I hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day! I was lucky to have my mom visit but the time just went by oh so fast. That seems to happen to me a lot this time of year. It seems like I’ve barely gotten pumpkins carved when Christmas trees start going up around me. My mom needed to catch up on some R&R so we mostly stayed close to home. Thursday, we cooked up a big bird with all the trimmings and laid around reading most of the afternoon. Friday, we wandered around in our local hardware and book stores. Saturday, we wandered some more, this time covering antique and salvage stores.

Saturday night was the real treat. We went to Purple Cafe and sampled the majority of their tasting menu. We also had some amazing wines that I will have to elaborate more on later. There was one so good I christened it “wine I’d most like to fill a bathtub with”. Sunday, we went to Jak’s for brunch and it was ROTFOMFG goodness. Maybe I shouldn’t mention that they are doing brunch because I was very happy to get into that restaurant without having to pace for an hour. Then we strolled around the farmer’s market before heading home for a post-brunch nap. By the time that was all said and done, it was nearly time to take mom to the airport. Four days is just not enough time!

I blame the tryptophan from my turkey leftovers for the small amount of work I’ve gotten accomplished today, despite the fact that I didn’t get much done before lunch either. Perhaps it’s a collective sedative effect after Thanksgiving. After so much good food, family time and laziness, I’m just a big hungover leftover that is ready for my next nap.

I met one of my co-workers in our warehouse and he (being from Louisiana) asked if I had family coming up for Thanksgiving. I happily told him that my mom was coming up this year and I was really looking forward to her visit. Then, he asked, If I was going to help. Help?, I responded confused. “Are you going to help your momma with the cooking?” Oooh, no no no, I am the one cooking. I had to laugh out loud after he was around the corner because I was just thinking, I’m not even going to get into what happened* the last time mom was in charge!

*Anyone who had read my blog for any length of time knows that I can’t let the holidays pass without bringing this up. It’s just too classic.

No, I’m not referring to the hilarious “Palin Rap” segment. (Although if you haven’t seen it PLEASE do.) I’m actually updating on our fun packed, liquor drenched weekend.

Friday
My neck and arm were killing me so I had to detour to the chiropractor but after my adjustment, we headed to the Duffy show at the Showbox Sodo. We got there reeeally early so that we could get a table in the bar, which is first come, first serve. The danger of being in a bar at 4:30 on Friday afternoon is that it leaves a lot of time for the beer to flow. Thankfully the tab wasn’t as scary as I anticipated but we probably knocked out a pony keg of Blue Moon before the night was out. Duffy rocked the house but she should have left her sound manager at home. When we first went out into the open warehouse, we could literally feel the music more than hear it. It got better as the show progressed and after some careful navigation I made it up to about the 3rd row just in time for a close-up view of Mercy!

Saturday Read the rest of this entry »

Life on “the plantation” is an ongoing adventure that bonds us to our home more each day. Some friends come by and see the yard, with it’s towering tomato plants and scattered pots of herbs and can only say, “Looks like a lot of work!”. Sure, there is labor involved but it’s certainly one of love. Is there any better of a reward than to taste a ripened tomato, fresh from the vine, that’s still warm from the sun? Or the slight twang of fresh pineapple mint that’s infused in a pitcher of sun tea all afternoon? I think not.

We managed to get a few big things done this weekend around the house. The majority of our herbs are now harvested and dried, and it was actually a therapeutic process. While Lach took Ruby in for an oil change Saturday morning, I bundled up in the rain and brought in arm loads of two different kinds of sage, pineapple mint and what was left of the Italian basil. After she got back home, we carefully washed and sorted herbs while we sang aloud to musical favorites blasting from the iPod. And yesterday, while my honey was playing reffing soccer, I managed to get the compost bin built in a corner of the yard. Now if it would only stay dry enough for me to mow so that I can begin to fill it with leaves and grass clippings, I’d be a happy composter.

Why go to all this trouble? For the love of food, of course! I’ve come to the conclusion that FOOD is my favorite romance language. Read the rest of this entry »

September is always one of our favorite months in Seattle and I hate to see it coming closer to an end. Today is the first day that I’ve opened the door and felt a cool mist in the air. My mind has already been full of “fall preparations” for the garden and yard but the coolness in the air brought on a new sense of urgency. For the last week, the Canadian geese have been singing “compost now, we’re heading south!”

Slowly but surely, we’ve been scratching things off of the to do list but as anyone with a yard or land knows, fall is a good time to break out the tools and start the clean up. We recently cut down two small Asian pears that were diseased and trimmed the hedges from hell. The most pressing issues in the game plan right now are Harvesting, Composting and Winterizing. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time again when our calendar has very few blank spots on it. We have a full weekend coming up, starting out tonight at Tidbit Bistro. We’re meeting up with some new found friends for tapas, wine and grappa- which I’ve been looking forward to all week!

Tomorrow night the fun continues. We’ll be birthday celebrating, Uppity Style.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Don’t wait up!

It was our, now annual, “ladies day out” at work today. I was not feeling the girly shit when I woke up this morning. It was cold and rainy out and the last thing I wanted to think about was make-up or sandals. Despite my reluctant attitude, it turned out to be a nice day. We went to the salon for manicures and pedis, and followed up with a decadent Italian lunch. I had a huge pour of Oregon Cherry Hill Pinot Noir and now I’m really needing a nap.

Poorly photoshopped wine IV ganked from google images.

So, back to the long weekend. The theme revolved around fine food, perfect drinks and awesome friends - is there any better of a combo? Friday night, we had a birthday dinner (at a favorite local Greek place) with Uppity and Co. Over a couple of bottles of nice red wine, we got to know one of her oldest friends that she’s talked about for a long time. No longer do we have to wonder if she is a figment of that fantastic Uppity imagination.

Saturday morning I woke up thinking that I was in a Hitchcock movie. There was a crazy flock of crows outside and when Lach opened the front door to investigate, it sounded like they were swarming the living room. At least I got up at a decent hour and had time to mow and weedwack the yard before it got really warm later in the day. That evening we went down to visit with our friends Texass and Teach. It’s not possible to to turn down a Texan’s BBQ ribs- not that anyone in their right mind would want to. Full of ribs and beer, someone decided wii needed to get fit. I didn’t hurl, which is a surprise considering how hard I laughed, but I did decide that I am not interested in a routine Wii workout. I am fine however with drinking beer on the couch while watching others hula hoop and head butt flying panda heads, virtually of course. Read the rest of this entry »