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

Nana visit and the Superbowl

We were so excited to kick off February with a quick visit from Nana, who we miss so much! She flew in on Thursday night and Valerie and I went to pick her up (and give Daddy a night to himself) and then to Pacific Catch for dinner, just us girls. It was a pretty late dinner for Valerie, I think we got there at 8 or 8:15. She was starving, and our server kindly brought us some goldfish and edamame to snack on while we waited for our food. Valerie scarfed the goldfish and a few edamame and asked for more, but we managed to hold her off.

Fish sticks are one of her favorite dinners at home, so we ordered the kids' fish 'n chips for her. Naturally, she wanted nothing to do with the fried fish. She went straight for the steamed broccoli and gobbled most of it up. What kid bypasses fried fish and sweet potato fries (both of which she loves) and goes straight for steamed broccoli??? Sometimes I wonder how she is my child. But hey, no complaints from me!! I can never predict what she will eat on any given day. There's no end to the surprises.

We had a delicious salmon sandwich, ahi tuna poke and coconut shrimp, and then the macadamia nut brownie with coconut ice cream for dessert. And vanilla ice cream for Valerie, of course. She was soooo happy to have Nana here to see her!

Friday morning Nana took Valerie to Target and Kohl's for new shoes while I squeezed in a workout, and then we took her to school for her nap so Mom and I could get lunch at Oren's Hummus. We lucked out again with a beautiful sunny afternoon to sit outside and roll around in hummus and pitas, and it was so nice to have time to catch up just the two of us.

Nana very generously offered to stay home with Valerie that night so Rich and I could go out to dinner just the two of us. We considered this our date night for Valentine's Day since we were going to be in Tahoe with a group on the actual day. We went to Scratch in Mountain View for cocktails and dinner and it was wonderful. The truffle mushroom pizza lived up to the hype, and I had a hard time choosing what to order from all the lovely vegetarian options. I ended up going with brussels sprouts and a salad and Rich had the lobster pot pie. The truffle pizza and cocktails, and of course the company, were the highlights in the end. I shouldn't have ordered the brussels sprouts; let me not forget that this is not Boca. I have to learn to stop trying to get brussels sprouts other places.

Saturday morning we made delicious lemon curd pancakes with raspberry syrup and mimosas for breakfast, and then we all ventured out to Half Moon Bay and Pescadero for the day. We stopped at Lemos Farm for Valerie to take a pony ride, and then for lunch at Romesco Bistro & Tapas, where we ate some of the most beautifully presented tapas I have ever seen. The shrimp came lit on fire and every plate was an absolutely dazzling display of color.

lemon curd pancakes with raspberry syrup and mimosas... mmmm!

riding the pony at Lemos Farm

crab stuffed avocado at Romesco Bistro

crab stuffed piquillo peppers

Pescadero State Beach

pretty but so cold!

we found a little wood hideout on the beach

 Then we made our way to Pescadero Beach. It was quite chilly in the wind. The sun was shining down and felt nice further inland, but in the cold wind coming off the water I could barely stand the chill. We hung out on the beach as long as we could stand it and then headed back up to Half Moon Bay for dinner on the patio at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. We were so looking forward to enjoying their outdoor patio under heat lamps! Unfortunately, they had recently nailed all the heat lamps down so people would stop hoarding them around one table, and since we could only sit close to one heat lamp, only one or two of us would be warm. We had to move inside. On the bright side, they sat us next to the fish tank so Valerie got to watch the clownfish swim around while we waited for dinner, and dinner was delicious.

We had such a great visit with Nana and took her back to the airport the next morning.

That day was the Superbowl live from Santa Clara, just a few minutes away. We drove north, away from Santa Clara and up to San Francisco to watch the Broncos defeat the Panthers with biodesign friends. Alesandro and Christina hosted at their sweet pad in the Mission, streamed the game on their projector and grilled burgers and hot dogs, and also demonstrated their voice-controlled Alexa device for us, which was entertaining. Justin and Aly brought Doritos, and I made guacamole and made the earth-shaking discovery that Doritos and guacamole are amazing together. We had a lot of fun watching the game, the commercials and the halftime show, which I especially loved as a Coldplay fan. The night was perfectly topped off with Bi-rite ice cream. A great end to a great weekend!

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.

The Great Houdini Escape Room and Half Moon Bay beach

We started off the weekend with a picnic dinner at the last movie in the Menlo Park outdoor movie series, Cinderella (the new live action version). HUGE success. I saw the movie in the theater when it came out and I wasn't sure how Valerie would do, since it seemed a little dark and sad for her, plus it's pretty long - but she LOVED it and she sat riveted to the screen the entire time. She got a little scared when Cinderella was escaping the ball and the magic spell was wearing off - I think it was a little too loud and chaotic. And when Cinderella ran into the stag in the woods, she made a loud outburst about a "MOOSE!" and the girl in front of us laughed. But overall I was really impressed. For a 2.75-year-old, she does great watching movies!

