#125 Join a Book Club

I finally finished the book Three Cups of Tea and had my first book club (aka: girl talk & cocktail) meeting. We met at the book club organizers home, Tracy. She made a fun fondue with garlicky Caesar salad. The wine flowed freely, everyone seemed to have brought a bottle of their finest. We selected our next reads; Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society (our next book) by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows and The Next Thing on My List by Jill Smolinski.

With the wine glasses full & bits of bread smothered in cheese, I was excited to start the intriguing dialogue about the book at hand. All was good...then...we learned that half of the group didn't finish the book...bubble popped. I would be lying if I didn't say I was a tad peeved that I spent the time to read every page (ok, maybe I skimmed the last 50 or so) when we only discussed it for 5 minutes and people weren't able to participate. The book was inspirational and informative, but not the easiest read ever! At least we had fondue and wine!

#123 Create a Piece of Art & Sell it

After a local artist removed her paintings (they didn't sell), I was in need of some unique artwork for my restaurants bare walls on an extreme budget. I had hundreds of corks from all the wine we sell and set out to find an idea for some cool, modern & cheap cork projects. I came across several creative cork sites: Cork Dork, Garbriel Wiese Gallery, & Terramia. They all had great ideas, but I settled on a large cork board. I used synthetic as well as natural corks and wood glue. I didn't have much luck with a glue gun, the corks kept popping off.

I have completed two, each took about 40 hours and 300 corks. The total cost was $30 (of course exluding my very valuable labor). They are hanging in my restaurant right now and tons of people comment on them. I think it's time to sell for the sake of crossing off another experience on my bucket list!! Pricing this weird art has been difficult; too low and you don't seem like a legit artist...too high and people think your a rip off. I think I have settled on a price of $349 each, now I just have to get up the nerve to put up the price tags!

#26 Eat at 500 memorable restaurants

Restaurant #113 is Stellina in Point Reyes, CA.

Stellina is a welcome addition to the tiny town of Point Reyes. The style of food is "Point Reyes Italian with an unwavering commitment to local organic products." Not quite sure what Point Reyes Italian would refer to, but the food is tasty!

Unfortunately, the service was just ok. The server was not personable, nor did our water ever get filled. But, you still can't beat a hot day, a gorgeous Point Reyes hike, followed by a nice meal.

What I had & how I liked it:

Beet & Arugula Salad A+

Thinly sliced baby red beets with peppery arugula & ricotta salata. This salad was delicious and fresh.

Beans & Greens C

Brown beans with a rosemary broth & sauteed swiss chard. Not a big fan of this dish, though the beans were cooked perfectly. But, the greens did not taste like they were freshly sauteed.

Grilled Cheese with Pastrami A

The grilled bread on this sandwich was great. The only thing that freaked me out a bit was that the pastrami was brown!?! I believe it was house-cured or something so I let it slide.

#94 Hike Every Trail at Point Reyes

Palomarin Trail
1.2 miles round trip

It was going to be a screaming hot day, so I decided that it would be great to to knock out a beach hike at Point Reyes. The Palomarin trail head is really popular because it leads to the 4 mile Alamere falls hike. But, we opted for a short hike, so we could get to the beach as quick as possible. Getting to the beach was the easy part, all downhill (which of course means that the way back sucked!). The beach is always beautiful, but this one had no sand, just large rocks. No biggie, as long as I heard the waves crashing I was a happy girl. On the way back we ran into a bobcat. Unfortunately, it ran before I had a photo opportunity...Darn!!!