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Kate Missine

Kate Missine is a domestic diva, shopping addict, and worshiper of all things delicious. When she's not chasing after her toddler son, Kate can be found stirring things up in the kitchen, scouring grocery aisles for strange ingredients, or indulging in much-needed retail therapy. She holds a B.A. in Communications and Publishing and accepts pastries and shoes as currency.

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Kate Missine

  • Dinner at Google? I’m Feeling Lucky

    Living in the proximity of one of the nation’s food capitals means there are plenty of exclusive, coveted, no-reservations-unless-you’re-a-celebrity establishments to try and get into. Sadly, I can’t boast of having graced many of them with my presence. But although I haven’t had the honor of sniffing the elderflower-scented foam at French Laundry, there is…

  • Get the Scoop on Ice Cream Season

    I scream, you scream…well, you get the idea. Ice cream season is officially open, people. Okay, not that you can’t gorge on ice cream year-round with the local weather, but I like keeping up the pretense to avoid stuffing my face with cold creamy calories year-round. Come June though, all bets are off. Considering said…

  • A Parent’s Paradise Found in Los Altos

    Before we had kids, I would read blogs and articles full of trendy yuppie parent tips, and just assume we would become those parents – the ones whose lifestyles didn’t change drastically with having children; the ones with the adorable kids sitting primly at the restaurant table, eating their sushi with impeccable manners, having been…

  • An Ode to Delicious Spring

    Growing up in an unapologetically atheist nation, save for faint glimmers of the Yiddish and Russian Orthodox of my grandparents’ generation, a holiday like Easter wasn’t big on the radar. There was some distant talk of church service, memories of hard-boiled eggs dyed rusty-red with onion skins, the essential tall cylinder of dry, raisin-studded kulich…

  • Blast From the Past at Cinderella Bakery

    I’ll be honest – proud as I am of my heritage, traditional Russian cuisine is not high on my list of must-have eats. Tending to be on the overly rich, not to mention labour-intensive side, these old favorites have mainly been relegated to mom’s holiday dinners and the essential New Year’s liquor-and-mayonnaise-laden table, everyday meals…

  • 3 Romantic Valentine’s Day Dates in San Francisco

    February is the Hallmark-mandated month for love, and whether you’re wining-and-dining on the big 14th or keeping it low key with a random date night, finding the perfect place to cozy up to an intimate meal may be in the cards – no easy feat in a city that has inspired heartfelt ballads and where…

  • 5 Unusual, Yummy Veggies to Stir Up Your Cooking

    In the day of foodie-educated, slow-food-100-mile-organic-sustainable -blogged-and-Instagramed everything, our familiarity with healthy eating and the goodness of fresh produce is certainly substantial, not to mention eons removed from the canned peas and green bean casseroles of decades past. Most of us have finally gotten over childhood traumas of mushy broccoli and heeded mom’s advice to…

  • 6 Ways to Create the Perfect Gift Basket

    Yes, it’s that time. In the whirlwind of shopping, preparations, travel arrangements, and social calendars, it’s safe to say that at some point during the season you will inevitably find yourself in dire need of yet another unexpected gift: a party hostess, a distant relative, a co-worker. Well, given that everyone likes to eat, what’s…

  • 5 Unique Shops to Check Out This Holiday Season

    Even for someone who loves shopping as much as I do, the thought of facing holiday malls and crowds in a frustrating search for the ideal gift is less than exciting. Buying local, upcycling, and eco-conscious is trendy talk these days, and yet by the time Black Friday rolls around, most of us still head…

  • Party Like It’s Mardi Gras at NOLA in Palo Alto

    As anyone who knows me can attest, I have never been much of a partier; birthdays were always cozy intimate gatherings, my bachelorette party was a modest spa affair, and being firmly in the trenches of suburban mommyhood means that I can’t remember the last time I ventured out to a club. Yet there’s nothing…

  • Vacation Eats: When Food Colors Our Travels

    The hustle and bustle of fall is upon us, and amidst getting back into school and work mode, it’s tempting to digress into daydreaming of the sun-soaked vacation days just gone by and longing for that mai-tai on the beach.  So in the vain hopes of hanging on to the summer spirit, I’m continuing with…

  • Tastes of Home

    Having now lived in four different countries, I have had a lot of homes over my lifetime. And from this scattered landscape of memories, fragments of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes emerge, some blurry and dream-like, others unexpectedly clear and bright. There’s my birthplace of Russia, first discoveries, the tingling mandarin and fir scent of…