The little things

On Sunday, Missy & I took Finn on his first farmer’s market outing.  We seriously stocked up in San Rafael, and then went back to M’s place and had a wonderful afternoon with equal parts cooking and cuddling.  For dinner, Billy joined us and we tried out the Wednesday Chef’s method for pork chops — so good!  Equally good were the Lebanese-style Stuffed Eggplants we had on Monday.

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In addition to the savory side of things, we made a giant batch of apple butter.  I have loved apple butter since I was a kid, and we would stop (and stock up) at The Apple Farm on the way to visit my aunt in San Luis Obispo.  I hadn’t made it myself before, but now I am a total convert.  SO easy.  We did it in the slow cooker, but the recipe (from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It) we riffed from just requires the oven and a blender.  Bonus it had a measly amount of sugar — 1/3 cup for 8 pounds of apples!

I have been loving it in the morning on my steel-cut oats, with a smidge of peanut or almond butter too.

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In the past couple of weeks, I have said good-bye to summery nails and went straight to dark plum for fall.  I am usually not terribly adventurous here, but the french manicure (which I generally loathe) with black tips seemed fun.  A little bit fun but still perfectly safe for me — just basically black and white stripes — and plus, it’s just polish!

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One huge bonus of having parties in my opinion, is the abundance of flowers around the house after.  I usually have a few blooms here and there, but nothing like the flowers perched on every open spot.  Thanks again k o r o v i l a s ladies…it was fun!

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This week also brought (and is bringing) a few family visits.  My cousin Hunter, who lives in New York, was in town for work, and it was such a treat to catch up.  He came over Wednesday night, we made roast chicken & bread salad (surprise!  but there was a chicken in the fridge waiting to be cooked) and some roasted cauliflower.  Hunter is in the music business, so we had some chuckles about my lack of knowledge there, but it was super sun getting band (and book) recs.  Hopefully he will have more trips out here soon.

And this weekend is the USC-Stanford game, so my dad is coming up for the game.  I’m not sure if I will make it to the game, but I am super excited to see him … and sneak in a fun dinner tonight too!

Apologies for these last two pics, but I didn’t snap any while Hunter was over, but had to be sure and show him off —  and for the one of me and pops, yes, it is a few (+) years old, but I don’t have anything current in Cardinal & Gold, and felt it fitting.

Hope you had a great week, and have some fun plans for the weekend too!

xx

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Images via my instagram (@caitlindentino), except the last two – Hunter via johngilesphotography.com (and my uncle) and the last one an old snapshot around the house.