I Found The Local Farmer’s Market!!

That may sound stupid, but ever since the World got kicked off its axis, we haven’t had one… until recently. 

I was driving over to my Mother’s apartment one morning and saw what I thought was a sign for the market and oodles of folks in the employee’s parking lot of the Hospital. 

WOW!!! 

As soon as I got home, I looked it up and sure enough, it’s every Saturday in that same parking lot, YAY! I’m there!  

They had so many vendors with some super great looking stuff. 

My first order of business, something to eat. 

How cool is this? This guy was selling all kinds of different flavored Quiches. I chose Mushroom. He heated the slice up in the neatest looking little oven. That was delicious!  

They had set up a small area with chairs, tables and umbrellas, nice.

My first haul wasn’t much, mainly because it was cash only, I did not know that, but I do now and I will return prepared next week. 

This go-around, I bought, freshly picked Sugar Snap Peas, Tomatoes, rolls & a loaf of Bread from our favorite place that’s a good 45-minute drive away, and some Aebleskivers for my Mom. 

Round two: more of those absolutely delicious Sugar Snap Peas, live Microgreens and I found this guy making fresh Bagels and his own spreads. Oh, and more of same from my previous visit. 

I kept going to the market until the fresh produce was no more and I’m looking forward to this Spring to start all over again. 

Cook for your friends and family!   

Buy Local! 

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA; subscribe to my blog if you like what you’re reading and get an email when a new post has been uploaded.    

MAHALO! 

Andrea Bocelli Concert For Valentines February 2022

One of my Neighborhood Gal Pals really wanted to go to this concert down in the Valley, but her husband didn’t. 

I’LL GO!! 

🙋‍♀️

The tickets weren’t horribly priced, and I found us pretty decent seats. 

There was also a Quilt Show going on that weekend that she wanted to go as well … sure, why not.

💡

Why don’t we stay the night and have a nice meal before the concert? 

✅ DONE!

This was not our first choice for dinner, but it was the only place that we could get into. Granted, we did have to sit at the bar, but it was great for people watching. We had to wait until 5pm for dinner service, so …  

A nice glass of vino at Happy Hour prices to start out the evening. 

Salad was the order of the day and they were lovely. 

And can I say, look at these plates, I want some!  

HERE WE GO!

The place was sold out! I’d say mostly “Baby Boomers” such as us. 

We had the best time!  

Where Have You Been And Started To Sing … ? ~ Part 5

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…”

The morning after a pretty good snow storm a coupla years back, DH and I took a drive up to the South Rim of The Grand Canyon… we don’t live terribly far away.
We took a picnic lunch, a thermos of hot Coffee and made a day of it.

BEAUTIFUL!!!

Back Home In Hawaii ~ May 2019 ~ Part 2

Ya know when you go on a trip and you want to buy EVERYTHING to bring home? 

Yeah, NO!!

One must use restraint and NOT try to over do it!

I always pack a large, collapsible bag that I can jam all of our clothes in and then all the stuff  that I buy to bring back goes into the suitcase. This trip was no exception.

I had a bunch of frozen foods too, the usual suspects, S&S Saimin, Portuguese Sausage, etc… but forgot to take photos.

Now here’s the rub of this trip …

My husband has had his eye on this beautiful Koa Wood replica of the main Hawaiian Islands, FOR YEARS!

I had bought a hard-sided suitcase, small enough to take as a Carry-On, but large enough to pack-up fragile items to take back from Hawaii.

And that’s what blew out DH’s left bicep !!!

I had wrapped each ‘Island’ in Bubble-Wrap and very carefully packed these in the Carry-On bag, that we stashed in the overhead bin, for the Airplane ride back to Arizona.
It was easy going up, it was the trying to wrangle it back down that was the problem.

So ends this installment of our trip, but do please stay tuned as I continue through, backwards

… and if you could, hit that ‘like’ button if you like what you’re reading, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA and subscribe to my blog to get an email when a new post has been uploaded.

MAHALO!

What’s Your Travel Bucket List Look Like?

So we started to talk about our Travel Bucket List and I was thinking that this would make for a great
conversation!

