Hey hey! How have you all been? I have been basking in the lovely sunshiney weather we’ve had here in SF in between all the crazy wind and rainstorms. It’s amazing how a blue sky and a warm sun can brighten the spirits!
Today I wanted to do a little update on life lately and just share some stuff I’ve been loving lately, beyond just the meals and recipes I’ve been sharing in the last few posts.
P.S. If you’ve missed my little roundups of my favorite recipes I’ve been making lately, check out this post and this post.
This post is going to be meandering and fairly random, so get comfy, grab a mug of your favorite hot beverage (I have been a tea FIEND of late), and let’s chat.
Birthday
So I turned 25 a couple weeks back (Valentine’s Day, more specifically). How do I feel about turning 25? Much much better now that I’m on the other side of it haha. I think the number was freaking me out a bit when it was looming in front of me, and it just felt so much older than how I feel, but now that I’ve settled into 25, it feels pretty right. Plus, this means my brain is now fully developed, right? So that’s definitely something to celebrate. 🙂
In general, I’m feeling much more grounded, peaceful, and self-aware heading into 25 than I’ve felt in several years. It’s great to feel that I am exactly where I want and need to be, especially after so long of feeling the opposite.
I’m noticing that with each passing year, I feel a greater sense of agency over how I’m feeling day-to-day, how I choose to spend my time, and how I am showing up in my relationships and generally in my life. It’s like as I get older I am able to prune the weeds of what’s no longer serving me and water the seeds of what I want more of—all of which leads to a life that is much more aligned with my deepest truest self.
At the same time, I’m noticing the beginnings of new desires and interests and curiosities circulating in my mind, and I want to make sure I pay attention to them. Mostly I’m excited to get to know 25-year-old Nicole and learn more about what she likes to do, what she wishes and dreams for, and how I can best support her. Rather than bringing past baggage or preconceived notions into this new year, I want to see what flows when I take this more open and curious perspective with my identity. Because after all, identities are meant to evolve as we age, and I definitely don’t want to autopilot my way through my twenties just because certain things worked for me at age 22.
On a lighter note, my birthday itself was just lovely. Alex and I both took the day off work, and we just had a really full lovely day exploring SF, eating delicious food and drinking great coffee, bopping into various cute shops, taking lots of pictures, and walking a ton. Heart was so full.
Here are some photos from the day. Big shout-out to The Mill—if you’re ever in SF, don’t sleep on their delicious thick luxurious toasts, great coffee, incredible loaves of bread, and immaculate vibes. I had the almond butter toast with seasonal apple jam on the side, and it was a DREAM. Plus a cappuccino on the side because I was a fancy bday gal. Another shout-out goes to Boudin for their iconic clam chowder sourdough bread bowls—make sure you go to the Pier 39 location and don’t miss the legendary sea lions laying on their planks and barking up a storm. We had a blast sea lion-watching as the sun went down before grabbing our hearty warms-you-from-the-inside soups.
NYC Trip
In early March, I took a week-long trip to NYC to celebrate my birthday with family and see some friends who unexpectedly happened to be in town. It was such a great time. A few highlights were:
- Hitting up one of my favorite coffeeshops Yanni’s Coffee when I went to my work’s office location in Union Square one of the days (my order is never not an iced oat latte—obsessed)
- Trying an adorable brand-new Argentine-Italian restaurant called Da Radda on a meetup with some college friends I hadn’t seen in a little while. So lovely to catch up, and we all loved the restaurant. The food, service, wine, vibes were all fantastic. Super homey atmosphere, and we were so well taken care of, and left super happy.
- Having my best friend over for a full work-from-home day that turned into full-fledged catch-up day. I made us my famous banana oatmeal, specially requested by her, and enjoyed just having a casual hang with one of my favorite people
- Continuing my mom and my tradition of going to The Plaza for afternoon tea on special occasions. This was one of our favorite times there because the menu was phenomenal, and everything was just perfect. We also had a great time window shopping all over 5th avenue right after like a pair of wander-struck tourists.
- Quality time with Minnie—the hardest thing about moving cross-country was leaving behind my 14-year-old poodle Minnie. She is one of my favorite things in the world, and I miss her so much when I’m away from her. We got in lots of cuddles, play time, and walks on this visit though!
Favorite Recipes Lately
Here’s where I share some of the best meals I’ve cooked up in recent weeks. Don’t sleep on these—all of them are winners!
Salmon “sushi” bowl – While calling this a “sushi” bowl is a bit of a stretch, this is such a delicious, easy, and satisfying dinner with saucy salmon, rice, and veggies. Super well-balanced and satisfying.
