connections

The other night was spent chatting with a dear friend at a lovely local wine bar in el dorado hills, called Wine Konnection. We lucked out by being the only ones in there. The ambience is perfect, the room is set up lounge-style with bar stools, sofas and tables. We were asked a series of questions and had wines recommended to us. I decided to do a sparkling white and ended up with a wonderful Italian Prosecco called: "Bele Casel Prosecco Montello E Colli Asolani Italy". It's not as dry as a champagne, and to my unrefined palette it tasted like a combination of hard cider and white grape juice.

via bele casel

My friend also ordered a white wine, hers was mildly sparkling, a really sweet dessert type wine called: "Castello del Poggio Moscato d'Asti".

They do 3 oz tastes, 6 oz glasses, or you can purchase the whole bottle. They have late night appetizers for $4, full dinners and amazing desserts for $5. We shared a dessert upon hearing the impressive culinary background of their pastry chef, Tara. We had the gelato sundae of the day which consisted of a toffee-apple crumble, gelato, butterscotch sauce, homemade whipped cream, white chocolate sauce and crunched up oatmeal raisin cookies. DELICIOUS.

It was a wonderful night, I can't wait to go back next time I'm home!

oh come let us adore him

Even though my parents got a foot of snow about 2 weeks ago, it's going to be a very cold but dry christmas here in northern california.

Watched "White Christmas" for the first time. Definitely hoping that I will spend a christmas back east some day. "Oh, Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, with all that snow." I miss the days of Bing Crosby with lovely singing, impressive dancing and beautiful dresses.

It seems like a lot of areas are getting christmas snowfalls. Like Paris.

Beautiful paris in the snow photos taken by Alix at the cherry blossom girl. I definitely wouldn't mind Paris in the winter. I've been reveling in the 40-50 degree weather we've been having here. Snow covering ancient buildings and monuments would be just heavenly.

Happy Birthday Jesus, and Merry Christmas!

Tuscan tasting

There's this little Italian boutique I've been dying to try out. Mia Sorella in El Dorado Hills carries specialty olive oils and balsamic vinegars imported from all over the world. Now that I'm home I was able to visit and do a tasting. Let me tell you, I never knew olive oil and balsamic vinegar could taste so amazing.

 The long room is lined with metal canisters of oils and glass jars of vinegars. One of the owners will recommend a pairing and then combine a pump of each into a small plastic cup. Each type has recommended dishes to go along with it. There were so many fascinating flavors. There was a balsamic vinegar in nearly every fruit infusion you could imagine. There were all different strengths of olive oil, light to spicy to fruity.

My favorites were:

Meyer lemon olive oil and strawberry balsamic

(would be great on a salad, very light and great citrus flavor)

Blood orange olive oil and dark chocolate balsamic

(very rich and decadent, would be delicious over ice cream, fruit or even a spinach salad with oranges)

Tuscan herb olive oil and traditional 18-year balsamic

(very full, hearty italian flavor, would be delicious over pasta, with bread, or with meat)

They have various size bottles that you can purchase, but right now for the holidays they have a special on mini bottles for $9 so I picked up some christmas gifts! I would love to have a tasting party sometime, with breads and salads and meats and desserts to drizzle them over.

The shop also carries gourmet pastas, stuffed olives, herbs, soaps and locally made artisan ceramics.

(photos courtesy of the mia sorella website)

p.s. check out the recipes on their site!

Bon Appetit!

I finally got around to watching Julie & Julia this weekend. One one level it simply appealed to the sappy romantic side of me. But on another level my mind was being pulled in a million different directions
a. can time travel count as a part of this blog? Because I'd really love to visit paris in the late 40s/early 50s. yes please.
b. I remember watching julia child's cooking show late at night at with my grandmother. Meryl Streep sounds exactly like her. she's an amazing actress. Was she truly that joyous, positive and loving? I feel like Julie, I need to be more like that. To bring out the best in everyone, to not sweat the small stuff, even if that means dropping food on live television.
c. I CAN cook, if i have the patience and time. I've never attempted anything too crazy but I do want to try. I want to have sit-down meals with my future family.
d. I need to engage in more food-centric travels. Culinary experiences are very important to travels especially to places in other cultures and foreign lands. I'm sad to admit I erred on the side of budget-friendly and mostly safe when it came to trying foods in Europe.

