luncheon

i think i may have found my latest food fancy. lauren told me about outerlands a month or so back, and i've been twice in the past 3 days. al and i went for a post party breakfast on sunday morning and it was so good. he had baked eggs with outerlands' homemade bread and a small salad. i got the sweet dutch apple pancake (they had a savory option as well), and we both got some coffee from trouble coffee and coconut club as outerlands was having a coffee issue that day. today caroline beeler took me back there for lunch. more homemade bread lovingly housing some grilled cheese and a salad with sliced apple and house cured sauerkraut. caroline b enjoyed the salad and a bowl of buttery carrot soup with sliced almonds. i could go back tomorrow, but it's location out at the beach means it's 20-25 minutes drive away, so it's some carbon footprint action for lunch for sure. worth it?

total recall

just reminiscing about the great party al threw for my 40th saturday night. i brought home some left over oreos, handmade by julia. i'm enjoying this with one of the bouquets, provided by my sister. i still have cake left. and cheese. no more pizza. just i wish i had some of that punch.

cheerwine

i'm making some cherry infused vodka for the ladies, or for the men who like lady-like cocktails. i started the pickle jar full weeks ago, but wanted a bit more so made this little weck jar full today. the cherries look so pretty at first, but the vodka sort of bleaches them out so it's nice to see this new batch looking bright. as i was working on it, wilco's theologians started playing. i was singing "i'm a cherry ghost" along with jeff before i realized that was sort of funny.

nothing

nothing like working at home on your brand new ikea desk that you found on craigslist for $120 cheaper, next to a bunch of peonies and a glittery owl, with tea and cookies. if this was all taking place at the cabin i would just die.

wp fluorescent

fluorescent orange seems to be grabbing my attention everywhere these days, i guess that's what that color is all about. we stumbled upon a great estate sale up in forestville this weekend on our second cabin trip. the woman who owned the house was a bit of a shop-aholic, but the goods weren't what really got me, it was her choice of wallpaper. we walked into the laundry room to find the most perfect paper ever.


the living room and dining room had some pretty good metallics, but my phone didn't capture them very well.


nothing prepared me for the kitchen paper, i was in awe. the estate sale guardian couldn't believe how excited i was and that i wanted a photo of these chickens and roosters. they are now wallpapered on my phone.



i did end up with a $6 food processor (a sunbeam oskar!) , some old sunset magazine cookbooks, and a gorgeous vera scarf which kept my greasy locks covered for the duration. to get the goods for $5 along a viewing of this papered home was heaven. i wanted to go back on sunday but we had too much to do.

uo aa apc

i know it's cool to hate urban outfitters, just like it's cool to hate american apparel. i guess it's even cooler to hate them when you're kicking it in your aa t shirt and uo knee highs. i like them and i don't care. uo is selling an exclusive collection of alexander girard items and i think that's pretty cool. american apparel is selling expensive t shirts and pant suits. apc is having a sale that starts at 11 am on my 40th birthday. the russian dress is on sale.

farm

i met leigh at the mid-week noe valley farmer's market this afternoon. i needed some fresh items, but this farmer's market is just as much of a rip off and disappointment at the saturday market on 24th street. i got a few things -- green garlic, little gems lettuce, yellow nectarines and a small bag of cherries (like 25 cherries for $3.50... um, no). but now that i'm home making a fruit tart and freshening up some frozen tomato sauce with the green garlic, i'm glad i went. i have been thinking about the first harvest at thewhofarm today. wonder what they harvested.

pacific

we did a lot of shopping for the cabin this weekend. saturday we hit ikea for the second time in three weeks, which is pretty scary. no melt downs either. we got some bedding for the day bed so tricia has a cozy comforter to sleep under this weekend when she comes up. al got the black wardrobe he wanted, but we did not get the yellow sideboard. today we met tony up at heath ceramics and found this gorgeous pacific blue tile. we got a box of 3 x 9 and a box of 2 3/4 x 3 to tile behind the wood burning stove. this is the color we both really wanted, and we got the only two boxes in stock. tricia and i have a date planned for sunday and tony might come up to help al set the tile that day, so i'll miss it, but the space won't really allow for more than two people working anyway. i guess it's ok, tony knows what he's doing. now i'll to create a mock up so we can figure out the pattern.

pre b

last night al and i wandered into cary lane for the first time. we were just wasting time, enjoying some window shopping before dinner at broken record. it's probably a good thing we hadn't gone in before because i was loving too much right away. i found a sweet little blue jacket that i'm quite tempted to go back for, but it's pretty pricey. i did end up walking out with this pair of Jean-Michel Cazabat Luxury Rebel boots. i love the creamy color and they are the softest leather. the best part is the dusty rose leather lining inside. well one of the best parts, the other best part is the snap closure in the back. they are an early birthday present to myself. i'm off to a spa now, another early birthday present courtesy of sarah. i'll ponder the jacket while i have a massage. i feel like i'm some rich housewife, but i'm neither rich nor married.

fish 'n glass

up at the cabin last weekend al speared the biggest ling cod in his diving history. it was the ugliest things i'd ever seen, julia agreed. last night we cooked up some greasy fish 'n chips! we fried the fries, battered the fish, cut up some red onions for the remaining batter and waited in anticipation for it all to be ready. during the last batch of fish frying, which contained the prized cheeks, al noticed something funky in the water. the thermometer had broken during that batch and we had to toss the fish. i almost cried. we sat down to a large batch of fries and three pieces of fish. no onion rings. no cheek. no thermometer.

landing

we're here and we can't believe what the young's left behind for us. we knew they were leaving their furniture, but we found they also left their tv (and there is cable somehow), sheets, towels, blankets, dish towels, some kitchen essentials and their coffee pot. we unpacked most of the things we brought, i just need to get into my kitchen boxes today and figure out how i want to set up the cabinets. there is a fire going, al just left for a dive, i've got the shout out louds going and it's time to get prepped for some cookie baking. i'll head out to the yard later to weed a little bit and cut some wild strawberries. i brought the ice cream maker up here because there is actually room in the freezer here. i want some lemon verbena to make up a batch. too bad al took my car and it's a bit far to walk anywhere. we need a bike up here. maybe i can convince al to bring up one of the 5 in our garage at home. no rain, but it's a bit cloudy. we still feel like we're in a weekend rental. oh, and obviously we snaked onto someone's wireless. that means i can study up here!

closed

pine paneling here we come! we are heading up to the cabin today around noon (maybe after scoping out a great looking estate sale). my car is jam packed with stuff, and it doesn't even have any of the furniture we want to take up. we've got to borrow david's truck in a few weeks for that load. boy do i wish our kitchen looked like this, alas it's mostly white cabinets and a light counter top, but we've got some plans for improvement. i'll document all the updates and changes as they happen, our goal is to get a lot of color into the now very beige space. this kitchen belongs to the lucky marusica, and i do love her style. the only similarity we have is the electric stove, which is not going to be an easy transition after cooking on the wedgewood. we need to add propane to the house and get a gas stove in asap. it looks like rain up there, but i've got plenty to do inside. al plans on diving, but we'll see if that happens.

feeling blue

with the cabin supposedly closing today, i decided to make a little treat for albert using some puff pastry & berries that need to be eaten. i chose a small egg from the farmer's market for glossing, it just seemed too small for breakfast. this little baby is blue! and i mean little, just over an inch and a half in length.