This year marked my first real one in food during the holiday season. Coffee last year was busy, but not markedly different than the rest of the year. But macarons - oh my.
I sold a bunch of them. We sold out frequently. I was working seemingly all the time. My Christmas shopping took place mostly at local merchants mostly because I was doing it on my lunch breaks. Lots of cool locally made stuff out there though, so no complaints that I heard. Think I'm proudest of the the find, When French Women Cook, by Madeleine Kamman for my boss. A memoir about growing up in France and cooking, it also has a whole bunch of recipes including both US and metric measures. If you want to progress in a foreign language, find something you're interested in to try and read. It helps.
After a traditional Christmas Eve meal of nachos and watching funny shows, my house retired to sleep with visions of "a day off!" dancing in our heads. Nic headed down to LA for her family gathering a few days before, so Mike, Sarah, and I gathered around the tree in the morning (but not too early - Mike actually did wake up before 9 wanting to open presents but we can't get Sarah out of bed that early unless it's something like a fire. She regularly doesn't get home until after midnight from work, it's logical). Pot of tea at our side, we oohed and ahhed at the others treasure and then read our books some more. Restful.
The fun continued as we loaded ourselves and a bag of treats into a taxi and headed to Jaylan's house, our adopted aunt. I'd help her plan a bang up holiday party for Dec 12 (a roaring success on all counts - catered by Sally & Sarah, bartending by new friend Anthony, music by pianist Michael. Chocolate fountain, duck terrines, meatballs, cheeseballs, crab dip, the whole nine yards) and we had some leftovers carefully frozen for celebrating Christmas (though none of us are practicing Christians: I'd make some clever comment about Turks and Baha'is here but none spring to mind). So it was party dedux on a smaller scale of 4 - crab, cheeseballs, other snacks with bubbles (or not, as one liked). Sarah showed us how to make a bunch of lamb chops out of cooking a rack altogether; rich and delicious. The ladies took Jaylan's dog Ziggy (a hilarious Scottie with a prancing walk) out for a Christmas constitutional down to the waterfront and looked at all the tourists out looking themselves.
After our delicious candlelit dinner, we set up the projector and watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, one of the better movies I've seen in a long time. Bogart gives a realistic and gripping portrayal of man slowly going mad, a friend told me it's like a crime noir set in the mountains. That's it exactly. Perhaps a tad slow in the middle, but then the pace takes right back off again. I was pleasantly surprised at the ending - not cliché in the least and quite fitting wrap up. Watch it. The new Wallace and Gromit short wasn't near so good - I was disappointed.
It was a lovely day spent with lovely folks; seemed fitting to pause in the middle of the crazy season. In the next installment: New Year, New Travel Destination. Stay tuned!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
And I'm famous!
My last day of work before heading to Indiana a woman came into my shop and we chatted about tea and delicious things. Then she told me about a project she was doing where she took a portrait of a person a day and would I mind. What's really cool is that she took a picture of Mike as well in the summer. When I told her she was completely thrilled - we're the closest connected folks she's photo'd.
The blog is gorgeous and a great collection of images. Check me out - #327 - and Mike - #146 - (his hair blowing in the wind) as well as the blog itself http://www.limagequotidienne.blogspot.com/ I think it's a neat idea, especially since she's doing it to meet new people in a new place (I've heard that before!)
The blog is gorgeous and a great collection of images. Check me out - #327 - and Mike - #146 - (his hair blowing in the wind) as well as the blog itself http://www.limagequotidienne.blogspot.com/ I think it's a neat idea, especially since she's doing it to meet new people in a new place (I've heard that before!)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Turkey turkey
Thanksgiving still tops my list of holidays, probably because it's when the Qualls family gathers at my house and makes merry for days on end. Was talking with Uncle Jim and Kenny this year and it seems like the tradition has been going on for almost 10 years now. Wow. The cousins are certainly bigger, though the noise level is about the same :)
Things I have learned from my whirlwind trip to Indiana are as follows:
1. When taking a red-eye on the Monday of Thanksgiving week make sure there are no teams on the flight. Even though there were children galore, they made no noise. The teenage girls behind me talking in graphic detail about their pseudo sex lives and general gossip, however, did. At length. And since the plane sat at the gate longer than usual I got to hear all of it since there were no engines on. Glorious.
2. Swimming is fantastic. As it playing badminton with my brother Michael's 3 times a week crew, though still lost. I am much better at badminton and swimming than Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Much, much better.
3. My cousin Aqdas and I have impeccable, frugal fashion sense. We both were wearing the same shirt when she arrived on Wednesday though in different colors. Old Navy does have its uses.
4. White dog when like black = lots of hairs to clean off furniture, clothes, etc. Cassie has learned this lesson with a vengeance.
5. Dinner will never actually be ready to serve at 1 p.m. Carving 2 turkeys makes the 2nd one go faster because Uncle Bill and I have gotten our rhythm back. Carrot souffle is always delicious.
6. Playing Apples to Apples with Yuki's sister was tons of fun and aided by her little pocket translator. Clever.
7. Waking up before 5 a.m. to catch a flight isn't fun, but isn't too hard when you only have to do it once. The Indy airport is incredibly long, though the lines at 6:30 are nonexistent. I'm glad too that I never had to be at coffee shop at 3 a.m. at an airport for work.
