fall

my office is in our old neighborhood in san francisco. once a week i work out of that office and i really look forward to visiting all my old haunts for lunch. it’s the highlight of my day.

we moved from sf to berkeley last october so this summer was our first official summer in berkeley. while i'm nostalgic for our life in sf and our neighborhood, i certainly didn't miss the fog this summer.

and now, fall is upon us. i hate when the time changes. hate.

while i much prefer the heat, there are some things about fall i love, like halloween, cozy weekends, and comfort food.

here are two ladies who inspired me to make soup last night.

Mushroom Soup with Gabrielle.
Cauliflower Mac and Cheese with Frances.

bracelets

my sweet friend jane, who i met when we were 16 and became friends with instantly, has been a friend for almost 20 years. she is also one of my very favorite people in the world. she's my go-to for book recommendations and one of the few people i love to talk to on the phone -- we can yap for hours.

jane worked in a bead store when we were younger. she taught me a ton about different beads and techniques. we spent many a night seed beading and wire working. 16-17 years later, i still have all of the beads i bought way back when. and i've added to the collection often over the years.

i got inspired this weekend and made some bracelets.






i put one on gabe last night but he took it off. send me an email with "bracelet" in the subject, to tmcolla at yahoo dot com and i'll send you a bracelet of my choice, at no cost.


read jane's excellent blog here.

food

on friday night we had ollie's best bud and his wonderful family over for dinner. the kids had fun and us parents did, too.

we barbecued hots and hams, made a green salad, and i made pasta ponza. (people seem to love her or hate her, but i'm a fan of giada. i find her recipes to be super simple and always tasty. gabe didn't love the pasta, but i did. two helpings loved it.)



here's the recipe if you're interested.

Ingredients

Butter for greasing
2 cups (12 ounces) red cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups (12 ounces) yellow cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/2 cup Italian-style seasoned breadcrumbs
1 pound ziti or other short tube-shaped pasta
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 ounces) Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish. Set aside.

Place the tomatoes, capers, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in the prepared baking dish. Toss to coat. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the tomato mixture. Drizzle the top with olive oil and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is golden. Cool for 5 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.

Place the pasta in a large serving bowl. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the pasta. Add the cheese and toss well. Thin out the sauce with a little pasta water, if needed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

recipe via food network.

after reading through the recipe, i realize i did 1/4 cup breadcrumbs, instead of half cup. next time i make it, i want to add garlic, onion and zucchini.

speaking of food, two of my favorite people started a food blog. their names are gabrielle and craig. these two folks used to live upstairs from us in the city. it was always a treat to eat dinner with them. they're both great cooks. they're my favorite people, along with gabe, to dine with.

seriously, i love these two to pieces. they're some of the sweetest, kindest, and coolest people i know. but enough about my love for them, go see for yourself. e is for eats. read them, i promise you won't be sorry.

p.s., the E shelf pictured on their blog? it's full of food they canned.

you know the kind of friends that you can go for a long time without seeing, but once you do see them, it's almost like no time has lapsed, you just pick up where you left off? i'm super lucky to have friends like this.

this past weekend i hung out with one special lady who i'd not seen in a month and one special lady who i'd not seen in almost two years. and it was lovely to be around these two incredible women.

as a bonus, i got to meet a gorgeous 8-week old baby and catch up with an awesome 4-year old.

also notable, i also learned how to eat brisket this weekend. i'm a changed woman.

my lovely friend c's wonderful husband showed us why white bread comes with bbq.

i will never eat bbq the same way again.

take a slice of white bread and slather it in tangy bbq sauce. cover the surface with dill pickles and layer slices of brisket on top of pickles. fold in half. eat. repeat.


(i added a little bit of slaw to mine, too.)



next up, queso.

thursday i took ollie to the farmers market. we didn't get around to buying any veggies because he was more into exploring. there was a lady sitting in the middle of the grass playing guitar. no one else was really paying attention, but ollie sure loved her. he got his groove on. i bought o a guitar -- a purple guitar, his choice of course.



friday we had a wonderful dinner at lococo's with my cousin katie, her husband, brian and my cousin megan and her bf, matt. katie's mom is my dad's sister and megan's dad is my dad's brother. we laughed a lot.


saturday we took ollie to the lawrence hall of science to see the dinosaur exhibit. he loved it. i couldn't tell who was more excited, gabe or ollie.



and last night, our friends maegan and ella who are visiting from nyc came and had dinner. FUN! ollie cried when it was time for ella to leave and asked to see her this morning before school and tonight after school.

good stuff

+ 9 months after a coworker recommended it, i finally had roli roti's porchetta sandwich on saturday. pork loin, crispy pork belly, greens, and onion marmalade on an acme roll. i was so thirsty afterwards. and tired. i took a nap and basked in the afterglow.

