Soupe de poulet? (préparation), originally uploaded by Christophe Mendes.

i love this photo, with all of the fixins for a big, beautiful pot of chicken soup. look at those chicken legs wrapped with leek tops! so lovely.

everyone i know is ill right now--i've been narrowly avoiding getting sick by eating about five thousand mandarins a day. the best ones i've had have been from riverdog, monterey market, and woodleaf farm. i can't believe citrus is so sweet already.

a friend who claims to be clairevoyant (and another who claims not to be) both told me this week that they think my big project is going to pay off big time next year. i'm trying not to think about it. (my friends are on crack, by the way).

i had the best dinner (with the sweetest of my friends) at nopa last night. gosh, it was so good. everything was seasoned so perfectly. i only wish the broccoli had been cooked a little more slowly in the wood oven, but even as it was, it was delicious. and the mural by brian barneclo is bright and blocky--i could look at it for hours. if i lived nearby (and didn't work in a restaurant), i'd probably eat there at least once a week. so, so good.

sorry for the randomness....