The Tap Room

/ neighborlylife / 9 Comments

We have a beautiful home, but one thing, and one thing only, happens when our friends come over. We leave the beautiful house, all head to the back yard, and eventually end up in the “Tap Room.” This is a huge garage space that was constructed 2 owners ago as a car workshop. The last owners had an art/photography studio in there. We’ve turned it into a play space and workshop for Alex.

IMG_0914My husband is a home brewer, so one year I bought him a kegerator for Christmas (#WifeoftheYear). Now, he always has some home brew on tap, and we’ve created a pretty comfortable space for us and our friends. This is the place where you can grab a beer, kick your feet up, listen to music, play darts, and dance. (That’s usually the order of all our parties in the Tap Room, by the way.)

How to be Neighborly: When in the Tap Room… Dance.

What goes with beer? Continue reading →

It ain’t easy being green…

/ neighborlylife / 2 Comments

What is it about vegetables that makes people dislike them so much?  Particularly green vegetables.  A friend of mine tells me it’s the texture.  Another says the flavor.  Others say the smell.  I’ll never understand.  Cooked right, the veggies can outshine any entrée, and, at the very least, complement it.  There is one way I’ve found my veggie phobic friends will reluctantly eat their greens… Continue reading →

Mom’s Day

/ neighborlylife / 7 Comments

IMG_2020This Mother’s Day, Alex and I hosted brunch for my mom, his mom, and the rest of our family.  Having just completed my night of canning with Ashley, I had some left over cherries in need of a recipe, so inspired by our recent Breakfast Club, I made Ashley’s Cherry Clafoutis.  Nothing says brunch like a warm, sweet, tart, creamy clafoutis.  Since moms can’t live on clafoutis alone, I also made: Continue reading →

Under Pressure

/ neighborlylife / 10 Comments

IMG_1981Each year, spring arrives at the Big Saver at the end of the street with a splash.  For a few precious weeks, you can get ripe, ruby, plump, sweet, glorious cherries, for $0.99-$1.49 per lb.  Whole Foods prices would be somewhere in the neighborhood (pun intended) of $6.99 per lb.  (Go Santa Ana!)  This, my friends, is a moment you mustn’t pass up.  Grab it, and preserve it, for it will not last long.

Which brings me to last Friday evening.  Ashley and I Continue reading →

May 4th

/ neighborlylife / 2 Comments

IMG_0317John & Victor are Alisha’s landlord, so we’ve gotten to know them because of her. They share a cute little duplex at the end of our street. Occasionally, you will see all three of them sitting in the front yard enjoying a glass of wine and Alisha’s veggie soup. They will wave and invite you to join them. Victor has worked in the LA garment industry for a while, and last May 4th he was working for Vans. To say he has a shoe obsession would be a gross understatement. He has a shoe closet most women would die for. I would. Unlike most homeowners, Continue reading →

The Neighborhood Husband

/ neighborlylife / 5 Comments

Don’t let the title give you the wrong idea.  It was Christmas 2013. Our Christmas is mostly celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, so we were lounging and playing with our new toys. Wayne’s family was in town from Canada, eh, and they were cooking a big meal for the entire clan. There were so many people visiting, they had rented a trailer for all the young cousins to sleep in. Adults inside, kids out. They were serving a huge meal of turkey, stuffing, gravy… all the fixings. Which we really shouldn’t know anything aboot (get it?)… were it not for the plumbing.

Half way through meal prep Alex got a text from Wayne. Something about a snake? Continue reading →