Drive - Biking in Copenhagen

Guess what tomorrow is?  Bike to work day!  How many of you bike on a daily basis?  I hop on the beach cruiser often for a quick coffee break, post office run, the market or dinner with friends.  Try it out tomorrow or over the weekend.  Studies in San Diego show,  one in five first-time Bike to Work Day riders became regular bike commuters.  (San Diego Association of Governments)

 The locals in Copenhagen LOVE to bike.  The city is compact and easy to navigate.  See you in Nyhavn!  

Drift / 8 / What to wear in Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a bit chilly in spring.  Actually, it's FREEZING for two sisters from California.  Bundle up and travel comfortably with these tips!


What to wear in Copenhagen
* Killer boots.  Everyone wears cool shoes in Europe, no matter what time of day or the season.  (It must be taught in school.)  Even the moms at school pick-up are donning adorable wedge heel boots and their mode of transportation is a bike.  I can barely ride a bike in flats!
*  Fleece lined leggings.  I picked up mine at the Max Studio outlets in Napa.  
*  Bright colored mens button down shirt.  This pink number I was actually hoping to buy for TDH (he lives in neon) but TopShop Men only had a small.  Sorry hun, guess I get to keep it!   
* Headwear.  Anything knitted or warm will do.  It rarely drops below 60* in Southern California so I was thrilled to put my knit baseball cap to use I picked up in Milan awhile back.
* Scarf.  A BORELLI active scarf of course!  What other accessory wicks away your sweat while biking around the sites, warms you up when taking a boat tour or doubles as a towel for the shared bathrooms while staying in hostels? 
* Fingerless gloves.  Yes, I know regular gloves would keep your hands warmer but then it's difficult to take pictures! 
* Jacket.  I would go with anything warm and comfortable.  I wear this one from Theory ALL the time (also worn here).  I snatched it up 70% off at a chaotic yet exhilarating sample sale while attending grad school in New York City.  For those not living in the city, Gilt Groupe provides the same deals from the comfort of your own computer.

DIY - Global Coffee Table

For a few years now I've been saving bills from each country's currency I visit.  They don't take up as much space as coins and are super lightweight.  Every ounce counts when you are backpacking or living out of a carry-on for 5 weeks.  As a designer, my favorites are color and name driven.  Hong Kong is never one to blend in with the crowd and covers their bills in HOT pink.  Australia has been using Pantone's color of the year, Tangerine Tango for years.  Last but not least is India, for the sole reason I just miss paying in Rupees! 

 Instead of letting the bills gather dust we used them to decorate our drab Ikea coffee table.  Any glass top table with a layer underneath would work.  Plus it's a great conversation piece for your next dinner party.

                               A few more recipes for the dinner party I mentioned.
                                                  appetizer   /   main   /   dessert

2011 Wrap Up

Happy new year to my readers near and far.  A few favorites from my travels in 2011. 

FijiMoon - Honeymoon at Qamea Resort

Fiji

Dublin, Ireland

Copenhagen, Denmark

Stokholm, Sweden

Indio, California

Laguna Niguel, California

Santa Ynez, California

Lake Shasta, California

Puppy #1, Percy

Monte Sereno, California

East Los Angeles, California

Monterey, California

Puppy #2, Nacho

Half Moon Bay, California

La Jolla, California

Santa Ynez, California

Waterfall, Blarney, Ireland

Italian Indian Squash Delight

This week I combined the culinary styles of two of my favorite places in the world - Italy and India.  Their spices and flavors may be on opposite sides of the spectrum but the way they prepare and enjoy their food is similar.  Who doesn't love a culture that uses some type of bread to sop up the last puddles of sauce on your plate?  Each country savors each bite making dinners a 3-5 hour affair. 

In India you eat with one hand, the other is reserved for the not-so-clean bathrooms, which may be just a hole in the ground.  Took me a whole week to get the hang of tearing off naan with one hand!  Thankfully you can enjoy these lovely flavors from the comfort of your own home.  Although, if you are feeling adventurous, train yourself to embrace spicy food and book a trip to Goa for relaxation or Rajasthan to sight-see and walk with the princes.  The Prince of Udaipur was quite cute if I remember correctly.    

Ingredients

3-4 zucchini or squash, small to medium, chopped

1/2 onion, white or yellow, chopped

1/2 big bunch of kale, or 1 small bunch, chopped into 1/2" wide

1 garlic clove, smashed

1/2 lemon

good quality Parmesan cheese, NO KRAFT!

turmeric

red chili pepper flakes

cumin

salt

pepper

extra virgin olive oil

What to do with the Ingredients

1.  Heat a pan on medium heat, add evoo, garlic, onions, salt and pepper.  Cover and stir every minute or so until they start to turn clear.