Rich, on the other hand, was appalled by the Prince-Charming-will-save-you message and the focus on appearance. I tried to convince him we can still teach our daughter to be her own woman even if she loves Cinderella and I think he came around. On our way home, I asked Valerie if she wanted to marry a prince. She said no. I'm not too surprised though. The prince really does not interest her. She just wants to get her hands on that sparkly blue dress and glass slippers. OOoohhh I hope she grows up to be the next Vera Wang or Jimmy Choo! Yes please!!

Saturday morning we did our usual workout shuffle, cleaning up the house and napping, and then our new babysitter came around 4:30 and we headed up to San Francisco to celebrate our friend Angela's birthday.

What a FANTASTIC time! Angela's husband booked The Great Houdini Escape Room at the Palace of Fine Arts for our group of 11. We had 80 minutes to solve all the puzzles and riddles and unlock all the keys to escape the room, which apparently only 25-30% of groups succeed in doing - and we made it out in 66 minutes! We were all feeling pretty proud of our skills and starving for our 8:00 dinner reservation, although not as desperately hangry as we thought we might be since they kindly provided some pretzels, almonds and snack mix in the room.

Dinner was also excellent. We ate at Sessions at the Presidio and had to refrain from licking all the plates. These cheese dumplings with cilantro pesto were especially tasty! As were the desserts and cocktails. The meal was perfectly paced, too. We loved our server, who made great recommendations and kept the beer and cocktails flowing, and enjoyed getting to know Angela's friends. It was such a fun group and the night flew by!

The only downside to driving up to San Francisco is.... driving through San Francisco. If given the choice between driving through San Francisco and having burning coals jammed into my eyeballs, I might choose the coals. So many people and cars and stoplights and endless frustration. Luckily, the drive home around midnight was much nicer, and luckily Rich was driving because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Much like Cinderella's coach, I turn into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight.

Sunday morning we met Rich's biodesign group at Hanahaus in downtown Palo Alto for breakfast and a working session which ended up lasting til almost 1:30. We had planned to drive to Big Basin for a hike afterwards, but by the time they finished we needed to head home for naps and knew we wouldn't have time for Big Basin.

The naps were definitely needed for all of us. We woke up around 4 and still wanted to squeeze in a small Sunday adventure, so we decided to head to Half Moon Bay for dinner and some beach time. It worked out perfectly. We got to the beach at Half Moon Bay at 5:30, with an hour and a half of daylight remaining, and Valerie got to chase the surf up and down the sand to her heart's content. We kicked ourselves for not bringing towels or a swimsuit for her, but we let her run around in her diaper and managed to get her sufficiently dry and sand-free for dinner.

Dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. was a highlight of the weekend. We sat outside on their lovely patio under heat lamps, overlooking the harbor, and ate delicious shrimp, truffle fries, ahi tuna, clams and mussels, with refreshing beers and cocktails. We had a clear view of the lunar eclipse from our table, Valerie was on her best behavior, and we got to dance to the live music. The most perfect family night out. We can't wait to go back there again.

A+ weekend, California!

First weekend in Cali: Summer Delights

We spent 3 brutal days getting totally unpacked and situated in our new house and it was so worth it to be able to enjoy our first weekend here!

The first thing I wanted to do was check out the Palo Alto Farmer's Market which is Saturday mornings from 8-12 and we just barely made it at 11:45. I was stressing on the way there that everything would be empty and closing down and why are we even bothering.... but I was stressing for nothing! It was AMAZING, the most incredible quality and variety of fresh fruits and veggies and all sorts of foods and it wasn't picked over at all. We dashed from stand to stand buying stuff as fast as we could and in 15 minutes I was blown away by our haul.

We got lettuce, basil, mint, parsley, grapes, avocados, peaches, apples, potatoes, garlic, onion, the biggest shallots I've ever seen, walnuts, sausages and hummus - and we didn't even have time to cover the whole market!  I can't wait to go back next week ...hopefully before 11:45... and have more time to explore. As we were walking back to the car loaded down with goodies, Rich said to me, "What do you think?  Was that 5 times better than the markets in Ohio? 10 times?"

"I think maybe 10 times better," I said.

I could not wait to put together some salads for that night; we were having our first dinner guests! Rich met them back in grad school at MIT, they live about 30 minutes away and they brought their daughter, who is the exact same age as Valerie - the girls were born one day apart.

They were so excited to finally meet each other; they'd seen lots of pictures of each other but never got to meet until now, and they were so sweet and loved playing together.

