The Hipster Home

When sfgirlbybay asked the general internet if she should put together a tour of blogs talking about what inspired them, the internet answered yet. Blog it Forward was born. For my post today, here’s a handy-dandy list of what inspires me…

1. Colors- the brighter the better,  featuring crazy geometric patterns is best.  See also: kelly green, orange, gray, navy blue, sparkles.



2. Observing the world around me- When I’m stumped by a project, it’s amazing how frequently the solution will appear just by looking around

(All of a sudden, I noticed my week-old Valentine’s day flowers. Stunning in the light.)


3. The Internet- which features makers and doers of the world who share their work and inspiration in thousands of blog posts a day. (See also: Blog I Love)
4. My CSA box, the farmers’ market and Rainbow Grocery- hurrah for bugs, taking 20 minutes to wash one bag of spinach and having someone else send you a box of edibles every week. Also hurrah for other people’s carefully grown heirloom produce. Veggie boner.



5. Cookbooks- the pretty pictures, the idea of using a big, fat combination of ingredients with separate preparations making something wholly delicious, BAKING. Oh lord, put me in the kitchen with a good cookbook and I’m set for days. (See also: a collection of favorites featured in a tacky Amazon affiliate page, my General Store)
6. The area around San Francisco- you can drive anywhere from 1-4 hours out of the city and reach some amazing terrain. Driving up the 1 on the coast feels like you’re on the edge of the world. Field, road, car, cow, cliff, ocean.

(Lake Tahoe)


(Driving through the redwoods)

Thanks to The Goode Life for passing on the spirit stick.  Tag, you’re it living well!

What inspires you?

Welcome to The Hipster Home 2010! I sincerely hope you had plenty of time with family and friends, good food and drinks during my favorite festive time of year. I thought we’d remember kindergarten today with a little holiday show and tell….

The whole Christmas and New Year celebration somehow started with a perfectly clean kitchen, serene and ready. There is a bolognese sauce simmering away on the stove but you wouldn’t know it, would you?

[ITEMS INSIDE THE SIMMERING POT]

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The Mr. and I hosted a Christmas Eve’s Eve dinner that featured that ole bolognese sauce. We used it to make stuffed shells from a New Classic Family Dinners recipe. We polished off two baking dishes of shells and about 12 bottles of wine. We also made the tricolor salad with arugula and endives. Divine!

Merry Christmas! Since my sister is getting married mid-January, we by-passed my traditional family celebration out in a cabin somewhere. I spent Christmas with the Mr.’s family. They celebrated in style with a gigantic heap o’ presents.

What does one do with a gallon of leftover bolognese sauce? Make pasta! Note to self: homemade pappardelle is too fat for bolognese.

And we bowled.

And played Monopoly, ate chili, and hung out with an adorable pup and his awesome owner(s).

I sincerely hoped to get out of town at least one day over the break and boy, did we ever. ROAD TRIP! With Bodega Bay in our sights, we headed out.

While driving up Sir Francis Drake Blvd, we saw a pull-off for hiking. Upon investigation, it was the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed where rare types of fish nest. We took a stroll and although we didn’t spot any salmon in the river, the walk was lovely.

After driving up the coast some more, we had lunch at Reyes Cafe (tasty pizza and oysters). We took on our first geocaching assignment! If you’re not familiar with what that is, it’s one part treasure hunt, one part explorer. Since the advent of GPS devices, some creative souls have taken to hiding little containers at precise coordinates. It is then your job to find them, sign a log and feel like a badass. There is an intro iPhone app we downloaded which shows you the nearest sites. We found our first geocache in downtown Point Reyes. It was a regular looking broken-off sprinkler head and I was VERY hesitant to touch it. But we found success! Read more about it on the geocaching website.

One of the reasons I LOVE northern California is that we went straight from redwood territory to the beach. And it was lovely. Someone built a sand city on Doran Park.

After the beach, we drove out to the head  of Bodega Bay, which is that land mass on the right of the beach photo. Straight from the sunny beach, we were swallowed whole by fog. We searched for another geocache out here and found it. You can’t tell but the whole Bodega Bay head is made from sheer cliffs. I normally have no issues with running around a peninsula surrounded by 100+ foot drops but since the fog was so heavy and it was fast approaching dusk, it felt like we were the ONLY PEOPLE OUT THERE! Spookytown.

