Light Living

Ahh, I have been blown away with all the incredible clothes, accessories, and jewels that are flooding stores everywhere this season!!! All the neons and brights are so exciting and I love all the florals and cool Aztec inspired prints. It's fun to find a lot of these trends already in my closet- my red skinnies, kelley green trousers, bright Billabong tanks and bags I bought in Hawaii last year. But for home, I still like to keep things light and calming. These rooms are so beautiful and serene.  The perfect place to start/end my day.

*pics from Lovers in Vain

BT Changs

You probably don't know this, but I am obsessed with PF Chang's. Since I don't eat meat, I order only their veggie dishes and honestly, they are the best anyway (or at least that's what my meat eating friends tell me). I love the sesame cucumbers, the spicy green beans, and the coconut curry vegetables but it's the vegetarian lettuce cups that are my real obsession. Sadly, we don't have a PFC in San Francisco so it's not often I get to indulge, which is probably a good thing. But last night I was dying for those lettuce cups so I made some at home and I gotta admit, they were delicious. Again, I started with a recipe but made my own little tweaks. It took a matter of minutes to throw together and mere seconds to inhale!

Bianca Troy Chang's Lettuce Cups


1T veg oil
1/2 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1T ginger minced
1T lemongrass minced
8oz sliced water chestnuts roughly chopped
16oz firm tofu crumbled
4T low sodium soy sauce
1-2T hoisin sauce*
2T sriracha sauce/hot chili sauce

1 head iceberg lettuce or baby romaine leaves
1 carrot grated
2 green onions grated
bunch of mint chopped
1/3C peanuts chopped
hot sauce
lime wedges

1. Heat oil in large saucepan/wok, add onion and cook 5 mins
2. Add garlic, ginger, lemongrass and cook 2 mins
3. Add water chestnuts and tofu, cook 2 mins til warmed through
4. Pour sauces* over tofu mixture

5. Prep garnishes and serve.

*The original recipe called for 4T of hoisin, which I think is way too much. I don't love hoisin.

**You can use less hot sauce if you like, I like mine spicy so 2T was just the start...I added more on each lettuce cup I made.

Fave Five

So far, my top 5 looks from tonight's Met Gala are from these lovely ladies who didn't smack us in the face with another Marchesa bow or trip up on the way up those stairs with their 20 foot train~

1.  Camilla Belle in Ralph Lauren. So classic and just the right amount of cleavage. Love the dark lip.

2.  Jessica Pare in L'Wren Scott. Good for her for not trying so hard at her first Met ball.

3.  Jessica Stam in Dior. The color is really modern yet the styling is so Medieval, I think she killed it.

4.  Kate Bosworth in Prada. Youthful sexy fashion. She looks like she can really have fun in her dress!

5.  Marion Cotillard in Dior. She looks like a sexy French princess. Her little bangs are adorable and that dress is couture perfection. I'm sure it looks 100x better in person.

*pics from The Cut

Met Mess

So tonight is the annual Met Gala honoring Prada this year, and some early pictures have already surfaced. From what I can tell, tonights red carpet was a parade of one hot mess after another. I can't even begin to comment, they are so bad.

*All pics from Fashionologie

Skinny Fiesta

Since it was cinco de Mayo this past Saturday I though I'd celebrate the authentic way (wink wink) by making a skinny version of Mexican Tortilla Soup. I've had a recipe from a 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times that I'd never tried so I finally gave it a whirl. Of course I didn't follow the recipe but it turned out really well so I'm adding it to my easy soup-for-dinner repertoire. Here's what I did and I encourage you to try it this way. Feel free to play around, I think this one is pretty fool proof. 

