true simple pleasure

i think one of the truest simple pleasures of life is friend dates. there’s just something about meeting a good pal and enjoying lunch or dinner and conversation together that makes me so organically happy.

this week i got to meet missy at a venezuelan place in the city for a quick lunch. missy and her husband are moving from san francisco back to utah, and i am so bummed. this girl and i have had lots of little friend dates over the past couple of years, and have talked about bigger friend adventures to be had every time. and now she has left the bay. she will be missed! the food was deeeeelicious!

i also had a sushi date with josephine and an ike’s sandwich date with kelsey this week. such wonderful simple pleasures.

speaking of, this morning i leapt out of bed (that is not normal) because i was so excited to watch general conference (which starts in 10 minutes). conference weekend makes me so happy!

i ate a lot {of bacon} this weekend

ah! the feeling of walking the streets of san francisco on a warm evening after a few weeks’ absence! there’s nothing like it to wriggle color into my veins and make me feel alive. i drove up to the city on friday night and met dear friends for dinner in the castro. the quirky electricity of sf lit me right up.

we ate bacon pizza (and grilled pear and goat cheese salad, and butternut squash dumplings) and caught up at a window table in a trendy little restaurant. then we walked up market street to get the goods to make bacon s’mores. yes, that’s right. they were marvelously delicious.

on saturday morning, kelsey and i went to the ferry building. it was raining, so the crowds were thin.  i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, and again – i love love love the ferry building. we wandered and sampled and soaked up all the pretty little things. it was such a dreamy morning – truly my idea of perfect.

we bought a fresh raspberry donut and started sighing over its perfection, eating it right there in the middle of the ferry building’s main promenade. all of a sudden, about 11 photographers were crowded around us snapping pictures like mad! it was so crazy. they said, “oh yes! this is so good! keep eating, keep enjoying! this is great!” turns out they were on a photography workshop in the city with an accomplished national geographic photographer, and apparently our matchy green raincoats and kelsey’s bright boots made for a stellar photo composition. the teacher ended up buying us a scone so they could get more pictures of us after we’d devoured the donut. it was hilarious! watch for us on the cover of national geographic, i guess! it was fun to talk to the photographers, who had come from all over the world for this workshop. we giggled about our paparazzi moment all morning.

early spring at the farmer’s market means load of blood oranges and bright new flowers!

and check out the rainbow chard and multi-colored carrots and beets! we stuffed ourselves with all kinds of samples (cowgirl creamery cheese, every kind of hummus, coated almonds, dried fruit, kale chips, flavored olive oil…)

i dashed through the rain to meet my book club for brunch in berkeley. the restaurant made me feel like i had walked right into france. i had strawberry steamed milk out of a bowl, half a flaky morning bun, lemon gingerbread pancakes, scrambled eggs, and, as if i hadn’t had enough in 24 hours, bacon.

i felt like such a cheater enjoying all the deliciousness and wonderful company but not having read (or even acquired) the book. whoopsie! i’ll be better in april!

you know you’ve had a great weekend when it completely revolved around really good food…and people you love. i’m so into the bay area. this super rainy weekend was fantastically imbued with the charm that oozes out of all the different little geographic niches around me.

and with all that bacon, life is good.

the best st. patrick’s day yet

when i celebrated mardi gras with my new friend brittany, i realized i had found a kindred spirit who understands like i do the delightful importance of adequately celebrating all holidays. we decided that very night to throw a fancy st. patrick’s day bash. we prepped for weeks, got giddy with menu and decorating ideas, and had one full day last saturday preparing and hosting. turns out brittany and i were born to be partners in crime in planning festive dinner parties, and we are already planning for easter (and cinco de mayo, and into the summer…)

our first event was a huge success – even though we severely ran out of prep time towards the end. just made it all more of an adventure! here’s a peek (or more than a peek – i was a little obsessed with taking pictures…)

  
after dinner (with celtic music and talk of the history of st. patrick), we walked around the corner to brittany’s house for dessert and a screening of “waking ned divine” – the perfect irish movie! brittany did most of the cooking of dinner (it was amazing! especially the warm soda bread right out of the oven!) and i did most of the baking of dessert…and i was really proud of my treat spread – check out the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
  
brittany made these cute pot o’ gold party favors for all our guests. we sent them off with their treats and then began the mammoth task of clean-up, which really was a great part of the fun:

this party was a lot of work and a lot of fun, and i seriously can’t wait until good friday for our next celebration!

i have to say that this st. patrick’s day was probably the best of my life. part of that was maybe because i had been to ireland this year! before all the dinner party prepping and reveling, i had a fantastic st. patty’s day morning. i had slept over at jospehine’s in oakland after going to the temple on friday night. we had lucky charms for breakfast, then went to a shimmypop dance fitness class together (shimmypop is just exactly what it sounds like – and yes, they have a disco ball and club lights). after shimmying and popping, we got pedicures before i raced back across the bay to bake green treats.

definitely one of the best days of 2012 yet!

friendship

last thursday i met up with two of my dear friends from wellesley for a yummy dinner in the city. it’s truly a testament to the beauty of the human spirit in friendship that years can pass by and still hearts are knit. luckily i get to see josephine all the time here in the bay, but i hadn’t seen meilan (who came to san francisco from hawaii to visit her boyfriend) since december 2007. she has done amazing things in those 4.25 years, and it was so fun to get caught up…and to feel like we were back in college, having dinner in “the ville” or something.

 
how grateful i am for friends all over the world who provide that particular brand of joy that comes from a reunion and a rekindling of a heart-knit from another chapter of life.

guilty pleasures

maybe the bachelor is my guilty pleasure. imagine my delight when i realized this ridiculous television show is also my (uber-smart) co-worker’s guilty pleasure, too! when we need a break from intellectual talk and brain work at the office, we gab about bachelor ben and all the drama with the girls. we decided we simply must have a finale party to watch ben ask that epic question - “will you accept this rose?” – for his last time.

we schemed up quite the little soirée, complete with treats to represent the bachelor and his final two women (you’ll only understand the symbolism if you’ve watch the show): “black widow” spider cupcakes for courtney, oatmeal whoopie pies for lindzi (this one was a bit of a stretch, but remember, horses eat a lot of oats), and bottles of “wine” to represent ben. we also had ring pops and red roses – obviously.

we had lots of fun and some hilarious commentary, devoured sweets and truly bad television, and giggled like teenagers.

we all need a guilty pleasure, right?

fight love live

in 1915, work began to build a new home for one of california’s wealthiest gold mine owners in woodside, a little town on the eastern slope of the santa cruz mountains. over the next two years, william bourn and his wife oversaw the transformation of their land into a gorgeous estate. they named it filoli after their life credo: “fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.” when the bourns died, the home and gardens were gifted to the state as a place for all to come and enjoy. and remember to fight love live.

last sunday katherine (my co-worker who i happen to have known since i was a little girl!) took me to filoli to show me its wonders. and oh! i sure dripped with passion.

it was a euphorically sunny day, and the cheerful daffodils were at their peak, accompanied by tulips and magnolias in full bloom. i could hardly handle how beautiful everything was – i couldn’t stop swooning. it was a little slice of heaven that sunday afternoon.

good for the soul. the world is beautiful. and no, we did not plan the blue and white stripe thing.
fight – love – live