welcome back from running a muck :)

Hi again friends. I have been gone for a while. Life just got a tad crazy there so I decided to just wipe the slate clean of anything extra and focus on just the most important issues. My family and my kids. !! Don't worry i also made some time for me as well. 

As you can see by my last post i was gearing up to do a scary 5k. Well a year later i have to say i am pretty darn proud of myself. i did 2 color runs  a yountville 5k run  and then a 

half marathon about 2 weeks ago. i am considering another half or maybe a tri......? 

i could not have do with out my friends and family motivating me and my wonderful kids who did such a great job sitting in the stroller everyday while i ran. thank you to all the love and support. this was a big bucket list check off!! 

it was quite an adventure and i learned alot. 

Kevin and I ( mostly I) have also become consultants on our new favorite bakeware call demarle at home. we are in love with this healthy easy clean bake wear. its the makers of the wonderful silpat. but more for the next post. 

love always, 

us 

Pin It

5k red in the face run

Cali cooking couple is teaming up with the following food bloggers to support a 5k run in the month of september. 

I (alix ) have signed up for 2 runs. 


Color run in Sacramento and The color the skies run in ripon. ( there is a 1 mile and fun run to do with kids after you watch the hot air ballon show in the morning.) 
I am very excited about this and to motivate my children and family to eat healthy and exercise. 


Cindy, Once Upon a Loaf
Amy, She Wears Many Hats
Kristen, Dine & Dish
Bridget, Bake at 350
Katrina, In Katrina’s Kitchen
Robyn, Add a Pinch
Carolyn, All Day I Dream About Food
Krista, Budget Gourmet Mom
Shawn, I Wash…You Dry
Dara, Cookin’ Canuck


we would love to invite all our followers to also run with us and make heathy eating and living a part of your lives.

Yesterday I did 2 miles with my 6 year old son as my motivator.  He did really well and only needed a quick break in the jogging stroller. We will keep you updated. Pin It

4th of july cake and ice cream

a little sneak peak of what we are eating for MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY !!! 

Pin It

summer is here

Good news....larry's produce has opened

 Bad news..... my cute picnic basket broke. 

Well maybe that is good news because it broke because my kids just kept loading it up with yummy things they had to have. I love hearing them ask /beg for artichokes, avocados, pineapple, watermelon, cherries, green beans, peaches, plums, apricots and strawberries. Well maybe beg was not the right word because I would just say yes yes yes. Life is good right now. 

Pin It

Father's day Lemonade

Our Father's day tradition is to sell lemonade on the eve of Father's day

 and then use the money to get dad a really cool gift. father's always get free lemonade. The boys learn about working and money and dad gets to do something fun while we work hard. It's suppose to get 105 today- on man. 

Pin It

Where Do WE EAT

We get asked all the time for food recommendation in Napa- I have a hard time because there are so many wonderful places to eat- with a variety on budget, location , and style.

We are going to comprise a list for you of the places that we love.

Alix's top choices 

Breakfast- Napa General Store - Corn Meal pancakes
 click here for a more detailed review from us 
here for their menu and hours

Lunch- Azzurro Pizzeria- Caesar Manciata - a grilled flat  bread with cheese and caesar salad that you fold in half and eat like a sandwich
click here for menu and hours 

Dinner- Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen - Cindy has a handful of restaurants in town but this is my favorite its quaint and has great atmosphere and I have loved everything I have ever gotten from there. I love the Hanger Steak with the Avocado & Papaya salad
click here for menu and hours 

Dessert - Rutherford Grill - Oreo cookie ice cream sandwich - phenomenal
click here for menu and hours 

Bread- Vallergas Market - They have a wide variety but I can't decide if I like the Acme or Bouchon Bread better.  click here for hours 

A little treat - Bouchon Bakery - Bouchon Bakery's Ho-Ho. An upscale and much larger version on the Hostesses Ho-Ho  click here for hours  Pin It

Best ice Cream in the Us- Food and Wine Magazine

Well we gave you the best burgers and now it's time for 

ICE CREAM --- we have three near by. 

I have already been to one. It always excites me when I find a place and then later learn that others love it as much as I do. 

