Sleepy Boys, Jane Eyre

Since it's after midnight, technically we leave for the Big Island tomorrow. But really I have to get up in the morning, figure out what to wear, and go to work for the sixth day in a row. After that I get to come home and finish packing, being careful not to forget my wedding dress or some other element necessary to get married, and then get up at the crack of dawn on Friday and BART over to Oakland.

The boys are asleep and I'm watching the new Jane Eyre movie. So far it's terrific. I didn't read the novel until my senior year in college when I was in England taking a class on Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. In some ways I wish I had read it as an adolescent and allowed it to seep into my subconscious and settle as a reference for every love story I have ever read. And in other ways I am glad that I was mature enough to appreciate its richness and depth. Either way, it enriched my life and literary awareness, and I recommend it wholly.

The cinematography in this film is beautiful. And Jane just met Mr. Rochester. It deserves my full attention.

Trying to Pack

Kitten has been really sweet lately. I think he knows we're leaving and so he turns on the charm. I also think he's getting older, because he never wants to leave the radiator's side. Behind him is my first attempt at packing for the wedding, which is turning out to be a lot more challenging than I anticipated. I'm definitely going to need a larger suitcase.

Happy New Year!

On New Years Eve we had a wine and cheese party up at Katie (my MOH) and Josh's place in Twin Peaks. It was so nice to spend New Years in a mellow setting with old friends. Just before midnight we hiked up the hill for a view of the fireworks.

We had two types of cake for dessert (so much for the bride diet), and both were delicious. Yesterday Josh and Katie flew out to the Big Island to get in a bit of vacation before the week of the wedding. We leave on Friday! Everything is falling into place and I am not stressed, just excited. I have the support of a really good team, which I am already incredibly grateful for. I feel so lucky that we get to spend a week with our friends in paradise, that we're getting married on my parents' farm, and that we get to spend three nights honeymooning on Kauai. I can't imagine a better way to start the year than marrying my best friend. 2012 is going to be a good one.

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Here's quick look back at highlights from 2011:

We celebrated my mom's 50th birthday in Hilo.

Jeffery and I attended a friend's beautiful wedding in Willits.

Marina had an art opening at Cafe Sapore in North Beach. 

I featured four local businesses in the Castro: Thorough Bread and Pastry, Aarvark Books, Church Street Flowers, and M&L Market.

My soccer team shared a day at a beautiful cliff house in Bolinas. 

I shared my love story and Katie threw me a beautiful bridal shower!

I spent Thanksgiving with my family for the first time in five years.

My resolutions are to practice writing daily and learn how to use my camera in manual mode. And I would like to create a disciplined posting schedule and stick to it. I really enjoy having this blog as a way of documenting the things that excite me and sharing them with the people I love. Thank you for being here.

♥

Three Christmas Trees (and a kitty with his festive toy mice)

1. Our apartment is only large enough for a miniature tree, and with a small tree comes small ornaments. Last Christmas Marina gave us hand painted wooden ornaments that belonged to my great grandmother Zoya, and I love them.



2. We opened the Christmas package my parents sent a little early (don't tell!) and kitty is the happy recipient of a new package of festive toy mice. We also received Marth Stewart's Cooking School, which is a really beautiful and well-rounded cookbook. We already tried her recipe for butternut squash tortellini, which was simple (though time consuming) and delicious. She recommends techniques that make things more efficient in the kitchen, and I'm a sucker for efficiency. Next on the list of recipes to try: raspberry cream puffs.

3. Every night after work I walk home past the Civic Center, and right now it's lit up for Christmas and oh so beautiful.

4. Thorough Bread has a full size tree in their window, made completely out of bread and decorated with edible goodies. It is stunning and impressive and you should really check it out. (They will be closed for renovations January 1-9.)



Tomorrow Jeffery and I are going to sleep in and stay in our pajamas and cook food all day and watch basketball. Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread Cookie Date

I can't believe how quickly December is flying by. In three short weeks we leave for Hawaii! A couple weeks ago my friend Nicole invited Marina and me over to her lovely home to bake gingerbread cookies.



And while we were there, she and her boyfriend, Ross, decorated their Christmas tree. It was so freakin festive. There were even holiday cartoons on the TV.




Marina's recipe calls for the grated rind of two oranges, and since we doubled the recipe, there were a lot of orange slices to eat.





