Coffee Brewing

Last month I finally got my act together and looked at a few of the monthly newsletters I get and decided to find something that I've wanted to do, but never make the time for.

So l decided to visit Tom's Flagship store in Venice for a free coffee brewing demonstration, brief video of one of the pourings. This was right on the heels of our My Life Simply Sweet event and the maiden voyage of the coffee tasting. So I was super jazzed about what to do next.

Guess what, I was the only one who showed up.  Seriously, I got a private brewing session for free. I love this store by the way. A few years ago my manager gifted all of us a gift certificate to Tom's. I love that he always gave a gift that gives back. The flagship store in Venice is cool.  It's got a cafe in the front with all their shoes, sunglasses spread on the side and in the back, now they also have there Marketplace merchandise. By the way they make more money on cafe sales then the merchandise, go figure. This store has been set up as a community place so coffee sales are ok with them.

At this location there is outdoor seating in the back, right next to places to try on the shoes. Plus a cool area for your dogs to chill, cause that's how we do in Venice. One afternoon when I went in and walked out back to the patio. It was like things were moving in slo-mo that day. Everyone was super quiet, and seriously looked like they were high. In the middle of that were a few suits, as in men dressed in suits, having a serious meeting, but all whispering. I was thinking what the...is going on. That didn't deter me, actually intrigued me.

So I made sure to show up for the brewing session. Tovara the manager at the store and coffee expert showed 3 ways to brew coffee using a few different pour over methods. I learned so much (rinse the filter, blooming the grounds, and there is an app to help you out so you know how long to bloom and brew). I can't wait to have a demonstration for a few friends. My favorite was the Chemex. For one, the coffee tasted great, and two, the Chemex is super cool and pretty to do the whole process. SB thinks I'm nuts and won't have the patience for it. It's all about the art people. ART!

So tonight is Coffee Tasting at Tom's Flagship store. This time I roped in a few friends to join me.  Should be a fun no matter what, time to enjoy.

Organic Nature

One of the joys of always having your smart phone with camera capabilities is you can take quick snapshots of all the things that inspire. Organic, nature, man-made just all the little details. Here's what has inspired me on a lately.

1.  Light thru the yellow fall leaves

2. Old window great color palate in the landscape

3. Natural red and green plants

4. Blur on purpose, sunset thru the tower

5, 6, 7. Distressed doors and old handles

Mindless Monday

Mindless Monday brain dump....here we go....Do you feel overwhelmed with cooking strategies for the week? Are you fighting the weather, hot, cold, windy, hot...well that's how it ends up in L.A. It's actually been chilly, which is 60's. Yes we're wimps, but that's chilly for us. We even have the nerve to burn wood in our fireplaces during this type of weather. Plus we had a few days of drizzling rain last week, oh joy oh joy, I just love this weather. Being an Angeleno is so unique.

Personally I felt like I was fighting a cold or something. I just doused myself with Vitamin C, a few Dr. Schultz cold shot remedies....nasty tasting, but good for you. Oh and I just had to have this pomegranate. It was so tasty and worth all the effort to peel and forage for the juicy seeds. Even if my light blue kitchen walls looked like a crime scene, with arterial spatter included, [too much CSI watching that I even know that looks like]. I was lightening quick to get out the step ladder and start washing down those walls. While pomegranates aren't exactly cheap, unless your lucky enough to have a tree in your yard, they are beautiful and delicious. It aches to see tree's in the neighborhood with these fruits bursting with only the birds to enjoy. Nothing against birds, but I would be willing to help my neighbor out. If only they'd let me harvest these red luscious beauties. Over the years, and recently, I've been inspired by a few photographs and pins I've seen using pomegranates. I'm sure you'll enjoy them as well.

My favorite is this one from Romulo Yanes, I still have this issue of Gourmet, I was so moved by this image.

And doesn't this Pavlova just look amazing, dripping with pomegranate seeds.

Or this mango-pomegranate guacamole, we've actually made this before, and it's so flavorful!

Oh and this semi-fredo...wow, gorgeous.

Enjoy your week!

Diana Vreeland

This is a video week for me. Finally catching up on a few things I've been dying to read and watch. Not to mention being slightly distracted by all the JFK conspiracy videos and Slate articles I've read. Fifty years ago today. Still makes you sad to watch that footage, let alone if you were alive when it happened. Heart still goes out to that family, even after all these years.