In no particular order

1. San Rafael, Ca Three Twins Organic Ice Cream - The whole store is very earth friendly and they use a splash of  balsamic vinegar on those strawberries. I have tried the trick and it does sweeten them up.
click here for more info 

2. Berkeley, Ca- Ici Ice Cream -  a pastry chef making ice cream cones.. I think I am going to scream for ice cream
click here for info 

3. San Francisco, CA- Bi-Rite Creamery - YES YES YES I love this place. Food and Wine suggest the Salted Carmel but I love the Sam's Sunday. it's fun, it's funky, and... can try all the flavors and on a real spoon.
click here for more info 
click here for MY review of bi-rite 

and for our family and to represent Kevin's home state
Seattle- Molly Moon Ice Cream - I think we will check this out when we go play there this summer
click here for more info 

congrats to all out local friends. click here to see a full review and see if you have any favorites near you 

and if you are looking for burgers click here 

Pin It

Father's Day pancakes

Happy father's day 

to all you dad's out there who read our posts. 

Here is what the wilcox clan is making this year for father's day breakfast. 

Dad pancakes 

very very easy
 1. fill your favorite squeeze bottle and fill with pancake mix
2.  squeeze into pan and cook like normal pancakes
3. enjoy your dad

make any words you like 

look our cute family .....

Happy Father's day. 

Stay tuned for our other father's day tradition coming soon- 

hint: something I do to help the kids earn so money for a present 

Pin It

Ina Gartens Lemon Curd Tart

I am very excited about the recipe today.

1. It's from Ina garten - who I love love love. I don't even think about tweaking her recipes. .... { Ina if you are reading this can we do a cook date together }
2. It uses lemons !! 
3. You get to peel the lemons not great 
4. I got to use my new food processor.

Tart Shell 

• 12 T butter - room temperature- very important  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups flour 
• pinch of salt 
• bag of beans to weigh down crust 

1. mix together the butter and sugar in electric mixer 
2. add vanilla 
3. sift together the flour and salt then add 
4. mix till it just comes together then dump onto flighty floured surface and form into a ball
5. put into tart pans 
6. ***  ina called for a 10 inch but i was giving away one tart so i used two 5 inch and that worked great 
7. chill in fridge till firm 
8. heat oven to 350 
9. lightly coat annunimun foil with butter and place onto of tart 
10. fill covered tart with beans 
11.      - i totally forgot this step and it still turned out ok so don't freak out if you do 
12. cook for 20 minutes 
13. remove foil and prick tart with fork and bake for another 20 minutes 
14. cool to room temperature 

Lemon Curd 

• 4 lemons 
• 1 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 stick (1/4 lb) butter- once again room temp 
• 4 eggs ( add one at a time) 
• 1/8 t salt 
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice- from the lemons you will zest 

1. zest the lemons with a vegetable peeler - try to not get the white part that is bitter 
2. add zest and sugar into food processor :) with the steel blade and pulse till its well incorporated 
3. cream the butter lemon sugar and eggs in your electric mixer with the paddle 
4. add fresh lemon juice and salt 
5. pour into saucepan on low heat and the curd will thicken- takes about ten minutes 
6. pour into your cool  tart pans 

tips

 you can make the tart and the curd or day before and then add the curd when ready to serve 

you can add 4 eggs to the tart recipe and come up with something really good- it was a mess up.... and the dough was divine--- new recipe ???? 

since you will have lemons lying around don't forget to make our 

lemon chicken with capers and lemonade 

Pin It

Best Burgers in the U.S - Food and Wine Magazine

Food and Wine Magazine just came out with their 25 best burgers in the us and we live by 4 of them. 

4!! 

Here are the 4 local places - in no particular order 

1. California: In-N-Out Burger click here for menu and locations

2. San Francisco, Ca: Zuni Cafe - This is served on a grilled rosemary focaccia- grilled buns are a must for me. click here for menu and location 

3. Napa: Gotts (formally known as Taylor's Refresher)- Food and Wine recommend the Ahi tuna burger but I would recommend the California Chicken and kevin loves loves loves the Wisconsin Sourdough 

- This has been a long time favorite and i remember taking Kevin here when we were dating and sitting out at the picnic tables. _ also take notice of their great breakfast signs because that was hubbys, brothers, and daddy work right there. :) click here for menu and location 

4. Healdsburg, CA: Healdsburg Bar & Grill - i know nothing about the place but hopefully that changes soon ---- i will try everything and give you my recommendations. click here for menu and location 

congrats to the bay area and all the local chefs for taking 4 of the 25 in the U.S 

click here to see if any burgers joints are near you and let us know what your favorite item is 

keep a look out for best ice cream coming soon- and yes we made the list 

Pin It

Chicken pesto pizza with red grapes

sorry about the wait fokes. My computer was at it limits and kept corrupting my picture files :(

so I had to get a new one :) !!

 it's beautiful and big and in my kitchen so I can cook and blog.

