Turns out January birthdays are better in California

My birthday *week* is officially coming to a close, and boy was it uber fabulous.

I was super worried about turning 30 away from all my (long-time) friends and family. Would I feel lonely? Would I have anyone to celebrate BIG with? It felt odd to be hitting such a milestone away from those who have spent my entire, or majority of my entire, life with me.

But my blog lovelies, I don’t know what I was so worried about. I felt the love. I felt it from afar, I felt it in San Francisco. I just simply.felt.loved. I guess that’s why birthdays have always been my favorite.

I had many, small celebrations this week with those close to me, which just felt better than the usual big hooplah I throw for myself each year, which ends up being stressful and a big blur. This year, I celebrated with one of my Seattle BFFs who flew in for a quick mid-week trip. She made reservations for us at an Indonesian restaurant I had on my SF Bucket List (smart cookie, she is) and we closed the restaurant down and drank two bottles of red wine with another friend of ours. She brought me the sweetest handmade card I’ve ever received from three of my girl friends who created a list of 30 things they loved about me. I die!

Thursday I did a small group dinner with my Seattle and San Francisco friends. We went to a cool restaurant called State Bird Provisions, which uses the dim sum concept for farm-to-table food (wish I would have thought of that). It was so fun! One of my girl friends made me a cool monogrammed etched glass from a wine bottle. It’s one of the best presents I’ve ever received! I love homemade gifts.

We ended Thursday with countdown-to-30 birthday shots at midnight (*gulp* I needed someone to hold my hand through that transition!) at Cha Cha Cha in the Mission.

By Friday, the snail mail love had rolled in. I received more presents and cards in the mail than I could have ever expected. It made me smile over and over again. (If you sent me something – thank you, deeply, from the bottom of my heart.) If you have a friend’s birthday coming up, mail them a card or small present! Snail mail gifts on your birthday are by far the best thing ever.

And finally, I topped off my birthday week with a fun, small girls night in Napa Valley with two of my San Francisco girl friends. Not only is it mid 60s in California for my January birthday, but it’s also Napa Valley Restaurant Month! So, we drove up for the night of my birthday and stayed at a cute little B&B called Lavender (with birthday balloons, a fireplace and a big jacuzzi tub in our room that we might or might not had a bathing suit, wine and bubble bath celebration in) and had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. My birthday cake was a giant marshmallow concoction (natch) called a “Campfire Pie.”

THAT is the definition of an uber fabulous birthday *week*, in my opinion.

And now… I have the rest of my birthday *month* celebrations to look forward to. I am leaving this decade with a bang, I tell you! In less than two weeks, I’ll be in Maui with my mom, dad and sister (the only thing I wanted for my 30th birthday) and in two weeks after that, I’ll be celebrating our 30th year with nine of my high school girl friends on a cruise of the Caribbean.

Is it possible for one person to overdose on birthday celebrations?

I think not!

Currently Feeling: Glad to have slowed down after a crazy week and enjoying a quiet rest of the weekend to myself!
Currently Anticipating: Another hike at Fort Funston tomorrow – a new Sunday routine.
Currently Loving: My new tradition! I’ll share it with you this week.

The Best of SF is Dim Sum at Ton Kiang

One of the bucket list items I wanted to complete last year was to go to dim sum for brunch. Technically I *tried* to make this happen with a friend earlier in the year. Except, we went somewhere random in the International District in Seattle at 7 p.m., so all the dim sum carts were shut down, and we were handed a menu in Chinese to mark up. What were these dishes?! How many should we order? Since neither of us had done dim sum, we just put a bunch of numbers next to items and about 20 plates and round baskets came out with weird sauces and meats. We had no idea what we were eating, and we had so, so, so much food! All of it couldn’t fit on our table, and we were stacking baskets up three high. It was super funny, but not at all something I wanted to eat again.

It only took me 366 days to do dim sum the right way – for brunch at a renowned, authentic Chinese restaurant with crispy, glazed, steaming dim sum dishes to choose from displayed on passed carts and platters!

On New Year’s Day, a group of my girl friends and I went to “lucky hungover” dim sum at Ton Kiang in Outer Richmond (a neighborhood in San Francisco known for its Asian cuisine). Dim sum at Ton Kiang is #62 on  7×7′s “100 Things to Try Before You Die,” and I’m so glad we did! It was super yummy – and just plain fun to choose from all the different “small plates.” Waitresses walked by our table with plate after plate of colorful dishes and shouted out what it was as they passed. Everything was so different and interesting! Round dough balls rolled in sesame seeds and crab claws poking out of fried bread… Steamed poured out of the sides of the little round baskets as the lids were lifted and dumplings in various meats and spices were revealed.

