the pumpkin patch

A couple of weekends ago, J and I decided to go apple-picking. After some research on the internet and a long drive, we arrived at a farm in the east bay, only to be told that the orchards were closed due to storms that had hit just a few days before. Our disappointment upon hearing [...]

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casa de los sabores

The next day in Oaxaca we took a class in Zapotec cooking, offered by Casa de los Sabores. Our instructor, chef Reyna Mendoza, is a native of Teotitlan del Valle, a Zapotec village where she grew up learning traditional cooking techniques from her mother.
Our class began with a trip to a market nearby, La Merced, [...]

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el zòcalo and mexican independence day

From our hotel, we walked towards el zòcalo, or the town square, in search of a bite to eat. On our way, we stopped at a bakery for a snack. That bakery soon became a favorite of ours.

(I liked the bun in the middle best.)
It so happened to be Mexican independence day, and it seemed [...]

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los pueblos mancomunados

Shortly after our arrival in Oaxaca, we boarded a bus that would take us to the Zapotec villages that lie east of the city, in the Sierra Norte mountain range. For centuries, these villages (Pueblos Mancomunados) have thrived by pooling their natural resources and cooperating as a community. In the past 15 years, they have also [...]

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in just a bit…

I’ve been meaning to get around to posting about our trip to Mexico. It will happen soon, over the next few days (I hope).
Oh, please go and buy yourself some persimmons, the Hachiya variety. Get them ripe, as if they were ready to rupture — skin paper-thin and flesh soft and squishy. Wash the persimmons [...]

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memories of summer

This summer, we did many things.
We ate a lot of ice cream. There are quite a few ice cream shoppes in our neighborhood. I am not complaining. This is a photo taken at the Bombay Ice Creamery.

We had picnics at Dolores Park, and got to watch an outdoor movie there one night. They were showing [...]

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london, day 4

It rained on our last day in London, but given the fantastic weather we had experienced during most of our stay, it didn’t dampen our spirits one bit. It was kind of nice, actually.
Since it was Monday, LW and S had to go to work, and they left even before we were up. We tried [...]

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london, day 3

For breakfast, we had some pan-fried apricot and pork sausages.

We dodged street closures and crowds of people cheering on the racers in the Flora marathon…

to meet with some friends of LW and S at Shakespeare’s Globe, where LW had bought us tickets to see a performance of Romeo and Juliet.

We cut out early with the [...]

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fluffy chocolate birthday cake, a card, and the evolution of this little blog

A good friend of mine recently had a birthday, so I baked her a cake this week to celebrate. I chose to make her a chocolate birthday cake using a recipe that I found here. The cake itself is very fluffy and moist. Delicate, but sturdy enough to withstand the flipping and palming when stacking [...]

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london, day 2

We woke up to a simple and yummy breakfast prepared by our friends, fueling us for the gastronomic day ahead of us.
A trip on the tube and a leisurely walk across the London Bridge planted us in the middle of a food lover’s dream — Borough Market.
Everywhere I looked, there was food.
Anticipation of paella.

Very British, [...]

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