Santa Barbara Home Cooking

Ladies brunch = delicious success! Between Emma's shrimp salad and Jessica's gluten-free crusted quiche and prosciutto e melone to boot, this was an elegant feast. Finished off with strawberries and fresh whipped cream...makes me drool all over again!

Sweet peas and peonies have to be in my top 5 favorite flowers. Both have extravagant, intoxicating smells. These two smelled particularly amazing. Look at those pinks!

Though I am not a pancake lover, I made pancakes for Jeff on the 4th of July. This was my first attempt at a buckwheat pancake and it was a fine success. I made blueberry ones, apple ones, banana ones, and multi-fruit ones, as seen above.

On the menu this evening: roast chicken. This bird is local my friends and actually tastes like chicken. Half a lemon squeezed and placed in the cavity and some salt and fresh thyme from the garden on top do the trick. Simple and full of flavor. In the oven for an hour and fifteen minutes, basted every 20 minutes with a dry white wine and tada! Roast chicken!

Good Times & Eats in Santa Barbara

Did you know you can hire goats to clear brush so as to help prevent fires? My condo complex hired some goats, and their guard dog, to clear brush. I could hear the jingle of their bleats from my living room. What fun!

Milpas street has a plethora of Mexican restaurants. My friend was astounded that I had never been to La Colmena. As I do not like to miss out on great food experiences, I met up with her for lunch. This is a very straight forward kind of place...no fluff. Just simple, great tacos on homemade corn tortillas. I enjoyed one of their shrimp tacos and some Alambres. Seen above is the chicken, green chile peppers, and cheese. It must have been cooked with some sort of fat because it sure was tasty! GrubStreet Los Angeles did a comparison with La Super Rica and La Colmena seem to win the battle. I'd have to agree.

Solstice in Santa Barbara is always a grand affair! The sun came out for us, much to the joy of all of Santa Barbara. I thought these zebras were outstanding!! Check out those eyelashes!

Tea time! Aren't those cups cute? Tea at Savoy Deli is such a treat. They carry organic, loose leaf teas and serve them in the appropriate tea pots. A fresh molasses ginger cookie with some Earl Grey tea and you are all set!

Back on the menu at my place, brown rice pasta with a fresh, uncooked heirloom tomato. Besides peaches, tomatoes are my obsession during these summer months. Our farmer's markets are full of both and it is oh so wonderful! Too divine for words...