WOOT! Happy fifth anniversary to me and my sine qua non!

Apologies for my lackluster posting as of late, AKA, pic/vid + link + snazzy quip = blog post. You would think unemployment would be more conducive to the regular birth of rants and raves, but there's been way too much sunshine and open road for me and my bicycle lately.

I haven't forgotten my precious. I'm grateful and glad to still be in existence after 5 years, and there will be more to come. Promise.

In case anyone's interested, what got it all started.

xoxoxo

Birthday week, in a few pictures...

Potrero Hill rooftop view for fireworks















Asia SF




















Carne Asada Tostada Salads at Picante
















Honoring the wonderful Paul Newman at Pizzaiolo's summer movie nights




























Hiking, camping, and hot-springing it with friends in Mendocino








































Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

As you get older, life only gets funner.

-- six-year old child to Trevor

As much as it is sometimes difficult, I've got to remember to look at year 35 like I looked toward 7.

Found a tenner on the sidewalk yesterday, and had a great time eating Southern BBQ and cornmeal-fried catfish whilst watching Independence Day fireworks from a fancy manse rooftop in Potrero Hill. Today, I've already had a lovely walk with my honey, as well as macaroni and cheese for breakfast with my Sunday NY Times, and am now off to the outdoor store to buy a new sleeping bag for a camping trip with friends to some super-secret hot springs Friday, and then to hot yoga with my favorite instructor and dinner with my sweetcakes afterward. Looking forward to super-secret birthday events on Tuesday and Paul Newman outdoor cinema and wine on Wednesday. Funner, indeed!

Bring it on, birthday week.

Thumbs up!



















Spent the afternoon working on the thumb's garden for her birthday, and the evening drinking tequila and beer. I love summer.

Speaking of gardens, this was a fascinating read and an inspiration for my own dog and chicken yard someday, though it's still hard for me to get over the oog factor:

Maggot Composting

Birthday weekend wrap-up...

Birthday weekend started Thursday and ended today. I was spoiled rotten! Hikes to scary woods, eating (and shhhh, smoking) all the things I'm not supposed to have, shopping like you wouldn't believe (thanks baby -- remember, it's only once a year!), hanging out with friends, watching fireworks, and capping it all off with Wall-E. Righteous.

I am blessed with good friends. Still life with birthday brunch at La Note:














Another highlight was ferrying to San Francisco for a day of Ferry Building goodness, thrifting (lucked out with a beautiful Jil Sander top for $4) and fro-yo.

You can't tell from this photo, but San Francisco looks like a toy city from the ferry...














Okay, and now shhhhh -- time for a secret...

Today I dropped into one of the better high-end second-hand clothing stores and treated myself to a really cool and fairly expensive ginormous leather handbag. Checking out all of the pockets afterward, what did I find but a little suede bag from Pave. Inside were large Tahitian black pearl earrings! Oh my god, they are gorgessity.

Part of me feels bad, even though, 1) I will never know who they belonged to, 2) I love black pearls, 3) I will never be able to afford earrings like these, and 4) it's my birthday. Okay, those last three things don't really factor in to whether or not I should feel bad, but I need something to assuage my unjustified guilt. I think I just feel bad because someone lost some really badass and expensive earrings, and now I have them. So, anyway, I am but a twig floating in the stream of fate. Or something.

It's been 5 days of loveliness -- back to the real world tomorrow.

Oi, tomorrow! Tomorrow I have acupuncture. My acupuncturist is going to feel my pulse, sense the bacon and ice cream coursing through my veins, and then promptly kill me with his disapproving gaze.

But I think it will be worth it. :)

My track record for keeping secrets from Trevor being what it is, I completely surprised myself by completely surprising Trevor for his birthday this weekend.

First, a hike Friday in San Francisco at Land's End:














We had a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands for most of the hike. Plus, shipwrecks!














(Engine block of the Lyman Stewart)

(No, really)

(Look closer)

After the hike, we headed over to Nihon Whisky for Japanese-style tapas. We had this many whiskies to choose from:














Totally overwhelming, non?

After much deliberation, we had the Inchmurrin Scotch (smooth, silky, smoky -- divine), a Welsh whisky called Penderyn (too sweet but with a spicy finish), and a Nikka whisky from Japan (as expected, a little meh).

The comestibles, however, were consistently delish.

