Mrs. BoMAN's Santa Barbara birthday

[billie_morini]

The entire BoMAN family joined billie and Mrs. Morini in Santa Barbara for a wonderful celebration. It was Mrs. BoMAN's birthday!! The weather was typically perfect, billie woke early to purchase live rock crab directly from commercial fisherman at the local wharf, Mrs. Morini purchased fresh vegetables at the big farmers' market, and BoMan delivered port wine and NorCAL sour dough bread to Mrs. Morini. The BoMAN family was represented by #1 son and wife from Pasadena (expecting twins!), and #1 daughter and Napa Valley wine distributing business husband + first grandson(!). For the uninitiated, the BoMAN family is lovely and warm; so easy to relax with. Here's some photos from this exceptional day.

[billie_morini]

These placards were placed on the Morini's front porch, driveway gate, and covered patio.

[billie_morini]

The surfing forum families under the covered patio. Unfortunately, BoMan was working the camera and not in frame. Notice billie's J7 surfboard shirt! He thinks it's cool (Santa Barbara shaper plug: http://j7surfdesigns.com/).

[billie_morini]

Santa Barbara red rock crab steamed 20 minutes! Each crab weighs about 3 pounds (1.4 kg). Purchased at 06:30 directly from commercial fishermen at Sterns Wharf. DELICIOUS!

[billie_morini]

Spices added to the steaming pot. The steaming pot capacity is 30 quarts (28 L). It's heated on an outdoor gas burner. Mrs. Morini gave this pot and burner to billie as a Christmas present many years ago. Wise and practical woman, indeed. The key is to steam and not boil. Plus, do not over cook.

[billie_morini]

There was a lot of grill action, too. The young men folk really shined in this endeavor. We grilled many fresh vegetables and marinated chicken. We forgot to include the pineapple spears.

[billie_morini]

Directly delivered by the BoMAN family at Mrs. Morini's request: favorite Napa Valley port and sourdough bread. One of the wonderful aspects about Mrs. Morini is it's the small things in life that deliver joy to her. Coincidentally, Mrs. BoMAN radiates absolute joy from her heart. It's infectious.

[billie_morini]

These wonderful mini cakes / pastries supplanted traditional layered birthday cake. However, we all sang, "Happy Birthday," to Mrs. BoMAN.

[billie_morini]

While enjoying Santa Barbara, the BoMAn family took in these notable and familiar sights.

[billie_morini]

They visited the zoo park, too. This family photo is actually sea otters and not the BoMAN family.

[jaffa1949]

Mahlzeit

[billie_morini]

They saw the new baby giraffe born in 2018. The Santa Barbara Zoo specializes in preserving certain animals and have demonstrated special skill in successful delivery of baby giraffes for more than 10 years. The previous zoo director was a local friend that offered valuable advice for Roxy Ridgeback's health. This simply demonstrates it's a small world.

[billie_morini]

These are the Masai giraffe from East Africa. The Mom giraffe is named Audrey. Her baby weighed 180 pounds (82 kg) at delivery. That’s 60 pounds more than Roxy Ridgeback. See more of these two in this video:

[jaffa1949]

Billy Bo Boys for birthday girl birthday, lots of births about and having happening, now they are having giraffes!
Like the crab fest dish!
Looked like a great gathering

[billie_morini]

Billy Bo Boys for birthday girl birthday, lots of births about and having happening, now they are having giraffes!
Like the crab fest dish!
Looked like a great gathering

Our (admittedly great) gathering would have been even more graced by the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Jaffa. Our door remains open to you two, as well.