the ghouls all came from their humble abodes

Happy Halloween! We might have gotten a little carried away with the jack o' lanterns this year...

Oh well, at least we had lots of pumpkin seeds!

Pro Tip: It is virtually impossible to carve the green pumpkins. Don't do it. Decide that they are decorative enough as-is. Your arms will thank you.

it isn't easy living here on skullcrusher mountain

My engineer is visiting again and this time we're exploring Yosemite! It's been quite chilly here and we are very grateful that we opted for the heated tent cabin.

We haven't seen any bears, although we have seen lots of marmots (they might just have been very fat squirrels), a family of unidentified ungulates (I'm going to pretend that they were moose), and what might have been a beaver (or a shadow).

Despite some snow on the ground in places, the falls are still running beautifully.

The engineer was willing to do a little more scary climbing on slippery rocks than me, so I hung back to photograph his success.

Mirror Lake was very low (although still reflecting) after a dry summer, although the stream fed by the lake was rushing!

The cables were down on Half Dome, so we admired it from a distance. And some of us (who shall remain nameless) were very thankful.

The park is such a gorgeous, peaceful place any time of the year. I had only ever seen it under a foot of snow before, so I really enjoyed getting to see more of the details.

This is somewhere everyone should go at least once in their lives. It's good for your soul.

they say it's your birthday

It's my lovely roommate's birthday! Hyvää syntymäpäivää!

sweet darlin'

So my roommate was pretty hard on the cupcake the other day, over on her blog.

She talked about how much she hated them, with eloquence and passion.

I'm not sure that I can match her in this regard, but I do feel like I need to stand up for my beloved cupcake. So here goes.

I love cupcakes. Not all cupcakes, mind you, and almost never the "gourmet" cupcakes that seem to be so popular nowadays, but a good, humble cupcake? Hard to beat.

One of Laura's biggest peeves is that they're American. Which is hard to deny, although the British have been eating fairy cakes for a while now. But certainly, if you don't like the kind of cakes and frostings we Americans generally make, you probably won't like an American cupcake either.

My argument for cupcakes is that they are, at their essence, a dessert made for sharing.

Think back to when you were a child, with cupcakes for your birthday. Remember how easy it was to sneak one out of the Tupperware to give your friend on the bus?

They're a way to say "I like you" with just a bit of dessert. How much harder would it be to hand out slices of layer cake? Crumbs everywhere!

You can eat them while you mingle at a party, no need for hovering over a table with a fork.

You can make a batch and split them up! One for the woman down the hall who helps you with your tricky paperwork, three for the maintenance people who patiently unclog your drains week after week!

I'm even not opposed to cupcakes from a mix. Shocking, I know! I agree that homemade cake almost always tastes better (my grandma's coconut cake excluded), and certainly baking from scratch feels like more of a gift, but what if you've never baked before? Is it fair that your culinary endeavors will be scoffed at, just because you were too timid to make the investment in a whole range of baking ingredients in order to give it a whirl? Maybe you start with a mix and next time you give it a little personal flair! I'm all for building a love of cooking from the ground up.

Anyway, there is my defense. Perhaps they're inelegant, perhaps they have no history, but goddammit, I love my cupcakes. And if you don't, well, maybe you're just not a good sharer. :)

crimson and clover/ over and over

As part of our food-venture the other day, Laura and I headed to the Berkeley Bowl.

This place has long been one of my favorite grocery stores, and with their huge new facility, shopping (and parking) there is easier than ever.

My favorite part has always been the produce section, which is enormous, and contains pretty much every type of fruit and vegetable you could imagine. Need 20 different types of mushrooms? You're covered. Carrots in every color of the rainbow? Check!

Plus, it's just gorgeous.

Make a pilgrimage here sometime. Maybe you'll see me there! Or at least you'll see some picturesque vegetables.

i'm pink and black and blue

Today my beloved roomie and I went on a food-venture. Our quest was for lots of tasty tapas-making ingredients, but along our way we stopped at Ici.

Ici is an amazing ice-cream store in Berkeley that specializes in making all kinds of delicious flavors, using only organic, local ingredients. I had been once before, but it was a first for Laura. Sometimes the line stretches around the block, but it was our lucky day, and we only had to wait 10 minutes to get into the store.

Besides the standards of vanilla and chocolate, the menu changes every day.

Usually there is plenty of time to peruse the chalk-board while you wait, but just in case, the flavors are up inside as well.

Both Laura and I went for the plum raspberry cardamom sorbet, with a scoop of chocolate. And I wisely got one of their handmade cones (coated inside with chocolate, to prevent drips!).

Next time you're out food-venturing, put Ici on your list. Your tastebuds will thank you.