gala chicken, zion market

mmm... fried chicken.  

oddly located inside the new zion market (here in san diego) by the produce section-- and i do mean INSIDE the market, and not in the food court -- are a few unassuming looking food stands, one which is called gala chicken.  

the chicken is fried to order and comes in three flavors: sweet soy, crispy, gala spicy.  it takes about fifteen minutes, but boy... totally worth it.

customers can sit in chairs lined up at the bar while they wait.

bffbf and i have only tried the spicy chicken, and it's fantastic.  the sauce is quite spicy with a well-balanced sweetness to it, and the chicken is fried to perfection.  i believe the order below was 8 or 9 dollars, and comes with a little container of pickled daikon.  while the price may seem a bit steep, especially considering your back is facing the produce section while you eat, i promise you, IT'S WORTH IT.   

i realize that i already said that in the previous paragraph.  i get repetitive when i'm excited.  also, my stomach is growling like crazy right now just thinking about this.  

gala chicken (inside zion market)
7655 clairemont mesa blvd
san diego, ca 92111
open 11:30am - 3:30pm

kiwi bird magnets

as part of my transition back into the crafting world, i recently ordered a bunch of cover button supplies for some fun and easy projects.  a few years ago, i made quite a killing at craft fairs making button  badge ids and magnets. they also made/make great gifts.

as i went through my boxes of fabric, i realized the graphics on my kiwi bird parade fabric were the ideal size to fit over two button sizes.  i decided to start with magnets, as the number of baby announcements keep growing on our fridge ,and i've had to be very strategic with magnet placement.

i'm hoping that i'll find the time to make some more soon, since i expect the fridge to be littered with christmas cards in a month's plus time!

tj's pumpkin

no matter where i have lived, fall has always been my favorite season.  i love the crisp scent of autumn, which i firmly believe i can smell even in the virtually season-less region of socal.   it marks the beginning of the holiday season, and the appearance of bin after bin of numerous squash varieties makes me dizzy with excitement.    

the other day i found myself in trader joe's, on the hunt for their pumpkin icecream.  by the time i made it to the check-out counter, i was clutching a couple cans of pumpkin, pumpkin chai latte mix, and pumpkin icecream.  i give the cashier a lot of credit for not making fun of me.   

promptly after i got home, i was shoving spoonfuls of pumpkin icecream into my mouth, and tried the pumpkin chai latte the following morning.  while i highly recommend tj's pumpkin icecream, i found the pumpkin chai latte mix a huge disappointment.  even overly diluted, we both found the drink coyingly sweet. within two days, i also made pumpkin bars, and bffbf made pumpkin pull apart bread, recipe courtesy of kirbiecravings. and then.. i made a pumpkin pasta bake.

today, bffbf requested that we move on to other seasonal squash for a while.   i guess that's fair. butternut? acorn? kabocha?
do you have a favorite squash?      

getting back into it?

over the last few years, i've noticed that my craft productivity is directly correlated with my stress level.   the more stressed out i am, the less creative i am.  for the first time in months and months, i felt the urge to sew and to complete some pending household projects.   i finally unpacked my serger, plugged in my sewing machine, and sewed a throw pillow for the couch.

it's a strange feeling to do an activity so familiar after such a long stretch a time.  i half expected to completely botch up my very basic project.  but aside from the usual issues with threading my serger, turns out sewing is sort of like riding a bicycle.

making it all fit

as i mentioned in my previous post, we started with only two dining chairs.  we may purchase at least one more in the future, but for now, i decided to purchase a set of stools that would be useful for guests.   i wanted chairs that could be kept out in the open, but still small enough to prevent cluttering our space.  

i immediately thought of the three legged, stackable alvar aalto stool:

aalto.com

but at $260 a stool, there was absolutely no way i could even consider buying one, let alone four.       

my second thought was the ikea frosta stool, but unfortunately for me, it turns out they sell it at pretty much every ikea in the world except the u.s.  bummer. 

amazon ended up saving the day for me (hooray for amazon), and i was able to buy a set of four for about $75.

i tucked two in the corner underneath the kitchen counter.  another went to the bedroom, and the last by our shoe bins.  

totally space efficient and functional.  they may not be the best quality, but they are perfect for our current needs.

almost there

the walls in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen are painted.  the red concrete bedroom floor mopped no less than five times and covered with flor tiles.  the master closet carpet deep cleaned.    

we've moved the placement of the couch three or four times and moved the chaise from the left side to the right side.  we've gone back and forth on whether to keep the dining table fully or partially expanded.  

we are 99% unpacked and 99% furnished.  i suppose you can say we ran out of steam for the last 1%.  the likelihood that we will be at 100% by the time we move out is 99%.  

as we found ourselves close to being completely furnished, we found ourselves in danger of cluttering our rather spacious apartment.   we still wanted an end table and we needed more than two dining chairs.  due to our set up, there isn't a great deal of space for a end table, so we searched, with only mild gusto, for a c-table.

most tables we found were the wrong price point, poor quality, or wrong height.  i was about to lose interest in the idea when my friend k- mentioned her stepmother had recently purchased one at world cost market for a very reasonable price, with a solid wood table top and wrought iron legs.  at the time it was even on sale for $59.99, and i also happened to have a 10 dollar off coupon i received in the mail.  we were sold.  it works perfectly in our space.  

eastvold coffee table

in many ways, i feel like i have restarted my adult life, like a fresh college grad, all over again.

my recent move was a small and a big one- i came with relatively little, as my roommate had a fully furnished apartment minus my bedroom furniture, so there was a lot that needed to be purchased.    

picking everything out has been a fun and simultaneously arduous process, especially when i saw the last couple credit card statements!  

my new place primarily looks like one giant ikea ad, with a few indulgent exceptions, one that i am particularly in love with: 

we purchased this beautiful, well-crafted, solid walnut coffee table off etsy from eastvold furniture, customized to our size specifications.  matt was responsive, and easy to work with.  even though we were originally sent the wrong sized coffee table, he sent a replacement and rectified the situation professionally without much trouble on our end.  i really appreciated his high level of customer service and friendliness.                   

this classic mid-century coffee table has been something i've been wishing for years, and we decided it was an investment... into our adulthood...or something? 

admittedly, owning something so nice is a bit stressful.   so my bffbf immediately ordered a custom glass panel to put over the top of the wood.   while it detracts a bit from the beauty of the coffee table, it's nice to have the added protection.   

maybe one day the eastvold credenza will be in the budget, but until then, a girl can dream.