The pork sui mai dumplings were my fav!
We were also a big fan of the pork buns and custard buns.

Ton Kiang definitely has some dang good dim sum. It was a tasty, interactive meal that was a great way to kick off my New Year. I think I’m going to make it an annual tradition!

Have you been to dim sum before?

Currently Feeling: Glad I got Pilates and my 10K steps in today!
Currently Anticipating: Two birthday parties this weekend… and a dinner out tomorrow.
Currently Wondering: What the HECK is up with that crazy Jenna blogger girl on The Bachelor. Talk about giving us bloggers a bad name! That girl is a wackadoodle.

How to Throw a Favorite Things Party

Thanks to the all-knowing, addictive, most amazing website to come out of 2011 – Pinterest – I came across a few blogs that shared the idea of throwing a Favorite Things Party. So, I decided to host one for my San Francisco girls. Here’s the gist of throwing a Favorite Things Party: everyone brings five (or whichever number you choose) of their “favorite things” under a price limit. We did five things for $30. Favorite things can be your favorite condiment, nail polish color, book, amazing product you can’t live without, etc., but it should be five different things, not five of the same thing. Each person “presents” their favorite things one by one, and after each, pulls a name (from a box/hat) for the person who will receive the favorite thing. At the end, everyone goes home with five different “favorite things” from everyone at the party, learns a little bit about each attendee, and learns a lot about great products! It’s super fun, and a great change-up to the usual white elephant party.

Here are a few details I added to my party to give you some ideas if you want to throw your own Favorite Things Party! (P.S. I did it as a holiday party, but it can be thrown year-round without a Christmas theme!)

I bought brown bags, printed out labels that said, “A Few of Our Favorite Things” (you can download the labels here) and tied the bags with string. This was to play off “brown paper packages tied up with strings” from the song, and each person had a bag to put their “favorite things” they received at the party.

I made this fabulous Cranberry Mojito cocktail, also found on a blog courtesy of Pinterest. This might have been one of the biggest hits of the party. Because of it’s festive red and green appearance, everyone took pics and shared it on the social interwebs.

In keeping with the theme, I asked guests to bring their favorite appetizer. One of my girls brought pigs in blanket (or as she said, “Pigs in Down Comforters”) – everyone’s childhood fav!

I was really grateful to my friends who put a lot of thought and energy into their appetizers and presents – it was so fun to just chat, nibble on good homemade food and sip festive cocktails. The holidays are for celebrating with those you love most!

One of the best parts about the party is how fun it is to learn about each other through your favorite things. Like your friends love to travel… or love Owls… or appreciate fine wine… sometimes if they’re new friends, like most of girls in San Francisco, it’s a great way to get to know each other even more.

Some of the “favorites” that made their way to my party were: popcorn box for watching movies filled with candy, chalkboard wine glasses, Mac lipstick in Ruby Woo (I scored this one!), funny suitcase tag, non-slip headbands, Trident layers, Great Lash mascara, e.l.f. lipgloss, Almond Champagne (!!!), Bath & Bodyworks True Plue Paraffin lotion (supposed to be the best for dry hands), Gap thong (supposed to be super comfy), plastic flask for outdoor concerts, massage oil, eos lip balm and a Christmas amerilious plant.

My five favorites were: Forever 31 earrings, The Carrie Diaries(to represent my love for SATC, Carrie and blogging), Space Noodles (to represent my love for Seattle), a lululemon headband (to represent my love for yoga) and Tapatio! I put that stuff on everything.

What “favorite things” would you bring?!

One of my girl friends went home with Mac lip liner in “Cherry” and a lesson from a make-up artist friend on how to apply it – doesn’t she look fab?!

Again keeping with the theme (*cough* theme party whore *cough*), I made “warm apple strudel” (part of the Favorite Things song lyrics) for my dish and topped it with homemade eggnog ice cream! It was my first time making either, and they were quite the hit. Apple strudel is a crowd pleaser with all that butter and brown sugar, and eggnog is pretty much ready made ice cream mix in a carton! And of course, I had my “whiskers on kittens“ tied up in a pretty red party bow.

It was truly a night filled with our favorite things – each other, great food, drinks, conversation and the little things in life that make us smile. All recipes for an awesome holiday party with close girl friends!

Happy holidays, blog lovelies!

