10 cents a bag

Not too long ago (October 1st to be exact), San Francisco began requiring stores to start charging for bags.  The city had already mandated plastic bags be banned, so to help stores not have to carry the whole financial burden of paper AND encourage consumers to BYOB (bring their own bag that is), a dime per bag must now be charged.

While I like to think myself an environmentally-friendly person generally speaking, I have to admit I'm not one to put the environment over convenience.  Despite the fact that I have countless reusable grocery bags at home, I never bring them with me to the store.  I have the best of intentions but it just isn't worth it for me to go through the hassle of lugging around a reusable bag or two (and then remembering to pull it out at the checkout).  Horrible, I know.

But since the 10 cent charge has been implemented, it's a totally different ball game.  I now always carry around my bags and always remember to use them.  Just for 10 teeny cents. 

It helps that I happen to have - thanks to my super savvy mother - a set of incredibly practical bags from flip & tumble.  Not only do they stay tucked away in a pack like this:

 

They are incredibly strong (you should see how much I can get into these babies) and come in a vast array of dazzling colors.

 

 

Just goes to show how powerful market economics can be (versus people's good intentions) - even when we're just talking about 10 cents.

 

Do you bring your own bags to shop?  Do you have to pay for bags?

 

xoxo

KK

things you can't have

So last week when I went shopping for our little get-together on Saturday night, I spotted an old friend - tucked in between heirloom tomatoes and foreign-grown papaya - that I haven't seen in ages.

Can you find him? 

Which one of these does not belong?

Well, it was Mr. Persimmon of course! 
Was he finally back in season on the West Coast?  Just like last year, I could hardly contain my excitement at the thought of his sweet juices dribbling down my chin.

As I began to clean the shelf off of its orange contents, I had the common sense to ask the women stocking mushrooms how much they cost. 
"$2 a piece." 
TWO WHOLE BUCKS A PIECE!?!?  Despite the excruciating difficulty, I limited my purchasing to one promising myself a trip to the Fort Mason Farmer's Market (the Ferry Building's smaller and less touristy cousin) Sunday morning to purchase a proper allotment (no less than 10 pounds). 

But when we headed to Fort Mason, it was clear persimmon season was not in full swing.  Rather than the usual plentiful selection of copious varieties, there was ONE teeny bin containing only the smallest, most petite versions.  We got a bag nonetheless, chomping through half of it before we even got back to the car.

Since then, it's been nothing but persimmons on the brain.  When - oh when! - will these succulent spheres come back in full force?  It's amazing how when you can't have something, it becomes so, so, so much more attractive. 

And it's amazing how it's true for things that might not even seem to be that attractive in the first place.  A few weeks ago I injured my foot.  Randomly, in the middle of work one day, I found myself unable to put pressure on the ball of my right foot.  The doctors attributed it to a sprained tendon, perhaps from overuse (although my running had been lacking of late), but their prescription was simple: no running for two weeks.

After those two weeks, there was NOTHING I wanted to do more than run, run, run.  And while that first trek out was a tough one (it's amazing how much you lose in such a short period of time), there was nothing more glorious in that moment. 

I mean - come on! - what's not to love about a jog through this forest as the sun peaks through to soak up last night's dew? 

Counting the minutes until I can head back to the farmer's market to check on the status of the above mentioned item.


xoxo
KK

apples, apples and more apples

Last weekend a good friend of mine organized a "fall-inspired" day packed full of fun seasonal activities: pumpkin picking, apple picking and - of course - a picnic.  As some of my fondest childhood memories include picking apples and coming home to bake them into a homemade pie on a cozy Sunday afternoon, I was super sad to miss out (I was in Maine with the fam).  So satiate my need, Stefan and I decided to do a little trip of our own this past Sunday.

After a good amount of research, I decided on Twin Hills Ranch - it was a beautiful 1ish hour drive north of the city, had gotten good reviews and advertised apples on the cheap - only a buck a pound.

