Sour Dough in Frisco

It was late morning when the smell of freshly baked bread drew me to Boudin Bakery, within view of San Francisco Bay. A street musician created sonorous music as he tapped enthusiastically on a twin pair of over-sized bongos, and raucous gulls swooped across parking lots and buildings.

Inside the bakery, more than 150 years of history coalesced in dozens of fresh sourdough loaves, paying homage to a tradition that began when the Gold Rush '49ers merged traditional French baking techniques and 'sour' dough. In fact, today's loaves are still made with a portion of the original 'mother' dough, which has been divided and replenished with flour and water each day since the first batch was made.

With a crunchy crust and a chewy center, a 24-ounce loaf only cost about $4. If I hadn't been so full from breakfast I might have grabbed lunch in Bistro Boudin, the company's first full-service restaurant. And if I hadn't been so pressed for time I would have toured the company's on-site museum - full of city history and antique photos - or stopped by the demonstration bakery. But, sometimes, it's also nice to have things you can look forward to during your next visit.

Pasta Partner

My husband and I learned how to make pesto more than two decades ago, while visiting friends in Laguna Beach, California. They harvested handfuls of fresh basil from their tiny garden and turned it into the most wonderful pasta sauce we had ever tasted. And the flavor was so intense that we only needed one or two tablespoons of the brilliant green sauce per plate of pasta.

Our young daughters had never tasted another pasta sauce at home. But as they progressed through elementary school, the number of invitations they received to have dinner at friends' houses grew - and their exposure to new foods increased. "Mom, they had red sauce on their spaghetti!" said one daughter after a dinner visit with a friend, as if she'd just met a being from another planet. From that point on, we occasionally served red spaghetti sauce at home, to help demystify this 'foreign' food.

But pesto remains a family favorite, especially when made hours earlier from freshly cut basil. We cover pizza crusts with it, serve boiled shrimp or grilled chicken with it, atop pasta, and pair it with polenta. If you'd like to make your own, here's our recipe:

Pesto
makes approximately two cups

2 cups basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons walnuts (may substitute pine nuts)

Combine thoroughly in food processor until garlic and walnuts are ground well. Refrigerate until ready to use. Lasts in refrigerator for 4-5 days. Or freeze in ice cube trays until ready to use and then thaw.

Gargoyle Guards

Birthplace of Amelia Earhart and known by some as the 'most haunted town in Kansas, ' Atchison, Kan. is also home to St. Benedict's Abbey, Mount St. Scholastica Convent and Benedictine College - a small, private university.

This rural town of less than 11,000 people has scores of Victorian homes lining its streets - many of which are still paved in antique brick. With exquisite attention to architectural detail, the massive homes are a feast for the eyes. My camera and I captured dozens of Victorian views on one particularly balmy and sun-drenched day last February, and these winged dragon-gargoyles stood out from all of the rest.

It seems that such gargoyles originally functioned as water spouts, to remove water from rooftops. But I prefer to think of them in their second function - as guardians of the buildings on which they sit, poised to keep bad spirits away from anyone who occupies the residence.

Denver's Glorious Gardens

When we visited the Denver area, last fall, we spent a morning at Denver Botanic Gardens, which is ranked among the nation's top botanical gardens. If you enjoy traveling to many different places in a short period of time, and love the outdoors, this place will satisfy both cravings. During a single visit you can explore individual gardens inspired by the breathtaking beauty of a Monet painting, high desert vegetation, and Japanese tranquility amidst Ponderosa pines.

If you have children with you, they will love the Children's Secret Path with its Musical Playscape, Soil Station and Story Time features. Gardeners also may enjoy the profusion of blossoms in the Rose Garden, enormous variety of culinary and medicinal plants in the Herb Garden, or artistic grace of the Romantic Garden.

And that's only the beginning. Special exhibits as diverse as hauntingly beautiful stone sculptures crafted by Shona artists from Zimbabwe, in the Chapungu Sculpture Exhibit, and wall-spanning portraits of individual insects created by Project InSECT, provide added excitement.

Hot Stuff in Albuquerque

Albuquerque's legendary El Pinto Restaurant, a culinary institution since 1962, does everything in a big way, from its 1,020-seat restaurant with multiple adobe-wrapped patios, to the 3,000 cases of salsa it produces daily. El Pinto also has distinguished itself as the only restaurant invited to serve food at the White House. In fact, their salsa has been the official food during several Cinco de Mayo celebrations held there.

"Salsa Twins' and El Pinto owners, Jim & John Thomas, have crafted their salsa and green chile sauce on-site, since 2001, winning 30+ awards as well as mentions on ESPN Sports Center, MSNBC, and the Food Network. The sauces and salsas have become so popular that they're available in more than 30 states.

For a great souvenir from your visit to El Pinto, try a jar of their salsa at home. It's even more special when you order a case of jars that have been personalized. Within seconds after spooning this hot salsa onto your favorite tortilla chips or nachos, the nose sweats and back-of-throat burn begin. Big tomato and pepper chunks and bits of cilantro echo flavors from the restaurant. Sip a margarita to tame the heat, and you're back amidst the cottonwoods and chile ristras.

Freezer Fun

Sometimes, it pays to rummage through your freezer. On Sunday, I found a bag of cranberries and put them in the refrigerator to thaw. Yesterday I pretended it was the middle of fall, turned on my oven, and played in my kitchen for a couple of hours. The result was this luscious pie in which cranberries become a purple-red mash of tartness, apples retain a touch of crunch, and a crumb topping adds another dose of sweetness. Perfect for fall, or any time your freezer yields this unexpected treasure.

Cranapple Pie
Serves 12-16

1 ½ cups cranberries, washed and sorted

2 cups water

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups of apples, peeled and diced in one-inch pieces

½ cup water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

½ cup apples, peeled and diced in one-inch pieces

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

1 baked, deep dish pie shell

Topping:

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

½ cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

In a large, non-reactive, non-stick saucepan, combine cranberries, water, sugar and cinnamon over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.

Blend cornstarch thoroughly in water. Add mixture and 1½ cups of apples to cranberry mixture and combine well. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 more minutes. Add remaining ingredients to the pan and simmer, uncovered, for 10 more minutes. Allow mixture to cool slightly and then pour in piecrust. Refrigerate while making topping.Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir in sugar and flour, cover with a lid and microwave on high for 2 to 2 ½ minutes, stirring twice, until slightly browned and bubbly. Spread out on foil until cool enough to handle and then crumble all over top of pie. Cool pie at least three hours before serving.

Kansas City Art Space

When design architect, Steve Holl's modern addition to Kansas City's renowned Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened, in 2007, the gigantic Bloch Building looked like little more than a series of opaque boxes to many people in the community.

But on the inside, the new building offers an inventive space that is as much a piece of art as the collection it houses. While much of the Bloch Building lies beneath the ground, each of five individual 'lenses' features soaring angled and curved walls, and expansive windows that illuminate the space from the outside, in.

The 165,000-square-foot expansion also was designed with the environment in mind. An existing sculpture garden continues over gallery roofs, which helps insulate the building and control storm water drainage. In addition, the lenses gather sun-heated air each winter and exhaust it during the summer, reducing the need to heat and cool the massive space.

Where the Bloch Building and the original museum building intersect so does history. Where bold and brash new architecture meets the original building's soft and muted stone, Kansas City's artistic past and present intertwine for the ages.