gettin out of town

in about a month i'll be leaving for a month. i'm going to visit leigh in london after stopping in nc for a week to see my family. we've got two side trips planned, one is a few days in paris over my birthday weekend, and another few days in bath. work is crazy right now and i'm writing on my blog because i'm so tired that i don't want to write my paper or study for my first of three finals (which is tomorrow at 10am). i just want to dream about london, paris, leaving it all behind for a month - no work, no school, no nothing. i haven't even had time to think about where i want to go when i get there, but leigh has got a good list going for us and i can read and plan stuff on the plane right?

or maybe just sleep.

recent acqusitions

no harm in talking like a librarian already. i need a break from all the information retrieval speak.


we found some amazing stuff at estate sales, some a month ago, i just never posted. i love this painting found up in santa rosa at a great sale. i think the gentleman was an art professor, his home was filled with books, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and i wanted to move in. al doesn't like this painting and said it can't hang in the bedroom. i absolutely love it and the rough wooden frame that houses it.


bernardo gave us a painting for the cabin, but i don't know if we can bare to take it up there and leave it alone all week. we were so touched. yes, that's wood veneer and a bad set of photos trying to capture the colors.


and finally a needlepoint pillow, another estate sale find.


back to the books!

labourious

i'm living vicariously through leigh right now as she visits every single cafe, market, and amzazing shoppe in london. last week she went to liberty and i asked her to get me something. we nixed that idea when the only thing i wanted was this A.P.C. dress that cost £140.00. the first week she was gone i read about a few of london's not to be missed in the september issue of gourmet. one store i could live in is labour and wait. when leigh told me it was already on her list to visit i wanted to teleport myself over. she said she would pick something up for me there and asked i might like. i gave her a long list, i couldn't decide. i can't wait to see what she thinks i would have chosen. really, a pencil would make me happy at this point. i'm stuck at my desk.

left to right, clockwise: pink enamel milk pot, blue enamel lidded mug, white enamel ladel set, white enamel measuring jug.

left to right, clockwise: natural horn egg spoons, enamel soap dish, small enamel container with plastic lid, porcelain measuring spoons.

eat n work

over our albacore dinner tuesday night we talked about eating alone at home and the bad habits that can encourage. i tend to eat most of my day time meals at home alone, while working. that means, yes, i'm sitting in front of the computer during breakfast and lunch. when i think about this it seems very odd that i would allow myself such bad behavior. i don't like fast food, and i really enjoy eating, so why wouldn't i go to the kitchen table and just concentrate on the food? i don't know. i don't mind eating at the table and i don't mind eating alone. sometimes i just want to get the work out of the way, or spend 20 minutes look at blogs. sometimes i want to be lazy and take a crappy photo with my iphone and post on my own blog. do you eat at the table alone without any stimulation other than food? it seems i don't.

sweet reality

monday and back to work. technically it is tuesday, but yesterday my in box was blowing up after the three day weekend and i was just too pooped to call it what it was, monday. we had a great weekend and got a lot of work done. our biggest accomplishment besides running out every 2 hours to the hardware store, was building a raised bed for veggies. we also made cookies for our neighbors, met our neighbors, took a long walk, had rita and her camping gang over for a bit, played horse shoes, played scrabble, and drank a lot of wine. the sweetest thing about having to come home was the bounty of albacore tuna matt gave al. we had todd and larisa over for shashimi and they arrived with an apple & blueberry pie and mitchell's white pistachio ice cream. i'm still full.

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.

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.

return

portland was really fun, but it started off rough. we made our way over to oakland via bart, and soon found our 9:55pm flight delayed until 11:40pm. then 12:50am. at that point the oh so very wise al said we should head home. our plane was stuck in denver under snow -- an unpredictable situation. we got ourselves on the 7:50am flight for saturday and headed back to the bart shuttle. good thing too, as the flight ended up leaving oakland at 2:16am, arriving in portland at 3:41am! we were asleep at home.... zzzzzzzzzz.

we ended up with a pretty full day saturday by getting in around 9:30am, so it was fine, we just lost one pre-paid night at the jupiter hotel. it was actually quite loud there so maybe that's ok. the doug fir is in the hotel parking lot and the music and drunkard's voices came right into our room. at any rate, we didn't see a show there but there were lots of bands playing or that have played we would have enjoyed. the parking garage is wallpapered with band posters. sunday nite we stayed at the kennedy school, which was a lovely and quiet relief.

we spent a lot of time checking out various neighborhoods, falling in love with the houses, and visiting friends. sunday we drove up to the gorge and stopped at the vitsa house, visited multnomah falls, and stopped by the dalles lock damn. this was by far my favorite day. portland is cool, but i didn't really care about shopping since we have so many great places here in sf. we did eat some great food, but we're pretty spoiled here.

we're not sure about moving there, but have not decided against it. we need some more trips up there. thanks to mary and scott for brunch, keith for a nice selection of bars, and seth for a thai luncheon.

thanks leigh

or maybe i should say thanks andrew!
this weekend andrew made the lovely candied-fennel-topped lemon cake from the april issue of gourmet, and leigh just brought me the last piece. for some reason i haven't made any recipes from this issue so it's nice to get to taste one, and it's soooo good. he made some other things too, but i didn't get to bite 'em. after this tea break it's back to building out that schedule.

bounty

saturday night tricia returned from a month long trip china and brought back some great stuff. she got a soy milk maker (it makes nut milks too! i'm comin' over), tea pots, tons of tea, acupuncture supplies, and gifts for me. she brought me this super cute insulated glass tea mug and more milk tea. milk tea has been steamed with milk, then oxidized in the sun and tastes really creamy. we first tasted milk tea at aroma tea shop on clement street and i have been saving the last bits of mine. i highly recommend a trip to aroma. you'll sit at a traditional tea tasting table and learn how to really make tea, including washing the leaves first. this removes any dust/dirt from the leaves, and awakens the aroma so your guests know what's coming. you dump that hot water out, your tea cup or pot has been warmed, and you pour fresh water for brewing. go check out the aroma tea shop. the proprietor won't disappoint you. now for some milk tea.

back home

we're back from sea ranch and it feels like we were gone for about 15 minutes. the house was perfect (except for the galley kitchen), the decks were huge, and the weather was amazing. "breakers end" was filled with great art, tons of old books, no cells phones, and comfy beds. we ate so much food, enjoyed maybe a few too many bottles of wine, and spent a lot of time on the two decks. al and i were sad to leave the watanabe's last night, they get one and a half more days. i can't believe it's going to rain tomorrow! time to check on the weather....

the sea ranch

this weekend we are heading up to the sea ranch with sarah, mas, bella (9) and ethan (21 months). it's sarah's birthday so we're packing up the champagne and hoping for good weather. if not we've got games, food, puzzles, the beach in the rain, a wood stove, a hot tub, and a pineapple upside down cake. hopefully al will find a bounty of abalone and some nice fish for dinner on his saturday dive.