If there’s one thing that gets me excited about reading (or anything), it’s food. That’s why I’m so obsessed with the blog, PAPER/PLATES, founded by Chicago journalist Amina Elahi, who, with her editorial team, recommends books and the recipes inspired by them. They’ve also started a virtual book club, interviews the literati in a series called, “At the Table With” and maintains a TBR (To Be Read) list, a weekly compilation of the best book and food links from around the web. All that, and an amazing blog name to boot!
Today, Amina talks to us about flexing her green thumb, avoiding the doldrums of working from home and remembering the beauty of the ‘burbs.
(P.S. Amina and I had a bit of a cross-blogging extravaganza this week. Check out my feature on PAPER/PLATES from earlier this week!)
I love hosting friends and family. We were so lucky to have so many people looking out for us while we backpacked — everything from strangers offering rooms in their houses to new friends lending us their cars — that once we came back to America, we were excited to pay it forward.
Now it’s been long enough in San Diego — more than 7 months! — that we have favorites and must-sees. My cousin, Runjini, has been visiting us since Sunday and together we’ve been essentially doing a Greatest Hits of San Diego Tour. It brought me back to the time three years ago when we visited San Diego and were totally, completely charmed.
But back to the point of this post. On Monday we headed to Sunset Cliffs, a coastal neighborhood in Point Loma with beautiful cliffs and coastal trails for gentle walks. There’s far less pedestrian traffic here than, say, La Jolla, and it’s an impeccable place to watch a sunset. Add to that the fact that we saw dolphins (we were too far to catch them on camera, but still!!!) and a seal sunning himself in the middle of the ocean!
It was a cloudy morning, but when you live in sun-drenched San Diego where the weather is perfect all the time, a little gloom feels a little nice sometimes.
Can I just say that I love having a balcony? Because I love having a balcony. And part of the reason is that I can now grow a mini garden. We have a green zebra tomato plant that’s doing well so far and a basil plant that’s had its share of ups and downs.
We bought the potted basil plant from Trader Joe’s and after an initial pruning to use all the leaves for cooking, I was left with a naked plant. Too scared to over-water it, I hydrated it about twice a week only to see it barely bloom. The plant gets lots of afternoon sun, so I’ve now switched my watering schedule to every other day. It’s certainly doing better, but it’s nowhere near as full as when we first bought it.
One tip I heard was to keep plucking leaves to encourage growth. You know what that means? PESTO!
I’ve made basil pesto a few times, but each iteration has been a total flop. Then I found this recipe for basil pesto that doesn’t require a food processor — just sheer bicep power. It involves mincing the ingredients little by little all by hand, just the way Italian grandmothers do it. This is my new favorite method because you get to taste each ingredient in its full richness without the blades of the processor killing the flavor. Unfortunately, because I didn’t have big, bushy leaves to work with, mine was a smaller, less green version, but the taste was all there.
The only thing that makes me feel better about being an Instagram addict is that my stalking introduces me to new and talented artists — like Arielle Vey, a San Diego-based photographer I recently came across. I love everything about her photos, from the composition to the contrast to the styling. (Seriously, check out her Instagram feed.) I reached out to Arielle because surely a girl with that great of an eye must have some rad rituals to inspire her work. Today, she tells us about redecorating, abstract art and where she prefers to drink her cocktails.
Beyond San Diego’s plentiful Mexican food, I’m always whining about all the foods in New York that I can’t find here. Well, I can check artisinal donuts off the list now because San Diego recently opened Donut Bar, a gourmet donut shop with a long list of flavors that rotate each day, everything from nutella, creme brulee and red velvet to birthday cake, chai and chocolate Heath.
I met my friend, Gloria, for breakfast — I use the term breakfast lightly — just one hour after the place opened. They make about 1,000 donuts every day and if you go too late, especially on weekends, you run the risk of fewer flavors to choose from. (The hours of operation read “Mon-Fri 7am — Sold Out.”)
Gloria ordered the glazed and I got the coconut drizzled with chocolate. The donuts, about the size of my face (no, really), are soft, spongy and totally on par with Dough, my favorite spot in New York. They also sell coffee and tea, and host a quaint upstairs cafe with regular seating as well as leather loungers with built-in electrical sockets. It’s one of the few places I’ve come across in San Diego that actually deserves the hype.
There are plenty of hiking trails in San Diego and each has its own marquee feature, but for a quintessential San Diego hike, go to Torrey Pines. It’s truly the outdoorsy place to be. The trails are located in Torrey Pines State Preserve, a well-maintained coastal park with a link to the beach. Eaman and I had hiked a portion of this park three years ago when we visited San Diego, but not until this past Friday did we revisit the beauty since moving here.
Let’s get something straight though: If you’re relatively active and able-bodied, minus a steep initial incline to enter the park, there’s not much intense hiking to be had; it’s mostly strolling. That said, it’s one of the most picturesque spots in San Diego — the kind of place that makes me excited to live here.
We went on a particularly sunny day, which isn’t always the case given its coastal location, so the views were extra blue and stunning. We parked for free by the beach — and avoided the $10 lot fee — made our way up into the park, did a quick loop around the Guy Fleming Trail and continued up to take the North Fork Trail all the way to the beach. All in all, it took us about two hours, including breaks for photos (after the jump). Then we got Mexican food at Roberto’s because, I mean, if you’re going to have the classic San Diego outdoors experience, you obviously follow it up with the classic San Diego dining experience.
I may blog about food, interior design and hikes, but travel is my heart. And I don’t just mean vacations; what truly inspires me is the kind of adventure that’s a leap of faith, and that’s what first drew me to Danielle Alvarez’s blog, Danielle Abroad. New York-bred Danielle made the bold move to go to Paris for graduate school and on her blog she shares an American’s musings on European culture.
Many blogs these days are so visual — and yes, Danielle’s photos of the City of Lights are beautiful — but what I love is that she writes — really writes — about her experiences, her pratfalls, her curiosities. Today she lends us some of that same expat thoughtfulness. Read on to see what routines have made this gal’s new home feel like, well, home.
I know there are plenty of uses for zucchini, but whenever I buy them, I draw a blank in terms of what to make, and they go bad before I know it. I’ve done the breadcrumb-coated baked zucchini chip thing and I’ve done the roasting with herbs thing, but I wanted a fun and different way to incorporate more zucchini into my life.
