Book: Love in the Time of Cholera

I would never be so bold as to criticize the writing of someone as brilliant as Marquez, but this book was slightly difficult to get through. The story begins with a doctor who begins his day by finding out that a friend of his is dead. The first fifty pages describes the doctor's day in detail until 4 PM when he suddenly drops dead. While his wife is in mourning, another man appears and the story is sent back in time fifty years to tell the tale of young, poetic love. It goes like this: a man spots a young girl walking through a park and begins to send her love letters. The two engage in a written romance over years until finally he asks her hand in marriage and she agrees. One day he sees her in a market and approaches her from behind and without a glance she dismisses him and cuts all ties. Not long after that, a young doctor woos the girl and later asks for her hand in marriage. After the guilt of turning down her first proposal, she accepts this new one and spends the next fifty years in a pretty typical marriage (resulting in two children that are barely mentioned). All the while, the dismissed young poet spends his next fifty years pining for her and filling his physical needs by sleeping with 622 women. 
The bulk of this book relies on the description of their two divergent lives and discusses in broad detail their adult experiences. Only at the beginning during their courtship, and later when they are reunited does the story truly come together. Although the book is drawn out, Marquez' writing style is gorgeous (even though it is not his original language - it was translated to English). A young man trying to stay faithful and maintain his virginity while living in a whorehouse, two lovers reuniting and spending their end of days on an isolated ship called The New Fidelity while drifting up and down a river for eternity are just a couple examples of the beautiful symbolism in this story. 
This book is amazing even if it is a little slow. I would definitely not recommend reading it on a deadline though because it's hard to pick up and find a rhythm with it, it's more of a book you need to savor over time.

pasta

My husband is an amazing cook. Last week he made me THIS and it was so delicious I just had to share...

aren't you hungry now?

pizza

I'm always looking for new things to make for dinner, we each have a few things that we make over and over that we love, but it's nice to mix it up every once in a while. Last week I decided to try making a home-made pizza. We've never made pizza at home because both Zachary's and Cheeseboard are so close (and so good!) but I decided to give it a shot. 
Here's what I used: Trader Joe's pizza dough, feta, minced garlic in olive oil (brushed right onto the dough), roasted corn, basil, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  
Before:

After:

It was very light (for a pizza) and very delicious. 

Soap Hope

A couple of weeks ago the kind people at Soap Hope reached out to me to see if I'd be interested in reviewing some of their products. After reading their website and learning about their company I gladly said yes! Not only are all of the products sold on Soap Hope all natural and organic, but they follow the Good Returns business model, meaning that every dollar of profit they make is loaned to a charity that gives interest free loans to women in need. Learn more about their mission HERE. Products that are all natural that also do good things for women? I was intrigued. 
They sent me a box of samples to try out and review. Within a few days I had a little "ugly box" (they use scraps of cardboard to package their products reducing their carbon footprint and your shipping costs!). After opening it to see all the goodies inside, I put it on our desk in the hallway and for the next couple of days, every time I passed the desk I got a strong whiff of  the amazing spa-like scents (think lavender, oatmeal, chamomile..) So I decided to try a few....

The first product I tried was the Oatmeal Lavender hand soap by ZUM Bar. Not only did it smell amazing but it left my hands really soft (a lot of soaps dry out my naturally dry skin). 
Next I tried the Chamomile and Carrot Day Cream by Acure Organics. I have very sensitive skin so I am really picky about my moisturizer. Not only was this moisturizer light, it smelled fresh and subtle and quenched my skin all day. 
I also tried the mineral blush and foundation by Mahya Cosmetics. I usually don't like mineral makeup because I think it looks too "done", but these offered a very subtle but full coverage. 
The last product I tried was the Frankincense and Myrrh hand and body wash by Zum. It smelled sooo good! I felt fresh all day like I just stepped out of a spa. 
I still have some other products to try, but so far I love them all! And the prices are very reasonable. I would strongly encourage checking them out, for yourself and for women who need your support. 
You can check out some of their promotions and deals HERE too.  
They also have deals and promotions specifically for bloggers! Contact them for more info. 

iphone photos

lunch
two little loves

marco!

flowers on the table

reading at Berkeley Marina

Berkeley Rose Garden

pizza making

zin and window flowers

... ok, so it's not my most original post.

NPOW

Nail Polish of the Week Essie: (bottles from L to R) Bahama Mama, Turquoise & Caicos, In Stitches, Lapis of Luxury 
Inspired by THIS

Watch the Throne

Remember earlier this year when I did these album reviews? My favorite was Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (it's still on heavy rotation in my car stereo - when the girls aren't around of course) and now, as I'm sure you've heard, Kanye and Jay-Z recently released Watch the Throne. It's very similar to MBDTF in style, but in my opinion, Jay-Z adds a much cooler element to it. I really really like this album, I'd say it's borderline obsessive but I've heard that a lot of people like Kanye's MBDTF and Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 better. Either way if you are a fan of either's music (and aren't offended by explicit lyrics), I'd check it out. 

Fall Previews

Yep, it's THAT time of year again and here's my game plan...