Korean gochujang tofu – In my gochujang era right now. I love this versatile sweet and spicy sauce. It goes amazingly with tofu and makes it so flavorful. We loved this with rice and steamed broccoli, and it makes a lot of extra sauce for drizzling.
Tuna salad – When I found myself with a strong hankering for tuna salad a few weeks back, I went for a hunt on the interwebs for the perfect recipe. So happy I stumbled onto this one—it was unique, yet super easy, and was absolutely delicious both on bread in sandwich form and as a salad, spread over lettuce with some cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar drizzled on.
Steak & roasted veggies – So I’m not normally a steak person, so please trust me when I say this steak recipe is IT. I had no idea it was this simple to make an incredibly juicy and delicious steak. We loved this with roasted delicata squash (obsessed), roasted maple carrots, brussels, and broccoli. Plus a little knob of goat cheese on the side for a little something creamy.
TJ’s Butternut Squash Ravioli with garlic butter sauce, broccoli, spinach, and parm – Love this recipe and love how easy, quick, and versatile this meal is. Plus it honestly tastes restaurant-quality.
Creamy roasted cauliflower soup + The Mill sourdough – Have found myself REALLY craving soup lately, which is relatively unusual for me. It hasn’t even been all that cold here! Maybe it’s all the recent wind and rainstorms. Regardless, this soup absolutely hit the spot, and paired PERFECTLY with the incredible crusty sourdough from The Mill (we picked up a loaf when we had brunch there on my bday).
Homemade egg sandwich – Saving the best for last because I am so freakin’ proud of this recipe. This is one of those creative recipes that just came to my mind and that I hoped would taste as good as I imagined it would. And it SO DID. The recipe is super simple. Toast two pieces of sourdough bread. Spread a light layer of mayo (I like avocado oil mayo) on one side and dijon mustard on the other. Then fry an egg or two over easy (make sure the yolk is runny!). Add the eggs to the mayo-spread bread, top with a few slices sharp cheddar (love the unexpected cheddar from TJ’s), add a few slices of tomato or maybe some fresh arugula. Smush the breads together and enjoy the ooey drippy flavorful goodness. 😀 Also, this was just as delicious with avocado spread on one of the breads instead of the mayo (just depends what you have in the house). Also for some reason this pairs perfectly with fresh-squeezed orange juice. Obsessed.
Random Thoughts
I’m still feeling chatty, and there are a few tidbits I have been wanting to share that don’t necessarily fit into any of the above categories, so here’s a little smorgasbord of additional musings.
Oscars – Did you tune in to the Oscars this year? I’m actually a huge Oscars fan and have watched basically every single year’s show. This year’s was my favorite in a long long time. The speeches were all so heartfelt, wholesome, and genuine. I teared up more than once. And I actually had watched the winning movie and was very much rooting for it, so it was super fun when they won! Love a celebrity awards show with minimal drama and bad vibes.
Reading – I’ve been really into reading for the past few months, and I have to give credit for that to my work book club. Such great books, many of which I would never have picked up on my own, but that I am so glad I got the chance to read. A few recent faves were The Vanishing Half (absolute 10/10) and Circe (7.5/10 – loved the plot lines and interwoven Greek myths; didn’t love the pacing and some of the narration). I do recommend both!
Instagram – Instagram and I are, it seems, in a perpetual on again-off again relationship. I recently took it off my phone again for a few weeks and honestly missed it not at all. I added it back just because I knew I was missing some DMs from friends, and it’s been okay because I haven’t been as mindless in my consumption of it as I was before, but I think I’ll be deleting it again soon. I really really don’t like how pernicious that need to constantly check it becomes after a while. Anyone relate?
SF finds – Eventually I will create a full SF guide but for now I will just share some SF faves on an ad hoc basis. A few recent winning finds were Saint Frank (an absolutely adorable coffeeshop – get their iced almond macadamia latte or iced oat latte) and Swensen’s (SUCH creamy delicious ice cream).
Excited for – This spring is shaping up to be a social and adventurous one. Alex and I have a few friends coming to visit us in the next few months, and we also have a couple trips lined up. Will definitely do little recaps of those when I have something to share, but I am super excited to shake up our routines a little (even though I do love our routines LOL).
And that’s just about it! Thanks for reading, loves. I’ll catch you later! xx
wow!! amazing recipes.
Every food is incredibly tasty. These Good Recipes Food can be included to any food lover’s diet.