Noted on a Friday

{Guiri volunteering to taste our anniversary cake}

So a quick update. I have been sick as a dog off and on for the last couple weeks -- we even had to cancel our anniversary camping trip to Lake Arrowhead :( -- but I am finally feeling better, thank god. Flavio's been coming home from work early, bringing me saltines and gingerale, walking Guiri, rubbing my back, and reading me stories in bed. What would I have done without such a sweet nurse to take care of me? Surely I would've died. Thank you, Flavio; I love you.

For obvious reasons, I haven't taken many pics, and am too lazy to upload the few I do have. Some things to note on this Friday, though..

Boyhood. Have you seen it? I can't stop thinking about it. It's truly unlike any other film. Loved.

Humans of New York has become my all-time favorite blog. A photographer shoots people on the street and captions the beautiful photos with quotes from the subjects. Some are sweet, some strange, some are just heartbreakingly beautiful. I love the bigger message behind this blog: we're all in this crazy human struggle together.

Weirdly, the only thing my sick stomach has wanted lately is beef. More specifically, hamburgers from Five Guys in Hillcrest. I've had one per week for the last two weeks and I officially declare: I like them more than In N Out. Yep, that good. Apparently, Obama is also a fan.

My brother is moving back to Cali, just 2 short hours from us. Yay!

While holed up on the couch, I've been watching a lot of Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon Ramsey is sort of sexy, no?

What are you up to this weekend? I am hoping to bake this ricotta cake and we're meeting some friends for dinner tomorrow night. Feels good to be back in the land of the living. Enjoy. xo

A little love note...

Things have been...hectic. To say the least. My summer school schedule has been kicking my butt, and when things get busy, the blog is the first thing to go (along with exercise, and cleaning my house). I've missed being here, but at the same time, it's been nice to come home from work and just turn off my brain, be outside, cook, read, and hang. I finish classes on July 25, and then we're planning to get out of town to celebrate our 3rd anniversary, so I might be away from the blog a little while longer (back the first week of August?). In the meantime, happy summer! xo

{4th of July Fireworks at Summer Pops, 2014}

Noted on a Friday

Welp, this shirt pretty much sums it up. I have been slammed at work and we've had some fun after-work commitments, and I haven't been feeling that well, so I am looking forward to indulging in some much-needed downtime in the next couple days. We are co-hosting a garage sale tomorrow morning at our place, and then I'm looking forward to reading, watching movies, and a nap, or three. Happy summer solstice! xo

A few things that made my week...

This guy. Love him.

A "Welcome Summer!" bonfire with friends, s'mores, and music at Fiesta Island.

Chilling with my lady and some 'Say Yes to the Dress'

World Cup shopping, Flavio representing. Vamos Mexico!

Around Here

Hello there! It was a relaxing, fun week in this fair city. It really feels like summer around these parts, and it's delightful. My brother and nephew came for a visit last weekend, so we hit up some good eats, and Flavio took the first part of last week off to hang with me. Staycation bliss. This past weekend treated us well - dinner with Jan and Gary, a little shopping, and lots of time outside in this gorgeous weather. I am back to work today, but figured I'd pop in with some lunchtime procrastination.

Lately I've been:

Researching a possible anniversary camping trip for July. Beach or mountains?

Waiting for a good movie to come out, and excited to see this one in September.

Reading Operating Instructions and cracking up. Thank god I'm not the only one who catastrophizes everything.

Taking less pictures. Sometimes I just want to be in the moment.

Feeling nervous about the next 7 weeks. Summer school is always good, but so.much.work.

Feeling excited that might parents might be moving closer to us. At least temporarily.

Listening to bits of Passenger's new album. A lot. Buying it tomorrow.

Hoping I can come up with some actual blog posts that might be useful or informative to others. I'm in a blogging slump. It's just so sunny out, I don't want to be on my computer. We shall see.

Waiting to go home at 4PM to play with my little lady. See her sweet new summer 'do below.

Happy week. xo

Before and after.

We've been into playing cards and board games in the evenings. Feels like summer camp.

I interviewed my mother in law about her dad, professional soccer player Rodolfo Torres. Facinating. Blurry photo, but isn't Flavio his clone?

We celebrated National Doughnut Day last week with an early early morning date.