Skinny Fiesta Soup

for the soup:

1T olive oil

1 small onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

4 C low sodium vegetable broth (one whole paper container)

1T grated lime zest

1t dried oregano

1/2 C short grain brown rice

1 14oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 C fresh or frozen corn kernels

3 carrots diced

1 jalapeno diced

the garnish:

1 avocado 

2 green onions sliced

chopped cilantro

grated cheese

lime wedges

hot sauce

1. Saute onions in olive oil over med-low heat, 5 mins

2. Add garlic, 2 min

3. Pulse tomatoes in food processor to break them down a bit, skip this if you like it chunky

4. Add tomatoes and the rest of the soup ingredients to the pot plus 2 cups of water

5. Salt and pepper soup to your liking. 

6. Simmer 30 mins, partially covered. Then adjust seasoning as needed

6. Garnish with any or all of the items on my garnish list. 

I dressed my soup with different combinations of the garnishes and think the bowl with everything in was the best! My boyfriend would have liked some shredded chicken in his for extra bulk, but I liked mine as is just fine. It was really filling and so healthy tasting. I guess you could be naughty and throw in some crushed chips for a little crouton action if you like. Ooh, I bet that would be good! 

*This is so not my picture, I think this has chicken it it, but it looks pretty similar to the one I made. And as you know, I am a terrible photographer. 

Beach Mondays

I woke up at 6:30 this morning energized and ready to go! My boyfriend just loves this about me. Note the sarcasm. But today he played along anyway cause I think he was secretly dying to get outside and enjoy the day too. We left the house early and went to Stinson for a few hours to get some sun and read a few mags. We ate both breakfast and lunch in town and had 2 unexpectedly fantastic meals. Breakfast was honey wheat pancakes (him) and huevos rancheros (me) at Breakers Cafe and it was honestly the best of both we'd had in ages! Really, the huevos were over the top good thanks to their homemade red chili sauce and lots of fresh cilantro. Later we had lunch at Parkside Cafe and were blown away with the fish tacos we got. The were the battered kind, which I usually don't like, but they were done tempura style and the coating was very thin and crispy. I could have eaten them both but we shared since  cones from the snack shack were our next stop. Now I'm in a bit of a food coma but I got a nice tan in the process so I'm good. I highly recommend you stop at both cafe's next time you're in Stinson.

Summer Spots

First, I must apologize for the lousy photos. They were all taken on my old Blackberry with the most ancient picture taking technology on the planet. But I wanted to share my favorite summertime destinations, in no particular order. Each of these places holds a special place in my heart and I can't wait to pay them each a visit or two very soon.

1. The Ace Hotel, Palm Springs. I've stayed there twice and just love the design, very desert chic. A fun place to hang out and grab some lunch by the pool. I'm definitely taking my sister to The Amigo Room (best bar name ever) for a drink next week while we're in town.

2. Clark's Hole, The American River. I love the river so much, it's hard to choose one spot, but Clark's has the best swimming cause it's made up of a series of shallow pools that warm up nicely. Bring a tube and some Bud Lights on a hot summer day...heaven.

3. The Ramp Restaurant, San Francisco. The best outdoor deck/bar in the city by far. Great Latin music/dancing on the weekends too. It's in a sheltered part of the bay so it usually warms up nicely. They never make you feel rushed to leave which I totally appreciate. Just don't get clever by thinking you're on an actual vacation and start doing Malibu shots like I did one time. Oy.

4. Sunnyside, Lake Tahoe. Ok, if it were my last day on earth and I had to pick a place, I'd head straight up to the lake and kick it at Sunnyside. Hopefully all my best friends would join me, then I'd order a big basket of their incredible zucchini fries with ranch, a Sea Breeze cocktail (keep 'em coming) and park it on the deck until the sun goes down and the moon comes up. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. Smelling that clean Tahoe air under a big blue umbrella just can't be beat.

5. Stinson Beach, CA. My go to lay out spot if the weather is nice in the bay area. I love the drive (only about 40 mins from my house) and the great little snack bar by the parking lot. I usually grab a veggie burger with the works, my big hat, and a stack of magazines for a few hours of solitude.