On this weekend’s post a San Francisco brunch spot and hike, some new books, cute khaki pants, my new porch flowers and more..
This month is flying by! Can spring be around the corner? I spotted these big ranunculus at my local Ace Hardware and grabbed them to fill my empty baskets on the front porch. I have never seen ranuculus in such big pots. They are one of my favorite flowers, so I hope I can keep them alive for a while! They are making it feel springlike.
While doing a little research for the red style post this week ( linked below), I noticed my khaki pants needed a replacement. Way too tight. I saw this pair at Anthropologie and have been loving them. They are slightly long on my 5’4 self, but I think they will work. These pants come in petite, tall and plus as well. I like that they are mid rise (though they say low).
I also have been wearing this Rails top (on sale ) with them. It’s perfect for layering and has ruffles… It’s giving me the Princess Di vibe and will be a great spring top.
I look forward to wearing these pants with sandals and pretty white blouses soon!
Easy and Healthy Raspberry Chocolate Hearts
I tried Diane Morrisey’s Chocolate Raspberry Chia Bites a week ago and they are so good and easy I made them again this week with a heart cookie cutter. They take no time as it is just two cups of raspberries mashed with four tablespoons of chia. You let the mixture sit for ten and then put them into blobs or as I did heart shapes and freeze.
After about 20 minutes, you dip them in two cups of chocolate chips and a tablespoon of veg oil done over a double boiler, and refrigerate. They are divine, but do need to be kept refrigerated. Full recipe here. Warning these are addictive! I used Guittard Super Cookie Chips to melt, which are the best chocolate ever.
And if you need more decadent sweets both Juliet and Elizabeth did wonderful chocolate desserts this week to try on your Valentine!
My Valentine’s traditions
This little month is packed with fun isn’t it? I love Valentines and my mother did too. When we were small she always made my brother Peter and I feel special by leaving a treat on our breakfast plate. It was usually a mini box of candy, some cash , and a pair of cute socks or something fun like that.
When my sons were small I did the same breakfast Valentines gifts. That night, we would have a Valentine’s picnic at night in front of the fireplace on the floor, and they would help me make a special dinner and chocolate dipped strawberries to surprise Max with. They loved this tradition!
Be Your Own Valentine
This Valentine’s Day Max and I don’t have any particular plans, but I signed us up for a cooking class this week which was really fun and I will share more next week. I thought that would be a fun way to do something different together.
I think I will ask him to take me to the new exhibition with John Singer Sergent in Spain at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco and have lunch there!
This week someone shared on social media their husband didn’t really believe in Valentines, so they didn’t do anything special.. I think a lot of us expect or hope our partners will come through with flowers, jewels.. or a special dinner. I have been there. Now I tell Max what I want to do and often make the plans. I don’t feel disappointed because I let him know what I would like, and it works out better I think!
Sometimes I will cook us dinner on Valentines, and we will go out later in the week to a special place I choose.
I think one message women don’t get it that we need to be our own Valentine. We should be buying ourselves flowers occasionally, treating ourselves to nice things when we can, and generally being our own bestie… and asking for what we actually want instead of hoping. I try to work on doing this more more myself.
I also noticed this week one of my favorite podcasts, life coach Kym Showers coincidentally talked about, ‘The Secret Romance of Self-Love,’ a fresh perspective and what we need to hear.
I have to thank Juliet, who first shared Kym. Kym puts out a lot of positive ways to live your life each week on Instagram and her Thursday podcasts. I like to listen to them on my walks or while cooking..Link to the Valentine podcast here.
A San Francisco hike and brunch spot
Last weekend we hung out with our oldest Jackson and his girlfriend Kristin. They want to do a walk in San Francisco and brunch. Max found the perfect place to start, Crepes on Cole for brunch. I had the fancy French toast stuffed with mascarpone. Everything here was so good …
It fortified us for our walk which started in Cole Valley and took us up the Farnsworth Steps (above) to Parnassus Heights and a darling historic brick road neighborhood on Edgewood Avenue that has plum trees blooming. From the top of that take you go to the Sutro Forest, which then goes to Clarendon Heights and around to Tank Hill which has panoramic city views and back down to Cole…. I think that’s a run on sentence, but that is what we did!
I tried to have Max map it out.. This is the path we took starting at the arrow. I would say it took us an hour. We dawdled a bit too. At the top of Sutro Forest there is a UCSF outpost with a public bathroom and drinking fountain.
We had a great time taking in the views and even stopped in to a fantastic Open House. I love exploring SF on foot, and there are no end to the different neighborhoods. This is a particularly pretty time to go with the trees starting to blossom. You can see our walk on this Reel I made on Instagram.
While I was googling the kind of trees that were in bloom, I came across the blog and Instagram of SFTree Guy -aka Mike Sullivan, a venture capitalist who is also a tree nerd. He has a wonderful blog documenting the unique trees of the city and more great SF walks here.
I don’t have a house of the week, but I noticed at the top of the Farnsworth Steps, there is the French Consulate General’s home. It literally has an eagle’s nest view and a when I looked for the street trees, this recent listing of the home popped up. This is a multi-story gem and you can see all the photos here before it was sold to the consulate. A pretty home in a dream location.. Of course the French chose it!
I love this new cookbook
I follow Nicole Medic’s Kale Junkie account on Instagram, and she’s one of the most inventive and creative people sharing healthy and delicious food made simple. I was very excited to see she has her first cookbook out, Love to Eat. She’s a Bay Area gal and was a lawyer who turned recipe developer..
I spotted her book at our local bakery, Icing on the Cake and bought all the copies plus some cute orange kitchen towels for birthday gifts this week.
The book is chock full of her inventive food and good ideas and I just ordered one for myself as well. Just what we need to eat well this year and get out of the dinner rut. Buy her book here.
Another good book..
I just ordered Carrie Soto is Back the latest by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is about a tennis pro who comes out of retirement when her record is in jeopardy of being broken…Sounds so good. Reviews say it is inspiring!
I’m hoping to read it when I go to the BNP Tennis tournament next month. I have a friends that we go with, but we haven’t been back since the 2019 due to the pandemic. I’m excited to be there again.
If you know anyone who is going to this desert classic, or you are, I wrote a post about what to pack for it and how to navigate it to have the most fun. My post, with all the details here.
In other news…
Thanks to all who read this week’s Signature Style about wearing red with Cindy. Check it out here if you are in the wardrobe doldrums and need some styling ideas.
I had my Galentine get together for friend’s birthdays his week and if you still want to do an easy gathering with friends, the idea and recipes are here. Being with friends can be one of the best part of Valentines!
If you missed last weekend’s post, I shared a little Valentine decor, inspiration from Princess Diana for transitional dressing, Jennifer Aniston’s favorite salad, books, a show and more..
Wishing you all a little Valentine love this week!
Kim
Please visit my pals Elizabeth and Juliet’s blogs..
MAKE MINE A SPRITZER
PINECONES AND ACORNS
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