Blackberry Banana Bread

 

After all the blackberries we'd scavenged I was dying to bake them into something and Joshua was dying to eat them. I also had a few bananas in the freezer that were nice and brown so I combined them. They became deliciousness that I want to eat everyday, this bread is so darn tasty!

 

Blackberry Banana Bread:

3 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup blackberries
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup crushed pecans
2 tbs butter

1    line bread pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2    mash banana and blackberries together in a small bowl and set aside
3    beat butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes, then beat in eggs
4    in another bowl mix flour, powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon
5    mix half of flour mixture into butter, then mix in half of banana mixture, and repeat, don't overmix. pour mixture into bread pan
6    mash together sugar, pecans, and butter with the back of a fork and crumble on top of bread mixture
7    bake for 40-50 minutes, should be golden brown

Workshop Night

We got an awesome cloudy rainy Saturday to relax in this weekend. To avoid binge watching and napping for the entire day we schlepped ourselves over to Joshua's work to have a workshop night. We ate thai food in the machine shop, picked a bunch of blackberries near the parking lot, and tinkered with our hobbies until midnight, and of course stopped on the way home to get min chocolate chip ice cream.

 

Joshua worked on his machine hobby (which happens to also be his job)

 

 

& I worked on my leather hobby without having to worry about

all my banging bothering everyone in our building.

 

It was a fabulous, productive evening where both of our creative juices felt tended to :)

Ladies in the Mountains

 

 

So so hard not to put every photo we took of this hike on here, editing them made me sad. The whole hike was stunning & the visibility was divine. We took the girls to Hidden Lake trail which we had done a few years ago with a bunch of friends, except this time the trail didn't include snow crossings. They kicked butt up this hike, it started off in full sun up steep switchbacks through an overgrown meadow of purple flowers & annoying bugs.

 

 

we found Whitney a tiny patch of snow

But then everything opens up and you get a stunning view back down the valley we just hiked up and you can see Mt. Baker looming over you. As we continued to hike Mt. Baker gets bigger & feels more imposing. Slowly more mountains peak out from behind as we climb upward and eventually the view is layered with mountains beyond mountains and more.

 

 

 Finally, end in sight, Hidden lake popped out in a deep crystal blue that tempted me to run to it, except I knew I'd have to hike my tired butt back up that hill if I did. Finished off the hike with a steep incline up rocks and eventually a short scramble erupting in uninterrupted 360 views  of peaks. I love seeing the snowline evenly along all the mountains as their tops then jut up unevenly toward the fluffy clouds.

We had a fabulous, a little tired, day exploring. So special to get to share these places with people we love! Then we went back to Seattle to carb load and sink into sleep!

Oh my Heatstroke

I know Cincinnati, you're hot & humid in the summer, but I thought I escaped you. I ran to the opposite side of the country where humidity in summer is a max of 30% and some summers I don't even have to wear shorts. I enjoy the sunshine and warm weather and don't sweat through a shirt the second I walk out the door, I can even leave my hair down!

Not this summer, Seattle you're killing me. Yes I'm being a giant wimp. Accepted & I'm still going to whine.

2  weekends ago 97!Most places in Seattle and almost all apartments, including ours, don't have air conditioning. We hung out at our place after we dropped off the ladies until we were laying on our floor and had no other solutions to evade the heat. Of course that meant we ended up at a brewery with a cross breeze. It was delicious and much easier to want to have a conversation there. Seattle if you give me cold beers and cross breezes I'll try to stop whining.

But dinner, oh cooking in the summer is the worst. I invited a friend over for dinner Monday and strolling through the store felt hot just looking at things to cook. Then in a moment of genius most people have already had I thought salad bar! Grabbed a bunch of fun veggies and mini head of lettuce, naan, and feta spread and walked home happy to only be chopping for dinner.

It turned out delicious, filling and easy. Again, I'm sure most people already do this but I like to make things harder than they need to be so this felt like a real win for me.

Ladies in Seattle

 

Josh's high school friends, my friends too!, came to visit this past weekend from North Carolina,- Allison & Whitney.They were fabulous guests! They said they wanted anything and everything and hopefully we delivered. Right off the plane we went up to our friends little rooftop party, ate some street tacos, and checked out our favorite park, Gasworks, and hopped on the Fremont Troll. Then we finally let them into our place to drop off their bags.

 

 

 The next day I met up with them while they wandered downtown and we ate our way through Pike Place Market & people watched. The classic mac & cheese, piroshky, ginger beer route that I could probably eat everyday for lunch if allowed. That night we hopped restaurants in Ballard and had tapas and sangria, then to tropical drinks and tater tot nachos, then to play skeeball to round out the night. That was a good night, lots of laughing and catching up.

 

Joshua took off work the next day to kayak. Beautiful warm day. Kayaked through to the Arboretum and back around to downtown views, 3 hour tour and then off to eat truffle fries.

 

 

Checked out Shakespeare in the park that evening, Much Ado About Nothing a comedy which are our favorites. Great warm night, colorful sunset. We snacked and lounged.

photo by Allison

 

 

 

Friday night was Capitol Hill night where at one point Allison & I shared a drink from a pineapple. Overall it was a classy night but this picture is very deceiving. Turned in for the night at a reasonable hour so we could crush it tomorrow hiking :)

 

Secret Crag

Luckily our backpacking trip was cut a day short because we got to go climb at a beautiful spot with some friends instead! Apparently this crag isn't in the guidebooks yet and we had someone that knows all the best spots escorting us. The views from where you were belaying we beautiful but when you got up on the rock it was sweeping views and textures, a beautiful day!

Joshua learned how to clean routes and was repelling a lot that day and we both lead climbed a route. Lots of amazing, patient people teaching us and it was so much stinkin fun! We did some easier routes this time as well as some great challenging 5.10's with pinchy holds. Deeply satisfying to finish one of those cleanly. Watch out we may cave and buy our own rope :)

 

photo by Lori K.

 

they boys of the group