Love at first bite

This San Francisco intermission is brought to you by: a very delicious recipe! I kid you not, this recipe is phenomenal. It's one of our go-tos when we're craving something that makes you say "yummmm" for a solid thirty-eight minutes. It's healthy. It's flavorful. It's fresh. It's wishing it were on the table in front of me right now. People, you must try this immediately. Trust me on this one.

Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

Chicken:
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray

Salsa:
1 cup chopped plum tomato (about 2)
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion (Erika's note: I use red onions because I like them mucho)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large avocado, peeled and finely chopped
Erika's addition: Cilantro (I can never use a whole bushel of it, so I add it where I can)

Rice:
Use the yellow or saffron variety. It's a must. That's what takes it to the next level.

Preparation
To prepare chicken, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. (Erika's note: Or bake it like I did because I don't have a grill) Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

Cook rice as package instructs.

To prepare salsa, combine tomato and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add avocado; stir gently to combine. Serve salsa over chicken and rice.

Savor your first bite. Love. Then say, "yummmmmm..."

One taco, two taco, three taco, FLOOR.

Since Kimbie lives in the Mission District, which is known for its colorful Latin flair, we thought it would be fitting and incredibly gluttonous fun to go on a taco crawl. So the gray sweatshirt gang (we all randomly chose to wear gray hoodies that night) set out to find the Mission's best taco. A little pre-crawl mapping to find the highest rated taquerias led us to:

1. El Farolito
2. La Taqueria
3. Taqueria Vallarta

We had aimed high and mapped out four, but only made it to three. The winning taqueria? Hands down, El Farolito. It was like flavor collided with spicy and landed on a corn tortilla for my enjoyment.

Somehow after tacos, we were able to crawl (literally) to Bi-Rite Creamery for an ice cream sundae. There's always room for dessert, right?

Kimberlicious

Our weekend away in San Francisco was just spectacular. We did what we set out to do: 1) spend some QT with Kimber (who we all miss dearly) and 2) eat a lot of good food. We might consider dubbing this trip "Eatfest 2K11". San Francisco is filled with the most amazing bakeries, brunch spots, taquerias and ice cream shops. After this weekend, I'm now on the market for some elastic-waisted pants!

(KarKar, you're next! Greenville is calling my name and we know you don't have a lot of time left. Still keeping my eyes open for cheap plane tix!)

Escaping to the Bay

I'm out and about, exploring the foggy city of San Francisco this weekend. A last minute trip came together to visit the one and only Kimber Schlegelmilch. Looking forward to lunch at the ferry terminal, brunch at Absinthe Brasserie, a taco crawl on Mission and who knows what else? But as you can tell, there will be a lot of eating. My motto for the weekend: If eating too much good food is wrong, I don't want to be right. C'est la vie!

P.S. Does anyone else automatically think of the Rice-A-Roni commercials when they think of San Francisco?

pic/Pinterest

An ahoy-matey birthday

Solve for X:

X = Sailing + friends + beautiful, warm summer evening + Autumn's birthday + a pirate hat + birthday hats + beer + chips + Trophy cupcakes + dodging ducks + tying up with all the other boats after the race - girl on opposing boat with no pants on

So what do you think? I'll give it a stab.

X = amazinglyradicalawesomeperfection

Any math teachers out there wanna verify my answer?

(Joe's theme for the night was "the sun never goes down on cool," as you can tell with his shades still on after dark)

Home from The Last Frontier

I just saw my Dad for the first time in almost two months! He's been fishing in Alaska, catching fish as big as this. Whenever he comes home - even as an adult - I still feel like I have that childlike rush of excitement, "DAD'S HOME!" It instantly brings a smile to my face.

Coincidently, it's his birthday today too! (It would have been my grandpa's 90th birthday today too!) Happy Birthday, Dad! As always, we're happy to have you home. LYMOA.

(Picture taken by Dad in Alaska)

Exposure

I really like the simple, clean look of exposed beams, especially coupled with warm neutrals. They make me want to cozy up and go to a ski lodge. White couches, on the other hand? Not so much. I would be too afraid of sitting on them. I'll go with a color that would better mask the accidental red wine spill or new denim blue marks (anyone else ever stain even a purse blue from new jeans?).

Do you like exposed beams? Which room do you like best?

Sources: I honestly don't know where I found the first two, so please don't sue me. I just like to save pretty pictures to reference for my future home. The last one is Emily's home from Cupcakes and Cashmere.

Paddleboard Pros

On Sunday, Stephanie and I both were able to check something off our summer to-do list: Paddleboarding. It was a combination of fun and relaxing with a dash of I'll-keep-my-lifevest-on-for-good-measure. This "amazing full body workout" as proclaimed online was not nearly as difficult as we expected. Granted, we were on Green Lake (no wakes) and would paddle out to the middle, sit on our boards to chat, drift a little, repeat - so we weren't exactly pushing ourselves to the limit.