It all started when I saw this, somewhere, I forget where :

I started marking off where I had been already:

… and tops on our future  travel bucket list is Horseshoe Bend!  It’s not very far from our house, so we’ve already got a plan ready to GOOOOOOOOO!

How’s about you?
Where would you like to go?
And it really doesn’t need to be in the US,
why not think global?

Of course this conversation is purely for entertainment sake.
In today’s World, we’re not going anywhere for a while 
but it’s fun to dream, isn’t it? 

… and if you could, hit that like button if you like what you’re reading, leave a comment below maybe just to say ALOHA and subscribe to my blog to get an email when a new post has been uploaded.

MAHALO!

Road Trip ~ Florida Back Home To Arizona ~ Oct-Nov 2019 ~ Part 5

Why don’t we continue with more American History and head to Natchez Mississippi.

Here is another locale that DH has been trying to get to, the Natchez Trace Parkway and Vicksburg.

Our plan was to start off on the Parkway in Natchez and take it North as far as Tupelo, MS. From there we planned on making a bee-line for home.

But for now, let’s take a down day, have something nice to eat and just rest up.

 

 

I had found Roux 61 Seafood & Grill long before this road trip started and it was delicious!

On the table was a Club Salad for DH and for myself, the Grilled Gulf Shrimp with Dirty Rice and Seasonal Vegetable, which was Sautéed Squash.
I’d never had Dirty Rice before, it was quit nice.

It’s been a very long day and we need to get some shut eye.
Tomorrow is another city.

Bright and early the next morning, we started this section of our road trip at the Vicksburg National Military Park.

 

 

I wasn’t the only little Hawaiian Gal that visited this Park today. “Tita” in Hawaiian is Sister 

 

 

I must say, this National Park is beautiful! You can walk or drive it, we chose to do both.

Yet again, we spent the entire day here and by now we were pretty hungry.

 

 

The nice Park Ranger gave us a wonderful lunch suggestion that was down on the River front and what a find it was!

Rusty’s River Front Grill

We made it there within 30 minutes of them closing.

THAT was fantastic!

Each of our meals included a salad that was heavenly, I’d never had Pickled Okra before, YUM!

My husband ordered the Fried Oysters and his side was the Veggie of the day, Southern Style Green Beans.
OH MY!!!

I went with the Two-Way Combo of Gulf Shrimp and a Crab Cake, my side was their Pasta Salad, very different.

We needed to have a piece of Key Lime Pie, so we took it back to the hotel room for later.

Now, I did make mention that we had planned on driving the Natchez Trace Parkway, but Mother Nature had other ideas the next day.

 

 

It was so foggy, nasty cold and raining like mad, that we decided that we’d give that part of the Road Trip up and turn our wagon train towards home.

So we spent that morning re-arranging our accommodations for different cities on a different route than expected.
But ya know, that’s what’s great about Road Trips, you can change plans when ever you like.

Let’s Get Ready To – GO ON ANOTHER ROAD TRIP!!!

This time it’ll be from Arizona to Florida and back again, yup.
On my bucket list is Key West Florida. Being born and raised in Hawaii, I’ve so wanted to visit here. For my bladdy-blah-blah birthday, DH agreed that he’d take me there (he’s been several times before he met me).

So let’s get ready.

 

 

I’m so happy that I found this new Mini Keurig coffee maker, I just knew that it would be much better than the coffee offered in your hotel room. Not to mention, they only provide you with two cups per day. We enjoy a cup or three in the mornings before we leave for the day; as well DH likes coffee once we get back in the later afternoons.

 

 

Along with paper goods, I also take along with us some S&P, spices, Shoyu (aka Soy Sauce) and Furikake, Mayo & Mustard and the odd condiment pack. I do cook/grill from time to time on Road Trips.
The Aloha Shoyu To-Go is new. I’ve been looking for this for years! I wanted the single-serve packets for Road Trips, but only found it this past May whilst back home in Hawaii, of course.
In addition, I pack-up acoupla per-made suppers, sandwich makings, a box of Cereal and Road Snacks.  😉

 

 

We never travel anywhere without bottled water, it’s a desert sort of mind-set. I’ve also brought along on this trip some small single-serve bottles of Juices for early blast off days and when hotel-free-breakfast isn’t available.
You can’t see it, but back there is a case of wine for you know, emergencies.

