Nettle Pasta

It has been a good week. Aside from the paper cuts. Things related to this little monster are coming together, and unless I've totally blown it, packages should start going out as planned in the coming weeks. There might even have be a preview ready in the next few days. Maybe! In the meantime, there are a couple things I'm excited to share. First, a nettle pasta recipe I've been in love with lately. And then, a few snapshots from a walk I took to the Golden Gate bridge the night of its 75th birthday celebration.

The pasta is a breeze. For those of you who've never cooked with nettles (I suspect this might be a good number of you), buy some the next time you come across them. They're easier to deal with than you think. Here I quickly blanch them straight from the bag they came in, in the same water I cook the pasta. One pot, no stings. I add toasted almonds for crunch, feta because it's tangy creaminess plays nice with the nettles, and onion sprouts. Bit of garlic.

I really should have packed the leftovers (and more layers!) for our expedi! tion to the bridge, but we went on a bit of a whim, and I didn't think it through entirely. There was a news report predicting half a million people would attend the celebration, they were closing the span to all traffic for an hour, and it seemed worth checking out. So we walked out the front door around 6pm, and, over the next few hours, made our way to the ridge just to the right of the south tower.

There were a lot of people, and it was a beautiful San Francisco evening, and thankfully there was plenty of space from everyone. People were spread out for miles along the hills and shoreline. It was one of those things that turned San Francisco into something its typically not - a city where people are out and about late at night, bustling to get here or there. Because of the lack of parking (and buses and taxis), it felt like everyone walked in. Which meant they also walked out. Anyway, it was nice in a lot of ways. And it was a nice reminder that sometimes a really long walk, fireworks or not, is a perfect way to spend a night out. xo -h

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