Tamales

Saturday Chad, Mags and I went to a newish restaurant that we will definitely be going back to. Called Casa de Tamales they serve, oh you guessed it, tamales. And they are delicious. Maggie even enjoyed them! Woohoo!

We ate four different tamales:
Green Tomatillo Chicken
Chicken with Mole
Savory Sweet Corn (from the gourmet menu)
New Mexico Chile Pork

For our next visit we're going to try more of the gourmet and sweet tamales. I can't wait!


Here's the menu for those of you who live in the area. Really, the food is excellent. Go there and try it for yourself.

Boots

Now that Fall is here and the weather is sometimes chilly, sometimes warm, I figured this weekend was a good time to bust out the new Ugg-type boots I bought for Mags. She has more adorable new shoes (you'll see those in future posts) but Sunday was the day for the new boots. And shorts. And cuteness. They're a little big for her now but will hopefully be the perfect size by winter. With heavy socks. Or cute striped tights. Or skinny jeans. Lots of options there. So anyway, Sunday Maggie wore the boots for the first time and happily walked up and down our street with them on. Back and forth and back again. She had fun clomping around and we had fun chasing her. Here are a few of the snapshots we took.

Family Portrait

Last week I saw a photo similar to this online and decided that I had to have one with our family. Without further ado...here is our latest family portrait.

Priorities

I have a lot on my plate this week. Piles of housework to finish, a number of errands to run, email messages to respond to, and basically plenty of catching up to do. So what made top on my list this gorgeous afternoon? Harvesting lavender, of course. Yep. In my mind that seemed to be the most pressing task and somehow inched its way to number one. Bummer of a way to spend the last day of summer, huh? You should smell our kitchen, my shirt and my hands.

San Francisco

Chad and I spent this past weekend (Thursday-Sunday) in San Francisco. It was the first time away overnight from Maggie and I think we all did OK. The reason for the getaway was because our good friends Russ and Carolyn were getting married. The groomsmen and their wives all stayed in the Presidio at the general's home called the Funston House. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom and there was a full kitchen, dining room and two living rooms. Tons of space for a large group.  The weekend was all about great friends, delicious food, and fun. Lots of fun. More photos to come, but quickly here are a few of the highlights:

A perfect Thai dinner in the Marina District Thursday night

The rehearsal dinner at The Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason: an amazing ocean front dinner with a million dollar view of the Golden Gate Bridge

The handsome groom and groomsmen killing time outside our home on the afternoon of the wedding

Chad and me before the wedding began

Giorgio's Pizzeria in the Richmond District for a quick Italian lunch

Sushi

Now that Maggie has a firm grasp on picking up food with her hands, we've decided to work on honing her chopstick skills.

Chad's Toy

Last week Chad got an iPad for work. He's allowed to bring it home and play with it nights and weekends too. And for the first few days, that's what he did. A lot of playing. He let Maggie fool around with it too. And now they're both slaves to the darn thing. I totally get how cool it is, but I'm going to resist as long as I can.

Grapes

The good news is that our grape vine grew really well this year. It produced a bunch of big sweet grapes that were fun to watch grow. The bad news? The vine brought with it a billion bugs. And gross bug poop. Like a ton of it. After Chad gathered a large boxful of grapes to clean and sort to give to friends, we gave them a closer look and decided to dump the whole lot. And I think we're going to pull the vine. Bummer! 

With that said, the grapes we did eat were delicious.  But so much for our organic, pesticide-free grape experiment.

Um...

This elementary school is in a district that has a good academic reputation among the local folks. It just so happens that I walk by this sign every morning and lookie here what I noticed today. Maybe tomorrow I should go talk to the school libarian?