Good Grapes!...Let's Go!

Green grapes great escape
Getting gorgeous get it straight
Jeeze Louise!...juicy fruit
Jump in big, swirl hoola-hoop.



Sun kissed cheeks bursting ripe
Summer Sun seems super bright
Plastic blow ups do us right
Pleased as punch and so sprite




Better days are here and now
Best behave before...Holy cow!
Firecracker strike a match to glow
Fire! Fire! sit still watch it grow




Walk away so know one knows
Strut up the curb make a show
Step inside find some fresh catch
Slap cash down and strike another match.

Along The Surface of The Sun

Riding that rainbow wave along the surface of the Sun,
we find the need for some serious fun.
Blazing color sweeping stop the wavy horizon of searing heat,
a radiant, tropical palette paints the days complete.


Turn up the flame.
Burn our desires.
Sizzle up the atmosphere.
There is no shame.


Sweet potato fries we share with friends.
Fry 'em up. Dip 'em and dunk them in.
Hot sugared Malsadas burning at our finger tips.
Tongues bouncing, hot-hot-hot, pop more in.


Burning sticky hot, we cannot stop.
Pinch hold our earlobes to cool them off.
Tricky tricky, sees our waitress.
Mama shakes her head and laughs it off.


Splash hot coffee with drop of a sugar cube.
Cinnamon sprinkle and a honey spoon.
Hot spring bubbles burst the surface.
Jacuzzi tub jumping at high noon.


Tuna Poke, soy and ginger.
Salmon skin sticks with Aioli.
Fireside, tiki torch, candlelight.
Roy's serving chocolate lava tonight.


Lover, lover.
Cool it down.
Mango, cayenne.
Pele come around.



Hot Summer Fun at Roy's Restaurant.

Lazy in Laguna Beach

Sometimes a quick drive along the coast is the easiest answer for an unplanned vacation in exchange for desperation. We found our slice of the easy life along the shores of Laguna Beach, coming complete with a European accent.














We stroll through the neighborhood every morning, late in the day, and again in the dark of night guided by the full moon, that is coming on fat and strong.

We stop by the Laguna Nursery for some gardening inspiration, for when we become ambitious.

We eat like never before at Sapphire Laguna where Brunch comes to us as a Surprise in a Box at Sapphire for those of us you are too tired to decide.

We skimmed through stacks of beautiful photo Books, and managed some good Summer reads.

Hoarding Quietly Among The Harem

Any one who arrives at my desert tent is always waved in with a welcome and well fed.
A tempting buffet of fruits and nuts and spices lay openly about, available to all who may feel the hunger from their journey. Bowls and platters and jars remain willing and waiting for the taking with suggestions of more to follow.
Guests are invited to stay until they are fat and full and fall into snores, only to wake up aroused, yearning for...another round of flavors, and textures and more.

There is a time however, when I suspect all the eyes of the harem are distracted...
I sneak a bite.
I never share.
I would not think to pull out a plate.
I hover instead over the sink.
Over ripe peaches dipped in a hand full of Sumac, this is my private treat.
Sandy texture atop my fresh flesh and juice that tap dance on my tongue.
... it is the cinnamon on my breakfast toast.
... the salt rim to my virgin Margarita.
...the Nori flakes on my hot bowl of popcorn.


A simple pleasure I reveal... virtually,
so that you too may covet it for your private muse.

In exchange I request only that you shimmy over and offer up a similar,
soul-searching-source of satiable inspiration.

What secret-something-snack do you keep all to your Self and no one else?

Build Our Self a Balancing Act of Coconuts

Rain falls from the open skies. It clings and finds it's way through the rough and tough husks, hanging way up high. Some wild little prince climbs up the tall trunk to fetch it, and then slides down to deliver us this golden egg. Now what?

We need that liquid white gold to heal us, and please us, and feed us all this miracle "fluid of life".


Fresh coconut juice is the purest form of filtered water that offers simple joys of health. Filtered though fibrous husks, still untouched my human hands, this is our "universal donor", our Mother's milk, our biologically-pure-life-sustainable-transfusion.
We are the fat-bearded-lady-on-the-high-wire-tight-rope-suspended-above-burning-hot-coals-who's-desperate-to-breast-feed-her-baby...., and coconut water act as our balancing bar, our weight distributor, our natural neutralizer, our temperature-gage-thermostat, our very own inertia mobilizer, our eagle-wing-equalizer, our heaven-sent-internal-GPS-compass.
When attempting to kick an addiction, this will assist us with the fiend frenzy, and allow us some space for sanity, and giving us vital time to act in our own best interest.

The balancing facts:
Nerves, emotions, blood plasma, blood pressure, PH/acid levels, metabolism/digestion, electrolytes/body fluids, body temperature/fever reducer, and thyroid leveler.
In history it as been injected straight to the vein to sustain our wounded soldiers and used instead, when our reserve of our own mother's milk had been depleted, as well as escorting our body's compromised fluids out and then in replenishing revolution, until we are well once more.

