Life of Pi

I once read that you judge whether or not you'll like a movie within the first three minutes of watching. But even after the first 30 seconds of Life of Pi, with it's simple yet creative opening credits, I was spellbound. Andrew and I stopped to see it in 3D in Davis over the weekend.

Based on the novel by Yann Martel (which I now want to read), the story follows a young boy named Pi and a tiger named Richard Parker. And that’s all I’m going to say.

Other than the fact that it’s so visually scintillating, it kept me intrigued for the entire 126 minutes. This time, paying the few bucks more for a 3D experience was worth it.  Ann Hornaday from The Washington Post put it well when she said, “In a year when 3-D has added little or nothing to the films it nominally enhanced…'Life of Pi' arrives just in time to breathe life and possibility into an otherwise moribund marketing gimmick.”

And get this – a make-shift movie theater (above) was created inside an indoor swimming pool in Paris called the Piscine Pailleron, which was featured in the film. People watched from lifeboats swaying in the water. Leave it to the French! 

What's the best season for a wedding?

Winter, spring, summer or fall? We’re having a summer wedding (like many people do) but I love the idea of off-season celebrations.

A friend I used to work with told me about her winter wedding – there was a blizzard that left feet upon feet of snow where they were supposed to have their ceremony and the venue flooded! So, loved ones gathered at her parents' house. It was cramped, but family and friends pitched in to push away furniture, move in chairs and everyone squeezed inside for the day. It turned out unexpected, but became a great memory...and a funny story they can forever tell.

What do you think? What's the best season to tie the knot? Today is a rainy one throughout northern California, so here are some beautiful rainy weddings.

Window seats

When I was a little girl I used to try to squeeze up onto the ledge of the window in my room to read, pretending it was a window seat. 

With only about six inches to spare on the windowsill, it was anything but comfortable and I couldn't last up there for more than a few minutes, stretching my leg across and pushing my foot against the space where the window frame meets the wall to keep myself steady. 

Maybe I had read about window seats in a book somewhere...I don't know. But ever since then, one of my dreams has been to have a window seat. There would be nothing better than snuggling up to a good book on a winter afternoon on a window seat. (I just finished Half Broke Horses and The Glass Castle. Jeannette Walls' writing is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.)

Check out these pretty reading spots below! Plus, 36 cozy window seats from Freshome. Do you have a window seat? If so, I'm coming over...

And, an awesome window BED...

*Top painting "The Window Seat" by Sir William Orpen 

Fall Recipes: Pumpkin bread

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so it's only fitting that all of my posts have been about food this week, right? :)

I like to think of certain foods as a bit magical. Some are more magical than others. Why? Because they can disappear quickly, into thin air, leaving only tiny crumbs strewn across the kitchen counter. This pumpkin bread is one of those magical foods. Plus, it employs a "two-bowl method" as I like to call it (meaning, the recipe only requires two mixing bowls  -- one for dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients). Done and done.

Pumpkin bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the wet ingredients, you'll need:
- One 28 oz can of pure pumpkin
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs

For the dry ingredients, you'll need:
- 3 1/3 cup of flour (or 3 cups white flour plus 1/3 wheat)
- 2 cups of sugar (I used 1 cup brown sugar, one cup white)
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix both in their respective bowls, then add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir until smooth, and spread evenly into 2 loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean from loaf.

You can totally leave the recipe at that. But I got a little fancy and put on my baker's thinking cap. I chopped and caramelized some walnuts by sautéing them with smidgen of butter and a generous handful of brown sugar (Paula Deen would be so proud) until they were coated in sweetness. Walnuts never tasted so good!

Then, I mixed up some frosting with a cup of confectioners sugar, combined with a splash of milk and another splash of vanilla extract, and drizzled the icing on each loaf after they cooled from the oven. On top, I sprinkled the candied walnuts. 

And there you have it! I brought one of the loaves to work with me last week, and it was happily devoured. Thanks to my mom for this original recipe. :)

Mad for mandarins

Yesterday afternoon, Andrew and I drove out to the Gold Country Fairgrounds to get our daily dose of Vitamin C (plus some!) at the 19th annual Mountain Mandarin Festival in Auburn. 

I had the chance to speak with Joanne Neft, the festival's founder, back when we did a profile on her for Sactown's April/May issue, and since then, I've been wanting to attend the festival -- especially since it's practically in my backyard of Grass Valley and I've never gone! The fairgrounds were filled with vendors selling everything from handmade crafts to homemade toffee and from mandarin milkshakes to hefty 10 lb. bags of mandarin oranges grown in the area. Fun farming fact: warm days and cool nights in the Sierra foothills make it a prime growing climate for mandarins, hence the yearly festival. :)

We wandered and snacked on free samples and then dug into a delicious pizza from the portable wood-fired oven of Bella Familia Pizza topped with bacon and, yes, mandarin slices. Delicious...

