April visits from Opa and Tutu and Nana and Papa

The highlights in April were my birthday and visits from Opa and Tutu AND Nana and Papa, as well as the constant rain finally coming to an end.

Our awesome friends Elise, Veronique and Justin watched Valerie on my birthday so Rich and I could go out for a nice birthday dinner at Lure + Till in downtown Palo Alto. It was a wonderful delicious meal with excellent cocktails and perfect cool weather on the patio (under a heater). Very memorable.

a delicious chickpea appetizer at Lure + Till

dinner at Lure + Till

I also got to enjoy a fabulous birthday brunch with Elise and (the other) Liz at Local Union 271, my favorite brunch spot with the famous mimosa tree (six different 4 oz mimosas). Who could ask for anything more? It was a special treat to have dry, sunny and beautiful weather on my birthday, since it always rains in Cincinnati.

brunch at Local Union

The next weekend Opa and Tutu came to visit, and unfortunately the rain made its last, final appearance during (pretty much all of) their visit. Fortunately we did not let that get us down, and we still had a wonderful time. We spent time just hanging out at home and I made an admittedly outstanding garlic parmesan halibut with roasted asparagus for dinner. Their last day we had brunch at Bumble and drove up to Half Moon Bay and had a lovely wine tasting at Barterra Winery.  It was great fun as always and too short.

The weekend after that, Nana and Papa came to visit. They picked the perfect weekend to visit, with the spring sun finally coming out for good and gorgeous weather. We went for a picnic at Foothills with Oren's Hummus, and of course went to Stanford Shopping Center to spoil Valerie. She got a cupcake at Sprinkles, new shoes and bathing suits and a kitty in a purse, and was a rotten mess by the end of the day. It was of course wonderful as always to see them and too short.

Valerie also got her first haircut in April, at the age of 3 (whoops...) and she loved her swim lessons at the "frog slide pool" at the JCC. We were all happy to finally see spring and the return of sunshine!

California poppies, the state flower

Half Moon Bay

flowers in our garden

Jackie and Zach and Adam and Justina visit

After our dinner party last Friday night, we had a full weekend of visitors ahead! Our friends Jackie and Zach from Cincinnati were driving down the California coast for their vacation and they came to stay with us for a night to kick off their trip. They didn't arrive til around 5:30, so Saturday afternoon we drove down to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose and Valerie got to have a super blast riding rides, seeing animals and jumping in the bounce house since Happy Hollow was having a fall festival. She rode the merry-go-round, the kiddie swings, the mini putts (which are cars... not sure why it's called that), and of course, Danny the Dragon, which we waited maybe half an hour to ride. We watched a live drumming show, climbed on the playground, and she had a hot dog and chocolate milk for lunch. I mean, best day ever, pretty much.

waiting to ride Danny the Dragon

We came back home in time to make sangria for Jackie and Zach while Valerie took her nap, and they brought delicious farm-stand strawberries with them so we ate strawberries and drank sangria while they told us about their crazy drive up from LA and stay at Yosemite the night before.

After Valerie woke up we headed to Fiesta Vallarta in Los Altos for a Mexican dinner on their outdoor heated patio. What a great place, I'm so glad we discovered it!  We'll have to go back there. We had a pitcher of margaritas, fresh guacamole, yummy mexican food, live music and views of their fish tank. It was perfect for kids, Valerie devoured her quesadilla and checked out the fish tank. Then we came back home and sang happy birthday to Zach and had cupcakes and ice cream and crashed pretty early.

Sunday morning, Jackie and I had mimosas (apple for me, Pom for her) and we took a few pictures before they left to meet some family for brunch. We thought it was fun to take some pictures in our dual convertibles since they had rented one for their drive and how often do you have two convertibles together for a photo op?! Right?!

 Soon after they left, Rich's brother Adam and his wife Justina arrived. They had been in San Francisco for a wedding and came to stay with us Sunday night before flying back home on Monday. Perfect timing for us to get to see them, and for them to come see our house! We had leftover chili and cornbread for lunch and then took Valerie for a walk around the 3-mile loop at the Stanford Dish. It was a perfectly clear day for a walk. Valerie was a champ for the first half, running ahead of us most of the way, but then she hit a wall about halfway through, around the time we reached the dish, and was a crying, fussing hot mess for the last mile or so. We made the right move bringing a stroller this time, and plenty of water, snacks and lollipops, but she needed a nap and refused to sleep in the stroller. We weren't terribly successful calming her down and begging her to patiently wait til we got home for her nap.