On another less grim note, I have seen a few people talk about this documentary on Diana Vreeland (pronounced DeeAnna), so I finally queued it up on Netflix and got to watching. This is one of those inspirational people that you hear about for so long, but don't really know much about. Diana was WAY ahead of her time and lived in a world of her own making. She was a the creative force behind Harpers Baazar and the Editor in Chief of Vogue, before the days of Anna Wintour. This is the kind of movie I loved talking about with my friend Efren, we would so dissect every line and there were so many great ones in this documentary. George Plimpton who interviewed her to write her memoirs asks about her childhood.

Diana answers:  "Where do I begin? Well the first thing to do, my love, is arrange to be born in Paris after that everything follows quite naturally."

She was fabulous and used words like "Mad about..." before that was even fashionable. It's the stylish way to say "that's Banana's." I so wish I could have met this woman. She inspired a character in Funny Face and I swear Audrey Hepburn stole some of her lines in Charade, not to mention the Devil Wears Prada. If you love fashion and creativity, you have to watch this movie. I am just "mad about it."

Foodies

Foodies Promo from B-Reel on Vimeo.

Not sure how I feel about this film. Granted it's only the trailer and anyone can cut anything to change the intent or meaning. But it's the same film makers that produced Jiro Dreams of Sushi which is supposedly a good thing. Jury is still out on that.

To me my Foodie's definition is not just about appreciating good food. Who doesn't want to experience good food with good friends, great conversation and an amazing local. It is part of the whole experience. Trailer is a bit pretentious and lonely to me. What do you think?

Hostess Gifts

What do you take to the Host when you are invited over for dinner or to a party? With my friends I usually ask what can I bring, as in do you need anything for the meal. And of course I always volunteer to bring dessert. It's important for me to know what your making and I hope the host sticks to their meal plan. i.e. Recently I was told the meal would be Mexican, so I made a Tres Leches cake, when I got there they'd made Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and green beans. In that case an apple or pumpkin pie might have been a better choice.

Ok enough of the pot luck way of bringing a host a gift. Let's talk other types of gifts. In the past I've brought wine and flowers. I know, so not creative. Wine or any kind of liquor is good, since it can be consumed at the event. However flowers, unless they are already cut and in a vase can be a mess. Who, as a host, wants to stop the flow of the party or cooking or whatever to find a vase and trim the stems. So if you go that route, make it pre-cut flowers in a vase or a potted plant.

But how about something different. Maybe a pair of vintage whiskey glasses like 1. Madison Avenue Whiskey Glasses who doesn't want a great glass for the Old Fashioned Cocktail you will consume. For the cook, how about 7. pot holders or 2. tea towels (Kei & Molly of course). Handmade gifts would also be ideal maybe some 6.  Coconut Vanilla Body Butter or 4. Rosemary Infused Salt.

I love these 3. Pop-Print Measuring Spoons from Anthropologie, I own them myself and use them all the time, if the host is a baker they'd adore these. Of course anything coffee and I'm all in. Maybe the 8. Chemex this is such a pretty way to make coffee, or if your feeling extra generous the 5. Journeyman Stumptown Coffee Kit.

Whatever you decide to give, always remember "there is more happiness in giving then there is in receiving." So do it out of love and thoughtfulness. Enjoy!

Mindless Monday

Last week in Lalaland was a Fall weather cluster. One day it was 80, the next day it was in the 60's and drizzling. I suppose that's why we live in Los Angeles and not somewhere it's snowing and cold. But call me crazy a little Fall weather would make me super happy! In the meantime I promise I will NOT be jaded by our lovely weather.

Are you overwhelmed by all the Fall ideas out there? I am, between the blogs I follow and the magazines I subscribe to and the catalogs that come in....OVERwhelming. I think I'll curate a list of things I want to try, make, buy, and do!

I hope this week will be productive and inspiring. Count down to Alt Summit is on it's way so lots of planning and creating to come. Enjoy your week!

Kei & Molly Giveaway

Hello Lillian, you won a beautiful tea towel from Kei & Molly Textiles. You have a choice between the bees and the ginko leaves. Email me at tstarponce@gmail.com for your address. And congrats. Enjoy!

