the french laundry gardens

During our weekend stay in Napa, we made a little side trip into Yountville. When we were there last summer, we'd happened to stumble upon the gardens for the French Laundry and we thought that it would be fun to go back and see them at a slightly different time of year.

And really, it was quite different. Whereas last year I remember row after row of tomatoes (it was August), this year there were cabbages and strawberries.

I may have snuck a strawberry off the vine (bad! very bad!) but I found this carrot lying on the pathway. 

There were a few green tomatoes, but none that were ripe.

It's just the most wonderful neighborhood garden. I've still never been to the French Laundry, but imagine how wonderful it would be to have dinner there and look out across the street to see where the fruits and vegetables you were eating had been grown. 

the napa valley ecological reserve

On Sunday, we recovered from our Saturday night champagne-at-the-wedding indulgences and our friends Morgan and Joanna drove up from the city to meet us in Napa. Since the weather was beautiful- almost summery!- we decided to go for a walk/hike around the Napa Valley Ecological Reserve. 

Such a beautiful little escape!

a wedding

On Saturday, we went to a wedding.

The wedding was at a country club in Napa. It was intended to be, at least partially, an outdoor wedding, but when we arrived at 5:30 in the pouring rain, we found that they had pushed the ceremony back an hour in hopes that the weather would clear up. In the meanwhile, all of us guests got to tuck into the champagne early.

And what do you know- by 6:30 the rain stopped and the sun came out.

It was a lovely wedding and a splendid beginning to the long weekend. Congratulations to our friends Molly and Chris!

the long weekend

Memorial day weekend is upon us. I hope everyone reading this has something lovely planned, hopefully including picnics, and sunshine on cheeks and shoulders. I myself will be headed to a wedding in Napa on Saturday and then spending a few extra days up there, barbecuing, lounging, etc. I can't wait to get away for a few days. Happy weekend!

jacques torres' chocolate chip cookies

I have found my chocolate chip cookie. No others need apply.

I won't bother writing much about them here because hey! other people have already written long and elegant paens to these cookies. The sea salt is essential. They are fabulous. Make them soon. 

le croissant du jour

"Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake."

                                                                                                        -Nancy Mitford (The Pursuit of Love)

scenes from the weekend

{flowers, pastries & berries from the grove st. farmer's market}

{pain au chocolat}

{our super's car}

{Daniel, at lunch}

{Browser Books}

emersonmade

I know I'm very, very late to the party on this one, but I just had to write something here about Emersonmade.

I've been having a real struggle of late to find clothes to wear to work. I want something that's appropriate to wear to the office, but would also translate to post-work drinks or dinner. It doesn't sound so difficult, but somehow, it is.

Enter Emersonmade.

I've known about the brand for a while but had been resistant to ordering anything because I'm not crazy about shopping online- I like to try clothes on first. But I've been so ridiculously busy lately that I haven't had time to go shopping. So I gave it a try, and I'm so happy I did.

The dress I ordered arrived wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a little linen bag printed with a galloping horse. On the inside, they had tucked a little sachet of lavender in with the dress. It was such a charming touch. The dress itself was true to the photograph on the website, and the sizing was true to their sizing chart. I may have already gone and ordered myself another one...

Next time around, I definitely want one of the charming flower pins.



Or this coat for fall...



Nice to finally find a place I actually want to shop at online.
http://www.emersonmade.com/

b2b

Bay to Breakers is such a wonderful time in the city.

Everyone in such a good mood, outside, wearing outrageous costumes, drinking beer before noon.

You start with a group of friends, lose half of them in the throngs of people, meet up with other friends. 

You watch the police patrol.

This year I was especially happy because now I live within easy walking distance of the route.

Such a special day in the city.

old friends

This past weekend was full of so many wonderful things, not the least of which was a visit from two dear high school friends, Sarah and Leigh. Our fourthsie was missing (she's in Paris for work, the lucky duck) but we had a wonderful time catching up.



There's something special and unique about the friends you make in high school and it was such a treat to host these two in San Francisco for a few days.

Anyway, I'll be putting up some more pictures from the weekend (mainly, from the debacle that was Bay to Breakers) but I wanted to share this first. Love these ladies!

a pie milkshake

This, friends, is what dissappointment looks like.

You might be thinking, "No, that's what a small milkshake looks like." But you would be wrong.

I've written in here about Chili Pies and Ice Cream before. It's a pie shop near my apartment that specializes in such fare as green chili and apple pies. It's pretty good. So when I heard, via the interwebs, that they have such a thing as a pie milkshake on the menu, I was instantly alert. Something composed of such excellent components couldn't possibly be bad and in fact might even be better than the sum of its parts.

So, cut to yesterday evening after dinner when I nagged Daniel for a solid forty minutes, insisting that we go try the famed pie milkshake. Bundled in coats and walking several blocks in the howling wind, I could tell he was not pleased with the plan. Once we arrived, practically panting with excitement, I placed  the order for my pie milkshake. Peach pie with strawberry ice cream, if you must know.

And...it was awful. It tasted sort of like soggy muesli stirred into strawberry yogurt, which is maybe the last thing that pie and ice cream should taste like.

I took one bite and then firmly set my spoon down on the table. Daniel looked for a moment as though he might tear out his hair, then shrugged and ate most of the milkshake while I sulked. Then we walked home and got ready for bed, whereupon Daniel was crippled with stomach pains from the late-night binge of sugar and dairy.

So. To come to a point, pie shakes are bad news. The end.

happy mother's day

I just wanted to take a moment to say happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mother.

She's pretty awesome. Love you Mama!

savage beauty

I am jealous right now of anyone who lives in New York City.

 I would love to see the show on Alexander McQueen's designs that's opening tomorrow at the Costume Institute of the Met. The clothes are beautiful and spooky too (both organic and otherworldly at the same time...) and I would think that it would be fairly spectacular to see some of these wild things in the flesh. I've been poring over some of the photos available on the NYTimes website, but it would be so much more fun to be able to make a trip to the museum. Le sigh.