After our exploring, we needed dinner. Our quest landed us at Martha’s Old Mexico in Sebastapol. To food was deicious and the decor, even more incredible. On the porch, the entire back yard was filled with lights, gnomes, garden ornaments and (it being Mexican and all) Virgin Marys.  We finished off our day out with a showing of Sherlock Holmes (loved it) and headed home.

The final Sunday was nothing to speak off except fantastically adult errands like laundry and a Costco run. The shining star of the day was an early show in Oakland at Mama Buzz Cafe to see a last minute perfrmance by tUnE-yArDs. If you aren’t familiar with her music, IT IS AWESOME. Our friend Ty, from Sun the Greater (which you may remember) told us about it and we would have been foolish not to go.

Over the course of the holiday, I was piecing together parts of my envisioned Christmas present for the Mr. I finished it up yesterday and was SO pleased with the final product. Behold! A bike chainring clock.

How was your holiday? What’d you cook? Where’d you go? How has your new year g0ne so far?

‘Tis the season for irregular CSA deliveries!

We’ve got a box of fruit and vegetables ready for consumption here at The Hipster Home but after this, there won’t be anything to share until January 14th. Ho’boy, that’s a long time.  I originally planned to share a recipe for chicken pot pie or baked eggs with this post today but I just realized that neither one of those feature an ingredient from this box. You, fine readers, get an IOU for one recipe.

apples, butternut squash, carrots, leeks, watermelon daikon radishes, celery, lettuce, sweet potatoes, bok choy, mandarins, spinach

How did this box fare the weekend?  For starts, the Mr. included some of the watermelon daikon radishes in a curry he whipped up last night. Surprise! They were REALLY GOOD. They were soft without being overly starchy like their brethren, the potato. Besides that, we consumed half the mandarins (an incredible and easy snack) and the lettuce was prep washed and ready to go.

Where do we go from here? First up is the a Eatwell recipe I cannot wait to try: Sweet Potato- Leek soup with Spicy Sausage. And then I’m going to make my first batch of stock. (Hm, or maybe I should reverse that so I can use my stock IN the soup?) With the carrots, celery, (radishes?) and cooked chicken parts I have saved in the freezer, it’s time to double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble. Have you ever made stock before? Any suggestions?

With the proliferation of gift guides and holiday wish lists, I wwwant that! #10 took some restraint in pulling together. All these calls to action for internet commerce make cracking open the wallet not only acceptable but encouraged! But don’t doubt me, this wee bank account remains sealed against the supremely priced and produced wares. If you do have the means, support those artisans and independent shop owners!

Photo by: Ladies and Gentlemen

I am 100% a fan of all these uberchunk knits popping up all over the place lately. Why am I so drawn to them? Could it be the cold house, the snuggly warm appearance, the texture, the proportions?? Whatever to reason, I love what the folks at Ladies and Gentlemen did with some cotton rope. Coincidentally, I have some of that exact same stuff I am using to make some of those knot trivets over on design*sponge.

One of my FAVORITE stores in the Mission is The Curiosity Shoppe. Not only is their space a complete pleasure to peruse but Derek and Lauren have absolutely exceptional style they share on their  blog, Smarts & Crafts. Derek recently shared his favorite objects from the store and damnit, I wwwant that clock! If you can’t tell, the left eyeball points to the hour and the right points roughly to the minute. Just think of the joy this mechanical menace would bring to any room. For you lucky bay area bitches, visit The Curiosity Shoppe at 19th and Valencia.

Two things from Modish’s recent Favoite Things gift guide made me squeal out loud. Leggings and a ring. It’s pretty amusing I’m so drawn to these leggings because a) you have to be a crazy person to wear heals around SF and b) I would probably look like a fuzzed-out, tubbo cookie monster in them. But there is no denying that I would love to see these guys in my sock drawer. The second thing is a fricken fantastic rough cut emerald by Erica Weiner. It’s not just that it’s green (which doesn’t hurt) but it’s the earthy feel that makes me desirous of such a treasure. If you’d like to torture yourself with more awesome stuff, I dare you to browse the rest of Bona Drag’s online shop. Double dog dare!

