The Last Frontier

We just got back from an amazing trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage, rented a car and drove and hiked around for 8 days. The landscapes and wildlife sightings were amazing. The hikes were so quiet, and for miles we wouldn't see anyone else. Apologies that this post is as long as Alaskan summer days, but I have having such a hard time picking and choosing the photos to share!

Byers Lake, Denali State Park

Denali National Park

Talkeena
(A view of Denali--five times taller than the peaks in the foreground)

Seward Highway

Alyeska Resort, Girdwood

Kenai Fjords

Harding Ice Field, Exit Glacier, Seward

Homer Spit

Kenai River

Anchorage

A Simple Splash of Succulents

Last weekend I had fun bringing in a little bit of color and happiness to my kitchen. I hung light-weight 9'' square wooden planter boxes as shelves, and then took a trip to the SOMA flower market. The flower market is a magical wonderland! There are dozens of vendors, with hundreds of varieties of fresh flowers and plants. After restraining myself from buying everything, I settled on a bunch of succulents in 2'' pots. I didn't like the plastic pots they came in, so I decided to paint the pots in simple color-block patterns. I used wall paint so that they would be waterproof and survive watering. Now, I just need to water every 7-10 days,  and I have myself a mini succulent garden!  Such an easy way to bring some greenery into our urban place!  

Cheesecake for Chums

Our friends Y and J invited us over for dinner last weekend, and as usual, I volunteered to contribute dessert! It had been ages since I had last made a cheesecake, one of my favorite comfort foods...and it was just one of those weeks when a good cheesecake was just what I needed. My friends and I would experiment with different flavors in college, and this time I tried coffee Kahlua. Here is my recipe!

Eggless Coffee Kahlua Cheesecake

Ingredients:

16oz of cream cheese at room temp (2 packs)

8oz of sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1.5 tbsp of finely ground coffee

1/3 cup Kahlua

1 chocolate graham crust

Vanilla frosting to decorate (optional)

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar. Add the coffee to 1/4 cup of boiling water, and let brew for 3-5mins. Add the coffee mixture (including grounds) and Kahlua to the cream cheese mixture. Pour into the crust and make for 60min at 375°F. Let cool in refrigerator for at least 1h before serving. I piped on a quick rose with vanilla frosting, just for fun!

Living Room Larks

I spent the better part of last weekend making a simple mural on my living room wall. We have lived in our current place for three years now, and still really haven't gotten to decorating. I really don't know where the time goes, but I feel like I only get a chance to do 1 painting project a year! So when A told me that he was going to have to stay home all weekend working, I jumped at the free time to do a painting. We live in a loft, so our ceilings are high and we have this one huge wall that I have never been able to find artwork big enough for. A mural ended up being the perfect way to liven up the space with a personal touch. I was originally planning on doing a bunch of birds on a few electrical wires, something I had seen at Golden Gate Park a while back and had since been inspired by, but A was worried that that would be too monotonous on our huge wall. So, we decided to something a bit more whimsical instead. 

We found a 12-foot orange ladder in the garage an hauled it in. Honestly, maneuvering the ladder through our building's narrow hallways and stairwells was the hardest part of this project. Working on this massive ladder was a bit nerve-racking as well, but I only had to go about 2/3 of the way up. The max height of the painting is about 12 feet. I loved how the bright orange ladder looked against the backdrop of the paining. Maybe we should leave it in the living room as an art fixture ;-)

I drew all of the branches and leaves free-form directly on the wall. I didn't want to have to erase too much to get the birds just right on the wall, so I made a few bird stencils instead. This made the sketching portion of the project go much faster!

Here are some pictures of the work in progress.

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Gorgeous Gratitude

Last weekend our friend, M, took us on an overnight sailing adventure around the San Francisco Bay. The sun was out, our 38-foot sail was up, and my camera was snapping. We stopped at Angel Island for a short hike, and the views from there were spectacular too! So much Gratitude for our amazing weekend! Here are some of my favorite captures.

They don't wants us to write this post...

...but what are we gonna do? We're going to to write this blog post! My husband, A, is obsessed with Snapchat sensation @djkhaled, so #majorkeyalert: when making a cake for someone, play to their current obsessions.   

This was a chocolate, coffee, Bourbon cake...all of his favorites for his big 3-0! 

Here is the semi-homemade recipe:

Ingredients:
1 box of Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/3 cup Bourbon
1 cup of milk
3 tbsp of extremely finely ground coffee
Cream cheese frosting to decorate

Mix together all of the cake ingredients with an electric whip. Bake at 350°F for 26min. Frost and enjoy!

Peaceful Pismo

My family went to Pismo beach a few weekends ago, and as usual, I went camera crazy. Beautiful sea cliffs, gorgeous sunsets, and a relaxing weekend with my family...it really could not get much better than this!