Besides downloading pictures, I spent a lot of our first week back in the city running around town checking out event spaces where Brian and I might end our engagement with celebration. We’ve enjoyed a blissful summer procrastinating on the wedding nonsense, but my self-imposed deadline for finding a place to seal the deal is fast approaching (next weekend!), so I buckled down and pounded a lot of pavement.

It was soooo much the opposite of our tranquil week in Sonoma, that I think I was experiencing symptoms of withdrawal, what with sudden spike in stress and sense of urgency, excess of rude, pushy people, and two days where it became necessary to carry an umbrella. I tried to carry a little bit of California calm with me as I met with planners and sales people in space after space that just didn’t feel like us.

Perhaps that is because everything we saw out there was so freaking gorgeous. The photos for this post were all taken by my other half on his amazing new camera (a Nikon D700). I’ve progressed in taking close up shots, but Brian is the real star with landscapes and such, and I wanted to be sure that you got to see the trip through his eyes too.

I think that the picture at the top of the post gives you an idea of how breathtaking the Northern coast of California can be, but to stand at the edge of a cliff and look down into the abyss of rock with the fog rolling in and out around you is just stirring.

And hiking through a forest of redwoods so tall and wide that they are impossible to photograph in entirety is a peaceful and humbling experience.

I’ve gravitated towards cities all of my adult life, partially because I really hate driving and all the hassles that come with car ownership, but I am really missing late afternoon drives on the roads that wind through the fields planted with grapevines, planted in straight lines as far as the eye can see.

Even as I heap love and admiration upon California, I have to stay that New York City’s still my number 1, with all of the exciting, brand-spanking new things that are just getting started for me this fall. For one thing, I’m back in school at the French Culinary Institute, taking my first steps toward becoming a pastry chef. And as if that weren’t exciting enough, this week I’ll also be auditioning to bake bread at the best bakery in the entire city, with the hopes that my skills will be enough to land me a job there. Exciting, no? And without further ado, here are the recipes from the last post that I promised.

Roasted Fennel Bruschetta

2 bulbs of fresh fennel

4 oz Camembert cheese (or other soft, mild cheese with a rind)

4 cloves of fresh garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh thyme, picked from the stems and chopped

baguette, or other crusty bread, cut in halves, then slices and toasted

kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Set the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the green stems from the fennel so you are left with just the bulbs. slice the bulbs into pieces that are approximately 1/8 of an inch thick, taking care to keep them uniform so they cook evenly.  Toss the fennel with olive oil, coating it completely, hen toss it with the thyme, salt, and pepper. Place the fennel on a pan. Coat the cloves of garlic in olive oil with the skin still on and place them on the pan. Roast the fennel and garlic for approximately 20 minutes (I really don’t trust the oven in the tree house, so be sure to keep an eye on it), or until the garlic is soft and can be easily squeezed out of it’s skin and the fennel is soft and golden.

Slice the cheese into 1/8 inch thick slices with the rind still on, and place the slices on the toasted bread. squeeze the roasted garlic out of it’s skin and distribute the garlic mush evenly over the cheese. Top with the roasted fennel and serve immediately.

Outstanding California Guacamole

This recipe is a twist on the standard recipe for guac. Brian started putting banana in the guacamole to heighten the sweetness, but you really don’t taste the banana, you just get sweeter avocado flavor. It has a nice, sweet, salty, tangy, creamy thing going on. Feel free to adjust ingredients to your taste.

Serves 2

1 Haas avocado

1/2 banana (soft, but not too brown)

1/2 cup cilantro

1 lime

1/2 large beefsteak tomato, seeded and diced

1/4 red onion, diced

1 teaspoon minced roasted garlic

cayenne pepper, to taste

kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium sized bowl, combine the banana, avocado, and the juice of the lime and mash it with a fork until it is creamy and the avocado and banana are mixed together well. Add the cilantro, tomato, onion, and garlic, and stir until combined. Add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Sungold Tomato and Lemon Cucumber Salsa

We had never seen lemon cucumbers at the markets in New York, so we were excited to try them. the are shaped more like a ball than a rod, like the cukes we are used to. They have a great, fresh flavor that is very similar to that of a green cucumber, but they are not as juicy inside and you do not need to peel them. If you don’t have access to them, just substitute with green, but don’t forget to peel and remove the seeds.

serves 2 hungry people, 4 snackers

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil

1 lemon

1 fresh green chile pepper, finely minced (or less, depending on your heat taste)

3 lemon cucumbers, diced (or two large green cucumbers, seeded, peeled and diced)

1/2 pint sungold tomatoes, halved

2 small green tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

1/2 clove fresh garlic, finely minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, chile, tomatoes, garlic, and onion. Add the zest of the lemon, juice of the lemon, basil, and olive oil. Toss together to mix the ingredients and coat the everything in the lemon and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Eat with tortilla chips or use as a condiment. Store in a covered container in the fridge for up to two days.