heart of light

"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
"They called me the hyacinth girl."

-Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden,

Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not

Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,

Looking into the heart of light, the silence.

Oed' und leer das Meer.

-from T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land

dinner with friends

Dinner menu:

Appetizers:
Crostini with white bean dip (recipe: Giada de Laurentiis)
Eggplant bruschetta with mint and ricotta salata (recipe: Smitten Kitchen)

First course:
Shaved fennel and mushroom salad with lemon, truffle oil, and parmigiano reggiano

Second course:
Lemon spaghetti

Main course:
Whole red snapper with pistou, thyme, and heirloom tomatoes, baked in parchment (recipe: Patricia Wells); braised artichokes and leeks (recipe: Marcella Hazan)

Dessert:
Currant bread pudding with hard sauce

This was Sunday supper with our friends Rob and Shelly.

This is what the aftermath looked like. 

I love cooking on Sundays, when I can actually spend the time to prepare a full meal. Such a treat.

smitten kitchen's dreamy cream scones

As I've probably mentioned before, I love breakfast. That being said, my breakfasts are typically made up of things like granola or plain yogurt with berries. Not austere, but fairly simple. However, there are certain times where something a bit more decadent is in order, and for those times I present you with Smitten Kitchen's dreamy cream scones.

If I'm at a bakery, I typically don't go for the scones. I often find them heavy and dry where they should be light and supple. Enter these scones. They are a cinch to make and you can add pretty much whatever sort of dried fruit tickles your fancy in order to switch them up (my preference is for dried sour cherries). They also freeze beautifully, so I'll usually make a full batch, shape the dough, and then pop it in the freezer. That way, I can have fresh, oven-baked scones on demand. Score! This recipe is perfect; you needn't change a thing. Now go, get baking!

fresh eggs

A week or so ago, we had dinner with our friends Morgan and Joanna over at their apartment in the Richmond. Their apartment complex has a backyard and in that backyard, they have built a chicken coop that currently houses five chickens. After dinner, they gave us a few eggs to take home with us.

The eggs are smaller than ones you would buy at a grocery store and they've got a lovely sort of soft gray hue to them. I woke up early this morning to get some work done from home before heading to the office and decided that today was the day to sample the eggs.

They were, unsurprisingly, delicious. The yolks were a deep orange color and the flavor was delicate but also richer than a store bought egg. I speared the yolks with little toast points and ate up every bite of the eggs with relish. An excellent start to the morning.

a few days in la jolla

A long weekend in La Jolla can be awfully nice.

It was lovely to spend a few days with my family, talking and eating and relaxing. Now I'm back in San Francisco and finding it hard to believe that it's September. This year is flying by.

the la jolla farmer's market

Every Sunday, there's a Farmer's Market down in the village. My mother goes every weekend and today I joined her.

I bought a goat's milk popsicle, flavored with honey and lavender. It was...interesting. My mother bought herbs and fresh eggs and a baguette to make steak sandwiches with the leftovers from last night's dinner. 

nice to be back

It has been so nice to be back in San Diego. As I write this, I am sitting in the kitchen drinking a cappuccino while my dad reads the Sunday Times and watches the U.S. Open and my mother empties the dishwasher. My brother is fast asleep on the sofa in the living room. Our ancient dachshund, Nigel, is chewing on a rubber toy in his dog bed. The sun is shining. Yes, it's nice to be back.

Yesterday, my parents invited some friends of the family over for dinner, so my mother and I spent a good portion of the day doing last minute grocery shopping and cooking. Because summer is coming to an end, we decided to grill steaks with chimichurri along with some simple vegetables. For dessert, my mother made panna cotta and I made a cherry compote flavored with lemon, vanilla, and Madeira. 

At 7, Arnie and Susan arrived bearing appetizers- mushroom duxelles, gruyere and guanciale on puff pastry, and homemade toasts with truffle cream. 

And then there were the wines. 

Most of my friends think I'm a little bonkers when it comes to my obsession with food, but as you can see, I come by it honestly. It's one of the great pleasures in life, made especially precious because it's  something you share with the people you love. 

Dinner was a lovely, relaxed affair full of laughter and conversation. 

After dessert, Arnie and Susan went home and my family sat out in the living room and listened to the Rolling Stones. Then we all went in the jacuzzi. 

It's good to be here.