Vintage Dad

Last week on Father's Day a few of my friends posted old photos of their dads on Instagram and Facebook, and (with their permission), I wanted to share some, since they are so great as a collection. *That's mine up top.

On the Continent, 1936

In 1936, when my grandmother was 28 years old and working at the Chicago Tribune, she and her best friend planned a trip to Europe. At the last minute, her friend got cold feet and decided to stay home; my grandma went anyways. While abroad, she collected all kinds of ephemera- postcards, menus, hotel stationery- and kept a journal of all her adventures, one of which was befriending Jesse Owens (who was headed home to the States from the Berlin Olympics) on her return voyage aboard the Queen Mary. The two of them played bridge together often, and apparently he was the subject of much talk amongst the ladies on the ship. Here are some of my grandma's treasures from her trip. Ever since David Leibowitz posted about sailing on the Queen Mary last year, I have been dying to recreate my grandmother's trip. Maybe one day...

this reads: "The Plane Trip: Left Chicago via Amerian Airlines 1:30 #17 July 11, 1936. Most thrilling experience. Best mode of travel. Clean, fast, comfortable. Sailing through the clouds was glorious- like castles. Landed at 6:AM in Newark- hated to leave the plane for the sordidness of New Jersey and New York. Trip took about 5 hours. Only uncomfortable sensation was ringing in my ears, which was stopped by yawning and swallowing."

I may share more bits and pieces as I read through the journal, so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday to Me!

This post is dedicated to my incredible friends and family, who have made my birthday week (and the one leading up to it) really special and made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world, even though some not-so-lucky things have happened lately. I got to go to an especially good Crab Monday dinner at Camino, built a giant fort in my living room and hosted a fantastic party, had a chocolate malt with banana at Val's, went to the annual Golden Girls drag show, finally got to jump on the trampolines at House of Air (this has been on my to-do list for two years- note to self: next time bring your asthma inhaler!), attended the opening night of another new Oakland restaurant, Haven, was treated to a pedicure, ate dinner at Mission Chinese, and had an assortment of fantastic cocktails and lunches and heart-to-hearts as well. You might think that your friends are pretty great, but I am confident that mine are the very best friends in the world. Thank you guys!!

Weekend, Etc.

The past week and a half has been busy as usual and unseasonably warm. Among other things, I went to the amazing Coppola Winery pool for a day of drinking rosé and relaxation, got (more) sunburnt on the beach at Oakland's Lake Temescal, attended an incredible dinner in honor of Yotam Ottolenghi at my beloved Camino (plus brunch there another day of course), ate lots of ice cream, went to an engagement party at a house on the San Rafael marina, ate a fantastic dinner at Ippuku in Berkeley (quickly becoming a favorite), drove to San Jose for dinner atSaravanaa that was as good if not better than their restaurant in New York, harvested my two walnut trees and made an enormous batch of nocino from the crop.


blueberry sorbet at camino


ottolenghi dinner



rhubarb pie and pennants at the engagement party


green walnuts


rose vanilla and strawberry ice cream from ici


camino brunch

Also, I never blogged about July 4 weekend, but it involved a ballgame, lots of fireworks, a big barbeque, friends and family, and a huge brunch buffet. The week before that, my mom and I took a girls' trip up to Healdsburg for a couple of nights. We stayed at the fantastic H2 hotel, ate at Dry Creek Kitchen, Shimo, and Spoonbar, tasted wine at my favorite vineyard, spent some time at the Healdsburg Hotel Spa, shopped and took almost no pictures... oops.


the vineyard at unti

Happy Chanuka!

Last night was the first night of the holiday, and I was able to light the candles with my parents after I finished up at the 18 Reasons bazaar. Tonight: latkes!

Hope you all have a happy holiday!

Weekend! (Thanksgiving Edition)

This weekend was pretty perfect as far as holidays go. My cousin Matt came into town on Thursday and we took a walk to the little beach at the Albany Bulb, which is just down the street from my house. We caught up and watched Seymour running around in the surf, and got home just in time to meet up with my friend Jessica, who was spending the holiday with us since she couldn't go home to her family. We watched a movie (Yes Man, because my favorite Thanksgiving movie, Home for the Holidays, wouldn't play in my VCR) and Jessica helped me get some cards ready for this week's holiday sales, and then headed over to my parents' house for dinner.


I had baked my (well, Martha's) cranberry merengue pie, and also made cranberry sauce and a creamed chard casserole. My mom made her famous corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie, and my dad cooked the turkey (on the barbeque) and stuffing. Since it was just the five of us (plus puppies), we had tons of food and I think it was a really nice meal- very low key.

Friday morning, Matt and I watched Seinfeld reruns on tv and ate leftovers (have I mentioned that the Thanksgiving Sandwich- turkey, stuffing, mayo and cranbery on sourdough toast- accompanied by Mom's corn pudding, and followed by pumpkin pie is my Death Row meal?) before meeting up with my dad for a hike in the hills at Redwood Park. We left the park just as the sun was setting- it was so pretty over the East Ridge!


After our hike, Matt and I had a quick dinner at Burma Superstar and then went into the city to watch a free screening of Vertigo at the Great American Music Hall. It was great to see such a classic San Francisco film in a unique setting, and everyone there was in a great mood and super friendly. We almost didn't go because we were running late, but we got there just in time and I am so glad we did. We ended the night back in my neighborhood with drinks at the Hotsy Totsy Club before crashing.

Saturday morning we had brunch at Camino and then Matt headed back to LA. I went to meet my friend Jenn and her family for a matinee of Burlesque, which was totally ridiculous but very entertaining, and finished my weekend with a lazy work day today.