unemployment baking

Hmm...for some reason my camera refuses to connect to my computer, so I guess I am stuck with phone pictures until I get that fixed!

I've been trying to keep myself occupied and happy while out of college and unemployed and try to take advantage of the free time.

By baking.

Blueberry galette (so perfect for summer)

Being around friends and family and pets.

Erik running with his aunt's puppy

Family kitty 

Erik and Bridgette try out hockey

I think once I get more structure in my life I'll blog more but for now these momentary updates are good, as I've been more than lazy and unproductive the last month or so. It's sort of a good feeling though after being constantly on the move the last four or so years.

galentine's & surprises

I haven't posted in a long time! I have a little bit of the post-college slumps, so it's been hard to get motivated and kick my butt into gear. All of the photos for this post are from my phone, so they may be not as great in quality. Now that I have a smart phone, I've eased into laziness! I need to now make an effort to use my camera.

I spent Valentine's Day being mopey in my post-collegeness, unfortunately. Erik and I were going to go ride go-carts since we hate typical coupley things, or seeing other couples, but I woke up too late :( Fortunately, I celebrated properly later that weekend with Galentine's Anna Howard Shaw Day and dinner with Erik! 

I went to a cute restaurant called Awful Annie's for Galentine's with my friends, indulging in waffles (with plenty of whipped cream!) and scrambles and enforcing a purple/pink dress code. We walked around the small town of Auburn and shopped at some small antique stores. 

I've also been casually attending a knitting circle near my house at It's a Grind some Tuesdays, filled with feisty yarn-loving ladies. I am certainly the youngest, but it doesn't bother me.

Still making slow progress on my blanket. This is actually what my lap looks like right now as I'm writing this!

And then I made dinner for Erik to celebrate a late Valentine's Day AND to celebrate him landing a job! I madejalapeno-cheddar scones and lentil soup with sausage, chard (I used kale), and garlic from Smitten Kitchen. Both were delicious, but I really loved the scones a lot. So much so that I might make a second batch in a few days!

I also made toffee inspired by my friend Jenny's blog, Smitten with Snack, where she makes snack for her co-op housemates using recipes from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. The toffee entry is here, and I used a general recipe online. You should check out her blog, but not when you're hungry because all the snacks look so delicious.

(I didn't have enough chocolate or nuts, oops)

And then today I bought these. This isn't relevant to anything besides it makes me enormously happy as I've been anticipating these boxes for 3 months or so. I'm trying so hard to make my rations last. It is hard. I have had two Thin Mints so far. Erik has had 5 patties so far (that box is his, he is bad at rationing). It was very cute when Erik and I went to buy our three boxes and the woman there with them turned it into a math and cash exchange lesson for the little girls. It sparked fond memories of my Girl Scout days.

And to wrap up, I had never owned or had extensive interaction with a cat before until now. I had always loved both cats and dogs but leaned more towards dogs, only because I have a cat-like personality and we would be the worst influence on each other. But I'm looking after Erik's family's 15-year-old cat, and I think I finally get it.

Erik and I were watching Parks and Rec and Magik the cat decided we weren't going to watch it anymore cause he was using the laptop now.

So that's just a random little update. I'll try to use my camera more, I know blurry out of focus phone cameras are no fun to look at!

plant collection

Pretty recently, I went to my local Goodwill and came back with a book that cost about 2 dollars.

It was published by Spring Books, this copy from 1963. Unfortunately all the plants in it are natives of England, but I bought it because I love the drawings. 

I think if I could draw I would have loved to be a naturalist and plants illustrator.

The book made me think of all the plant things I had recently collected. I haven't been studying plants for very long, but I've always been attracted to them. 

\

Graduation cap: I planned last minute on decorating my cap, so I ran to my front yard and hot glued some grasses and leaves on my cap. I'm pretty sure all the grasses were invasives, but it's okay.

Plant ID Books: These are a few books I stole borrowed from some close friends.

Mini posters: Left is from Jill Bliss when I ordered my wallet from her. It's a little postcard with poppies! The right is an herb postcard sent by the man who printed out the poster below it.

Native Grasses Poster: This is the same poster that is hanging on the wall between the offices of a few of my favorite plant professors at UC Davis. It's the same one that hangs in the meeting room of a plant nursery in San Francisco that I would love to one day work for.

Poppy art: I bought this at a craft fair a long time ago, when I was a little kid.

Welcome Home Garden Kit: Given to me for free at a very cute farm fair I worked at. It has a packet of many different vegetable seeds and recipes for the things you grow with them!

