SShhh....

Look what Tyler is getting for Valentine's Day.

Molton Brown Re-Charge Black Pepper Eau de toilette



Zotter Drinking Chocolate : Honey - Cinnamon

Under Foot

I haven't seen this rug in person yet, but I like what I see so far.

So Cozy

This sweater is super cozy, cute, and affordable.

Pretty Dress

I think I might make this dress my first purchase of Spring/Summer fashion. I especially like the dress in white.

Fleur de lys

Tyler and I went to Fleur de lys for my birthday. Fleur de lys is a San Francisco institution serving classic French cuisine. It definitely deserves to be a classic. The food was amazing and we didn't need to eat for days after indulging ourselves in the heavy, but delicious traditional French fare.

My favorites of the night were Tyler's asparagus and truffled foie gras appetizer, my filet mignon and lobster entree with truffled macaroni gratin and the fleur burger for dessert. It was so adorable. The attention to detail was amazing! The burger was made from bittersweet chocolate ganache, the cheese was a thin sheet of passion fruiit jello-like substance, the bun was a doughnut, mint for lettuce, strawberry sliced thinly crosswise for tomato, kiwi in the form of a pickle, a mini chocolate shake, and pomme frite fashioned from fennel ice cream. It was all very clever.

Our celebrity sighting for the night - Bob Dole.

South Park Cafe

Tyler and I went to South Park Cafe for our anniversary. What a gem! The food was delicious, the atmosphere was cozy and charming, and the service was very warm. The price was amazingly reasonable too at $34 for three courses. I had the "Pig salad" with slow cooked pork, shallots, apples and mustard vinaigrette; Roast rack of lamb with macaroni gratin and parsley oil; and flourless carrot cake for dessert (my least favorite item of the three courses, although the other two dishes made up for my disappointment in dessert.) As a bonus, you feel like you are entering a different world once you set foot into South Park.

The Complete Jane Austin on Masterpiece Classic

Masterpiece Classic (formerly Masterpiece Theater) is currently airing several new versions of Jane Austin classics and the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice with Collin Firth. So far Persausion is my favorite followed by Northanger Abbey. Mansfield Park was okay, but I could only think about how it fell short of the Frances O'Conner version. The most recent, Miss Austin Regrets, based on the life of Jane Austin was not very good at all. The next three Sundays will be redeemed with Pride and Prejudice. The series wraps up with Emma and Sense and Sensibility.

Holiday Wrap Up

We enjoyed a relaxing holiday with friends in the city this year. I had to work a little more than I had hoped, but I still got to enjoy a few long weekends with the way the holidays fell.

We kicked off the celebration mid-December with my office party at the Olympic Club. I'm very lucky to work with people that I actually like to hang out with during my time off.



Tyler and I celebrated our 11th anniversary a few days before Christmas. We had a lovely night starting with dinner at South Park Cafe and ending with the Smuin Ballet's Christmas Ballet.
The first half of the program is classic Christmas with dances set to Bach and Handel. The second half lightens up considerably with the likes of Santa Babay and Christmas Island (both pictured.)


The weekend before Christmas we discovered a new breakfast joint. I had read in San Francisco Magazine about the amazing apple and raspberry turnovers at Mission Beach Cafe. We decided to head over and try them for ourselves. We only intended to get pastries, but the plates of pancakes and eggs benedict rushing by us tempted us to stay for breakast. Tyler ordered the breakfast sandwich with a homemade English muffin, sausage and bacon. I had eggs benedict with proscuitto and Midnight Moon gouda drizzled with porchini hollandaise sauce. We had our turnovers too! The styling of the small space made for a perfectly relaxing morning. The interior is modern and warm with ivory upholstered chairs and lacqured wood tables. For a finishing touch everything is served on earthy brown Heath ceramic plates. They even serve Navarro grapejuice.

Next came our outing to the Mission to get all the ingredients for our Christmas Eve celebration. Read more about this in my La Palma post.

Christmas Eve brought our traditional afternoon outing to the beach followed by dinner and celebrating with friends over homemade chili and fresh tortillas.




Christmas day brought gifts and the most delicious French toast I've ever eaten. Adam made Brazilian French toast, which is basically sliced baguette dipped in sweetened condensed milk and deep fried. It's like doughnut French toast! He didn't stop there either. We also indulged in eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, pumpkin bread, and gingerbread cake.


Marlo made her first trip to the museum on Boxing day. We spent the afternoon browsing the Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon at Versailles exhibit at the Legion of Honor instead of the sales racks.



To ring in the New Year, we invited a few friends over for a casual evening. Our new apartment has a view of the Bay Bridge and the waterfront near the Embarcadero, so we were able to watch the midnight fireworks from our livingroom.



We wrapped up the holidays with walk along the Embarcadero and a delicious brunch on the BBQ New Year's morning. We made gingerbread pancakes with lemon curd and blueberries. The pancakes were good, but they tasted more like brown sugar molasses pancakes than gingerbread. I'm still on the hunt for a recipe that tastes like Zazie's.

Happy New Year!!

Olafur Eliasson

SF MOMA is featuring an exhibit by artist Olafur Eliasson through February 24th. The exhibit consists of sculpture, lighting, and other elements which for the most part are interactive. This exhibit is an amazing experience not to be missed! The artist will be in San Francisco on February 27th for an Artist Talk at the museum.