Let's see, NEW things I tried?
-Traditional English Breakfast: consisting of beans, egg sunny side up/poached/ half a tomato, sausage (and not american style sausage), "bacon" (that was really just a fried slice of ham), and a mushroom.

(AWFUL, i'm sorry England. I love you to death, but the only native dishes that are good are served at tea houses and consist of sandwiches, scones and cakes)

-Indian Food: of course we ordered the NON-spicy items. and I love naan. but we already knew I'm a bit of a carboholic.
-English Breakfast Tea: I know it's nothing crazy, but I had never put milk in my tea before! and I sadly didn't discover this until the last week at Cambridge, so I had been ordering peppermint or chai tea the whole time.

The rest of the time we stuck to standards. The best meals I had were Italian. There was a spectacular hole-in-the-wall Italian place called "il positano" in Edinburgh. In Bath we scored at another delicious pasta place. We ordered pizza and creme brulee(the best EVER) at a french restaurant in Montmartre where the waitress didn't even speak english. (and of course we ate crepes for pretty much the rest of our meals in paris...)

In Italy I was content to eat pasta/pizza three times a day.

And gelato. Oh gelato. I could never get tired of that.

The other restaurants that stuck out were Chinese. Typical American right? Chinese in Soho, London (duh),

Chinese in Edinburgh, Chinese in Dublin (with these odd prawn flavored styrofoam-y chips. The Europeans love their prawns! I did not try the prawn cocktail potato "crisps" in England.) Plus an amazing noodle place in Cambridge called "Dojo's". Discovered far too late into our stay there, it served every type of asian noodle dish you could possibly imagine, was super cheap and fast.

Things I didn't try:
curry, spicy Indian, Falafal, basically any other ethnic dish (which London is FULL of), any truly authentic french dishes, no haggis or black pudding for me in Scotland.
(why must UK food be bland, starchy, greasy and gross??? - case in point "sausage and chips" in Scotland...I had fish and chips in London and it made me sick)

In my future travels I would love to plan a whole trip around just eating, not sightseeing, just restaurants. I would love to go somewhere that offers one day to week long cooking classes. I know I don't have to go far, I've read about places in even Napa Valley that do so. I loved in Julie & Julia when Paul asks Julia what she really enjoys and she says "eating. and I'm really good at it." I enjoy eating with company, relaxing and slow meals, enjoying and savoring every moment and taste.

venezia

how can i possibly focus on studying or be content with orange county when there are photos like this floating about?

(via this is glamorous)

it would be nice to go back at a time where i won't sweat buckets.
gelato helps though :) (we ate our weight in gelato...soooooo goooood)



(via apt #34)

a kid and a grown up at the same time

before i decided to study civil engineering i thought about pursuing architecture. buildings absolutely fascinate me. (europe killed me, especially with the buildings that were about twice as old as AMERICA). each one so different and unique and beautiful yet so functional. then i realized my lack of artistic skills and pursued the more mathematical, black and white side of the process. but i still admire architecture immensely. which is why i totally geeked out when i saw these:


Lego brand "Architecture" sets featuring a couple of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright's designs.

The first is "Falling Water" which is located in Pennsylvania. It's open to the public and it has been on my must-see list for a while. I still remember my Papa giving me a calendar of Frank Lloyd Wright designs when I was about 12...which reminds me, I should find that.

The second is the Guggenheim Museum located in Manhattan, New York. I think that puts me at about reason #394875 to visit New York now. I WILL get there some day.

(lego goodness via anthropologie.com)

el canyon grande

did i ever tell you i've been to the grand canyon? I went the summer after i graduated high school while i was volunteering at a summer camp in Arizona. We drove over at dawn and it was glorious.

there are no words to describe that place. it's a giant carved out hole in the earth. there's a million shades of red/orange/brown. it makes you feel really really small. it's magnificent.


