i just can’t get enough of new orleans. i planned a trip in march because i didn’t think theo was coming home for spring break and not seeing him for a whole semester was too upsetting… but then he DID come home and it was a bonus visit!
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i LOVE new orleans! x0x0x
in travel
i first went to new orleans during theo’s junior year of high school when we were checking out tulane. it took me about thirty seconds to fall in love with that city. i have been back three more times (he’s a sophomore there now!) and each time i love it more. we are fresh off a visit and here are some of my new orleans FAVORITES:
PRETTY HOUSES (lots are even PINK!) with wrought iron railings and balconies.
ANDERSEN'S PEA SOUP! x0x
(we DID stll get a photo with “HAP-PEA” and “PEA-WEE,” even though the restaurant was closed in 2021 because of corona)
i think with the world absolutely upside down, i am feeling nostalgic. today i was so HAP-PEA when i noticed canned andersen’s pea soup in my safeway. we always used to stop at andersen’s on the way to my grandparents’ house when i was little. i loved seeing the big windmill and all of the carved and painted danish furniture inside. and, of course, the soup was DELICIOUS! during the pandemic, on one of our many roadtrips i brought my kids to andersens and we were so bummed (or I was bummed) that it was closed down. over winter break, lucy, hank and i drove down to LA and on the way back we made a stop at the OPEN andersens. the soup was just as yummy as i remembered and now i don’t have to go all the way to santa nella, i can just pop over to my market! x0x
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gorgeous santa fe! x0x0x
(these sconces were hung down all the hallways of our hotel: inn on the alameda)
five years ago, when my daughter was turning ten, we were supposed to take a girls’ trip with my mother to santa fe. that plan got kabashed with the pandemic and this spring break we were finally able to make it happen. i have never before been to a place so concentrated with art museums and galleries and beautiful shops in a relatively small geographic footprint. it was absolutely exhilirating to be exposed (inundated?) to so many pretty, innovative, inspiring, engaging works of art literally EVERYWHERE we went. and the food was outrageous too… so YUMMY! here are some of my favorite discoveries…
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spring break of a lifetime... one YEAR later! x0x
(sunset on the beach with TT at iberostar last year)
last night we picked up my darling boy from the oakland airport. he survived (and reveled in) FIVE nights of mardi gras in new orleans, culminating in an all night “tequila sunrise” that rang in fat tuesday. now he is in his bed and i think he might remain there for the remainder of his spring break.
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girlie weekend (with hank of course!) at THE BROADMOOR! x0x0xx
(how PRETTY is this hotel nestled into mountains?)
there are few places i like to visit as much as the broadmoor. my heart just soars when i am there and i feel kind of giddy. set against some group of colorado mountains and centered around a big, beautiful lake, it is unbelievably scenic. the interior spaces are so detailed and intricate and layered you are always discovering something new. on this visit, i really started noticing all the swans. aside from the actual swans who live on the lake, there are swans throughout the resort painted on the walls, tiled into floor mosaics, featured in oil paintings and even edible meringue swans available at the little patisserie. i HAVE been watching “the feud” featuring truman capote and his swans obsessively, so maybe that’s why i was so drawn to them.
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REPOST: fifteen
we moved to amsterdam from san francisco when i was pregnant with my first baby. we stayed there for nearly the first five years of his life and the very beginning of my daughter’s. traveling with babies is not easy… particularly on eleven hour international flights. and then when you arrive there is the horrendous jet lag that kicks in (there’s a NINE hour time difference between california and the netherlands.) so i only brought my children home once a year, but we would stay for at least a month to stabilize and enjoy the visit before heading back. now that we live in colorado we have continued this summer tradition. the kids LOVE their camp in berkeley (kee tov) and i get to spend time with my family and all my growing up friends.
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REPOST: my bay area restaurant tour
(artwork: aaron alvarez)
* i am reposting this story because our summer time in california has come to an end. we ate and ate as much as we could. this summer we were forced to explore new spots because cesar, one of our favorites has closed…i am still SLAYED about that. here are some of our new places:
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REPOST: plum cake
* i am reposting this story because it includes the recipe for plum cake… a few summers ago the plum tree at our cottage went bananas with fruit. early each morning i went out to harvest (i DO have farming roots) enough to make plum cake. sometimes i gave it to someone, but most days we ate it. they are so DELICOUS! unfortunately, i totally over plum caked lucy and i don’t think she will ever eat one again. that is truly unfortunate. (i also did that to her with scrambled eggs - a big bummer both because i make AMAZING scrambles and because i think they are such a healthy way to breakfast.) today when i popped over to my parents’ house the yummiest smell was wafting around… mom was having her quilt friends over for lunch and had made the coveted cake. i was beside myself so, of course, i stayed for lunch! ENJOY! x0x
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road trip with HANK! x0x0x
(hank likes to ride shotgun!)