Radish Salad and Inchmurrin:














Agedashi Tofu:


















Yaki-Onigiri:














Of course, this being Trevor's birthday weekend and all, there was much merriment to be had on Saturday as well. Saw BlöödHag at Dark Carnival, ate sushi at one of our favorite places, shared ice cream with friends, hit a friend's 40th/graduation party, and had gorgeous drinks poured for us by the inimitable Mr. Lane at the Missouri.

Lovely lovely weekend.

A big favorite for me to watch on teevee at the gym is Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis. Watching Italian comfort food being made by a gorgeous woman who is as slim as a stick, whilst sweating away on the treadmill? Yes, I'm sick like that.

One of the best things about cooking that is so easily forgotten in the sea of 30 step recipes and exotic ingredients is how easy and fun it can be. De Laurentiis brings that to her Italian kitchen.

The other day she made a tortellini bake that looked so delicious and was so easy to make that I could remember the basic recipe all the way home. But even so, luckily, with the internets, the recipe wasn't hard to find and I could double-check my memory.

The thing is, even if I hadn't found it, it would have been okay. It is exactly these types of recipes that put some joy into cooking, and help beginner cooks gain confidence and become better, because 1) you can fudge the ingredients a bit or add your own flair and probably still come out with a decent dish, and 2) it is so easy that even someone with limited cooking experience can put something stellar on the table.


















I made this for my husband for one of his birthday week special dishes and he raved. But like De Laurentiis always says: pasta, marinara, cheese -- how can you go wrong?

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

my tip: don't whisk the marscarpone into the cold sauce -- too much work! Wait until you add the hot pasta and use the heat to melt the marscapone to blend and coat the pasta. I also like to add a bit of cayenne pepper to the marinara mixture -- the heat with the smoked mozzarella is a really nice combination.

Olive oil

2 cups marinara sauce
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 pound purchased fresh cheese tortellini (or dry tortellini)
2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes (for fresh). Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt and begin to brown, about 30 minutes.

Boozy birthday BBQ's bouncy house aftermath:

This:
























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My auspicious birthday weekend is almost at its end, with more merriment to begin Wednesday when my honey and I hit Santa Cruz for Boardwalk and beach, and then the hometown for BBQ and buggy-bashing. But before I forget, I want to tell y'all about the terrific play my sweetie and I took in on Friday during pre-birthday festivities.



























For two weeks only, the Brothers Grimm tale, The Robber Bridegroom will be reimagined by the Stars and Garters Theatre Company as a Southern Gothic tale of star-crossed lovers. We saw it on a sold-out opening night, which is traditionally a bad night to see a play, but it was really enchanting and well-done.

Brimming with charming puppetry, song and dance, excellent live musical accompaniment, clever set design, and a trapeze artist as the moon, it was whimsical yet dark, and very cabaret-esque. Jenny Jo Kristan, the writer and director, did well to have the actors speak in sometimes fantastical rhyming couplets, as it gave the show a more period air and pulled the audience deeper into the eerie phantasmagoria. Well worth the $12-$20 sliding scale to come out to Mama Calizo's Voice Factory to support this live troupe and their top-notch work.

Hell in an infernal handbasket. For real, yo.

HOWEVER...if the killer robots can successfully battle anything we DNA scramble or create from scratch that might try to Deep Blue Sea our asses -- wow, what a blessing in disguise! Even Steven.

BUT...if that scenario just doesn't quite work out (but really, T, what could happen?), there are a few current events one may take comfort in before our imminent self-destruct at the hands of mad scientists.

1) Yummy and brilliant Edward Norton will be The Hulk. Tim "the English Edward Norton" Roth will be the Abomination.

2) Hellboy, Darkness Calls. This 6-parter drawn by Duncan Fegredo and penned by Mr. Mignola is rocking my world. Just finished numero tres. The undead army panels, Baba Yaga/Perun, and Hellboy finally getting to spill his cwazy adventures to a sympathetic Russian house spirit are just some of the delights that await you.

3) Rescue Dawn, this month! Not only is this film one of the few non-documentaries that Werner Herzog has directed in the new millenium, but hello, Christian Bale. And Herzog on location, in the jungle once again. Sweet. He can push his actors to the limit because it is not only he who requires it, but the environment. That can only mean one thing: quality.

4) My birthday is coming up! I see a massage and pedicure, caramel apples and saltwater taffy, a deserted weekday beach and arcade, and numerous rides on the Giant Dipper in my future.