home again

I have to psych myself up a little before tackling the long Alinea dinner post. It's in draft form, with all the pictures in place; I just have to connect the dots now. The problem is that there are a lot of dots... So here is an easier post in the meantime: the 365 weekly roundup for the week after we got home from MI and IL.

Saturday, May 28 was our flight home from Grand Rapids, back through Chicago, to SF. It was a 4pm flight, which gave us the morning to have coffee and get one last lunch at Jersey Giant with Bruce and Bonnie before they needed to drop us off in Grand Rapids. Our flights were on time, thankfully, so we had enough of a break at O'Hare to track down Rick Bayless' new Tortas Frontera for dinner. (Day three in a row of Rick Bayless food, for those keeping track.) We took the long way between concourses, stopping near gate B11 for our tortas (Mexican sandwiches) before finding our own gate in the C concourse. On the way, I stopped for a picture of the cool artsy hallway. It's always so bright and colorful during the day.

148/365 airport art

That weekend happened to be Memorial Day, and we had made Sunday plans with Rob, Traci, Dan, and Carmen to have dinner at Rob and Traci's house in Palo Alto. We were also sort of celebrating Rob and Traci's birthday, which had been earlier in the spring. Dan and Rob worked on Dan's car to get it to stop making noises, we had tasty grilled food in their back "yard," and Rob and Traci opened a few late birthday presents.

149/365 outdoor dining

As with most trips, I came home from Chicago with hundreds of pictures to edit and little desire to take more in the meantime. Sunday had been easy at Rob and Traci's, but the most I could muster for Monday was a picture of flowers on the coffee table and the dining room table. Carmen left them for us when we got home from our vacation, along with a thank-you note for the baby shower and gifts.

150/365 home again

After the dinner on Sunday, Steve and I inherited some rhubarb from Carmen, left over from the strawberry-rhubarb pie that she made. I found an easy recipe for almond brown butter cakelets with rhubarb on Orangette and made a batch on Tuesday afternoon. They were good, but the ones that Steve made the next Sunday with huckleberries were even better.

151/365 rhubarb cakelet

Moving on, Wednesday was June 1, and I ended up going to Target with Carmen that day. Afterward, I took a couple shots in their nursery. That night, Steve and I had dinner at Chez Papa Resto, got coffee at Blue Bottle, and saw Blue Man Group. I took pictures of the dinner and coffee, but I thought the baby's bunny mobile was more fitting, since it was the beginning of the month during which our niece would be born.

152/365 tumbling bunnies

I had no ideas when it came to Thursday, however. The best I could come up with was to have dinner at Pi Bar—Dan and Carmen came with us—and stop at Anthony's Cookies. Of course, none of that actually yielded a winner for picture of the day. Instead, it was the red Vespa that we passed on the way home. Go figure.

153/365 red vespa

Friday wasn't much better in terms of inspiration, but at least I got my picture before it got as late this time. The little bottles that we had ordered for Steve's beer kit had arrived the day before, so I just shot them on my kitchen table with the dying sweet peas in the background.

154/365 bottles & dying flowers

And finally, I caught up with picture posts enough to make my monthly mosaic for May. Better late than never!