A COASTAL HALLOWEEN

Several years ago, Dan and I were on a photo shoot in Bluefields, Jamaica in late October. No pumpkins (except in the soup bowl), no scary masks, no Halloween hoopla, at all.

Since Halloween is one of Dan’s favorite holidays (he always designed clever and elaborate costumes and took amazing photos to send out as Halloween cards), I knew he was going to miss being in NYC on October 31st.

Halloween morning, I asked the staff at San Michele, the villa where we were staying, if they could get me a small pumpkin. When I explained why, they were puzzled. They asked if I could use something else, perhaps a tomato or a mango. Since it was obvious that a pumpkin was not going to materialize, I thought, why not try something tropical?

That evening, while we were having dinner on the patio, I excused myself to run and get a shawl. It was windy, so I said I was chilly. I quickly snuck into the kitchen where the only knife available was about 2-feet long and the only pineapple available stood six inches tall.

I carved the pineapple as best I could, put a tea light inside and surrounded it with skull candles I had brought with me in my suitcase.

I ran back out and resumed eating dinner. A few minutes later, the staff marched out bearing my creation. Dan was amused and appreciated the effort it took to celebrate Halloween in a country where the holiday was virtually unknown. I wonder if carving pineapples has become a Bluefields tradition?

Unlike Jamaica, Halloween is big in Venice, California. It’s just done a little differently.

In keeping with the spooky nature of the season, Fred took us to see the new Dali exhibit at LACMA (the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art).

Even before Dali fled to America, after the outbreak of WWII in 1940, he had collaborated with Luis Bunuel on two feature-length surrealistic films and produced illustrations and storyboards for several never-produced movie projects. Despite being a fan of Dali's paintings and sculptures, I hadn’t realized that the world’s most famous surrealist had collaborated with the Marx Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, and Cecil B. De Mille on Hollywood movies.

The exhibit was horribly crowded and badly laid out but it WAS an eye opener. In the courtyard of the museum, the atmosphere was no less chaotic.

Museum staff members were trying to avoid mowing down art lovers as they frantically set up for a Halloween party .

I snapped a few photos of the table centerpieces.

GREETINGS FROM CALIFORNIA PART II

The next day, A and I took up where we left off and mapped out the rest of the book, made a wish list for photos needed and discussed what directions to take the text that hadn’t been already covered. I now have until mid-November to write a draft for the first half (120 pages) of the book (yikes!)

Ev picked me up and we headed for Venice. The Blue Bungalow (the name Fred and his roommate Jono gave their cottage) is decorated college style with family hand-me-downs and Craig’s List bargains. The rooms had been cleaned up in honor of our and Jono’s mom’s coinciding visits.

The perfect host, Fred served us Chai tea and bruschetta (made with juicy farmers market tomatoes). Note the spice cupboard filled with Penzey's spices. Post snack, the three of us headed to The Inn at Playa Del Rey to drop our bags and change for dinner.

We have stayed at The Inn several times before. I love it so much that we even featured it in an issue of Cottage Style.

People who travel to Los Angeles usually tend to stay at downtown hotels and miss out on one of the city’s best assets – its beaches. There are also canals perfect for kayaking.

The Inn, a two-minute walk from the beach, pampers guests with scrumptious breakfasts, spa-quality bath products and binoculars for sighting the egrets and eagles that soar in the in the adjacent Ballona wetlands, a protected saltwater marsh and wildlife preserve.

“When we opened ten years ago, the only birds I knew were the pigeon, the sea gull and the crow. Now, I can name many more species and even recognize a particular returning bird like the white-shouldered kite – like a returning guest,” says owner Susan Zolla.

Each guest room is individually decorated. Many of the rooms have balconies overlooking the 300-acre Ballona wetlands and fireplaces for those rare occasions when Los Angeles cools off -- or those not-so-rare occasions when a crackling fire adds a perfect romantic touch.

We arrived in time for the evening cocktail hour. Guest gather in the cozy living room to watch the sunset, sip a glass of wine, make plans for dinner and make new friends. Tonight’s nibbles included cheese, crackers, fruit and crab dip.

Eventually, we headed back to Venice (a 10-minute drive, non rush hour). Fred and Jono had made reservations at Lillys French Café, where Fred’s girlfriend Jessica and Jono’s mother Jane joined us.