Noted on a Friday

Well, I did it. The Spring semester is over. Woot! I had really great students this time around, and the end is always bittersweet, but I am looking forward to a little time off before the summer session starts. It wasn't a terribly busy work week, so I'm not sure where all my time went... Actually, that's a lie. I've been busy working my way through three seasons of Call the Midwife (so sad it's over!);  we drank and jacuzzi'd and brunched with friends for Memorial Day weekend; Guiri and I have spent hours in the sunshine; and we've been hitting up some new restaurants (Circa, meh; Brooklyn Girl, delightful; Queenstown Public House, love!). Other than that, looking forward to ringing in June (OMG) with a visit from my brother and nephew tonight and having the next 10 days off. I hope you have a great weekend. xo

A few random fun moments from this week...

Sunday morning football at the park.

Park followed by a new ritual: heavenly croissants and good, caffeinated coffee at Cafe Madeleine.

Channeling our Mexico trip with this sweet papaya.

Guiri waits for dad every evening.

The best dinner: a cheese platter made from whatever you have in the house.

Noted on a Friday

This was a let's-just-get-through-it kinda week. The end of the semester is always my busiest time (grading and meetings and more grading) and Flavio has been slammed, so I couldn't be happier about the three-day weekend ahead. My plans are having no plans at all and I can't wait to disconnect, relax, and see what fun pops up in the next few days. Happy (looong) weekend. xo

A few little things that made my week...

Celebrating my half-birthday last Sunday with half a leftover, defrosted cake - delicious.

Cake accompanied by this classic. "I got worms."

An after-work walk past our neighborhood's heavenly wall o'jasmine. Smells like summer.

I'm excited about the burgeoning blackberries in a neighbor's yard.

Dog-friendly dining at Carnitas' Snack Shack. Guiri recommends the pork belly.

Margs & Salsa Verde

I am married to a wonderful man. This man can cook. This man is Mexican. This man has taught me to cook some amazing Mexican food. To celebrate all those things, and the fact that it's been 75 degrees here, I decided to bring back Happy Hour at Home with a taste of summer in the winter: strong margaritas and homemade salsa verde. In other words, a fiesta.

Flavio taught me to make salsa and his mom taught him. The legit method is to roast your tomatillos, onions and jalapeno in cast iron, which works great, but is hell on your skillet and horrible to clean up. So, we finally got smart and realized you can roast everything on a foil-lined baking sheet and the whole process is smoke and mess-free. Orale!

Salsa Verde

Measurements here are obviously estimates, but you really can't mess this salsa up. Every time we make it it's slightly different, and that's part of its charm.

About a pound of tomatillos (maybe 7 - 8 total tomatillos, depending on size)

About 1/4 pound pearl onions

1 - 2 spicy jalapeno(s)

1/2 cup packed cilantro

lime juice to taste (about 2 Tbsp.)

Kosher salt
(You can also roast garlic and/or serrano peppers - I just didn't have them on hand)

Preheat broiler.

Pull off and discard tomatillo husks, rinse tomatillos and set aside. (Don't the husks look like little green ghosts? Delightful.) Set one tomatillo aside.

Place tomatillos (except one), jalapeno and onions on baking sheet lined with foil and broil for 5 minutes, or until charred. Flip everything over and broil the other side until charred, about 5 minutes. The tomatillos should be soft. Let everything cool.

Pop the onions out of their skins. Remove jalapeno stem.

In a food processor, combine peeled onions, charred jalapeno, charred tomatillos, any juice on the baking sheet, the reserved uncharred tomatillo, and the cilantro and pulse until it reaches salsa consistency. Stir in lime juice and salt to taste. 

I hope you have a spicy weekend! :)

Funfetti

Flavio and Guiri are still sleeping and I am up early, sipping coffee, baking these funfetti cupcakes topped w/ mascarpone-vanilla icing to bring to an end-of-summer picnic we're going to today. So festive! Just looking at them makes me happy.

These are the last non-paleo treats we'll be seeing for a while. We joined a 30-day healthy life challenge with our gym, and we start tomorrow. More soon. xo

Double Rainbow

I am not an early bird but my new schedule has me up before the crack of dawn, Monday - Friday. This morning I felt exhausted, dark clouds made our usually sunny house dim, so clutching my coffee, I dragged my drowsy, grumpy self out to the car to head to class. Upon pulling out of the driveway, I looked up to see a bright double rainbow! And a small flock of white birds flying in front. I screeched on the breaks, jumped out of the car, snapped a photo, and ran inside to get Flavio. The two of us stood on the porch admiring it, and the whole experience made me inexplicably happy. Rainbows are a rarity here - I can't remember the last time I saw one - so the colorful arches made this morning feel special and different and as a consequence, the whole day felt magical.  I've decided it was symbolic: After a long week, it was a bright reminder to open my eyes, cheer up, and celebrate the beauty all around. Have a great weekend.

