back!!!

i'm back! did you miss me? i was on vacation for a week and just got back in last night. so far, i have managed to avoid the heat. i need to go outside & survey the basil. i think i need to cut it down some and make some pesto FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. but for now, i will do laundry in the air-conditioned house.

i spent a week with husband scott's side of the family. we flew into san francisco and drove to tahoe & spent a couple of nights, then we drove to sister-in-law's home in fallon, nv for a few nights (and a day spent in reno) then back to san francisco (with a small stop in sacramento) for 3 nights before flying back home. it was a whirlwind trip and i hope to tell you alllllllllllll about it. for now i am missing the freezing temperatures of san francisco. okay, it wasn't technically freezing there. i bet it is never technically freezing there...ever. it was 64 degrees when we left. sixty-four degrees!!! how can it be so cool there and 105 degrees here in fort worth? that's a forty one degree difference.

i LOVE san francisco. there is so much to do. we were there for just 2 full days and almost 2 half days. that is not enough time to do everything. we did do a lot of stuff considering the time restraint.

now, my first piece of advice when going to someplace as wonderful as san francisco is to BE SURE THAT YOU CHECK THE CHARGE ON YOUR BATTERY CAMERA or you may end up in a really cool place like...the ferry building where you want to photograph every. thing. in. sight. but you didn't check your camera battery the night before and end up with one photo like this:

which was taken on a whim for carrot loving niece vanessa. little did i know that the last photo taken for the day would be this:

a photo of niece gina's most delicious egg sandwich for breakfast from il cane rosso. little did i know that i would not be able to take a photo of anything else that day. i couldn't take a photo of the logo for il cane rosso. totally click on the website and look at how cute it is! it totally stressed me out. all the food there was in the ferry building. the cute displays and colors of miette!!! missed opportunities. lots and lots of missed opportunities. 

i couldn't buy any of the lovely cheeses at cowgirl creamery (was afraid it would spoil) or the yummy displays of bread at acme (wouldn't stay fresh by time i got home)... or so i thought. i did luck out with the napa farms market in terminal 2 of the airport where i picked up some goodies for dinner at home.

sourdough bread from acme, gouda & triple cream mt tam cheese from cowgirl creamery, fennel and orange sausage from boccalone and leftover quinoa salad from mission pie (olives from jar in pantry).

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...delicious!

luckily, i wasn't with my mother-in-law when a topless lady came walking by in union square...i would have hated to know that i didn't have a charged and ready-to-shoot camera for that!