A table of adventurous eaters, we got to taste a variety of Lilly’s specialties-- Escargots de Bourgogne au beurre d'ail (snails in herb butter), Flamiche Chevre et Poireaux (a tart with goat cheese and leeks on a crispy dough base), lobster bisque, moules frites (steamed mussels and homemade French fries, salmon with French lentils and ginger sauce, beef bourguignonne (beef stew with wine sauce), a decadent chocolate soufflé and Ile Flottante (a baked potato size meringue "island" floating in English custard sauce with almonds and other embellishments.

A post-dinner stroll included a stop at Equator, a quirky book store/art gallery and some window-shopping along Abbott Kinney Boulevard.

GREETINGS FROM CALIFORNIA

The air is pretty foggy and smoky here, but it’s hard to tell how much is related to the still-burning wildfires. Life here in Los Angeles is largely unaffected. It’s simply taken for granted that everyone has a slight sore throat (me included) and checking for cinders on your clothing after spending any times outdoors has become routine.

I spent Thursday working on The Mystery Project (TMP). Jackie (who works with A) made a detour on her way to work to pick me up at my Long Beach hotel.

We spent the next half hour getting to know each other while stuck on the freeway on our way to Santa Monica.

Jackie is originally from Pittsburgh, has awesome parents, and knows how to have a really good time no matter where she lives. Since moving to LA, she’s worked for a French businessman who took her to lunch with movie stars and had a job where she could take off on great beach days.

It was great meeting A in person. And much easier finalizing the photo log (PL) sitting in the same room. We debated thousands of photos, cut, paste, arranged, rearranged, re-pasted and debated layouts and photo order from 10 AM to 7 PM.
Hannah (who also works with A) manned the master computer and put up with the two of us constantly requesting to see photos and asking for new print outs. What a trouper!

S. joined us for dinner in Brentwood, a posh neighborhood where OJ Simpson lives. Divino, a Tuscan-style trattoria, is one of A & S’s regular haunts and we were treated like family.

After toasting to our new venture with Prosecco, a bubbly white Italian wine, (S toasted with sparkling water because minutes earlier she announced that she was expecting her second child), we put business behind us and enjoyed girls’ night out.

If you are ever in LA, Divino is a great choice for a special occasion dinner. Everything we ordered and passed around to taste --homemade pasta, risotto, fish, and grilled veggies – was indeed divino!

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME

A few years ago, I realized that whenever I’m about to go on a long trip, Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again” starts going round and round in my head. Sometimes it starts while I’m puttering in the garden or making dinner.

This morning, I started humming it while sitting at my computer.

I leave for California this afternoon!

Despite raging wildfires, I’m heading for Southern Cal to meet the folks that I have been working with on The Mystery Project.

It’s been almost a month since I “met” A & S via e-mail. Since then, we talk on the phone and e-mail at least 20 times at day, including weekends. I feel as if I know them quite well even though this will be the first time we all sit down together in their Santa Monica office.

With luck, we will put the finishing touches on the book visuals. After that, I can finally get down to writing the text, but not until sometime next week… I’m extending my trip in order to visit my California cousins and spend time with my son Fred (who created the above SM Pier graphic)

Fred moved from an apartment in Westwood to a cottage in Venice early this summer but I still haven’t seen his new place. Note the canals (see photo below). Founded in the 1890s by wealthy tobacco mogul Abbot Kinney, Venice was designed to resemble Venice, Italy.

Fred’s little blue cottage is about 6 blocks from the beach and close to lots of great vintage shops and home boutiques on Abbot Kinney Boulevard.

I hope Fred won’t mind dropping by Kelly La Plante’s Organic design shop, Vanessa’s Turquoise, a vintage furniture emporium located in a quaint Japanese bungalow that was originally a ticket booth for an Asian themed amusement park ride, Sue Balmforth’s gloriously romantic Bountiful Home, Jennifer McGarigle's FloralArtLA (see above photo) or Lizzie’s Tumbleweed and Dandelions, where hand-painted furniture and shabby chic finds are king! I’m excited—and I’m bringing my camera!

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

While I’m away, I hope you’ll take a mini vacation, too. Paddle the canals of Venice, Italy. Marvel at marzipan in Nice. Bask in the colors of The Bahamas. Pause in Provence. Tour the floating markets of Thailand. Photographer Robert Barab travels the world and you can tag along with him at www.robertbarab.com. Click on “gallery” and have a great trip!

AUTUMN OBSESSION

Birds fly south, squirrels bury nuts, I make pesto. Each October, as winter creeps closer, my natural instinct to preserve what’s left in my garden takes over.

