I realize that I only ever really discuss weekend events on here. One might guess that this is because I only do things that are mildly interesting on the weekends. One would be wrong. The main reason is that I have a wretched memory and can really only remember what I did on the weekend (so long as I am updating on Sun/Mon/Tue) unless I ponder for longer than I want to spend updating my blog that I think only three people read. SO, in case any inquiring minds want to know, on any given week I could possibly be doing ( or not if tired) any of the following: cooking an extravagant meal, going to trivia night at a local bar, knitting/socializing with my mom, pilates torture and a day off due to a condensed schedule. That was actually in order by the way.



This week I skipped trivia in favor of a Mariner’s game. WOW, it was cold. Autumn is here for sure. But we won despite Felix’s wild pitches (here’s hoping it doesn’t put him out of contention for the Cy Young award!). They were shouting sales of hot cocoa instead of beer. Ahhh, Seattle.

Had a lovely meal last night, though hurried, before the game. Seems my lovely boyfriend was feeling a bit guilty for not having prepared dinner in a bit (I may have hinted). On the menu: duck with sliced beets, spinach and beet greens wilted over diced plums sautéed in duck fat. Mmm. I am a lucky girl I tell ya.

Whether or not I have mentioned this previously – you need to try this wine: Moscato d’Asti.
It has low alcohol content, is white and sweet. It is almost like tipsy Martinelli’s. Delicious! And it seems that all my friends are discovering it independently which is weird. Not great for a heavy, winter meal but fabulous for light dishes or as a summer sparkling type beverage. It really doesn't seem to matter which label you buy - they are all great! Try some today!

And as far as what I did this weekend... hunted for some cute shoes to wear at a wedding only to find out yesterday that there are drainage holes in the floor of the tent structure thing and that heels are not recommended. Grrr. If you have larger feet you know how difficult it was to find cute shoes in the first place. They don't make pretty pumps! Went out to dinner and had some great potato gnocchi. Got home super late and left my leftovers in the car! :( So sad. But my car did smell lovely the next morning. :) I love food.

My cousin celebrated her wedding with a small, intimate gathering at her uncle's cafe in Portland. Mom and I made a half day of it and spent time in the Hawthorne district munching on Ben & Jerry's while perusing the shops. Spent a lot of time in Powell's Books and came home with two new treasures. It was nice to see family and watch the latest kiddos scuttling around. Delicious food too! If you make it down to Portland, check out Sydney's Cafe. Mmm, mmm, good!

Sunday was lazy and some serious napping was in order after driving back late Saturday night. Doesn't seem to matter how many days I get for a weekend they always go too quickly!

Twilight is upon us…

Uber nerdy weekend has passed. But what a great time! Some friends and I headed out to Forks for some Twilight craziness. We centered the trip around a geocache series that took us to many of the landmarks in the books including but not limited to: Swan house, Cullen house (our B&B!), Forks popo station and hospital, Bella’s truck, La Push First Beach. After some unintended detours we found the cache just before leaving Forks for home. I'm sporting my Cullen vampire league baseball shirt in the pic. :) We stopped over in Port Angeles for some mushroom ravioli at Bella Italia (site of their first date) and I was amazed at the quality of the food. Will definitely be going back there again for non-Twilight purposes. We had the best weather both days and though I know fall is here it was great to have one last summer weekend. Sigh. Back to work again.

FOOTBALL!

Had the pleasure of attending the Coug football game in Seattle this weekend. Even if my boys forgot how to play the first half it was still a grand time. I was very surprised at how few people I ran into that I knew in school. Ah well. Was able to catch up with one friend that has moved to the area so that was and will be nice to reminisce. She also has season tickets and offered up a game of my choosing in Pullman. :) So I am working on those arrangements. It will be fun to go back to my college town and see all the changes. And eat at all the good food places and see if they are still tasty.

Sunday it was also nice that the Hawks claimed their first season victory! Yeah!

Ate so much tasty food this weekend I think I strained my stomach into thinking that is the quantity it should have all the time. Oops. The pear-almond tart at Maximilien's was absolutely divine. Tried to go back for a second night but arrived after closing. :( Now it is all I can think about! Decided I should attempt huckleberry creme brulee with my huckleberries I got in E. Wa and froze. Seems my weekends keep filling up though so finding the time to make, share and eat is proving difficult.

Explored a local park again that has a walkway suspended over some train tracks. Even though I knew I was safe it was seriously freaky when I stood on it and watched/felt the train zip by underneath. I now have a healthy respect for stunt people that do all the on top of the train scenes in movies. However, I still think they are crazy.

Have some get out of town trips upcoming in the next month or so and am really looking forward to them. Long weekends aren't the same as a long stretch vacation so I think I will have to focus on that once I am in town for a while and can plan better. Still voting for watching Carmen at La Scala in Italy. We'll see.

Think I'm coming down with a cold and would love to have unlimited sick time to take care of it. This year's flu season will be interesting...

Bereft of puppy.

Last week was a bit stressful. The puppy was super sick, as noted previously, and taken to the vet where results were inconclusive. This prompted her owner to decide that she should no longer stay with me. There was a whole lot of back and forth and while I am very sad that the puppy is gone I am happy that the drama is almost over. The only thing left is to sort out monies for the vet, registration, etc. I know that I didn't do anything wrong and that my actions were for the best interest of the animal (who wouldn't want to take their pet in if they were vomiting and urinating blood?) but it still sucks to have the strong implication that you were the cause of an animal's suffering. By many accounts I was treating her better than she had been before. At least it is over now and I can pick up activities that were suspended due to the increased responsibility of puppy caretaking.

To further my quest for a more efficient lifestyle and downregulate poop handling Sugar has an automated litter box. It looks a bit like Kenny from South Park but it does the deed for me. Yeah! Now the only thing I need to worry about is the loving of the kitty. :) Hip hip hooray for robots! The robot is also more happy that the shedding has decreased ten-fold. Thought it has been a week it is still clogged quite quickly with puppy fur.

The weather took a turn for the worst this weekend (holiday weekend of course) so I have compensated by eating like it is fall/winter. I tried rutabaga for the first time at a bf family function and fell in love with it. Cooked one up today (peeled, chopped, boiled & mashed) and seasoned with butter, salt and pepper - supposedly the same as the ones I tried on Sat. Their rutabaga was orange like a sweet potato and mine was more yellow so I'm not sure what happened there but it tastes great! I also cooked up some more sautéed yellow & zucchini squash but the pinnacle of today's post-summer cooking lament was roasted vegetable soup. Picked up some butternut squash, parsnips, carrots and puréed with garlic and onion after roasting them all. Curried it up a bit in addition to my fave spices and a dollop of cream at the end makes for a satisfying rainy day meal. Bring on the fall! Wondering now if I should endeavor to make Barefoot Contessa's chive biscuits...

Not looking forward to the work week but at least it has been shortened by eight hours. :)

Ciao for now - off to make/eat more tasty treats! Maybe a pie, who knows?