We picked up our well-worn shopping cart basket (not quite the woven version I had envisioned) and made our way through the orchards.

 

 

Since none of the trees were labeled by type, we had been instructed to simply try each tree's offerings to determine whether it was worthy of our pick.  A horrible task indeed.

But it wasn't just the baskets and tree markings that were unkept, the orchard aisles were lined with all sorts of interesting findings:

Here an old, completely rusted-out water tank

and a half-deflated soccer ball

"You'd never see something like that in Switzerland," Stefan told me the second he spotted the old water tank. 
And it was true - the Swiss would never leave yesterday's garbage around for today's viewing.  Even old, never-to-be-used-again bridges, buildings, and autos get deconstructed and disposed of simply because they don't want an eye sore.  While there's something so clean and refreshing about this obsessive cleanliness, there's also a certain charm about these waning items of a day gone by - a reminder of what has been here, in this very spot, not too long ago.

After our basket was too full to be able to carry anymore, we made our way back to pay for our pickings.

In addition to our 14 pounds (!!) of apples,

we left with a huge jug of cider and a

luscious loaf of their signature apple bread

Rather than make an apple pie that evening, we decided to opt for the Swiss route - instead making a homemade apple "mousse" as Stefan so aptly called it.  

Simply chop up 6-8 apples (preferably on the sweeter side), cook them in a bit of hot water for ~10 minutes with a few pinches of sugar and cinnamon, and then blend them to creamy perfection.  You may know this delicious delicacy by its American name: applesauce.

While the sauce was exactly what we wanted, it didn't do much in helping us use up our 14 pounds of produce. 

Any ideas for easy yet delicious apple dishes outside of the traditional apple pie a la mode?

xoxo
KK

making new friends

So Stefan and I have been on the hunt to make some new friends.  It's not that we don't love and adore the ones we have, we just want some more.

Problem is when you're not from here (and don't have copious amounts of friends from high school or college here) and you don't work with a ton of people (I'm in a 10-person office, Stefan in a 2-er) and you don't have ample amounts of time to spare (Stefan has been traveling like a flight attendant of late), making new friends is - well - tough.

So to try and help solve the problem, we decided to spontaneously throw a little get-together this past Saturday night with two goals:
1. Invite lots of people we didn't know + get to know them
2. Get rid of all the leftover beer we have lying around from the wedding

So I kicked off the initiative by slipping invites under the doors of all of our apartment neighbors: 

 

Stefan - being the gutsy, super friendly guy he is - also invited a variety of random people he met in various locations - laundry mat, coffee shop, etc.

 

I wasn't quite as daring instead inviting some tried and true friends under the condition they bring people we didn't know (but would likely like).

 

We served up casual fare: homemade guacamole + chips, veggies + homemade ranch dip, homebaked egg rolls + other fresh-out-of-the-oven treats, and - of course - bread and cheese.  We had a stellar turnout of wonderful people and had a fabulous time chatting with old friends and new.

 

recipe from cupcakes and cashmere

 

The only downside to the evening was the fact that with people bringing us beer and people's propensity to drink wine (as Stefan pointed out: we are in California after all), we ended up with more beer than when we started.  Go figure.  I guess we'll just have to do it again.

 

How do you make new friends?

 

xoxo

KK

style me pretty!

So you may remember me telling you about a little bridal photo shoot I did with some fabulous ladies back in May.  Not only did Melanie (of Head over Heels) magically style us from ho-drum to gorgeous in less than an hour making me feel like a total superstar, I had the absolute best time hanging with this lovely bunch of beautiful babes (and Melanie's adorable husband, Andrew, who kept us energized and happy with a steady stream of snacks and inspiring words).

The morning of my actual wedding - as we ran around getting ready for another bridal photo shoot of sorts - Melanie gushed that our little May session was to be featured on the one and only: Style Me Pretty.  I practically peed my pants (and by pants, I mean white Alice & Olivia morning-of dress).  As if I didn't already have enough to be excited about! 

