sei la madre, la sorella, l'amante, l'amica, l'angelo, il diavolo, la terra, la casa...

Last night, I watched La Dolce Vita. Such a strange and wonderful film. It's one of those movies you could watch a hundred times and come away with a different impression each time. And of course, Marcello Mastroianni is so debonnaire.

summer foods

For the most part, the weather in San Francisco has not felt very summery of late. But I've decided that if I live my life as though it felt like summer, good weather will eventually follow. It's a sort of Field of Dreams approach.

I'm particularly partial to summer foods. For dinner, I made a farro salad, loosely based on the one from Ragazza. I dream about that salad.  Anyway, for my homemade version, I used farro, cherry tomatoes, arugula, yellow corn, and ricotta salata. I've also become a recent devotee of raw zucchini, shaved thin and drizzled with olive oil, then sprinkled with salt and pepper.  It was all things summery- fresh and wholesome and bright. Sandals and picnics in the park can't be far off.

grocery list

{roasted carrot & avocado salad}

I love going to the grocery store. Grocery stores speak to me of endless possibilities and I find them terribly exciting. I remember my mother once telling me that after I was born and she was on maternity leave, she would take me to the grocery store and push my stroller up and down the aisles when she got bored, just to get out of the house. Maybe this is why I like it so much. I've been programmed.

Today, I bought the following items:

• Kale
• Arugula
• White corn on the cob
• Yellow nectarines
• Cantaloupe
• Pluots
• Shallots
• Leeks
• Avocados
• Lemons
• Tinned sardines in oil
• Almond butter
• Plain yogurt
• Passionberry Kombucha

The man standing behind me placed a can of Diet Coke on the conveyer belt, surveyed my items, and said "Wow, everything there is so healthy." I felt smug for a moment- me with all of my lovely vegetables and wholesome dairy and nutritious protein, and him with his evil soda- until I remembered plunging face first into a s'more brownie yesterday.

Oh well. But since it's Monday and that means ballet, I'm trying to lean towards vegetables instead of chocolate. Tonight I had a simple salad of carrots roasted with cumin, avocados, and romaine (recipe found here). It was the perfect dinner to begin the week. 

the weekend.

It's early Sunday evening, and here I am, curled up on the sofa with a cup of tea in front of the computer. The weather has ranged from dreadful to mediocre this weekend, so spending some time inside has been the preferred option. I did manage to get out for a bit yesterday, but it was mostly to run errands like returning library books and getting my eyebrows waxed- nothing particularly worthy of being documented here. I did take a lovely walk through Laurel Heights and rather wished I had my camera, especially when I stumbled upon the Swedenborgian church on Lyon & Washington. But carrying a camera can be a bit cumbersome and it's nice to take a break from it sometimes. After my walk, I went shopping for for a few boring but essential items down by Union Square. It's always a semi-awful experience braving the crowds and general filthiness down there, but sometimes it can't be helped. Daniel spent all of Saturday out on a fishing trip with his Dad and came home that evening with some lovely fresh rockfish that we (erm, he) cooked for dinner with some butter and lemon. We were fast asleep by 10. 

So that brings us to Sunday. Daniel had to pack for yet another week-long work trip down to LA, so he organized his things while I ate cereal in bed and read the NYTimes on my iPad. Sometimes I miss getting the Sunday paper. At lunchtime, we drove over to Fillmore to get sandwiches at Jane.

After lunch, we walked next door to Citizen Cake and perused the dessert selection. We shared a s'more brownie so large and rich that my eyes glazed over almost instantly upon beginning to eat it. It was delicious and I really wish I'd had the foresight to take a picture of it before taking a first bite, because after the first bite there was no way I was putting it down to take any pictures. 

We surveyed the half-priced offerings at Browser Books and I took pictures of an old dog who was tied up outside the store.

I think he liked it.

Afterwards, I headed straight back to bed to nap off the effects of the brownie (obviously the most health-conscious approach) and Daniel left for the airport. It's always a bit melancholy to have Daniel out of town- the apartment suddenly feels so still. But such is life. Tonight, I have dinner plans with my friend Kinzie. We're going to La Ciccia and I'm contemplating walking over there rather than taking a cab, even though the weather outside is as gray and wretched as you can possibly imagine. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

uncle stanley

This is my Uncle Stanley. To celebrate his 60th birthday, he sailed a 44-ft long sailboat from San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii, with my cousin Joel and his friend Andy.

Pretty cool, no?

They ran a story on his trip in a local paper. What an amazing adventure. Isn't my family fantastic?

one of those days

Sometimes, on a particularly blah Wednesday, this is what you do.

There are days like this- nothing bad happens, per say, and yet...  

And yet.

Today was one of those days. So after I got home from work, I put on some truly hideous sweatpants and slumped on the sofa to watch Mad Men and sulk. Which I did for about thirty minutes but then realized that it was only making me feel worse. So I changed, splashed some water on my face, and put on perfume. Then I had a glass of wine and settled back onto the sofa, but this time sitting upright rather than face-down in the sofa cushions.

And I did feel a bit better.  

So, nothing particularly exciting to report today, except that perfume and glass of wine and a nice smelling candle can be very cheering at the end of a dreary day. 

Hope everyone else had a more pleasant Wednesday. As for me, I'm looking forward to Thursday.

looking forward to...

This past Christmas, my parents gave me the gift of a weekend at the Deetjen's Big Sur Inn. Eight months later, I've finally managed to book my vacation and I can scarcely wait. It's supposed to be very quaint and relaxing and there are no phones, televisions, internet, or even cell phone reception. It's going to be heavenly. I owe my parents (and especially my mom, who did all the research and found Deetjen's) a giant thank you for the amazing treat. Love you!