See those floral plastic bins? I got them at the Megamart for $5 each… I felt that they would work well as my “kitchen on the road” so to speak. That way if there’s any spillage along the way, no big deal.
Also not visible are two large covered plastic bins with 1 weeks worth of clothes for each of us, we’ll do laundry along the way when necessary.

So the car is pack and loaded for bear (and I think I did a pretty dang good job of it even if I do say so my self), it’s time to go!

 

Catching Up

Has it really been SEVEN MONTHS  since we last spoke?  I am so sorry!  It’s been such a wild and crazy time of late, and apparently getting more so every day.

So let’s get to the meat of it straight off, shall we?

Back in August of 2019, DH and I went to California to visit with my Mother …

Blast Off Breakfast, Taylor’s Ham and Egg Sammie

BBQ in Tehachapi CA at the Red House BBQ Restaurant

They even encourage you to write on the wall at The Red House BBQ Restaurant!

An Italian Soda at Di Cicco Restaurant in Sanger CA

Cupcakes at the Bella Bakery in Kingsburg CA

This is the Water Tower in Kingsburg CA, neat-o, huh?

… And some BEACH time in Newport Beach/Huntington Beach.  This is our favorite place to get a Pacific Ocean fix, besides going home to Hawaii that is.

A bit Foggy in Newport Beach

At Newport Beach, WHAT?!

We found this at The Pier, can you see the name?

FISH!!! We had lunch at the Bear Flag Fish Company Restaurant in Huntington Beach

… and this was our view while dining at Bear Flag

We ALWAYS go to Tokyo Central aka Marukai to stock up on the “local stuff” and grab a meal or three 😉

Home again home again, jiggity jig

My version of a Clubhouse Sandwich and Fries, MMM!

I brought back some Portuguese Sausage and Lap Cheong, LET’S EAT!!

New for us, Smoked Polish Sausage and Fried Cabbage, tasty!

Every so often, we take Day Trips locally.  This time we discovered Montezuma Castle National Monument.  Ya know, we got that “Old Man Pass” that gets a carload of folks into NPS for free!

Montezuma Castle NM

Lunch at Johnny Rockets, not bad

Now, we can’t forget DH’s birthday, now can we.  He’s my Super Man!

Scratch made Birthday Cake for my Husband

WOW! That’s ALMOST perfect

Next up, ROAD TRIP!!

Packed and ready to go!

To be continued, so stay tuned …

Our Great Western Adventure ~ September 2013 ~ Installment #10 ~ Keep On Movin’

The drive from Whitefish to Billing Montana was very much a reverse route of our previous ride, SO BEAUTIFUL! I encourage anyone who was not gone into Montana, do so, it’s well worth your time. You will decompress from your hectic day-to-day.

We had just a little trouble finding our hotel in Billings, and it was a very long drive. We found a grocery store, replenished our picnic-making supplies and decided on just a simple mixed veggie salad in our room.

I have always road tripped with my dollar store knife, flexible plastic cutting mat, disposable sea salt and black pepper grinders and garlic powder for just such an affair. Sometimes we will stay in and make a salad of whatever vegetables we can find, either in stores or farmer’s markets.

We aren’t stayin’ long here, so let’s get to it!

We knew that it was going to be another long day, so it was a fast breakfast in our hotel and then off to Pompey’s Pillar National Monument. What, you’ve never heard of that either, well time for another American History lesson.

Remember the Lewis & Clark expedition? This is the only physical evidence of their journey. Captain William Clark inscribed his name into this sandstone formation along the Yellowstone River. He named this tower, as he called it, after the son of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau and Sacagawea, whom he nicknamed Pompy.

We clambered to the top, as we were being attacked by mosquitoes the size of B52 boomers! Thank goodness I had a can of bug repellent with me at all times on this trip, we had use it on more than one occasion.

