in which we try to save our souls with a good deed

As of approximately 10 PM Saturday night, I'm pretty sure that Sal, Sister, Guy, and I are all going to hell.

We spent four hours playing Cards Against Humanity* (link may be NSFW) and laughed so hard that our faces hurt, our ribs ached, and there were multiple near-choking incidents. This game is seriously demented and wickedly awesome and so very, very wrong. Like, you-need-to-take-a-Silkwood-shower-afterward wrong. We realized within the first hour that A) there's no one else we could play this game with, and B) it will feature regularly in Hall-Smiley family get-togethers.

*(If you haven't heard about it, it's basically Apples-to-Apples, if it had been created by an unemployed alcoholic uncle with a penchant for raunchy, politically incorrect jokes. Apples-to-Apples wishes it were this much fun.)

Aside from playing horrifyingly inappropriate and evil card games until the wee hours of the morning, we also took the Fabulous Miss M to her first-ever movie at a theater. I'd originally wanted to take her in June so her first theater movie would be Brave, but after seeing it, worried it might be a little too intense and scary for her, especially for a first-time theater experience. Luckily, Finding Nemo was just re-released in theaters, which she's seen dozens of times on DVD so I thought that would be perfect since the whole theater-going experience was going to be pretty overwhelming on its own.

We got popcorn with extra butter and introduced her to Reese's Pieces and plenty of sugary drink to wash it all down, because hello, Aunt Bitty and Uncle Sal are the awesomest. (You're welcome, Sister.) She sat wide-eyed from start to finish, enthralled by the huge screen and stereo sound and trailers for movies that aren't even out yet.

So we had a ridiculously fun time and Sister and Guy got a couple of hours of free time. Which would ordinarily earn a nice bit of good karma. I'm afraid, however, that after Saturday night, our karmic debt looks like the Greek government's balance sheet.

lunch, blue bunny & moons

• stir fry (chicken, onion, garlic, leek, rainbow chard, baby bok choi, orange sweet pepper, fennel, broccoli, corn, secret sauce) with sesame seeds for garnish
• jasmine rice with carrot hearts for garnish
• Bartlett pear half and cashews
• dried cherries

the poor object to being governed badly...

...the rich object to being governed at all. -- G.K. Chesterton

For anyone in the Portland area considering participating in Bank Transfer Day and/or the Move Your Money project, I can highly recommend Unitus Community Credit Union as a terrific local option for banking.

We made the switch several years ago when we were fed up with US Bank (NEVER AGAIN) and big corporate banks generally, and have regretted only that we didn't do it sooner. They offered an eco-friendly discount on our loan when we bought the Prius and have a loan program for purchasing a bike (including accessories) for people trying to switch over to bike commuting, which we also took advantage of. They even have their own smartphone app!

And if you're looking beyond just making your banking local, check out Localvesting (hat tip to our neighbor, Grant). I haven't read the book yet but the Resources page has a handy list of links to help you get started.

Lastly, because I'm feeling even more populist than usual lately: before Occupy Wall Street, before the French Revolution, there was the Peasant's Revolt.

lunch, blue bunny & moons

• rice casserole (brown rice, broccoli, Italian sweet pepper, mushroom broth, herbs)
• steamed broccoli
• chicken breast and carrot slices
• carrot sticks and kiwi berries
• dark chocolate-covered raisins
• apple slices with cashews as gap fillers

daytrippin' at cape disappointment

overlook @ Beard's HollowAnother weekend and we decided it was time for another daytrip. So Sunday, we got up earlier than usual and headed west to Cape Disappointment.

Such a misleading name! It's a gorgeous state park, covering a fairly sizeable area of the southwestern tip of Washington, which makes it a great place to spend a whole day. There are two lighthouses -- each accessible only by a half mile hike -- and trails and beach fronts and overlooks and even a Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. Even if you didn't set foot out of your vehicle (which would be a shame), the drive alone is beautiful.

I packed us each a bento, which we got to enjoy high atop a cliff overlooking the Pacific. That is something I will never tire of, being able to eat my lunch right there, watching the ocean. The ocean, you guys! That will never stop being amazing to me.

We had to leave earlier than we would've liked to get back in time for our neighborhood potluck (so fun!), but I there might have to be a weekend in Astoria in our near future so we can spend more of the day there.

(more pictures of our trip to come when I get a chance to upload them)

Sunday's picnic, Sal -- blue bunny & moons:

• Mediterranean grilled chicken
• orzo salad (orzo, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta, mint)
• celery and carrot sticks
• apple slices and honey peanut butter for dipping

Sunday's picnic, Brittney -- black strawberry:

• Mediterranean grilled chicken
• tabbouleh
• celery and carrot ticks
• apple slices and honey peanut butter for dipping

today's breakfast, matryoshka:

• mini blueberry pancakes
• peach slices

today's lunch, French bistro:

• Mediterranean grilled chicken
• tabbouleh
• celery and carrot sticks
• peach and apricots slices

party all the time, party all the time, party all the ti-ime

And now you'll have that song in your head all day. You're welcome.

We had an inadvertent weekend of parties, hootenannies, and shindigs. As in, we didn't really plan it that way, it just sort of happened.

Witness: Friday was my company picnic and yesterday was a house warming* followed by the monthly neighborhood Happy Hour potluck. As if we're all trying to cram a full summer into the considerably shortened season we've been stuck with this year.  It's surprisingly exhausting kicking back and having fun, but doubly so when you're making up for lost time by tripling up on the festivities.

I know, right? These are just tough problems to have....