We did, however, try the earthquake test where we shook the board back and forth to see if we can keep our balance AND I attempted a few yoga positions (paddleboarding yoga is a new craze). Were we just trying to fall in, you might ask? Not exactly, but I don't think we'd be too upset if we had since the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS yesterday.

So now we're pretty much professionals. Pretty soon we'll be gracing the covers of Standup Paddle Magazine. And don't be surprised if you see us at the next National Paddleboard Championship Tour! Ok, gotta go sign some autographs now.

Clever Bottle

I don't know about you, but my hair never looks better than the day it is cut. Sofia, my long-time hair stylist, knows how to do magic! (She's seriously amazing) But often times, I schedule an appointment and wind up going home and then eventually to bed. Wa, wa, boring. So this time, I decided to plan a date night with my main squeeze - and take the opportunity to flaunt my new do like this.

I had a Living Socials coupon at Clever Bottle in Belltown that was expiring next week, so we tried it out. The deal came with two cocktails or glasses of wine, a meat and cheese appetizer plate (excuse the partially eaten food in the photo - I was hungry), and two goat cheese truffles - all for the bargain price of $12! The food was tasty, but not too filling so we may or may not have ended the night at Dick's. What can I say? A girl's gotta eat. All in all, great date night!

Suzie Blue

Dear Suze,

It's funny to think that almost one year ago, Stephanie and I sent you off to school. Who would have thought that our little girl would one day head off, on her very own, to Stanford? I can't deny the tear that ran down my cheek that warm August evening. We always knew you were an adventurous soul who seemed unusually lured by California - first Santa Cruz, then L.A., then Palo Alto. But the question still stands: what about the beautiful, amazingly spectacular Seattle?

We know you want to call Washington your home again, but I should warn you - things have changed around here. It's crazy, it magically changed climates since you left and now is perfectly sunny and 75 degrees EVERY DAY. Plus, every single restaurant has a bajillion vegetarian options, but they also sell bacon. AND, they have coincidentally outlawed the sale of your least favorite food: bananas. AND, there is a huge demand for people in education policy and screenwriting - so even Rob can come! What are the odds, eh? But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Washington is a utopia of awesomeness. Do you think you can even handle it here?

But alas, your journey back doesn't seem as soon as I had hoped. In the meantime, I will anxiously await your next visit so we can find another place to picnic. (Unless you want to switch it up and go to Cowgirls downtown?)

For now, just know that I love you very, very much. Even if you choose to live in (stinky) L.A.

Love,
Petes

P.S. See Suze? You make us laugh. A lot. And we're totally laughing with you, not at you. Right Steph?

Chelanigans: On land

Yes, we spend a lot of time on the water, but we do have a lot of fun back on land. Most notably, sitting around the campfire, making delicious rib and sausage dinners, eating s'mores, making campfire peach cobbler (more to come!), hitting up the local wineries and even having "let's empty the cooler and eat all of our leftovers" picnics. Yep, pretty darn fun. See you next year, Chelan!

Chelanigans: On the Water

Every 24.6 minutes at work, I close my eyes and imagine myself floating on Lake Chelan. It's really what is getting me through this week. In fact, it'll probably be the source of energy that gets me through the next two weeks.

This year, we were blessed with a new water toy: The Relaxation Station. (Thanks for Stepher's Joe for letting us borrow it!) We managed to fit 8 people on it at once, but I've been told that 12 is the current record. It's basically a recliner on water - doesn't get much better than that!

Our time spent on the water involved the usual floating, sitting on the bow, drinking some drinkies (which are sometimes tossed from the boat as seen below), eating snackies and listening to Sweet Beats for Petes. (Oh how I miss my namesake mixed CDs from the Madster.) It's heaven on water!

Camp Classy

Things everyone needs when camping:

• Trader Joe's boxed wine. Four bottles in one box. Can you believe that?!
• REI's stainless steel camping wine glasses
• Autumn. Because she's wonderful.

Chelanigans did not disappoint, my friends. Details to come, but I will say this: I honestly don't know how it gets better every year. It really is pure bliss.

Chelanigans: Floating

And now I present you with my favorite part of our annual trip to Lake Chelan: Floating! I'd say that we spend approximately 80% of our time floating. Followed by 10% eating and drinking, 5% on the boat, 5% at campfires, 5% wine tasting and 5% in tents. Apparently when you go to Chelan, you magically have 10% more time in your day. It's a proven fact.

As you can see in some of these photos, we have a long rope tow to hook onto so you don't float too far from the boat. Normal people probably wouldn't be floating long enough to float off into the distance, but since we're out there for HOURS at a time, it's a necessity.

(Also, I'm not the only one stoked for this trip. So are Maddie and Stephanie! Maddie even shares her special Chelan recipe.)