Kei & Molly

A few years ago I was introduced to these lovely tea towel designs by Kei & Molly at the Farm Shop and I've started collecting them ever since. I do occasionally use them, but they are so pretty I hate to get them dirty. While visiting New Mexico this last time I had the opportunity to visit and meet Kei Tsuzuki and Molly Leuthi at their studio, Kei is Japanese and Molly is Swiss German.  I must add how gracious these women were to let my mom and I visit the studio, watch a printing of two of their designs, ask a lot of questions and do a little shopping.

They opened up this light filled studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2010. Everything they do is very manual, no fancy machines that automatically to do the printing, drawings, mixing of paints or drying of the product.

Their esthetic is simple design. They are obviously inspired by New Mexico with scenes of the Bosque, Red & Green Chili's, and the Big Satellite dishes from Socorro to name a few of my favorites. They also use their own Japanese and Swiss-German backgrounds as an inspiration. Their designs remind me of wood cuts and folk art, both of which they pay tribute to.

Everything is hand drawn and the stencils are printed on acetate sheets, then they use a enlarger in the photo studio to print the designs on nylon screens.

Kei is showing the aluminum frames they had custom made with one of their designs. You'll see below in their inventory of supplies they have a bright beautiful color palate. The best part, if you've ever silk screened in the past, is that all their inks are water based and non-toxic. Yay for the environment. I told them that this was the one thing that made me quit my college silk screening classes, the plastisol nearly killed me in that class.

Every season they introduce a new color, for Fall they were using an Olive ink I hadn't seen yet and making a lovely print of the Bosque, which is indigenous to New Mexico. It's an area alongside the Rio Grande with trails for people, bikes and horse. The Rio Grande is lined with Cottonwood Trees and wetlands for ducks, geese and other wild life. This design reflects them all.

As mentioned before they do everything by hand. Pinning all the flour sack material, they purchase from a distributor in Pakistan, onto the long printing table. Then they unpin them from the table and hang them on the clothes line to dry. After this they send them out to a place that has a drying systems to keep the inks from bleeding.

One the many things that make these two ladies endearing is they LOVE what they are doing. Imagine going to work everyday and loving everything about it. These two met thru their kids and hit it off. They came together to form this company, Kei taught Molly how to silk screen and with both their backgrounds in business and arts they create some amazing designs. The other amazing thing is that they are involved with helping low-income, immigrant women in the Albuquerque area. They provide great training and work for these women. That day the studio artist was Jenny a fellow Cuban, such a coincident. She did all the printing while we talked, it was great to watch her and catch-up on Cuban life.

After all the questions, we got to shopping. I bought a nice blend of tea towels, napkins, aprons and oven mitts. They even started printing scarfs. I am convinced they need to sell these towels at a few places in L.A., They are ready to expand and mostly it's a word of mouth that get's them into places. So start speaking about these ladies. I bought one of the beach scenes designs to shop around in LA and chatted with them about new designs that were uniquely LA from food trucks to flowers and fauna. So we'll see soon what they come up with.

I was drawn to so many of the designs I couldn't help myself, buying a few for friends, me and YOU. My bag was full.  So I'm offering to send you one of these lovely tea towels.  All you have to do Like my itsweetandsavory and Kei & Molly's Facebook page and leave a comment below.  A winner will be picked at random. Ends Wednesday Nov. 13.

Fall Tasting Round-Up

So this week has been full of recipes, crafts, favors and coffee from our Fall tasting event! What a fun week it's been. Posting, social sharing and hearing from all of you. I have a feeling this is the start of something special.

Here's a round-up of all our postings this week so you can find them in one place. Please continue to visit these lovely ladies blogs (My Life at Playtime and A Simply Raw Life) and come back here for more coffee, lots of baking along with local and travel adventures.

The Coffee Tasting

Hosting a Coffee Tasting 

The Savory

Black Rice Salad with Sweet Potato, Kale and Avocado

Goat Cheese, Honey, Rosemary and Pine Nuts Crostini 

Proscuitto, Manchego Cheese, Fig Jam Crostini 

 The Sweet

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Double Chocolate Cookie Dough Tartelettes

Acorn Shaped Sugar Cookies

Dark Chocolate Cups with Hemp Seeds 

Raw Apple Pie Crumble

The DIY

Coconut Vanilla Body Butter

Painted Pine Cone Garland

Products Featured

Minted, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Artisana Foods, Manitoba Harvest, Bake It Pretty and Navitas Naturals. You all made it for a fantastic evening. Hope to work with you all again in the future. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins + Cream Cheese Frosting

Can you just stand all this delicious food and recipe's we've been serving you this week.

