Weekend Recap — Life as an Americanadian

Nov 19

Nov 19 Weekend Recap

How is it almost Thanksgiving?!? Seriously this year is going by so fast. This weekend was a busy but fun one- dinner and drinks on Friday night, intense workout Saturday morning (our trainer just kept saying 'this is for Thanksgiving' when we would moan or complain- it was actually very motivating since I plan on eating a ton), party at my friend's house Saturday night and a full day of Thanksgiving prep on Sunday. All the food has been purchased and all the decorations have been brought out- now I just have to make the food (I'm doing appetizers and

this veggie dish

) and get to decorating (my fav part). FYI if you're wondering the

best way to make a turkey

, Serious Eats asked chefs for their tips/tricks- they also have a page dedicated to

all things Thanksgiving related

. Speaking of making food, I am obsessed with my Smitten Kitchen cookbook specifically the

Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta

scones...I've already make them twice with more frozen in the freezer. Seriously wishing they weren't frozen so I could eat one as I write this.

I'm more of a savory than sweet kind of person but lately I have been needing more sweets than usual. I would like to think that its biologically necessary for my body to stock up for the upcoming winter like a bear preparing to hibernate through the cold cold months ('Winter is coming'- got hooked on Game of Thrones thanks to my brother and cousin) but really I just recently found out how freaking awesome

Ben and Jerry's

AmeriCone Dream ice cream is and I can't get enough...its like my gateway drug but dessert version. Anyways I'm trying to curb my sweet tooth in an effort to 'be good' before Thanksgiving so that means I've been eating a ton of fruit instead...hence the massive pomegranate extraction that happened on Saturday. Despite me putting down and stepping away from the caramel filled dark chocolate bar from TJ's, I do think its pretty awesome that there is a

Chocolate Cafe

in Tokyo complete with a ceiling that looks like a chocolate bar.

At the party on Saturday night, there was lots of talk about buying homes and where the best place to purchase a home is in the Bay Area (since crazy SF prices make buying in the city totally out of the question for most people)- fyi I vote Berkeley. Now I thought SF was bad in terms of insane housing prices but a

recent sale in Hong Kong

has pretty much left me speechless: almost $60 million...FOR AN APARTMENT. Yea sure its cool but an apartment?!? The big selling factor was that it was designed by

Frank Gehry

(a fellow Americanadian) which is cool but I think its nuts that so much of the value is placed on that fact. The New York Times has an interesting article about the lack of '

Starchitects

' in San Francisco-

"mo

re than the pedigree of the architect, the city worries about things like shadows and wind and, of course, earthquakes"

. Yea buildings that fall down would kinda suck.

Despite being from Vancouver, I'm not a huge fan of the rainy winter months here in SF. I don't really mind the rain, its that I have to go to work when its raining instead of being cuddled up on the couch with tea and scones. Also I HATE wet jeans and wet socks...thinking of investing in Hunter boots this season...I need to get on that asap (love

these ones

but will probably go with the original tall boots). Since we actually got some sun today, I took advantage of the good weather and went for a walk...the leaves were so pretty and the sun was out (for the most part). While my walk was fine,

this blogger's walk through Central Park

puts mine to shame...such pretty pictures, I need to get myself to NY asap.