Currently Feeling: Like the holidays are even MORE crazy when you have to squeeze in meeting up with everyone you don’t see all the time. Whew – I’m tired! But it’s so much fun too.
Currently Anticipating: A girls night tomorrow night – dinner at Pearl and a tour of Snowflake Lane.
Currently Loving: Spending so much one-on-one time with my high school girl friends – it’s been awhile since so many of them have lived back at home, and it feels so special to catch up and stay good friends after all these years.

A healthier version of Olive Garden Zupa Toscana Soup

While I was recovering from being sick, I turned into a nesting/cooking queen. Anything to pass the time from staying indoors all day! I’ve been wanting to try this soup I found on Pinterest for awhile now, and since the temperature in SF is just now starting to drop, I felt it was the perfect comfy, cozy lunch option for cold days.

I’m a HUGE fan of the “soup, salad and breadsticks” combo from Olive Garden and always ordered their Zupa Toscana soup – a creamy soup with potatoes, sausage and greens. This is a somewhat healthier version of the soup since instead of heavy cream, I used fat-free half and half to save calories. Some could argue that fat-free half and half is not healthy since it uses corn syrup. (ARGH AMERICAN FOOD INDUSTRY). I opted for organic kale and chicken broth, sausage from a butcher to save preservatives & additives to make up for the little bit of corn syrup in this soup. That being said, this was one of the easiest, yummiest most impressive things I’ve made in awhile. Don’t you just want to dive into that bowl! And only five ingredients to pick up at the store…

Here’s how ya do it, and a printable recipe card for you too if you click on the image!

Stay warm out there, blog lovelies! xoxo

Currently Feeling: In love with spin and biking! Makes me feel like I might want to sign up for an organized ride… my sis and I are tossing around STP with my dad next summer.
Currently Anticipating: A brunch with friends before SantaCon on Saturday! I have my Santa costume and can’t wait to participate in this popular SF citywide Santa bar crawl!
Currently Loving: Seeing some of my best friends pregnant and squeezing out their mini mes. So hard to wrap my head around, but so cool!

The Best of SF is a coveted table at The Boxing Room

Since moving to San Francisco, the number one restaurant I’ve read about in all my city sources for events and happenings, is The Boxing Room. Maja buzz. Since it’s a cajun restaurant, and I’m obsessed with all-things southern food, The Boxing Room has been at the top of my must-eat restaurant list for months now.

One slight problem – in a city of foodies, getting a table at a decent hour at a highly buzzed about restaurant, is nearly impossible. But ah ha! If there’s a will, there’s a way. We made 9:30 p.m. reservations then went at 8 p.m. for a drink, hoping we could squeeze in. Sure enough – the bar had a fairly good sized four top. Tricks of my trade. Grab a seat in the bar if you make it here – it’s the same restaurant space and it serves the full menu. (It’s also been voted one of the bar’s in the city that steal’s the restaurant’s show by 7×7.com)

Often, I’m an indecisive orderer and always covet what the person next to me is eating. But, not this time! I ordered “Tonight’s Boucherie,” which was glazed baby suckling pig, served on top of two side dishes (I chose the candied yams and pecans with the broccoli and chanterelle casserole) and drizzled in gravy. Holy wow. This is one of the top 10 things I have ever eaten.

That is, until I split their Bourbon Banana Split with my dining partners. That sealed the entire meal for us with a, “OMFGTHISPLACEISSOGOOD.”

Coupled with warm, honey buttered cornbread, other southern staples, and a warmly lit, inviting atmosphere with dark woods and simple decor makes this one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco.

Currently Feeling: Glad to be back in the land of the living, and ready to spend the rest of my week enjoying holiday festive plans.
Currently Anticipating: A holiday lights tour via bus I have planned with a girl friend tomorrow. Hot cocoa and rich, fancy Bay Area house lightings!
Currently Listening To: Indie Holiday Music station on Pandora!

The best of SF is a cheeseburger between two glazed donuts at Straw

Hold up, wait a minute. Don’t look now… it’s a bacon cheeseburger served between two sticky icky icky glazed donuts.

I know – your arteries are clogged by just reading the title of my post.

But let’s all set aside our Judgy McJudgerson tendencies for a bit and just roll around in the glory of a cheeseburger served between two glazed donuts. Gross? Totally. Amazingly cracklicious delicious? Totally. The definition of sin and heaven rolled into one.