On to our next history lesson, Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument. I wasn’t expecting to be so taken aback, but to see all of these markers where men and horses too had fallen. We spent a good amount of time at the Visitor Center, watching the video and then the Ranger’s talk about the battle, fascinating. We drove the self guided loop road, stopping at the different placards.

That was another long day, so what’s for dinner?

I found Ciao Mambo again, here in Billings too, and not terribly far from our hotel. We shared another Caesar salad with those huge anchovies and a mushroom Pizza. We didn’t have too much luck with pizza on this trip. It was okay, but that’s all.

Tomorrow is another town though.

Our Great Western Adventure ~ September 2013 ~ Installment #9 ~ Our Next Stop Is …

Whitefish Montana. Yeah, I know, I had never heard of this place before now either, but I have heard of Glacier National Park, it has been on my bucket list for a good long time. My gosh, the drive from Helena to Whitefish was just beautiful, mountainous country side; yet again, not on the interstates. Not a whole lot of places to stop and grab a bite, so if you go, bring water and a picnic. Oh, but don’t drink too much water, there are no rest stops!

I didn’t get a picture, but we saw loads of hay stacks, for real stacks, not baled in those familiar round or rectangular shapes you see, but the old school way.

This was the backbone of America.

After finding our hotel, we looked for some dinner. But wait, it’s Monday Night Football night, dear! Egads Man! So… my lengthy research pointed me towards the Buffalo Café, as well the very helpful front desk staff at our hotel. It was less than a mile from our hotel, well pretty much everything was about a mile from our hotel, not a huge town.

I gave a call and made a takeout order of the Flat iron steak and Beef Stroganoff. YUM! This was more than enough food for the two of us.

The next morning we took off for Glacier National Park. We figured it would be a long day, so it was a quick breakfast in the hotel of yogurt and fruit and we were off!

Going-to-the-Sun road. Oh My Goodness! I don’t think that I’ve said WOW so many times in one day. The drive is a little tricky, steep, very narrow to the point that they do not allow certain vehicles to take the drive. We could have gone on the Red Bus tour in old style jammer buses, but we like to stop when and where we want to. Once again, bring your water and a picnic, but I knew this going into the Park. It was absolutely spectacular sitting there having a picnic lunch in Glacier National Park, such a beautiful setting.

What a day! Well, time to look for something for dinner. Ciao Mambo, fantastic! Though very small and they only take reservations for parties of 6 or more, so go early. DH and I shared an Antipasti plate and he had a Caesar salad with anchovies. Would ya’ look at the size of those buggers? Our entrées were spaghetti and meatballs and cheese raviolis, and their bread…very good and tons of food!

We were so tired the next morning, we decided that we’d take a day off from touring and chill for a while. We started our day off back over at the Buffalo Café for a nice big breakfast or was it brunch? We had the day’s chalkboard special of ham steak, egg, hash browns and toast; that rye toast was good and I don’t really care for that. The other choice for the table was Kansas City Pie, oh baby baby!  Start with a base of hash browns, then slap on a couple of slabs of Kansas City bacon which is smoked pork shoulder and some smoked cheddar cheese. Top all of that with a poached egg that was cooked perfectly; add some toast of your choice (I went for the whole grains, yum!) and that was only a HALF order! MAN!

We have been seeing so many different RV’s on this trip, and don’t ya’ know, I’ve been trying to sell my dearest husband on the fact that would be an easier way for us to travel… so we went to a dealership in the next town over to take a lookey-loo.

Our days not done yet! The weekly Farmer’s Market is this evening from 5 til about 7 or so. I had been told by several of the locals to look for Flathead cherries. I finally found some, not much, but they were well worth the hunt. And those summer squashes are the biggest I have ever seen, I wish I had a kitchen!!!

Dinner. Buffalo Café. Salad. Delicious!

Steak salad with very yummy fried onion rings on top and a salmon Caesar, both with the dressing on the side in a great cruet. Yeah, we’ll be back.

It’s time to motor on to our next stop and yet more interesting sights along the way, I’m sure.