A Halloween Wreath

One of our projects over the weekend was to make a burlap rag wreath. The inspiration is of course, Pinterest! At JoAnn's, we bought 2 yd of orange burlap to go with a foam wreath form that I had. 

The instructions I had were to cut strips of burlap, fold them, and pin them into the wreath. We would've needed a TON of pins and they were pricey so we tried a different route. We folded the burlap and used a screw driver to shove the burlap into the foam. 

We also put a squirt of blue in the screwdriver hole to keep the burlap in the foam. Getting all of these burlap strips into the wreath took awhile but it was worth it!

Here's our finished project! I love it!!

Here is our festive front door! I'm excited to keep the wreath and change out the bow for Thanksgiving. 

Sewing Time

Over the weekend, we took a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and got to work. 

Our Assistant

The expert seamstress teaching the novice. My Mom taught me how to thread the machine and do some basic sewing. 

We made a few pillow covers for the couch pillows, fixed a hole in a pair of yoga pants, and 

sewed a table runner. 

We had fun and I actually had some patience which is a nice for a change. 

Beyond sewing, we also tried a new place for dinner, Luca. 

It was really good! We will definitely be back. 

Of course, there was a lot of relaxing over the weekend, too. Evie was soooooo happy to see her Grandma and she wore herself out. 

An Exciting Visit

Last Thursday, we got quite a treat...my Mom came to visit!!!

I told Evie that I had a surprise for her so she was eagerly anticipating it all day. 

We drove down to SFO to pick up my Mom around 7pm!!

We had a big weekend planned including learning to use THIS

Sewing, crafts, and the HOCUS POCUS party!!!

Pretzel Chicken

On Monday night, I made a delicious chicken recipe - Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken. So easy, so good. 

I was inspired by this recipe but I ended up changing it up. Here is everything I did:

1. Dump some pretzels in your food processor to crunch them up

2. Set up 3 bowls - Flour, Store bought honey mustard, and the pretzel pieces

3. Dip the chicken in the flour, then in the honey mustard, then in the pretzels

4. Bake on 350 until the chicken reaches 165 degrees in temp

Enjoy!

I served this with baked asparagus and Rosemary Quinoa. So good!

Berkeley Sunday Streets

Sunday started off with me driving to SF for brunch with friends. It was a gorgeous day out in SF - sunny and warm with a hint of a Fall chill. I DID hit 49'ers traffic as people were crossing the bridge to make their way down to Candlestick. We have to remember to check their schedule when making plans and account for extra travel time. 

After brunch, I did some errands to get ready for the Hocus Pocus party. I found Evie's Halloween costume for this year, too...

Just wait for that picture in a week or two. haha

When I got home, we went to Sunday Streets in Berkeley. One of our main streets, Shattuck Ave, was shut down and filled with booths, performers, bands, food, etc. We wandered around the street and then headed to the Drake's tent for a drink. We ended up sitting to watch a band for a little while, too.

I think we have the exact same pictures from the week before, too. haha

Here's the band we saw - The Boston Boys. They were pretty good. 

On our way home, we walked past the Jazz School and caught the tail end of a performance. 

We love living so close to downtown. We walked everywhere and saw a bunch of stuff, which was cool. 

Great Sunday!

Celebrating Ten Years Together

On Saturday night, Erik and I celebrated being together for TEN YEARS. We got together back in 2003 and now here we are in 2013. 

Old picture of us in Chicago

We drove up to Napa on Saturday for dinner. First, we stopped at Napa Smith Brewery rather than stop at a winery to taste. The Napa Smith Brewery and tasting room is right next to each other. The Tasting Room was pretty dead. We were the only ones in there for 20 min or so. We tried a few beers and chatted with the guys working there. Seems like it could be a cooler place if they make it more lively in there and drive people in. They said that another brewery is going in across the street so that will probably help. Maybe soon people can brewery hop instead of winery hop!

For dinner, we went to French Blue. 

The decor was so cute - it felt very cottage-like and cozy. 

There was even an outdoor fireplace for Erik to warm up in front of before heading inside. Hah!

For dinner, we had the:

Cedar Street Tomatos with di Stefano burrata, preserved plums, pine nut crostini

Fine Herb Stuffed Petaluma Chicken with oven roasted brussel sprouts, cider glazed cipollini onions

Wood Grilled Strip Loin with bone marrow butter, red onion marmalade, potato mousseline

For dessert, we each had our own:

Tart Tatin with apple tart, mulled cider, dulce de leche ice cream

Flourless chocolate cake with chantilly cream and raspberries

Dinner was soooooooo good! I would definitely come back here! 

