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I recently (as in today) got back into sketching. I've spending some time on Etsy, and thought, hey! I could draw that. So here's the first two. Our new goal is to start an indie greeting card company and travel the world on our Etsy profits. Career schmareer. Obviously my first sketches had to do with Julia.

garden update.

There must be something special about Seattle rain. We complain about it, whine about it, want it when the temperature rises above 75 degrees, and it makes our garden greens grow like weeds!

This is been our first foray into the gardening scene, which happens to be huge in our neck of the woods. People fit their tidy, colorful, and bohemian gardens wherever they can, in nooks on their porch, on their rock ledges, or even hanging from the side of their house. Our neighbors a few blocks away have a beautiful vegetable garden, and document their adventures on their blog Eatin' Your Yard. Most days when Molly and I go for our morning run or walk, we check out the newest greenery springing up in our neighbors' raised beds. While we're not quite at that level of expertise, I have to say the garden in our rather giant backyard has yielded wonderful results! There's two tomato plants that are growing by leaps and bounds every day, rows of spinach that multiply overnight, butter lettuce, and strong, hardy, purple kale.

Oh yes, and arugula and basil. I couldn't live without those two, I love arugula mixed green salads and the thought of my own basil in our caprese salads makes my mouth water.

Now, on to our Farmer's Market for some new raspberries. Happy Sunday!

Sunny Days Sangria

Just a quick post on my recent obsession. Since the weather has been so great, we've been sitting on the deck in the evenings and well, drinking! Today and this weekend were especially perfect.

My husband had just mowed the lawn, I had just weeded the entire vegetable garden, and we were cooling down. This sangria has oranges, lemons, and a tiny bit of ginger ale.

I made lamb burger sliders for dinner, that spinach & purple kale salad is my newest crop!

Tonight we had white wine with pomegranate seltzer and blueberries tossed in for good measure!

For dinner we had this. It's amazing and tonight I made it with leftover pulled pork, black beans, tomatoes, salsa and a little sharp cheddar. Try it, you won't be disappointed! You can easily make it vegetarian as well.

Here's to the (almost) weekend; I'm planning on hitting up The Flying Apron!

A few things

Aaand, I'm back!

After almost a month of a blogging break, I want to share some more words and recipes, if you'll have me! You know what they all say, life has been busy, work is super slammed, etc. etc., but, when I stopped to think about it, I truly missed writing and taking pictures of my food. I mean if only 3 people in the entire world read my stories, I've reached out to someone, right? And best of all, this is a journal of sorts, that allows me to express my creativity, yada yada yada. Even though I do a ton of research and writing at work, it is always good to think outside the box sometimes and write about tastes, thoughts, and well, feelings too.

Another reason that I took a few weeks off blogging is I was training for this. I have been riding or running five days a week and my zest for photography dwindled a bit. I finally did the race yesterday; 15 miles biking, followed by 3.1 miles of running. Boy, was crossing that finish line ever amazing! I've ran races before, but never involving dual sports. It was awesome. I had a little team of my husband and dog waiting for me at the finish line, and it turns out they took some videos and photos as well (not super flattering!)

                                                                  Beginning of my run.

                                                                           ...and after it.

I know on my last post I mentioned something about these fish tacos I made, but that's too boring for my first post back. Instead, I'll present to you my own creation, an Apple Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble. And it's not half bad for you either; it has only a little butter, a teeny bit of flour (we're nearly flour free in my household), and only a little brown sugar and natural agave nectar for a little sweetness. The lighting in our kitchen was so divine yesterday evening that my husband fired up the camera and we took some shots. Lately the weather has been too perfect. Today I found myself standing barefoot, in shorts, picking some purple kale and baby spinach for our dinner. Guess living on an island did rub off on me after all!

Anyways, lets get started. I picked this rhubarb from my backyard, used strawberries (organic) from our market, and added Pink Lady apples. They are a little pricey, but definitely worth it. Plus they're so darn pretty.

Looks good, right? Not to pat myself on the back, but... it is. It's delicious. I'm actually going to get up from the couch and eat some while I write this; I'm finding it hard to believe there are leftovers.

My crumble cooling by the window...

A little onlooker...hoping for a crumb.

Ingredients:

for the crust-

3/4 c. oat flour (I put about a 1/2 cup or so of old fashioned oats in the food processor, and presto! Oat flour.)
3 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. self rising flour
pinch of cinnamon

for the filling-

1 large Pink Lady Apple
1/2 c. of sliced rhubarb
1/2 c. of sliced strawberries
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. diced crystallized ginger
1 tsp. agave nectar
1 tsp. corn starch

for the topping-

1/4 c. of old fashioned oats
1 1/2 tbsp. of brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. butter

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, in your food processor, combine all ingredients for the crust; puree until moist and the consistency of pie crust. Press into the bottom of a pie pan and bake for about 6 minutes. Next, combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix gently. Allow to sit so all the juices can combine well. Finally, make your topping; combine all ingredients in the food processor, whizzing it for a minute or two. When your crust has baked for a little while, pour your filling in and crumble your topping over it.

Bake for about a half an hour, or until topping begins to turn golden brown. Your kitchen will smell amazing!

Voila!