comfort eating

tonight: tortilla black bean pie. because the husband requested it.
from: everyday foods (of course)

on deck: chicken enchiladas with pumpkin sauce
in the near future: jamie oliver maryland chicken with bananas and corn (and prosciutto!)

the triple ginger cookies were as easy and delicious as a cookie should be. and widely appreciated. delicious with vanilla gelato as an impromptu ice cream sammich.

i bought beautiful, beautiful calvin klein boa-print and suede slingback heels. i am sorely, sorely tempted to wear them before i get them re-soled but i will regret it the second the lovely leather soles get scuffed up. delayed gratification is SO HARD. grumblegrumble.

tastes like fall

i am deeply, deeply smitten with this cookie. i talked about baking them for days after i saw the recipe online. i assembled all of the ingredients last night (minus, sadly, butter. how did this house have NO BUTTER??). and i baked them today. they are gloriously ginger-y, delicious, and attractive. new cookie-crush is here.

knitters are awesome

she hand-knit this thing. i covet:

renegade knitting-taggers did this:

come & get summore

tuesday pm:
recipe: sukiyaki
source: the japanese kitchen. this book is my holy grail as a starting point for authentic japanese recipes. works best when paired with consultations via email with my grandma.
notes: comfort food! and the leftovers aren't bad either. it feels so good to eat things that are so tasty and good for you.

thursday pm:
recipe: black bean and tortilla pie
source: everyday food. again.
notes: beans and corn and onions stewed with beer. cheesy! toasty! layered goodness! with a side of grilled chicken chorizo (thanks whole foods!) and some chopped avocados and tomatoes and tapatillo. easy peasy.

on my to-do list: this spicy fig orange microwave jam recipe. mary already tried it and says it's delish.

come & get ithttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

mealtimes is goodtimes.

sunday pm:
recipe: coconut shrimp soup
source: everyday foods
notes: this recipe is hecka easy, tasty, and forgiving (i didn't have any limes. dripped a bit of vinegar in it for acidity, and garnished with red pepper flakes, and flat leaf parsley and shiso instead of scallions). i love this book. it's everything you want a cookbook to be--inspiring, accessible, pictures of EVERY recipe, and nutrition information. bam. in-yo-face. and i've gifted it to many friends who are as pumped about it as i am.

monday pm:
recipe: sesame chicken wings
source: williams-sonoma web site
notes: nothing too special about this one. doctored it with some honey and red pepper flakes, forgot about the ginger, and it turned out fine. our friends were happy with it and the whole plate got gobbled. not my first choice for chicken wings but it went well with the cold somen noodles.
recipe: grilled peaches with sweetened sour cream
source: everyday foods
notes: grilled up the peaches nutter (mr. butter) brought over. the six of us ate from one platter, tore it apart family-style. no complaints.

moving!

dreaming of how to gussy-up a rental cottage. nesting adds up, though! i'm determined to become a craigslist treasure-hunter. in the mean time, things i love...

l.l. bean's painted cottage (how appropriate!) secretary desk:
west elm zebra rug:

cute old-school recliner (from macy's):dreaming of cutecute home!

things that are lovely and entertaining

The Bearskin Rug: has sweet illustrations and commentaries by illustrator Kevin Cornell

I'm forwarding this to my friends: 16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap

I've been inspired by the Ripple Along. I want to crochet a cute blanket.

Ripped off from McSweeny's:

Places You Might
Find Jesus.

BY JESSY HENDERSON

- - - -

In the couch cushions

Under the bed

In the last place you look

In the safe place you put him so you wouldn't forget where he was

linkage

the internet is a lovely place:
choco-map: finding chocolate in san francisco (or anywhere else)
kqed forum from 7/7/07 on youth violence prevention

knitting links:
next scarf
who's hat will this be?
knit cupcake!

almost embarrassed to admit it: going to check out the stampapalooza at a local stamp store. i'm going to represent for the globe-trotting, stamp-happy mother-in-law.

baby veggies are so cute!

i can't wait to eat these guys:



so cute! and we're so proud of ourselves! we ate our first onion last week. farming = tasty fun.

among other things

new crafted shirt(my first foray into freezer-paper applique):

new favorite band to see live: the arcade fire. so awesome. and the chronicle agrees.

and a new favorite site:

big fun day

after a romp through the ferry building farmer's market (samples! samosas! oysters!), we checked out the CHOMP! exhibit at the conservatory of flowers in golden gate park on saturday. it was a perfect day, good and sunny. the building is beautiful and there is so much to see. ever since i've started gardening, my appreciation for plants has exploded. i could have been here all day:
we also went to the de young for free (!!!), to the sunset for milk tea & pork buns, to the secret slide in twin peaks, to the bubble lounge for free drinks (!!), and dinner at a tasty little oyster bar in north beach.

grow, little buddies!

we are sharing a plot at the community garden. it's so fun! there are master gardeners and classes and a gardening hotline and plant sales and a bulletin board and so much more. i love it.