due to some poor planning on my part i had to interrupt our california holiday with an expedited road trip back to boulder with hank. usually i make this drive over a minimum of three days but prefer to extend it to a week so i can stop in LA and see friends. this time we powered through in TWO DAYS! we were like true truck drivers. i am proud to say i didn’t get lost once and was super vigilant about refilling the tank whenever it was half empty because last year lu and i came uncomfortably close to running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. so logistically, hank and i did quite well, but it was boring as SHIT! we stopped midway in a town called “wells” on the nevada border. there was literally nothing in this town except our hotel, a mcdonalds and two gas stations. so we had dinner from the chevron shop (across the board, everyone has told me i should have had a big mac instead of a gas station sandwich, which is probably true), holed up in our room and left at the crack of dawn. hank was the perfect companion - we didn’t argue about when to stop or what snacks to get or which podcast to listen to… we were always aligned on that stuff (teriyaki beef jerky and “fly on the wall” with dana carvey and david spade interviewing anyone from SNL). i left hank in boulder with first husband and lu and i am safely back in california now. i MISS my sweetie hanky… i felt teary eating a banana alone this morning (we always share) and haven’t been sleeping as well without his soothing, snorey white noise.
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REPOST: keukenhof (coo-ken-hoff)
* unfortunately we will not be able to visit keukenhof on our christmas visit, but it is a MUST SEE if you go to the netherlands in the spring! x0x
the dutch east india company was founded in 1602 and monopolized both asian and european trade for two centuries, a period known as the dutch “golden age.” a wealthy dutch merchant class was established and the netherlands was the center of some of the greatest achievements in art and academia (think rembrandt, vermeer and hals, the invention of the pendulum clock, the discovery of bacteria, the first modern stock exchange…) at the start of this era, tulips were imported to holland from the ottoman empire. these brightly hued flowers with petals growing in the shape of elegant teacups completely captured the dutch and became highly valued. the “tulpiere” vase was designed to hold individual stems, as each blossom was considered so precious. by 1636, the tulip bulb was the fourth leading dutch export, following gin, herring and cheese and “tulpenmanie” was at its height. tulips became so expensive that they were treated as a form of currency and a speculative frenzy ensued. it is said that one canal mansion was offered in trade for just ten rare bulbs. in 1637, the tulip market crashed after buyers in haarlem refused to show up to a scheduled auction and make good on payment. some believe that the haarlemmers stayed home because the bubonic plague was going around and they didn’t want to stand around in a big, infected crowd. since this was long before purell’s product launch in 1988, it is completely understandable. the burst of the “tulip mania” bubble did not have a lasting impact on the dutch economy, but it did effect the dutch psyche and is considered a reminder to stay grounded when making financial decisions. tulips continue as a beloved and iconic symbol of the netherlands (as do gin, herring and gouda, also popularized during the golden age) and today’s dutchies still love to chat about the period in history when a country the size of maryland fairly dominated the world.
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REPOST: nijntje (nine-cha)
* this little bunny is one of my FAVORITES! i just can’t wait to see her in her hometown! x0x
i moved to amsterdam when i was three months pregnant with my first child. i had never spent any time there and like many americans, i associated the netherlands with wooden shoes, tulips, marijauna “coffee shops” and the red light district. i was leaving behind my family, my pacific ocean and my super-fun job styling the windows for banana republic. the whole move happened so quickly i barely had time to process what i was getting myself into and what i was going to do with myself when i got there, besides being pregnant. one of my favorite work friends suggested i start styling the red light windows. i could rework them every season with different themes like we did at banana and dress the women in something beyond tiny, white bikinis that glow iridescent in the intense red lights.
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REPOST: pompadour x0x
* whenever friends are planning a trip to amsterdam they always reach out for my favorite spots… i have a list of my favorites but the one place i insist they CANNOT MISS is pompadour… it is the loveliest place in the world! x0x
i moved to amsterdam in august, but you wouldn’t have known it was summer because of all the rain. there is the general misting present most days that you can still walk around in and then there are the serious downpours where you need to go inside. one of my earliest rain-evading discoveries was the chocolate shop, pompadour. this “gezellig” (dutch word for cozy, but meaning so much more) patisserie was located just around the corner from my apartment. it was almost a holy place for me. the interior is beautiful…rich, intricate, rose-colored wallpaper with warm, carved wooden moldings cut for the town hall of mortsel in 1895 and imported and repurposed, striking light fixtures evoking wild flowers or some kind of nature and inviting little marble cafe tables. there was just about no trouble that couldn’t be soothed away by having a cup of mint tea at pompadour. the tea was served in a large, clear glass of hot water with a couple of fresh mint stalks tucked in, accompanied by a delicious almond cake on the side. and i haven’t even gotten to the gorgeous chocolates and little cakes that looked like works of art.
