Category — Linda

Our journey to deliver Marissa’s belongings to San Francisco began around noon on Friday, July 29th, and ended when we finally arrived at her new home on Saturday, July 30th around 4:30 PM.

Most of our 14 hours of drive-time were spent on either I-10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles or on the I-5 between LA and San Francisco. The remaining couple hours were spent on the slow crawl to get onto and then across the Bay Bridge; at least it felt like 2 hours!

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About a month ago, ivillage posted a list of 10 cheap super-foods. I went out and purchased their “top 10” and decided to put them to the test. Over the next couple of days, I’ll show you how to incorporate several of them into your diet with some easy and tasty recipes. Not all 10 of the ingredients are included here since a few of them, you’re probably already using on a weekly, if not daily, basis. See how many of these foods you agree are “super” in your kitchen.

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Last day of July! Hard to believe, that summer is almost over, at least in most of America. In Arizona, it will last another 2 1/2 months, but here in San Francisco, it feels like autumn. Heaven!  Here is Marissa on the beach, which is less than a mile from her new home. Yes, she is in her new HOME! So exciting, and it is so cute and big!

Oh, and if you want to watch the Train video “Save Me, San Francisco” CLICK HERE

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Moving is a pain. No two ways about it. And moving in July, in Arizona, in 107 degrees is… I won’t say it out loud.

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… is the 2nd birthday of Les Petites Gourmettes’ blog. And we are going to celebrate!

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I’ve had this cute little picture on my desktop, copied from somewhere that now I can’t recall, for months and have been waiting for a time to slap it into a post. Today is just the day because I have no time to put up anything other than an explanation of why I’m not putting up anything. It is 5:35 AM and we (Dave, Marissa, my dad, and I) are heading off to Marissa’s storage unit to empty it and put all her furniture in our garage. Hopefully, it’ll only be there for a month or so, just until she can find a permanent place to live in her new home… San Francisco! 

Of course, we could’ve just decided to keep everything in the storage unit, as we have never had a problem with them before. But since we don’t know when she’ll actually be leaving, I think it’s better for us that we store it in our garage, as it will be much less hassle in the long run.

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Marissa gave me two valuable gifts for Mother’s Day last month. The first, is she guest blogging for me for two days, which you’ve already seen.  The second, a mother/daughter night out, I cashed in on last night. It became urgent to spend my gift ASAP because we just learned, the day before, that Marissa received a long sought-after internship at San Francisco Magazine.

Ironically she already has a 10-day trip for the wedding of one of her college roommates to San Francisco planned, she leaves for that today. Then she’ll be home for only 6 days before she needs to go back and report for her new position! It is a whirlwind (actually more like a tornado) around here now!

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Dave and I just returned from a long weekend in the wine country of Sonoma, California. I can’t wait to tell you about all the fabulous food we ate and wonderful wineries we visited.  But before I can even think about that, I have to share with you an absolute gem that we stumbled upon on our arrival night in San Francisco – Gitane Restaurant & Bar. You absolutely have to go the next time you are anywhere near Union Square! I am in love with this place and now my mission in life is to recreate the dishes we had there!

“Gitane” means gypsy woman in French. Additionally, Gitane is the name of a French bicycle manufacturer and also a brand of French cigarettes. This place is exotic and ultra-sexy, exactly what you might expect from a gorgeous romanticized gypsy image. It is hidden away on Claude Lane, an almost alley-like, side street between Sutter and Bush in one direction and between Grant and Kearney in the other.

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Marissa here again, reporting today with the greatest thing in the world (in my opinion) – baked brie!  I am a cheese freak, and brie has been my favorite for years.  It’s probably something to do with the way I was raised.  We are a bit of a cheese family. 

Add puff pastry and apricot preserves to the greatest cheese, and you have absolute perfection on a cracker.  I was trying to find an appetizer Mom did not have on the blog yet and was so excited that this didn’t show up in my index search.  The three of us (Mom, Dad, and I) completely demolished this entire baked brie round while playing board games and before sitting down to the salad from yesterday’s post and The Amazing Race finale. 

It was a good Mother’s Day evening.

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Hello everyone. Linda’s daughter, Marissa, here – reporting with your recipe for today.  As part of my Mother’s Day gift to my mom, I told her I would photograph and write blog posts for the two recipes my dad and I (but mostly me) made her last night for dinner.  My dad was in charge of keeping the cucumber martinis flowing, which was also a very important job. 

The first recipe is a delicious, fruity summer salad that my mom saw on the menu at Cave Creek Coffee Company, where she and my dad went the morning after their anniversary last week.

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