how things change

After seven years of living in California, including three years of drought (and actually driving by a freeway wildfire this summer), my sun-loving self has finally caved, and I'm excited that we're having a little bit of early rain. Me, excited about rain!

routine

Back in the Bay, and the usual routine feels good, especially the "no longer having a nasty September cold" part of the routine. It was great to see friends and spend time in my favorite city, but it's also great to be back with my boyfriend and dog, just in time for TiVo to start picking up all the fall shows.

east coast tour

Caught up with college friends at a wedding in D.C., where we also managed to score a table at minibar, a fun molecular gastronomy place. Decided to try to get together every year. Took the train to New York, where I'm working for the week, and also seeing as many friends as possible for meals and cards. A week packed with travel, friends, food, and fun, what more is there in life?

random wednesday

Got captured on video wearing a horse head mask while dancing without any music. It was for work, sort of.

belly in belly

Those pork belly buns may be the most delicious thing I've ever made. Even Boyfriend, who doesn't usually like pork belly and avoids carbs, ate three.

free at last

I stopped wearing my FitBit a few days ago after realizing that the 100° heat wave had more power over me than the guilt trip of the step count. It feels so liberating to not be checking and stepping, stepping and checking. I think I'll enjoy the novelty of freedom and laziness for a while, until I'm resensitized to the shame factor of the FitBit. And then once more into the fray.

roots

While I was at Henry's shelter yesterday, we looked up his old shelter records, and I found out that he had spent a month in the public shelter in Hollister, where he'd been turned into their night box with a collar but no tags, malnourished and about five months old. They had one picture of him from that time, all motion and blur, and I'm even more curious about the mysterious lives that all the dogs lead before ending up in what we think of as their real lives with us.

all set

New phone arrived yesterday to replace the one I broke last week. I've gotten all my settings and apps the way I like them. Ahh...

delicious future

We're going to our favorite local Michelin two star restaurant for Boyfriend's birthday dinner tomorrow night, and I'm making sous vide pork belly tonight to broil up and eat with some quick pickles and steamed buns on Sunday. The concierge at work has also started making some reservations for us for our trip to Paris next month.

box of food

Thai chicken burgers (packed with ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and sriracha, topped with hoisin mayonnaise) with home fries were delicious last night. Even Boyfriend, who questions the utility of the food deliveries, was impressed. Tonight, we'll have steak with romesco sauce and potatoes (which we'll jazz up by sous vide-ing the steak and adding sous vide eggs and sunchokes).

solid bet

Margaret Atwood never disappoints.

on track

After a slow first half of the year, I'm on track to get my 100 books in again this year. I'm working on two books now, one of which is an Ian McEwan novel that turned out to be good for a law nerd, and the other of which is the first in Lev Grossman's Magicians trilogy, which is like Harry Potter goes to Narnia as a less innocent college student. It's good to have a good book in progress, and awesome to have two.

what's up cuz

Getting excited for some cousin time tomorrow! Dinner out, whiskey, and games, it will be just like old times (except that the old times didn't involve dinner out or whiskey).

flying colors

In the past 36 hours, Henry has hung out with two dogs at work that he isn't used to, passed a temperament test at a kennel (which included meeting two dogs, one of which was a mastiff), met a friend and his family (three kids and two dogs, one of which was a very playful pit puppy that he played with), spent half a day in daycare with about two dozen dogs (part two of the kennel temperament test, which he also passed), and met a super nice dogsitter who lives near my parents' house. He did really well, and now has lots of options when I travel, beyond me just begging all of my coworkers to take him. So proud of his progress and relieved to have more flexibility.