2024 was a very full year, packed with adventures near and far and projects large and small. We traveled to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos, New Mexico for a ski trip in February. We visited Tampa Bay and Miami for baseball stadiums number 25 and 26 in April and Kansas City for the 27th in September….
December recap! We actually began the month in Los Angeles and ended it in Taipei. But here are some of our adventures around the Bay in between. Our new-old Barbour jackets we got from Goodfight! Mine a re-loved and Alex’s is new. Time to go pick up our very first fake Christmas tree. The Garrisons…
I read 40 books in 2024. It was a great year for thoughtful memoirs and eye-opening nonfiction, as well as some imaginative novels. Book covers in the graphic above are arranged from favorite (top left) to least favorite (bottom right). Below are some recaps for a couple of my favorites, which all happen to be…
Each year, I collect small gifts along my travels and compile them into a holiday gift set for my wedding clients. It’s my way of sharing a small part of my year with my couples when they’ve shared such an important part of theirs with me. Here’s a little peek at what I sent out…
Second Thanksgiving has been an annual tradition with the Yaus since 2011. It happens the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with a full new Thanksgiving feast (not leftovers– that’s for Sunday) and an ever-expanding group of friends and their little ones in attendance. For me it has become a signpost, marking the years with a trek down…
November recap! We begin with pizza at Rose’s in the Mission. Cassie came over for a first-time knitting tutorial. Just in time for her to work at polls on election day. A special meal at Rintaro for their 10-year anniversary, featuring house-made soba Cassie and I visited Nancy at her coworking space inside the Ferry…
We did it! Almost a year after we started, we finally completed the Crosstown Trail. Our friend Cindy joined Alex and me for this fifth and final leg of the hike, walking from Park Presidio in The Richmond, passing by Baker Beach, and ending at Sutro Baths. First, we met at Breadbelly in the Richmond…
Alex and I embarked on section four of five of the Crosstown Trail back in November, squeezing it in before we left on our travels for the rest of the year. Section four took us from the Sunset up through the Richmond via a cross section of Golden Gate Park. Not the most spectacular part…
One week after we completed section two of the Crosstown Trail, we resumed the hike with section three: “the stair section!” I wouldn’t have guessed it would be my favorite section (since walking up and down a ton of stairs doesn’t sound all that fun), but it turned out to be absolutely beautiful and charming!…
Hiking the Crosstown Trail is still an ongoing project for us, but Alex and I made a lot of progress in the fall before the weather and our travels set in. The Crosstown Trail is a wonderful volunteer-assembled walking/biking trail that extends from the southeast to the northwest corners of San Francisco. We hiked the…
Throughout 2024 I hosted my Taiwanese American Cookbook Club as a way of celebrating and exploring all of the wonderful English-language Taiwanese cookbooks that have been published in recent years. It’s a special potluck series wherein all attendees make and bring a dish from the featured cookbook. Our eighth and final cookbook club of the…
October recap! We start off with my lunch date with Rebecca and a box of my fruit CSA from Frog Hollow Farms. A visit to the glass pumpkin pop-up at Santana Row with the Garrisons. Date night at Showa, a relatively new tasting menu spot in Soma, SF, featuring tonkatsu. Blue Angels flying…