Weekend Review | Date Night, Hosting Dinner & a Nostalgic 2000s Movie Marathon
It has been a while since I've done a weekend review!! But I have to say, this has been one of my favorite series' to write on the blog. Not because I think it's important to capture and document every single moment of my life, but because in a world where we're constantly watching what people are doing via IG stories, TIkTok or Reels - it's kind of nice to read about it instead. And to gather more context for the short, perfectly curated photos that we see on social media.
Weekend review is also a way for me to remember what I did over the weekend. Have you ever had this happen to you, where someone asks what you did over the weekend and it takes way longer than it should for you to respond/remember? The weekend goes by so fast that this little series is a way for me to memorialize the times I wasn't swamped with work or other responsibilities. Think of it as a little peek into my journal, and a taste of real life.
Date night dress: Free People Lovely, Lovely dress
Friday was date night. And if you watched my first fall video of the season, you know that I've made an intentional decision to start having date nights more often. My husband and I have never really been a planned date night type of couple. We kind of just hang out together whenever we want and whenever we're both not working. We've never really needed to schedule in time for one another because we'd both rather be hanging out with each other than doing anything else anyway.
But that doesn't mean that a girl doesn't want to get dressed up for a sexy date night on the town every once in a while!
My husband made reservations for a new place that we hadn't tried before, but upon reading some more reviews and taking a peek at the menu, we decided that it just wasn't the right night to try out something new. So we opted for our old faithful restaurant - Skates on the Bay.
Skates is a gorgeous restaurant right on the water in Berkeley and I've been going there for as long as I can remember. I went there after my Confirmation in high school, we've gone for birthdays, Easter, and various other family events. The problem with Skates is that it can be a bit... hit or miss. When you're working with a view that beautiful, I sometimes think restaurants think they don't have to try that hard with the food. Kind of like when you're touring a house on the water with a gorgeous, endless view of the ocean, but the inside looks like something out of a horror movie. They still charge you millions of dollars, for the view alone. Even if the house itself could use some work.
Gorgeous view from our table!
I got the miso cod, C got the cioppino.
Skates is one of those Bay Area staple restaurants. It's family friendly, the menu is solid, and when you catch them on a good day the food is delicious! The restaurant was packed on Friday with large tables of 10-12 people. And while the energy was there, the food did leave a bit to be desired unfortunately.
Alas, we will try a new restaurant for our next date night and see how it goes. I've wanted to go to Cotogna in SF for the longest time and my husband made reservations for us at Chez Panisse next month which I am so excited about.
Saturday was pretty rough for me. I didn't sleep well the night before, and I ended up being so drowsy and miserable all day. Which was awful because we were hosting friends for a dinner party Saturday evening.
I really could not get it together, I haven't been that tired in a WHILE. For me, there is no greater torture than not getting good sleep. It's a large part of the reason why I stopped drinking alcohol - because I absolutely despise the feeling of tossing and turning all night only to wake up with a pounding migraine the following day.
I did my best to get myself together and prep for our party. Around 2pm my husband very wisely suggested that I lay down for a nap. Which was smart because I actually did fall asleep, and woke up refreshed enough to continue on. Still exhausted, but less exhausted.
The menu for the dinner party was:
🍂Harvest salad with walnuts, raisins, burrato & homemade salad dressing
🍂Mushroom, leek & apple stuffed acorn squash
🍂Apple cider chicken thighs
🍂Apple Upside down cake and ice cream
This was my first time making stuffed acorn squash and I absolutely loved it. It was quite filling and was just so warm and comforting. It was also my first time making an apple upside down cake. I've made a pear upside down cake before, but never apple. It went pretty well, except that I think I let the caramel get just a little too dark, so the caramel was slightly too bitter. The cake itself was delicious though, and I will definitely be trying again! I also didn't have the right sized cast iron skillet for the recipe so I was already working at a disadvantage.
Nevertheless, the food was delicious and the evening was magical. I just love sitting with friends around a candlelit dinner table - talking, laughing, sharing stories. It's one of my favorite forms of human connection.
The recipes for the evening were all from my Big Sur Bakery cookbook. My husband and I have a mini trip planned to Big Sur coming up soon! And while the Bakery is sadly no longer there, I'm so glad I have the cookbook to remind of all the wonderful times I spent there eating their delicious food.
Dinner was fabulous, the evening was great, and there are some snippets from this party in my last vlog which you can watch here.
Sunday was the perfect early fall Sunday. My husband actually had to work briefly in the morning and I had to head to the farm to clean up from our last wedding. We reunited in the early afternoon and spent the day lounging on the couch, watching movies and cuddling under our new fall throw (also seen in my last video). We watched Something New with Sanaa Lathan and Easy A starring Emma Stone. Two movies he had never seen before but were pivotal to my development as an adolescent.
Something New is a wonderful film about an uptight lawyer, Kenya (played by Sanaa Lathan), who has an entire checklist for the type of man she's looking for: tall, dark, handsome, with a good job, and an understanding of the Black experience. Her work friend sets her up on a date with a man who is the complete opposite of that. Brian is a blonde, bohemian, landscape architect who falls for Kenya immediately - though it takes her a while to let her guard down. With race at the forefront, they're forced to confront themselves, their beliefs, and their biases to see if they really can have a love that lasts.
I grew up absolutely loving this movie, and my own love story is not that far from it. My husband really enjoyed it as well. We've been watching all movies on our dvd player lately and it's a much better experience. No ads - just trailers from early 2000s movies that we forgot about. It's so cozy and I highly reccomend getting a dvd player for those nostalgic, early 2000s fall vibes.
My husband made dinner and then we went for a walk in our neighborhood. The fall foliage is so stunning right now. The leaves are the most beautiful color and they're already lining the ground - creating an auburn illuminated path everywhere we walk.
In the evening, we picked my mom up from the airport after what looked like a fabulous vacation. She spent almost two weeks on the East Coast celebrating her birthday. She dined at the top of a restaurant and saw Broadway shows in New York City, visited family members in Virginia and Maryland, and capped off her trip with a girls weekend on the water - that woman knows how to plan a trip!
And speaking of trips, my husband and I are planning an Autumn trip to Seattle! I really wanted to go on a Autumn vacation - somewhere that's moody, beautiful and has stunning fall foliage. I didn't want to go all the way to the East Coast, so we decided on Seattle. I've never been before, but it looks like the fall vibes are pretty high there - unbeknownst to the general public.
While Sleepless in Seattle seems to be on everyone's fall movie list, Seattle isn't a town you hear about much in the way of fall foliage. But I'm excited to go and hopefully be let in on a little secret - that maybe Seattle is the Bar Harbor of the West Coast.
This weekend was a lovely, soft and slow start to fall. I'm eager to esperience the remainder of the season this year.
xo,
F.
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