Wedding Planning Update!

The beau and I spent our weekend in Amador County meeting with potential wedding vendors. Now that the sticker shock of these sort of appointments isn't quite so nauseating, we're beginning to enjoy the process a bit more.

Saturday we met with a few caterers and were reassured that our front runner is definitely still our front runner. We also dropped by our venue to take photos of the grounds and ask catering, rental and DJ related questions of the owner.

 

I haven't gone to any local wedding faires since all the vendors are likely to service only the greater Bay Area, and the faires here are generally too pricy to attend just for the heck of it. When I heard there was going to be a small wedding faire at Preston Castle in Ione while we were in town I couldn't resist!  

The entry was only $5 per person and benefited the Preston Castle restoration project. It certainly wasn't your average wedding faire packed with all sorts of vendors doing raffles and sampling - think small town, haunted castle, local vendors - but that's just what we needed. Our preferred caterer was there, a DJ we're really interested in, and we met a backup photographer just in case our current plans fall through. 

The best part of the faire had to be wandering around the haunted castle! That place is seriously cool... Maybe a happy alternative to a "trash the dress" after the wedding since the mere suggestion of partaking in the photo sesh trend sent my grandmother into cardiac arrest?

Engagement Photos

There is a misconception that photographers know what to do when being photographed because they're used to posing people for portraits. I used to be a photographer, I did it for eight years, and I can tell you this is so not true! I've only been on the opposite side of the lens twice - once for college graduation photos back in 2007 and more recently for an engagement shoot. Both times I found myself feeling incredibly awkward and at a total loss for how to look natural and comfortable. Thank goodness for good photographers who compensate for my awkwardness. My graduation photos were taken by Sarah Linda Gossett Raderman at an old cemetery in Oakland (way less creepy than it sounds - think old stone walls covered in vines) on black and white film, both 35mm and medium format. The beau and I went with a more modern shoot for our engagement sesh, posing all over Baker Beach for Jordan Murphy. I wanted to avoid anything San Francisco-cliche, but considering my fiancé is from the Midwest, thus half of our wedding guests will be from the Midwest, we decided some good ol' Golden Gate magic would be appropriate for our save-the-dates.

Here's a sneak peek!

Exciting Update!

I've entirely abandoned you all the last few weeks - I'm sorry! It was an action packed holiday season for me and I just never found the time to sit down and write. 

The biggest update I have for you is... I'm getting married! The Saturday before Christmas my beau took me to dinner and 'Twas the Night at the San Francisco Symphony and then got down on one knee in front of the lobby Christmas tree. Being the proper gentleman he is, he'd already been sneaking out to spend time with my family the month before and asked my dad's permission. He's a keeper!

 

Happy Birthday, SFBay.CA!

Last night SFBay celebrated their first year of publication at Salle Piano & Events with the help of an overwhelming number of contributors, readers, friends and sponsors. 

If you haven't checked out their website yet, please do! SFBay's coverage of Bay Area news, events and interests is impressive, and their staff happens to be stacked with some of my favorite professors from my good ol' days at San Francisco State's school of journalism.

Restoration Hardware Sale

I absolutely adore Restoration Hardware, but being the savvy bargain hunter I am, I don't wind up swiping my credit card there all too often. I mean, honestly - $500 chairs and $100 slippers? Give me a break. Well, for the holidays, that's exactly what they did.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself fingering through the RH winter catalog and about fell out of my chair when I saw the markdowns. So while I was in Walnut Creek doing some shopping with a girlfriend last weekend, of course I popped in to grab a few more stocking stuffers.

I can't tell you exactly what I bought since some items are Christmas gifts, but here are a few deals you can still get on their website, in case there isn't a location near you. I will tell you though, I regret not snagging one of those travel Scrabble sets, and if one showed up in my stocking on Christmas morning I wouldn't be upset about it... ;)

 

Slippers: $19, Throw: $79, Scarf: $29, Wine Bag: $9, SF Stamps: $13, Travel Scrabble: $24

Fall Crafts

I realize we're now nearly a week into December and the weather is fully winter outside, but better late than never, right? Here are some fun fall crafts I did for Thanksgiving, and since I'm so late posting those, a Christmas one too. 