Placer County was glowing with fall colors and we couldn't help get a bit carried away before we headed home toting our own 10 lb. bag of yummy, bright little citrus orbs...

Fall Recipes: Butternut squash soup

Last weekend, I went a little crazy in the kitchen. Something about that crisp chill of fall and that early hint of winter in the air makes me want to bustle around from mixing bowl to oven all day. So that's just what I did. I took out my old handwritten recipe book and whipped up some creamy butternut squash soup and some dense pumpkin bread. Our apartment sure smelled like fall all day! Because it's our first full rainy weekend in the area, I'm sharing my soup recipe to start. Get ready to chow down and warm up...

Butternut Squash Soup

This soup recipe is good for three reasons. It's cheap, it's simple and it's soul-warming. What more could you ask for? Well, maybe that the soup had magical powers. But who's to say it doesn't? First, you'll want to gather some veggies and a plump butternut squash (which happens to be one of the cheapest items at the grocery store/farmers market this time of year).

- Slice the squash into four sections, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and place face-up in a roasting pan. Turn the oven to broil and let it heat up.

- In the meantime, finely chop up the following: half of an onion, 2 ribs of celery, 1 large carrot, and 1 pear (or apple, depending on your preference or what happens to be in your fridge at the time). Sauté these with 1 tbsp. of butter in a large saucepan until the onions are clear and the veggies are soft.

- Stick the squash in the oven to broil until it's roasted on the edges and until you can easily poke a fork through it (about 10-15 minutes). Ah, look how lovely it looks...

- Set the squash aside to let it cool slightly. In the meantime, add 3 cups of chicken broth to the sautéed veggie mix (I used 3 chicken bouillon cubes, dissolved into 2 cups of water + 1 cup of milk to make the soup a tad more creamy) and bring everything to a boil.

- While the squash is still warm, take a paring knife and peel off its skin. Cut the squash into chunks and add it to soup mix. Boil until soft. 

- Then (here comes the messy part), purée the soup using a blender, hand blender or food processor until smooth--but not too smooth. Add salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg to taste. Serve immediately, and enjoy!

Autumn pomegranate

Ahhhh......that's me sighing the ceremonial "end of deadline week" sigh of relief. This new issue of Sactown is going to be so cool. Literally. ;) Looking forward to a relaxing, rainy weekend and next week's holiday festivities. 

If you're wondering what the photo is about...my mom and dad saved me this huge (like, the-size-of-my-hand huge) pomegranate from the tree in our front yard and it's almost too pretty to eat. So, of course, I photographed it and its lovely crown.

P.S. Speaking of which, have you ever heard this quote by Frederick the Great? 

P.S.S. How to eat a pomegranate. I'll be using these instructions soon...

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

Echoes: lost and laughing

Actually, as my woods-treckin' mama has taught me, you should stay put if you're lost in the woods. ;) Nonetheless, Ellen's words are worth a Wednesday chuckle. This quote is from her 2009 commencement speech at Tulane University...what a lucky class!

P.s. A birthday shout-out my bff Kimmy K - the girl who always follows her own path, marches to the beat of her own saxophone, and takes time for nature walks... :) 

*Photo from the Tahoe wilderness

All the color

Last weekend, Andrew and I gathered with thousands of other locals and visitors to watch the 33rd annual Sikh parade as it came strolling down the street in our neighborhood in Yuba City. I was completely mesmerized by all the color, especially of the women's beautiful saris. (And I kept thinking how comfortable they look!) I snapped these photos while we stood on the sidewalk, and The Appeal-Democrat, where Andrew works, was there capturing the event. Check out a slideshow of their photos here.

Our engagement photos

I'm thrilled to (finally!) post me and Andrew's engagement photos, captured beautifully by the talented Hannah Nicholson, who I went to high school with and who just happens to be my good friend Heather's little sis (follow that?). We ventured out to Empire Mine State Park in Grass Valley, with its beautiful stone house and gardens, and had a blast setting up shots around the grounds there in the beautiful late-summer afternoon light. Hannah snapped away, Andrew and I tried not to pose awkwardly and Heather helped us pick out good spots and faithfully carried around purses/water bottles/extra lenses. 

I must say, it was so much fun doing this kind of outdoor photo session with friends. All the pressure of a formal, stuffy engagement shoot went out the window and we could just relax, be ourselves and make it our own. Lots of laughter was involved that day. And the photos we'll cherish forever...We call this first one below our "album cover." ;)

Hannah also brought her film camera (yes, film!) I'm so glad some people still believe in this "old fashioned" photography method, because the results are truly phenomenal. As Hannah would agree, the grain, depth and captured light in film can't be beat. Below are some images she shot in film. LOVE the ring and daisy one. 

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along." -Rumi

THANKS, HANNAH & HEATHER! You can view more of our engagement photos on our wedding website here!