wednesday

monday

Long live the last of these lazy California days...

monday

My worst/best quality (ha!) is my feverish love for Mexican food. Give me the hottest salsa, piles and piles of cilantro, and a whole lotta succulent shredded beef and I'll be satisfied until seconds. I've been trying to convince my Gram to open up a restaurant for years. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've tasted her buttery homemade tortillas and stuffed yourself with thirteen of her juiciest tacos (just ask my dad). And growing up in California with the occasional trip to Mexico as a kid has led to an awful, though [I feel] justified snobbery. Mexican food in New York has given me so many appalling experiences that I've nearly washed my hands of it altogether (outside of my own kitchen). The taco trucks? No good. The restaurants? Wildly overpriced and wildly disappointing; hardly a taquito in sight. Friends throwing taco nights with store-bought taco shells? Kills my soul more than a little. I realize this sounds silly and strange, but I'm afraid this is simply the plight of displaced Californians. Despite my stubborn qualms, I'd be happy to give any suggestions you might have a chance.

sunday

Nothing says fall quite so well as something baking in the oven. As giddy as I am to go out of my way to step on crunchy red and orange leaves, buy bouquets of sharpened pencils, don smart tweed blazers, skirts, and warm wooly cardigans in crisp weather- I am out-of-my-mind excited about baking. I'm already dreaming about pumpkin patches and apple orchards! Turkey pot pies and beef stew! Squash and apple crisps! Don't even get me started on pumpkins...

Despite the fact that fall seems ages away (always the case in California, hopefully not back in New York), I've been faithful to my oven- baking pies, brownies, muffins, banana bread, buttermilk cakes, and dear Julia's out of this world quiche lorraine. Photographing things I bake is possibly the most difficult thing to do. Someone always ends up digging in before I can find my camera. Here are a few that I've managed to capture before they disappeared!

thursday

I am feeling quite ambitious today. I'm planning on making raspberry popsicles, quiche lorraine for supper, mint lemonade, and if I have time (which I probably won't), I'd like to try my hand at lavender tea bread. Here's to trying!

Here's some of my estate sale loot from this mornin':







Book inscriptions melt my heart more than anything!



I've never seen such a fine copy of A Tale of Two Cities, even though I have a paperback kicking around somewhere on my bookshelves. How could I resist?





And many many postcards and photographs! I was hoping to find some antique stationary, but I'll be back to the flea markets soon enough. I also bought some old spools and a tiny little celluloid deer. Now I'm kicking myself for not buying that box of alphabet letters! I'm sure I'll be able to slowly find the letters of my name soon enough. Though that "E" was pretty darn wonderful...