Weekending

We labored this Labor Day weekend, but enjoyed some fun, too.

Saturday I was aglow with the imminent prospect of fall and in the excitement of the changing season, decided it was time to take action in my closet. I started the clean-out early in the morning and by noon was finally finished, and dripping with sweat. Fall is definitely not here and Saturday was the stickiest, most humid day yet. I loaded everything up and drove it over to Goodwill in my air conditioned car. As always, it felt good to get rid of stuff. A couple observations from my closet clean-out: I tried on a vintage dress I bought in college when I was much skinnier, and had to come to terms with the fact that I will probably never be that size again. It pained me to give it away. God, undergraduate stress, living on top ramen, and darting all over campus must do wonderful things for your figure. Also, I realized I was getting rid of a lot less stuff this year. Thanks to our financial fast, I am no longer buying cheap fabrics a la Forever 21 and instead have been investing in fewer, higher-quality items. Ah, the realities of aging - better clothes but in a larger size.

Sunday we couldn't take the heat anymore and decided to go to Flavio's air-conditioned office to get some work done for the busy week ahead. We brought a little floor picnic, put on some music and worked away on our computers as we basked in the air-controlled heaven of his empty branch. It was actually kind of fun. Saturday night we watched Breaking Bad episodes and cooked dinner.

Can I go off on a nerdy tangent about Breaking Bad? It is so not the kind of show I would normally watch - I can't stand violence, drugs, etc. so it's completely out of my usual genre - but it's the psychology, the moral ambiguity, and the situational ethics that have sucked me in. I love its overall commentary on the current travesty of our healthcare system, reminding us that with expensive privatized medicine regular people may have to choose between hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancer treatments or the financial well-being of their families. It is dark and existential and prompts questions about moralism versus nihilism, questionable protagonists versus anti-heroes, loyalty versus law, and ultimately asks: Are we all breaking bad?  It's visceral and brilliantly written. I'm sad it's the last season.

Anywho, this morning we got up early for CrossFit, went with some gym friends for coffee and then spent most of the day at the beach to let our furry friend cool off in the ocean. Now we've got a pot of chili simmering on the stove and we're sipping on icy beers. It's been a nice day.

Yikes. I've said too much. A few randoms from this weekend...

Coronado on Labor Day:

More sunsets from our porch. Are you sick of them yet? I can't get enough. Every evening brings a new miracle.

Summer Favorites

What a crazy week this has been! Early mornings, fresh new students, fun but loooong days, and a few late nights have me feeling totally spent. Thank goodness it's a long weekend ahead. Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer (where did the time go?!) so I've been thinking back on the last few months, remembering some of my favorite moments. We got through most of my summer to-do list, went on an adventure to the Grand Canyon, enjoyed a mini-getaway in Mexico and spent a wonderful week at my parents', but I think my favorite summer moments were the simple weekly rituals that developed at home. Here are a few of my favorite happenings from Summer 2013.

Nearly every summer evening after work, the three of us have taken a walk together. Sometimes Flavio and I talk about our days. Sometimes we just enjoy the evening light. 

The sunsets this summer have been stunning!  Monday brought this beauty:

We've enjoyed many of the sunsets over evening drinks on our porch, thus starting our new tradition of Happy Hour at Home.  This week we mixed up more Dark 'n' Stormys and deemed them our Official Summer Drink of 2013.

I spent a big chunk of the last few months teaching online and every day, Guiri would faithfully sit at my feet as I spent hours typing away. It was nice to have such adorable company.

This time of year brings some of my favorite fruits and berries, which make for excellent desserts. Here, here and here are some of the fruity summer treats I baked this season. Last night we went on a date, dined al fresco in this non-fresco weather (it's been insanely hot and humid here), and then came home for ice-cold blueberry smoothies. Sometimes the simplest desserts are the best.

Summer, I will miss you.

