Scenes from my front yard.  Quick!  Guess what my favorite color is.

Last week was another somewhat frantic one in our house.  I worked two events at Book Larder, taught a Seasonal Feast class at home, and got ready to go to San Francisco.  The trip was a packed one.  We saw and did a lot.  We also got to eat at Greens – a vegetarian paradise on the water in Fort Mason.  I have been there many times over the years but never for dinner.  It was a real treat.

Our hotel was beautiful and literally across the street from the Ferry Building.

Saturday morning, we were able to hit the incredible farmers’ market before heading out for the day.  I, of course, wanted to pack my suitcase full of the beautiful produce but I settle for these non-perishable things.

The trip was mainly to fish out whether or not we felt like the Bay area is somewhere we could live.  So we looked in a lot of neighborhoods and at a lot of houses.  I loved this one, which was in Oakland.  Imagine the parties!

We also looked, and ate lunch, in Berkeley.

My hair looks better in a less wet climate.

I could not get enough of that view.

We ate dinner at Nopa with some good friends.  It was a truly terrific meal.  I fell hard for this salad.  Thick herbed Greek yogurt, perfect avocados, pickled cucumbers and onions, radishes, English peas, and a few croutons.  Re-creation will happen soon here!

After returning home, we had a family dinner at my parent’s house to celebrate my brother Alex’s birthday.  My parents have an amazing art collection.  This has long been my favorite painting of theirs.  When they bought it, I was reading The Color Purple, so the two will always be intertwined for me.

I’ve spoken often about my brothers but have never posted a picture.  Michael is on the left.  He is the youngest.  He is an English teacher in a high school.  Alex is on the right.  He is the middle (I am the oldest).  He owns a personal training gym.  They are 6’1″ and 6’4″ respectively.  I feel like a shrimp around them.