I'm sure there's more but I must get ready for work. Getting off a plane and then going to work yesterday was interesting, though I was beyond hungry by the end. Yay for going out to eat with Mike at a Peruvian place we'd never tried; the ceviche was amazing. And a change from holiday festive food. But it was a wonderful holiday - I hope you all had a great time as well!
Things I have learned from my whirlwind trip to Indiana are as follows:
1. When taking a red-eye on the Monday of Thanksgiving week make sure there are no teams on the flight. Even though there were children galore, they made no noise. The teenage girls behind me talking in graphic detail about their pseudo sex lives and general gossip, however, did. At length. And since the plane sat at the gate longer than usual I got to hear all of it since there were no engines on. Glorious.
2. Swimming is fantastic. As it playing badminton with my brother Michael's 3 times a week crew, though still lost. I am much better at badminton and swimming than Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Much, much better.
3. My cousin Aqdas and I have impeccable, frugal fashion sense. We both were wearing the same shirt when she arrived on Wednesday though in different colors. Old Navy does have its uses.
4. White dog when like black = lots of hairs to clean off furniture, clothes, etc. Cassie has learned this lesson with a vengeance.
5. Dinner will never actually be ready to serve at 1 p.m. Carving 2 turkeys makes the 2nd one go faster because Uncle Bill and I have gotten our rhythm back. Carrot souffle is always delicious.
6. Playing Apples to Apples with Yuki's sister was tons of fun and aided by her little pocket translator. Clever.
7. Waking up before 5 a.m. to catch a flight isn't fun, but isn't too hard when you only have to do it once. The Indy airport is incredibly long, though the lines at 6:30 are nonexistent. I'm glad too that I never had to be at coffee shop at 3 a.m. at an airport for work.
I'm sure there's more but I must get ready for work. Getting off a plane and then going to work yesterday was interesting, though I was beyond hungry by the end. Yay for going out to eat with Mike at a Peruvian place we'd never tried; the ceviche was amazing. And a change from holiday festive food. But it was a wonderful holiday - I hope you all had a great time as well!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Just a travelin' lady - US style
With the new job I've found a whole new world that doesn't begin at 4:15 a.m. It's exciting times, though I've been perhaps spending too much money going out to eat and drink in the evenings. What can you do? There are so many delicious places here... but this is not another San Francisco food blog. Not yet anyway.
The end of October had me and Mike heading to Baltimore to visit his parents; they moved in May to Ellicot City and now live in what used to be a huge textile mill (since converted into apartments). It was gorgeous, right on the river with a train track near by and woods. We walked one morning into the little town, just a mile or so along the river on a slightly muddy path. Lots of antiques, little shops that you wonder how they stay open (answer: tourists).
Crab is the food of, well, always in the Baltimore area. First restaurant we went to was a great place right on the water. A crab stuffed pretzel covered with cheese made for delicious - the fact that you could get anything stuffed with crab on the menu was eye-opening. As were the crab cakes. One afternoon met my friend Robin from Earlham down at Fell's Point and explored a gentrifying neighborhood. There was a chess store - with tables for playing - as well as incredible gelato. Sunday we explored the Baltimore Art Museum and saw excellent Matisse print exhibition. The museum was also part of the Antioch mosaic excavation so saw floors from where we'd been in Turkey in '08. It was like seeing old friends unexpectedly. A copy of Rodin's The Thinker completed the glass-walled courtyard.
And then Maggie was there in a flurry of excitement having driven up from D.C. We got snacks and chatted, then drove to have dinner with Mike's folks and chat the evening away. A lovely time overall even if transnational flights seem to never end.
This past Sunday, traveling on the brain, I took off for Tahoe to see Alojzya for the first time. Driving up mountains in the dark late at night perhaps wasn't the most convenient way of doing things, but it was what needed to be done. Tahoe was incredible with its lake, the mountains, the pine forests, the coyotes singing at night... even if high altitudes make me sleepy and everything just a little bit more exhausting. Will post pictures soon!
The end of October had me and Mike heading to Baltimore to visit his parents; they moved in May to Ellicot City and now live in what used to be a huge textile mill (since converted into apartments). It was gorgeous, right on the river with a train track near by and woods. We walked one morning into the little town, just a mile or so along the river on a slightly muddy path. Lots of antiques, little shops that you wonder how they stay open (answer: tourists).
Crab is the food of, well, always in the Baltimore area. First restaurant we went to was a great place right on the water. A crab stuffed pretzel covered with cheese made for delicious - the fact that you could get anything stuffed with crab on the menu was eye-opening. As were the crab cakes. One afternoon met my friend Robin from Earlham down at Fell's Point and explored a gentrifying neighborhood. There was a chess store - with tables for playing - as well as incredible gelato. Sunday we explored the Baltimore Art Museum and saw excellent Matisse print exhibition. The museum was also part of the Antioch mosaic excavation so saw floors from where we'd been in Turkey in '08. It was like seeing old friends unexpectedly. A copy of Rodin's The Thinker completed the glass-walled courtyard.
And then Maggie was there in a flurry of excitement having driven up from D.C. We got snacks and chatted, then drove to have dinner with Mike's folks and chat the evening away. A lovely time overall even if transnational flights seem to never end.
This past Sunday, traveling on the brain, I took off for Tahoe to see Alojzya for the first time. Driving up mountains in the dark late at night perhaps wasn't the most convenient way of doing things, but it was what needed to be done. Tahoe was incredible with its lake, the mountains, the pine forests, the coyotes singing at night... even if high altitudes make me sleepy and everything just a little bit more exhausting. Will post pictures soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
