A Fall Vacation

Well, I just got back from Sunnyvale and it was a lovely little vacation before starting my new job. I got to visit Stanford University, bought some very nice tea, and cooked/baked some fun things, too.

Stanford is a beautiful campus, and I took lots of pictures. They've got excellent architecture, pretty fountains, and plenty of fascinating outdoor sculptures. They even have an art museum, and a big outdoor mall with every kind of store you could want.

This Engineering building was one of my favorites. I bought a postcard with a picture of it and gave it to my mom.

They've even got pretty flowers everywhere. This one was especially fascinating, it was almost like a work of art in itself.

This fountain is really nice. The students there must enjoy having so many fountains around. :)

I've never seen a fountain like this before. Just imagine how fun it would be to run across it, or just stand under it like you were taking a shower.... haha.

Some outdoor art.... you can tell this campus is just brimming with creativity and innovation.

They've got a church, too.... it was so big the whole thing didn't even fit in the picture. I couldn't back up further to try to fit the sides because the sun was throwing the lighting off, but as you can see it's a lovely church.

My main focus during shopping was a visit to Teavana, where JoDee got me some delicious lime flavored tea during her visit to Oregon. I got to sample about three different kinds, and ended up taking a berry tea and almond biscotti tea home in a nice tin. The almond biscotti, which I am enjoying right now, actually tastes like its name in tea form. Exquisite.
 
To celebrate Rosh Hashanah, we got some challah from House of Bagels in Mountain View. It was baked perfectly, and we enjoyed it with some apples and honey. And of course, no trip to Sunnyvale would be complete without some good food. My boyfriend and I made some apple crisp with his mom, some banana bread, and some delicious grilled stuffed flour tortillas (aka quesadillas, basically) from one of my favorite cooking blogs.

The apple crisp went great with ice cream. We used a recipe from his mom's cookbook.

And the banana bread.... two whole loaves of it. Another classic recipe. There's nothing like the scent of banana bread in the oven.

I'm quite refreshed after a week away, and look forward to keeping busy this week.... plus, making those delicious quesadillas again and sharing them with my family. :)