Necessary Napkins

The other day, when our family friends, Jim and Jamie, came over, they brought us a gift of 6 hand picked, cotton napkins. You may wonder, what is so special about a gift of cotton napkins? Well I'll tell you. These incredibly colorful napkins came from a store in San Luis Obispo, called Picking Daisies which specializes in selling napkins. The store is small, but they have a large selection of napkins. In fact, there over 50 different designs to choose from. Some are plain and some are mind-blowing! They have everything from stripes to paisleys. Some are seasonal and some are everyday, all are 100% cotton (which my mother tells me is a real good thing because they don't have to be ironed). My personal favorite is a very colorful one which has paisleys of all sizes. This store is owned by three sisters, Ann, Kay, and Dede, who sew these napkins. It is very sweet and their merchandise makes you feel at home. They also sell some place mats and cards. I know most of you reading this don't live in San Luis Obispo but go ahead and check out their website called www.pickingdaisiesinslo.com These make a great gift and they are reasonably priced. On top of everything, these napkins are green because you can use them over and over again which is better than using paper napkins which you have to throw away! I love these and I think you will too.

Joanne Weir, Someone I Admire

I am very fortunate to say that I am developing a relationship with an

amazing chef, Joanne Weir, who is not only a best-selling author, but has

had her own cooking show on PBS. Based in San Francisco, Joanne has

followers from everywhere, and I am one of them. For a school project, I

chose Joanne as someone who I admire and am inspired by. Here is my school

report...

Joanne Weir has a very compelling story to tell. She has led a very interesting life because she is a famous chef. She was inspired as a chef in many different ways. First off, she is a fourth generation chef. Her mom always loved to cook. She planned the menus at a private school. Her grandpa owned a beautiful big dairy farm called the Bryant Farm in the Berkshires. Her great grandma was the bread winner for the family since her husband had died at sea in a sailing accident. She had to feed the family so she went to work at restaurant at the turn of the century called Pilgrim’s Pantry.

Joanne’s fondest memory in the kitchen was when she was baking oatmeal raisin cookies with her mother. Instead of adding a teaspoon of baking soda, she put in a cup. Wow! As you can imagine, those cookies did not turn out as they were supposed to.

Over the years, Joanne has had cooking shows and has authored many cookbooks. She teaches a lot of cooking classes and has food tours. May I mention, she also has a fantastic blog -http://joanneweir.blogspot.com/.

In Joanne’s free time she likes to do a lot of things. She likes to hang out and cook for friends. She also likes to work on her blog, take photos, and watch movies. Along with that, she enjoys spending time in San Francisco. Most of all, she loves to travel! She has visited so many places it is hard to keep track of them all.

Now, Joanne Weir is a newlywed to Joe Ehrlich. They went on their honeymoon to Greece and it was beautiful. She lives in San Francisco with no pets.

If Joanne could have anything she wanted for dinner, it would be pretty tough to choose, but if she had to, she could do it. As an appetizer, she would have a delectable ravioli with ricotta, tomato, and basil as the filling. For the main course she would have spit roasted lamb with salsa verde. The side dishes would be potatoes with olive oil and rosemary along with string beans. For dessert there would be almond cake with roasted peaches inside and swiss buttercream.That’s the same cake she had when she got married!