Grasses cards: I bought this as souvenir for the San Francisco Botanical Garden, which is so beautiful and inspiring. I also bought some native wildflower playing cards but can't find them anywhere :(

I hope my collection keeps growing, one day involving a thriving garden with fruit trees and plenty of house plants, along with a library filled with books on plants...one can dream!

craft: embroidery

I've always loved embroidery, but I don't really know anyone that embroiders, so I've had to do it on my own. I wouldn't necessarily say I embroider, but I have done it in the past, using the little kits from Michael's. I did a few when I was a little kid, finishing a whale and a happy face.

These are the ones I'm working on right now.

Let Heaven and Nature Sing

My first embroidery kit not meant for kids. I worked on this during my trip to Korea two years ago and never quite finished it. The butterflies and flowers need to be outlined, and the lettering needs to be finished. I love the heart fence and sunflowers though.

Elegant Oriole

I like this design a lot, even though I think the printed pattern on the back is a little...contrived? Odd? I'm not sure the word for it, but I like the bird and the flowers.

The real thing next to their pictures

Hopefully I will finish them soon. I'm not really a huge embroider, but I would like to get better at it and make my own patterns and the like. 

Have you ever tried embroidery?

garlic-y winters

Erik and I went on a date night for our 1.5 year anniversary (are they anniversaries if they're not annual?). This past November.

So I'm not good at blogging on time whatsoever. I still reallyreallyreally wanted to share these photos because it was a really great night with some amazing food! 

Our 1.5 is actually at the end of October, but I believe we went in early November, most likely because of Halloween and other busyness. I had Erik choose the place because I always feel like I'm choosing where go to. He chose a tapas restaurant called Ficelle based on the Yelp reviews. We had been wanting to go on a date night in Winters, a small sleepy town about 20 minutes from Davis, ever since one of my TAs suggested it in class. 

 Excited about our date night!!

My outfit. I was planning on dressing up more but it was rainy and dreary. I figured I'd rather be warm than pretty.

It was extremely rainy and dark that night, which was a little scary since the way to Winters is using these old country roads surrounded by farms and lots of nothingness--pitch black. Luckily Ficelle is located on the east-most side of Winters, so it was soon after we got to Winters in their little downtown area. 

Ficelle is a tiny, tiny place, first of all. We arrived at 7 pm and it was jam packed with people. I think normally the space is widened by the restaurant's plentiful outdoor seating. However, since it was raining and the outdoor area has no ceiling, everyone was huddled inside this bustling, little area. It was a little awkward having to stand around for 20 minutes while bus boys, ladies with their wine, and the owner ran back and forth. Luckily, they have an extensive menu, being a tapas place, so we decided what dishes we should order during our wait.

One of the things I really loved about this place is that it is very casual and the workers are extremely friendly, in a very cozy small business style. You order your food and then snag the table as fast as you can right after the people sitting there leave, since there is no real wait list or waiters save the lady who hints that you might be next. It is truly different from any restaurant I've been to, but I liked the informal nature of it all.

Also, the food is so so sooooo good. And not that expensive, not even a little bit. Erik and I have tried a few local expensive restaurants using Groupon to afford them, and this restaurant far surpassed all of them save maybe Magpie in Sacramento (where we went for our 1 year!).

Bread and garlic aioli

This comes free for every table, and there are endless bread and aioli refills. The aioli is unfortunately hidden in the picture above, but it is hands down the signature item of the restaurant. All the Yelp reviews mentioned the aioli, and I understood why as soon as I tried it. It is a garlic explosion. It's almost like biting into a clove. It's intense and flavorful and so great with their bread. Maybe not for you if you don't like garlic or spiciness, but I like both so I loved it. It looked like everyone else did too.

These dishes were shared between us to celebrate the tapas fashion. I loved tasting a little of everything and wish I could have tried everything on the menu! There were so many choices that looked yummy.

Bruschetta with tomato, herbs, and cheese and a mixed salad

Bean and cheese empanada with dipping sauce

Creamy polenta with cherry tomatoes and asparagus

Sangria (sorry, forgot to take a picture until it was all gone!)

The sangria was the other thing all the Yelpers mentioned, and it really is something else. It had oranges and apples, was refreshing, and was sweet without being too sweet. Every table there had ordered the sangria. 

The restaurant ended up being a success! We were both was pleasantly surprised. And the best part is that it was 25 dollars to completely fill both of us and have a drink, which is not a bad price for such fantastic food. After we had eaten we walked around downtown and even ran into a park ranger I used to work with who lives in Winters. However, it started to drizzle so we hurried home and watched episodes of Parks and Recreation on Netflix. It was a pleasant and low-key date night, and I loved it!

What restaurant have you been to recently that has exceeded your expectations?