Friends from many lands...

On Saturday, Nicolas hosted a BBQ in our back yard. Alec and I were a bit late, since we went to Miriam's 2nd birthday party in Oakland, but once he arrived, Alec showed us that he knows how to work a room.

The occasion was the visit this past week of friends that used to live in SF, but now live in...

... Shanghai

...and Vancouver

Alec's friend Max stopped by to play -


And Uncle Dan made a surprise appearance, too!


Lucky little man to have so many fans!

Le conducteur d'aspirateur

Shana tova!

May you have a sweet year!
With wishes for peace, Sarah, Nicolas, and Alec the shofar-blower
(thanks Aunt Ceevah!)


To celebrate fall, and to toast the new year, we took a quick day trip to Sonoma on Saturday with some friends visiting from Shanghai. It was a gorgeous day in the wine country - not too hot, with amazing colors everywhere.

Valley of the Moon

Alec's first camping trip

This past weekend, we decided to take advantage of Northern California's wonderful fall weather to take Alec on his first camping adventure. We chose our go-to spot for easy camping - Mount Tam - just across the Golden Gate bridge but in the middle of beautiful trails through redwood forests and oak meadows, and close to great beaches and great food...

We got up early on Saturday morning and had snagged site 1 by 10am.

Alec helped set up the tent

Once the site was claimed, we set off for a hike on Tomales Bay to Heart's Desire beach. Even though Alec was fighting an allergic reaction and needed to be kept out of the sun, he had a great time exploring.

After hanging out by the water, Nicolas and I were thirsty and wanted to check out a winery in Sonoma that we hadn't been to for ages. But a scenic ride through twisting roads led us on a wild turkey hunt - the place that we were thinking of must have closed. So instead, we rallied on to Napa and satisfied our cravings with amazing meal at Ubuntu, a fantastic vegetarian restaurant in the town of Napa.

It was hot - almost 100 degrees F, and we ate outside on the patio.

Alec was very well-behaved...

... mostly!

On Sunday morning, Alec woke up early - excited to be in his new surroundings, a cute little house, AKA tent. He was bouncing all over the place, and since it was such a beautiful morning, I took him out to explore and to see the views. Once Nicolas woke up, we had our traditional camping breakfast (cold pizza) and set off on a hike - Bootjack trail to Westpoint Inn, then back on the fireroads. It was sort of ridiculous - taking the off-road stroller on some pretty rocky and narrow paths, so I hope that Alec appreciated all of our effort. Mainly N's effort, that is.

But the views from Mount Tam on a sunny morning are worth it. We were in the sun, but below us, the ocean and Bay were stuck in the fog.

Away we go!

PS - I think that at the end of the weekend, Alec was as dirty as he's ever been.

Le petit singe - Little Monkey

One of Alec's many recent tricks, or perhaps discoveries, is that he can climb in, out, on top, under, and all around. Many people have remarked his skill at crawling under chairs (he gave a great performance at his birthday party), but recently he has been climbing on top of his musical table.

Other recent places that we've spotted him are:

His rocking horse

In the laundry basket

And while writing this, on top of the vacuum cleaner! That's ok, I can use the help with the housework!

Delizioso!

Every summer for the past few years, our friend Moto comes from Italy to California for several months to do research. Since he's a fabulous cook, we make a deal - he comes over and makes dinner, we provide dessert - ollalieberry pie. Each year we learn a new recipe, some secrets of making Italian cuisine (according to N's observations: lots of olive oil and salt), and have a fun evening. The annual event was last week. Here are some photos of the attendees and the food!

Moto, il chef

Sarah B - providing quality assurance

Nicolas

Me

Rai

This year we did Iron Chef style - Moto improvised using the week's farmer's market loot. He did make a few additional requests for ingredients, including the "mystery ingredient" - breadcrumbs! Here he is adding them to the pasta (pappardelle with cherry tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini)

The fan club...

Also on the menu: gratins of sunburst squash and tomatoes (petits farcis), salad, wine, and...

Ollalieberry pie - See the clean plates?

The berries were picked by Nicolas and Alec in Pescadero, south of SF. And where's Alec, you ask? Why, sleeping of course.

It's hot!

Here in San Francisco, we've had an exceptionally hot week - I love it! I've gone swimming for the past 5 days, which is something that I haven't done in a very long time. N's parents are visiting, so they've also enjoyed the great weather.

Georgette and Raymond

Yesterday afternoon, to cool off, we went for a drive down the coast. Right around Devil's Slide, we stopped because we saw whales spouting, just off of the shore. There were 2 whales, on their migration south, traveling side-by-side. They could have been either gray whales or humpbacks.

We ended up at my parent's house for dinner with family. But first, a quick trip to the local pool so that Alec could play in the water. He loved it!


Dessert last night was special. The box of cake left over from our wedding contained just the top tier of our wedding cake. It's been frozen for the past 6+ years, so we had a backup plan, just in case it didn't age well. But it did - delicious almond cake with raspberry jam and Italian meringue frosting.

Even Alec had a piece.