breather

I seem to be taking a bit of a vacation from blogging, friends.  There's too much sunshine outside and a few too many things on my to-do list...

Enjoy your weekend and do check back.  We're headed to a much-anticipated family wedding, and I'm sure I'll have something fun to share...

cookbooks

Last weekend, we made the trek to the other side of town to attend a book signing in honor of Heidi Swanson's beautiful new cookbook.  I won't go on and on about how great the book is--everyone else on the web has already taken care of that.  (Don't believe me?  Trying going here or here or here.)

It is a gorgeous book, and I can't wait to start cooking from it.  As you may have gathered by now, I'm pretty passionate about cooking and eating "real food" and lately, I've been especially interested in the science and nutrition behind all the tasty goodness.  I'm sure that we learned about vitamins and minerals in science class, but science class was a long time ago.  I've definitely had some catching up to do.

I'd like to say that I'm clever enough to come up with delicious, healthy dinner ideas all on my own.  The truth is, I'm hooked on cookbooks.  Especially pretty ones.

Instead of a Friday to-do list, here are a few of the cookbooks--and other books--that have been occupying our kitchen counter lately:

Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food

Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair

Nina Planck's Real Food books

I'm also hoping to soon get my hands on Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis and the newest River Cottage cookbook, which I thumbed through at a bookstore a few weeks ago.  I've had the beet hummus recipe stuck in my head ever since.

Do you have a favorite cookbook that you'd like to share?  Let us know in the comments below...

Happy weekend--and happy eating--to you!

P.S.-- If you're in the Seattle area, don't forget that Seattle Tilth's Edible Plant Sale is this weekend.  Brave the rain and join in on the fun!

may

Yesterday, on a quick walk through our weekly Farmers Market, I picked up a sweet little reminder from the lovely ladies at Texture.  I love the little canning jars.  And the sentiment, too, of course.

Happy Monday--and a very happy May--to you!

first thing

I made myself a fancy bowl of oatmeal this morning.  Actually, it was a pretty normal bowl of oatmeal, with the special appearance of strawberries.  I was very excited about this bowl of oatmeal, until I began eating it and suddenly realized that the strawberries tasted like red lumps of nothingness.

Then I remembered why I usually refuse to buy strawberries until they're in-season locally and being sold by the pint at our farmers' market.  No more California-grown supermarket strawberries for me this spring. Blech.

The thing is, I was really trying to get my morning off to a good start.  It's been a bit of a rough stretch at our house lately, and I'm still trying to find the right combination of routine, inspiration, and cautious optimism that will make me feel like a real person again.

The routine--which is a key element of my life--has been kind of hard to hammer out, what with shifting schedules and long, empty stretches of free time.

And the inspiration--which I sometimes find absolutely everywhere--has been coming in wisps and threads lately.  I'm having a hard time finding something that I genuinely want to pour my energy into.  This isn't a new thing for me, although it's been a little more pronounced lately.

Feel free to contact me if you have any advice to share.  Or if you'd like to send me a chocolate cake.  Either would be fine.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get by on a handful of small, pleasant things.  Like having dinner with some dear people tonight.  And venturing out for this tomorrow.  Or maybe that.

While I'm trying to figure out where to take my life next, here's a to-do list to get your weekend going...

Stop pretending you're not interested.

Make some pretty candles.

Find your courage.

Buy this book and sew things so that I can live vicariously through you.

Check out my new theme song.

Happy weekending to you!

hens & eggs

There's plenty of holiday to go around this weekend.  With Easter and Earth Day within a few days of each other, there's lots to celebrate.

Easter is a pretty quiet holiday around our house, for any number of reasons.  This year, one of those reasons will be that I'm at work.

I'm still trying to find ways to celebrate, though.  For instance, I was seriously thinking about dyeing some eggs today.  The thing is, the fun part about doing that is decorating lots of eggs, not just, say, half a dozen.  So who's going to eat the twenty-some eggs after I'm finished with them?

Maybe I'll give some eggs away.  Or maybe I won't indulge in the tradition this year.  Maybe I'll just sit around eating jelly beans and Cadbury eggs--my other favorite part of Easter...

If you're celebrating this Sunday, you still have time to finish a few good projects before Easter rolls around.  Here are some of my favorites for you:

dyeing eggs naturally

bunny pants!

tiny egg vase

confetti eggs

hot cross buns

As for Earth Day:  No lectures from me today on recycling or using people-friendly cleaning products--I do that every other day of the year.  Instead, here are a few fun things to enjoy while you're counting your planetary blessings:

rockin' chicken coop

seed "bombs" how-to

beautiful mason bee house

Whether you're observing Easter, Earth Day, or the end of Passover, for that matter, I hope your weekend is full of family and joy...

ugh

So I am sick.  Remember when you were little and you were too sick to go to school, so you got to stay home and lay on the couch in your pajamas, wrapped up in blankets, eating popsicles, and watching day-time television for, like, the second time in your short life?

To be honest, I never actually got to do any of those things, but that's exactly what I feel like doing today.  Instead, I'm on my way to work.  It's funny, when I was little, I thought that grown-ups had more control over their lives.

I also thought that Paris was a short swim from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which just goes to show that I was wrong about a lot of things back then.

Hopefully, you're all feeling well, friends.  It's no fun being sick, especially when the sun is shining, the finches are singing, and--oh, right--you have to go work...

Happy Monday.

counting

I'm coming to this a bit late today.  I'm working through the weekend, so I've been trying to pack as much as I could into my Friday.  My day so far:

two letters written & in the mail

one tiny sewing project finished

one--fruitless--trip to the thrift store

six robins

one hummingbird

one snail

a million spring flowers

three rooms vacuumed

one teeny bowl of ice cream

one phone call to Ohio

one trip to the library

one chocolate lab pup

one gigantic German shepherd

one bag of groceries lugged home

one load of laundry

one batch of granola

I'm planning on getting a little more done before the day ends, and then it'll be time for that whole nose-to-the-grindstone thing.  If you've got a little more free time than I do this weekend, here are a few things to keep you entertained...

a spring sew-a-long!

buttery goodness

Jamie's battle for L.A.

photo lettering

homemade peeps!!

Happy weekend to you, friends!