For those who do not "do" water this may be a viable alternative option. No, this is not a vacation only option, this is an every day for as long as you like > life altering option.

Be ready to be well:
One case of nine "Young Thai Coconuts" from the Chinese Market will cost you a total of eight dollars. They will keep fine and fresh sitting on a cool kitchen counter.
Simple trick: We drill it . We drink it.
Once the air hits, make fast to sip...do not let it sit.
Take this life force in fresh, never stale.

This is a taste to be acquired for sure. It has an oddly soft sweetness and yet is slightly sour. Some will love it and some will not and some will accept it ready or not.

Get your drill bit to fit the size of your chosen straws, and then use it exclusively for this act of wellness ever more. Stab in your straw, and suck it dry. You want more? You want the meat? ...grab that heavy cleaver at the handle, then by the blunt base of the weapon, knock that coconut along the crown. Pull the top off, and scrape the bowl with your spoon, and chew. Enjoy by now a completely different taste and texture. A new world. Be well once more.

So Fresh and So Clean

Let's make one thing clear...
Although coffee is made with water, it is in fact no longer...Water. Tea is close depending on how much other stuff is being tossed in the pot. Between the caffeine and the cream and sugar, we have lost our edge on being 'clean' machines.
Now, we know how much water we should be drinking, and why we should be drinking it but, how many of us are actually drinking that "should be" amount?
What about are quests?..do we offer them water first? or do we go straight for the hard stuff? How about offering all who are involved a new slice of life. No, not the restaurant-cover-up-the-chlorine slice of lemon wedge. Something entirely more refreshing and enticing, and something that tells us to pour our Self another. Martha knows this trick, and so does my Mother but, I really took notice again when sitting poolside at the local Lowes Hotel on a heat-wave-rush-of-a-week-day-vaca-stay.
The prize: One big, cool pitcher filled to top and brimmed with fresh cucumber slices. Yes, it was lovely and it loved me too. I could tell because we could not stop pouring and sipping, and guzzling and splashing and spilling and pouring some more. May I get any one another? ..let me grab three. Waving down the waiter, we begged for our own private pitcher, one that could be dropped at our lounge discretely, with out too many spying eyes to follow. Something so special to chase down our collective bowl of chips-and-guac-and-salsa. A little secret we shared that afternoon. So gentle, so delicate, and so thoroughly fulfilling as well.
We were well. We are well. Be well.

Pineapple Punch

On the streets of Los Angeles we are lucky enough to have waiting for us along the curb, carts filled with fresh fruit. Shaken and served in a plastic bag and fork. Take your pick and mix them all together: Pineapple, Cucumber, Jicama, Mango and Kiwi. So here comes the punch: a dash of sea salt and cayenne pepper.. Oh-ya!

As my favorite Bulgarian Queen says, "Cool and Crispy"...and it is.
All the senses are attended too:
Blood pumping from the red pepper
Kidneys cleaned by the cucumbers
The entire lot creates a combination of cures: bruising, digestion, anti-inflammatory, vitamins and minerals, breathing, blood flow, all the fourth Chakra-Heart characters.

So when you are in town, cruising along, and you spy a guy on the side of the road with an umbrella that looks like a beach ball...
...pull over for some fast relief and enjoy.

Summer Surrender Salad

Summer Surrender:
I am a devoted to my local Farmer's market. I claim it as my church going experience. It gives me every thing I need to get me through the week. It nourishes my heart, body, mind and spirit. It teaches me patience and prosperity, both. It allows me to take what I need, and leave the rest. This September has been the most inspirational so far.
I recently made an attempt to share of my sweet success, and was curiously met with resistance.
Invited to an evening spread poolside, by a gathering of men who go out to sea, catch their dinner, and drag it back home to start a fire. My kind of guys! I so proudly offered up my 'fruit salad'...and was snubbed. I let it pass, and pursued again after the four fish menu, the fresh greens with garlic; no takers. Again, I pushed for it, passing it as desert; instead they took to the chocolate. Finally, after many long pauses and guilty glances, I served myself, and dug in deep and shoveled a high pile on my plate. I noticed on lookers, and took another pounce. One by one, each in line waiting to see that the first guy did not die. The look of surprise. Tongues dancing. Seconds were requested straight away, with sheepish smiles, and then thirds dumped directly from the bowl; there was nothing left. A proud moment. A milestone for taste buds all around. Surrender they did, to the sweet flavors of post Summer in September. So, I share...
+White peaches, White nectarines, Yellow peaches, plums, and sometimes Figs too.
+Squeeze the ugliest, sweetest little orange you can find, season with Sea salt and Tumeric.
+Sprinkle with fresh Mint: chocolate, and Basil: lemon...stir and let sit. Enjoy