Weeks 49 and 50

337: Sunday morning big breakfast! Eggs, sausage and some homemade Meyer Lemon Scones

338: Homemade cauliflower and leek soup with a drizzle of bacon

339: Ham sandwich for lunch at the desk

340: Noodle soup with bacon and some leftover fortune cookies. Are the fortunes still good if the cookies are old?

341: In need of photos with good light, I took one of breakfast, no bacon :-( 

342: Tried a homemade pumpkin and sausage lasagna. Overcooked the pasta, but the stuffing was delicious.

343: Potato pancakes and smoked salmon. I've got to do potato pancakes more often!

344: I went for a jaunt at the beach with the dogs and came across this interesting creature. It was moving, and looked like a mutant crab. After some online research, I learned that this is a gooseneck barnacle. They are also known as percebes in Spain and Portugal and are a delicacy there. Talk about the perfect foraging find! Except I didn't take it home, although I sure wish I did. 

345: The usual quick dinner of noodles

346: Take out sushi for dinner after a very busy and stressful day

347: More noodles

348: Too busy, and I probably had noodles

349: TGIF! I had some time in the morning so made a good breakfast.

350: A baby shower for a friend means lots of goodies for lunch!

16 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE NEW YEAR (holy cow!)

December Mood Board

Since I'm not posting that much on my blog, I thought I would share what I've been doing over on Instagram. The end of November was filled with so much fog, it was just gorgeous chasing it!

Then the rain came in, but there would be breaks when the sun would peak through, creating such gorgeous light. I didn't even have to edit!

Now into December, the rain is falling harder, so my photos have a dark and eerie feel to them. But the rain doesn't darken my mood at all. In fact, I love snuggling up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea, listening to the sound of rain. After of course, I've been out in the rain taking these shots!

Come follow me on Instagram! @ailoves

Weeks 47 and 48, I can't wait!

to be done with this project. Four more weeks to go! Woo hoo!

323:  I love the Sundays when I have some time to make a nice breakfast. Here we have pancakes, sausage and an egg. I hope I did some exercise after this.

324: Met up with some old high school friends who I haven't seen in a long time. It was fun catching up over burgers. It's great how even after you haven't seen each other for years, you can just start back up as if no time has passed.

325: Late Tuesday means take out Burmese!

326: My friends kidnapped me from work and we went for food. That's what friends are for.

327: THANKSGIVING!!! Ate. So. Much. I love you mom!

328: Used Thanksgiving leftovers (not turkey) for a quick meal after work.

329: I don't think I had dinner. But I had dessert!

330: Mom has a Meyer lemon tree and I may have taken one or a hundred lemons. Search Epicurious.com and voila! Meyer lemon and cranberry scones. Really really good. I may have eaten one or a hundred.

I took a little extra time to style this shot along with a couple of others this week. I've been very active on Instagram and was kind of tired of having my pretty nature photos interrupted with a poorly lit food photo.

331: Breakfast sandwich. Mmm... biscuits.

332: Went lighter for breakfast with some persimmons. And a buttery yummy biscuit.

333: Was home early from work and took advantage of the light. Made this Morrocan Chicken with Green Olives and Meyer Lemon. So good! And I just love this photo! I even got featured over on Instagram!

334: Lunch with a friend. A whole pizza for me? Don't mind if I do!

335: Gym, yoga, lunch, hike. That works for me!

336: This should actually be day 334. Was eating leftovers and in bad light. This cloud soup was much prettier.

Weeks 45 and 46, my computer was sick

So this time I have a good excuse, aside from life, that has put me even more behind in my food posts. My 6 month-old computer crashed. So then the hard drive was replaced. And then it died again the next day. So the motherboard was replaced. So essentially I have a new computer, although I kind of had a new computer before.

Lesson learned from the last time my computer died--back your stuff up, yo! Thank goodness I did, and all my lovely photos are still with me!

So how did weeks 45 and 46 feed me?

309: Egg scramble with homemade beet juice. I've been juicing a bit, trying to "cleanse" my system. Never works though. I just end up eating bacon later. (See day 314)

310: This is a latergram. I went to the SF Art Institute, and the rooftop view was ah-may-zing! And so were these croquettes.

311: We have learned from my 366 that I eat a lot of udon.

312: I don't know what this is, chicken and avocado. It looks awful and probably was. 

313: When I am in a cooking slump and burnt out at work, sushi to go is always a good thing. My sushi photos always get many likes on Instagram. And when I say many, I mean like 12. (Actually, day 310 got quite a few likes, but probably because of the view. It's pretty darn awesome.)

314: Being healthy with a breakfast burrito, and then I added the bacon. 

