String and Twig turns one year old this week!

I started this blog without any specific goal in mind, other than to start writing again, and I achieved that goal. Eventually, I settled into a predictable weekly rhythm of a Monday night publication with Tuesday morning trumpeting on social media to herald my latest post. Committing to posting weekly forced me to sharpen my observation skills and taught me to get out of my own way. Looking back, I see that without fail, I posted something each week, and you kept reading! You even shared with your friends. Thank you.

So far, String and Twig has been about transforming. Whether we're making something (cheese, anyone?), exploring our city, learning something new, or connecting with people, there's a touch of alchemy. A glimmer of magic every week is good.

Speaking of magic, last week, Wyatt and I had a MORNING. It was the kind of morning that no matter how hard I tried, everything took at least twice as long as usual, and even though I tried mightily to claw my way back to on-time-ish, I slipped further behind schedule. I hadn't prepared for any of our activities the night before, I couldn't find the items we needed, and Wyatt was equally unfocused. As the minutes ticked by and we still hadn't left for the fitness trail (Mountain Lake this time), I started getting annoyed. By the fourth time I had asked Wyatt to put on his shoes, my voice was brimming with irritation. Wyatt gave a dramatic sigh, and said, "Mom. Are you unhappy? You sound UNHAPPY. And I DON'T think THIS is very FUN." He was right. It wasn't fun. I gave up looking for the lost 90 minutes. All we really had to do was be on time to our swimming-knitting lesson later that afternoon.

Once I gave up, magic happened. We had a fun workout, got our grocery shopping done, visited with our favorite checker, and we took advantage of being out past lunchtime by grabbing lunch at Chicks and Love Pizza Patio, which is right outside Rainbow Grocery, at 1701 Folsom Street.

We love Chicks and Love. The food is delicious (with lots of gluten-sensitive options, and dairy-free options, too), and Chef Kellie Joe and her staff are so welcoming. After Wyatt and I had finished our breakfast-sandwiches-for-lunch, we stopped up to the order window to ask some 5-year old questions about how electricity gets into the little restaurant kitchen. Kellie gave us her best answers, and then she offered us a tour. Did we have time? Of course we did.

Chicks and Love's restaurant kitchen is 102 square feet. There is enough room for two very spatially aware people to work at the same time. I noticed there is not an inch of wasted space. Kellie told us that many of the appliances and fixtures are the smallest available, because that's all that would fit. The pizza oven is amazing—it is programmable, and whooshes heat around at something like 60 mph while a conveyor simultaneously moves the food. Kellie had two circulators going to cook impeccable sous vide eggs, and an impressive array of ingredients in their mise en place.

The tour only solidified our admiration for Kellie and her restaurant.

If you're in the East Bay, you can find Chicks and Love on the weekend at the Walnut Creek farmer's market. During the week, if you're in San Francisco, it's worth stopping by for breakfast, lunch, or to pick up something to bake at home later.

After our tour, we made it home in plenty of time to prepare for swimming and knitting. And while it will take probably take more than just this experience to really teach me that sometimes, magic requires letting go, this particular lesson was a good one, reinforced with a tasty reward.