Hi friends! Have you been experiencing a heatwave in your neck of the woods? It has been hot and also unusually humid here in the San Diego area, and while I know that many of you have no sympathy for Southern Californians complaining about weather since we have it so good overall, let me tell you... having no air conditioning is not fun when a heatwave rolls around! I wouldn't mind it being hot out if I had some coolness to retreat to inside. Yup, you heard me right! My house has no air conditioning. This concept is pretty foreign to most Americans, but living near the coast in San Diego usually equates to cool breezes and mild temperatures. I don't think anyone in my neighborhood has A/C, and it's pretty manageable except for the couple weeks out of the year when it's over 90 degrees - ... [Read More]
lemon
Lemon Goat Cheese Pasta with Asparagus
Sometimes the best place to get recipe inspiration is the farmers' market. I love strolling around on a low-key weekend morning and checking out what produce is in season, coming up with potential recipe ideas, and picking up some goodies to experiment with. San Diego area farmers' market are a foodie's paradise, because so much awesome produce is grown locally here - not to mention all of the amazing local purveyors around, including bread makers, nut butter producers, olive oil companies, bakeries... and the list goes on. Recently I got turned onto a local vegan crouton and cashew cheese company, and I've been sprinkling their products on everything! A few weekends ago, I was walking around the Vista Farmers' Market, and I kept seeing asparagus around. Since it's starting to be in peak ... [Read More]
Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
Hope you're having a fabulous Thursday. I'm blogging to you as I sip my first glass of wine for the night - a yummy California Chardonnay: Backing up to last night's jewelry party, we had a fun relaxed ladies' night. Besides the chocolate Kahlua cake I talked about yesterday, we had a few other goodies: Roasted Red Hummus Platter - Champagne punch bowl - FYI, that fun ice/strawberry ring in the middle is pretty & decorative for the punch bowl, but not very practical. We had trouble getting it out of the way to scoop out punch with the ladle. [Note to self: come up with a smaller ice chiller next time!] My best friends Meaghan and Danielle came to the party: And this close-up photo of Meg and me is hilarious (Thanks for the photography styling, ... [Read More]
My mother was right.
The other day I spotted a Chobani lemon Greek yogurt at the food store. I thought it looked really yummy, so I bought one to try. I ate that yogurt today with blueberries mixed in and really liked it. This is kind of scary... and here's why. I never liked lemon flavoring. I like actual lemons, but not lemon flavored cakes, cookies, pies, yogurts, candy, and whatever else. My mom and grandma love those kinds of lemon foods. When I used to say that I couldn't stand lemon, my mother would tell me that my taste buds will change as I get older and I'll probably develop a taste for it one day. She was right. This isn't the first food I used to not care for but like these days. I never was a fan of pumpkin until recently, and now I love it. My grandma buys this wheat pie from a place in my ... [Read More]