Just had a phone call from a friend, which will remain nameless, but a clue to who it might be is: she is my “ole geizer friend” hum………wonder who that could be?

She is having a few of us over tonight for  game night and is making strawberry shortcake. She said to herself, “I think I’ll surprise Trudy and serve real whipped cream instead of canned” so…hence the phone call. Here are her exact words, “Trudy, I wanted to surprise you and serve real whipped cream, but didn’t quite know how to do this. Do I just whip it. Do I have to add anything to it, like sugar, or just vanilla or what?” I started laughing and told her that I had never thought about having to tell anyone how to make whipping cream, since I grew up with a mother that had whipping cream on the table every morning to top off coffee, tea, cereal, brownies, eggs, whatever we wanted for breakfast, so whipping cream has always been a staple in our home. I told her that I would be glad to make it when I got there and she can just watch me so she will know from then on how and when to add the sugar and how long to beat it, etc……..so along with our games tonight, we will be having a cooking lesson in the kitchen. That is my idea of truly a fun night. Learning with friends in the kitchen makes some wonderful and funny memories that we come to cherish……Thank you, “nameless friend” for the honor of teaching you how to make whipped cream…..you are priceless..you might be old, but you are still learning! HA

We are back. The cool beautiful weather, vacation is in our past. It was so awesome to be able to sit outside to eat, breakfast, lunch or dinner, without swatting at flies, mosquitoes or having to spit and hope the wind carried it back in your face to cool off. In one word the 10 days were, exhilirating! We were in awe of the cool days and even cooler nights in which we could sit down to eat and enjoy the pacific ocean, or the most gorgeous flowers. We went to a street fair in San Luis Obispo and ate strawberry crepes, tri-tip sandwiches. The farmers market down the streets were filled with artichokes 10 for $1.00,, strawberries, 3 baskets for $2.50, carrots so huge, I took a picture of them, and if I can figure out how to transfer my pics from my iphone, will post the picture of them. We had a ball. Tried quail eggs over a cream cheese sauce. Ate at Valentino’s in Santa Monica, the Palette, one of our favorite places in Glendale, Portos, a Cuban restaurant where you can buy the best chocolate coissants in the world. Went to Big Sur, Carmel, Pebble Beach (but didn’t get close to the golf course where all the biggies were playing. Went to Santa Barbara, Hurst Castle from a distance, Los Gatos where were went to church and heard Chip Ingraham. Each day brought us so many new memories that I cannot list them all……BUT…..I have to tell you about one of the most exciting things. I finally tasted black truffle mushrooms. At Valentio’s…we had Black Truffle Mushroom Risotto and honestly, it is one of the best tasting dishes I have had. The taste was like something so buttery and creamy and the mushroom was so delicate. What a treat. When we heard the story of how the mushroom is hunted, it really made me appreciate it even more. They are hunted once a year, by hogs. Yes, that’s right. The hog is able to smell it, even though it is underground. As soon as the hog begins to dig, the hunter takes over and begins to dig and there it is. So we were excited to have this tasty morsel in our memory book. It is good to be home, as long as I stay inside in air conditioning. Went to the store, so will get back in the grove of cooking. Am excited to have Sevy coming over on Wednesday night for his 6th birthday party dinner. We had a wonderful time and hope to go back, but until then, we will enjoy our family and friends which will help us forget about the heat and just enjoy the memories we make right here.

Well, found a computer, so had to tell you about our experience yesterday touring SanFrancisco….it was indeed a beatiful day and we had a glorious day, walking around Fisherman’s Wharf, but, and let me say that again, but… here is a little sample of what lead up to our beautiful day, then I will tell you about our 48 hour tour, (oops, it was actually only 2 hours, but seemed more like 2 days)

First, our flight out here was wonderful, even slept on the plane for a little while, where the story begins………when I fell asleep, I had a glass of cranberry apple juice sitting on the tray, which I was going to save and wash down my coconut M&M’s with, after my  little nap. But I fell so sound asleep, I knocked over the glass of juice all over my white linen blouse and pants, while I slept. So upon waking, I looked like I had poured a whole bottle of red wine over myself, all the while  now looking like I had wet my pants. So if that is not bad enough, we manage to hide most of the stain with baggage and stop for an In & Out Burger on the way to the hotel. It is 4:00 p.m. our tummy time, (but only 2 here) so we are starving. As we inhale our burger and french fries, which are the best in the world and always our first stop once we get off the plane, I am in such a hurry, I drop 4 french fries, soaked in ketsup all down the front of this same blouse. So now, I have red juice all over the front, plus ketsup dribbling down the front of me. What a mess……we go to the hotel, clean up and decide that Sunday will be better.

So Sunday dawns and we get dressed, go to church and then head to San Francisco…..we arrive at Fisherman’s Wharf, beaming with excitement. We walk around, enjoying the stares of people that look at us, wondering what planet we re from, with my Dallas Big Hair, and Randy’s “casual look” of dress pants and nice Tommy Bahama shirt” all the while seeing that we need to definetely dress down the next time we come back to SF, to fit in alittle more, and I need to flatten my hair about 5 in” not in length, but hidth…….anyway, we go to a nice restaurant, order crab cakes, salad, over looking the bay and Alcatraz and then head out to catch a tour bus. We are in luck…there is a tour bus just leaving, AND it is only $20/per person, for a 2 hour tour….WOW are we in luck….we board the double decker, with Randy insisting that we head to the top to catch the sights as well as the sun. Well, we don’t get to sit together, there are only two seats left, across the isle from each other. He grabs the first one which seats him next to a cute  and skinny little 20 yr old and I am honored to be sitting by a lady weighing at least 300 pounds, which, bless her heart, is the sweetest thing, but I have only room for one of my “cheeks” to sit on…the entire 2 hours..my right “cheek” is numb after the first hour and she kept apologizing for being so big and taking up so much room. I can only say, “that’s ok”, when I really wanted to say, “would you please just let me sit on your lap”, but figured that this would make Randy owe me the rest of his life. Well, the first 15 min were very interesting, but then the tour guide told us that on this tour, he wanted to teach us as much as he possibly could aboutj San Fran…….and that he did. He never shut up…for 2 hours…and each sentence had at least 3 “ok?” in it…example, “honey, did you know that SF is only 7 mi by 7 mi, ok? and that China town is only 4 blocks by 11 blocks, OK and then we will be circling around Town Hall, ok? and on and on and on…..if I ever hear the word ok in my life time, it will be too soon, ok?

Well, we get off the bus, head for ice cream and Tom Tom donuts and sit out on the pier, watching the Sea Lions, walking around watching all the weirdos with spikey hair nd tatoos on every inch of their bodies…well, we get home to the hotel and I am changing clothes and I look down at my linen capris and yell. I have gone to church and all over San Fran with two “HUGE” holes in the back of my pants…….it’s like the material just rotted away and gave out…..I’m not talking a little pin hole here, I’m talking about two holes the size of a large orange, on both sides. So when people were looking at me, I guess they were not looking at me thinking, “my how young she looks to be almost 60” they are looking at me thinking, “my, it looks like her butt is so big that she is busting out at the seams”…stay away from the ice creama and donuts, lady!  Guess that is what I get for thinking what I was thinking while continually sliding off the bench of that double decker bus….

Now, we both got a little burned, sitting out there with the sun glaring down on us yesterday, so this morning when Randy goes off with a friend to visit some people, he says to me, “oh great,I look like an alcoholic with my red face”. So we are hoping that tomorrow will be better. Will let you know how the rest of today goes……OK?