Because an “amuse bouche” should actually be amusing

Because an “amuse bouche” should actually be amusing

There are some things – images, tastes, sounds – that separate the forest and the trees, the dancer and the dance, the beautiful and the sublime. You stumble across them in the most unlikely moments, making every encounter with magnificence that much more magnificent.

Here is one of those things – the most “amusing” amuse bouche ever.

Very cool fuzzy cactus

Very cool fuzzy cactus

It was a foggy morning at the Big Sur Garden Gallery, where we stopped to admire their very cool and interesting collection of cactus and pick up a cappuccino and croissant from the Big Sur Bakery right next door. Here’s the star of the show:    ...
Art, soup, and family: Nepenthe

Art, soup, and family: Nepenthe

Join me for visit to the studio of Big Sur artist Erin Lee Gafill topped with a bowl of Nepenthe’s delicious soup.

Paradise and Lunch in Big Sur

Paradise and Lunch in Big Sur

The Sierra Mar restaurant at Big Sur’s Post Ranch Inn occupies one corner of paradise; an expanse of hewn wood and plate glass expertly cantilevered over the crystalline azure Pacific Ocean. It’s the kind of place where you might run into Jon Hamm at dinner or Lucinda Williams and Lucy Wainwright at lunch, as we did, or have afternoon cocktails with the owners of Springfield’s best tattoo and piercing parlor, as we also did. Where you enjoy your meal at a table overlooking whales spouting in in the sea below. Click to see the food.

Bluejay bites off more than he can chew (everything eats)

Bluejay bites off more than he can chew (everything eats)

LL and I were picnicking on the deck of our quite luxurious digs at the Post Ranch Inn when this bird – a juvenile Western scrub-jay, according to my handy Sibley Field Guide – swooped down to snag a piece of baguette for himself. Check it out.

Voluptuous vegetable sandwich

Voluptuous vegetable sandwich

We had an Easter Sunday picnic basket from the Post Ranch Inn’s Sierra Mar restaurant that turned a casual lunch into haute cuisine . . . a vegetable sandwich made positively voluptuous – studded with thickly sliced grilled eggplant, beefy tomato, and mild...