I'm certainly not known as the chef in my group of friends. Just a few months ago Olivia had to leave the room because my "dinner," which consisted of a very runny, undercooked egg and a rice cake, was too respulsive to look at. That being said, I will allow myself one humble brag: I (okay, with help from Rachael Ray) have mastered the most delicious salmon recipe...ever.
Click through for a step-by-step guide (with pictures!) on how to cook an amazingly delicious and healthful lime and honey glazed salmon with warm corn and black bean salad.
Since San Francisco falls just short of becoming an Arctic Tundra in the summer months, I try to get up to Lake Tahoe as frequently as possible. Just a 3-3.5 (or 2.75 if it's really early in the morning and your boyfriend has no regard for traffic laws) drive from the city, it's the perfect weekend getaway, and I'm very lucky in that my parents have a cabin in Truckee, which is about a 15 minute drive from Lake Tahoe, and only a few minutes from the smaller, slightly warmer Donner Lake.
Cam and I headed up early Saturday morning, overlapping for a few hours with John and his girlfriend Rachel before they flew back to Houston. As a simultaneous welcome/farewell outing, we decided to do one of my family's favorite activity: ride bikes from Squaw Valley to Sunnyside Resort.
Have you heard Macklemore's new song "Same Love"? Touching story of a gay teacher hearing it for the first time from one of his typically unruly students.
These hanging beds look so perfect for lounging on a summer evening.
I'm heading to Lake Tahoe for the weekend for some biking, hiking, BBQing, swimming, and family time. I love San Francisco so much but wearing jeans in June is just not for me...I need to get out of town for some real summer weather! Hope everyone has a great, sunny weekend!
I dug up this post from my old blog because I just realized I had yet to share the list of classic novels I am trying to finish by 2013 (I'm not doing so well). Hope you enjoy!
“Forget about having an identity crisis and get some identity capital. … Do something that adds value to who you are. Do something that's an investment in who you might want to be next.” I was surprised to find this quote flagged in my copy of Meg Jay's The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now. After reading the book, I was paranoid. I can answer your "why" with another quote from the book: "Our 20s are the defining decade of adulthood. 80% of life's most defining moments take place by about age 35. 2/3 of lifetime wage growth happens during the first ten years of a career." ....Ahhhh....
I wish I had had this Awesome People Reading Tumblr as a teacher to help convince my students that reading is cool. Although I'm not positive that seeing Lewis Carol reading would have inspired them as much as say, Lil Wayne...
Last night Cam and I saw Before Midnight, the much anticipated third movie in the Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy trilogy (which also includes Before Sunrise and Before Sunset). It was so wonderful and the best movie I've seen in a while -- the perfect date night flick. My whole family got into town today and in keeping with the movie theme, we are heading to Dolores Park tonight for an outdoor screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hope everyone has a fun and relaxing Father's Day tomorrow!
(Photo of the beach in Avalon, NJ...I've been longing for an East Coast beach weekend as I put on a jacket in San Francisco each morning, wah!)
My best friend Amy and I figuring out a map in Rome
Have you ever heard of a work exchange website? My friend Jess sent me this today...basically, you click on a map of the world to where you want to travel, and then explore thousands of posts by local families willing to give you a place to stay in exchange for ~5 hours/day of work.
I was completely intrigued and spent the better half of my morning searching through some of the options that Workaway sponsors. Options ranged from helping a wealthy Barcelona family with their English to living alone on and tending a farm in South Africa, and while some had a definitive time period (i.e. I will be away and need help for the month of July, 2013), others were as easygoing as, "stay anywhere from 2-8 weeks." Can you imagine traveling anywhere in the world and having a free place to stay while your only obligation is gossiping with a cute Spanish mom or riding horses in Africa!?
This got my travel juices flowing and I started desperately scheming ways to justify taking a trip. All hopeful paths lead back to the dead ends that are my boyfriend, job and lease. Sigh. Someday I will satiate you, travel bug. Until then, some travel photos from trips past that are giving me the visceral feeling of longing.
I have a serious case of the Mondays today. I felt bummed all afternoon, went to the doctor only to be diagnosed with allergies (I've been taking Claritin D for a month and it's.not.helping!!!!), and am feeling too lethargic to actually do any of the things I know would make me feel better. I know this is kind of a cop-out, but I tried something new to make myself feel better.
Typically, getting out of a funk is all about actively pursuing your exit strategy. Going to the gym, cooking a healthful meal, or catching up with a good friend are all things that usually make me feel better. Today, however, I simply do not have the energy to do any of the above. So, in order to not feel like a total mess and thus end my day badly, I simply set myself up to be more active tomorrow.
I set a phone date with one of my best friends, ordered two books online (one blogging-related and one for pleasure) that I have been meaning to read, and set aside a pile of laundry that I will throw in tomorrow.
I feel like a small weight has been lifted, not in that I feel super productive (I know it's not difficult to send a text and click around for a minute on Amazon...) but in that these simple tasks reminded me that this lazy, sad feeling is temporary. I will be excited to talk to my friend tomorrow, I will be interested in reading my books when they arrive, and completing my laundry will make me feel more organized. Today might be a wash, but as soon as I wake up tomorrow, I will be my normal, happy, productive self.
A friend of mine (who cooks A LOT) says this is the best chicken dish she's ever had
A round-up of lessons learned from Sex and the City in honor of the show's 15th anniversary. I cracked up at this line: "Not having sex before marriage is like eating at a restaurant that has ZERO Yelp reviews. You're rolling the dice."
...And a more important anniversary to remember
While we obviously couldn't cover Peru in full over our ten day trip (I'd love to go back and see Lake Titicaca and spend some time in the Amazon), we packed in as much as we could with two full days in Cusco, one in Aguas Calientes, and one in Lima.
Click to keep reading about our experience in these cities...
I had fun going through each map, particularly since I was raised almost equally on the East and West coasts, with my entire extended family hailing from the South (I was born in Dallas and also spent some time in New Orleans right out of college).
Here were some fun ones for me:
*I pronounce the word crayon "cran" which apparently only happens in a small section of Wisconsin, a state to which I've never been.
*I always feel uncomfortable asking for pecan pie or syrup, because I pronounce them differently than most of my friends. I say pick-AHN and sir-up, both of which are typical Southern pronunciations.
*I love how Louisiana is just dark, dark red for the crawfish question...I can't imagine calling them anything else after my time in NOLA!
*Pennsylvania seems to be the only state that consistently refers to sandwiches as "hoagies" - one of my first college vocab words once I got to Villanova. Louisiana is largely shaded for "other" because they say po-boys. I just say "sandwich" because it's too hard adjusting to a different term each time I move!
I cannot believe it is already June! I had been looking forward to May, and all that I had planned for the month, for so long; it's hard to believe that Bottle Rock, John's graduation, and my and Cam's trip to Peru are all memories now. Peru was AMAZING, and the highlight was definitely our four day trek to Machu Picchu. I've had quite a few people ask me about our trip, so I thought it might be helpful to get into some of the details for anyone who might have Machu Picchu as a a bucket list item of their own. I'll break the trip into two posts, with this one covering the trek itself, and later on in the week I'll write about our experiences in Cusco, Aguas Calientes, and Lima.
Click to read more about/see pictures of our experience hiking the Inca Trail...
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