Picnic-Friendly Dessert-in-a-Jar

Upon moving to San Francisco, all anyone could tell me was how cold it gets in the summer.  Well I don't know what they're talking about, because this past month has had some gorgeous weather!  Maybe I'm speaking too soon? It is called June Gloom after all...

But, no matter how sunshiney it is in the city, it's always nicer down in Los Gatos, and lucky Webb and I were able to spend this past Sunday there with his parents for Mother's Day.  It might have been a little too warm for us San Franciscans (Why oh why did we wear pants on a 90 degree day?) but who can complain about a little sun?

Lugging a watermelon? Or shielding his face from the sun?

Taking full advantage of the weather, we planned to rummage through the farmer's market after church then do a picnic.  I knew this a few days in advance, so I started thinking of some picnic-friendly desserts to make.  Cupcakes? No, the frosting always gets messed up in transit.  Ice cream? No, likely to melt.  Then, I remembered something I'd seen over my hours of Pinterest snooping - cake in a jar!  

Easy transport? Check. Easy set up? Check. Easy clean up? Check.  

Okay, so mine might not be as pretty, but I can tell you that it tasted pretty good, and was insanely simple to make.  It was a yummy end to a fun picnic with Webb, his dad, and the lady of the hour: his mom!

Here's what I did, but obviously there are a ton of combinations and possibilities. Just remember to keep the jars cool if you are using cream.  My insulated Whole Foods bag and an ice pack worked just fine.

My First Time as a San Francisco Host

Last weekend, my dad flew out from New Jersey to check out my new life here in San Francisco.  Being that I've only lived here for 3 months, I was majorly concerned that my hosting duties would be subpar. Turns out my dad only wanted to do 2 things: hang with me, and fix up my fixer upper.  What a guy!

I wasn't going to let him get his way entirely, though.  I wanted to show off my fab new city!  The weeks before my dad's visit, Webb and I would exclaim "Oh let's do this with him!" whenever we did/ate/drank/saw anything cool.  

My dad's easy-to-please attitude and my eager-to-please excitement resulted in a great trip.  I love my dad, and it's so fun to spend quality time with him in my neck of the woods.

After the jump, check out a run down of what we did and some ideas for hosting in the City by the Bay.

St. Paddy's Day and Corned Beef Leftovers

I love St. Patrick's Day.  My mom's dad was born in Ireland, so the holiday has always been a big deal for my family.  I think the day has gotten  reputation for getting rowdy at the bars, which is all good and fun - but for me, St. Patrick's Day is more about family, culture and remembering your roots.  

This was my first March in San Francisco, and this city knows how to celebrate.  Sorry LA, but you didn't do this Irish day justice the last two years.  SF came complete with a parade, bagpipers, bands, dancers, and the finest food & drink offerings from the Emerald Isle.  

Lucky for me, SPD landed on a Sunday, which meant an entire weekend of celebration!  Okay, I know the East celebrates for the month of March, but I'm in California and I'll take what I can get.

Saturday started with a  few friends over for a breakfast of bacon, Shamrock pancakes, muffins, oranges and Irish coffees.  YUM :)

Then, we boarded a bus downtown to the Civic Center.  We caught the last bit of the parade and enjoyed music and drinks in the glorious sunny weather!  

I may or may not have sung along and tried to get my crew to learn every other word.  They're lucky I didn't try to teach a jig!

Bag pipes and drum lines! Be still my heart.

After a rest and regroup at our friends Ben and Shestin's, we headed out to the sunny Marina district to check out a few other spots before calling it a day and heading home. We were so lucky the day was so beautiful, because we did a TON of walking. What a great way to see such a beautiful city.

Sunday morning, the official holiday, Webb and I gathered up some ingredients and headed down to Los Gatos for dinner with his family.  I was reminded what REALLY good weather is like (aka not windy or foggy) and fell back in love with that adorable town.  Webb's mom and I whipped up a great Irish feast of corned beef (I brined it myself all week, thankyaverymuch) cabbage, roasted potatoes and carrots, spinach salad and Irish soda bread!  Aw man, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

I love how festive the Knudsens are!  The table was decorated to the nines, and Andie definitely won the costume contest with green pants, shirt AND sweater. 

Even Ernie matched with his orange spots!

Dinner was a great time, and we ended by reading the famous Irish blessing which I love so much:

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And the rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Since my Grandma's soda bread recipe makes 2 loaves (of course!), we brought the extra loaf over to our good friends Jason and Krista, who just found out they are expecting!  I'm so excited and if that baby is anything like their parents, he/she will be the funniest most well dressed kid around.

I hope you had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day, and if you did - you probably have a good amount of corned beef leftovers.  What to do with all those chunks of salty meat you eat just once a year?  

1) Corned Beef and Cabbage Chowder

I've never tried this, but I do love me some soup and looks soup-er (ha!) easy.

2) Corned Beef Hash

If I didn't sleep in to the last possible minute this morning, I would have for sure made this.  Tomorrow!

3) Reuben Sandwich

Not that you need a recipe for a Reuben Sandwich, but check the link for some reub-spriation.

4) St. Paddy's Pizza

My two cultures colliding!  I deem this corned beef pizza St. Paddy's Pizza, and thinking I should copyright that.  

5) CB&C Turnovers

Pastry dough and corned beef?  I am so there.

May the luck of the Irish be with you all ;) Erin go bragh!  Till next year, St Patrick.

Bye Bye Mazda!

Goodbyes are never fun.  They're often one or more of the following things: sad, awkward, too long, unwanted.  Today I had to say goodbye to my first big girl car, and let me tell you, I was not expecting the emotional wave I felt when the trucker drove off with .  Sure I joked to Webb that I was going to cry, but I honestly did get misty!  I mean let's be real, it's a bunch of metal and glass which I leased (i.e.: didn't own) for 29 months.  I wasn't expecting to have grown so attached.  

