Moving

Nope, not moving houses, moving blogs.

I realized I was feeling guilty for not doing more gardening, which was what I had intended this blog to be about.

Since moving to San Francisco, gardening has been at a minimum.  We no longer have a backyard to tend, and the markets have so much cheap, plentiful produce, that we don’t grow much of our own.

And like telling stories about other things than gardening.

So I’m moving over to fairytalesofthecity.wordpress.com

I’ve already posted a few things over there and I am still tweaking the settings and such.

Having said that, head on over and check it out.  Let me know what you think.

-a

Meeting the Neighbours

How do you guys get out and meet your neighbours?  Are you involved in your community?

On Sunday, Peter and I joined our fellow Nopa-ers (North of the Panhandle) in a bike ride through Golden Gate Park.  It was a beautiful sunny day, although it got a little foggy down by the beach.

We rode under one of the oldest steel reinforced bridges, through an old fern grove, by the polo fields, down to the beach and back up through the police horse stables.

Afterwards, we joined some of our neighbours for lunch at the new mexican restaurant in the ‘hood.

One of the riders wrote this blog post about it.  You can see me in the black and white striped shirt!

It was a fun ride.  I look forward to the next one on Hallowe’en.

Street art

On the way to the grocery store, I walk past this street art on the sidewalk.  I keep thinking it will get covered up or the cement tile will be replaced.

It makes me smile every time that it’s still there.

❤

-a

ps. Happy Birthday to Sara and Jenn!  You two are amazing, strong, brilliant women.  I hope you both have an amazing day!

Taking a break

Lucky Sign

Have you been looking for a sign to do that thing you’ve been thinking about?  Here it is.

Happy Tuesday,

❤

-a

Coffee Roasting

This morning, Peter and I were off in another neighbourhood and smelled the irresistable smell of roasting coffee.  We were getting peckish anyhow, so we stuck our heads into the coffee shop to see what was happening.  We discovered this amazing machine.
Peter struck up a conersation with the roaster and we learned all sorts of things about roasting, colour and roasting decaf! 
Peter and I love to roast our own coffee beans and Peter managed to convince the guy to sell us some of his (they’re surprisingly hard to find.)
Thanks to The Beanery!

Peanut, peanut butter. Jelly!

What is your favourite kind of peanut butter cookie?

I always figured I was a peanut butter cookie purist.  No chocolate chips or anything else added.  And I *do* love them.  However, I am starting to come around to those with chocolate chips in them.  So, today I decided to experiment with different additions.

I made regular.

Then I added dollops of strawberry jam to the tops of some of those a la thumb-print cookie style.  (I have a beautiful jar of home-made strawberry jam in the fridge made by one of my lovely friends.  It’s disappearing at an alarming rate!)

Half-way through forming the cookies I added some chocolate chips to the batter and formed some of those.

Then I dolloped some strawberry jam on top of the chocolate chip peanut butter cookies.  Is that going to far?

I don’t think so.  Peter didn’t think so.  When offered the choice, he went straight to the chocolate chip jam cookies.  And he says it is “Mmmmmmmmrmrmrmmm.”

What else do you think would be good in or on peanut butter cookies?

p.s. When did this turn into a cooking blog?  That’s all I seem to be doing lately…  not so much gardening.

Monthly culture

The first week of the month in San Francisco, lots of the museums open their doors to the city for free.  A friend and I have been making the rounds of them.   Our first was the SFMOMA, the next was the deYoung Fine Arts Museum which has an especially notable tower, which is always free and has an amazing panoramic view of the city.  Last month’s stop was at the Legion of Honor where we saw lots of amazing sculptures, art and a mummy.  However, it’s not just museums that have free days but other fun things too.  Like the San Francisco Zoo.

We decided to save the zoo for this time of year because it is finally summer in San Francisco.  I’ve been wearing shorts and putting on sunscreen and getting outside.  Also, this time of year, there are baby flamingos at the zoo.

They’re ugly and gray and can barely walk on their spindly little legs.  Also, the grownups keep sitting on them.  A delightful spectacle.

The rest of the zoo entailed a bunch of sleepy animals.  We were amazed by the giraffes, gorillas and zebras. The anteater is a surprisingly beautiful creature.

I love going to the zoo.  Hopefully next time I’ll be able to catch the lions and tigers – their exhibit was closed yesterday morning while we were there.

❤

-a

Do Fun Stuff

Do Fun Stuff

This is a really cute kids album for an excellent cause.  A blog I’ve been following for a couple of years.  You can check it out here.

Also, the artwork?  A monster eating ice cream?  How perfect is that.  How I wish that I knew how to make the iframe thing work ’cause I would love to have that widget here.  Silly wordpress.  Why won’t you work for me?  Ah well.  Go check out that album if you have kids or if you know someone who has kids or if you like kids music.  It’s great.

House Plants

I have some new family members!

This is my strange new plant Cordelia the Dishidia.  She is an air plant and lives in the shower where she gets frequently misted.

This is my lipstick plant.  I wanted to get a long dangly one to put up above my kitchen cabinets, but the man at the hardware sold me on this variegated version instead.  It was only $5.  The other one was $20.  The choice was clear.  I have time to wait for this one to grow into what the other one is.  Don’t have a name for this plant yet.  I’m leaning towards Bruce.  Any suggestions?

These kitchen herbs (chives and basil) live on my kitchen sill.  I haven’t named them since I frequently chop them up and eat them.  Naming them just seamed cruel.

I read that Jasmine is good for the quality of sleep you get and also for helping you focus when you study.  Both of which sounded useful, so I picked up a plant.  My thought was that I’d find a cute little stool for it to sit on in the bedroom, but the second-hand store didn’t have anything when I was there.  I’ll keep looking.  For now, it’s sitting on a chair beside the bed.  Name suggestions for this one?

My lemon tree, Janine, has two new lemons!  This plant is currently undergoing a serious growth spurt.  She has sprouts all over the place!  I’m hoping that these lemons hang on and actually turn yellow.   They’re almost lemon sized already, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

What are your favourite house plants?

❤

-a