Time Capsule

Yesterday morning I woke up with a sudden urge to find all of the letters I wrote to my older self when I was a teenager falling in love with Jeffery. It's this thing I did for a few years, sort of like a time capsule. My 13-year-old self wrote to my 18-year-old self, up until I was 15 writing to my 20-year-old self. I felt like a journal or a blog couldn't really capture a sense of change because I could always flip back the pages and remember what it was like to write those words. This way there could be more reflection. And of course the older me didn't know that the younger me would write about Jeffery, but I was an emotional teenager and my love for him consumed me.

Now, eight years later as we plan our wedding, it is really interesting to see how our love has grown and changed. It has sunk all the way down into me and filled me like a liquid instead of resting on my chest and fluttering in my throat like it did when I was young.

February, 2003 age 17 and 14

May, 2011, age 23 and 26

Today is his last final of the semester and then I get my boyfriend back for the summer. We get to do wedding stuff, and go to Hawaii, and move, and watch movies together, and experiment with recipes, and bake goodies and explore the city.

Congratulations Graduates!

Last weekend was grad weekend, and as I watch as my coworkers and friends on facebook from school post photos of graduation and celebrate with their families, it makes me sad that my family lives far away and doesn't get to come shower me in food and flowers and congratulations.*

And then I got to work this morning I was greeted with balloons and cake from Thorough Bread Bakery (my favorite) and it made my day.

 I am so lucky to be surrounded by such thoughtful and wonderful people!

*My mom was confused too. "But I thought you already graduated?" Let me clarify: I completed my degree when I was in England last May. I didn't submit my graduation application until the fall, and they only have one commencement a year, so I was in the program and could have walked but chose not to.

Taco Tuesday

Yesterday was Jeffery's real birthday, but he had class till late. I made him chicken tacos for dinner, his favorite. And I made them extra special by making a guacamole/salsa to top them off.

Recipe for killer salsa:

1  avocado

1 package organic cherry tomatos

2 gloves garlic, diced

1 lime (or in our case Meyer lemon)

5 or 6 sliced jalapenos, diced

third of a bunch chopped cilantro

1 cob of corn cut off the cob

salt

Oysters and Champagne

We celebrated Jeff's birthday a few days early with some close friends Friday night. Marina brought oysters and a strawberry rhubarb tart for dessert (and flowers, of course).

I made roast chicken and mushroom risotto. Katie made a lovely salad and brought her fancy "25-year barrel-aged" balsamic vinegar from William Sonoma. I gotta get myself some of the good stuff.

It was nice to reminisce with old friends about the good 'ol days, back when we all lived together out in the sunset before Jeff and I lived in Europe and when we were still figuring things out. But it's also nice to figure stuff out. Happy birthday, Jeffery. I love you. Here's to many more birthdays.

♥

Hump Day

Beautiful Wednesday in the city! My day started with a trip to the Civic Center farmer's market. Cherries are in season and getting better by the week. For $2 a pound, I couldn't resist.

Then we ventured deep into the Tenderloin, uncharted territory mind you, to find a place called Rescue Mission Thrift, where one can buy day old bouquets of cut flowers for cheep. I found a beautiful bunch of sunflowers for which I was charged $2, and then they told me, "please, just take another bunch." So sweet.

In the afternoon I ventured to Golden Gate Park for a friend's birthday BBQ. Walking through the park was so serene. I realized that it has been months since I have been alone in nature. All of the sounds and movements of the city become so ingrained in you after a while and you forget what silence sounds like. This is what it looked like:

Summer is almost here. It's hard to believe that 24 hours ago it was pouring down rain. The grass was so green, the sky was so blue. Everything felt fresh.

At the BBQ I ate five cupcakes. Not one but FIVE. Which I am currently trying to digest. Wish me luck (and self control).

Another Perfect Saturday/Scrabble Date

My soccer team was victorious this morning, and we celebrated with brunch at Sally's in Potrero Hill. We drank mimosas and Marina and I shared a smoked salmon benedict. Then we came home and played Scrabble and drank tea.

I love how the board matches Marina who matches the roses she grew. And my last little ranunculus.

Marina is an avid Scrabble player. She taught me to play when I was four, and she won every time until I was about nineteen and learned all her tricks. Now we take turns winning.

Russian Recipe

I love food. But I hate getting into ruts. Last night our options were kind of limited. We had some ground turkey that needed to be used up, and usually we'll just turn it into a marinara, but we were out of pasta. So I decided to make bitochki, or Russian meatballs, one of my grandmother's recipes. It's really easy:

Combine ground turkey, diced onion and garlic, raw egg, salt and pepper into little palm sized patties, bread crumb either side, and saute in olive oil, flipping once, until both sides are brown.

In a separate pan, saute an entire package of sliced mushrooms in a generous amount of butter. Make a roux, (butter, flour, milk) and add to mushrooms to make a creamy mushroom sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place the browned bitochki in casserole dish and cover with the mushroom sauce. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbling.

Serve over brown rice or baguette or potatoes or anything hearty and starchy and delicious.

We also had artichokes.

Cat Grass

Cat grass is like a drug. Our little one goes crazy for it. Right after I took this photograph, there Kitty was, up on the table, mowing in down. I take it away and jumps for it, grabs it with both paws and pulls it back towards him. We hide it on top of the book shelf out of reach, but he knows it's there.

Nom.

Buying at Shotwell again today. Time to pick an outfit!

Ripe.

The other night, Jeffery and I were eating strawberries for dessert. They were the first of the year, and really sour and crunchy. After choking down four or five unripe berries, I bit into a sweet one, so I turned to Jeff, who turned to me, and at the same time we both said, "this one's good," and offered the rest of our ripe strawberry to the other. It was one of those rare perfect moments that reassures a girl she's found the one. I think we're going to try to grow strawberries at our next place.

The roses Marina brought us get more and more beautiful every day. The vase they're in is a hexagonal sided jar with a round lip I found at Goodwill. It's aqua-colored glass, and the main thing I'm collecting for the wedding. I dreamed about thrifting last night. I think I'm going through withdrawals. Fortunately, there's a flee market happening on Treasure Island Memorial Day Weekend, which I plan on attending full force.

Best Mom in the World.

Happy Mother's Day, mom.

When I was twelve years old, my mother and grandmother took me to Paris for my birthday. Isn't she beautiful perusing a Parisian nursery? Thank you for taking me to Paris and sharing your love for flowers and art and French cuisine.

Three generations outside a Parisian café.

Thank you for planting radishes and petunias and creating a beautiful home bursting with color and life and teaching me to appreciate and nourish growing things and letting me help you in the garden.

Thank you for letting me help in the kitchen. Thank you for teaching me how to cook and for feeding me delicious/nutritious/homegrown/local/organic meals and baking all my birthday cakes.

Thank you for dressing me up in pretty outfits and telling me I'm beautiful and making all of my Halloween costumes and prom dresses. Thank you for teaching me how to be feminine. And for teaching me how to love. 

I love you.