five friday things 2.0

Hey BBs! It’s Friiiidaaaaay!! And due to an unexpected bump in my homecooking road I'm hitting you with the second edition of Five Friday Things. It's a series now, right? Eh, maybe that's a reach, but the thing is, I’m currently in the middle of a stretch of days that are giving me occasion to use that painfully lame cliché “when it rains it pours” like I'm somebody’s crotchety great aunt at an awkward family get together.

So, what’s going on? Well, I mentioned before about my recent root canal situation as well as some literal belly-aching that I was dealing with earlier this summer, and as it happens both of those boring, grown-up scenarios had new, uh, developments we’ll call them, over the past few days. So instead of me shaking my groove thang in the kitchen, this week was all about temporary crown solutions (for two teeth now, yeesh!) and lots of lab tests that will (hopefully) get to the bottom of my belly aching once and for all. Luckily, however, other cool stuff is still going down because the world doesn't revolve around me, thank goodness! Let's chat about them, shall we, and slide on into the weekend just like Queen Bey would do.

Five Things

1. The La Boutanche gamay, that yah, I am still raving about, pairs so amazingly well with Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk cheese. If you haven't heard of Cowgirl Creamery, it's a artisan cheese company based out of Point Reyes Station founded by two southern ladies who came West looking for food nirvana and found it in the Bay Area. I tried Red Hawk for the first time at the Point Reyes Station farmer’s market earlier this summer and fell deeply, madly in love with the impossibly creamy texture and the perfectly salty edible rind. And although I'm an expert in neither wine nor cheese, I don't even need to be to tell you is that the La Boutanche and the Red Hawk taste really freaking delicious together. The luscious interior and bitey rind of the cheese could certainly stand up to a much bigger red wine, but I love the way it tastes alongside the light fruity La Boutanche. If you can get your hands on the two, then don't waste another minute! Perfect party starter material.
2. Speaking of parties, we’re hosting our very first at our new digs this weekend! This will actually be the first housewarming party that Cos and I have thrown in our almost four years as a couple, and it should be one for the books, as we have Laura, the Party Goddess herself, helping us pull it together.
3. I'm basically the Queen of segues today because the housewarming party, as excited as I am about it, is getting some serious competition in the category of amazing things popping off in my world from Tom Sachs's “Mission to Europa”  which is opening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts this weekend! The opening night party is tonight and is slated to be their biggest and most badass yet - SOLD OUT players, it's going to be nuts. Then comes the comes Space Program: Europa, on Saturday, featuring the live activation of the Europa flight plan. Ahh! I couldn't possibly more excited or more proud of Martin, who is stage managing the live flight demonstration this weekend. Oooo I'm getting verklempt just thinking about it. Three cheers for Martin and the YBCA art community!
4. Well geez, this next one now seems a little boring in comparison to an actual demonstration of a rocket launch, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I've got room for big and small bits of excitement in my life. We got some succulents for our bay window! And aren't they so presh presh? They're the first plants I've ever owned, so of course I've been obsessively researching how to grow thriving succulents indoors. I'm hoping that since I've kept two cats alive for a good long while now, that I'll find success with these. Got any tips? Send them my way please!
5. Last but not least, the Small Victories Cookbook arrived on my doorstep last week and has been my lifeline during this dry spell in the kitchen. The past couple weeks my social media has been exploding with all things complimentary about Julia Turshen and her first solo cookbook, and I don't even care if it's needless piling on for me to add my own gushing because Turshen and her book deserve all the praise and more. I love it I love it I love it! And I can't wait to go see her at Omnivore Books later on this month!