Site Meter

As Simple and Ordinary as That

April 7, 2010 | Comments (25)

First things first: thank you so, so much for all of your amazing solo-eating suggestions, and cooking-for-one book suggestions! I’m overwhelmed by your comments and emails…and dinner ideas. Where to begin? Grilled cheese, pasta with bacon, scrambled eggs for dinner…Yes, please. The majority of the advice I’ve gotten from family, friends, and you all here is that time continues on whether you like it or not. It just does. And through that, things get easier. I’m trusting you on this one.

I just finished re-reading The Hours a few nights ago. Have you read it? I think Michael Cunningham captures the intricacies of character, relationships and moments really beautifully. Towards the end of the novel, I found myself rereading this passage over and over:

“We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep–it’s as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out of windows or drown themselves or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us, the vast majority, are slowly devoured by some disease, or if we’re fortunate, by time itself. There’s just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds and expectations, to burst open and give us everything we’ve ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) knows these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still we cherish the city, the morning; we hope, more than anything, for more.”

To me, this paragraph–in so few words–speaks to the human condition more than anything I’ve ever read. It’s hard. We lose friends and relationships and have difficulty finding our calling or our life’s passion. But then there are evenings when you look around the table at friends you haven’t seen for ten years and smile, or you bite into the perfectly crisp apple–or those mornings when a hot shower feels like a gift from the Gods. Those are the simple, ordinary moments that give us a gleam that hope is justified. So along with all of your fabulous meal suggestions, I’m going to seek out these moments like nothing else right now–the hours that give a glint (or a full on beam) of hope and light. And spring, sunshine in San Francisco, and asparagus in the markets helps, too. So onward, shall we?

Continue Reading »

A Sunday

April 4, 2010 | Comments (11)

Whether you celebrate Easter or not, we’ve got a day on our hands that signifies fresh starts, Spring, a little color, a little more chocolate. So I don’t have a recipe for you today (although I have a great one coming up in just a few days), but I just wanted to stop in and wish you a very happy Sunday. Here are a few shots that I’ve taken lately in the quest to capture a little color,  life and light. I hope you’re doing the same in your corner of the world.

And here are a few folks/things that are making me smile this weekend:

  • Skinny Laminx, a little South African company, does the most beautiful tea towels you’ve ever seen. Seriously.
  • I just bought a few of these coffee cups. They make me happy.
  • It’s no secret that I love a good cocktail. The White on Rice Couple has written about the Kentucky Sidecar (tangerines and bourbon–oh my)
  • Bacon. There’s something about sitting outside on your city stoop, barefoot, with coffee in your new mug and some crispy bacon. This stuff is where its at.
  • Tulips! Lovely photos of them! Spring! Check out this post over at Abby Try Again post.
  • Have ya’ll seen Ready Made magazine’s new food issue? I spied one of my favorite bloggers, Lottie + Doof, has a little write-up, and there are some inspiring recipes for sweet and savory tarts.
  • Spring baking? Check. Batter bowl? Check.
  • I’m nesting a little. I hear people do that after break-ups. Needing a new lamp, I’m going DIY.

The Unknown

March 30, 2010 | Comments (35)


Some of you have very sweetly written me to ask how I’m doing after this post. Truthfully, it’s day by day. This Thursday is the first day that I’ll be living alone…for the first time in my entire life (with the exception of a very brief period in Boston that didn’t work out all that famously). Yep, and I’m 31. When you’ve been with someone as long as we have been together, it’s just the way it’s always been. So I have days where I’m excited to rearrange the furniture, and I have a lot of days where I’m really anxious and worried. I bite my nails, watch bad late night  TV, and eat strawberry jam out of the jar. Today’s  been one of those days. I’ve discovered days off from work aren’t necessarily great for me–there’s a little too much time to think and be in my own head. It’s important to stay busy. But the more I try and figure out what it is I’m so worried about, the more I realize it’s really just the unknown. It’s not knowing how I’ll feel next week or this summer or who I’ll go to first with exciting news or wake up in the middle of the night with a terrifying dream. So I’m trying really hard to just sit with that. Sit with the unknown and try and not figure it all out this second. Because I can’t. And I’m guessing it’s not ready to be all figured out.

Continue Reading »

Cocktail Hour

March 27, 2010 | Comments (16)


If you’ve been around A Sweet Spoonful for awhile, you already know a few things: 1) I like strong drinks and 2) I don’t often accept freebies or do giveaways on the site. With this next post, one of those things has changed. While I just don’t see the relevance or need for plastic batter bowls that store batter in the handle (what?!), towels specially designed to sop up red wine, or acid-resistant bud vases (hmmm)–I do see the need and relevance for vodka. So when the kind folks over at SKYY vodka wrote to me to introduce their new Ginger infused vodka, I told them to send one on over. Quickly. It’s been a tough few months.

In thinking about how I wanted to mix it, I kept thinking how great it would be to pair it with fresh lime juice and mint. I didn’t add any sweetener because, in addition to liking strong drinks, I dislike syrupy sweet ones. So if this  has a bit too much of an edge for you, add a dash of simple syrup. But honestly, I think you’ll like it. It screams outdoor patios and freshly mowed lawns. There’s a drink out there called the Moscow Mule, which is basically vodka, fresh lime juice, and a few glugs of ginger beer. My recipe is in the same family but it’s more like the Stiff Mule: we’re not messing around here. I think I’ll call it that.