I threw a penny in.

some people's pennies didn't quite make it

my work crew ladies. i miss this summer, it was amazing! (that's me being cool in stripes)


and i will leave you with a quote from one of the boys:
"doesn't this place just make you want to YELL!!! .... and litter?"

my motto

"The man who tires of London tires of life. For there is in London all that life can afford." -Samuel Johnson

wishing I was exploring those ancient cobblestone streets instead of studying for finals...

must-see

I'm still kicking myself for missing out on the YSL exhibit at San Francisco's de Young. But I have found an opportunity for another amazing fashion exhibit.

Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica is featuring "the Century in Fashion" until March, and it is on my to-do list.
Photographs from as early as the 20s taken by photographers such as the late Irving Penn, with subjects like Coco Chanel will be on display.




Another exhibit is "Lillian Bassman: Women". I'd never heard of her before, but I've seen her images before. She captured the elegance and pure beauty of the 40s and 50s so well. (Gia Caneli writes an excellent post about her work).

Lillian Bassman recognized the loss of elegance that came with the late 60s and 70s and became so disenchanted that she almost destroyed all of her life's work of fashion photographs. What a gift to be able to see some that were salvaged years later!

hop in the car

Finals make me want to escape even more than usual. Something simple like a last minute road trip would do the trip. California is perfect for road trips. There's SO MUCH in this state, it's incredibly diverse and you can find just about anything you're looking for. Beaches, forests, deserts, mountains, snow, you name it. Two years ago for spring break my cousin and I hopped in the car and headed north up the Pacific Coast Highway. It was lovely.

We stayed in Santa Cruz and visited Monterey. I believe it was two nights, three days. There's the infamous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Plenty of rides and terrible food. It was still a bit freezing in March so we didn't get any beach time. Downtown Santa Cruz is fabulous. Walnut Cafe, Kianti's and Pizza My Heart are great for munching and there's plenty of shopping and a great movie theater to keep you entertained. We drove up to the University of California, Santa Cruz and I kind of wish I had applied there, it's really beautiful, on top of a hill surrounded by coastal woodlands.





Monterey is becoming of my favorite places. James and I stopped there on the drive north to go home last year. I definitely prefer northern california beach towns to southern california. Maybe it's the cool weather and morning fog. Monterey's cannery row will keep you occupied with all the shops and galleries. Perfect for a relaxing meander around town. Of course there's the Monterey Bay aquarium. So fascinating, I recommend it. I have so much more exploring to do here!




A friend was going to Cal State Monterey Bay and recommended this hidden trail that lead us straight to these giant dunes and secret beach. It's a little secret.
Heading North on the freeway, exit CSUMB. Turn Left at the 2nd traffic light. Then Left at the 4 way stop intersection. Park at the freeway overpass bridge and take the trail out to the dunes! It goes on for miles and we only saw a couple people.



No California road trip is complete without In N Out. Seriously, if you don't live in the southwestern U.S. you're missing out. It's all about the secret menu. I recommend fries well done (that means extra crispy!)

sweet thing

griffith park is a lovely little gem tucked away in los angeles. Large mature trees and meandering trails in the hills adjacent to the los feliz area of hollywood make it easy to forget you're in a major metropolitan area. Personally I find it romantic, for more reasons than one. Especially now...it is very near and dear to my heart as you will soon find out.

For my 2nd anniversary with the boy in 2008, he surprised me with a picnic in griffith park. complete with a fancy picnic basket, sparkling cider and pudding cups. He's really quite wonderful.






But then, this past weekend he one-upped himself. After a lovely trip to griffith observatory (separate post about that soon!), he pulled over onto a street within the park, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said YES! of course. Griffith Park will forever be a romantic place for me.

We were far too excited to properly document the night, so all i have are some LA skyline photos from the observatory. but they're a beautiful memory nonetheless: