April 21, 2018 - Oliver's in Montecito & Elisa in Stony Brook for the Day

Great News!
Travelin' Cousins will now be featured weekly, in "Weekday Magazine"
in ThisIsTheBronx.info with all of our adventures from
this New York City Borough!
Please subscribe to this wonderful, Bronx Online News Sight
and see Travelin' Cousins every Friday!

April 20, 2018: WEEKDAY MAGAZINE – A Day At Mottley Kitchen in The Bronx
​

Tanya's Daily Scoop​
Covering the West Coast & the World
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: MONTEREY, CA

Oliver's Montecito review

Heya guys!

Let me start out by sharing with you why it has taken me soooo long to hop on and share my story today.

GREETINGS FROM MONTEREY, CA!!

We arrived late last night after a 6+ hour drive and a lovely dinner in Santa Barbara.

So like I said it was a 6+ hour drive, 3 hours of sleep and over 50 miles of pedaling with plenty of uphill...like thousands of feet.

Well I am beat. Like totally pooped. We are back from cycling in the Sea Otter Classic, which takes place at the famed Laguna Seca. 

But let's get to the missing scoop - what happened yesterday. You'll get all the scoop from today, tomorrow.

Yesterday was a busy bee type of day. From the moment I woke up until the moment I pulled out of the driveway - it was go go go non-stop.

Goldie decided to stay asleep (c)travelincousins.com

One of the stops was to go and visit Dream. Matt had the day off and came along with us. Dream looked great and both Cosette and Matt spent a long time brushing away all of her winter coat that she is shedding.

Grooming Dream (c)travelincousins.com

Cosette had also "needed" to go to LUSH (she has an addiction), I also had a return to do, so off to the mall we went.

By the time we got home, I basically had time to iron, shower and hit the road. Not even enough time to do my make up!

Traffic getting out of LA was pitiful as usual, and the GPS had us arriving exactly on schedule for our 8pm reservations at Oliver's in Montecito - there was no time for pee breaks, gas, or anything. I was actually hoping that we'd be able to make it there earlier and then be back on the road earlier. 

And then guess what happened...I got peckish and munched on some of my Baby Romaine lettuce leaves, which in turn made me hafta PEE. I was breaking my own rule by stopping, but there was really no choice, because peeing in the car is always unacceptable IMO. LOL

Back in the car and the GPS now had us arriving at about 1/4 after 8pm. However, being that I have a lead foot, I shaved 10 minutes off of that estimate and we arrived at 8:05p.

The restaurant (one of Matthew Kenney's) had a lovely and elegant patio, as well a very well appointed interior. The tables were spaced out perfectly and I didn't have to listen to all of the conversations around me (which drives me a bananas).

The food was fresh and innovative. It was also very well prepared with wonderful textures, flavors and overall it was quite delicious!  

Oliver's menu (c)travelincousins.com

Oliver's interior (c)travelincousins.com

Pear and Gorgonzola (vegan) Flatbread - this was my fave...So freakin good! (c)travelincousins.com

Artichoke Crabcakes (c)travelincousins.com

Dave's Toastada (c)travelincousins.com

A side of Brussels Sprouts (c)travelincousins.com

The Cauliflower Bucatini (c)travelincousins.com

Truffle Potatoes (c)travelincousins.com

A bare faced me and happy with my selection (c)travelincousins.com

Maple Apple Crumble (c)travelincousins.com

Oliver's patio (c)travelincousins.com

At the end of dinner we shared dessert and I asked Dave if he wanted me to continue driving. However Dave wanted to take the wheel. So after this lovely satisfying meal, we shared dessert and I opted to have a Cappuccino, knowing that it would make me sleepy...as caffeine really doesn't have much effect on me. 

Once we were back in the truck we had almost another 4 hours to go and that Cappuccino had actually made me sleepy. I began to doze off.  However Dave ended up getting tired, I quickly came to the rescue of driving once again and got us here safe and sound.

I've got plenty of pictures to post. Be sure to meet me back here tomorrow.
​-Travelin' Tanya

Elisa's Daily Scoop
Covering Long Island & NYC Boroughs
​CURRENTLY  TRAVELING IN STONY BROOK, NY

Early Start for Stony Brook

Hello, Hello!  I'm rushing around like a chicken without a head, trying to get on the road this morning. ​

Gonna miss my Punkin Spice Latte girl while she has a sleepover at Jo-Mar tonight. (c) travelincousins.com

Our car is packed with some goodies for the day (water, snacks, wifi router, camera and accessories) and the kids have their pillows and blankets in tow. Geesh, it's only a 45 minute drive, but, as long as they are happy, then that makes life easier for mom.

We are going to drop off our dear little Punkin for a day and sleepover at Jo-Mar Grooming and Boarding to care for our sweet girl while we flit around Long Island all day.  

Last stop - Dunkin' Donuts to grab some hot beverages and hit the road.  ​

My ETA in Stony Brook is before 10am, so I'll be signing off in a moment.

You know, I got a look at Punkin's collar today and boy, is she in need of a new one!  I really like the safety collars a lot because she is one of those dogs who pulls and has slipped out.  

I couldn't find the safety style collars at Petco, but finally found them on Amazon. They have such cute colors too!  I think my girl would look adorable in the blue and purple!!

And speaking of dogs...I read about the newest museum opening in Bavaria, Germany.

On April 2, the Bavarian city of Passau welcomed a museum dedicated entirely to celebrating the German sausage dogs, better known as the Dachshund.

(Credit: Abendzeitung München)

Located in Residence Square, the collection was compiled by two master florists, Seppi Küblbeck and Oliver Storz, over the last 25 years.

From stamps to puppets to glass figurines, the collection is comprised of more than 4,500 different items celebrating the breed.

Its founders, Josef Küblbeck and Oliver Storz, claim the Dackelmuseum features the world’s largest collection of wiener dog paraphernalia.

My daughter Kelsey loves this breed and after I told her this bit of news about the Dackelmuseum, she just put Bavaria, Germany on her travel bucket list!

Enjoy your day!! See ya back here tomorrow!
-E
xoxo