With the threat of frost in the forecast, in between organizing Romantic Cottages, interviewing a homeowner for a story for Log Home Design magazine and working on The Mystery Project, I whipped up batch after batch of pesto. By the end of the day, my freezer was well stocked with tiny tubs of the delectable green sauce.

While magazine and newspaper articles print endless variations on pesto, I like to keep it simple: basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts.

Barbara’s Basic Pesto
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon pine nuts
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt

Add everything to a food processor or blender and run the machine until pesto is the consistency you like. You can make it roughly chopped or very smooth. If your machine won’t blend the mixture properly or if the finished results are too dry or lumpy, add a bit more oil.

This year, I had a bumper crop of both Italian Sweet Basil and Thai Basil. The Thai variety has a slightly mintier taste and is adds an authentic Asian taste to stir fried veggies or rice noodles. Its purple flower spikes make a great addition to late summer and fall bouquets.

Last Fall, on the same day that the female flicker flew onto my screened in porch on her way south, I tried a recipe from the NY Times for a Vietnamese sauce that called for and Thai Basil and Cilantro. My guests thought it was terrific on steak, so a week or so later I tried it on fish (excellent), then shrimp (another success)! I changed the recipe slightly, to make it a little more moist. Here’s my version.

Vietnamese Basil Sauce
(From the NY Times)

For Sauce:
1/2 cup each Thai basil leaves and cilantro leaves
2 Tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small Thai chile, stemmed and seeded or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons chopped garlic or a dash of garlic oil
1 shallots, chopped

1 1/2 lbs skirt steak or fish (cod, Chilean sea bass or swordfish)

Hero rolls or Boston lettuce leaves

Start a charcoal or wood fire, or heat a gas grill. Fire should be moderately hot. Grill rack should be no more than 4 inches from heat source. Combine sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse to chop finely, but not quite purée. Sprinkle steak or fish with salt and pepper and gril. Steak or fish can be topped with a bit of sauce and served on a hero roll or wrapped in a lettuce leaf, and rolled up Vietnamese style.

*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

As food blogs go, you can’t beat Ivonne’s Cream Puffs In Venice. The text is delightful and the photos ( example on right) are as scrumptious as the recipes.

For a calorie-free tour of Italian cookery click on her photo link!

FUN WITH PHOTOS

I've spent the last few days rearranging photos yet again for The Mystery Project and haven't had a minute to write. More to follow soon.

JAWS

This morning a friend of mine who has been following the blog, called to say that TMP (my abbreviation for The Mystery Project) sounds like a disease,

“Isn’t TMJ some sort of problem with your jaws?” she asked.

Hmm…there are days that TMP seems like an ailment. Yesterday was one of them.

Our 3pm four-way phone conference was lengthy and covered a lot of ground. Perhaps, it was just me who was confused... but I’m not sure we made any progress.
Since the editor has only 8 days left before she starts her new job, the organization of the book was the main topic on the table and we kept coming back to it.

I made a suggestion for reorganizing the back section of the book and the editor was going to review the photos with her art department to see if it solved some of the book’s visual “issues”.

Meanwhile, the editor moved some photos around in the front of the book, so I got out my trusty scissors and started cutting up thumbnails of the photos to make my PL (photo log) correspond to hers.

It’s starting to look less like a disease and
more like a really amazing book to me!

** BLOG DU JAWS **

Have you stocked up on pumpkins yet?

Check out The Chef From Hell’s super Pumpkin Curry Recipe.

Some of my other favorites at CFH are a witty love letter to Grits, a recipe for Lovesick Jambalaya, a scrumptious version of a Cajun staple, and Everglades Egg Foo Yung. Interesting links and How-To info, too.

A CITY SAFARI

Going to the New York City always makes me think of seashells. Perhaps, that’s because the only shells you’ll find in NYC are the ones crushed to make concrete for some of the city's oldest sidewalks.


While I tried to write text for The Mystery Project (TMP) on my laptop on route to NYC, I couldn’t help be distracted by the conversations of my fellow passengers.

Chattering away in British and Australian-accented English worthy of the finest Masterpiece Theatre productions, the talk revolved around Malaysian leopards and wildlife conservation projects. It was hard not to eavesdrop on conversations that started with:

“While I was deep in the jungle in southern Mondulkiri province of Cambodia trying to attach motion-sensitive cameras to trees, I accidentally tripped on a ……”

OR
“It doesn’t take very long after you are bitten by one of those to go into a coma and expire.”

OR
“Oh, that was BEFORE I had to be carried by the porters across the infested waters to the tent that masquerades as the local hospital.”