Maybe it's because of all the memories, or maybe it was because it symbolized my first "grown up" purchase.  I remember so vividly in early October when the dealership dude rolled my brand new car into our driveway.  She was all shiny, and new, and MINE.  She was also my ticket to the big ol' west, and 2 weeks later I packed that puppy up and drove her across the country with my dad.  Two years after that, I packed her up again (albeit with a little more stuff) and moved up to NorCal.  Today, the Mazdarati makes her journey back across America to where she started, the same driveway in New Jersey.  

She'll have a good home with my family.  I'm not sure she liked being parked alongside the urban campers of Haight Street.  Still, no Zip Car, BART, or Muni will ever replace my mobile closet.  See you in Waldwick!

Oct. 2010 - ready to leave NJ for CA

Saying my goodbye! You've been good to me!

Boarding it's second cross country trip :(

Silver Lining List

It's Tuesday.  Ho hum.  Not a particular exciting day, and truth be told, I dragged my bum out of my apartment with a certain struggle.  You know those days when you just want to stay in bed and cuddle with the cutest furball you've ever seen?

This guy:

Today is totally one of those days.  

This morning, he even sabotaged my effort to get in a little yoga:

But of course I love that little dude like nothing else, and it was with great sadness I had to put on my big girl pants and get to the office today for a Tuesday.

So, in an effort to add some sliver to my cloud, here is a Silver Lining List of 10 things guaranteed to make me smile today.

A List In No Random Order of Happy Things

1)  Just 2 and a half weeks until sunnier days!  Remember to "Spring Forward" on March 10! 

2)  This video of dogs making babies laugh.  Instant frown flipper.

4)  Ben Affleck's adorably honest ode to his wife from the acceptance stand.

5)  The Mediterranean diet is getting primo attention!  My Sicilian penchant for olives, fish and eggplant rejoices.  A favorite Greek blog here: www.olivetomato.com 

6)  Unintentional matching of iPhone case and necklace.  Does anyone do that intentionally? I'd like to meet them.

8) I get to take a picture with a real life Oscar tomorrow (yay Brave!)

9)  I made a slight change to a common hairstyle, and Webb happily noticed.  Points for the lazy girl braid, girls!  

10) Positive news stories like this one about a restaurant owner who hired a broke-but-earnest guy off the street.

Okay, there's that pep in my step I was missing!  I feel better now.  Feeling glum?  Make a list of life's simple pleasures and I guarantee your cloud will find its silver lining.  

Liz Lemon Frozen Yogurt

When two of my favorite things decide to rendezvous, my expectations are so high that I'm usually disappointed.  The musical RENT + film = eh.  Chocolate + wine = nasty sludge.

Liz Lemon + Ben & Jerry's = YES PLEASE.

Ben & Jerry's recently threw 30 Rock a party commemorating their series finale (tear) and announced a new froyo inspired by the lady herself, Liz Lemon.  It's a lemon Greek yogurt with blueberry lavender swirl.  Some fans of the show may say "What?!  Liz is a junk food queen! This flavor is so off".  Au contraire, naysayers.  Any follower of Tina Fey, Liz's real-life counterpart, knows that she comes from Greek stock, so creating a flavor in one of B&J's new Greek yogurt line is so appropriate.  And it's lemon infused because...well, I shouldn't need to explain that.

Saturday was a particularly warm day in San Francisco, and after a round trip to the dog park with Webb and Ernie, I had a hankering for something cold and sweet.  Lucky for me - there is a Ben & Jerry's 1 block from my apartment!  Amazingly, we had yet to visit since moving to the neighborhood, so I had all the more reason to make a pit stop.  Webb and I shared a cup of the Liz Lemon yogurt and can I just say it was so good?  It was the perfect amount of refreshing and sweet.  The blueberry swirl was sugary, but the lavender gave it enough gusto.  The yogurt itself was creamy and just tart enough.

Liz Lemon froyo pre-devouring

Given the cold snap in the country, you are likely in a freezing tundra and not getting excited about frozen yogurt.  But if a Liz Lemon- themed froyo can't get you excited, maybe this will:  Ben & Jerry's is giving a proceed of sales to Jumpstart, the organization which partners college students with pre-schoolers in literacy programs.  How cool!  Even more a reason to stop by a B&J's or pick up a pint when it hits grocery stores in the spring.

Another win for the amazing fantastic talented funny superstar Tina Fey.

Inspire Thursday

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths" - Walt Disney

I recently spent my birthday weekend celebrating with old friends in Los Angeles and a stop at the happiest place on earth - Disneyland!  Needless to say, I've been on a Disney kick since then (but when am I not?).   We always say "Disney" in relation to the mega-brand it is, but often forget that was a very cool man's last name.  One morning for breakfast, Webb and I ended up at a restaurant in our hotel which was adorned with pictures of Walt and his swanky Hollywood life.  We noted how charismatic he was.  Not only did he create an entertainment empire, but he knew how to live life to the largest.  

Steakhouse 55 and the Disneyland Hotel

This quote of his, about moving forward and keeping curiosity, inspires me.  Regardless where you feel stuck-- whether it's with work, with people-- you should realize there are always new "doors" and "paths" on the horizon.  it's up to us to keep the curiosity about life to find the bigger and better out there.  Even if we are the happiest we can imagine, we are always moving forward and giving what we can to the world.  I'm lucky enough to work at a subsidiary company of Mr. Disney's himself, and being at Disneyland just inspires me to work hard in an industry that brings laughter and joy to so many people! Where do you want to go?  What paths are you curious about?  Go for it.

Loving the magic that is Disneyland!