Now who doesn't like cream cheese frosting and pumpkin muffins? Don't tell me if you do. These were some tasty morsels made for our Fall tasting. I was there the night before the event while she was making these. The whole house smelled amazing and her kids kept asking to eat them. Always a good sign. So hop on over to Deborah's blog to read about how to make these pumpkin cream cheese goodies at My Life at Playtime.

Enjoy! #mylifesimplysweet 

Acorn Sugar Cookies

Believe it or not I've never made sugar cookies. But we decided we wanted to do this for the party, it sounded like a nice Fall goodie. I went searching online and texting a few friends that have made them before to get ideas. I finally settled on Food52's blog.

With a cute Acorn cookie cutter provided by Bake It Pretty and an awesome Sugar Cookie recipe from Food 52, these were some tasty goodies!!!

They ended up being THE palate cleanser for the coffee tasting, not intentional, but who doesn't like a good cookie with their coffee. Stephanie pictured below, with cookie in hand, would agree!!!

To me what makes the Food52 sugar cookie recipe so good is the three different types of sugar you put in them. White and brown sugar for the dough and rolling it in turbinado sugar just before baking. The only adjustment I did for this recipe was add 1/2 cup more of flour. This was because I knew I'd need to roll the dough to cut the shapes out. I might add a little more next time as it was still hard to roll out, but that might have been better, you really don't want to over work this dough.

For the Acorn shape I just coated one side and laid them on the cookie sheet ready to bake. I have to say these cookies were really good. I'd made them two days before to see what I thought of the taste and well SB ate them all. That's a good sign, he's a picky cookie customer. Enjoy this delish recipe. #mylifesimplysweet

Dark Chocolate Cups + Double Chocolate Tartelettes

We've got chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Go to A Simply Raw Life, she has two amazing recipes for these chocolate delicacies. I partook of both during our Fall tasting event. I am really craving these treats right now, they would be SOOOO good with a cup of coffee.

Above image is the Double Chocolate Cookie Dough Tartelettes with Chocolate Frosting. I know I had you at "Cookie Dough."  Felicia did an awesome demo at our event of how to make these, super easy and really, really good desserts.

Dark Chocolate Cups with Hemp Seeds  I think besides the chocolate I'm kind of addicted to the Hemp seeds, they are really good, nutty and filling. To me the taste like a cross between a sunflower seed and sesame seeds.

Both these amazing chocolate desserts were made possible by products from Artisana Foods, Manitoba Harvest and Navitas Naturals.  Thanks to them for providing the goods, we loved them all.

Enjoy these great recipes!  #mylifesimplysweet

Proscuitto + Goat Cheese Crostini's

What to make for the Fall tasting event? I had Proscuitto, figs and cheese on my mind, so that's what was up first. I had one request from Deborah "Goat Cheese and Honey things".  It's my fall back easy appetizer recipe that I make all the time. I might start doing a twist on it, I saw some good ideas the other day that I'll try to incorporate. 

Image above courtesy of Deborah from My Life At Playtime

For these recipe's here's the start:

1. LaBrea Bakery baguette - this is the one I use, it's the perfect texture. If you happen to live in France I'm sure you can find some amazing baguettes. But here in L.A. I found this to be my favorite. Plus it's available in every major grocery store.

2. Slice these bad boys on the diagonal, layer slices on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and toast for about 10 minutes on 425 F. I like them crunchy, so I turn them over and toast for another 5 minutes.

Now you can layer just about anything you want on these toasted slices [Crostini]

Proscuitto, Fig Jam, Manchego Cheese Recipe

Ingredients in the order below:

Fig Jam [buy a high quality jam and schmear it on the crostini]

Manchego Cheese [slice thinly, layer over fig jam]

Proscuitto [good quality thinly sliced, tear the pieces into smaller bites. This makes it easier when you take a bite into the bread all the meat doesn't come off at once. ]

Super easy to do and then arrange on a nice serving platter. I choose a big ole slab of cut tree trunk, it just made it festive and Fall. 

