Lucky Sunshine

We've had really pleasant weather the past week. Every morning the sun shines in my office and you can see Mt. Rainier emerging from early morning clouds. It has had its cold and biting wind moments but mostly it had been quite beautiful.

We took advantage of it Sunday to have a waffle breakfast at a café in the sun and some friends called and we wandered around UW's campus and into their stunning greenhouse. The different tropical versus dessert areas filtered light down differently and ducking under ferns just sends you into a magical place. It was a slow full walk. The greenhouse keeper even opened the poison dart frog's cage so we could take photos without the glass. They all came up to say hi and some even placed their feet over the edge. It was a really wonderful walk.

Saturday was also a great day-we saw the Hunger Games movie with some other friends and ate at Olive Garden for the first time in o years! We all ate of each other's plates because when you're there you're family :)

Fall Trekking

This past weekend we finally had some time to ourselves so we set off on a little hike. It was mostly flat and ran along water. It was muddy and rainy but it definitely was good for our souls. We've both been really bogged down with work lately- not the kind you can put off but deadlines and people dumping work on you that you can't so no to. We only ate dinner together twice this week once was late night burgers the other was ordering pizza because that's all we had in us. So the time alone to just wander in the rain and look at ferns and listen to the river speeding next to us filled us up. You can get in a lot of good conversations on hikes like that and I'm thankful that Joshua and I both find rejuvenation in it.

Chocolate Factory

Joshua went clay pigeon shooting with some guys last Saturday and my friend Kayla must have known because she messaged that she wanted to come up from Portland to visit. It worked out perfectly, especially since a school/work friend also joined us (and also came up with what to do that day- she has the best ideas)

We went and explored Theo chocolate which was the first organic fair trade chocolate makers. They do everything from roast the cocoa beans to making all their own homemade flavorings. We got to wear hairnets but Liz wanted to be extra sanitary and donned the beard net :)

We got to sample a lot of their chocolates and they toured us through the factory. Sadly there wasn't much activity there that day but we made up for it by eating more free chocolate in the store afterwards.

 

 

We rounded out the day with some Mexican food and added a few more to our dinner group. The best part of that night may have been that R Kelly, Nelly, and 50 cent were playing loudly all night. Mid conversation it was fair game to stop and start singing along.

Small Group Date Night

 

Our small group had a night out on the town last week. We met up at Pink Door to watch some people from church play some great music. It was a cozy night in a cozy booth with people that make my heart feel full. I also love walking around the market late at night is also something I love, it feels calm and like Seattle and I are intimate friends.



10 Ticket Beer Tasting

 

A friend invited us the a beer tasting with over 30 breweries! We biked over and received 10 tickets each and a 6 oz beer glass- needless to say not many of us could make it through our 10 tickets. They had fun winter beer variations and a cherry porter with vanilla ice cream, pub food and it was all housed in an old elementary school with adorable wood stairs and original chalkboards.

 

We even met some new friends of a friend and they were the kind of people you meet, shake their hand, they asked what kind I was drinking, I said Porter something, handed them my glass, and without hesitation they took it to try it.

Love people like that! Which then led to a carefree relaxed night of sharing

beers and trying to decide how we would break a floor grate.

Clouded Mountain Veiws

 

After brunch Saturday the mountains were out and the contrast of them over the neighborhoods with red and yellow leaves was stunning. I think I mentioned to Joshua in the car that it was STUNNING about 20 times, so he took me to Golden Gardens so we could walk along the water and stare at them for awhile. The way the clouds hug the mountains on cloudy days is always very mesmerizing and coupled with the sound of water and gnarled driftwood it seemed like the perfect gray afternoon.

 

We also found some animal washed up and when nudged the whole thing jiggled. I have a few friends I'm planning on showing it to who know their sea life to try and find out what it was. Octopus, jellyfish? ( was informed by said friends it is a very large jellyfish, glad I didn't touch it with my fingers)

Ballet Date

I love modern dance. It makes me excited, inspired and all those good things and luckily hubs has come to like it as well so he's willing to go with me. He even took off work early to come down and have lunch at a newish pasta place that I've been gushing about.

We dressed up, had a happy hour cocktail and sushi and went off to the ballet!

It was 4 short ballets and one was Petit Mort which I've been dying to see.
It is a very dramatic artistic ballet choreographed to Mozart. The first ballet is stunning and structured with swords and giant silk black cloths and amazing pairings then it's another Mozart piece using the same props and similar movements BUT funny-Sechs Tänze. It is comical and men wear the prop dresses and get stabbed by swords. It was fun to laugh and relax. The third one we started dozing off during (oops) but the last on was again very dramatic and electric.