2.  Toss the zucchini and squash in.  Add a few shakes of tumeric, cumin and as much red chili pepper flakes as you can handle.  (They are great for your metabolism.)  Squeeze the 1/2 lemon over the pan.  Cover for about 2 minutes.

3.  Add the kale, stir and cover.  I don't like my kale super soggy so I don't let it cook for long.  Totally up to you and your family's tastebuds.

4.  Top with Parmesan cheese. 

Step 2

Step 3

Mangia! (eat!)

My House. My Rules. My Pleasure.

Going to the Chapel

We are finally at base camp of our Mt. Kilimanjaro wedding season.  8 weddings in 5 months, 3 in one week, 2 maid matron of honor speeches and WAY too many glasses of champagne.  I'm exhausted!  We just returned from our last one up in Monterey.  The happy couple had perfect 75*, sunny and clear weather, she wore a dress so light and airy it could fly away and the late night sliders and fries were a hit!  You may remember her bachelorette party here.  Next year we only have 4 on the roster (hooray!).  

In honor of wedding season ending I put Pinterest to the test and rounded up some inspiration for you beautiful ladies still searching for the perfect dress.  Whether you are getting married at the courthouse, on a tiny island in a foreign country or in a 1,000 year old cathedral, you may be asking yourself, "How do you know?"  I knew when I didn't want to take my dress off.  I tried on about 50 but kept asking to slip into my favorite, over and over.  When you don't want to take it off, when you find the dress you want to sleep in, and when you feel sexy AND comfortable that's when you have found the winner! 

Thailand, Milan, Cotswalds, Stockholm, Sevilla, St Bart, California


Don't be afraid to do something different!  Go short, add a pop of color, wear 2 dresses throughout the night, maybe even 3!  Pair the Thailand top with some hot shorts and bare feet.  Hats?  They are storming back in, big and small.  It's your wedding day.  I don't care what your mom wants you to wear, I don't care what your mother-in-law thinks you should wear.  Wear what makes you feel like the luckiest girl in the world because you are, you get to marry the person of your dreams!

If you have 45 minutes in Munich

Typically when you book your travel through discount websites you get stuck with epic layovers.  You convince yourself that 10 hours sitting in a random airport BEFORE your 10+ hour flight home is doable.  You ignore the tiny voice in your head saying just pay the extra couple hundred dollars to re-route and you quickly hit "CHECKOUT".  I mean, you are treating yourself to a 2 week frenzy of European pastries, wandering streets older than your own country and learning how to live the good life with locals who enjoy 2+ months vacation a year. 

So, that's how my sister and I found ourselves in Munich for 6 hours.  I was just getting over the worst case of flu/food/water poisoning and desperately longed to curl up in my own king size bed.  (I love Europe and all, but they need to upgrade from the typical twin beds.)  Determined to add another country to 30 by 30 we quickly made our way to the Info desk (quickest way to find English speaking people) inquired where we could store our bags and the fastest way to get into the city center. 
The subway ride was about 45 minutes each way and we were flying international which meant we had to be back at the airport at least an hour and a half before departure.  That left us with just under an hour in the city.  Yikes!  Luckily, a new American friend I recently met on my honeymoon in Fiji (yes, I went to Fiji, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany in a span of 5 weeks, can you tell I have a problem?) was just telling me about her favorite places in Munich.  She suggested we visit the main square, Marienplatz and gave us her hidden treasure of a "biergarten" but 45 minutes forces you into tourist mode.  We went straight for the big kahuna, Hofbrauhaus and you should too.

Perfection

Beers as big as your head, should there be any other size?

Carbo load for the long trip home

Taking a moment to soak in the sunshine, it was 80* in April!

20 minutes later

30 minutes later.  Cannot waist a drop of that 7 Euro beer

"Glass" lockers for the regulars

Pause for some culture

Sis and I on Day 14, twins right?

AND more carbs . . .

How do you resist these?

One last thing, we didn't find the Germans to be the warmest people we encountered.  Out of the 11 people we met in our few hours in Munich 7 were incredibly rude.  The bakery girl flatly said as she walked away, "I don't speak English" in English, the waitress at the biergarten couldn't be more bothered by our existence and the airport employees were downright dreadful.  Once we realized none of them were warm and fuzzy we toughened up and enjoyed our little stop in Germany.