song.
i've always loved bon iver.
poet.
so inspiring to read young talent.
goal.
read more classics. i just finished east of eden and i loved it.
time of day.
right between when you can see by daylight and when it's just dark enough you can't anymore.
b
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
yummy!
you all know i love food. i thought i'd share will you all a few of my favorite foodie websites! i've slowly been collecting these guys in my bookmarks menu, which is now heavily skewed in favor of food and pretty food pictures. have fun!
also... mojito party anyone? how about watermelon mojitos? um, yes. did i mention i live directly above a pool?
orangette
i love this site and am totally jealous of molly wizenberg. she's gorgeous, has written one book and is working on another, and also has this little project going on the side... i kind of want her life.
smitten kitchen
thanks mom! ever since she sent me this link, i have eagerly perused deb's site searching for inspiration and always finding it. i've already made a few of her recipes with awesome results. did i mention she also has a book deal and cooks in a 42 square foot kitchen in NYC? ya.
the blue hour
so no, not strictly food--but brian takes amazing photos, and they're often of food. even better. he's a coffee shop groupie like i am, and likes his film camera better than anything. i'm jealous of all of his dinner parties.
b
also... mojito party anyone? how about watermelon mojitos? um, yes. did i mention i live directly above a pool?
orangette
i love this site and am totally jealous of molly wizenberg. she's gorgeous, has written one book and is working on another, and also has this little project going on the side... i kind of want her life.
smitten kitchen
thanks mom! ever since she sent me this link, i have eagerly perused deb's site searching for inspiration and always finding it. i've already made a few of her recipes with awesome results. did i mention she also has a book deal and cooks in a 42 square foot kitchen in NYC? ya.
the blue hour
so no, not strictly food--but brian takes amazing photos, and they're often of food. even better. he's a coffee shop groupie like i am, and likes his film camera better than anything. i'm jealous of all of his dinner parties.
b
Monday, July 18, 2011
inspiration
so many things came together this weekend... friends from far away were all in one place, i had a random weekend day off, i found a new poet whose work is fresh and rooted and that i want to explore more. all of a sudden, because of company, conversation, shared meals--who really knows--i feel more inspired to do things, to sit down with a book i've been putting off, the make bread... even just to get up and start my day.
one of the things my writerly friends and i talked about this weekend was how difficult it is to feel inspired to write. we often write because we wish we wanted to, rather than writing because we feel the need to: the need to capture little things that happen, because we're inspired by a flower, or the way a child searches for a parent's hand, or the way that blackberry bushes smell like blackberries even when the fruit is hard and green on the vine. it doesn't come as easily now. partly, we're distracted/frustrated/exhausted by working. partly we feel guilty for having nothing to say. partly we're frustrated by our weak and whining attempts. mostly we just don't feel inspired. inspiration comes in waves, and the trough in between crests can often feel like a tunnel without that hopeful light that everyone talks (and writes) about.
i've had phases before where i didn't feel like i needed to search for inspiration; instead, it seemed to come from somewhere inside. like i was more sensitive somehow to the fall of light on the table and the emotions written on strangers' faces. sometimes just a tree limb waving in the wind would birth a poem. steinbeck called moments like this "glories." he also wrote that you could measure a man's life by the quality and number of his glories.
in my current phase i often feel like i have to drag inspiration out of the depths, or else shock it into being through some rage-and-awe campaign that tends to fizzle because i'm trying so hard. in terms of glories, i've been a pretty small person lately. inspiration is slippery and sly: it comes unannounced and unbidden, and disappears the moment you search for it.
i suppose all we can really do at moments like this is surround ourselves with inspiring things, and then hope one of them will take root in ourselves. i've long felt the need to surround myself with books, ideas, pretty things, projects, materials, and spaces to explore them just in case something caught light. i'm doing that still. here are a few things that are inspiring me of late:
-this amazing online magazine.
-making meals for friends.
-grocery shopping.
-blank leather journals. (so much space for things to happen in)
-intellectual conversations. (it's amazing how few and far between these seem after college)
-herbal water. (add mint, tarragon, basil, lavender, scented geranium, and so on)
-this young poet.
