Today was Jasper's birthday and we celebrated with a BBQ by the pool. I made an orzo salad with fresh peas and mint from the farmers market, dressed in a garlic-lemon vinaigrette...
Read MoreOne of my favorite restaurants in the Bay Area is located right next door to one of it's most famous, Chez Panisse, maybe you've heard of it? With it's common table, Spanish small plates, and extensive wine list, Cesaris more my speed. My favorite dish is their padron peppers. About one out of ten is very spicy, the others are mild a full flavored. A healthy dose of olive oil and cracked sea salt make them irresistible. I get them every time they are available at our Farmer's Market. Tonight we made them on the grill, which was a first and it worked beautifully. Here's the recipe...
Read MoreI found some beautiful white corn at our Farmer's Market over the weekend. I plan on using it for an unbelievably delicious chowder that my friend Heather made the last time I was at her house. She gave me a copy of the recipe which is from Fields of Greens vegetarian cookbook. The sweetness of the chowder comes from the corn stock that you'll make ahead of time. The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of butter which I'm omitting because of Jasper's dairy allergy, rendering my version vegan. I'm excited to serve this tonight as it'll just be me and the boys and corn and potatoes are their favorites.
Read MoreWe threw our final bash in Oakland this weekend with a Muppet Movie Night to celebrate Jasper's 6th birthday and to say our farewells to our friends and neighbors. I invited his entire Kindergarten class and his teacher so it was a full, albeit empty house. The kids enjoyed Oakland's finest, Lanesplitter pizza, cherries, frozen grapes, and lemonade out on the deck, followed by a chocolate Muppet cake and red velvet woopie pies. I set up some play space for the younger guests including a Swedish Chef kitchen. We managed to get about half of them to sit down and watch "THE MUPPETS" projected onto our living room wall, the other half, including the the birthday boy spent the remainder of the party playing out back in our hilly yard of trees and rocks. I had to apply several band aids and Jasper got a half dozen mosquito bites, but everyone had a great time.
Read MoreI finally stopped by Urban Home, a warehouse style mid century modern focused consignment store in Berkeley. We had a leather chair left over from garage sale that was too valuable to donate, but couldn't stick around for a craiglist sale. This is the place to go for vintage lamps, dining tables and accent chairs by Knoll, Eames and Noguchi, all in very good condition. They also had an art room with paintings and wall sculpture by C. Jere which I will be visiting after we make our move next week. Bay Area readers, this is a must visit.
Read MoreMake + Haus is the new name and online home for the blog Poppy Haus. Established in 2011, the blog archive now contains hundreds of original design projects and whole food recipes, many featured on the likes of Apartment Therapy, Martha Stewart, Design*Sponge, Curbly, and Epicurious.