Since then I've spent countless hours and sleepless nights anxiously awaiting this day.  Pop on over to the Style Me Pretty post for the real deal.

 

see more HERE

xoxo
KK

a belated birthday

Did you know that a week and a day ago was my mom’s birthday?  While I wasn’t able to celebrate with her on the day-of like last year, I was lucky enough to spend this past weekend celebrating with her and my dad and my sister and my two fabulous grandparents – Nana and Pops. 

On Friday, we all made our way up to Kennebunkport, Maine: the charming little beach town where Nana and Pops have an adorable riverside bungalow.  Because they’re re-doing the entire place (it’s going to be awesome), we stayed down the street at the lovely Breakwater Inn & Spa.

 

The rooms were lovely,

 

as was the view.

Friday night we went out to the fancy schmancy EARTH restaurant where we dined on melt-in-your-mouth swordfish, grown-up-fried-string-cheese and what I called Russian roulette peppers (1 in 10 was deathly spicy – I like spice, but when I say deathly, I mean you’re not able to think straight for the next 20 minutes and there isn't anything you can do to fix it.  Trust me - I tried.)   

 

1

 

For dessert, we went Liz-Krieg-style: just a prosecco and some more good conversation before we headed home for a Diet Coke before bed.

But the thing with Mom is that even though we were celebrating her, per usual, she made it all about us – asking us the questions, treating us to the meal (with a gift certificate Nana & Pops had given them to treat themselves), and making us feel like we were the ones getting spoiled (which we most certainly were).  She has an incredible way of making all those around her feel comfortable and just so at home. 

Did you know that for the two work conferences I’ve had over the past month (one in Washington DC and one in Boston right before this past weekend), she’s flown out to see me and keep me company?  She'd do her own thing while I had to work but was always available whenever I had a moment free.  It was so, so nice to catch up with her while working out or grabbing a drink or munching on dinner or doing just a little shopping.  And it’s not like she doesn’t have enough travel on her plate this fall – her and my dad fly from Wisconsin to the East Coast to watch my brother play football Every. Single. Weekend.

 

Pretty awesome parents if you ask me.

xoxo
KK

on blogging

I apologize for my absence of late – it’s been awhile since I’ve checked in.

But my momentary pause was not without reason: you see, it’s been just about a year since this whole blogging thing got started.  Can you believe it?  And with the one year mark pending, I began really thinking about whether its pursuit (blogging that is) still made sense. 

Many times since that glorious fall day in 2011 I’ve wondered:

Who could possibly care (husband and parents excluded) about my normal-as-pie little life? 

How conceited and self-absorbed must people find me to be spending hours documenting my personal happenings? 

What must people think of my silly writing – stylistically and otherwise?

But along the way one wise person told me: “Don’t do it for others.  Do it for yourself.”

 

And so really, that’s what I’ve tried to do – use this public platform to try out a budding, new passion of mine: witty (sometimes at least, I like to think), talking-right-to-ya writing about boring stuff made palatable.    

If you’ve followed, you’ll know this experiment has taken me all kinds of ways.  I’ve written about everything from persimmons to stick shifting to my fabulous love life to how to thank a person properly (thank YOU to all those who reached out to say they agreed or enjoyed!!!!!).

Now you may be reading this and thinking: “oh good, she’s finally decided to call it quits,” but alas not.  All this is to not say I’m hanging the towel, rather to simply thank all of you for your support and patience and kind, kind words.  Even though I do this just for me as much as possible, there is nothing nicer than hearing from you that you enjoyed a post or laughed at a picture or shared an idea with a friend. 

And to let you know that I will still continue to try and do this just for me, so if there happens to be a two week stretch where I'm too busy or uninspired or just plain not feeling it, you might see some cobwebs around these parts.  I hope you'll forgive me and still check back when things get going again.

I’ll be back tomorrow to report on the weekend.
It was all sorts of goodness.

 

xoxo

KK