For all those who are waiting for those yummy recipes for our catering event I have one ready for you.....

click here if you want to watch a video of me cooking my yummy pizza with funky vintage lovely yes it is very embarrassing and i myself have only watched it once. 

recipe 

• 1 pizza dough crust 
• 1/3 cup pesto
• 1 1/2 cups grapes- halved
• 8 oz shredded chicken 
• 3 cloves garlic 
• mozzarella cheese 
• grated Romano
• 1/4 t black pepper

1. Heat oven to 450 
2. spray cookie sheet with pam and lay out pizza dough 
3. cover with a thin layer of pesto 
4. add chicken, grapes, cheese and garlic 
5.  bake for 15-20 minutes 

Thank you cooking light for another great recipe

Pin It

catering event

We got asked to do a catering event for a good friend of mine. 

We prepared some amazing...

Chicken Pesto Pizza with Red Grapes 

Bruschetta with Roasted Garlic-Parmesan Bread

Caprese Kabobs 

Three Cheese Tortellini Kabobs with salami drizzled in balsamic  

thank you friends. 

We enjoyed the adventure. We look forward to more events in the future. 

Pin It

Review - Napa General Store

For mother's day I took my mom to breakfast in Napa. We tried some place new - 

 Napa General Store.

 I got the cornmeal pancakes. I took a few bites and said,  "I have to tell everyone about this place". Thus the picture has a few bites in it. 

The Napa General Store is an eclectic store on the napa river in downtown. If you walk through the store  the back patio has a few quaint tables and a peaceful atmosphere.  

The cornmeal pancakes - they were delicious and a nice change to normal thick pancakes. I am on a mission to make these myself. --- my new mission...

My mom got the brioche French toast- it was a tad soggy :( 

We also got the hot cocoa which was rich and deliciousness. Yes I did say deliciousness.

We saw some chocolate filled beignets pass and they looked very very good but we were stuffed.

I have not had their lunch menu but I now know my next lunch spot. Look out Napa General Store we are fast becoming BFF's 

Napa General Store 

540 MAIN STREET #100 

NAPA, CA 94559 

Pin It

Why I blog

blog why, why you ask me? (yoda voice) 

picture from our first date - its in our bathroom and has a lot of water damage 

Recently I have been questioning why do I/we blog???

 Blogging is stressful and just one more thing to remember on our already hectic and busy lives here at the cali cooking couple household. Kevin and I decided to do a blog because we needed a goal and project to do together. I think every couple should always have a common goal they are doing together. It is amazing how our lives can be spent together but yet also so far apart.  On this quest to thinking of what we could do i realized that we found ourselves in the kitchen together every night. Just like we had done on our first date. 

Cooking was a passion that Kevin had. I had a desire to eat. I also thought that if this is something that I get to do every night, I want to be good at it. I was going to wear the suit to get the job. Thus our blog was born. Over the past few months our posts have become less frequent and i have been frustrated about how to market and get our name out there. How to share our love with all of you. 

But..........  recently  i took a step back and remembered why. AND NOW I must say I am so proud of myself. Ourselves. We might not look like a top blogger who has the followers or the stats or even is very consistent with their posts- but we are a much happier couple. Who has grown a ton from this blog. It is doing what it was intended to do. 

So kevin I love you and I love that we have been sharing this adventure together. This has brought me 100 times the amount of blessings that I thought it would, or ever could.

We hope that you can bring the joy of food into your lives and that you can also go after your dreams but to always remember to keep in perspective the big picture. 

and yes more recipes are coming..... we are still eating yummy and taking pictures, but my babies are louder {and cuter} than the blog about tending to them. :) 

Lots of love - 

cali cooking couple 

Pin It