Goat Cheese & Honey Crostini

Ingredients in the order below: 

Goat Cheese [Room temperature, schmear it on each crostini] 

Honey [drizzle over goat cheese]

Fresh Rosemary [finely chop]  

Toasted Pine Nuts [I buy raw and lightly toast them in a cast iron skillet on the oven top]

Serve on a pretty platter and your all done!! 

Image above courtesy of Deborah from My Life At Playtime

Enjoy! #mylifesimplesweet

Coconut Vanilla Body Butters

One of the lovely gifts we sent home with everyone at our event were these Coconut Vanilla Body Butters. Take a look at how easy they are to make on Deborah's blog at My Life at Playtime.  #mylifesimplysweet

Coffee Tasting #mylifesimplysweet

For our first Fall tasting event we decided we would do a coffee tasting. Stumptown Coffee Roasters gladly supplied a few of their amazing coffees for the tasting. If you haven't checked them out here in L.A. they just opened a store in Downtown, see my visit here. You'll love their coffee and the cool vibe of the place.

Mind you this was my first ever coffee tasting, which is surprising considering how much I love it. I asked around at local coffee roasters for the best way to go about this. Cupping is the method that most are doing, it's really for the experts. So I decided to use a French Press method. This way it's something that everyone can easily duplicate. I borrowed and bought a few French Presses for the occasion.

As I didn't want to make this too formal and stop the party flow, we discreetly mentioned to everyone that it was time do to the tasting if they were interested. We had an even mix of men and women who participated.  I supplied the coffee mugs from Anthropologie and typed up the instructions as follows: 

Tasting Instructions 

Step 1: Take a Cup and Piece of Paper

Step 2: Pour a little Coffee & Taste

Step 3: Write Down Notes Next to # 

Step 4: Pick Your Favorite

Step 5: Revelation of Brand (End of Night) 

Before the party I prepared the notes by staining this cute paper from Anna Rifle Paper Co. purchased from Anthropologie with a few coffee cup marks. Funny thing happened at the party a few of my friends sorted thru the papers to find a clean one, finally realizing that I purposely stained them. Oh I love you guys!

The other thing I did was make this a blind coffee tasting. I put #'s on all the French Presses and put the coffee in Paper Bags all numbered as well. This way if anyone moved a pot of coffee around we still knew which brand it was.  All together I had 7 coffee's to taste. In the future I think I'd pick 5 at the most. 

Here's the set-up: 

The last photo is the reveal. Gather everyone who tasted the coffee and made notes. One by one reveal what brand is in the bag. You can read a few coffee notes from the tasters and any notes you have from the brands yourself. It's up to you how formal you want this to be.

One of the great things during the tasting is it really stimulated conversation between everyone. It wasn't as easy as I thought to come up with descriptive words on what you were tasting. Maybe next time I'll put some adjectives or teaser words around to help that out. Maybe notes from the coffee roasters.

Another thing I learned, is you need something to cleanse your palate. Water maybe, well I had Acorn shaped sugar cookies to put out. Which warranted one comment on Coffee #6 "Good with Cookies."  Hmmm?

What brands of coffee did I use?  Los Angeles has quite a coffee scene these days with a few local coffee roasters and the newly opened Stumptown Coffee, based in Portland. My suggestion is use local coffee roasters and brands, make it easy for your guest to go out and buy their favorites.

So here's what we tasted and there was no clear winner. I expected that, it's like wine, it's what taste good to you.

#1 Handsome Coffee Roasters - Cristobal Fernandez

#2 Stumptown Coffee Roasters - Hair Bender

#3 Intelligentsia - Organic La Perla Oaxaca Mexico

#4 Handsome Coffee Roasters - Los Girasoles

#5 Groundwork - Black Gold

#6 Folgers (I had to throw in a basic less booszchee brand) 

#7 Stumptown Coffee Roasters - Holler Mountain

Throw in a basic coffee that you can get at your local grocery store. This makes for a fun evening and teasing. My fellow coffee snob and occasional blogger Roger happened to pick Folgers and well we can't stop teasing the poor man. Here's his notes:

We couldn't let people leave without trying Stumptown Coffee who was so kind as to supply us a few bags of coffee for the tasting. This meant we sent everyone home with a bag of beans. #mylifesimplysweet

My Life Simply Sweet

This past weekend two of my fellow bloggers and Alt Summit attendees planned a Fall tasting event called My Life Simply Sweet. This week we will be sharing all the festivities from the event, which included our first ever Coffee tasting with Stumptown Coffee Roasters as our sponsor mixed in with a few local roasters in the L.A. area that I gathered up. You'll also see a recipe for another easy appetizer, as seen below.

