beautiful blooms

This weekend, my bf and I are going to plant some more roses in his front yard.  Looking forward to blooms in the spring!

Have a good weekend! 

p.s. photo of hydrangeas from Whole Foods 

the most beautiful ballet

On Tuesday I went to San Francisco to watch the SF Ballet perform Swan Lake - the most beautiful of the classic ballets. The story of Swan Lake is so tragically beautigul, especially when Odette sees Odile marrying her prince.  I went with Rachael, a friend from high school who is moving back to Louisiana in a few weeks to get her MBA at Tulane.  She has a giant list of things to do before leaving SF, one of which was the ballet.  Lucky for me, she ended up with an extra ticket and I got to go with her!  We met before the performance and got drinks and cheese at a nearby bar.  It was fantastic.

The San Francisco ballet is held at the War Memorial Opera House and it is gorgeous!  Check out the photos of the stage and the atrium ceiling.  What a fun night.  Thanks for the invite Rach! 

throw me something mister

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  I thought I would share a little mardi gras treat with you - pictures of my Uncle Daryl's warehouse in New Orleans.  (He isn't really my uncle, but since he is my dad's best friend and I have known him forever, we all call him uncle).  Anyway, he runs a company called Plush Appeal which sells mardi gras beads and throws (plus lots of other things)  He has also employed most of my siblings at one time or another.   He is known to arrive at my house with a huge bag of stuffed animals - every kid's dream right?  My sweet niece is one lucky girl. 

A few weeks ago I got a box from my mom which contained a treat from Uncle Daryl!  If only you were so lucky as to have a singing crawfish too.  :)

the farm of many faces

If you have read the Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, then you have heard of Joel Salatin and Polyface Farm in western Virgina.  On Thursday, February 19th, Stanford's Ethics and the Environment Series hosted Mr. Salatin to speak about organic farming, local eating, and raising animals sustainably.  As he puts it, animals on his farm have a great life and one bad day. 

Joel Salatin is a self described "Christian liberatian environmentalist capitalist lunatic." He was very much a storyteller, and reminded me of what a traveling preacher must be like.  His stories had an arc to them, which made them easy to follow and interesting.  I thought he was a very engaging speaker and had lots of interesting, outside-the-box farming and ranching methods.   Someone at the event took notes if you are interested. One interesting fact that I picked up was that in the next 15 years, 50% of American farmland will change hands. 

style is eternal

"I think I attach more importance to the movement of a body than to the way it is dressed. Some women can be dressed in a perfectly ordinary way and be very, very elegant and extraordinary if only by their personalities and their gestures."  - YSL

This weekend I went to the YSL exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.  Yves Saint Laurent passed away last June and this collection is a 40 year retrospective with more than 120 outfits.  It was completely lovely - I was in heaven.  

welcome home

My boyfriend has this amazing little nook behind his kitchen sink.  For months we have thought about creating an indoor herb garden to put on the shelf, and today we took the first steps.  We started by going to our local farmers market to shop for a pre-made window box we had seen a few months ago.  However, they didn't have any window boxes, so we decided to make our own - which turned out to be better!  We headed to Common Ground in Palo Alto (an organic gardening store) and picked out a few little plants to bring home.  We have ordered a few planters to put them in, but until they arrive, they will stay in their little pots in the window.   I will update you as they move into their permanent homes. 

Welcome home plants!

sharks in the water

On Tuesday night, my bf and I went to the Sharks game.  The Sharks are on fire right now and they did not disappoint, as they won 4 to 2.  In the photo above, the captain - Patrick Marleau is congratulating the goalie Nabby (who is on my fantasy hockey team by the way).  They played the Oilers and it was a dirty game - with lots of fighting, which of course made it great to watch!  We watched the game with another couple.   The woman of the couple made a really funny observation.  She said that hockey was like a male musical - that hockey players break out into fights, like actors in a musical spontaneously break into song.  I thought it was funny because it is kind of true, especially in this game where the players were looking for any excuse.  Check out the photo below- most of the players on the ice were involved in this fight. 

root vegetable heaven

When I got my most recent issue of Bon Appetit, I was really excited to see that the cover story was on comfort food - my favorite!  My boyfriend and I were particularly excited to try a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine called Root Vegetable and Mushroom Pie with Rosemary Biscuit Topping.  Since we subscribe to a weekly CSA (community supported agriculture) bag, we ordered rutabaga, turnips, parsnips, and carrots to use in this recipe. Last night we prepped the filling according to the recipe.  Tonight all we had to do was bake it and prepare the biscuit topping.   

When it came out of the oven, the scent was amazing!  We were so excited to try it.  Because we have many more turnips and rutabagas, we will probably make the filling again and freeze it.  I really recommend this recipe! Check out the pictures below that document the process. 

what the world eats

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily

Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

My boyfriend and I have started to try and eat more seasonal, locally grown veggies and fruits.  So I was pretty interested when my coworker sent me this blog post that visually shows the typical diets of families around the world.  I think that I would like to live in Sicily, Mexico, or Egypt!

The photos were taken from a Time magazine piece- see the original 16 photos here.  The photos have also been made into a book that you can preview on amazon. 

photo credit: Peter Mendzel "Hungry Planet"

from the yard

Pink camillias...

Meyer lemons...

all from the yard.

a fallen tree

Last night there was lots of heavy rain in the bay area, usually a good thing because it helps to fill our reservoirs and provide snow for Tahoe skiing.   However, this morning as I walked through the neighborhood to get groceries, I came across this scene.  A huge tree had fallen in the night on a house and a car.  

Napa Valley eating...

While in Napa, I ate and drank very well.  Here are a few pictures of food and drink that I enjoyed over the weekend - 

Cooking class empanadas stuffed with onion (cooked with oil, saffron, and honey), green olives, spinach, golden raisins, and pine nuts.  Delicious - although is puff pastry ever bad?

Champagne tasting at Chandon

Morning breakfast with coffee at the Boon Fly Cafe

My breakfast order biscuits, eggs, and sausage gravy - SO GOOD (even though my sister said it looks like "vom on toast")

Bee My Valentine!

What better way to spend Valentine's day then tasting honey?  I headed up to Napa Valley this weekend with my honey and his family to participate in a honey themed cooking class.  We used honey from Marshall"s Farm which is collected from bees all over the San Francisco Bay Area.   Check out the photo above to see how many types we tasted!  My favorite was the Napa Valley Wildflower.  Mrs. Helene Marshall was on hand to explain how honey is made and mentioned that local honey can help fight local allergies.  

After our honey tutorial, we got to the business of cooking.  Eighteen people cooked 8 dishes which featured seasonal ingredients and honey.  However, a suprise came in the form of a cheese plate that was served with a bit of honeycomb.  It was fantastic.  Who knew that the entire honeycomb was edible?  We bought some to serve next time we have friends over.  Check it out below. 

hello world

A little bit about me...

I live in northern California.  Although, I grew up in New Orleans, LA and have also lived in Maryland.  I am an engineer and work in Silicon Valley.  One of my new year's resolutions (yes I make resolutions) was to start a blog to chronicle my adventures for my friends and family around the world.  Since it is mid-February (and much has already happened in 2009) I hope to fill you in on the last 6 weeks while I cover the present.    

p.s. I took this photo in Audubon Park in New Orleans in October.