Sunshine and wine in a girl world

I just returned from a weekend full of laughter, wine, vitamin D and some of my favorite girls.

My sisters Jacquie, Julie and I took our annual/bi-annual littles trip, this time to Santa Barbara.  We started with a quick and fun night in LA and got to visit with the future bride and groom,

 then toodled up the coast for 48 hours in the beautious world of Santa Barbara. 

It was glorious.   We ate some wonderful meals.

Julie hooked us up with some wonderful wine tastings.

Jacquie scored us a free upgrade in the penthouse suite.

We basked in the sun and hiked in the range.

We had LOTS of HDR (heavy deep and real) talks and LOTS of laughter.  Holy shit did we laugh.

 

 It was straight up soul-refreshing and my miss my sisters already.

Jacquie drove us back to LA on Sunday, where Julie peeled off to help Col and Brenton pack up their life and move back east, 

and I peeled off for a couple days in LA with my dear friend Laura Gabbert and her two lovely daughters.  It was wayyyy overdue, and just so wonderful.  We reconnected, we hiked, we walked the dogs, we sat in the glorious sunshine and talked, we drank good wine and cooked good meals.

Both of these chapters of this much-needed trip were fantastic.  I loved catching up with my sisters and Laura and I had gone way too long without connecting. I also loved spending time with her kids, who were wee lasses when last we met.

The contrast between Laura's house and mine, aside from the obvious SoCal vs winter in Chicago nonsense, was stark.  For starters, girls talk.  To eachother, to Laura and to me.  And then the food.  Cute quantities of healthy snacks, small portions on dinner plates that aren't quite polished off. Adorable portions of ice cream after dinner.

Sometimes you don't realize your life is a certain way until you see another way.  I bought 13 boxes of girl scout cookies over the last two weeks and they are, as noah's friend tyler told me last night, "long gone."  Our way, especially with Corey gone,  is most definitely the boy way.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought mountains of food. Two big bunches of bananas.  Two bags of clementines.  Four loaves of bread.  Two lbs of deli meat and cheese.  Four bags of chips.  Two gallons of milk.  Six boxes of cereal.  And on and on.  It's so normal to me I don't even think about it.  Until I was reminded that not everyone feeds an army every day. 

I received a couple calls from home whilst there. Dylan called to ask how to make pasta more interesting. Noah texted at one point and I asked him how it was going and he said they were starving, lol.  I reminded them that they have cars and debit cards and could have brought their butts to the grocery store and bought more food. Didn't happen. My boys appreciate my cooking.  It was a pleasure to cook for them last night.   But boy do I miss my sunshine girls.

Chicken Piccata

 Cut a few chicken breasts into cutlets, rinse and pat dry, sprinkle with salt & pepper & dredge through some flour.

 Heat up a good amount (3 Tbs for 4 cut-up breasts)  olive oil on medium high heat and sautee the chicken, about 4 minutes per side, until golden brown.

  Remove the chicken from the pot and add about 1/4 cup dry white wine and 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, cook on high heat about a minute, scraping up the brown bits with a wooden spoon.

 Add 2 Tbsp capers and about 2 Tbsp butter and stir until all mixed together.

 If you like it a bit saucier, add a little more white wine and even a little chicken broth.  I do. 

Pour the sauce over the chicken and add a couple Tbsp chopped fresh parsley.

Enjoy!!