Little Si View

You can also see lots and lots of trees.

Little Si

Today we hiked "Little Si", the shorter, easier companion hike to Mt. Si (or Big Si) that we first hiked on the Fourth of July. This was a great hike. A fun trail, cool terrain, just the right amount of challenge. The payoff at the summit was not nearly as great as Big Si in terms of the view because it's not 360 degrees and you can't see Mt. Ranier. What you can see is this (above) view of Big Si. We hiked to that top point triangle, so you can see how much further and harder it appears. We had our traditional second breakfast at the summit - ham sandwiches, fruit, and chocolate.

Fish for Dinner

I decided that I was feeling adventurous this weekend so this morning when we were planning the meals for the week I actually requested fish for tonight. I never eat fish. I have never liked it. But, over the years I have expanded my palate quite a bit and acquired many new tastes so I am willing to be open to the possibility that a taste for seafood will need to be actively acquired.

We are starting off fairly easily, a very mild cod cooked with onions, tomatoes, capers, olives, lemon, and fresh herbs. I didn't like it's texture when it first came out of the oven. It was like eating raw chicken - kind of slippery?! So J pan finished it for me to a more flaky texture. It was so mild that it almost tasted like nothing at all. As long as I put a caper or olive in every bite I was able to eat the whole thing.

Harvest

The very very last of the snow peas. And my first "big" tomato. I have been looking forward to this tomato for weeks. On the plant, there were two growing side by side, nestled into a little crook of tomato branches so we affectionately called them "the bull's balls". Too bad it wasn't very yummy tasting. It had a mealy texture which is very unappetizing in tomatoes. Now I feel bad because I don't really want to keep watering and tending the plant to keep growing large, beautiful, undelicious tomatoes.

A Good Sign

This morning, before my clients arrived for their session, I saw a tiny hummingbird. I never have my camera when they suddenly appear but this time, I did. Obviously, not with a 300mm lens on it, but at least I did have it. I snapped this while he perched on the tallest flower. I always think hummingbirds are a very very good sign. At the very least, I find them cheerful.

Kitty

When I came home from some errands I was lazy and just dropped my shopping bag and my hoodie on the kitchen counter. When I came back a few minutes later, someone had turned my hoodie into a bed for napping.

Dishes for One

I always find the dishes extraordinarily beautiful when J is out of town and I photograph them very often. The look so clean, simple, uncluttered. It's how I wish my kitchen looked and felt every day. But, I'd rather have a messy kitchen and J home 99% of the time.

Lick

Technically, this photograph is terrible. But I couldn't resist it, can you? He's a good kitty.

Checkered

A classic red and white checkered tablecloth. Nothing says summer more than that! Eating outdoors two nights in a row is a record since we moved to Seattle. This was either my Grandmother's or my Great-Grandmother's tablecloth, either way making it really really old. This is the first time I've ever used it after bring it and a yellow one home from my mom's house in April. J and I had a date night tonight, eating outdoors, checkered tablecloth, a candle, some wine and no doubt some good food but I can't remember what it was. We actually talked, late into the evening, until the light began to fade. It was really wonderful but I can barely remember what we spoke about now. I should post these journal entries fresh when I can still remember things.  At least the pictures always evoke the feelings of a time and place, even if I can't recall the exact details.

An Evening

I loved all these photographs together so I thought they should be posted that way. Apparently I was seeing a lot of color this evening. There was definitely some magic light going on. Cocktails, steaks, magic light, eating outdoors...that's a pretty great evening. I loved how the still life of the cocktail ingredients had all the colors, red, yellow, blue, green and yellow. The steaks, well, they're filet mignon. Of course. We always have filet mignon at our dinners. Actually, they were mislabeled at the grocery store as cheap pork and we got a really good deal. The cashier noticed the error and honored the price anyways so it's not exactly like we stole them.  I still feel a little guilty about it though.  There's a bendy self-portrait in the door knob, and finally my chives in the garden. My herb garden is full of green.

