Paris Part 1: The Sites

Paris is such a beautiful, magical place that when I'm there, I don't want to spend my time in museums.  I want to be walking around outside or sitting in cafés sipping espresso, soaking in the culture and pretending like I'm a native Parisian.  Regretfully, I think my walking shoes and the fact that I don't speak French are dead giveaways that I'm just another tourist falling hopelessly in love with the City of...

Office Bed Beard

One of the things I really love about my new job is that I get to bring Figaro to work with me.  It's nice not to have to worry about rushing home because poor Fig's been alone and lonely all day.  Now he can spend the day with me, my co-workers, and their adorable dogs who also frequent the office.  Fig loves saying hi to everyone, alerting us as to when the UPS man has arrived, and exploring every nook and...

Hump Day: An Italian Red

Last Friday, The Hub and I celebrated Christmas Part II while enjoying a delicious Italian Red, Cantine Colosi Nero d'Avola 2009.  The Hub picked out this bottle from CostCo, which has some surprisingly good deals on nice wines.  I like to narrow down my options by concentrating on the ones that have the highest Wine Spectator ratings, and then seeing which are almost sold out.  If it has a high rating, the...

2011 San Francisco Restaurant Guide

Last week one of my favorite San Francisco restaurant blogs, Eater SF, updated their 38 Essential San Francisco Restaurants.  Most of the places included on this list are top of the line, rather schmancy establishments, but a solid list nonetheless.  I often get asked for restaurant suggestions from friends and co-workers, so I decided to put together my list of Top Restaurants in San Francisco by category. ...

Weekend In a Nutshell: Packers Win

What a lovely weekend of doing not a whole lot!  The Hub and I celebrated Christmas Part II on Friday night by opening up all the gifts from my family that arrived earlier in the week and drinking a lovely Italian red that I'll be telling you about on Wednesday.  It was nice to extend the Holiday celebrations by an extra week, which also kept me from feeling guilty about the fact that our tree was still...

A New Year, A New Beard

Well, we've made it through the first full week of the year!  I have to say, 2011 is already shaping up to be a pretty good one.  My little sister got engaged (congrats Tori and Patrick!), I went to the Rose Bowl (we won't discuss the outcome) hung out with some of my favorite LA ladies, the Packers advanced into the playoffs, and last night I had dinner with an old friend that I hadn't seen since my...

Soup: A Mouthwatering Work of a Culinary Genius

Last night we had our first Paperbacks and Pinots Book Club of 2011.  We all gathered at Taylor's apartment to discuss Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of a Staggering Genius.  I had actually already read this book about two years ago, but I spent the last few days of my commute to Oakland browsing through the novel to refresh my memory.  I love this book mostly for its humor, but I also enjoy the fact that it...

Hump Day: A Treat From Santa Barbara

Last week, our friend Erika brought over a fantastic wine for a dinner party at our house.  A 2006 "Les Amours" Syrah from VIE Vineyards in Santa Barbara.  VIE Vineyards focuses on Rhone and Zinfandel varieties from California grapes, so it's no wonder I fell head over heels with this wine. This wine was delicious right out of the bottle.  With notes of plum, blackberry and spice, it was very juicy and...

Rustic Apple Tart

The Hub and I have made some really fantastic friends through work over the years.  Isn't it nice when you actually like the people you work and spend 80% of your day with?  There is a group of us who all happen to live in the same area of the city, so we like to have little dinner parties and rotate who hosts.  I always look forward to these fun evenings!  Last week, our friends Trisha and Andy hosted our...

Like Father, Like Son: Todd’s Fish Tacos

As I mentioned last week, my father in law, Todd,  is a really fantastic cook!  It's easy to see where The Hub gets his creative streak in the kitchen.  While we were back in Wisconsin, Todd made us some really delicious Fish Tacos, adapted from this Giada DeLaurentis recipe.  I decided to replicate the dish for a little dinner party we had last week with our friends Erika, and  Jim and Abby, who are...