Wild Mushroom Ravioli
10 ounces mushroom ravioli or cheese-filled ravioli
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced
4 ounces button (table) mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup of chopped walnuts, shelled and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup brandy
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese


Directions: Prepare ravioli according to package directions; drain. Next, over medium heat, pour olive oil in a skillet (or spray Pam Olive Oil) and cook mushrooms until tender. Next add 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, add garlic and brandy, and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. When cream has thickened, stir in 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Then, stir in cooked ravioli, and gently simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with parmesan, garnish with walnuts and serve with garlic bread, and salad. Makes 2 servings.

Apple Cinnamon and Walnut Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup shortening

1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped California walnuts

1 cup apples – peeled, cored and finely diced

1 cup raisins

¼ cup milk

1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ tablespoons half-and-half cream


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Beat shortening and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and blend thoroughly.
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Stir half the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Stir walnuts, apples, and raisins, then stir in remaining half of dry ingredients and milk. Mix well.
Drop from tablespoon 1 ½ inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in the preheated 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from oven, place on racks to cool slightly, and while still warm, spread with glaze.
To make glaze: Combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and enough cream to make glaze of spreading consistency. Beat until smooth. Spread on warm cookies.

 Papagni 2011 SYRAH
RED WINE
Our Syrah displays heady aromas and flavors of an array of concentrated dark fruits including blackberry, plums and some black cherry wrapped up in bittersweet chocolate and spice. Full bodied and superbly balanced with velvety tannins and a ripe cherry finish that seems to go on forever. This wine was aged in 25% new French and American oak barrels. 750 ML ALC 13.7% BY VOL

Papagni 2003 ALICANTE BOUSCHET (PORT STYLE)
DESSERT WINE
Our 2003 Alicante Bouschet is a sumptuous dessert wine. Rich and flavorful with a nose dominated by sweet, toasty black fruits and white pepper that carry through to rich, mouth -filling flavors with soft tannins and a very silky finish. Aged for 9 years in our cellars, this Alicante Bouschet is ready to drink now. Only 95 cases of this exquisite wine were produced. 750 ML  ALC 18.5% BY VOL

 "Our Papagni Red Blend is made from grapes grown mostly from our vineyards located in the Madera AVA. Alicante Bouschet, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah grapes give aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar, and herbal sage with rich flavors of fruit wrapped in medium body and round tannin.

Our intimate crew shows a passion for making wine and it shows in this bottle.  Pair with BBQ ribeye or Bolognese sauce pasta."

California- Concentrated with multiple layers of dark fruit, spice, and oak. The upfront richness is nicely balanced by a crisp finish laced with firm tannins. Additional notes of pomegranate and smoke.

Our Papagni Red Blend has been handcrafted in California,fully balances with aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar, and herbal sage with purely ruch flavors of fruit enveloped in a medium body and rounded tannins. Pairs well with barbecued ribeye, or a nice red Bolognese sauce. 

A California Blend, Our Papagni Red Blend is fully balanced with aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar, and herbal sage with purely rich flavors of fruit enveloped in a medium body and rounded tannins. Pairs well with a variety of meats such as pork, roast beef, barbecued ribeye, filet mignon,  or a nice red Bolognese pasta sauce, cheeses, pizza, and so much more. 

Our Papagni Red Blend has been handcrafted in California,fully balanced with aromas of black cherry, plum, cedar, and herbal sage with purely rich flavors of fruit enveloped in a medium body and rounded tannins. Pairs well with a variety of meats such as barbecued ribeye, filet mignon,  or a nice red Bolognese sauce pasta. 

Sicilian Girls, a fictional story by Gina Meyers

 My mom always said that San Francisco is such a beautiful city that you could fall in LOVE anywhere there.

San Francisco the city by the bay was my home. Me, Gina Marie, born June the 8th, 1971 in San Francisco, California at Saint Luke’s Hospital.

I’m third generation Native San Franciscan and proud of it. No matter how much the city landscape changes, it always remains a vibrant, fun, picturesque city.

