I made Whole Wheat Bread with Crystallized Ginger today, to get rid of some buttermilk. It's good! It doesn't even taste like whole wheat, and the bulgur gives it a nice crunch (I'd never used bulgur before). Next time I make it, I might try using more whole wheat flour.

For dinner we had the bread and Seared Salmon with Citrus-Soy Glaze. The first time we made it, we only made the salmon, not the bed of vegetables, but I think the vegetables really add to the dish. Yum!

For the past few days, I've been paying more attention to how much I'm eating with the help of Dietwatch (I chose it because Stef seems to be liking it). It's dismaying how quickly food adds up (I entered the ingredients for the bread I made, and it turns out I should've had one slice with dinner instead of two, which I should've known already. But it was too good to eat just one slice!). It's kind of frustrating trying to meet the goals, but it is making me work out more and eat (slightly) less, so I guess it's working. I'm skeptical as to whether I'll see any results, but I won't give up yet.

After months of laziness, another honeymoon entry is written: Rome to Montepulciano. I miss Montepulciano!

I made Chicken Pot Pie with Wild Mushrooms for dinner tonight (the recipe is from The New Best Recipe, which over and over again gives impressive results). It turned out really well. It also took three hours to make, so I think it'll remain a weekend meal.

We did all sorts of fun stuff today. I got my hair cut at Juut while Patrick rode his bike in the cold. Then we caught the train to San Francisco and walked around the Ferry Building. I love it there--I wish we could grocery shop there (we can't; both because of financial limitations and also because it would be difficult to take meat home on the train).

We got a snack at Out the Door (Slanted Door to go). We've never eaten at the Slanted Door but hope to go soon. We split a bowl of Lemongrass Pork with Rice Noodles. The pork was awesome--all caramelized and sweet with a nice crust. Yum! Then we had some tea at the Imperial Tea Court.

We rounded out our visit with a trip to Miette, of course! I love Miette oh so much. They have cute cake stands and cute birthday candles and cute cakes and so much more. I wish I could just give the whole store a big hug! I bought a Miette hoodie (brown with pretty pink flower on the front), and we got a banana cream tartlette, picnic gingerbread and two cupcakes for Nat and Sara. We were also given a free Grapefruit Macaron while we were deciding (it was a little broken, so the very friendly salesgirl didn't want to sell it to anybody). That thing was good! It was light and fluffy and chewy and delicious. I want to go back and try all the flavors. I wish we could buy more stuff from them--I love that they use local organic ingredients (I guess a lot of places around here do, which I am glad of too, but Miette does it so adorably!). I'd like to give them all our money! Good thing Patrick has a say in our finances too :)

Nat picked us up, and we went to a local bar at which lesbians sometimes play guitar (but they didn't tonight)--Wild Side West. They have a really neat outdoor patio. It was quite cold out tonight, but we were bundled up, and so we sat around on the patio with Nat and Sara for a while. It was nice :) Then we all headed to La Taqueria and had some delicious carnitas burritos (I couldn't finish mine, sadly).

We were dropped off at the Caltrain station and headed home. Once back in Menlo Park, we stopped at Cafe Borrone for a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream (they have the best whipped cream). And now we're home. It was a good Saturday :)

We had our first poppies bloom yesterday. It was such a nice surprise to come outside this morning and find a shock of pink in our garden. Patrick took a few pictures.

Work has been busy. My team just met a big deadline, which is satisfying, but also kind of bittersweet (I guess I don't like change, even when it's good change). There have been flowers and lunches out and tiny bottles of champagne to celebrate, which are all good. My company treats its employees well.

I finally get to go to the salon tomorrow and get my hair cut. It has been about four months since I went last. I intentionally tried to stretch it out to save money, but going four months between visits may be a bit much. I feel very scraggly at this point. Maybe two or three months between visits would work better. I'm lucky I can afford to pamper myself every so often.