I hope you have a fun (long!) weekend. xo

Weekending

This is all I have for you photo-wise. This single, delicious but lonely photo of Flavio's gelato was the only thing I managed to capture this weekend. I should be fired from this blog. Despite my lack of evidence, it's been a good couple of days. Friday night we went for pizza and beer at Luigi's - San Diegans: their pizza is awesome! Saturday I met a friend for breakfast at Parkhouse, did chores and ran some errands, and then met another friend at the dog park for some afternoon puppy play, before heading to Small Bar for mules and girl talk. Flavio had to work Saturday, but it was nice to have some time to catch up with lovely ladies and get chores done. This morning we had a much-needed sleep-in, made breakfast in our jammies, lounged in a Breaking Bad coma for a couple hours, then emerged to take our lady to the park before stopping for some afternoon gelato. We're currently watching Step Brothers (ha!) and shortly we're going to make this for dinner. The plan is to enjoy it on our porch with prosecco and the sunset. It's not over yet but this weekend felt short, and sweet.

It seems there's been a subtle shift in seasons over the past few days. There's football on TV, the days are getting slightly shorter, the evenings are cooling down, and I am back to school. Fall always gets into my headspace. I am perennially on a school-year cycle and the start of a new academic year feels like a beginning, a season of change. So while I'm dreaming of butternut squash soup, chilly nights with warm blankets and other autumnal delights, I'm still trying to savor the last bits of summer with drinks al fresco, evening walks in the sunshine and quality time with friends. Fall, my favorite, will be here soon enough.

PS. This is not at all related, but if you are in a long-term relationship, or think you might be in a long-term relationship, you might enjoy this beautifully written cautionary tale. This woman's blog post is heartbreaking and raw and wise: The True Story of a Seven Year Marriage.

A slice of Peach (Cake) a day keeps the doctor away.

{peaches, morning light}

For a person who's supposed to be on vacation, today was way too hectic. I have a masochistic habit of scheduling all my not-so-fun personal appointments (doctor/dental check-ups) on the same day in an effort to knock them all out at once, and I always regret it as I am running around town like a maniac. But, they're all done! And thankfully I am healthy as a horse, albeit 10 lbs. heavier than I was last year. :/  Woops.  I knew I had a long day of boring doctors' offices in front of me, so I started the morning doing my favorite AM zen activity, which happens to be exactly what the "oh!-you're-10-lbs-heavier" doctor did not order: baking this peach-blueberry cake. In my defense, I am not much of a cake person (cookies for the win) so Flavio, with his annoying muscle mass and lightning-speed metabolism, will probably eat most of this fruit-filled confection. And, I reduced the sugar considerably, because fresh fruit recipes do not need much. To add to my cake-eating defense, I went to the gym today. Furthermore, my fragrant and gorgeous farmers' market peaches and blueberries were just begging to be baked up. It is peach season, after all, and that must be celebrated accordingly dammit! So there, doctor.

I have made this summer cake for the past couple years and I love it because it looks impressive, but takes no more than 30 minutes to put together. It's sort of a cake-pie hybrid, with a crust that is reminiscent of shortbread, and the whole thing celebrates summer fruit beautifully. I confess: I might have had a wee bite tonight after dinner. And perhaps I'll have a sliver in the morning with my coffee. You know, all in the name of vacation, good health, and summer fruit. Tomorrow, I run.

 

Weekending

Our ladydog has an infected hot spot on her head and is reluctantly wearing the cone of shame, so we spent much of the weekend hanging out with her. She hasn't quite figured out her coordination with the new appendage, and keeps banging into walls and doorways, making us crack up. Poor girl.

{yep, her expression says it all}

Friday evening we took a long walk around our 'hood and came home to a pretty twilight sky as the three of us snuggled on the couch to re-watch Into the Wild. We saw it when it was first released (7 years ago) and we both agree the messages are different and more powerful this time around. Such a great movie.

{evening walk, evening light}

{twilight sky}

Flav worked Saturday, and I spent the day doing final grades (I am home free on Tuesday, people!!!), and cleaning. It was strangely cool that evening, so we went for pho at our favorite place. 

{yellow flowers, guest room}

{pho}

We woke up early this morning, made breakfast, and went for a hike up Cowles' Mountain. Guiri was stoked as she got to hike sans cone, met some dog-friends and human characters along the way, and enjoyed treats at the top. Human characters included a man who in all earnestness asked how we "painted Guiri's spots on/what dye did we use"...?; and two adorable little black boys who said she was "a beautiful African-American dog." :) Mountain top + Sunday morning + my little family = pretty great.

{treat}

{summit}

Flavio made some truly excellent burgers for dinner, and the rest of this evening has been dedicated to watching Breaking Bad while rubbing our fur child's belly. She is one pampered pooch.