Weekend Adventures + Link Love 001

This weekend was the perfect combination of peaceful + exciting.

We brunched with friends at the amazing Ocotillo. The moment I saw stracchino cheese on the menu, I knew I had to have it. I didn’t even care what it was served with, and yet, the dish was everything I wanted and more. Crusty bread crumbled under my bite, revealing creamy stracchino cheese topped with salty, peppery greens, sweet pickled chilies, and a hint of lemon. A robust flavor profile, perfect for a woman in love with vegetables. Ocotillo, you have my heart, and I will be back for your smoked beets and ginger-lemongrass lemonade.

After brunch, we decided that we needed a 2^nd brunch (naturally), or at least something sweet, so we went to Futuro coffee to nosh on Le Dinersaur’s famous churrovers. Maybe they aren’t famous yet, but to us, they absolutely are. Cinnamon sugar churro on the outside, lush, springy, custardy on the inside, her churrovers – a mix between a popover and churro – are divine. We enjoyed coffees, a churrover, and a tes leches mini cake, and took too many pictures with the pretty vines out back before embarking on an impromptu, unfruitful antiquing adventure. We perused booth after booth, aisle after aisle, and came out empty-handed but gleeful. With the heat setting in, we marched onward – to the pool.

Ok, we didn’t march. We drove home and moseyed around the apartment, waiting for the heat to subside. It was only about 95 degrees, but somehow the imminent Arizona heat is always a surprise. As afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows, I sliced some bananas and cut grapefruit supremes, and sprinkled chili and lime on a hatch-cut mango. We walked down to the pool, and I pretended we were walking through a resort, appreciating plants I hadn’t noticed before, like a huge blooming hibiscus the color of Santorini sunsets.

A lazy afternoon eating fresh fruit by the pool is really all I need for happiness, a discovery that dawned on me this past Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was spent on errands and sourdough, blogging and lazy grocery shopping, perusing each aisle in the vitamin and body section. Sprouts is having their 25% off vitamin and body sale, and it always takes me a month to exit the store when all the pretty soaps and supplements and medicinal mushrooms and natural makeups and sunscreens are on sale… I ended up buying one packet of each of the Four Sigmatic mushroom elixirs, not knowing which would be my favorite. Cart full of fresh mangos, portobello mushrooms, zucchini, baby eggplants, sesame oil, chicken feta sausages, a young coconut, and more, I was finally ready to leave. Once home, I grilled every vegetable I bought, and the chicken sausages. Everything is better grilled, and if we were going to make the trek to the apartment grill, which I remembered as being awful from last summer, then everything was getting grilled – everything. It was great, and we were lucky that the grill was so clean and actually got hot (a revelation from last summer!). Things are looking up.

It’s a new week, full of new possibilities, grilled food, and mushroom coffee. Here a few things I’m loving this week:

1. I’m currently loving tea tree oil and rose water as new-ish additions to my skincare routine. The tea tree oil has been absolutely revolutionary for clearing up breakouts, and I put the rose water in a little spray bottle to get a refreshing spritz as needed.

2. I’m so excited for the Kale & Caramel cookbook to land on my doorstep on May 2nd! I’m enchanted by Lily’s writing, and so excited to immerse myself in her poetic narratives filled with ways to nourish yourself inside and out.

3. It can feel really overwhelming to do a cleanse, even as short as a week. I love Lauren McBride’s concept of a Sunday Reset, and I can’t wait to try it out myself. It includes lots of juices and nourishing bevys followed by a nutrient-rich salad for dinner. Sounds like my cup of tea!

4. “I recommit to my well-being. I reevaluate the efficacy of my self-care strategies.” – Chani Nichols new moon in Taurus affirmation horoscopes. Her readings are always so precise, insightful, thoughtful. I look forward to them each week.

5. I have a horrible memory, and I’m always looking for proactive ways to make my thinking sharper and improve my brain health. These 5 Ways to Sharpen Your Brain got me thinking about some new activities I can be doing – like the matching card game we used to do as kids!

6. I’m not sure if I should be worried about my adrenals, but I do know I’m always tired. These recipes, filled with adaptogens, whole foods, and even some medicinal mushrooms are meant to help you get an extra boost.

7. Although these aren’t rose quartz, my power crystal, these gorgeous pink stone coasters have my style written all over them. I just love them.

8. Mother’s day is coming up, and I’m getting really jazzed about my Etsy shop and the potential to create love-filled custom orders for mamas everywhere.