Hello friends and fellow campers! Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé in the Loire Valley, France. I am filled with a bit of sadness as I write this week, as my two hundred and seventy-one poplar trees are being cut down outside right now. The big saw is buzzing and the sound of the […]
travel
Crater Lake National Park
Dear Foodies and Fellow Travelers, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Ocean Mesa, overlooking the Pacific. Even though it’s a mere 22 miles north of Santa Barbara, it feels like oceans away. And although my apartment in Santa Barbara overlooks the city and the sea, I’ll take any excuse to get away from the interruptions […]
Travels with Abigail — Part 1
Dear Friends and Fur Baby Lovers, A few weeks ago I announced that I rescued a sweet dog from the Bay Area named Abigail. My dear friend and client, Dr. Ann Schiebert, sent me pictures of this cutie, saying she would be the perfect dog for me. And she is! Believe it or not, it’s […]
Summertime!
Hello friends and fellow campers! Gourmet Girl Denise here from Le Petit Saint Barnabé, Mouliherne, France. The weather is hot here at the homestead in the Loire River Valley. The mercury is topping out this week at 40 degrees centigrade or 104 degrees Fahrenheit! Yikes! Lemonade consumption is going to be high and I will […]
Live Oak Stampede!
Howdy y’all, Gourmet Girl Gail here writing from Santa Barbara. A couple of weeks ago, Kathy Moran, Kathleen Murphy, and I headed over to Live Oak Camp to join 120 Sisters on the Fly for Live Oak Stampede. Live Oak is very close to my home, only about 40 minutes from S.B., off the 154. […]
Spring Is On Its’ Way!
Hello Friends and Fellow Campers, Today the sun came out for the first time in over a week and it was warm outside! You Southern Californians probably can’t relate to my exuberance over one sunny day, but then you haven’t experienced the Loire in the winter. Every morning I dress up in multiple layers of wool […]
Gourmet Girls Annual Camping Trip Redefined!
Hi Everyone! Before I get into the great trip we took to San Simeon State Park and a tour of Hearst Castle at twilight, I want to thank all of you who read our newsletter. I ran into Cristi Westerhouse, a former Gourmet Girl, at Trader Joe’s recently and she remarked how much she liked […]
A Year To Be Thankful
Hello Friends, Campers, and lovers of the Culinary Arts! Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire River Valley, France. Fall has passed and winter is upon us here in North-West France. The skies are gray with intermittent sunshine, weak as it is, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. Nature is beginning its’ long sleep, […]
Le Foire aux Pommes-Apple Festival in Mouliherne, France
Hello Friends, Campers and food aficionados, Gourmet Girl Denise here from the Loire Valley, France. This past week I was blessed by a visit from some old friends from Santa Barbara. As ‘Le Petit Saint Barnabé’ is still under construction, and I do not have a suitable guestroom as yet, my dear friends stayed in […]
Lake Tahoe Adventure with Sisters on the Fly
Greetings! Gourmet Girl Gail here. I’ve written before about some of my adventures with Sisters on the Fly, and the Tahoe event is one I’ll never forget. There were about ninety Sisters camping out at Tahoe Valley Campground in South Lake Tahoe, and Kim Matarazzo, our hostess and organizer, had some fun activities in store […]