I doubted the greasy confection, but then I took one bite of (my friend’s) order at Straw SF and immediately regretting not going for the gusto. If you get a chance to go to Straw SF, don’t miss “The Ringmaster” – ground chuck burger, bacon and cheddar between two house-glazed donuts. Perfectly sweet and salty.

But that’s not all I loved about Straw. The small restaurant in Hayes Valley seats maybe 20 people tops, but it’s kitschy cuteness that’s reminiscent of “carnival fare” is full of so many special little touches (on the menu and beyond) that you can’t help but to have just plain FUN eating at this place. I mean, you can sit in an old seat from a Tilt A Whirl!

Menus are hallowed out old children’s books, the waiters are witty, friendly hipsters (I know, the shock), dessert brought us to the childhood fair favorite – cotton candy! and the appetizers included a to-die for sweet potato tater tots dish served with blackberry barbecue dipping sauce. My friends, I have agonized for the perfect dipping sauce for sweet potato fries (ketchup and aioli just don’t do it for me), and my search is over.

Orange blossom cotton candy

Sweet potato tots with blackberry bbq dipping sauce

You’ll leave this place charmed, nary a dent in the pocketbook, smiling, and well, in a total:

In my book, that gets a vote for one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco.

Currently Feeling: Back to the grindstone in SF (and the sun) – feels good! Nothing but a light sweater is how I like to roll.
Currently Anticipating: An ugly sweater benefit party for One Warm Coat tonight with SF Weekly.
Currently Reading: An Invisible Thread by Alex Tresniowski and Laura Schroff.

You will always return

I read somewhere that local legend says “Napa” translates to “you will always return,” which is true! Since my trip with my parents, I’ve been to Napa Valley three times. I’m totally in love – with dozens of beautiful estate wineries, world-acclaimed restaurants, HOT sun and cute little towns only an hour away from San Francisco Bay, it’s my new happy place (although Maui is still at the very tiptop).

I thought I’d share two short posts about Napa Valley – first THE WINE (of course) and second THE FOOD (cause it’s seriously drool worthy).

The first day my parents and I were in Napa, we rented bikes at the popular Napa Valley Bike Tours in Yountville. We had a bit of a bummer experience, but I would still recommend using the bike rental place. Just don’t start your bike tour at 2:30 p.m., make sure you check what wineries are open or closed, and bike straight up and back on Highway 29 instead of using their bike loop maps. Despite the pitfalls we ran into, biking through Napa was so pretty and warm! I totally experienced one of those “life is grande” moments while peddling under the trees on a quiet side road with birds singing and views of vineyards.

The second day, we drove all the way up to Calistoga then worked our way back (a highly recommended approach). There are literally dozens of beautiful wineries to stop at along the highway that links Napa (the city) to Calistoga. It’s hard to make it to all of them, and hitting three to five in one day is a FULL day, so expect to visit Napa over and over if you want to visit all the wineries.

We went to Sterling Vineyards, which has a gondola you have to ride to the top to wine taste. It was really fun and something you won’t find at any other winery!

We also visited Chateau Montelena, the winery that put Napa Valley wines on the map when their 1976 Chardonnay won a blind taste test in Paris. This winery was my all-time favorite! They had a splurge-worthy Cab that was $135 a bottle, but was hands-down the best wine I’ve ever tasted. My parents picked up a bottle to save until their 30th anniversary in four years. I’m already marking that date on my calendar with a big red star so I can just happen to be home when they pop that bottle.

We also made a stop off at Castello di Amorosa – a huge castle winery, which was my dad’s fav. I’ve been told Sterling and Castello are “tourist traps,” but still think everyone should visit them once!

Let me know when/if you make plans to visit Napa, and I’ll share all my favs with you. By this time next year, I should be an expert!

Currently Feeling: That usual pre-vacation stress. Why is it so difficult to get ready for vacation?
Currently Anticipating: My first Girls Dinner (San Francisco edition) on Wednesday!
Currently Loving: My new homemade popsicles – post on them coming soon!

The Best of SF is totes hun cal pro yo at Fraiche

The AMAZING thing about being in a new city is there are literally 100s of new places to go and try – even if I went to a brand new place every single morning and night here, it’d still take me years to try them all out. Being a food and wine (let’s be honest, adult beverage) connoisseur, this is heaven to me. Heaven! Every time I walk out the door, I find a new place I want to try…

I thought it’d be fun to occasionally share some of my most favorite places in San Fran under a new category called “San Francisco Eats,” so if you ever find yourself in The City by the Bay, you can reference the list. OR, it might entice you to come visit me! (BTW – did you know it’s totally taboo to call San Francisco “San Fran.” Gosh I’m so uncool. But, I’m learning!)