Read Moremy bay area restaurant tour
(artwork: aaron alvarez)
we are half way through our summer sojourn in california and i am proud to say that we have eaten at (almost) all of our favorite restaurants and even added a couple of new goodies. i try to be super organized about this, like a tactical general, because it just guts me to leave with unfinished business.
here is our gastronomic tour so far:
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thelma and lucy!
(the OG girls road tripping team)
the last couple of summers we have driven to california for our annual visit… first because of the corona and then because hank is no longer allowed to fly as an “emotional support” dog, which is BANANAS because if i hadn’t had him around during this pandemic and all the crazy things that have happened in the world the last few years i don’t know that i would have held onto my sanity at all. we have journeyed in different configurations… sometimes my first husband has accompanied us, sometimes it’s been me and the kids (and hank, of course!) but this is the first time it’s just been us girls, me and lu (AND hank, of course.)
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holiday marzipan
we spent five christmases in amsterdam while we were living there as expats… there is no more magical place to spend the holidays… there are strings of lights outlining the bridges and arching across the streets so that the whole city is lit up, there are pop up outdoor ice skating rinks and holiday markets and olie bollen (DELICIOUS big round donuts doused in powdered sugar) trucks suddenly appear all over the city. but my favorite tradition was the christmas candy. pompadour, our beloved neighborhood chocolate shop, made whimsical marzipan characters (funny frogs, little piggies, red, polka-dotted toad stools) and fruit (oranges, pears and a pokey, round one that i could never identify) each december. i still don’t know what those guys had to do with christmas, but i looked forward to seeing them (and EATING them) in pompadour’s front windows during the holiday season.
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devil's thumb
lucy and i recently had a special mama/daughter weekend at devil’s thumb ranch. theo was meant to come, but i got mixed up (corona brain!) and thought he didn’t have school on friday (it was the monday that was off and theo would have missed three tests) so lu and i played hooky instead.
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weekend with dad
i spent the last few days with my dad… my mother went to “quilt camp” for the week with her quilting girlfriends as she has done for probably the last thirty years and i came out to berkeley to keep my father company for the weekend (i am so HAPPY that flying is an option now!) it is strange to be in the house without mom… we always have our coffee together early morning which she prepares in her very fancy, complicated machine - dad does not drink coffee - and sit at the kitchen table chatting. so i had to make my own coffee with her machine that is as fragile as an orchid and as demanding as a toddler. the first day the machine cooperated nicely which made me feel really competent and possibly a bit cocky. but the second day panic set in as he refused to carry on after i pressed the cappuccino button and red lights started flashing. i thought the little drawing was indicating that he was low on beans, but when i opened the top, there were loads of them in there. finally i realized that i was meant to empty the grounds. this is tricky as the large, flat pan is also full of mucky water that you don’t want to spill as you awkwardly make your way to the sink. finally i got everything dumped and reinstalled and then more red lights were pinging at me… this time he was low on water. HAY SEUS! he makes really good coffee but needs so much attention (this is why i have a VERY simple drip maker) and honestly this one is a VAST improvement from her last machine who was even more finicky and difficult to understand. that one had to go to the shop for detailed repair a few times before he was finally put down. my mother mourned him deeply until she brought this current guy home. she does not have pets, but caring for this coffee machine is far more consuming than feeding and cuddling with hank.
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restoration
each summer when we return to boulder from our long stay in california i have “reentry” problems… i feel jumbled and foggy and a bit overwhelmed. so i have developed a (compulsive?) process of restoration that helps me adjust back to my boulder life - basically i CLEAN everything. i start with the laundry, of course. the last two summers we have road tripped to berkeley and back (the first summer because of the corona and this summer because hank can’t fly anymore… he used to travel as an “emotional support” dog but all the airlines changed the rules as people started bringing “therapeutic” peacocks and donkeys on their flights. hank is too big for the carrier you can keep at your feet and with his smush face it’s not safe for him to be placed in the underbelly of the plane so the only way to get him to california is to drive.) even if we leave the west coast with suitcases full of clean clothes, after a week in the car we have tons of dirty stuff. this may take several wash loads, which gives me time to clean out the dressers and pull all the items that are too small or otherwise deemed unnecessary. this year i was delighted to realize that i’d sorted through the dressers and closets right before we left so i could put the clean clothes back straight away.
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i left my heart in san francisco
we are preparing to road trip back to boulder from berkeley this week. last summer we drove out because of the corona but this summer we drove because hank is not allowed to fly anymore. he used to travel as an “emotional support” dog but people started boarding with peacocks and donkeys in tow and now the whole program is cancelled.… i am reposting this story from a couple of summers ago because i am always so sad to leave… we DID hit up all of our favorites, except bartavelle because they closed during the pandemic. we’ve had an absolutely lovely time and are so excited that we will be able to come back for thanksgiving this year! x0x
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