Is it just me or is there not much to look forward to this year? What will you be watching? 

outfit of the week

Necklace: Tiffany's Mini Double Heart Tag PendantUndershirt: B.P. Stretch Camisole in "Cloudy" (Nordstrom)Shirt: Fire Patterned Chiffon Blouse (Nordstrom)Jeans: Mossimo Supply Co. Jeggings in Indigo (Target) - similar style HEREShoes: Steve Madden FantasikFor: My mother-in-law's birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's. (yum!)

Book: Strangers at the Feast

I decided to pick up this book after reading a review of it last year in O Magazine. The people in this story are ordinary people dealing with modern day issues. The matriarch of the family is an old-fashioned mother who believes in serving her husband and raising children in the most traditional way. The patriarch of the family is a Vietnam vet who struggles to show his emotions. The couple have two children: a son who built a fortune for himself during the dot com boom, then naturally lost everything only to begin investing in commercial real estate... and we all know what has happened to real estate; their daughter, a single professor who has a PhD in family studies and has just adopted a seven year old child from India. There is also the son's trophy wife who is furious about her husband's carelessness with their finances and is beginning to show physical signs of stress. There are also two boys from a nearby housing project who factor into the story when they break into a house and unleash a flurry of inexplicable events. All of these characters come together on a Thanksgiving day that ends in bloodshed where characters are pushed to their breaking points and family bonds are tested.
I really liked this book. The characters were all relatable and the story was very compelling. It takes until almost the very end of the book for all of the pieces to come together, but they do beautifully. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the synopsis, although it is not thrilling as it sounds: most of the action doesn't happen until the end and the rest of the book consists mostly of flashbacks. 

NPOW

Nail Polish of the Week
OPI: Girls Just Want to Play

Off the Grid take 2

So I know last time I did an Off the Grid post, I didn't show much of the food, so I thought I'd try again...

Belle is not as into the gourmet truck food as we are so this week I brought her her own dinner. I was also smart enough to bring our big picnic blanket so we brought that out and had an "adventure". Belle kept repeating "We're having a picnic!"

Belle's dinner: fishsticks, grapes, blueberries, apples, ketchup and crackers.

This week we got there nice and early and headed toward one of the more popular food trucks before the line got too long: Brass Knuckle.

I splurged and got the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. 
Justin got the brisket sandwich.

And just in case that wasn't enough calories for us, I also got a "crack bar". Cookie crust bottom, crunchy peanut butter, salted caramel and chocolate on top. To.Die.For.

Chowin' down.

Thought we were done? Oh no. We ended our meal with some garlic oil french fries from fivetenburger.

Ok, I know she's not food, but I had to add this gratuitous shot of my Belley girl because she's so cute I can hardly stand it.

normal life

This summer has been insanity. Trying to have any sort of routine has been a waste of time and if you know me, you know I like my routines. I like the comfort of knowing what's going to happen every day and the rituals of making it all happen. Anyway, I am so grateful because in a couple of weeks we will be settling into our fall routine and I couldn't be happier. Abby will be here full time Monday - Friday so I will have two toddlers by myself, but I am hoping that having a set schedule will make things a little more tolerable.

Here's what life will look like starting in September:

An average weekday will look like this:
8 AM - Abby arrives, quiet time in the living room.
8:30 AM - Belle wakes up. Get both girls dressed and groomed for the day.
9 AM - I shower and get myself ready.
9:30 AM - feed the girls breakfast.
10 AM - whatever activity we have scheduled that day.
12:30 PM - make and feed the girls lunch, clean them up, read them stories and put them down for naps/quiet time.
1:30 PM - wash dishes, make myself lunch, watch The View.
2:30 PM - girls up, let them have quiet time while they eat their snack.
3:30 PM - go outside or do afternoon activities.
4 PM - Abby gets picked up. Belle and Justin play outside.
5 PM - start dinner or cleanup if Justin is cooking.
6 PM - eat dinner.
7 PM - give Belle a bath, clean up toys.
8 PM - put Belle to bed, finish cleaning up.
9 PM - one hour workout (Tuesday nights I go to a 90 minute yoga class at 7:30)
10 PM - relax, watch TV
11 PM - read
12 PM - bed

And our weekly activities:
Mondays
10 AM - 12 PM  grocery shopping (I've found it so much easier to shop on weekday mornings and doing it on Mondays allows me to shop for the whole week. It's been easy this summer with Belle but now I am going to attempt to do it with both girls - pray for me! Grocery shopping includes: Target for basics, Monterey Market for produce and Trader Joe's for everything else).
4 PM - 4:30 PM  swim lessons

Tuesdays
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM gymnastics
7:30 PM - 9 PM  yoga class for me!

Wednesdays
10 AM - 12 PM Studio Grow story and music time
4 PM - 4:30 PM swim lessons

Thursdays
10 AM - 12 PM  cleaning and laundry for me, art projects for the girls / go to the park on sunny days

Fridays
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM  Gymboree play & learn class
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM  Gymboree music class


And just to not sound like a total downer, here are some iPhone pics of some fun we've been having the past couple of weeks...
These girls go nuts for stickers. They literally sat there for almost an hour peeling away.