One of my all-time favorite treats in Seattle was frozen yogurt (or fro-yo as us gals like to call it), and there are only about four fro-yo places in all of Seattle. The best is on Queen Anne – you must go to Menchie’s if you’re from Seattle and haven’t been yet. Contrary to Seattle, San Francisco has a fro-yo place in every neighborhood – multiple in each neighborhood! There are four alone in just my ‘hood.

But, have you ever heard of pro-yo?

While my sister was in SF, we went to a place called Fraiche that served pro-yo , and it absolutely blew my mind.

The “pro-yo” at Fraiche is handmade frozen (they also serve it unfrozen for breakfast) yogurt from scratch, using organic Clover milk introduced with live cultures (healthy bacteria), resulting in a frozen yogurt ripe with probiotics. Hence the P in pro-yo. They even have soy fro-yo (soy-yo)?! Their toppings are all homemade, organic and fresh too – figs, apricot and raspberry puree, local honey, shaved chocolate, homemade fluffy mochi pillows, organic chocolate brownies…and more. The yogurt was the lightest, creamiest frozen yogurt I’ve ever, ever tasted, with just the right amount of sweet and tartness. It’s 100x better than regular frozen yogurt, and I don’t think I’ll be able to look back!

I promise you if you come visit me, we WILL be going there. I’m currently looking for any excuse to go back daily.

Have you ever tried pro-yo?

Currently Feeling: Somewhere between productive and totally not productive. I need to learn how to focus better while working at home…
Currently Anticipating: A dinner with a blog friend tonight – and San Diego for Memorial Day weekend!
Currently Loving: Gummy vitamins! I actually WANT to take my vitamins every morning.

Here is where I serenade you and offer up a BIG giveaway

Last week, I was given the opportunity to host a Wrapped in Goodness party courtesy of Lean Pockets, which means I was sent a HUGE ass box stocked with Snuggies for my guests, a questions party game, coupons for free boxes of Lean Pockets’ new Culinary Creations, and $100 for additional food and wine. (That was my disclosure part). What ensued was 12 goodnesses wrapped in a party… And yes, I did really make all my guests pose with their chosen number of snacks while I sang probably the crappiest version ever of The 12 Days of Christmas, using a YouTube karaoke video. Oh the laughter! Sometimes I wonder if my life is real.

What I’m giving YOU, lovely friends and readers for suffering through my high pitched craziness is a chance to win an entire YEAR’S supply (183 coupons) of Lean Pockets. Heyo! All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me your favorite Christmas song (Here’s hoping it’s my awesome rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas). For an extra entry, you can head over to the LP Facebook page and like it, and let me know here. AND, if you Tweet about it, tag me @jeannabarrett and use the hashtag #goodnessparty & #giveaway, and I’ll throw an extra entry in there. I’ll choose the winners at random by Friday at 5 p.m. and announce by Monday! Good luck!

Currently Feeling: Tired from staying up till 2:30am to knock out that video. Once I get my mind on something, I can’t stop.
Currently Anticipating: Girl Power Hour’s Cocktail Holiday party on Thursday!
Currently Loving: That I can wear yoga clothes to work every day. Love my job.

Girlsgiving

This year, I decided to host a Girlsgiving (Girls + Thanksgiving) purely because I found a recipe online for cooking a turkey that included champagne. Drunken turkey! That seems like a good enough reason as any, right?

To be honest, the turkey totally skeeved me out, and I had to call four people and put rubber gloves on to psych myself up to deal with the “gizzards” and “pulling out the neck.” Don’t know that I’ll be cooking a turkey again anytime soon, but at least I can cross it off my Bucket List!

We had a potluck and each girl brought her own version of Thanksgiving classics – we had a green bean casserole, a mushroom, kale, squash and sweet potato hash (a hippie dish from my nutritionist bestie), pumpkin pudding, Parmesan mashed potatoes and more. I also baked a sweet potato pie for the first time. Oh, and of course wine! None of us are really masters of the kitchen, so it was fun to experiment and give thanks to the wonderful friendships and amazing women in our lives!

Hope you all had a full belly and tons of fun during your Thanksgiving festivities this year! Now back to our regular scheduled calorie counting and healthy eating…

Currently Feeling: Totally stressed out about my tailbone – I want to work out! Waaaahhh.
Currently Anticipating: An overnight cabin trip tomorrow to the woods and snow.
Currently Needing: To finish all this leftover wine at my house – any takers?!