My grandparents met at a big band dance while my grandpa chig’s naval ship was docked at Pier 39 back in the 1940’s.

It was a night like no other. My Sicilian grandma Rose, who resembled the movie star Rosalind Russell, dressed up in her latest black tight knit dress from I Magnins.

Red lipstick, her jet black hair upturned on the ends, high heels, click clack,  headed with her sister Mary to the short walk from their parents’ flat on the corner of Mason and Lombard.

Mare and Roe what a sight. Both lookers for their day, and as they stopped by their father’s crab stand to have a bottle of coke a cola-- before the dance, they ran into their Uncle Nunzio who was working the six to midnight shift, “up the wharf.”

“Hey Mare”, Rose cried. “Wouldn’t it be neat if they played Artie Shaw’s in the mood and we danced all night with a naval officer?”

“Get your heads outta the clouds Roe,”  Mare said.

Rose ever the dreamer, was dreaming that night of finding her love and sure enough, a tall and lanky fellow by the name of Harold E. Hill, just like the main character in the play, The Music Man asked Rosalind to dance. 

North Beach is home to Saints Peter and Pauls where Joe Dimaggio and his first wife wed. You hear the church bells chime every hour. Weird part is the address: 666 Filbert Street, sounds more like the devil’s calling card then an address for a cathedral. 

Mason and Lombard is one block from the crookest street in the world, also known as  zig zag Hill, and you can hear the cables from the cable cars running all night long. With no air conditioning, the flat was equipped with wooden framed, single paned windows which rattled in the night, followed by fog horns which sounded and resounded like clock work.

Cue in the rain.

Love Quotes

 Love Fortunes

A Wedding Wreath

During the Victorian era, a popular custom was “floriography”, sending messages through the symbolic meanings of herbs and flowers. The wreath would carry a special wedding message. Rose petals (for love), rosemary (for remembrances) and lavender (for devotion).

We cannot do great things; only small things with great love.-Mother Theresa

Listen to your heart.-unknown

Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking forward together in the same direction. –Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Love is the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything.

 –Lacordaire

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.-Audrey Hepburn

Love asks me no questions, and gives me endless support.

- William Shakespeare

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

-Charles Dickens

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

-Audrey Hepburn

You just have to be lucky enough to find someone who appreciates you.

-Audrey Hepburn

Time

Time is

Too slow for those who wait,

Too swift for those who fear,

Too long for those who grieve,

Too short for those who rejoice,

But for those who love,

Time is eternity!

Love is like a bird…

If you hold it too tightly,

You’ll crush it;

If you hold it too loosely, it’ll fly away.

-unknown

Whenever two good people

Argue over principles,

They’re both right.

-Marie Ebner Von Eschenbach

Let your life speak.-Quaker saying

We must accept finite disappointments, but we must never lose infinite hope.-Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior

We are our choice.-Jean Paul Sartre

Optimism is an intellectual choice.

-Diana Schneider

We can learn something new anytime we believe we can.-Virginia Satir

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good, try to use ordinary situations.

-Jean Paul Richter

To each their own.- Rosalind Marie Cresci Hill

Attitude of Gratitude, CEO Julia Stewart

 To me, having an attitude of gratitude means to be grateful for all of the good things in my life. The truth is, where our attention goes so too does our focus and our attitude. So if we are aiming high and shooting for the stars, we have a better chance at succeeding than if we are worrying or placing our thoughts in a negative light. An expression that I often use is attitude determines altitude. I recently read an article about CEO Julia Stewart. Up until this morning, I hadn’t even heard of her, however her accomplishments speak for themselves. She rose to the ranks to be the first female CEO of IHOP, also known as International House of Pancakes. 

 

Julia’s attitude for success is printed on a piece of paper that she keeps framed on her desk. These have been her life goals and these center around her relationship with her career, personal life, and giving back. Her mantra has been to: “love, encourage, and commit to” her husband, to “love and nourish” her children, to work on goals liking building her Alurx to be the #1 wellness app on the market and to mentor other women who are from all circumstances and walks of life. 