Here's to 10 more great years together!

Alameda Point Collaborative Volunteering

On Saturday AM, I volunteered with The Junior League. We volunteered at the farm at the Alameda Point Collaborative. APC is a supportive housing community that uses all its resources to help families and individuals break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. 

The Farm is a place that provides Job Training to APC residents as well as distributes/sells food to local families and farmer's markets.

We volunteered from 9-1 and for about 2 hours, I literally sholveled S&#t. No joke. All of this dirt behind us is composted dirt that includes HORSE POOP. haha. Contrary to what you might think, it didn't smell at all. It was just like shoveling dirt. A group of us shoveled the dirt into wheel barrows and another group laid the composted dirt onto some garden beds. We did a number of beds so this took awhile. But, it was a workout to dig and it was nice to chat and meet some of the girls. 

The farm has a lot of vegetables growing on it including this very successful lime tree. 

After digging and redoing the garden beds, we harvested winter squash. 

To harvest winter squash, we took clippers and clipped the squash off it's vine. There were a few varieties at the farm including Kabocha, Butternut, Buttercup, and Delicata. 

There are also bees living on the farm. They make honey and sell it to the community. 

Volunteering at the farm was a great experience. We could definitely see the difference we were making for the community farm and in terms of helping the staff. It was also great to meet more women in the League. 

A Sunset Walk

Last week, Evie and I went to Cesar Chavez park to take a walk and catch the sunset. We had a great show! I will leave you with a picture show of the sunset. 

It was pretty windy in the park but some people were taking advantage to fly their kites. 

It was a little foggy so you can sort of see the city through the fog. 

A New TV!

We made an exciting purchase last week....A NEW TV!!!!

Remember I said how our TV was crapping out and just showed us a white, ghosted screen. We literally couldn't watch it anymore and didn't have a TV for almost a month. It was kind of nice because it was quiet and you really do the stuff you should be getting done. But, it was boring sometimes when all you wanted to do was lay on the couch, watch a movie and you couldn't. 

We took a family ride to Costco to pick out our TV after doing a lot of internet research. 

 Enjoying the ride

Costco had a zillion TV's but we left with a 50" Vizio TV

It's bigger than our old TV and a different brand since I don't want it crapping out on us again anytime soon. 

So far, we love it! It's big, clear, great picture...

Butternut Squash Soup

So last week, I was so excited to have Spaghetti Squash again. Erik roasted the squash for me while I was out and when I came home, it was done. As I started fixin' the squash, I realized. Ummm this is Butternut Squash not Spaghetti Squash. Doh! I definitely know the difference but I guess I got it in my head that it was Spaghetti Squash. 

When life hands you lemons, grab the vodka! I decided to make a butternut squash soup instead. It came out delicious! Erik had bought a loaf of bread the day before so I used some to make croutons which also came out so good! Basically skip to Step 4 to see how I made the soup. I also used my Immersion hand blender to blend everything together. 

  BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

yield: 4 to 6 servings

 

prep time: 15 minutes

 

cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes

 

total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped fine (used half an onion instead)
1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds), cut in half lengthwise, and each half cut in half widthwise; seeds and strings scraped out and reserved (about ¼ cup)
6 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
Pinch of grated nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven (or heavy pot) over medium-low heat until foaming. Add the shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the squash scrapings and seeds, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the butter turns saffron color, about 4 minutes. - Since my squash was already roasted, I just dropped it in the KitchenAid to chop it up and dumped it in the pot. 

2. Add the water and 1 teaspoon salt to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, place the squash cut-side down in a steamer basket, and lower the basket into the pot. Cover and steam until the squash is completely tender, about 30 minutes. take the pot off the heat, and use tongs to transfer the squash to a rimmed baking sheet. When cool enough to handle, use a large spoon to scrape the flesh from the skin. Reserve the squash flesh in a bowl and discard the skins.

3. Strain the steaming liquid through a mesh strainer into a second bowl; discard the solids in the strainer. (You should have 2½ to 3 cups of liquid.) Rise and dry the pot. I didn't strain anything!

4. Puree the squash in batches in a blender or food processor, pulsing and adding enough reserved steaming liquid to obtain a smooth consistency. Transfer the puree to the pot and stir in the remaining steaming liquid, cream, and brown sugar. Warm the soup over medium-low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Stir in the nutmeg and adjust the seasonings, adding salt to taste. Serve immediately. Soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil.

So good!