just one more day please!

i had a long weekend, which of course, flew by. but i started it off with a massage at the kura door. it's my new thing- spending $ on massages. it's really working out so far. and then california invasion of slc happened!
joymattrosieall came to visit! yay! hooray! i think the thing that impressed them the most about this city was all the amazing food we ate. so...without further ado- my menu for the weekend.

day one: LUNCH~red iguana where we ate various moles family style. two enchiladas stuffed with pork carnitas topped with mole amarillo, melted jack cheese and drizzled with crema mexicana. it's seriously one of the best dishes in town. they also had a mango mole special, which was diiiiivine! DINNER~ wild grape where i treated myself to their finest dish, potato gnocchi with braised beef, mushrooms, spinach and truffle oil.

day two: BREAKFAST: thanks complimentary hotel biscuits and gravy. and copious amounts of coffee. LUNCH: homemade picnic with caprese sandwiches, prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe, fresh cherries, and red quinoa salad made with cucumber, red onion and mint. DINNER: sapa which was amazeballs. let's break this down- starters: fire cracker calamari onions & peppers lightly battered w/ five spices, fried & served w/ chili & jalapeño sauce AND string beans wok seared w/ garlic, soy sauce & sake. entree: lemongrass vermicelli curry chicken YUM! here it is-also joy's meal was a big hit: filet mignon wok in French butter, fresh black pepper, luc lac sauce served with saffron coconut rice & stir-fried vegetablesday three: BRUNCH: pago. lovely, lovely pago with their cheap mimosas and the best damn coffee in town! check out this brie! it will change your world.and those are roasted grapes btw. henceforth all grapes shall be roasted! and my salad with summer peas and carrots and corn, oh my!with housemade ricotta, croutons and apricot dressing. phew. that was just the beginning, topped it off with the croque monsieur which is complete decadence. DINNER: eva's! i've been wanting to try this tapas place for some time and it did not disappoint. asparagus served with jalepeno aioli, crispy prosciutto, and a pouched egg. sauteed brussel sprouts with toasted hazelnuts and cider vinegar. flash fried calamari with sherry cayenne aioli, greens and sea salt. grilled scallops with garlic parsley butter and lots of local organic vegetable ragout. fig and pig which is the wood fired pizza with arugula pesto, fresh mozzarella, pancetta and figs. there was also house made sangria involved.

so as you can see, we were well fed. nothing better then good friends and good food!

flashbacks

guess what i did this weekend?
LOTS!
but one thing was that i went to see was Anton Checkov's Cherry Orchard at the Broadway.
so listen to this: the National Theater in London (tada!)
has partnered up with several universities all over the world, one of them being the Humanities Department at the University of Utah, to broadcast live productions from London. One of them was the Cherry Orchard. i shamefully realized that i have only been to one play in the past year (Angels in America) and that makes me so sad, cause i do love the theater. and i love the theater because of the National Theater in London- so i was very excited to attend this. it was wonderful and reminded me of one of the most incredible stage productions i've ever seen. Gorky's Summerfolk:i've just been thinking back to lovely london days. happy times. it was a great weekend.

very bon iver to you!

can i just post this and say nothing more?
kay

tripping trips

once there was a girl who lived in two places, she traveled between these places often, but mostly only in her head. of course there were advantages to this: never being fully present in the moment often meant less responsibility and certainly far less commitment. it also meant she was treated like an old friend just passing through, which had it's perks. then one year she decidedly chose one place over the other. this was exciting and also sad. so she went for visits. and she always felt at home no matter which place she was in. this felt confusing to her. "but where am i supposed to be?" she often wondered.

then she realized how lucky to feel at home in whatever place she was in. and how fortunate she was to have friends and family to welcome here wherever her return. and how nice to be missed. and finally understanding how being loved is actually home.

let's just stick to drugs please

this movie was terrible
i mean just terrible. i hated it so much. my therapist says i say hate a lot. but come one, with all the crap out there! sheesh. and it's not like i didn't know what i was getting into, i actually wanted to watch something brainless, but gah! so bad. it was basically an 80s movie. they were so good when you were 15, but now they make you want to gouge out your eyeballs.

i have to watch hours of parks and recreation now to make up for it.

SPRING?

i went on a lovely walk this morning. it's the first day we've actually had decent weather, so i walked up to the cemetery and took in the gorgeous view, that my old iphone just can't capture.
there is something so lovely about spring. i'm mostly an autumn kind of gal, but spring, i have to say, is not so shabby. except when it snows and it actually feels like winter. that sucks. on my way home i noticed that someone had written clever sayings at the engravings of the street names on the sidewalk. I started at about W and was pretty entertained my whole way home. this is my street. i like that someone put chalk to good use. it made me happy. that and the sun.

weekends are my favorite.

somebody might actually think i was a fairly positive person if they just read all my blogs that begin with my weekend time. this past weekend started with a lovely birthday celebration with one of the bffs. isn't she adorable? we were really disturbed by a gross, drunk couple making out [READ: sucking each other's faces off, with lots of vile licking] bff had a direct view of them the whole night. we felt real sorry for the other couple they were dining with. sucked to be all of us in the restaurant watching that. but all the free wine that the waiter gave us made up for it.
then my brother came into town and because i'm such an awesome host one of the first things we did was go to walmart! yay! and look what they had! i almost died of nostalgia overload. so of course i bought them and essentially ate the whole bag. hello this was my childhood.
in keeping with my job as an awesome hostess i next took scott to weinerschniztnel! let's be honest, that place may be a little scary, but a chili hot dog really hits the spot from time to time, n'est pas?
here's a super blurry picture of my adorable brother in what could only be considered the ghetto of slc.
but then i really was awesomeballs and took my brother to arcade fire!!!! it was in the worst venue ever in utah county, but know what? they still rocked it.
i realize these photos are worthless and that my iphone super blows, but it was free so whatevs!
so that was my super fun weekend. had a great time, totally went off my diet, but feeling good nevertheless. here's to good music, good company and booze.