Continue Reading »

Waiting

March 19, 2010 | Comments (21)

oven braised lentils

Spring is officially here. Many of you will probably read this post on Saturday and yes, it’s the first day of spring. I know it’s been one long, ruthless winter for much of the country. So while we’re lucky here in the Bay Area to wear our flip-flops year round (or at least I do), we’re excited about warmer weather, too. We’re all waiting for a little change, a little more light, a little growth. Waiting.

Continue Reading »

Eating While Standing

March 10, 2010 | Comments (14)

warm grains with cabbage and ricotta
We’ve all done it. You get home from work and you’re basically ravenous. You can’t be bothered with setting an actual place for yourself. You grab a few nuts, pour a glass of wine, break out the leftovers, and go to town. Or if you’re me last night, it goes a little something like this: You spend the late afternoon making and photographing a beautiful dish of warm grains and cabbage and time’s ticking away. You’re meeting Katie, your old high school friend, for drinks so you rush out the door. You’re wearing a pretty, flowy scarf and feeling a little like you can take on the world as you’re strolling down Divisadero towards your favorite neighborhood bar. You catch up. You laugh. You cry a little. You envy the fact that your friend has a real job (yay, Katie!). You drink maybe one more than you should considering the fact that you haven’t eaten since 11 a.m. Then you get home, pull your hair up into a high bun, break out the boxer shorts, and to the fridge you go. You find yourself sitting in a dark, quiet kitchen lit only by the security light from the building next door–tipsy and grateful for such an amazingly nourishing salad.

Continue Reading »

Making Mornings Brighter

March 4, 2010 | Comments (20)

I lied. I promised an amazing morning recipe early this week and somehow I’m sitting here Thursday morning finally making it happen. My internet’s been down, so I’m sitting at the coffee shop right down the street where I used to camp out before I had internet in the first place. It’s kind of a nice change of scenery and pace from my living room (obviously). They make better coffee, there’s buzz, there’s bits of the paper  strewn about, and pieces of conversation to eavesdrop in on. And this morning, there seems to be a steady stream of Phil Collins. Not sure what to say about that.

But I am sure what to say about breakfast these days. Since I’ve been commuting to Marin, I don’t have much time to have my typical breakfast of yogurt, granola, and honey. I can barely seem to get coffee and milk in my travel mug and get out the door on time. So I’ve started planning ahead a little with things I can grab and take with me. Homemade granola bars? Check. Bananas and those nice little pouches of peanut butter? Check. A damn fine English muffin. Check.

Continue Reading »

Blood Oranges and House Sitting

February 26, 2010 | Comments (10)

For the past few days and for the remainder of the weekend, I’m house-sitting at my mom’s house. Hallelujah. I’m amazed at what a little change of scenery can do for a girl. And before I get into that and the magic I’ve created with a few blood oranges, I want to thank you all for your comments on the last post. I feel so lucky to have such amazing readers, friends, and family. Thank you one hundred times over.

Onward: Remember how I used to live at my mom’s place before moving into the city? She lives about thirty minutes north of San Francisco in San Rafael, a beautiful but sleepy sort-of suburb. It’s great to be back hanging out in the blooming backyard, snuggling with her dogs,  catching up with bad gossip magazines, watching cable (such a luxury now!), feasting on homemade lasagna and brownies, and getting a good night’s sleep. I’m actually really nervous to go back to my place on Monday, but I know I need to face my life there, too.  There are changes to be made and conversations to be had. Oy. You know what makes facing life just a little bit easier? The bottle.

Continue Reading »

New Cake and Old Friends

February 22, 2010 | Comments (28)

It’s been a long weekend. Not long like ‘yay, it’s a holiday’ long. More like ‘hours piling onto hours piling onto more hours’ long. I’m pretty firm about this remaining a food blog, so I won’t bore you with the details of what’s been going on in my life. But let’s just say I’m cooking more for one now than for two. Moving has a way of highlighting problems rather than solving them. So after twelve years of comfort, stability, laughs, road trips, cups of coffee, holidays, birthdays together, apartments spanning the country–I’ll be spending a bit more time alone. I’ve actually written this paragraph many times trying to just come out and say it. So there it is. And I’ve had enough sleepless nights, tears,  and a rather lousy appetite because of it. So hell. Today it was time to bake a cake.

Continue Reading »

A Long Weekend in Boston

February 16, 2010 | Comments (12)


This past weekend I flew to Boston to celebrate what would have been the 30th birthday of one of my dear friends who died this  past fall.  It was, fittingly, a long celebratory weekend filled with laughter, old friends, old haunts and–of course–food.  I went to graduate school in Boston and haven’t been back since, so I did a lot of wandering my old favorite neighborhoods and checking out what had changed. I thought I’d informally pull together some pictures and highlights of what we were up to and where we ate in case you find yourself in Boston with an empty stomach and some free time on your hands.

Continue Reading »