October wrap-up

October was, all in all, a very peaceful month. The weather has started to cool and chill a bit, but most days are still glistening warm and sunny in San Francisco. I did many fall-themed activities – baking apple pies, pumpkin carving, and making pumpkin cider beer bread. And I did some less fall-themed things – traveling to Hawaii, for one. When I look back on October, I think of wonderful full weekends, brimming with friends and things that make me happy. I also think of long weeks at work, and to be honest, most of my Monday’s-Thursday’s seem like an absolute blur.

1. Travels – San Diego, Honolulu, Mill Valley

   I had two wonderful, good-for-the-soul trips to Honolulu, HI and Mill Valley, CA with some of my favorite people. These were the kind of trips where you rest your body and spend long lazy hours with the people you love.

2. Baking and cooking – Scallion pancakes, Toasted toffee chocolate sea salt cookies, chocolate milk pancakes, and mini apple pies

   October was an absolutely prolific month on the baking and cooking front, and I still have some recipes that need to be captured. I’m proud of each of my new recipes for a different reason: the scallion pancakes I learned from my dad, the toasted toffee cookies were the result of kitchen spontaneity, the chocolate milk pancakes are such a quick hack, and the mini apple pies were a labor of love.

3. Reading – 1 book about food, 1 book by a favorite author

   I was truly inspired by Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. As a lover of food, how could I not be captured by his wild stories of the restaurant scene? The second book I read this month was Killing Commendatore, the latest novel by Murakami. I have to say, this newest novel is one of my favorites of his books.

Blogging goals

Whoops, I have to say I slipped a bit on last month’s blogging goals. I still need to pen a foodie tour of my Hawaii trip, and I was far from posting twice a week. I made some pumpkin themed bakes but they unfortunately were a bit of a flop and didn’t make it on the blog. But what progress did I make? I started an Instagram! If that is your thing, you can follow me @halicopteraway.

So given October goals fell through, what are my goals for November?

1. Better integrate my WordPress blog and Instagram – Find a cleaner way to link to this blog, regularly post on each medium
2. Wrap up my trip to Hawaii with a post!
3. Post at least once a week – with the start of Instagram, I have less time to manage both platforms. I do enjoy the reflection of longer form writing, and want to dedicate myself that that properly on this blog.

As we sail into November, I’m truly looking forward to Thanksgiving, both for quality time with family along with some time off work. For the first time in a long time, I’m also not traveling so I’ll enjoy sleeping in my own bed!