-carrying my film camera. (ever notice how everything starts looking like a photo?)
what inspires you lately?
b
one of the things my writerly friends and i talked about this weekend was how difficult it is to feel inspired to write. we often write because we wish we wanted to, rather than writing because we feel the need to: the need to capture little things that happen, because we're inspired by a flower, or the way a child searches for a parent's hand, or the way that blackberry bushes smell like blackberries even when the fruit is hard and green on the vine. it doesn't come as easily now. partly, we're distracted/frustrated/exhausted by working. partly we feel guilty for having nothing to say. partly we're frustrated by our weak and whining attempts. mostly we just don't feel inspired. inspiration comes in waves, and the trough in between crests can often feel like a tunnel without that hopeful light that everyone talks (and writes) about.
i've had phases before where i didn't feel like i needed to search for inspiration; instead, it seemed to come from somewhere inside. like i was more sensitive somehow to the fall of light on the table and the emotions written on strangers' faces. sometimes just a tree limb waving in the wind would birth a poem. steinbeck called moments like this "glories." he also wrote that you could measure a man's life by the quality and number of his glories.
in my current phase i often feel like i have to drag inspiration out of the depths, or else shock it into being through some rage-and-awe campaign that tends to fizzle because i'm trying so hard. in terms of glories, i've been a pretty small person lately. inspiration is slippery and sly: it comes unannounced and unbidden, and disappears the moment you search for it.
i suppose all we can really do at moments like this is surround ourselves with inspiring things, and then hope one of them will take root in ourselves. i've long felt the need to surround myself with books, ideas, pretty things, projects, materials, and spaces to explore them just in case something caught light. i'm doing that still. here are a few things that are inspiring me of late:
-this amazing online magazine.
-making meals for friends.
-grocery shopping.
-blank leather journals. (so much space for things to happen in)
-intellectual conversations. (it's amazing how few and far between these seem after college)
(from sequimblog.com)
-lavender and lavender cotton.-herbal water. (add mint, tarragon, basil, lavender, scented geranium, and so on)
-this young poet.
-carrying my film camera. (ever notice how everything starts looking like a photo?)
what inspires you lately?
b
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
time off
time off means having the time to make a real breakfast and sit down to enjoy it. (this morning: coffee and a fried egg on toast with avocado and salsa.) time to listen to the radio story about biodynamic farming. time to finish long delayed projects. (the flier for the 100 mile diet is finally done! what do you think of the logo?)
time off means time to scrub the bathroom until it shines instead of grimes. time to find new favorite things online, here and here. time to go to the beach with friends. time for bad mexican food on the way home from an ocean dip. brrr.
b
time off means time to scrub the bathroom until it shines instead of grimes. time to find new favorite things online, here and here. time to go to the beach with friends. time for bad mexican food on the way home from an ocean dip. brrr.
b
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
recent favorites
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
midsummer
um what? come again...
can you believe it? it's already midsummer, the longest day of the year, almost the end of june. it looks like it's going to be a beautiful one too.
summer this year has seemed a bit like some surreal fantasy or dream, but here i am wearing a skirt and tank top for the first time in for-ev-er. i guess we can't deny it anymore.
with summertime officially upon us, i've been thinking about how un-official summer feels this year; kind of accidental, kind of sneaky. partly it's the rainy weather. partly it's the lack of skirt-wearing and general adventure-having that i've had so far... but i think the major difference is that summer no longer means freedom: in fact, it means working more hours, struggling to get time off to get out of town, and wishing that i wasn't missing out on the days that are actually sunny because i'm at work. hmm. doesn't quite have the same ring as pool parties and hiking trips and watermelon seed spitting contests in the back yard, and three months without homework. hopefully my growing tomato plants, itchy chaco sunburn, and a weekend away will help it feel a little more summery around here.
that's right, erik and i are leaving mcminnville. for like four whole days. can you tell this is monumental? after so long working opposite schedules, and feeling too tired at the end of the day to do a whole lot more than a bike ride (well, mostly erik does that), a salad for dinner, and a beer, we have four whole days to ourselves! we're going to cook real meals! three times a day! we're going to scorn alarm clocks! i'm going to bring a couple new recipes to try, read a book for our book club, go kayaking, get another sunburn, maybe even write sitting out on the deck with a glass of wine. we might buy some illegal fireworks! ahhh vacation... why do you come so rarely?
hopefully you are all finding ways to celebrate the summery days. i'll see you after vacation.
b
can you believe it? it's already midsummer, the longest day of the year, almost the end of june. it looks like it's going to be a beautiful one too.