In the end, I did manage to write some pretty decent text, along with a list of questions to ask the editor at TMP’s Publishing House.

Our meeting went very well from the start. We discovered several interests in common and liked each other very much. We agreed on the book’s overall visuals and how the text should flow. If possible, I was even more excited about TMP than before.

I could barely contain my enthusiasm when I met my friends Judith, Linda and Helene for dinner. The restaurant, Duane Park Café, had a few large seashells on display (so much for my theory that there are no shells in NYC)! The food was terrific- the shrimp and crab cake appetizer was heavenly.

The Miguel Funi performance, however, was awful. It began badly with a group of lackluster singers, guitarist and dancers and when El Funi finally appeared it got worse. Lets just say he wasn’t at his best.

The next day traveling back on the train (the passengers weren’t nearly as interesting this time), I got quite a bit of work done until…

I received a call from one of the TMP team to tell me some bad news. The editor (the one I met with the day before) had just handed in her resignation. She would be leaving in two weeks for her new job at another publishing company!

A conference call was scheduled for today (Monday) to discuss the book and the expectations of the editor that would now oversee it.

When I got back home, I got another surprise—a marvelous one this time. Lisa of My Cali Cottage sent me a present – one of her stunning shell-encrusted mirrors. As you can see it’s a masterpiece. THANK YOU SO MUCH LISA!

Funny, shells seem to be a reoccurring theme in my life this week.
*** BLOG DU JOUR ***

Yes, this is a repeat! BUT, it just keeps getting better. And, Jackie's new book, The Design Directory of Window Treatments, is now in stores. Visit http://jackiebluehome.blogspot.com to hear about her trip to NYC. Check out where she ate! I'm jealous.

The Mystery Project

It’s been a few days since I've come up for air. It's as if I have been chained to my light box and computer.

Nearly a week’s worth of newspapers and magazines have been piling up while I toil away on what I will refer to for the time being as TMP (The Mystery Project).

Although I expected to be finished with Sections 1 and 2 by the end of this week, that is not the case.

The scope of my involvement expanded before I wrote a single word. (Actually that isn’t totally true—I wrote a sample chapter for the publisher to approve before I was officially hired.)

Instead of starting to write, my first mission was reorganizing the more than 1,000 photographs shot specifically for the book or bought as stock. The folks involved with TMP had worked so long and hard on their “baby” that they “no longer could see the forest through the trees,” so to speak. They needed someone fresh (me!) to sort things out.

Next, once we more or less knew what photographs would go where in the book, I put together a new PL (photo log) and TOC (table of contents).

As of this morning , I am finished editing The Introduction, and I am putting together a visual presentation to show to the book’s editor at the Publishing House tomorrow.

I plan to catch a train to New York City in the morning to meet her for the first time and get her blessings on the new outline and book structure. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. (In the photo above, the vintage rhinestone buckles, ikat accessories, shell earrings and EsMor necklace are a few of the treasures that I brought back from Renita's house. They were still sitting on my work table!)

Before my meeting, Dan and I are going to get together to work on our Romantic Cottages book. It’s always easier when we are in the same city at the same time.

And as an extra incentive, he usually treats me to a nice lunch. Thai noodles? Cuban sandwiches? Perhaps, Jamaican roti? Hmm-- I'd better not choose anything with a drippy sauce. I’d hate to meet my new editor wearing a stained blouse.

Later, I plan to have dinner with some of my friends and go to hear Miguel Pena Vargas, known to flamenco fans as the legendary “El Funi”. No girls in polka dot skirts and castanets, El Funi sings pure Flamenco. It's just Miguel singing, while devotees hang on every flick of his wrist or click of his heels. I can’t wait!

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

Hi Folks

I haven’t disappeared into a dark hole. I’ve been trying to convince a potential client that I am the right woman for their job—and that’s taken up more hours than there are in a day.

So, here are a few scrumptious Fall photos to keep you amused while I finish up a few more stray projects.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I landed the writing job! It’s a remarkable project and as soon as they give me the go ahead to blog about the book, I’ll share all the delicious details.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been doing some glamorous ghostwriting, lining up photo shoots for my next book for Gibbs Smith, scanning photos for a query for Coastal Living, and writing a story about a really sweet Georgia couple for Log Home Design Ideas magazine. Whew!



So while I daydream about making even more cornucopia-like arrangements of Indian corn, gourds and Fall foliage around the house, instead I must write the Introductory chapters of my new, exciting book project.