Joy the Baker

Holy Heck!  When did Fall sneak up on me!?  I could use a deep breath… how about you?

Here we are at the end of September and I’m more than ready to go shopping for winter tights and oversized sweaters… not to mention jumping in the kitchen to bake up my favorite pumpkin cookies.  Seriously.  Have you made these pumpkin cookies yet?  They’re my reason for living from October through January.  

Now is not the time to talk cookies.  Can I show you a few things!?  I want to show you what my summer looked like…. up close… personal… on the fly.  All captured by my trusted camera phone.  Remember when we played the camera phone picture game a few months back?  I’m at it again.  Come take a peek and then tell me what you were up too all summer long!

Q:  How many Fried Chicken Sandwiches from Bakesale Betty’s did I eat this summer?  

A:  One.  That’s not nearly enough.  I’ve let myself down.  I’m working on it.  

My friend Zak makes his own sausage.  He’s badass like that.  He also likes compliments on his tattoo…. aaaaaand go!

No… my friends and I aren’t chef groupies.  That would be weird.  Right?  Weird.  

Have you ever seen a fresh garbanzo bean?  Well.. you have now!  Rad. 

There were many…. many bottles of wine consumed between the months of May and August this year.  Wine tastings at Silver Lake Wine are ultra lovely, super approachable, and my preferred way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Now you know.  

My friends and I also hold our own tastings where we sip and sit, chat and talk about wine in a way that makes us feel warm and snobby.  

The making of Thomas Keller inspired Espresso Sandwich Cookies.   Can I tell you a secret?  I shared a grand total of two of these cookies with my friends.  The rest were for my belly only.  True story.

Flipping hot pans, taking a little trash, listening to R. Kelly and workin’ the line.  Meet Zak and Duke.  

I bought all this…

And set up all this…

So I could have a bumpin’ party like this!!

And then I drank wine.  Don’t judge me. 

I love when my little sister helps me bake.  Frosting cupcakes takes some intense and deliberate dedication…

The same sort of dedication that goes into picking just the right mushrooms at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.  

Blue Bottle.  I love you.  You know it’s true.  Let’s take a closer look at this picture.  Skinny boy.  Skinny jeans.  Cute hat.  Making the best coffee in the world.  He even has a tattoo that said ‘let no man fall’…. Come on ladies.  Swoooooon!

Q:  How much bread is on this table at Zuni Cafe?

A:  Lots.  So much and not enough.  Um… Waiter!?  More bread please!

Simon made a pumpkin pie and took pictures of it with his phone. I watched Simon make a pie and took picture of him taking pictures of his pie with my phone.  We’re just strange enough for each other.

Yes.  This is happening.  This is a picture of my thighs in spandex.  These are the very thighs and fancy clippy bike shoes that are going to peddle my butt up to the top of a treacherous hill in Oakland.  

Yes.  This is happening.  This is a picture of my big head in a helmet.  Safety first friends.  Seriously.  Here I am halfway up the treacherous hill in Oakland.  It hurts and it sucks and I’m tired….. and I’m making it to the top of the hill so help me God!

Here is the face of success.  Oooh yes.  Top of the hill success.

And now I start boasting about how easy that was.  That hill wasn’t really all that hard.  The part where I was swearing and crying at the same time…?  Yea… I didn’t really mean that.

Can I be honest?  I am not an easy person to ride through the Oakland hills with.  I’m slow.  I freak out sometimes.  I’ve been known to get locked in my clip shoes and topple over.  And well…. Simon must be some sort of angel because he’s still smiling.  I’m lucky.  

Pasta.  I’m going to humbly say that I knocked it out of the park with that one.  Daaang.  

Leave it to me to find the man with the most wine at Blogher San Francisco this past weekend.  Leave it to me…

Leave it to me to find NotMartha and make her be my new best friend.  

Leave it to me to befriend crazy/lovely/hilarious Tracy of ShutterBean.  Um…. Tracy.  You and I both know that that’s not your wheelchair…. and oh how my love for you grows!!

So!  That’s how I’ve been livin’ this summer!  What about you?  What were your highlights of the summer season?  Do they involve new friends in wheelchairs that don’t belong to them?  Probably…. that makes sense.  

You know what you should do?  Show off your summer.  Leave a comment with a link to a photo of your favorite summer memory.  Come on!  This’ll be fun!