Capitola Village Fund Raiser April 9th

Sent to me by my friend Polly Shultze, owner of Village Sea Glass in Capitola... 

"Calling all beach lovers! On March 26, 2011 Capitola Village, CA was struck by a flash flood caused by a broken drainage pipe. Many merchants suffered loss and damage but are vowing to carry on. On Saturday April 9th there will be a Village Revival Party from noon to sundown in the Village with live music, face painters, dunk tank, raffles and a donation booth. If you are local, please come support and     celebrate the Capitola Village! See you there!"  (picture of the March 26 flood) 

Tom and I took a drive down to Capitola last Saturday, just days after the flood and were shocked to see the damage to this quaint, colorful village just south of Santa Cruz.  Many merchants will not be able to reopen for months - buildings damaged, lost merchandise.  A terrible tragedy for this close knit community.  If you are local, your support to help them rebuild is so much appreciated!

Capitola is one of our favorite day trips down the coast, wonderful shop owners and fabulous restaurants. Last Saturday we simply sat at the boardwalk, watched a surfing competition and the many beachcombers while eating our pb & j picnic. Just had to share their creative art community's hand painted tiles - so fun and so beachy!

Have a great weekend everyone! 

 

Half Moon Bay Fish Market

One of the secrets to making a fabulous meal with seafood includes a trip to a favorite fish market for fresh choices.  Cannot count the number of times that we've left the beach, headed for home and have made shopping at the Half Moon Bay Fish Market a regular stop.

Great shop owned for many years by the same family - family photos and memories tacked up all over the tiny market.  They have thought of everything -

Great people to help - always friendly.  They treat us like long lost friends whenever we come in, even tossing in a few extra oysters on occasion!

Blue Point Oysters are always on the menu... (not mine, but Tom's!)

Fresh local dungeness crabs live, also cooked and cleaned ready to take home and dip in melted butter. (YUM!)

Salmon fillets, or whole salmon for the more adventuresome.  Not this girl - I don't like the bones! (or the heads)

Live crabs and lobsters available, as well as fresh squid, prawns, and jumbo shrimp!  We frequently pick up fresh clams here too for clam linguine and yummy clam chowder.

On several occasions we've also picked up the most incredible Ahi - melt in your mouth with just a light searing on the outside.

They have it all do you don't have to make another stop. Lemons, seasonings, fresh baked bread from Half Moon Bay Bakery...

Specialty private label sauces to complete your meal...

Forget the wine?  Half Moon Bay Fish Market has a nice selection to choose from, most of which are local California wines.   They even sell fresh flowers for the romantics!

Stop by and see our friends next time you take a drive down California's Hwy 1 past Half Moon Bay.
Phone: 650-726-2561
Website:
http://www.bizglimpz.com/HMBFishMarket

And to show off your seafood creations, 

how about these fun serving pieces?

Polished Fish Servers

Scallop Appetizer Dish

Large Oyster Shaped Serving Platter

Fun cocktail napkin boxes!

Coastal Themed Wine and Cocktail Glasses

Crazy about Octopus!

We're seeing octopus images in just about every beach house decor element!  Check out some of our favorites-

Thomas Paul, a young and upcoming designer has some fabulous octopus beach house decor items with incredible images - natural botanical designs but also very modern.  Love these pillows sized overly large, made of  natural linen fabrics and luxury down-filled. (yes, I am craving these!) Oh, the best part, the image is reversed on the opposite side - easy to change the look of your room with seasons.

From Cyan Designs. We love this Octopus bookshelf element - couldn't you just see him (or her!) nestled among your favorite beach reads on a grand bookshelf?  Made of pewter with waving tentacles, I don't think I would ever get tired of looking at this sea creature!  (PS  We will be adding to the Caron's Beach House site over the next month)

Of course, there's always my favorite things from Vietri... How about this pretty hand painted round octopus platter?  Hurry though, it looks like it might soon become a collector's item!

From Caron's - detailed botanical drawings of blue octopus surrounded by other sea creatures on antiqued ginger jars.  Kicking myself for not keeping one of these 14" tall beach house decor jars for myself.



Found on Amazon - Pretty amber Octopus lamp!  I think I saw a blue glass version too.












Look at this blue octopus deep salad dish from Anthropologie!  Too cute, and very affordable at $14.00.  Am just imagining the party now -beautiful seafood salad, with this pretty creature peaking out underneath...

Just had to show you all this creative, wildly detailed pewter wine glass from Vagabond House that I found featured on Interior Digs.com  Isn't this octopus stemmed wine glass awesome??  (yes, I am also craving these!)

And then there's these bright fun pillows from our Caron's Beach House store too! 

Excited as they will be featured in "The Nest" coming out in May for their summer issue.

Thanks for stopping by - let me know about your Octopus finds!