summer this year has seemed a bit like some surreal fantasy or dream, but here i am wearing a skirt and tank top for the first time in for-ev-er. i guess we can't deny it anymore.
with summertime officially upon us, i've been thinking about how un-official summer feels this year; kind of accidental, kind of sneaky. partly it's the rainy weather. partly it's the lack of skirt-wearing and general adventure-having that i've had so far... but i think the major difference is that summer no longer means freedom: in fact, it means working more hours, struggling to get time off to get out of town, and wishing that i wasn't missing out on the days that are actually sunny because i'm at work. hmm. doesn't quite have the same ring as pool parties and hiking trips and watermelon seed spitting contests in the back yard, and three months without homework. hopefully my growing tomato plants, itchy chaco sunburn, and a weekend away will help it feel a little more summery around here.
that's right, erik and i are leaving mcminnville. for like four whole days. can you tell this is monumental? after so long working opposite schedules, and feeling too tired at the end of the day to do a whole lot more than a bike ride (well, mostly erik does that), a salad for dinner, and a beer, we have four whole days to ourselves! we're going to cook real meals! three times a day! we're going to scorn alarm clocks! i'm going to bring a couple new recipes to try, read a book for our book club, go kayaking, get another sunburn, maybe even write sitting out on the deck with a glass of wine. we might buy some illegal fireworks! ahhh vacation... why do you come so rarely?
hopefully you are all finding ways to celebrate the summery days. i'll see you after vacation.
b
Friday, June 03, 2011
meals from the market
yesterday was the farmer's market, and today it's sunny. hooray!
last night i shared an amazing meal with friends inspired by goods we got at market. on the menu: green salad with green garlic dressing, german potato salad, hazelnut crusted salmon fillet, rhubarb muffins, and strawberry sandwiches. and strawberries. how do i always forget how delicious strawberries are??
happily this was a meal well-shared, if not well photographed. i hope i can get better about that now that summertime is in the near future.
last night's meal left me feeling inspired, but also a little anxious. i can't remember if i mentioned this before, but erik and i are going to be doing a 100 mile diet experiment this summer. for the month of august, we're going to eat only food sourced within one hundred miles of little mcminnville. as we get closer and closer to the start of our experiment, and i get deeper and deeper into planning for the SFYC 100 Mile Diet Challenge, i get more excited and slightly more frantic.
i'm excited for this because (1) it will force me to get back in the kitchen, which has been looking sadly neglected lately, (2) i will have to kick the coffee habit, something i've been wanting to try for more than a year but have never been motivated enough to do, and (3) i will get to learn so much about the foodshed here. i can't wait to find the best u-pick places, to freeze blueberries, eat hazelnuts and walnuts instead of almonds, figure out how to make pasta by hand, discover local distilleries, drink local milk from local cows, and shake up some butter in a jar. there'll be no excuse to not cook dinner because i can just boil some noodles and open a can (yes, we all do that). no excuse not to go to market, because that is where a huge chunk of our food is going to come from. and i'll have the excuse to go on fieldtrips! to the cheese factory!
at the same time, it's summer... and in a little while here i'm not going to want to spend time inside rolling out pasta or making yogurt, or... i don't even know: doing all those things that convenience foods keep me from doing. will i be able to fit it all in? will i be hungry all of the time? because i'm kind of that way as is... and if i can't reach for a clif bar or crackers i'm going to have to do some planning to make sure i don't bite off someone's head in a blood sugar low point.
in preparation for this endeavor, i've been re-reading plenty, a great book written by a couple in BC who did a 100 mile diet for a whole year. it's funny, carefree, and honest about the hardships and adjustments involved. they didn't drink coffee... but they did live in a region with a similar climate and food culture. this morning i read about their trials living without any wheat product. life without bread?? and pasta?? that's like seventy percent of my diet right there. oh boy. this is going to be interesting.
they also write at length about just how difficult and endeavor like this is. i mean, where do you draw the line? local cheese made from local milk... but are the seasonings in it local? what about the enzymes and cultures used to make it into cheese? what about rennet? where do you draw the line? i know that in my book coffee roasted locally won't be making the cut, but will olive oil that contains a blend of oregon and california fruit? or that delicious chipotle goat cheese at market that contains cumin? what am i going to do about salt? only use the stuff left in my cabinet at the start of august? boil some seawater on my next beach trip? go without? there are so many judgment calls to make!