315: Going Italian in SF for my friend's birthday. Mangia!

316: Guess what? Udon.

317: I've been taking more morning photos since evening photos in the winter are crap. Here's an egg scramble. And a chocolate chip cookie. Because who doesn't have chocolate chip cookies for breakfast?

318: Knock knock. Who's there? Udon. Udon who? Udon you like my udon? (Get it? Get it?)

319: Had to work late, much too late. Thank goodness for In-N-Out!

320: Met up with friends at my favorite Burmese joint. It takes a lot of restraint to not gobble up everything in front of your friends. 

321: Homemade corn soup like mom used to make. And strawberry shortcake, which mom never made.

322: Had a girl's night out at 1300 Filmore. Loved the dark and moody interior. The elderflower and pear cocktail was tasty too. 

Weeks 43 and 44, not much more!

Hitting the home stretch! And I swear I will be caught up before the last week hits.

295: The Giants are in the playoffs! Went to the local sports pub for beer, fries and baseball! And we won!

296: Me and my udon. 

297: More noodles with some soup. I love just throwing in everything left in the fridge into these meals.

298: Back to the sports bar for quesadillas and baseball. Another win for the Giants!

299: Some store-bought ravioli with store-bought tomato sauce. Some nights just call for store-bought.

300: Friday morning I had some free time to make a nice breakfast. With bacon of course.

301: Up to the city to root on the Giants. Margaritas help with the rooting. Giants win again! 

302: Took a good long hike with the dogs and friends. Rewarded ourselves with burgers at Alice's. So pooped afterwards that I watched the Giants game at home. And they won the World Series! Yippee!

303: Some butternut squash chili, made a while ago and frozen. Great to have an instant meal when I get home!

304: Made a ton of turkey meatballs. I wasn't supposed to eat all of them... but I did.

305: Lunch at the desk. Lunch is ALWAYS at the desk. Thought I'd snap a shot of the pho. Pho sho!

306: Love the texture of lotus root. And it is so pretty to look at! Stir-fried it with some port and soy sauce. Easy peasy!

307: Night out with the buddies. Took them to Mission Chinese, which unfortunately was not as good as it used to be.

308: Made some fish tacos. Inspired by this post and the last photo on Sprouted Kitchen, and I threw some avocado into the poblano sauce. Unfortunately, evening iphone photos just don't look quite the same as their photos. 

November Mood Board

Well, hello there! It finally feels like fall, with that crisp breeze in the air that I love so much. My garden is a mess though and hasn't been tended to in over a month.

The grass is overgrown, the trees need trimming, and the vegetable patch needs to be overturn. There are still a few veggies that are popping up though.

I found this pop of color amongst the overgrown greens.

So right now, I can't muster the motivation to pull out my SLR and take photos. When I look at Karin A's mood board, I'm a bit embarrassed to post these blurry Ai-phone pics. But the reality it, I'm addicted to my Ai-phone and all the photo editing apps! They don't always make bad pictures look good, but it's convenient.

Happy November!

Le Dîner en Blanc, SF style

I believe Le Dîner en Blanc started over 20 years ago in Paris, where guests dress in white and meet at a secret location to wine and dine and make new friends. It has since spread around the world, with SF holding their own last year. I saw it on Eye on the Bay and was eagerly awaiting its return this year.

When the announcement came out, I pounced on the tickets. And then awaited for the location, which was not revealed until 3 pm the day of the event. The weather all week had been spectacular in SF, but of course, the day of the event, Karl the Fog rolled back in. I guess it was appropriate that Le Diner en Blanc actually have a white foggy backdrop.

Honestly though, it was still quite beautiful! It was held on the Marina Green and to see everyone wearing white was such a pretty sight! And people went all out with their meals and table decor. I thought mine was all spiffy...

until I saw the chandeliers, tents, streamers, and amazing centerpieces. What the what?! So amazing!

Unfortunately, night photography is not my forte, so I couldn't capture the meal I made for my friends. We started out with a potato and leek soup with a bacon jam. I kept it in a thermos and it came out piping hot! Perfect to ease the chill of the night. 

The best I could get of the soup

For the main course, I made a butternut squash and spinach pie with pancetta. I remembered to take a quick photo of it before leaving the house. Unfortunately, I was initially going to use phyllo dough, but my stash in the freezer was not fresh and I had to toss it. So I made a quick crust with olive oil. I guess healthier, but it was dry. Still pretty though!

Also on the menu was a quinoa salad and chocolate cupcakes with a coconut buttercream frosting. No photos, boo.

Casualty of the evening suffered by my friend.
We MacGyvered a dressing with twine.

