Travels with Toaster

cheers together! A few months ago, my friend Shannon asked if I wanted to go beer-tasting with her. She’d seen something in Sunset magazine about a brewery tour (I think in the Mendocino/North Coast areas of NorCal) and was inspired. My answer, o...

Less than two months ago, I wrote my “goodbye, sweet napa!” post from my new place in San Diego. It chronicles the adventures of my last day in town, almost exactly two months ago. The day I wrote it, I planned to follow it up with the firs...

A little over a week ago, I did the unthinkable… I left Napa Valley.  Not necessarily for good, mind you, but I bid my sweet hometown farewell all the same. Instead of having a traditional going-away party, I decided to do things a little differ...

While in Napa for a demonstration at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, chef Richard Blais sat down with me for a few minutes to chat about his demonstration, his time working with chef Thomas Keller, and life after winning Bravo’s Top C...

Here are the tunes Becca & I listened to on our drive to Portland, Seattle & back.  This trip consisted of a lot more pop and quite a bit less classic rock than my drive up the Northwest with Cass a few years back, because Becca is younger a...

Yesterday started out earlier than perhaps we would’ve liked, because it would have been great to sleep in and get off to a leisurely (or even lazy) start. Alas, we had too many little stops we wanted to make before pointing toward home, so we ma...

Today was a lovely day in the Seattle area, built around seeing as many of my loved ones in the city as I could. Becca and I got up early in Portland, grabbed a quick cold breakfast from the hotel lobby, and hit the road. Pretty quickly, we Game of Thr...

It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do for a girl. This morning began after just such a rest, and the sky was grey but there was no rain, which we were a bit relieved to discover, as today was our main day to run around Portland and ...

It’s been two years since I last visited Portland. It’s also my first road trip with my friend Becca. Originally, we’d planned to make just a short trek from home (Napa) to Lake Tahoe, but when the opportunity to visit the Pacific Nor...

Here’s a truth many of you may not know: less than a year ago, I was fat. Last July, I realized that I was proud of the way things were going in so many areas of my life, but that because I was unhappy with my body image, I was holding myself bac...