Straight from Provence, a great recipe

When my blogger friend, Barbara, posted her Clafoutis Provencal, I knew we would love it.  I also knew that if I were to make this while in our travel trailer, I would have to make some adjustments.  Our little kitchen is small and so is the oven.  In fact, this was only the second time we attempted to bake in it.  It works just fine.

Also missing was my mandolin for slicing the zucchini, but with a careful attempt, we actually got them sliced thin enough.  The overwhelming surprise of this recipe was the smell coming out of the oven.  It was so breathtakingly delicious, I could hardly wait for dinner.

This is definitely a recipe that I will make often in the future.  It is a perfect vegetable dish to serve with any type of entree.  Barbara, thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe from your kitchen.  I wish we could have enjoyed it together.

Please visit Barbara and her blog, Cuisine de Provence and copy this recipe. 

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach, Oregon, is one of those places I have always dreamed of seeing.  As we walked the beach toward it, it almost seemed to be a man-made structure because it was such a fantastic sight.

Haystack Rock was formed by lava flows.  It is 235 feet in height, home to crabs, starfish, sea slugs and a place for nesting birds such as tufted puffins, gulls and cormorants.  It is a protected Marine Garden, as it should be. 

The village of Cannon Beach itself is a lively town, filled with tourists this time of year.  The beach....perfect.  It was such a pleasure to again be on the Pacific, having traveled from the Atlantic.  As a dear friend commented to me, "from sea to shining sea."  Yes, we have traveled that far and more.  I stopped checking the odometer after we reached 5000. 

Have you tried Singing Dog Vanilla?

I remembered reading that Singing Dog Vanilla was located in Eugene, Oregon.  Knowing we would be visiting in the area, our host, Pete, called the local number and spoke with co-owner, Marty.  Marty invited us down to visit even though he said it was just a simple warehouse.  What excitement as Diane, Pete, the Trout and I made our way to Singing Dog Vanilla.

The philosophy of this company is to produce organic, non-GMO and high quality products.  Just speaking to Marty, one could hear the pride in his product,  as it should be.

Fair Trade Plus is a partnership between family farmers and companies that bring the produce to markets.  In this case, the product is vanilla from Papua, New Guinea.  The name, Singing Dog, comes from the breed of dog, found in New Guinea.  It is a dog that does not bark, but sings.  On the website, you can actually hear a dog singing.

Products being produced are vanilla extract, tea, coffee, vanilla beans, paste, lip balm and now even vanilla salt.  (This is reportedly great on popcorn.)  Packing materials are sustainable such as cardboard, cornstarch packing material and reusable tea bags.  This is a company that will go far.  Good luck to Marty and his crew.  We loved our visit.

I stocked up on several items while in town.  I see that the products at this time are not available in Florida, but you can order them by mail.  The vanilla bean paste....I can hardly wait to try it.  I think it will have to wait until fall when I am back home in my own kitchen.  Baking in a travel trailer seems a little bit daunting.