Photo Friday! {Portland Recap}

I know this should have been posted last week, but I honestly forgot all about it.

We saw this sign and a lot (but not all of them had that koala sticker on the head). I think they should post these signs in San Francisco, too.

One of the first places we went to was Moonstruck Chocolate Company. Their chocolates were good, but some were just too sweet to want more.

Speaking of chocolate, we went to Stumptown Coffee, where we tried this hot chocolate, and of course, their coffee. It was as good as the small local (in SF) coffee shops such as Blue Bottle or Four Barrel.

We also went to Roscoe’s, and tried the stouts they had on tap that week. Mike got the taster pictured, and I got the double chocolate. (Yes, more chocolate. Note: this was not all in one day.)

It was Purim while we were in Portland, so eating a hamentashen was required. (Though we probably would’ve gotten one anyway.) This was from Kenny and Zuke’s Deli. We also ate their matzo ball soup and latkes; all was good.If you are following my Facebook feed, you might have seen this picture already. It is of the tea I got at breakfast at Songbird Cafe one day. I liked the way the tea bag was floating in the mug; so pretty! Other Portland places of note that we went to: (a list can be found on my Foursquare)

• Pok Pok (Thai restaurant)
• Oregon Zoo (baby elephant!)
• Pine State Biscuits (small place, good for brunch, worth the wait)
• The Observatory (sweet cocktails, games, food)
• Tanuki (Sake bar, food)
• VooDoo Doughnut (long wait, go for the raised doughnut)
• Powell’s City of Books (go to the one downtown)
• Hanoi Kitchen (Vietnamese restaurant)
• Tea Zone and Camellia Lounge (LOTS of tea choices)
• Salt & Straw Ice Cream (try the olive oil, awesome mugs!)

And…that’s all for my Portland recap! It was really a fun trip and I can’t wait to go back!

Photo Friday!

I have finally recovered from our lovely Valentine’s celebration, so I bring you this Photo Friday! post on Sunday. There are some more nature pictures; these are from our Buena Vista park hike last week and there are some photos from our trip up North, to Healdsburg, CA.

From top to bottom: various views and flowers and plants seen along the paths of Buena Vista park in San Francisco. That log says, “We were raised to see life as fun…take it if you can.” Can anyone help me identify any of those flowers? I would greatly appreciate your guesses in the comments! Following the park pictures: black cod, crab cake (from Willi’s Seafood, Healdsburg) and a spinning dessert display at the bakery we went to for brunch (I believe it was called Downtown Bakery & Cafe).

We had a fun Valentine’s celebration, and hope you did, too!  We’re going to be in Portland next week (Thursday-Monday) and I will post stuff after then. In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook to stalk us see where we are/were and pictures. Have a good week!

Photo Friday!

This past week, I walked around my neighborhood, saw lots of great nature and enjoyed the sunshine in the beginning of February. Usually, it is cold and rainy, but lately it has been quite spring-like.

For those of you on the East coast experiencing snow storm Nemo, I hope you enjoyed these sunny nature pictures. Maybe some of you are feeling inspired to come to California?! 🙂

Photo Friday!

It’s back! I intend to recap my week (or so) with photos every Friday. Since I’ve been “gone” for a while, this post will be longer than most. Enjoy!

We cooked a lot of dinners at home over the past few months. This includes some pasta and roasted veggies and a lot of brown butter!

and some Chinese inspired dishes: tofu & pork stir fry & spring rolls

There were, of course, many desserts involved. This included, from top to bottom, honey whole wheat muffins, S’mores pie, a cookie swap that included reverse crinkle cookies, homemade granola, a New Year’s Eve party involving decorating cookies with homemade stencils, and some pig-shaped cookies (that I’ll tell you more about soon).

Lastly, we went to Las Vegas for my birthday (in November) and ate lots of food (and drank some beer) including that bottle of Matilda and a chicken salad-salad at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant inside the MGM, some chocolate desserts at Max Brenner’s, and more chocolate (in cake form, with a macaron on top) from Jean Philippe Patisserie.

Photo Friday!

(As I have sat on my butt on my day off not made time to edit these photos, I apologize for what could be a post full of blurry photos for a short post, but I did not want to miss another week.) Enjoy the week in review! 🙂

First up, I made an apple tarte tartin for the first time.

It was made for this literal house party, consisting of only people who currently live in, have previously lived in, and frequently visit this house. (Ahem, that last part is there to include yours truly.)

Finished product. Half was finished at the party, half was finished at dinner that night.

Plum cake that was Mike’s contribution to dinner that night. This was the second time I had seen him make it and the second time I was not allowed to see or really know what was in the recipe or even stir any of the ingredients. I guess every relationship needs some secrets. 😉

The dinner that I keep speaking of was Rosh Hashanah dinner that I hinted at last time.

As an attempt to visit and know more about the city we call home, Mike and I decided to make it a habit to have brunch at a new neighborhood every weekend ’til we hit them all. This week was Hayes Valley.

I have become obsessed with the “latte art” or, since I only have hot chocolates, “steamed milk art”. This is from the same Blue Bottle cup from above.

My first time at Absinthe for brunch. I got the two eggs any style (mine will always be scrambled unless I can get over my fear dislike of runny yolks), with toast, sausage (house-made), and “the best potatoes” as quoted by Mike before we even got there. Notice there are three potatoes? I ate only one. MAYBE one and a half. Someone learned the “reach over to the other person’s plate” trick from my family (read: dad) a little too quickly for my taste. (Especially since this is before Mike met him!) I did get to try his duck hash, which was pretty good, too. 🙂

Lastly, a picture of the parts from the Lost Crates package from Joy the Baker last month. Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour, and some vanilla beans and extract from Beanilla. Once I figure out what to make with all of that, I will post the recipe.