Yearly Archives: 2013

Happy Christmas Eve from Kihei! We had a great busy day at the beach to celebrate the holiday. Rob and Trent headed off before us by bike – they just rented two road bikes for the week.  The rest of us drove over and found a shady spot under a big acacia tree at Po’olenalena.…

On Monday morning, we woke up at 5:30 (ugh!) for a snorkeling cruise off Maui. The sun was just starting to rise over the island when we arrived at the harbor, bustling with tourists locating their ships for the day. Our small boat run by Aloha Blue Charters looked almost exactly like the S.S. Minnow…

We are settling into the pace of life here in Maui. Everything is so much slower (and warmer) than San Francisco.  Our neighborhood is a palm-filled suburb straight out of the movie The Descendants. We’ve been waking up pretty early with the little nephew’s schedule.  Mornings have been filled with local Maui Grown Coffee and oatmeal…

Our first dinner in Hawaii was a make-your-own rice bowl feast featuring flavors of the island.  Inspired by one of my favorite dishes at Pacific Catch in San Francisco, this is a healthy and easy way to feed a large group with the help of a few prepared dishes: Each bowl starts with a base…

Our 20-day adventure in Hawaii started with a 5:00am wake-up call this morning. Relatively stress-free process of getting through airport security with my parents and then a nice four and a half hour flight on Hawaiian Airlines. They give you free food, drinks and even an actual metal fork on the flight – imagine that! Jean…

We started this series on holiday entertaining a few weeks ago with the outline for Holiday Party No. 1: A Housewarming for a Small Apartment. Over the weekend, Lauren succumbed to my bossiness and held a wonderful event at her apartment in Noe Valley.  The mantlepiece was decorated with a fresh winter garland and candles: She…

There comes a moment, on these busy holiday party weekends, where you realize you haven’t eaten anything but spinach dip and fudge in about 36 hours. A nice leisurely weekend lunch is just the thing to get you recharged on real food. A couple weeks ago, I made cioppino for Sunday lunch with my parents.…

My office has a tradition of a ladies tea to celebrate the holidays. Each December, a small group of the top women in the company go to the Palace Hotel‘s famous Garden Court for a fancy afternoon tea. Guests. Six of your favorite co-workers. Decor. The Palace Hotel is famous for it’s atrium ceiling that…

Today is big.  After four and a half years, this is my last day at my job. Back in 2009, I started with Practice Fusion as the No. 8 hire and the directive to be a one-person communications team.  I arrived on my first day to an empty desk and had to take a taxi…

My friend Nicole invited me to a cookie swap party last week, hosted at 18 Reasons. This community food space is the non-profit division of Bi-Rite Market and one of the hubs of foodie culture in the Mission.  So my original (lazy) plan to make Toll House chocolate chip cookies got nixed by Nicole as…