Dobbie, The Amazing Leaping Dog

Hanging out in the backyard a few weeks ago, I was tempting Dobbie with a squeaky toy. I was sitting on the couch, and he was behind it on the ground. One-too-many-teasing-squeaks later, Dobbie was fed up. From a standing position on the pavement, he came flying over the back of the couch. Lucky for *all* of us, Lance was taking a picture as nutso dove in. My surprised face is priceless. Enjoy.

Napa Valley

Husbie had this whole week off, and we hightailed it to Napa Valley. Amazingly, Lancer has never been there, though I've been there too many times to count with the girlies. He was impressed, to say the least. Napa is fun because it has all the charm of a small city, but it's replete with gourmet food, amazing vinegars and olive oils, and great shopping.

We started off in St. Helena--we stopped in @ the *original* Taylor's Automatic Refresher. It's this funny little roadside diner that you would probably just zip by if you didn't know they have some of the best food around:

We both got BLT's--mine was a nice, normal lil' sandwich--Husbie's special sandwich, however, boasted thick slices of juicy tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon, and crisp bibb lettuce:

We also split an order of their sweet potato fries--normally, I wouldn't eat the sweet spud, but these are to-die-for:

We shopped around the downtown area, snatching up some sweet and delicious balsamic vinegar from Olivier. We're going to drizzle it over grilled peaches before summer gets away from us. I love this sign from the Main Street:

After shopping, we headed up to Greystone, the restaurant of the Culinary Institute of America. The campus is breathtaking:

This was easily one of the top 5 meals I have ever eaten--it was up there with the food we had in France. We both ordered the corn soup, which was a light and brothy dish, not the normally heavy, cream-laden fare they serve up as corn soup:

Lance got the fish, and I got the steak. Mine had a vegetable salsa and creamed corn topping that blew me away. For dessert, I got the homemade blackberry ice-cream, and Lancer got the peach crostini. He isn't into sweets, but he cleaned the entire plate:

We stayed overnight in the Hotel St. Helena, a cute little place from the 1800's. Our room was tenny-tiny, but nice and cozy:

I had to grab a call, and I am apparently quite animated. Thanks Paparazzi Lance for stalking me whilst I was talking--who knew I gave such great face?

The next morning, we shopped in St. Helena for a few more hours, and then hit Dean and Deluca:We picked up some new salt and pepper grinders, and the cool and quintessential test-tube spice rack. I made a deal with the Devil (Lance) for these. I told ol' Satan that if he bought them, I would make one new dish a week using a new spice. Harder said than done--there are some spices I have never even heard of. Mace chicken, anyone?
Next, we headed down to Yountville to gorge at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery:

Lance grabbed a few goodies, and I grabbed a Nutter-Butter cookie so I could scrape out the tasty inards....I'm not letting a little wheat cookie crust keep me from the goodies inside, especially when the inside consists of peanut butter and marshmallow cream. Mmm....

I feel inspired to make excellent food after our trip. I love, love, love great food. Lance is coming around, too. Before France, he said he couldn't really tell if food was bad or good--he just ate so he wouldn't die. Now that he can find and identify great food, he is a much more enjoyable foodie companion! More napa trips down the line!!

Mazatlan!

We scored an amazing (and free--thanks la familia Ford!!) beachfront condo in Mazatlan, and took advantage of Husbie's generous vacation time to go hang out for 10 days. It was fun, relaxing, and hot and muggy. Apparently, we caught the beginning of the rainy season, and spent many a night and day hot and sweaty, which you can see in our red little faces. Thanks to Lancer for his amazing shots!

Our gorgeous complex, Casa Bonita, complete with lush coconut grove and warm pool:

Here are some trip highlights:

Saw some bea-u-tiful sunsets from the Balcony:

Saw a turtle lay some eggs on the beach:

We played around on ATV's for 2 hours. We had a great time until things unraveled like a Steven King novel. On a deserted stretch of beach, three menacing dogs came out and stood guard as we rolled down the beach. As we approached on the bike, they went nuts and started coming after us. Lance kicked up a notch, and tore down the beach, but the freaky demon dogs kept up with us and only stopped giving chase about 1 mile down the beach. Lucky us, we got to flip around and get chased by the Hounds of Hell once more on the way back...luckily, they never got the chance to eat us.

We did horseback riding along the beach, thanks to Ginger's amazing bi-lingual horses:

We ate a lot of tasty vittles (and some not-so-tasty vittles...but, ya know

, it's Mexico, so...it's all good.) Our favorite place was Taco Loco in downtown Mazatlan:

Lancer spent some time boogie-boarding:

I spent some nights out on the beach under the palapa, just listening to the waves and feeling the cool breeze:

Lancer hanging in the open-air cabs:

Sucking down some tasty frozen drinks:

Our friend, the Casa Bonita Crabbie: Check out his surprised expression:

Eating @ the Palapa:

Chillin' on the balcony:

Me in my rib-bib @ La Casa Country. They had the most amazing salsa that they made right at our table. I am going to try and replicate the recipe: