Hello friends! How was your last week? I just wanted to check in here briefly to let you know that I’m still alive, and well, and enjoying California immensely. Though, by the end of this trip, I’m going to need another vacation so I can unwind from this one. I’m sure many of you can relate.
We’ve been doing a lot of coastal driving, my favorite kind of all. It makes me miss having a car, and the mobility and carefreeness it affords. The photo above (yup, Instagram, because sometimes I just don’t want to lug my camera around) was taken in Fort Bragg, about three-and-a-half hours north of San Francisco. The trees here are shaped by the wind, which is relentless all times of the year, but especially so in the winter. It’s something I’ve missed, the coast, the wind, the ocean, the wildness of it all. I imagine the first settlers to this area trying to make sense of it all, constructing their neat little houses and churches to emulate those places from which they came. I wonder how successful they were.
I’ve also missed the trees. Redwoods are my favorite because they shoot into the sky straight and proud. Can’t get enough of them.
And the reason behind all the driving: we’re trying to find the perfect wedding venue. Apparently we’re kind of picky. Thank god our families love us.
Before I leave, I wanted to share a festive cocktail recipe I shot for Serious Eats that would be great to make tomorrow night. It’s from PDT, a bar whose appeal is heightened by the fact that it’s only accessible through a phone booth in the corner of a hot dog shop in the East Village. I’ve got to admit, there’s something kind of fun about slinking in to a hidden back room, even if the secret’s out. Anyway, they call this the Cranberry Cobbler, and you’ve got to make it with the ice pebbles. Then drink it, quick!
Get the recipe here.
My other favorite drink was the Winter Wassail, an ode to cider. It’s something you would savor, beside a blazing fire maybe. Or radiator. Or whatever.
And finally, dear readers, I just want to thank you all for a great year. This blog has definitely been a defining event of 2012, and I’ve loved all of it.
Happy New Year! See you in 2013.