+ daylight savings time. i've been looking forward to daylight savings time in our new house. so excited to be able to take walks with ollie after work and sit outside after ollie goes to bed.

++ bonus: interesting read about daylight savings time here.

+ i tried the easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe this weekend. i'll post it later.

+ today i came home to find a box on my front porch. it contained a bunch of sweet gifts and a thoughtful note from a dear friend. so sweet. made me smile.

+ ollie seems to have adjusted to his new room at school and he's back to his usual, happy self.

home

my friend jane moved home after living in europe for 10 years. i'm looking forward to hanging out with her more than once a year!

i've always loved jane's writing. she's blogging here.

happy birthday

saturday night i went to a friend's birthday party.

g had other plans and i was on my own.

the party was a dress up party. it started at eight. i finally settled on an outfit at 9. and then i called a cab. by the time i even got through to a cab company, it was after nine. by the time i got to the party, i was two hours late.

it was a really good party: happy, friendly people and amazing food and drink.

his husband toasted him and then my friend got up to say a few words.

it was emotional for him. he recently lost his mother. he told the story i'm about to tell you. i keep thinking about it. it made my eyes well up with tears on saturday night and again tonight.

when he was in 5th grade, he moved to the bay area with his mom and sister. he didn't know anyone.

he wanted a batman party. (now he says it may or may not have had something to do with michael keaton.)

so, his mom threw him a batman party.

there were two fifth grade classes at his school. they invited everyone in both classes.

only his neighbors showed up. my friend said they probably had no choice.

his mom proceeded to throw him a batman party as if there were two fifth grade classes there. (a good lesson for me. mental note. noted.)

at this point my friend stopped telling his story, and looked up, trying not to cry. there were people standing everywhere: in the dining room, in the living room, on the stairs, all craning their necks to see him.

he continued. he said, that he had no one come to his birthday party when he was in 5th grade and now, on saturday night, he looked around the room and he was surrounded by people who loved him.

and it was so true, there were so many people from so many areas of my friend's life there: his friend from 6th grade, his aunt, his cousin, his husband, former coworkers, friends...

it gave me goosebumps.

today is my friend's real birthday. i hope it is a magical year for him. i'm pretty sure it will be.

happy birthday. xo

happy

sunday morning walks to the farmer's market with my guys.

blueberries from the farmer's market. they taste like candy.

leonard cohen, live in london. yes. (on tv.)

an unexpected gift in the mail from a friend. thank you, christina.

an upcoming family rafting trip. watch out river.

seeing friends and family.

watching my brothers hang with ollie.

amano jembrana milk chocolate.

what we did in austin

all week g, o and i have been in austin, texas for the american cheese society conference.

we came early so we could see some of austin and hang with some special peeps.

four of those peeps included g's uncle and aunt, who reside in houston but were in austin for the first three days of our stay. they're super cool people, and their two beautiful kids are smart, funny and all around good kids. i wish we got to see them more.

we also got to see our old friend christina, who used to live in sf. she moved here a little over 3 years ago. since then, she's married a really sweet guy and had a gorgeous little son, who we got to meet. oh boy is he sweet and cute. seriously, i don't know how christina says no to her little guy. he's got big brown eyes, gorgeous sun-streaked hair and a smile that melts your heart.

we got to see some of austin, though after looking at the list below we mostly ate our way through austin. and shopped...

barton springs? there's nothing like it in san francisco. it's plain cool.

going on christina's recommendation we checked out uncommon objects on south congress. such a cool store. there are little (for lack of a better word) "stalls" that have little vignettes of rooms created. furniture, letters, glassware, pictures, shirts, jewelry...they have it all. i could've spent hours in here.

queso? i know so! i mean yes, please. if it weren't so hot here i would've bathed in the stuff. it's magic.

shandies by the pool at the hotel san jose?
hello, relaxing! and tasty, too.

i mentioned the torchy's in a previous post, but i'll say it again: fried avocado tacos. hells yeah.

jo's coffee, located in the parking lot of our hotel. i think we ate here almost every morning. their espresso is just right and their breakfast burritos hit the spot.