Overall, the evening was a success. The setting was such that most people brought a ton of friends, so getting to know each other was not really in the cards. But it was still fun and I would totally do it again!

Napkin Wave

A little blur on purpose 

Weeks 41 and 42, oops, I made a boo boo

I'm totally off! This week is Week 43, but I'm behind and only up to posting Week 42. Blah!!! I really hope that when I hit the end of the year, I actually have 366 photos.

281: Spent another day in the city with friends watching the Blue Angels and other festivities. Winded down with some beer and fish tacos at Rogue.

282: Feeling all healthy making some salmon with tofu and veggies. 

283: Not much in the fridge now so TJ's to the rescue again with a cornmeal pizza. Not planning on buying that again.

284: Cut up the butternut squash and made a vegetarian chili with lots of cheese. Mmm, cheese.

285: Headed to our neighborhood pub to watch baseball. Not a good night for the A's.

286: Took a work lunch at Osteria Coppa. Affogato after lunch is the perfect midday pick-me-up!

287: Needed some fuel before a run, so aebleskivers and sausage were it!

288: On a baking kick, so made some beet chocolate cupcakes. 

289: Went to dinner at mom's the night before, and got plenty of leftovers. Lova ya mom!

291: Skipped Tuesday (went out on a date and didn't want to interrupt the moments with picture taking.... Should've taken the pictures.) Wednesday was homemade, with purple long beans from grandma's garden and mom's pepper sauce.

293: Lost another day, I think I had leftovers as I spent most of Thursday night cooking for Friday. Took part in Le Diner en Blanc in SF. So much fun and maybe I'll get around to even writing a blog post about it.

294a: Caught up on the photos by taking three on Saturday. Took part in a Food Styling Course with Joy the Baker and Tracy Shutterbean (yet another post to do). Made some bourbon pumpkin milkshakes, oh yes we did!

294b: Lunch at the course was a lovely catered meal of roasted eggplant and tomatoes and a light quinoa salad.

294c: Met up with a friend for dinner at Wood Tavern, on my list for a long time. Apps were delicious. Had the lamb as the main course, but it needed salt. Some restaurants don't put salt on the tables, but this one did. It's as if they knew...

Weeks 40 and 41, trying to have some fun!

Does blog posting ever start feeling like a chore? Is that a sign you should stop blogging? I've realized that I've had this blog for over a year now, but I'm not sure why I do it. Initially, it was to chronicle things in my life and create something similar to what I used to do with scrapbooks and old photos. But now I have Instagram to do that. And while I love taking photos of food, I also like taking good photos. Some days I eat just to live, and other days I live to eat. When I live to eat, I want to capture that on film! At 8 pm, when it's dark out, and my photos look crappy in the artificial light, I don't really want to showcase it.

Just some rambling thoughts as I post my food photos. And I'm still a week behind...

267: Went to my folks for a belated birthday dinner, courtesy of mom. I don't think we talked during dinner since we were just stuffing our faces with food.

268: Made some homemade tomato soup and turned it into a tortilla soup. Good way to use up stale tortilla chips.

269: Mussels and pasta, courtesy of leftovers from mom.

270: Some days call for some In-N-Out, usually bad days

271: Another stressed out day. Soothed it with some take out Thai and wine.

272: Finally Friday! Called up a friend to get some pizza and cocktails.

273: Started the weekend with a really long run (which is something I need to go do right now). Followed that with a few hours in the office catching up on work with a super duper healthy salad and Advil.

274: Sunday breakfast and made some pancakes. I love that plate.

275: And yes, now I've realized I switched the photos around in my mosaic. Oh well. Where were we? Oh, Monday. And pasta. A huge bowl of it with sausage. I ate more than I should have, as usual. Didn't I run 8 miles a few days ago?

276: Ok, back to the healthy eating. When I tell people I love salads, I don't mean just lettuce. We're talking big and meaty with all the fixins'

277: Blah day deserves comfort food in the form of a Trader Joe's lasagna. I may or may not have eaten the whole tray.

278: Healthy eating, healthy eating. Same salad, different day. It's what happens when you buy a tub of shrimp from Costco.

279: Friday night with a friend, some wine, and bruschetta. Let the weekend begin!

280: Out in the city this weekend. Ceviche and bottomless mimosas... dangerous. It was a good weekend!

Just thinkin...

that I would love to be a photographer professionally. I am always honored when friends ask me to photograph an event or their child. I keep thinking it's something I can do on the side but it takes so much time! So for now, I'll just do it every now and then. But maybe one day it will become something more.

It also helps when your subjects are ridiculously adorable!!

September Mood Board

Well, hello October! You have come in with a bang haven't you?
It's hit 90 degrees..
What?!?!