A few years ago I got this idea out of Safeway's quarterly magazine, which featured recipes and craft ideas for each season. These are a bit messy to make, but if you're already carving up jack-o-lanterns it's no biggie to do these at the same time. You'll need a medium sized pumpkin with a stable bottom. Cut out a circle at the top of the pumpkin and gut it as clean as possible. Arrange flowers of your choice in the pumpkin and display! It won't last more than a few days to a week because of the raw pumpkin, but you'll get more time out of it if there's no water inside and it is displayed a cool place.

 The week before Thanksgiving I attended a friend's Friendsgiving dinner. She had a "Thankful Tree" and I thought it was the cutest idea so I made one to take up to my grandparents' house for our family Thanksgiving. You'll need a tall slender flower vase, reeds or branches, ribbon, and scrapbook paper. Look for reeds or branches with small knots in the texture so that the leaves will catch at various heights. Tie ribbon around the vase. Use scissors or a dye cut to cut leaf shapes out of scrapbook paper, making a small hole on one end. Allow guests to write on the leaves what they are thankful for and hang on the branches. 

I had a hard time finding initial ornaments that I liked, so I decided to make my own. You'll need holiday ribbon, wooden letters, and gold leaf paint (can also use gold spray paint but I went with a jar because of the size of the project). Paint the letters, allow to dry, and hot glue the ribbon in a loop to the back of the letter. So easy! I ended up hanging these on our stockings instead of the tree.

Apple Squash Galette

Makes 2 galettes

Ingredients:

o   Full batch of below pie dough recipe

o   1 ½ lbs butternut squash (peeled, seeded, sliced)

o   3-4 large granny smith apples (peeled, cored, sliced)

o   1 tsp ground cinnamon

o   ¼ tsp each round nutmeg, cloves, salt

o   3 tbsp wheat flour

o   1/3 cup brown sugar

o   1 ½ cup sugar

o   2 tbsp whiskey

o   2 tbsp coarse decorating sugar

o   2 tbsp apricot jam

Directions:

o   Set dough on lightly floured surface and roll into a large round about 1/8 in thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until ready to fill.

o   Preheat oven to 375 degrees with a rack on bottom rung. Lay squash pieces on a greased baking sheet. Roast, turning once, until tender when pierced.

o   Mix apples, spices, salt, flour, both sugars, and whiskey until evenly coated. Add squash and toss to combine.

o   Pour filling into center of dough, leaving a 1 ½ inch boarder. Fold edges over filling, allowing dough to pleat as you go. Dip a pastry brush in apricot jam and brush folded edges of dough. Sprinkles with course sugar.

o   Bake galette until browned and bubbling, about 75 minutes. Let cool before cutting. Best served slightly warm.

 

Pie Dough

Makes two pie crusts

o   Mix together 3 cups flour, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 ½ tsp kosher salt in a food processor.

o   Add 1 cup cold, cubed unsalted butter and pulse into pea-size pieces.

o   Drizzle 2/3 cup very cold water over crumbs and pulse just until moistened.

o   Turn dough out onto a work surface and gather into a ball, turning to combine any dry crumbs.

o   Divide dough in half, form each piece into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, chill at least 30 minutes.

 

Luxardo Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter at room temperature

½ cup sugar

2 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup chopped almonds

Luxardo Apry or Pruny Jam

Directions:

With electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar on high speed for about 3 minutes.

Separate yolk from egg white. Set aside egg whites. Add yolks and vanilla extract to butter mixture and mix. Then add flour and salt to the mixture.

Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In shallow dish, whisk egg whites until bubbly and frothy. Chop almonds (I suggest tossing a couple handfuls into a food processor and pulsing a few times). Roll dough into one-inch balls. Dip nuts into egg whites and roll in nuts.

Place balls on parchment lined cookie sheet. Press thumb lightly into center of each ball. Fill each cookie with ½ tsp of Luxardo jam. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes until slightly firm. Cool and serve!

 

Victory Regalia Launch Party & Artist Reception

Last night a girlfriend and I dropped by the Victory Regalia Launch Party & Artist Reception at Heath Ceramics, a little shindig to celebrate the launch of Christine Schmidt's Victory Regalia Collection for Schoolhouse Electric. Thanks SFGirlByBay for the heads up! 

We RSVP'd on Eventbrite but it didn't seem to matter much, as the door was open and the bars were pouring without any "checking in." There were a few dozen folks mingling and enjoying hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. We hadn't attended the event as a "work thing," but were elated to find bar tenders making gin cocktails with gin from Portland's New Deal Distillery and... Anchor Steam!