Love date nights with this man, especially since he actually had fun going to the ballet with me :)

(I love the picture of the two of us behind the painting- we were told this employee took great photos, then he told us this was his favorite painting in the place and liked to take it here - it kind of scares me, and when I looked at it later I realized the lighting was terrible, so we tried to take a selfie that was equally horrible, photo fail)

Co-worker Brunch

 

We have a new interiors guy on our team from California, therefore he doesn't know many people in Seattle yet. One of our co-workers set up a brunch to hang out, which was a stupendous idea. We ate at Skillet and consumed bacon jam burgers, grilled cheese with a chicken thigh in it, tons of scrambled eggs, fries, and split a morning pitcher of mimosas.

 

Ah yes, Saturday mornings can be the best!

 

Also yay for more young people at work- I think we finally have some hang out potential now!

Baby Shower Cake

 

 

A coworker asked if I'd make her a baby shower cake - & so I did :)

Her theme was hot air balloons so I made big fluffy icing clouds and sugar cookie hot air balloons.
To be honest it wasn't my best work, a lot of my ideas didn't work out at the last minute but I still think it's very cute and I loved the colors. Thankfully she loved it and her flavor choices made my day! She's been craving citrus so I made a citrus cake with a mango curd filling! Amazing.

Homeade Applesauce

 

I had leftover apples from apple picking that couldn't quite add up to apple butter

so they instead became this luxurious applesauce.

Ah spoonful of heaven!

 

This was really fast and easy and would be great on pancakes or mixed into yogurt. Or, as I've been doing, sneaking heaping spoonfuls out every time I walk past the fridge.

 

 

Applesauce:

 

6 lbs of mixed apples; peeled, cored, and sliced

1 cup apple cider

1 lemon; juiced

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbs maple syrup

 

1    in a large pot mix together all ingredients

2    bring heat up to medium and cook for 25 minutes, apples should be very tender

3    pour into food processor and puree until no large chunks remain, you can make

      it thinner by processing it further

4    store in an airtight container in the fridge

 

super simple with an amazing flavor, plus your whole house smells like fall while you're making it!

 



Pioneer Square Wandering

Saturday we ventured near downtown to buy supplies for a project we're working on. But on the way home traffic got bad and we got hungry so we parked along the water and ended up spending the day wandering around Pioneer Square.

It was one of those great fall days where we trudged through giant leaf piles, spent the afternoon drinking beer and talking in a small pub, stopping through our favorite toy store, and finally getting dinner at Bar Sajor which is an amazing restaurant I've been telling him about for months.

We had super delicious cocktails, pickled beets with thin sliced of beef, local mushrooms, and we ventured into dessert with a tasty apple pie concoction.

 

On Saturday we'd only planned the store trip but it ended up becoming a day we'd been wanting to do for awhile, we even happened upon the Sounder's game tailgate for some live music and watched them parade to the stadium.

Our friends went and made it even better by calling us up after their day and showing us a really cute new bar where we hung out til midnight and fit in a game of euchre and biked home.

he found what he wants for Christmas

Currant & Greens Farro Salad

Still on my farro kick I had to give another recipe a try. I've also been wanting to add dried currants to something because the little sweet kick and texture change they provide are really intriguing.

This is a really great side dish with lots of good veggies in it.

1/2-3/4 cup peas
1/2 cup quinoa
1  cups farro
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch of salt
1/4 cup Italian dressing
handful arugula
3 small cucumbers; diced
1/4 cup dried currants
1/2 cup feta cheese
S&P

1   cook peas in boiling water until done
2   cook farro and quinoa with pepper flakes and salt in water 1" above grains
3   bring to a simmer and reduce heat, cook for 15-20 minutes, al dente
4   drain grains
5   in a large dish mix arugula, currants, cucumber, farro, quinoa and peas
6   drizzle in the Italian dressing and mix
7   top with feta cheese
8   really good if you store it in the fridge and serve chilled

Halloween Night

 

Halloween night I confiscated my neighbors cat and created an iron man mask for him!

(Backstory when they wander around they always wear a light attached to their collar so that they can be seen.) Therefore I knew when he came to visit me he'd already have half his costume on. Also since this is the most tolerable cat in the world he purred the entire time I fitted a mask to his face.

Then I took him upstairs, she thoroughly enjoyed him all dressed up, we paraded him around to some neighbors, then we found the other kitty and made him dress up as iron-kitty too.
Honestly adorable and I swear they totally didn't mind, didn't even try to get the mask off once!

 

Then hubs and I headed over to a new spicy hotdog food truck that opened up in our neighborhood, dream come true, and watched a movie while I did an art project for United Way for work.

No candy involved sadly, but the next night we rented a movie and picked up a box of bottlecaps, heated up corndogs, and made popcorn for dinner. (yes hot dogs 2 nights in a row, oops)
I swear we normally eat better than this, but who says no to corndogs & bottlecaps- no one!

 

And just like that it's November & one month closer to seeing my family again :)