February Mishmash
Aloha! February snuck up on me, and I am starting to write this at the very end of the month! We spent a week in Hawaii, some time leading up to that preparing for the trip, and the time after we returned inside a snow globe of a winter storm, and poof, February is over!
Food!
I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting twice, in an attempt to practice my piping skills! The second batch turned out much cuter than the first! Also, they are extremely delicious.
Matthew and I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at our friend Angel’s restaurant, Republica in their new, much larger, space, right by Powell’s Books! It was such a treat and we highly encourage everyone to make a reservation and enjoy their Mexico-forward tasting menu. Here's a video about Republica and another one! You should probably subscribe to Ciencia & Ficcion production company on YouTube.
I have definitely cooked us dinner plenty in February but for the life of me I cannot remember any recipes that I want to share!
Books/Movies/TV!
I have only one book to mention this month: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.
This book was really wonderful from beginning to end. I loved the characters, I loved each of their stories and perspectives, I loved how much this book made me feel things—sad, happy, hopeful, emotional, angry, nervous! And when it ended I wanted it to continue on. Some thoughts I jotted down immediately upon finishing this book: a boy following clues looking for his mother. A mother whose poetry unwittingly becomes the slogan for a revolution, gathering stories of other missing children. A father trying to keep his son safe. Libraries being a kind of underground railroad. Many love stories and grief and hope. This book was written during COVID, and some of the themes may hit a bit close to reality for some, but I LOVED this book, and give it a whopping 5 stars.
We are in the middle of watching a bunch of TV shows right now, and I like to share after we finish them, so expect more of this section next month!
We watched M3GAN!
I had high hopes and it did not disappoint. So fun, I laughed a lot, just a tad creepy in some parts, but mostly campy, and it's the perfect length. Highly recommend! It's streaming free on Peacock right now!
Projects!
I started cutting fabric for my next quilt! This is a lot more earth tones than I normally gravitate towards, but I couldn’t resist this chambray fabric bundle. I’ll put it out there that I do take on commissions if you’d like to support my fabric buying obsession and own a cozy quilt of your own or to gift to someone special! You can reply directly to the email to reach out to me if you are so inclined.
Miscellaneous!
We went to Kuaui! It was warm and mostly sunny, we ate a lot of seafood, swam in the ocean with friends, saw a bunch of sea turtles and neat fish and hundreds of chickens, I only got sunburned on my knees, and Matthew turned 40! Would return in a heartbeat! The day after we got home, it started snowing and piled up over 10 inches! Definitely was a rude awakening. The best part about coming home was reuniting with Remi! We missed her so much! As a side note, you can see that my hair is growing in! At the beginning of February it looked pretty cute and now at the end of the month is in a bit of an awkward stage that is driving be bonkers. I am trying to be patient, and not care and let it do what it wants to do for now, which is an exercise in patience and humility.
Remi!
Remi also had a nice vacation while we were in Kuaui, staying with some friends of ours. We were really anxious about leaving her, because she is normally very nervous/scared of humans, but she surprised us all by relaxing pretty quickly into their home and made great friends with the whole household. 💜
Goodbye, until next month!
xoM