I believe in making lists and life goals, not only yearly, but daily. And when I go on a trip, I also usually have a list of things I need to accomplish professionally, but also physically, mentally, and spiritually. In addition to that list– I have a list of things I want to do for fun

 In 1912, my grandfather, Demetrio Papagni, emigrated from the Bari-Puglia Region of Italy and settled in the California Central Valley. He came to America with a dream to make fine premium wines from grapes grown on the land of his new homeland in the rich, fertile soils of the San Joaquin Valley. Papagni Fruit Company thus was born in 1920 and quickly earned a reputation for growing the best premium wine grapes in the valley and beyond. Throughout the years, Demetrio handed down the craft of winemaking to his son, Angelo Papagni. Angelo Papagni brought the business to the next level with growth and was known as the “maverick” of winemaking. This level of growth was from the 1970’s through the 1990’s. Today, over 100 years later, Demetrio is continuing what his grandfather and father started and is continuing to grow, premium, high-quality wine grapes.

Success Tips

 

Zig Zigglar said, "don't be a wandering generality, be a meaningful specific."

Yesterday I met a young entrepeurner who is not only changing his own life but is changing the lives of those around him.

He is on track to being debt free and his wife will no longer have to work and they both will be able to stay at home debt free and start a family. He said to me, "you've never heard of a house husband and a house wife together." It made me laugh. He will continue to work part time.

The most amazing thing to me is that he changed his life from playing video games almost forty hours a week. He and his wife met a mastermind group who has helped them financially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

He wanted to share some tips to help me as well. He is listening to books such as Everybody Connects by John Maxwell, The Compound Effect, and The Magic of Thinking Big. 

Here is what Jonathan has learned.

1) Make the decision that you want to be successful. 

2) Find Someone Successful.

3) Consistently get around them and study them.

4) Do exactly what they teach you.

I added, do passions with purpose. Which would be part of part 1. I would also add that one needs to constantly suppress the stress response and to lesson your stress as much as possible. The stress hormones need to let up.

Ways to let up and get over the stress would be to journal and to exercise. I would also add watching funny movies to reduce stress.

Some helpful movies to watch:

The Secret

Heal

Trust your Gut, by Gina Meyers

 

I recently watched a Netflix's documentary on the Gut. Coincidentally enough, my aunt sent me an article on the gut. All in the same week, wow! So I started watching Netflix's Gut Special. I don't have a lot to say about it other than so much of our lives revolves around how we feel about our middle. As I was subbing the other day, I overheard a child say that I was skinny. This made me happy to overhear her say this. It was just an observation on her part and we were preparing for a math timed test so it wasn't like her comment to her friend interfered with her daily work schedule. But it made me smile inside, knowing that I will be 53 in exactly one month and staying fit is so important.

It's a funny thing to talk about the gut and our middle because it is as if sheer willpower or something has anything to do with anything. Our bodies change as we age/mature. The thing about the gut is how we use the word in everyday language without knowing. The article my aunt sent talked about foods to eat and other ways to bring more oxygen and healing to the brain via the gut health including probiotics. But what fascinates me in the lexicon surrounding the gut. 

TRUST YOUR GUT

GUT INSTINCTS

IT TAKES GUTS

THAT WAS A GUTSY MOVE

The word itself has such a profound affect on one's psyche. 

So they next time you think about your middle or your gut, remember only the truly brave are willing to talk about their gut!

Energy flows to where attention goes. The dynamics of relationship status and energy. By Gina Meyers

 

Energy flows to where attention goes.

The dynamics of relationship  status and energy.

By Gina Meyers

It doesn’t matter if you are in a relationship at the present moment, friends, not in a relationship at the present moment, but were in the past–you will be in the “relationship” regardless of the current status due to the energy that you have given the relationship and the energy you currently give the relationship.

So let that sink in for a moment.

