ode to the tomato

I rode my bike to the farmer's market today in search of tomatoes. I bought a giant bag, and as I was headed out, I ran into two poets. My love for tomatoes runs deep (borderline obsession), so I figured that was worthy of a poem. Here is what it says:

Tomatoe (yes, he actually spelled it wrong. Love it.)

flesh

of wine

spilled

in blood

of shaded night.

sweet heat

filling the vessel with 

a taste of fruit

-WC (www.williamthepoet.com)

 

I don't know many places where you can get a poem with your purchase of tomatoes, which is why I think Seattle might be the greatest city on Earth. Just sayin'

100 happy days

A few of my co-workers and I decided to play a game where we take 1 picture every day of something that makes us happy. We then post our pictures to Yammer (our work's social networking site). For the record, we didn't come up with this game. It's something that is going around the internet, but we decided to play along too. I am always looking for reasons to take pictures and stopping to appreciate things that make me happy each day can't hurt either. So far I'm only on day 20, but I haven't missed a picture yet. Here are a few of my happy pictures.

Eating local and sustainable/running is so much more fun with my colorful shoes 

A rainbow in our backyard/lazy Saturday afternoons 

Splurging on $10 dahlias for my garden/olive oil from our adopted olive tree in Italy 

Working really close to the fish market for lunch time visits/my nerdy dog

it's a girl

When our very good friends, Pat and Laura (seen here, here and here), found out they were having a baby, we decided to throw them a fun gender reveal party. We had a big clam bake followed by a lovey cake with pink frosting on the inside to tell them they were having a girl. I was the only person who knew in advance (well, besides the baker!), and, trust me, I was mighty relieved when they found out and I didn't have to keep it quiet anymore. Such a fun day!

happy anniversary

Today is our 4 year wedding anniversary! It's so fun being married. I love that I always have someone to hang out with...especially when that someone is always willing to play along when I make him take photobooth pictures or spin on his back or jump just for fun or harass our dog together or dress ridiculous. I'm so lucky! 

If you need us we'll be celebrating with anchovy pasta at How to Cook a Wolf.

a walk in the woods

Anders and I took Maggie to my favorite secret spot in Seattle last weekend. It's a wooded area that's totally hidden and hard to find. I don't think many people know about it because we rarely see anyone back there. We can let Maggie off her leash, and she is seriously the happiest dog on the planet while we are there. Anders and I are pretty happy too because it's a total escape from the city without actually leaving the city. I would tell you where it is, but, well, then it wouldn't be our secret anymore would it?

And while this was a super fun part of my day, I have to show this photo below to prove that life isn't always so picture perfect...

See that brown stripe down Maggie's side? That would be where Anders spilled coffee on her. HA!

three things I currently love and one thing I hate

1. This shirt was accidentally sent to me by  mistake. When I contacted the company, I was told I could keep it (it's says "Coffee...a hug in a cup")! Love!

2. These flowers randomly decided to start growing at the base of our deck stairs. I have no idea where they came from (squirrels?), but I love them.

3. You can now buy Maddie on Things prints! As I've mentioned before, I love Maddie. I bought this picture for our kitchen, and it is SO cool. Everything about it is perfect. 

However...

I do NOT love the giant hobo spider that decided to crawl across the COUCH and attack me. For a frame of reference, please refer to this picture I took of one a few years ago in our bathroom. Not cool. Soooo...not cool. I refused to get on the couch the rest of the day.

Happy Monday! Hopefully there are no spiders and only free shirts in your day.

shrubbery

In which Anders cuts our laurel in the rain while I take pictures instead of help and he doesn't get mad. 

I love him!

just for fun

Okay, I know it's Friday and not "throwback Thursday," but I was looking through an old external hard drive and found some pictures of when Anders and I were first together. I feel like Anders looks the same, but I had bangs! What was I thinking...And Maggie? She was so skinny. Ha.

This is literally the first day we met. We actually have a really great picture of us together at this moment, but this is the "oh crap the camera went off when we weren't ready" picture that I think is pretty funny.

New Year's Eve 2007. I wasn't even living in Seattle yet (I was in Denver).

Anders helped me move from Denver to Seattle, and this was a stop we made in Jackson Hole. We went hiking in the Teton Mts.

Our old pup, Jackson.

New Years a year later

Lake of the Ozarks 2008...we had just gotten engaged!

We had just finished Wii boxing. I don't know why he is pretending he is the champ when I clearly remember winning.

Kauai 2009

Maggie is such a young pup.

Thanks for taking a look back with me!

a little update...

 Anders has been on his book tour this past week; stopping in New York, San Fran, Portland and finally on to Denver. Meanwhile, it has just been me and Maggie at home. Until today that is!!! I got home today from work, minding my own business, and when I walked in the door I saw Anders home early! He has a small break before he leaves for Denver, so he came home for a few days and surprised me. AND not only did he surprise me by coming home early, but he brought Pok Pok (a very well known Thai restaurant that I've been dying to try) all the way home from Portland with him because I literally won't stop talking about it. 

I mean, pleeeeease! Do husbands get much better than that?

I don't think so.

Here is all the press from the book tour from the last week in case you missed it.

AM Northwest (Katu.com)

Seattle Weekly review

Heritage Radio

Better TV

Portland Monthly review

Truffles and Tribulations (radio show)

The pictures above are from the book tour via the Pike Place Fish instagram and Anders' instagram. Click the hyperlinks to check them out if you don't have the app on a smartphone.

be mine

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Hope you had a nice day yesterday. We had a very low key Valentine's night. Since we just got back from Peru, we decided to stay in and make dinner at home. However, I didn't want it to be just another night in, so we spiced it up a bit with a new, homemade pasta dish, champagne and Tim Tams (Australia's favorite cookie!) for dessert.

Here is the pasta we made. It came from Sunset magazine and it was delicious!

Dungeness Crab and Garlicky Yogurt Pasta

Serves 6

Ingrediants:

2 cups of labneh or plain, whole-milk Greek yogurt (we used the yogurt)

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 garlic gloves, crushed with 1/4 tsp. salt in a mortar and pestle

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. dried pappardelle pasta or 1 1/4 lbs. fresh fettuccine

1 pinch saffron threads

1/4 cup butter

3/4 lb. shelled cooked Dungeness crab

1/2 cup loosely packed small fresh dill sprigs

About 2 tsp. Aleppo pepper or ground ancho chile

Directions:

1. Combine labneh (or yogurt), lemon zest and juice, salt, pepper, garlic, and oil in microwave-safe bowl cup. Set aside.

2. Cook pasta as package directs.

3. Meanwhile, pulverize saffron with a mortar and pestle. Add 1/2 cup hot pasta water and loosen saffron bits. Pour into a small saucepan, add butter, and heat until simmering; keep hot. Microwave labneh-lemon mixture until hot but not boiling, 1 minute. Rinse crab with hot water in a strainer to warm.

4. Drain pasta and return to pot. Toss with saffron butter. Add labneh mixture, crab, half of dill, and a little Aleppo pepper and toss very loosely to mix slightly. Pour into a warm rimmed bowl. Sprinkle with remaining dill and a little more Aleppo pepper. Serve with more Aleppo pepper on the table.

Meanwhile, have you guys heard about Vine? The newest social media app? It's an app where you can make short, little looping videos. I signed up for it, and I made my first video on Valentine's Day. Honestly, I'm not sure if I have time to really keep up with ANOTHER social media site, but it was fun to make. We'll see how it goes. You can see my first video here.