Playing "nap time". My favorite game.

I woke up the other morning to see this on the shower wall. My husband is too sweet.

Lunch.

Tasty tacos.

Grocery shopping list! Yes I am this anal about shopping.

Belle helping me pick out some... um... necessities at Target.

chez gomer

I don't know how many times I have to say that I don't cook and then post a recipe before I realize that I actually do cook... just not often. Justin is the resident chef in our house but this summer he has been teaching, writing lectures, reading and trying to work on his dissertation. I on the other hand usually watch Abby five days a week but this summer she's only been here twice a week, so unless I want to starve my family or go broke eating out every night, it's only fair that I cook once in a while. This and this have definitely been staples this summer as they are the only things that I do well. But after reading Real Simple this month and seeing this on my friend Nicole's blog (I swear Nicole I don't cyberstalk you all the time... ok maybe a little :) I decided to try some new recipes. So on Monday I decided to make a peach pie, popcorn chicken, roasted potatoes and a summer corn salad all from scratch. It took me all afternoon in the kitchen but everything came out really good if I do say so myself. 
Dinner

• Corn Salad recipe found HERE. I left out the chicken breast pieces since I was making the popcorn chicken and I used my favorite Trader Joe's herb salad mix instead of spinach. I also put the dressing in a small mesh colander and let it sit on top of the salad to let the flavors soak in instead of adding the rosemary garlic mix into the lettuce. 
• Popcorn chicken recipe found HERE.
• And my roasted potatoes found HERE. In hindsight, I could have done without the potatoes, the chicken and salad were more than enough food.

Don't judge the portion sizes, I made enough for four people so we each had a lot. 

Justin's plate with the chicken over the salad.

My plate with the chicken on the side to make room for the Parmesan.

DessertPeach Pie I took from Nicole's blog. Recipe found HERE. I added blueberries to the peach mixture because we had a lot of extra blueberries in our fridge.


Yum!

Remember when I said we don't have a dishwasher? Yeah cooking such a big meal and a pie from scratch made for a lot of dirty dishes...

Movie: Crazy.Stupid.Love and Tree of Life

I know, I know, I never see movies. Sorry I'm lame. But in the past couple months I have seen a couple!
Last weekend was my mother-in-law's birthday and all she wanted was to see Belle so of course Justin and I took advantage by going to see a movie while Belle spent some time with her grandma. We both really wanted to see this because we are huge Steve Carell fans and Justin has a crush on Ryan Gosling like I have a  crush on Emma Stone. This movie was so cute, heartwarming and funny. I know I see a lot of romantic comedies and I never really like them... I loved this one. There's a big twist at the end of the movie that I think pulls the story together and makes it an ending slightly unlike most rom-coms. Definitely a must-see if you want a fun movie. PS - for all you ANTM fans, you may recognize the adorable Analeigh Tipton in a major role! 

This is not a movie for a casual movie-goer who just wants to be entertained. My husband, who is very into movies, is a big fan of Terrence Malick and has seen all of his movies. If you've seen any of his movies, you'd know that they are very artsy and hard to follow. His films are rarely about the plot and ask big questions of the universe. "It's sort of like watching a philosophy book" as Justin would say. Justin saw this movie on his own and begged me to see it so we could talk about it. Michelle and I went to see it together and I won't speak for her, but I'm pretty sure we were both pretty confused. I had to have Justin explain to me what the movie was supposed to be about and even he didn't have all the answers. Despite the confusing premise, the movie was gorgeous to watch and was unlike any movie I've ever seen. If you're up for a head scratcher and something a little deeper than say, another Transformers film, then I'd recommend it. Get a big bucket of popcorn though this movie is almost two and a half hours long! 

Off the Grid

When my friend Nicole blogged about Off the Grid a few weeks ago I was intrigued. After doing some research I found out that it's actually held in our neighborhood on Wednesday nights! Justin and I had to try it. If you don't know about Off the Grid (and if you live in the Bay Area I suggest you educate yourself), it's basically a bunch of gourmet food trucks that stop in one location festival-style for you to enjoy. The one in North Berkeley is on Wednesdays from 5-9 PM. We got there at 6 and waited in line for almost an hour for food, but it was definitely worth it.

the crowds

The Taco GuysSpicy lemonade (that was so tasty I have dreams about it), beef taco and an eaten Maui taco.

fivetenburgerGrilled cheese For Belle that was drool worthy. My mouth is watering looking at this picture. Justin also got a burger and fries and even though I gave up red meat I tried a bite and almost died. It was unlike any burger I've ever had in that it made me want to eat red meat again and by eating red meat I mean just that burger for breakfast-lunch-and-dinner every day.

Belle is well prepared and ready to go!

CupkatesThis truck is all over the East Bay so we've tried it before. Belle enjoyed her double chocolate cupcake to say the least. If you ever try it, I recommend the s'more cupcake just for its graham cracker crust.