so happy together

"so happy together" is a 6 x 8 in. fine-art 2-block reduction print, inspired by this mushroom family i found in one of nick's bonsai planters. hand drawn, hand carved, hand pulled through a vintage Vandercook press; a total of 5 pulls (times through the press) for each print. coming this week, here.

home grown kumquats

these were our sweetest yet, thanks to nick's exceptional skills in the plant-care taking department. it also helped that we let them hang on their branches until their skins became a deeper orange color.

and, a new reduction print will be revealed, here, tomorrow. it will likely be available for purchase on tuesday or wednesday, but wanted you to know about it first.

when auntie em rides the sweets truck to the verdugo bar...

red velvet cake, chocolate ganache & white chocolate pearls paired with spaten optimator.


beer float -- vanilla ice cream & old rasputin.

...you have a "sinfully sweet sunday." last sunday we were lucky enough to partake in the very first dessert & beer pairing at the verdugo bar in los angeles. brought together seamlessly by the sweets truck, auntie em's & verdugo bar. these photos give you a glimpse of our favorites.

cream cheese fiasco

nick & i tend to be pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new food & beverage, sometimes involving research, traveling off the beaten track and/or hunting for special ingredients. after dreaming about the smoked salmon-house made cream cheese-tomato-cucumber-red onion-open face sandwich from our recent trip, i knew making one of our own was an order. we discovered wild spring onions growing in our herb garden & thought we'd try a few -- and what better way than to incorporate them into our own version of house made cream cheese. the short version of the story is: we decided to scrap the whole batch because we couldn't find conclusive information about the safety of eating them (it felt very lucy & ricky trying to figure this out). not to worry, we mixed very edible fresh thyme into the remaining cream cheese, and we were on our way. what do you think -- would you eat a wild backyard growing spring onion?

for fickle weather

yes & yes. never mind the fact that today will be extra long and filled with a wide range of physical activities ((that should never involve such fine pieces of wardrobe or towering heels)) which will include play dough usage, at least 1 game of chase, trying new snacks, the use of sharp japanese tools, a super size paper cutter, heavy machinery, the placement of 100-year old (and quite dirty) type.

image via Le Fashion

Day 4. back to Lagunitas, err Petaluma

day 4, friday, was our last full day in northern california. there were a few things that we knew we couldn't mess with: motion sickness (me in the car), good food, overall happiness. those things & we knew we wanted to be somewhat close to san francisco in order to make our drive on day 5 (back home) a little easier. so, really, our ultimate decision was not a difficult one. we ended up at the metro hotel in petaluma, again! yes, we were that smitten. also, we had heard all about the beer tasting experience at Lagunitas, so this would be our last chance.


this is the awesomely funky room where they poured the samples for their eager fans. we were treated to loads of history about the brewery's beginning days (the owner started brewing at home & selling it out of the back of his truck at local farmer's markets ((!!)), and how specific beers came to be. it was decorated with furniture, band memorabilia -- mostly grateful dead, and old kitchy items from the 60's-70's. seriously, who wouldn't want to hang out here?!


our 5 samples: czech style pilsner, pale ale, ipa, undercover shut down & hop stoopid. the story about how the undercover came to be is a good one: the local cops planned an undercover sting in hopes of arresting any person who sold them marijuana ((if this had happened, they would have lost their license to sell beer f-o-r-e-v-e-r)). apparently, 8 weeks passed with no offers to purchase, but lots of free hits if so desired. the department was very upset that they spent their resources on beer, but the under cover cops, without a doubt, didn't mind!! undercover, the beer, is wonderful. lots of hops with melon back notes. mmmm, this is my new favorite.


after our tasting, we wandered into the taproom (around 4 pm) where, literally, swarms of people were already enjoying dark, frothy, alcohol fueled beverages & listening to live music. i loved that people here were celebrating the weekend early and was feeling a little jealous because my typical friday work day end at 7:30. there were still a few beers we hadn't yet tried, but we had to choose only one (we were told that petaluma police officers really, really like handing out dui's) so we went with ryan's folly. apparently ryan has been a brewer here for years, and initially set out to make a stout. instead, due to pouring in the wrong hops, he created a sweet, thick, brown ale-porter. so glad ryan messed up!!

and that's it for this trip. i love revisiting & retelling our lives through my photos. ever so glad you stopped over to take a peek!! you can count on more photos of our daily adventures, along with some super exciting events (ex. our good pals will host their camp out themed wedding in two-harbors), new art work, food adventures... soon.

Day 3. Albion sunset

after adding at least several pieces of coldest-weather attire, we sat on the deck for the coming sunset. we also banked on the warming properties offered by Lagunitas as we enjoyed a Gnarly Wine. in this photo, you can see the tiniest bumps on the hill's crest. we brought out the binoculars to get a better look...


...the bumps were actually 8 (possibly more) does and 2 fawns. stunning!!


this little guy thought we were going to give him a food offering. we were pretty sure he didn't want the Garley Wine. geeg would have surely chased him away.

on another bird note: we saw 2 osprey catch large fish & fly away with them, fish flapping and all, as we ate breakfast and later as we walked on the beach.






the above 5 photos were taken in sequence as we watched the sun go down. the day was already perfect but this magical hour took us over the edge. we were hoping for a sun-meets-water-sunset, but we lost her way before that. after, we went inside to enjoy a nice salad, small wedge of cheese, fancy olives & kettle chips and watched a few episodes of arrested development. we also had some decisions to make about what we wanted to see/where we wanted to stay the following day... ((i hope you are enjoying these photos & back stories, i really love posting & sharing. on this trip i thought: maybe i could just do this for a living. wow, what a life!!))