Pretty Dresses

These dresses are two of the most comfortable, yet still polished and flattering, items of clothing I own. They are my "go to" clothing for work on mornings when I just need to get out the door, feel comfortable, and look good. I usually pair the chain link dress with cinnamon colored heels and the black sweater dress with black patterned tights and black pumps. They are both on sale right now at Banana Republic.

La Palma

Mexican food is quickly becoming somewhat of a Christmas Eve tradition for us. Last year we had Naomi's delicious enchiladas with all the fixings from La Palma. This year we had chili con carne made with ancho chilis and sirloin steak - no chili powder and ground beef here! Tyler and I headed to the Mission to do our grocery shopping at La Palma and Casa Lucas Market right next door. Tyler enjoyed browsing the store for the all the exotic candy and sodas.

From La Palma, we picked up fresh made tortilla chips, salsa fresca, and masa for tortillas. You can buy the prepared masa for a little more than $1 per pound and make your own fresh tortillas. You'll never want to eat store bought tortillas again.

For the tortillas, you need a tortilla press, a clean plastic garbage bag, and a griddle. I bought my tortilla press next door at Casa Lucas Market for about $10. Cut a wide strip of garbage bag or similar material to sandwich the masa in between the disks of the press. Roll a piece of masa into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball, place the masa in between the two sides of the plastic bag, and press. Next open the press and peel the tortilla from the plastic. Don't press too hard, it doesn't take much and the thinner the tortilla, the more difficult it will be to peel it off the plastic. Put the pressed dough onto a hot griddle and cook on each side until slightly golden.

Fresh tortillas might be one of the most heavenly foods ever invented and are definitely worthy of becoming a Christmas Eve tradition.

I Got My iPhone!

iPhone



Look what I got for Christmas! This phone is truly amazing. With the touch of the screen I can see the weather in SF, Vernal, Philly & Paris, read and send e-mail, download and listen to music, browse the Internet, watch YouTube, check stocks, plan my calendar, take a picture, and more.

Make sure you are photo worthy next time I see you, so I can take your picture for my contacts.

Bridge View

We love our new apartment. We have a view of the Bay Bridge and the city from our living room and bedroom windows. Our favorite view of the bridge is from the pool and hot tub. This picture was taken a few weeks ago when some friends stopped by for an evening visit. See more on Pepper's blog.

Kicking It With Marlo

This is my new favorite person to hang out with.

Tough Tyler

Adam took this picture of Tyler on the ferry back to the city a couple months ago.

One Sunny Friday Afternoon

I cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time with Tyler and Adam last weekend. It's just what we needed the day after our delicious, coma-inducing Thanksgiving dinner. We stopped in Sausalito for lunch and then took the ferry back to the city. The trip from our neighborhood is approximately 11 miles including a few big hills, some strong headwinds, and stunning views. It's been years since I cycled on a regular basis. I think I'm going to take it up again.

All I want for Christmas...

Eames Plywood Chair in Light Ash (X2)





iPhone





Paris, Je T'aime





Olafur Eliasson's Take Your Time

Christmas Tunes

Oddly enough, some of the best holiday mix CD's I've ever purchased are from Old Navy. They usually find the classics with a twist or remix. The music is particularly good for parties, because they use the same energetic music that makes you feel fun and carefree so you will shop more. You will have to trust me on this one.

Cozy Soles

This might be the best $20 I've spent this year. I love these booties!! They are so comfy and warm and I smile every time I look at my feet. You can get them in red or blue too. As an added bonus the soles are perfect for dancing on and sliding across wood floors!

Working Girl

I'm finally back. I've had some major life changes the past couple of months.... a new job, which I started in the middle of busy season, a new apartment, my BFF had her first baby, and I have a renewed dedication to getting in shape. I think things have stabilized though, so I'm ready to get back on the blog wagon. It's probably not realistic for me to try to blog everyday, but I will try to get few posts in on the weekend at a minimum.

Small Spaces

This is a great desk for a small space. It could double as a small buffet or console table too.

Botanical Prints

You know how Martha Stewart always has those impressive motifs of botanical prints that cover a big wall? Here's a great source for the prints. Just ignore the ugly gold frames. You can purchase just the print and find your own frames.

Country Mouse City House

Josh Rouse released a new album last month. I'm really getting into it. My favorite song so far is Sweetie. You can listen to it on his Myspace page.

Denim Delimna

Why is it so hard to find jeans that fit right? I don't think I'm alone in thinking so. I finally found these after trying endless others.

I just found this website, zafu.com, that helps you narrow down the options after answering a few simple questions about your shape. Since I need another pair, I'm going to test it and get back to you. I did see that I own a couple pair that were suggested to me. That's a good sign!

Things Change

Wow! My life is really crazy right now. I'm undergoing some very exciting changes including work and address that came up a little sooner than expected. More about that later. Things are settling down a little so hopefully I will be back to posting regularly.

Congratulations Jenn!

A few of us met last week to celebrate the new addition to Jenn's family. We had dinner at Terzo. I can't say enough about this place. I could eat there every night if I lived closer. Say "hi" to Ron for me if you go!

Break

I've been on a bit of a blogging break while entertaining company. I'll be back mid-week.

The Bourne Ultimatum

We saw The Bourne Ultimatum over the weekend. Despite the lack of dialog and the shaky camera I can't help liking the character and the story. Matt Damon is such a cutie. The first movie, Bourne Identity is still my favorite of the three.

Bon Nuit

I like fairly simple, yet luxurious bedding. This bedding is on sale at Crate and Barrel. The aqua color is very calming without being boring. It also comes in a pretty spa blue color.

Place Mats

I love these placemats.