good thing is, i'm already thinking about it. in a couple of months i should have a little list of farms and other resources in hand to help alleviate my worries. at least i hope i will. in the meantime, i'm going to enjoy meals from the market, and still use that european sea salt, cane sugar from the tropics, and pepper from who knows where (you really should try the strawberry sandwiches from last night--directions are at the end of this). maybe this will be my chance to learn about sweetening with honey... and hopefully i won't be hungry all month.
b
strawberry sandwiches.
yep. they're pretty much exactly what they sound like.
choose your bread and slice it thinly. butter with delicious sweet butter. layer with sliced strawberries. sprinkle over a little sugar (vanilla sugar if you have it!), and a crack of black pepper (don't skip this). let sit so the strawberries release their juices. eat. yum.
last night i shared an amazing meal with friends inspired by goods we got at market. on the menu: green salad with green garlic dressing, german potato salad, hazelnut crusted salmon fillet, rhubarb muffins, and strawberry sandwiches. and strawberries. how do i always forget how delicious strawberries are??
happily this was a meal well-shared, if not well photographed. i hope i can get better about that now that summertime is in the near future.
last night's meal left me feeling inspired, but also a little anxious. i can't remember if i mentioned this before, but erik and i are going to be doing a 100 mile diet experiment this summer. for the month of august, we're going to eat only food sourced within one hundred miles of little mcminnville. as we get closer and closer to the start of our experiment, and i get deeper and deeper into planning for the SFYC 100 Mile Diet Challenge, i get more excited and slightly more frantic.
i'm excited for this because (1) it will force me to get back in the kitchen, which has been looking sadly neglected lately, (2) i will have to kick the coffee habit, something i've been wanting to try for more than a year but have never been motivated enough to do, and (3) i will get to learn so much about the foodshed here. i can't wait to find the best u-pick places, to freeze blueberries, eat hazelnuts and walnuts instead of almonds, figure out how to make pasta by hand, discover local distilleries, drink local milk from local cows, and shake up some butter in a jar. there'll be no excuse to not cook dinner because i can just boil some noodles and open a can (yes, we all do that). no excuse not to go to market, because that is where a huge chunk of our food is going to come from. and i'll have the excuse to go on fieldtrips! to the cheese factory!
at the same time, it's summer... and in a little while here i'm not going to want to spend time inside rolling out pasta or making yogurt, or... i don't even know: doing all those things that convenience foods keep me from doing. will i be able to fit it all in? will i be hungry all of the time? because i'm kind of that way as is... and if i can't reach for a clif bar or crackers i'm going to have to do some planning to make sure i don't bite off someone's head in a blood sugar low point.
in preparation for this endeavor, i've been re-reading plenty, a great book written by a couple in BC who did a 100 mile diet for a whole year. it's funny, carefree, and honest about the hardships and adjustments involved. they didn't drink coffee... but they did live in a region with a similar climate and food culture. this morning i read about their trials living without any wheat product. life without bread?? and pasta?? that's like seventy percent of my diet right there. oh boy. this is going to be interesting.
they also write at length about just how difficult and endeavor like this is. i mean, where do you draw the line? local cheese made from local milk... but are the seasonings in it local? what about the enzymes and cultures used to make it into cheese? what about rennet? where do you draw the line? i know that in my book coffee roasted locally won't be making the cut, but will olive oil that contains a blend of oregon and california fruit? or that delicious chipotle goat cheese at market that contains cumin? what am i going to do about salt? only use the stuff left in my cabinet at the start of august? boil some seawater on my next beach trip? go without? there are so many judgment calls to make!
good thing is, i'm already thinking about it. in a couple of months i should have a little list of farms and other resources in hand to help alleviate my worries. at least i hope i will. in the meantime, i'm going to enjoy meals from the market, and still use that european sea salt, cane sugar from the tropics, and pepper from who knows where (you really should try the strawberry sandwiches from last night--directions are at the end of this). maybe this will be my chance to learn about sweetening with honey... and hopefully i won't be hungry all month.
b
strawberry sandwiches.
yep. they're pretty much exactly what they sound like.
choose your bread and slice it thinly. butter with delicious sweet butter. layer with sliced strawberries. sprinkle over a little sugar (vanilla sugar if you have it!), and a crack of black pepper (don't skip this). let sit so the strawberries release their juices. eat. yum.
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