here are some shots of our little plot (mizuna, and some sprouting arugula):
UNFORTUNATELY, there is the threat of a garden-quarantine. we would not be able to take our bounty home if it happens. we think it's the threat of light brown apple moth (the one from australia that is doing lots of damage). fingers crossed that it will not come to that.

i heart martha

martha's daily show is a guilty pleasure, i squeeze it in when i can.

i am an avid (rabid?) fan of blueprint magazine. it honestly features a lot of stuff that is beyond me stylistically and financially, but it mostly lovely and beautiful and i like the pictures.

the latest is that i fallen captive to her new line of products at michaels. i mean, c'mon, the stuff is packaged impeccably. the colors are gorgeous. everything looks so tasteful and sophisticated, especially compared to the mish-mash of crap that was across the aisle. unfortunately for me, it's completely lust-worthy. i tried to be really strategic about my purchases (so as to rightly justify them to my husband). i got things that i can & will use repeatedly (so no stickers--sadface, so tags--sadface, no note cards--sadface, for now...)
just alphabet stamps & a glue pen. oh, the restraint!

doorstep garden

last week i was home alone (b was in vegas for work & cirque du soleil. not fair!) and met rayna at the san francisco zoo. it's not huge, but it was a beautiful day and watching animals is hella fun. here's my favorite shot from our outing:
i planted herbs several months ago and started some flowers from seed. i love opening my door to my burgeoning little suburban jungle:

new mvps:

dr. scholl is my new bff. my feet are lasting longer in cute open-toed shoes thanks to these babies. the best part is, they're removable/reusable so you can take them out and clean them (eee!) and put them in different pairs of shoes.
i am becoming a great fan of this little book. i'm not a huge fan of martha stewart recipes (though i am a closet fan of her in general), this one is handy and the pictures make me drooly:

easter at our house was pretty low-key. (but so cute!) the dinosaurs lurking behind the chickies cracks me up.

sew crafty!

i've been a busy bee:
thanks to this tutorial, i just made one of these:
i'm so pleased with how it turned out. i found this fabric and could not make up my mind about it. it's so colorful and felt borderline tacky, but it was so cheap (30% off! yay!) that i figured it couldn't hurt. well, it's awesome. the lining is navy linen. thumbs up.

and i made another functional item: an ironing board cover! thanks to the purlbee blog tutorial, here it is:
pretty awesome. i'm so pleased with myself.

check it

my mother-in-law got me this fantastic teapot for st patrick's day:

adorable, no? i lovelovelove it.

brainy

brilliant god-brother-in-law ian & friends came up with the idea of spending 6 months learning as much as possible about any given subject (he would do central park: park planning, botany, history, famous crimes, etc) and at the end of the 6 months, they would do presentations and pool their collective wisdom. everything i set eyes on becomes a potential candidate for such an undertaking. here is my list so far:
- octopi
- galapagos islands
- postal service (mail, not the band)
- pasta making
- cured meats
- organic gardening
- san francisco

made easy-peasy barefoot contessa granola and grapefruit ice this week, both were tasty and made the cut. they will be inducted into my repetoire, ceremony to follow.

yum.

smashed two recipes together for tasty tasty dinner last night. one that i was able to freely admit was delicious and i would eat again. spicy lentil and spinach salad + jamie oliver 5 minute salmon = good AND good for you.

i went to the jeff wall exibit at the moma on wednesday, and did not get it. i'm reading his commentary about it now and it seems pretty self-inflated and affected. but i guess i can appreciate it a little more? a little.

yum

made cupcakes yesterday from a mish-mash of recipes from chockylit: vanilla-lime cupcake PLUS guava-cream-cheese frosting. it was a damn tasty cupcake if i do say so myself. i had to pipe the frosting with a round tip, which really isn't that cute, but topped off with a blackberry (so cheap at costco right now!), no one really seemed to care.

note to self: find some info on high blood glucose. don't really know what it means, other than that i am at risk for type 2 diabetes. nevermind that i'm not grossly over-weight, have good eating habits (i heart fruits and vegetables), and work out on a regular basis. ugh. sucks. it's eating a hole in the back of my brain.

made pillow covers for couch cushions out of the table runners from our wedding with the help of this book. they are deathly boring, but they were easy to make and they get the job done. and i DID IT after talking about it for four months. now... what to do with the rest of that gorgeous fabric?

newbie!

alls i want is to be brilliant and creative. at the very least i can be creative. i want to write and craft and sew and knit and cook. i want to expand my vocabulary and be wise and charming and thoughtful. i want to love my husband well. i want to love my friends & neighbors more. i want to grow and learn new things and eat less garbage.

From snq.crafty

From snq.crafty

i made these. they're not fancy, but i think they're cute and they're for people i love. the one on the very left is for my husband. it has a little vellum envelope with an "i love you pink" paint chip in it. kind of ridiculous, but cute.