Regardless of present relationship status, (ie, you guys are on a break, you are together, etc.) there is relationship energy.

Relationship energy ebbs and flows depending upon mood and emotional energy as well. But that’s a different energy that I am talking about.

So, if you want to continue to build upon your relationship, or you want to leave it behind, you have to do the same thing, focus on the things you like about the relationship and the way it makes you feel.

By focusing on the positives regardless of the relationship “status quo” you will be able to have a renewed relationship with yourself, the other person, a new person in the future. 

By elevating your emotions you’ll spend less time focusing on how to fix it and more energy on what already works. 

When there is a lot of energy surrounding a relationship, relationship status doesn’t matter. Your brain is already wired to respond a certain way to that person. 

Giving all memories and emotional energy happy and positive will lead your life and your energy is a state of peace.

By being faithful to your positive emotions and focusing on only positive energy you will not only have a renewed relationship with others but you will have a faithfully forgiving and loving relationship with yourself.

The Psychology Report-Blog #41, Dr. Allan Hedberg-Gratitude in the Making Starting Today

 THE PSYCHOLOGY REPORT BLOG - #41

                                                                

Gratitude in the Making Starting Today

How does one learn gratitude behavior and uses it appropriately?  Gratitude is a vital aspect of maturity and effective social conduct.  Advancement in life, socially, occupationally, and even educationally, depends on our ability to express gratitude and receive it gracefully. 

How to sharpen your gratitude skills by using this toolbox of actions……

1.  Keeping a daily gratitude journal for at least one month..

2.  Making lists of things for which you are grateful such as family, friends, activities in which you are involved, and your career.

3.  Writing thank you notes.

4.  Helping others even in small ways.

4.  Regularly and verbally express thankfulness to those with whom you associate.

5.  Find small things for which to be thankful and pause and take time to mentally reflect on why you are thankful.  Do it while taking a walk, for example.

What are the benefits of gratitude?  

1.  Improved sleep.

2.  Dealing with disease.

3.  Lowers inflammation.

4.  Strengthens cardiovascular health.

5.  Reduces depression.

6.  Improves mood.

7.  Reduces anxiety.

8.  Increases positive feelings and emotions. 

9.  Reduces negative thinking such as worrying and rumination.

One researcher put it this way – “Gratitude is a light, an expression, not necessarily conditioned to good times, making it possible to maintain the feeling of goodness, even during negative experiences or most difficult moments.”  

Lastly, our world would be exponentially better, if we all were a little more grateful for what we have and the opportunities we enjoy each day…………

Allan G. Hedberg, Ph.D 

Clinical Psychology

Easy Gluten-Free PB&J Crepes

 Easy Gluten-Free PB&J Crepes

In a blender, place two whole eggs, 1 cup of gluten-free flour, ⅛ of a teaspoon of sea sdalt, 1 Tablespoon of unsalted melted butter, 1 cup of almond milk, coconut milk, or oat milk. Beat on liquify mode and in a skillet on low heat, melt butter and pour crepe mixture in pan and smooth with a spatula, flip when light brown. 

To add, place a dollop of almond butter and jelly. For my crepes I used Smuckers Strawberry Jam, Trade Joe’s Almond Butter, Target Brand of Less Sweet Oat Milk, and King Arthur Gluten-free flour. 

*You can refrigerate the crepes mixture. 

Papagni Winery

 

Third generation valley farmer, grape grower, and wine maker Demetrio Papagni is a leader. His family legacy has been growing grapes for wine making which started back in Bari, Italy. Demetrio's family dreamed of making fine wines and came to the Central Valley in 1912 and started on their American Dream. This tradition continues today and he is proudly  the owner of Papagni Winery in Madera, California. This tradition of excellence continues in the wine industry today!

He's   stayed true to his Italian Roots by creating unique varietals such as the signature Alicante Bouchet.  You can visit the wine tasting room on weekends. It is located at: 9505 Road 30 1/2 Madera, Ca 93636. https://papagniwines.com/