As soon as they arrived, Valerie insisted on changing into a dress and hair bows so they would match. They were definitely twins at first sight. So cute. We can't believe our amazing luck at having such great friends nearby!

I was pretty excited about the menu, based on all our fresh produce purchases. For appetizers we had jalapeno cilantro hummus and guacamole with chips and veggies, and for dinner I made an heirloom tomato salad with basil and truffle flavored oil, mint and lemon infused water, watermelon mojitos, and a dinner salad, which was definitely the highlight: a mix of greens, fresh peaches, blue cheese and walnuts, and a lemon shallot dressing which was so easy to throw together. I stole this recipe from Vogue , used white wine vinegar since I didn't have any red wine vinegar, and added lemon juice:

1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp. honey
1 T red wine vinegar (preferably Banyuls)
½ small shallot, finely minced
2½ oz. extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

From left: guacamole, mint lemon water, so much fruit, heirloom tomatoes, peach walnut salad

OMG... I will toot my own horn.  The salad was RIDICULOUS. So good. Of course, the credit really goes to the incredible fresh ingredients from California and not to me. I am in absolute salad heaven here. I have been making salads every day since we got here and it's pretty impossible to go wrong. Everything is just.... so... GOOD.

Rich made sausages for the protein portion of dinner, and we also had tortellini and red sauce for the girls.  Valerie doesn't eat any kind of lettuce yet... I can't wait for that day! Life is going to be so easy when I can make a big salad for dinner and she will eat it too. I still need to make something separate for her most of the time.

 We had a lovely meal on our back patio, and then took a walk to the park down the street so the girls could play. They had so much fun, Valerie insisted she was going home with them, and kept asking for one more minute, one more minute. She finally conceded to a hug and our friends had to go home. So hard to say goodbye!

Sunday we decided to drive to the coast and check out the beaches.

We packed lunches and left first thing in the morning for Half Moon Bay, where we found Lemos Farm, which was hopping with parents and kids around 10 am. It was cool and overcast in the morning, too chilly for the beach, so we decided to stop and check it out. Valerie has been talking a lot about riding horses lately and we saw that they had pony rides, along with a hay ride, train rides, playground, petting zoo and bounce house. All of her favorite things!!

feeding the goat

waiting for the hay ride

The pony ride was her dream come true.... if only the pony had been pink. It was adorable. She sat so still on the pony as it walked around and around for close to 20 minutes and we finally had to get her down. She wanted to go again and still talks about riding the pony. She is well on her way to becoming the cliche little girl who wants a pony, in this case, a pink pony. What is it about little girls and horses?? I don't think I was ever into horses and now I'm really not a fan. But I will admit it's sweet how much Valerie loves her some horses and ponies, and farms in general.

She loved feeding and petting the baby goats. She loved riding the train. The playground and bounce house were hits and the hay ride was just okay, but we definitely got our money's worth between the pony and train rides. This place was seriously toddler heaven. We were so glad we found it; it was the perfect morning activity while we waited for the sun to come out.

From there we went on to Pescadero to get the famous artichoke heart bread from Arcangeli grocery / Norm's Market, which our friends had recommended the night before. While we were there we got some giant pastries to tide us over til lunch... yum!!!

Then we stopped at San Gregorio beach for our picnic lunch. It was lovely but there was a big lagoon blocking the beach access so we just ate there and headed back to Pescadero beach.

We weren't sure what to expect of these Pacific beaches; I had low expectations of cold water and lots of rocks. I wasn't wrong; the water is ice cold and we definitely saw some cliffs and driftwood and rocks.  But wow, my expectations were blown away... the beaches are absolutely gorgeous!  And the weather got so perfect in the afternoon, it didn't even matter that the water is ice cold. Between warm sun and cool breeze it was perfectly comfortable hanging out on the sand, no need to even go near the water, although Valerie enjoyed sticking her legs in and shouting, "It's too much, it's too much!!!"

We had the loveliest afternoon hanging out on the beach, flying the kite, playing in the sand, tossing the frisbee... and yes, there was also some bad behavior, sand throwing and time out... we'll skip over that part. Overall it was a delightful day and none of us wanted to go home. We stopped at a farm market on the way back through Half Moon Bay and bought a huge box of local strawberries that are utterly to die for.

When we got home we sat on the back porch and gorged on strawberries, peaches, grapes and artichoke bread with butter. So many carbs.... I died and went to carb heaven, between the luscious peaches, the candy strawberries and the warm buttery bread....... heaven.

It was our first California adventure. We discovered that there are amazing beaches less than an hour's drive from our house, cute Pacific towns, farms, wineries, and stunning views of the hills and valleys along the way. So beautiful. What an incredible place to get to spend this year. I still can't believe we're really here living this opportunity. I can tell it's going to fly by so fast and be over before I even realize it's begun. What an awesome first weekend!