If there’s something you were bound to learn about me, it’s that I love ________. Fill-in-the-blanks are the best! We’ve got this Seattle Show Poster hanging in the living room and I certainly think that a t-shirt would make an excellent addition to my _____ collection. And oh my, that pink. What is this, a Miranda July project?

Another thing you’ll learn about my taste is that I am not generally a fan of quilts (barf). Hot damn if I didn’t find an exception to the rule on My Love for You is a Stampede of Horses! Guest poster Alison Feldmann shared her holiday wish-list which included this galaxy blanket (by etsy seller Stellar Quilts) that I would absolutely use. Remember, I’m a space nerd?

Oops, looks like we’re making SUPER CHUNKY sandwich on this post! Well here you have it, folks. Proof that my love of chunky monkey knitware is because of a COLD SNAP in San Francisco! Phydeaux makes these great neckwarmers/portable cowls that are lovely. If you’re a knitter, you can DIY with a much cheaper pattern! Tip-off for this was by Indie Fixx and their 12 days of awesome, I mean, Christmas. (While you’re over there, check out the Indie Fixx Gifts for Hipsters. Not a bad selection but srsly ixnay on those f&#king trucker hats!)

Your moment of inspiration: the graphic art of James Joyce. Scroll and enjoy his bold lines, bight colors and sheer simplicity. Swoon! (Also compliments of My Love for You. Thanks kids!)

Frankly, getting a Christmas tree here at The Hipster Home had never occurred to me. At least not until it was suggested by some friends whose recent cohabitation meant no pesky housemates would oppose the idea. Dinner plans turned into dinner and pre-cut tree shopping. And that tree shopping turned into a full-blown tree chopping adventure a few days later.

The Mr. grew up in the Bay Area and knew that there were tree farms nearby where we could pick and chop down our own tree. What luxury! I thought picking your tree from the frosty wilderness was only something that happened in J. Crew winter catalogs. But no. Oh no, it is a reality here in northern California. But only if you’re willing to suspend the belief that there is snow on the ground and a sleigh involved. This trip to Santa’s Tree Farm & Village was a magical journey complete with faux gum drop bridge.

We pulled into the tree farm entrance, rolled down the window and were immediately handed a saw and map outlining where the various tree types were growing. Wait a second, type? We have to pick the KIND of tree? Is this like the bunny ranch, pick your flavor from a lineup? Yes indeedy. Good thing we knew that a Noble Fir was the tree for us. I don’t know why the Mr. likes them, but I dig ‘em because their trunk is covered in evenly spaded needles. I think everyone was grossed out when I compared them to unshaven lady legs. But guys, that’s what they look like!

You park your car next to the various lots and have a look around. Here was one candidate for us but it wasn’t a noble fir. This white fur was pretty and very, very blue compared to other trees.

Success! But not for THH. Our friends found a very cute white fir to take home.

My only tree requirement, besides wanting something slightly oddball, was that the tree had to be taller than me. But apparently that was a tall order (har har) since most of the noble firs were on the smaller side. To the next lot!

Did I mention this place was big enough to DRIVE between lots? This is probably a sixth of the whole compound.

We were racing against time and mother nature after we loaded up the first tree. Santa’s Tree Farm closed at 6pm since, as you’ll see, that’s when it gets dark out. So if you want to pre-view your tree, ya better hustle.

Ah ha! What is this little guy doing here? He must be the lucky winner! This lil fella will bring the delicious scent of Christmas to this Hipster Home.

His days are now very numbered.

Homeward bound!  After watching other much larger trees get pushed through the webbing, we felt pretty good about the two lovely trees we found for our homes.

If you’re not a fan of bugs showing up in your house after the fact or are against the killing of trees for a holiday, then this isn’t the route for you.  Hitting up the tree farm was a fun event but I think enough for this lifetime. If you love the holiday scent and are willing to drive a little to get a MUCH cheaper, fresher tree, then I definitely recommend tree farm!

Beware the tinsel tree experiment next year…