (modern style with a large eclectic menu) place downtown called Eiko’s, about a 10-minute walk from the Oxbow Public Market.

Delish!

I learned that Napa has A LOT of good places to eat and a great walking downtown.

In all the years I’ve lived here (more than 10), we’ve actually only been to the town of Napa twice! — because the other time we unknowingly went to kind of a boring area. We usually go to other small towns in the area. I definitely want to go back to Napa now, though. It was yummage to the extreme.

Wherever you go, shine your bright light, and keep your eyes wide open to see the beauty that surrounds you. 🙂

Easy to make and ready in 10 minutes, this delish side dish o’ grains is SO good. I’ve been making it lately, instead of rice, whenever I make fish and veggies.

It’s a dried mix of pearl couscous, red and green orzo, garbanzo beans and red quinoa, so you get a nice blend of soft and firm textures. Directions on the bag, but basically, pour it into a pot of boiling water with a bit of butter, wait 10 minutes and devour.

There’s a bit of flavor (tastes a tad like barley), but it’s not the main course, you know? The flavor shouldn’t overpower a protein or something else served with it.

It’s also a great starting point for a side salad. I like to add chopped mango (which you can find in the frozen food aisle at TJ’s), slivered almonds, dried cranberries and a little olive oil.

If it looks yummy to you, it should be in the aisle with the pastas and rice at your TJ’s.

That moment when you realize your cat will always look better than you do in that Kate Spade necklace…

There’s more than you might think.

El Hub keeps dragging me to go look at fishing equipment, and surprisingly (at least for me), a lot of it is pink. There’s a lot of pink “girly” fishing stuff out there, like these tackle boxes and fishing poles I saw at Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Petaluma last week.

LOL! Notice the pole on the left where it says, “Crappie.”

Yes, I am easily amused (but you know this already). 🙂

Please forgive my wackadoo chipped thumbnail (the remnants of last week’s mani with Nicole By OPI Yoga Then Yogurt), but I was way too excited to not share this pic of the strawberry paleta, which is like a Mexican fruit popsicle, I had yesterday.

Normally I would have creatively positioned my fingers so as to hide that but…

Anywho! I wanted to get that sweet treat in my belly ASAP!!!

It was my first paleta ever, and I think it’s safe to say that it won’t be my last.

It was SO FRICKIN’ GOOD! This one was strawberry, which was more like strawberries and cream.

Oh, the chunks of fresh strawberries, the sweet cream…

Oops! I just drooled a little, LOL!

I got it at a local ice cream shop in downtown Novato called La Michoacana. They have dozens of flavors of paletas and different ice creams (things like tequila, spicy pineapple, pine nut, and more traditional flavors too).

If you ever make it out this way and your sweet tooth says, “Woman! FEED ME SWEETS!” check it out.