#falafel Archives - Northern California Style

Hello friends. Our summer is in a bit of a lull here and I have been dealing with a few things .. Someone is raising turkeys in our neighborhood. The people aren’t even regular neighbors, but family staying with an elderly neighbor and their kid is in 4H, but he’s not caring for the turkeys and guess what happened? The entire neighborhood has become inundated with flies like you would not believe. They are everywhere.The parents claim they are telling the son to clean it more regularly, but when flies are waiting to get in your home at every door, and making one neighbor unable to even go in her yard anymore, or hang out her laundry, and they are all over me while I work in the garden -it’s ruining summer! I’m one of those people who will try to listen and mitigate, but it’s getting worse if that’s possible…

In better news, I hope your summer is enjoyable and you’ve had time to make a summer bucket list! One of my list items, a San Francisco trip, happened last Saturday. We had a late afternoon high tea at a cute spot called Lovejoy’s Tea Room in Noe Valley. It was something my husband sweetly found for me as I was dreaming about travel and tea rooms..

We loved it ! They have vintage mismatched china and excellent cucumber sandwiches and scones and desserts. Across the street is their Lovejoy’s Attic shop with hats, tea and china and antiques to purchase. We had a good trek around the darling neighborhood of Noe Valley, which has some cute shops and homes and restaurants. We discovered the fantastic Noe Valley Bakery and took home a wheat bread and a seeded levain bread that was so good I had probably eight sandwiches this week. I love discovering new neighborhoods when we go to the city. Parking and getting out there on foot is such a great way to know an area better.

Now about the Nordstrom Sale. Honestly it’s pushed so hard by everyone, I am sometimes a bit reticent to even mention it, but as a former Nordstrom employee I know there are some good things to be had. It’s changed a lot over the years. It was originally begun as a way to sell things during the dog days of summer when retail was VERRRY slow, and people wen’t shopping all the time, as they seem to now.

My personal tips for the Nordstrom Anniversary sale..

–Look first at what your wardrobe and if you can clean it out during summer and see what is missing – And what you keep buying that you need to stop buying!Think about it a bit and you shop smarter.

-If you can get to the store even better. They have a lot that is never listed on the sale. They also have most of the summer stuff marked down and on sale racks.

-It’s the middle of summer, but do you need another pair of booties? If you’ve put them away for the summer, maybe pull out the boots. You may have forgotten what you own. Last year I bought two pairs of booties only to realize I had two similar pairs. Take stock before you buy.

–My top things to buy at this sale are outerwear, jackets and jeans.

–Underwear is a good buy, but the bras I’ve bought always seem to be off. I’ve repeatedly bought my favorite bras on the sale, only to have them arrive and fit and cut seem off. It makes me wonder if the ‘sale’ versions are seconds. I can’t recommend the bras from my own experience.

–Cosmetics can be a good if you need a new regimen or a great gift sets.

-Ask yourself before you buy anything- would you buy this if it was not on sale?

Below are my choices of some chic classics from the sale that every closet can use..

Top of my list are this blazer by Zadig & Voltaire – a cool classic piece with a bit of rock & roll to it with the stars on the shoulder, (also this one with a skull on the back ), these Rag & Bone Boyfriend jeans -which can work for summer too and booties later, with the crop hem, this Bernardo wool coat, this Vince Chunky Wool Blend Sweater, this quilted double-breasted Ralph Lauren coat, this Claire V. Simple Tote ( I bought one at last year’s sale in green leopard), this Gorjana Coin Pendant necklace, the Simplehuman 5x Sensor Mirror (I bought this last year and I don’t know how I lived without it ), this classic and understated pebbled crossbody wallet bag from Tory Burch, and this convertible one, this cute Kurt Geiger Straw Tote is a great buy at $89, these Blondo Waterproof Slip-ons will be wonderful for winter in house and out, and I always get a few of my favorite Natori Bliss Perfection underwear.

And all the beauty special deals here– so much this year!

I plan on doing a big closet purge next week so I’ll post about it soon, and my skincare favorites I’ve been using this summer.

One other thing I wanted to share is a great recipe for making your own falafel. Max did it last weekend and it was so delicious. It was worth the extra work- making them from scratch. The key is not using can chickpeas and soaking them overnight. The falafels were amazing with fresh cucumber from my dad’s garden and tomatoes from our farmer’s market. Recipe here from Once Upon a Chef. Jenn’s recipes are always so good!