My friend Amber gave me dinosaur cookie cutters as a bridal shower gift, which make me smile. Amber and I grew up together wearing our older brothers' hand-me-down dinosaur t-shirts. The stegosaurus cookie turned out the best. (You like how I sneaked in an impossibly cute photo of Kitty under the radiator?)



They turned out terrific. I think holiday cookie baking parties are the way to go. Do you have a favorite holiday recipe?

Instagram Update

The last few days have been rich with culinary adventures and small comforts.

1. Tonight Jeffery and I had lobster tail, which were on sale at Safeway for $5 each. We cut them in half and sauteed them in butter (with some corn starch as a thickening agent), chicken stock, vermouth, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and served them with mushroom risotto and broccoli. The first taste of broth was incredible: buttery, sour, savory, garlicky and a little bit fishy (we could taste every ingredient), and then the first bite of lobster was so sweet and succulent. It made me realize that I have never tasted lobster tail before, and it's delicious.

2. Kitten loves the radiator. He likes to sprawl out on his tummy with his head directly underneath the pipes and soak up the heat. And he's just as curious as ever, exploring our little orchid jungle. Look at those piercing eyes.

3. It has been really beautiful out lately. Today was a high of 71 degrees. When it's nice out I like to take my lunch to Thorough Bread and read my book. Their tomato soup is incredible, it's served with a generous helping of fresh baguette, and it made the perfect accompaniment to my tofu salad with cabbage (I have a new love for red cabbage). On Thanksgiving I read Ann Patchett's memoir, Truth and Beauty: A Friendship, and it made me want to read more of her fiction. I picked up her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars (which is really good so far) from Aardvark Books.

4. Marina gave us an Atlas pasta maker as an early wedding gift, and over Thanksgiving she gave us a package of elk linguica. The other night we sauteed the elk up with onions and garlic and rolled it into tortellini. Also delicious.

Six weeks until the wedding! ♥

Thanksgiving

My parents were here for Thanksgiving and we spent two entire days together at Lee's house up in Sonoma County. Lee is Marina's best friend, she officiated at my parents' wedding, and she's coming to Hawaii to marry Jeffery and me as well. It was very generous of her to loan her home to my family for the holiday. It's been a while since we've spent a night out of the city (since July!) and the drive alone was spectacular. Even with grey skies the countryside was radiant. 

For dinner Wednesday night we ate posole loaded with chicken and hominy, yellow fin tuna poached in white wine with chestnut mushrooms, and a green salad with pomegranate seeds and persimmon. In the morning it was misting outside. It had poured the night before, and the sound of the rain hitting the roof and the crackling of the fire was a nice change from the usual fire truck sirens and squawking of crack heads.

I spent the day cooking, eating, and reading by the fire with the football game on in the background. It may have been my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Marina's Space

Over the holiday I spent a brief time at my grandmother's apartment and I took these shots of her space. She's a Russian immigrant/eccentric artist/lovable hippie inspired by color and texture and food and flowers and the ocean I had a lot of fun capturing the details. Enjoy!

Playing with reflection.

Organized.

Showered

My lovely maid of honor, Katie (with the help of my mother and grandmother), threw me a beautiful bridal shower just before Thanksgiving. It was more than I could have asked for, with delicious food, fragrant flowers, and an incredible group of women. They showered me with kitchen gadgets and unmentionables, and it made even more thankful heading into the holidays.

We ate and drank and laughed and played games and ate some more. I am really lucky to have such wonderful women in my life. Katie and her mom hand sewed all of the prizes, and there was so much attention to detail. She included recipe cards with the invitations so everyone passed along to me their favorite recipe. Thank you to everyone who came and took part, it was so nice to be together.

Aardvark Books

For my fourth local business feature I am spotlighting Aardvark Books. They have been on Church Street for over 30 years, and are a buy-sell-trade (like Crossroads).

Their selection is excellent and the guys who work there are friendly and helpful. And they know their books.

The book shop is packed with interesting San Francisco memorabilia. (Side note: I just noticed that Monet coffee table book, and I might have to go back for it, even though we don't yet own a coffee table.)

One of my favorite things about Aardvark Books is its only resident, Owen the cat. He spends most days sound asleep atop stacks of books in the window, probably absorbing Keats and Austen and Shakespeare through osmosis. Oh, the good life.