It was pretty warm in September, but the nights were cool. The leaves were turning, but now they are confused.

It will be interesting to see what October brings. Bye September!

Weeks 37 and 38, I'm totally late

Well, here I was thinking I was on top of things, but nope. Totally missed the ball on this one. Where is time going??!?!?! I did spend today relaxing a bit, exploring a new place and bringing out some pens and pencils to do a bit of drawing. That was nice. I even hand lettered for today's post. 

253: A lunch feast at my friend's house. It was her daughter's 4 year birthday party. This was the adult table. The kiddie table was pretty good too.

254: Not much in the fridge except squash, so I diced them up and threw a lot of cheese on top.

255: Working late again, went to CurryUpNow for some take out Indian. Good thing I was the only one in the office since the place stunk like garlic and curry.

256: Stuffed some ground turkey with homemade goat cheese. Homemade goat cheese is the bomb. Tomatoes from your garden are also the bomb.

257: Hey, guess what? I was working late again. Went for my favorite Burmese. I may have stuffed my face with all of this.

258: An early birthday celebration with my friends. Aren't these burgers cute?

259: My friend gave me a cupcake. I served it with some sushi.

260: A Sunday breakfast of noodles. Noodles for breakfast--it's a good thing.

261: I took Monday off. It was my birthday. Ice cream on your birthday rocks. Especially when it's served with a side of ocean.

262: Still thinking of the ocean, I made some steamed mussels and shrimp.

263: They got me cupcakes at the office. All for me. I think I had cupcakes for lunch 3 days in a row.

264: I don't know what happened, I lost a day and have no idea where it went.

265: Work has been crazy, taking that day off was great and not so great. Came home after another long day and just made some corn soup like mom used to make. I also bought me some flowers.

266: Trying to eat healthy after a week of cupcakes.

Posting the 266th photo on Instagram was kind of cool. It meant 100 more days to go! I have this minor fear that my numbers are off though and I'll hit the last day of the year and it will be 367 or 364 or something.

Coloring is quite relaxing. It was a hot day today, but sitting under the shade while doing this was nice. I need more days like this, but I'll take what I can get!

Weeks 35 and 36, not a bad mix

It's kind of interesting how the way I have taken photos of food has changed over the year. I tend to do a lot of overhead shots now although there are still a few closeups and angled shots. Good lighting makes such a difference and I suspect the quality of these photos will turn to mush with summer ending and the days getting shorter. And the fact that these days I get home from work after 8 or 9. I guess I could take photos of breakfast, but that would be a lot of photos of the same thing. And lunch would always include a keyboard next to it. 

239: Frittata with the tomatoes from the garden and a fresh salad. I love this photo and the frittata was good. As in I almost ate the whole thing kind of good.

240: Squash bake with a ton of melted cheese. Looked pretty good but unfortunately a fail on taste.

241: Cukes from the garden that I pickled and some soba.

242: More tomatoes and cukes from the garden

243: Take out sushi 

244: This is my comfort food, homemade chicken broth and noodles

245: I busted out the ebleskiver pan and made some with chocolate inside. And bacon. Maybe I should put bacon inside the 'skivers next time.

246: I have no idea what happened this past Sunday. I have no photos at all on my phone and I cannot even remember what I did. It's like the day never existed.

247: Fresh corn and avocado salad. This was tasty.

248: I had some cantaloupe for dinner.  Why? Because I had stuffed my face with cookies at the office.

249: Trying to find new ways to prepare squash, I used a peeler to make thin strips like fettucine and topped it with a homemade tomato sauce. 

250: Long day at work deserves a take out burger and milkshake.

251: Tomato soup from a box with another new squash recipe, panko and parmesan crusted, baked not fried, since I did have that milkshake the day before

252: Went out to a new pizza place in town with some friends. I was hungry and gobbled up my share before I remembered to take a photo.

August Mood Board

Another month gone! It's kind of scary how quickly time passes. It's always good to slow down a bit and enjoy the flowers...

There is a random assortment of flowers blooming in my garden.

This colorful passionflower transports me to a tropical place, with a beach and sand and a fruity cocktail. I always think of Skittles when I look at the stamen. 

These guys always pop out of nowhere. No leaves, just bursts of pinks coming up through the dry dirt.

Fading fuchsia but still so colorful and bright.

I planted these when I first moved in and they are now crazy big. I've always loved the look of bougainvillea against a stark white wall with a blue blue sea in the background. Greece, one of these days I will met you.

An August mood board filled with pinks!

For you. 

And now it's on to September. While A is my favorite letter, September is my favorite month. I see some greens coming in!