adventure: sf - napa

left to right, from top:

1. crossing the golden gate (turns out i didn't take many photos inside s.f.) 2. so many beeootiful ideas to be had for my own patio... yeah old stone buildings are pretty nice too 3. long sunny walks in vineyard air 4. turns out distillery tastings are fun too!

5. all desserts should be served tasting-plate-style... and the Culinary Institute (CIA) should be in my town 6. oh did we mention the views? 7. guess how many bottles followed us home 8. rows n' rows of delight

9. there are some really fun optical effects that happen when you zip past lines of vines, not that you can tell from the picture. but i became fascinated by optically-buzzing intersection of lines that stakes made when passing quickly, and by the the windows of light at the far away ends of rows that would appear like flashes as you passed 10. vino... 11. yuccas and fountains and hills, oh my 12. so much good food, as all good trips should boast.

13. sun setting over another perfect day, though the days were shorter southward 14. long shadows and cranes when awaiting ferries after [mis]adventures 15. i would do an event here (look at the size of those barrels!)

16. when traveling always bring along beautiful, wonderful friends.

teaser return

it's been a long time since blogging... here's a teaser for a bigger, soon to arrive post.

for now if you want stories about goings on, you can read them here

what i'm doing this week...

i don't know what you're doing this week, but i hope you are having fun... and getting there on two wheels !

all this week i am out and about from the wee hours until dusk helping run what is shaping up to be yet another hugely successful Bike to Work Week. we are going through food and swag like nobody's business which is a good gauge of just how many cyclists are stopping by our events (despite the drizzly weather).

keep fingers crossed for ongoing good times, and do your sunshine dances. soon enough it will be time for life to return to normal.

good friends

i love cramming my apartment full of the people i like best in the world. i love my friends -- thanks for coming by last night.

cook's kitchen: midweek magic

okay, so by wednesday, in general, i have usually lost any desire to cook.

... except when i have bought some super colourful ingredients and come up with a super simple scheme in advance.






















check out those colours!!! what's that purple stuff? you had better believe that is some purple yam.

























whilst the root veggies (yam, carrot, parsnip) got friendly with some salt, pepper and herbs de provence in the 'ol cast iron, i had chicken already roasting away in the oven. the meat dish i call "sort of morrocan chicken" : basically i took some chicken thighs, coated them in olive oil, salt and pepper, laid them over top of eights of onion and apple (plus a couple smashed garlic cloves). i then sprinkled the whole deal lightly with cumin and cinnamon, and baked it in an aluminum foil covered dish at 400 for 30 minutes.






















half an hour later i was enjoying the delicious results.

what i most enjoyed: out of thin air i invented a meal plan that was ready in no time, really pretty, simple enough to be worth making for one (as was tonight's case) but easily scalable to feed extras next time. i mean how often can you get a meal that looks that good out of two pans and a cutting board?


p.s.

okay ...fine ...i have to admit it: the purple yams were actually disappointing. i found them super starchy tasting without much of the warm sweet flavours of a normal yam. but they do look awful pretty though, don't they?

an experience to remember

I have just returned from Memories and More. Now who thought putting 8,000 girls and women in a stadium overnight was the best way to celebrate Guiding's 100 year anniversary I don't know, but it certain was an experience none of us will soon forget.






















the calm before the storm, the girls kick off the birthday with a circle game...

















what we arrived to find. this picture was taken before everyone had arrived...






















this was probably the most fun anyone had that evening: 8,000 beach balls released into the crowd to be batted around for the remainder of the event (despite efforts to quash the activity)






















... and this was probably the least fun part of the event: actually figuring out how one sleeps 8,000 people in a stadium. visions of refugee-ism came to mind.

However - despite adult feelings towards everything that went down - the end of this story is that the girls seemed to really enjoy themselves. This is what appeared on CTV news.

onwards and upwards

vancouverage this weekend

a sleepover with 8,000 other people

sounds like concentration camp to me - fingers crossed for fun

also big developments in life in general. stay tuned...

in the meantime, an "A" line dress design + one more