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Hope you all enjoy a little bit of sweetness this weekend!

Mini apple pie from Elizabethan Desserts.

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I just love photographing food. The process & love that goes into a dish. In this case, it was a nectarine & marscapone tart and it was delicious. Definitely wonderful for the summer “heat” here in San Diego. ;) These were my film images — more to come when the digital images are done. :) (Another reason I love film – no editing needed!)

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I couldn’t send you off to your weekend without more lovely b&w image goodness. Have a good one!

(P.S. The Mission in North Park has pretty darn good coffee)

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Mmmmm there really is nothing like warm homemade apple pie! I had so much fun photographing the process with my dear friend Emily, and her friend Vince that you might be seeing some more baking fun in the future. :)

Recipe and pie crust courtesy of Trader Joe’s. :)

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Since I’ve already professed how much I love The Linkery before, of course I had to go back for more. ;)

(Definitely get a link, and their pickled eggs! MmMmm. I love pickled anything!)

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One of my favorite dessert places is Heaven Sent Desserts in North Park. I actually prefer them over the *other* well-known dessert place in Hillcrest based on taste! These desserts hit home much more, like the apple crumble I shared with a friend – so delicious! I want to go back for more.

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Another food post with Ms Denise! This time it’s a chili & chocolate drink mixed in with sweet potato! Yum, it was a perfect end to the pozole she made (which will come at another time!)

See the recipe for the drink (& the rest of the images) here. :)

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Quite possibly one of the funnest dining experiences I’ve had (I felt like I was in England!), was when I met a friend for high tea at Tea Upon Chatsworth in Point Loma. We were pampered with a wide selection of all their teas, and all these photo-worthy delectable treats! Their lemon scones are soooo yummy (not dry at all), their corn chowder is so savory, and a favorite of mine is their little trifle, which is the second to last image. I felt like such a lady here, and everyone was all so nice. Plus I loved their mismatched decor and tea cups everywhere! Such a fun time :) If you ever want to try this lovely place, I believe you will need to make a reservation, as space is small here, and it seems to be quite popular.

Not very many restaurants make me just so happy after being there, but oh my goodness, The Linkery does. The atmosphere? Awesome. The waitstaff? Wonderful. The food? Amazing (especially the links!!). And best of all, you can just feel how much the people who work and run the place really care about the food & where the food comes from (supporting mostly local farms). It makes the meal that much more special – which makes the whole dining experience just that – an experience. A truly wonderful one too! I am so totally going back, and the sooner the better ;)

(I do think their philosophy on food is just the best, especially since I am currently reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma!)

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I love french presses. When I was in Ashland, I had the most amazing coffee french press style and because of that, I try and order french press when I’m at cafes now. I know it’s usually like $1 more, but to me, it’s oh so worth it. ;)

This french press was from Cafe Calabria which I tried for the first time this past week. I definitely plan on going back and having more down the line, I did quite enjoy the coffee ;)

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Recently I photographed the lovely Denise in her new kitchen cooking up a storm — more specifically, cooking up some beet & kale salad, which to some may not sound appetizing, but it was delicious. I love beets, & kale and I are friendly, so I honestly can’t wait to try this recipe for myself.

See the rest of the images along with the recipe on Denise’s blog. ;)

Sushi sounds lovely just about now, thanks.

I  haven’t been to a whole lot of sushi places here in San Diego, but the place with the freshest fish would have to be Sushi Ota (thanks Apryl & Tim for the tip long ago). I hear good things about RA Sushi downtown (I love crazy sauces), and of course, for the best bang for your buck (aka pretty good sushi for the money) is Sushi Deli One (two or three) ;)

I love sushi :)

Now I want a crunchy spicy tuna roll!

I absolutely adore farmer’s markets. Some of my earliest memories of the farmer’s market is with my mother, on early Sunday mornings. The farmer’s market where I grew up was in a freeway underpass, so I mostly remember the feeling of being under the giant freeways in the early morning, with people (mostly old ladies) pushing the wire carts, bargaining for the best price for produce.

Now I just love walking through them, taking a look at what’s in season, what people are growing. I love chatting with the vendors, talking about the best way to cook something and how you should eat it. When the farmer’s market in my neighborhood just opened up, I was ecstatic – I would go every week. I became a regular – the fish guys would chat with me about the best way to cook the fish, and the almond guys would smile in recognition. I would get talked into buying pickled garlic (which is GOOD especially if you love garlic like me) and the most delicious cured meats. The flower vendor that was in the back of the market was the sweetest man – he once complimented my boots, and gave me a free small bunch of flowers every time I would buy from him. And he would smile so happily. It was for this reason that I would only buy flowers from him in the whole market.

I just loved being able to connect with where my food comes from – seeing the faces that grew the food. You can tell just how much they care about it. And of course, it’s good for the environment to buy locally. :)

Next time you need to buy some produce, give your local farmer’s markets a try. Maybe you’ll love it just as much as I do :)

So every year, I try and make mass homemade gifts, and my favorite that I have ever done would definitely have to be these. A few years ago, I decided to make mini gingerbread houses for my coworkers (when I had coworkers!) and I seriously looooved the way they turned out. I would love to try and do these again sometime, but I feel like I would need to top myself somehow. :) These took me a total of 9 hours to make – 3-4 hours to bake and cut, the rest to decorate. I had so much fun making these, it was like being a kid again.

I basically took a normal gingerbread recipe and made it extra thin, and hand cut all the shapes. The royal frosting to hold it together was a pretty basic royal frosting recipe too :)

I don’t know if anyone actually ate their house. :)

I still have yet to figure out what I’m doing this year! Mini gingerbread men?

Assembled and ready to be adorned!

A quarter to see how small they were

A village!

Packaged and ready to go

Complete with name tags :)