When we made it back it was naptime for everyone, and then we got ready to drive up to Half Moon Bay Brewing Co for dinner (our favorite place, right by the bay)! We love the heated patio there so much. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was raining and the patio was a no-go. We sat inside, and were less than impressed by slow service since the place was packed full. It happened to be the weekend of Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival and people were everywhere. All in all, poorly planned and executed, though the truffle fries were addictive as always. We headed back home for margaritas and a short dance party with Valerie, and hung out for a bit before it was time to crash. It didn't really feel like Sunday night, too much excitement!

What a super fun, packed weekend and such a treat to spend it with family and friends who came thousands of miles (for other reasons, but also conveniently to see us! haha). We count ourselves so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends who we always enjoy seeing.

Festive Fall Dinner Party

We had such a fun weekend last weekend! It got off to a great start on Friday night with our newly married friends Angela and Tushar, who came over for dinner. Rich went to grad school at MIT with Angela and we have loved living close by her this year! They have had a busy few months getting married, moving in together and traveling to Seattle and Taipei so we look forward to seeing more of them when their travel schedule lightens.
I planned a festive fall themed menu for our dinner and it came out quite delicious if I say so myself! I made drunken pumpkin chili, pumpkin cornbread with honey pecan butter, salad with apple, pecans and blue cheese, and honeycrisp apple sangria, and we had mini cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes for dessert.

I was going to have shredded cheese and cut-up avocado as sides for the chili, but that day I discovered the cheese was moldy and the avocado wasn't ripe yet, so no dice on those. We did have sour cream on the side at least.

I made the chili on Thursday so it had a whole day for the flavors to meld in the fridge and I thought it came out quite good. I threw in all kinds of ingredients; I'm not sure if I can remember everything that went into it!  Chili is always a smorgasbord of all the fresh vegetables, grains and legumes I have handy. I chopped an onion, a bell pepper, a tomato, three carrots, and half a large sweet potato, and started sauteing those. I added two cans of chickpeas, two cans of black beans, the remainder of a bag of quinoa, some oat bran, a can of pumpkin puree, an Oktoberfest beer, a jar of tomato sauce, some Tofurky kielbasa, and some water for the quinoa and oat bran to soak up. For spices I added chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I'm sure there were more ingredients but that's all I remember now! After a few hours simmering on the stove it smelled warm and inviting.

I failed to take a picture of the chili - this one is from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. It looked kind of like this.

While the chili simmered I also made the honey pecan butter (which is just honey, butter, and pecans blended together in a blender or food processor) and the salad dressing, which was inspired by the best salad I shared a while back.

¼ cup vinegar (any type) - I used apple cider vinegar
½ cup chopped parsley  - I used half parsley and half basil
¼ cup red onion/shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sugar - I used some agave nectar, less than 1/3 cup
½ cup oil
½ tsp. oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

It's also just all thrown in the blender. My blender got a workout on Thursday. 

On Friday, I made the pumpkin cornbread. I don't bake very often and I hate the mess of flour, so I decided to try grinding oats in the blender to make oat flour instead of using all-purpose flour for a healthier twist. It was a success!  I can't wait to try making all kinds of whole grain flours this way. It was super easy, and I didn't have to buy flour! I used this recipe from sweet pea's kitchen and I would definitely make it again. It was easy to throw together, pretty healthy and TASTY with the honey pecan butter. Although, to be totally honest, that honey pecan butter makes EVERYTHING you put it on taste amazing. My friend Lindsey introduced me to that idea a few years ago and I have been keeping it in my back pocket ever since. 

honey pecan butter

pumpkin cornbread - picture by Sweet Pea's Kitchen

I also made the sangria, and rimmed the glasses with cinnamon and sugar. My favorite party trick! Rimming glasses is so easy and really takes the fancy factor up a notch. I used this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction and of course modified it to match what I had since I did not have brandy. Instead I added some triple sec and cranberry vodka. 

We had a blast catching up with Angela and Tushar, and hearing stories about boarding school days and learning Chinese growing up. Always a great time! 

We had the red velvet and caramel apple mini cupcakes... mmmm