Now let me introduce you to these ladies, first up is Felicia, a wife and mom of one, from A Simply Raw Life. Felicia features wonderful raw food recipes from smoothies to desserts to just about anything you can think of in the raw food category, and let me tell you her food is delicious. This week she'll be sharing her recipe's made from the great sponsors and products of Artisana Foods, Manitoba Harvest and Navitas Naturals. Check out her blog this week for those post and make sure you click on the links for these goodies: Green Smoothies and Raw Chocolate Tartelettes.

Deborah from My Life at Playtime is a wife and mom of 3, who shares all her family adventures, art lessons, diy decor and handmade goodies. She lent her lovely home for this event and will be sharing a few posts sponsored by Minted and Bake It Pretty. You'll get to see the details on how to make the garland and body butter below. She might even share her first time making cream cheese frosting for her pumpkin muffins.

Together with It Sweet & Savory we hosted this lovely event we called My Life Simply Sweet, get it? It's perfect for us. Check out our hashtag on Instagram and just about every other social network this week as we share the details #mylifesimplysweet.

And doesn't that table garland below just scream Fall, look for that this week on Deborah's blog.

Image above courtesy of Deborah. 

Fall Gems

I had to post these beautiful vignettes I found at Anthropologie today. The color combinations are inspiring for just about anything. They just scream late fall, early winter.  I went in there for coffee mugs, which I did purchase, but I couldn't help musing about all these styled areas, which is part of what makes this store so appealing. Above is the amazing Coiled Geo Clutch. I just think we all need that clutch.

Candle is Capri Blue Etched Jar   which comes in Hibiscus teakwood (pictured above), aloha, volcano and aloha mercury. The fabulous Anon Beaded Clutch just calls my name and comes in plum and green.

When I saw this vignette I just thought about the Thin Man series with William Powell and Myrna Loy, and of course their dog Asta. They were always walking around with a cocktail in their hands. I so love these champagne, martini glasses. They are so new I didn't see them online yet.

I thought these fun little beauties were worthy of sharing today. Enjoy! 

Mindless Monday

Well last week got away from me, but this week I promise to bring you a post about my studio visit to Kei & Molly.  Can I just say I love New Mexico and if I didn't already have roots set here in Cali, I might move back there. The weather is lovely, and I just miss seasons. We so don't get a real taste of them here.  

I also love road trips. As most of you who follow me on Instagram know I had 13 images posted before 10AM. There is so much that inspires me in the Route 66 landscape. Thankfully, I have a great, patient (long-suffering) husband who indulges me and stops at every abandoned house on the way. Actually I only ask for one big stop on the road, the rest are random when we stop for gas, potty break or just a quick walk around. Sadly there are so many little towns on this route that have been completely abandoned or old buildings, gas stations that just no longer exist.

Here's a few of my favorite images IG photo's that I didn't post from the trip.  Enjoy your week!

Mindless Monday

I believe I've finally beat the high-altitude laziness. Only took a whole week. I woke up energized, if not cold, while SB is wishing for our comfy bed at home.  I started my day off by having a good call with my boss (real job), good coffee (I made it this time, mom's is terrible), a visit to an art studio I love here in ABQ (more to come on that later this week), and a quick trip to see if I will ever be able to afford a Pendleton blanket. I'm coveting the Glacier National Park version (first from left), but the new Badlands version is a close second (fourth from left). Oh one day. It's an investment I know that's well worth it.

This week is full of friends and family dinners, taking care of granny, and letting mom rest. So basically cooking, baking and visiting. All that and my regular 40 hour work week along with a bit of prepping for an upcoming blogging event for a small group of friends It's going to be a busy week indeed.

It's my last few days in the Southwest with the real Fall weather, and then back to the 80 degree weather of SoCal.   Hope yours will be as fulfilling. Enjoy!