dripping with passion

{this post is a big flashback to a lovely evening before the boy and i moved out of our tiny studio and left to circle the globe. i couldn’t post this before we took off because not everything was totally set in stone for our move to london, so i didn’t want to give anything away! :) i’ll return to beijing after this!} with my impending move from california, the sad time came for brittany and i to throw our final dinner party together. we have had so much fun over the past couple of years cooking and entertaining together. i will miss this part of my palo alto life immensely. we decided to have a farewell dinner party themed around the boy and my upcoming new home, the magical city of london. we made a full roast dinner with lots of sides and even yorkshire pudding. and of course we had trifle and hob nobs for dessert. we invited our closest most beloved friends and had such a delightful evening talking and laughing in my teensy tinsey kitchen.     ^^ we were going to eat ...

to celebrate our loveliest friend melinda, brittany and i got back into dinner-party-planning mode and put together a sweet fancy picnic in elizabeth gamble garden in palo alto {our previous garden party here }. the set up was about the splendidest setting ever - the old wood table with benches under the biiiig oak tree and the dappling evening sunlight - and we brought along some fresh-cut dahlias and some colorful, delicious food. some of our very closest friends, most of whom had never been to one of our dinner parties!, made the best company, and we enjoyed the perfect cool of the summer dusk.   on the menu: –fresh berries, artisan cheese and pita crackers – heirloom caprese salad – mango coconut and edamame quinoa – green salad with pesto chircken – honeydrop, salted caramel and powdered lemon cookies.         there is something so special (trite word, but fitting) about entertaining like this. just to enjoy some finer things and to create beauty and s...

  ever since brittany and i started throwing dinner parties together early last year, we’ve talked about planning one around christmas – obviously the queen bee of all holidays to be celebrated with a classy fete. so literally months spanning two calendar years of anticipation went into this one. we try to be graciously humble and remain a bit bashful about our dinner parties, but i’m just gonna out and say that this was pretty really fantastic. everything was really pretty and it was a magical evening, truly. {bummer that my pictures turned out pretty grainy and the light in my dining room is so weird.} i mean, there is just no magic like christmastime magic, right?!?   on the menu: artichoke turnovers and apple gruyere bites for hors d'oeuvres / mixed greens with pomegranate, grapefruit, candied pecans, feta and fig balsamic / roast beef with caramelized onions, rosemary roasted potatoes, lemony brussel sprouts and spinach gruyere soufflé / the most beautiful chocolate ...

kelsey and i throw a guy fawkes night bonfire celebration at ocean beach in san francisco every november. each year the party gets better and better. {years past: 2010 , 2011 , 2012 – yes i wear the exact same outfit every year!} so on saturday, right after cleaning up from the bridal shower i helped put on, i raced up to san francisco to make an effigy and stake out a spot on the beach with kels. it’s always an adventure figuring out how to pull the bonfire off without the cops shutting things down too early. every year they’ve come (even when we had our celebration inside due to rain!) – but they must have lost their invitation this year because we didn’t talk to a single officer! more friends than ever before joined in the revelry and it was a pretty epic night.       our guy chilled for a while by the fire and then we introduced him to all of our friends.           i made the rounds distributing british treats, including digestives, hob n...