Friends, food, and fire

Our friends Carla and Brian were here last week for a conference and it was nice to hang out with them and their adorable son Ben (pictured with his almost as adorable sunglasses and just as adorable mom) for a few days. The first night, Monday, they came over for dinner and we actually got to eat at our dining room table for the first time since we moved in. I made a salad with arugula, prosciutto, figs, pine nuts, and dry jack cheese to start with, then chicken with a chile rub and avocado and corn salsa. Dessert was baked carmelized peaches and vanilla ice cream. We drank a bottle of champagne and a bottle of Gvertzemeiner (I know I just slaughtered that spelling) that we picked up in Sonoma the previous weekend. A very nice and relaxing evening - and great to spend time with friends. Later that week we went out to dinner at a mediocre restaurant called Armena in the neighborhood. We tried for sushi, but the wait was an hour long. Armena was unfortunately the first blah meal I've had here, so I was kind of disappointed that we didn't get to show them a better food experience.

Friday night I flew out to Ontario, outside of Los Angeles, for Kerry's bridal shower which was Saturday morning. It was really nice to see her again after being away for 6 weeks now (!). Nick and I wrapped up the weekend with our very first ride on the cable car and a fire in our fireplace. After several days of living in a 62 degree house, shivering under a down comforter and blanket, and taking cold showers against our will (don't get me started), we finally overcame our denial that it is just freaking cold in San Francisco in the summer, and Nick channelled all his manly insticts and built us a beautiful fire last night.