Best Coast Weekend

A few weeks ago, I visited northern California for a friend's wedding. There were the added perks of seeing two of my absolute best friends from college that I hadn't seen in a year and getting to be in one of the best cities in the world. I had a day in SF, where I got to see the Transamerica building up close, enjoy a coffee and some crocheting in Union Square, see some old friends and get green chile apple pie, and visit the birthplace of Beat poetry, City Lights Bookstore!







Then the next day was the actual wedding, which I was supposed to be attending with one of aforementioned besties. In classic Mugdha-Loni fashion, we both assumed the other person would have brought the invitation and ended up with our other friend driving us around lost for over an hour. After about half a million frantic calls to basically everyone we knew, a trip to the hotel guests were staying at, and then playing Jenga in a random bar until someone called us back, we finally made it to the reception, and nobody seemed to mind too too much that we were ridiculously, epicly late....and embarrassed. It was nuts, but I wouldn't have expected any less of an adventure from my best friends.


Amidst all the madness, I still managed to have some totally kickass real Mexican food, see some wonderful people, and even get a tiny bit of work done.

Till the next time, best coast!

Recipe: Spinach Puff Pastries

When I was in South Africa, the lady who owned the guesthouse I stayed at made these really delicious spinach puff pastries. When I tried to get the exact recipe, she was a little vague (perhaps it was a family secret or something), but I tried my hardest to recreate them a week ago. I gotta say, hers were better, but mine turned out good enough that my roommates liked them, so....I'll take that.
Ingredients:
Sundried tomatoes
Spinach
Mozzarella cheese (diced)
Salt/Pepper/Spices you enjoy
Pastry sheets
Butter/Butter spray

Completely thaw pastry sheet roll. Cook spinach lightly with salt to remove excess water. Mix mozzarella, spinach, sundried tomatoes and salt/pepper/spices to taste in a bowl.

Spray a cupcake pan with non-stick spray. Take two pastry sheets and fold in half. Fit carefully to the cupcake mold and add filling generously.

Tuck edges of pastry sheet over the top (like box flaps). Spray or spread butter over the tops of sheets to seal and add shine. Stick in the oven on 350 degrees until brown and crispy (mine took 15-20 min).
Apologies for not taking more pictures, but my hands ended up all pastry dough-y and then handling my camera seemed less appealing. Feel free to ask  if you have any questions!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

WONDERFUL NEWS!!

Some of you have already heard, I'm sure, but an announcement recently on JK Rowling's website details the writer's screenwriting debut for a film series of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Supposedly it will follow the "author" of the book, Newt Scamander, from New York through his writing of the text.
One of my favorite things about the Harry Potter universe is the level of thought Rowling put into history and details about the wizarding world, and Fantastic Beasts and Quidditch Through the Ages were like a dream come true for my nerdy need to know more background about things like wizard sports, history, politics, etc. I.e. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!! I'm not sure how much I trust Warner Brothers not to screw this up, but with Rowling writing the screenplay herself, I at least have to hope they will be better than the HP movies (which, don't get me wrong, are decent, but didn't do a great job of capturing the tone of the books).