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

what’s cookin’?

above (all pictures via pinterest):
mustard herb crusted pork loin//thai peanut curry//bacon and corn griddle cakes
spicy roasted broccoli // quinoa and chia seed corn muffins // baked beet chips
hawaiian pizza with cauliflower crust // salt and vinegar kale chips // pina colada smoothies
cajun avocado chicken // zucchini noodles with pesto and pine nuts // qunioa protein bars
brussel sprouts with balsamic reduction and cranberries // roasted salt and vinegar chick peas

i don’t know exactly what has gotten into me, but i am currently obsessed with cooking. finding and trying healthy and unique recipes has become a new hobby that takes up a lot of my time, and i just love it. i find so much authentic and happy satisfaction out of creating something tasty.

for recipes, follow me on pinterest. i have a general food board, a “food i’ve made” board and a “next up” board. the possibilities are endless, and i am loving it!

party gras

my old roomies in san francisco threw a party for mardi gras. i gathered a couple of friends to go up from palo alto on the night of fat tuesday, because i know it’s always a good time at a dollhouse bash. it felt like going home, and the party was super fun.

 

beth had devised a party game that included stealing mardi gras beads from anyone you successfully kissed on the face. that certainly kept things intereting! as you can see, i once had a pretty healthy amount of beads! too bad a kiss on the nose stole them away.

 

i made a mardi gras colored surprise cake for the party (you must know i loooove making colored cakes). it also doubled as the customary king’s cake. the tradition goes that the cake has a baby figurine in it (representing the baby jesus), and whoever gets the baby in their slice gets good luck and has to make the cake the next year. i couldn’t find any baby figurines, so i put a little army guy in my king’s cake. it was quite the hit when it was found – in the last slice we cut! there was also obscene amounts of other obscenely yummy found – beignets and jambalaya and multi-colored candy galore.

 

i sure miss living in that house and with these girls. i’m so glad that i’m close enough to not miss out on their epic parties!