Trivial Pursuit

We've only played the game once or twice since we came back from Hawaii and I found this version at the Value Village for $1.99 with all the pieces and even the instructions. I think, lifetime, this has to be my all-time favorite game. We used to play it even when I was a kid and couldn't hope to know very many of the answers. I can't remember if my parents had any "house rules" or not. We have one. You can get up to three questions asked on a turn if the question/answer combo is something so irrelevant now that no one under the age of 55 would know it. It's not for simple guessing questions like "How many wings does a fly have?" or anything like "Which countries were our allies during WWII?". It's for questions like, "Who is Howdy Doody's brother?" (it's Double Doody). Of course it's a bit subjective but when you turn the card over and it says something like "Mitchell Brown" (DUH) it's a safe bet that you weren't supposed to know it. We've been having fun playing, as long as we don't do it too often. The wine helps too. Tonight I won two games in a row. The first one was a record short 1 hour.

Tomatoes

Our first of the small "cherry" type tomatoes are ripening. I read somewhere that you should pick them a bit early and let them ripen all the way at room temperature indoors. This one though is bright bright red and was ready to be eaten, which it was, seconds after this photograph was taken. It was so delicious. It's been kind of hard to savor (or be impressed) by our home grown veggies this year when they come in one or two at a time. I mean, one strawberry just doesn't really satisfy a craving. So I am hoping that the tomatoes will eventually be ready to harvest a number of them at the same time and say, put them in a salad.

Bonus points if you can spot my scar, my favorite scar I should say.

Today's Harvest

Seven sugar snap peas. I think that might just about do it for my peas this year. Very tasty though. Next year I am planting 7 times as many peas and building them a very tall trellis.

Cherries

Our cherries are finally ripening and today I climbed the tree (which was not easy or particularly safe) and we were able to pick about 4 pounds. We made a small amount into cherry cobbler and froze the rest for now.
 
We also made lasagna from scratch and watched Harry Potter.

Veggie Harvest

This time, a vegetable harvest! 6 carrots, 3 sugar snap peas, and one unripe tomato that broke off of the plant. This highlighted for me the difficulty of actually growing enough food to feed people. I would have to plant 10 times more just to feed the two of us. I also learned that carrots are difficult to harvest all the way to the ends. They really want to stay in the dirt and they break off and make me go fishing for the end with my bare hands in the earth.

Rainbow

Today I separated an egg yolk from the white for the very first time, I made my own homemade mayonnaise for the very first time, I turned half of that mayonnaise into an aioli for the very first time, and made a tuna-artichoke-caper-aioli topping for our bruschetta (amazing!). After dinner I had a craving for chocolate ice cream so we walked to Walter's, or should I say we were led to Walter's by the most amazing rainbow! It's very silly to get excited about a rainbow but they really do make me happier, especially when they come without any rain like this one did.

Harvest

So far, the strawberry harvest has been at a rate of one every couple of days. But they are getting bigger and better tasting than the first one. And the plants are sending out runners in all directions. What am I supposed to do with all those runners? Can you cut them and plant them elsewhere? These are things I do not know.

Morning Glories

We came home from our hike to find these Morning Glories blooming for the very first time. Last year, I had some old Morning Glory seeds from the $1 bin at Target and I planted them around our carport since it would be a good place for plants to vine. Nothing happened and I forgot about them. Today, when I saw these....are they the ones I planted or were they there before we moved in? Is it possible I just didn't see them last year? Anyways, I am claiming them as mine and very pleased to see them.

Wallace Falls

J and I have been going hiking lately. A weekend, get up early morning, and head out about an hour drive from Seattle (in any direction, really) to go be (not alone) in nature. This weekend I picked Wallace Falls which is up north and east a bit. It was one of those hikes that's like seriously crazy-talk awesome. Everything was beautiful, the trail was great and not too hard, and it was just like, "Um, yeah, this is good."  It starts out following a nice little rushing river, which is the only noise you can really hear.  Then it gets steeper and moves on to the waterfalls that have made it so popular.  There are really 9 waterfalls over a half mile of river but from the point of view of the hike, there are three major ones that are your destinations.

Happy Birthday

Happy 34th Birthday to Mr. Grumblehog. He keeps getting better looking with age. It's a work day so he came home, put on his apron, sat for his portrait session, and is now making me pizza. We will go out an celebrate tomorrow night.