*One of Sal's coworkers was celebrating being back in their newly-renovated home. They had had a fire in their basement that caused extensive smoke damage to the rest of the house and necessitated basically gutting it and rebuilding the inside, as well as having everything that could be salvaged cleaned and restored. It took 14(!) months, but their house looks terrific and you would never know that it had been the site of such a terrible event. Since their house had already been warmed quite enough by the fire, thankyouverymuch, the party was actually a "house chilling".

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• Tuscan roasted turkey breast, with a bit of romaine lettuce to eat it with
• carrots and cucumbers
• rosemary roasted potatoes
• cantaloupe and cherries
• garlic dill cheese curds
• cashews and dark chocolate-covered raisins

sisyphus is my homeboy

Just last week, we were here. Sigh.Why is it that coming back from vacation entails working extra hard just to turn the piles on one's desk from "OMG ON FIRE SRSLY SOMEONE GET A HOSE" to "does anyone else smell smoke"? Oy.

Joking aside, it hasn't been as bad as I feared, and even the damage in my email inbox wasn't so bad. For relative values of bad, obviously -- when you're used to several dozen emails per day, a few hundred emails piled up while you were on vacation is a downright miracle. Boulder, mountain, etc. etc.

Sal's return from vacation coincided with the start of a new group of students, which has made it easier for him to ease back into work, as well. So we haven't suffered as much as we might have otherwise from that unpleasant malaise that usually sets in when vacation is over and it's time to get back to the regular routine. Oh, we're still looking forward to our next getaway with relish, I won't lie. But not counting down the minutes hours days or anything.

(Okay, maybe I'm lying a little bit.)

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• Thai BBQ chicken skewers
• steamed broccoli
• jasmine rice with fresh sugar snap peas (and a bit of teriyaki in the little condiment cup to add a bit of flavor)
• carrot sticks
• cashews and dark chocolate covered raisins with a bit of dried mango as baran

more like daylight suckage time

I'm normally not a strong Daylight-Savings-Time hater, but in the days immediately following the spring switch, I can understand why others are. Yesterday was all out of whack; today isn't quite as bad, but combined with a tight schedule, I think it's going to take me longer than usual to adjust.

Sister, Guy, and the Fabulous Miss M were here for the weekend, so that actually did make it a nice weekend despite the time change. While they were at the Shamrock Run yesterday morning, we played with Miss M, then per our now annual tradition after such things, they returned bearing treats. Specifically, a box of Voodoo Doughnuts. Hence the appearance of a few odds and ends in today's lunch. Then they left with an extremely sugared up and overly exhausted 3 year-old, and I'll admit, I prayed for their sanity. I haven't heard anything on the news about them being committed for psychological observation so I'm assuming everyone survived the remainder of the day.

After they left, we hit Rejuvenation to pick out hinges and handles for the new cabinet doors we're having done for the display shelves in the kitchen. I haven't talked about that much yet, but it's part of the project to get the attic eave closet doors done; the contractor we chose didn't charge much extra for these three cabinet doors, so we figured it was a good time to scratch that little side project of our list, as well. Afterward, we stopped at Miller Paint to pick out a pretty color -- the doors will have glass inserts and we're going to paint the shelves and interior to reallly make it spark. But you'll have to wait to learn more about the color, because you know how I am about the big reveals....

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• wee potatoes with cheddar heart
• teriyaki chicken meatballs
• steamed broccoli
• Fuji apple half with heirloom carrot sticks
• a few random bits of Voodoo doughnuts: buttermilk bar, powdered sugar doughnut, peanut doughnut leftover from yesterday

dinner, pink Natural Lunch:

• ham, barrel pickle, and cream cheese in a sundried tomato wrap
• heirloom carrots
• Fuji apple half

brown baggin' it with bento

So today was spent at the work retreat I mentioned yesterday. I took my usual pics but didn't have a chance to post, hence the evening post instead.

From 7:30 AM to 5 PM, I was sequestered in a hotel meeting room near my office with the other four executives of my company while we hashed out some big policy, procedural, and structure decisions. Perhaps not anyone's idea of an exciting way to spend a day, but it was a productive work session and we met all of our goals for the day. Well worth the time.

It's a good thing we like and respect each other and get along well, because wow, was it ever an intense day. I'm completely wiped out. And very thankful I packed a heartier breakfast than I normally would with a bigger box for lunch*. I needed the brain fuel and I have no energy to make much of anything for dinner tonight, so I'm glad to not even be hungry.

breakfast, pink natural lunch:

• half of a bagel, with a thin spread of cream cheese and pomegranate jam
• molded egg
• Pink Lady apple chunk
• kiwi slices

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• sushi (sushi rice, broccolette stalks, and carrots in nori)
• parmesan breaded chicken breast
• steamed broccolette, and carrot stars for garnish (with more carrot under the broccolette and chicken)
• kiwi slices and pineapple chunks
• for an afternoon snack: yogurt covered raisins and dried cherries with orange dark chocolate as a divider

*The retreat included lunch brought up from the hotel restaurant so I didn't actually have to bring my own. The hotel is a nice enough one with a pretty standard suburban hotel restaurant. Decent food with a fair selection of items (though most made from packaged and processed ingredients, unfortunately). But after the not-so-great reaction I had after the last working lunch, I just decided it would be easier to bring my own for today's thing. If we were all going to break and eat in the restaurant, that would be one thing; it certainly wouldn't kill me and those kinds of comraderie activities are more important than whatever misgivings I might have about the menu. But since we were eating in the room where we were working, it was a no brainer.

portlandia

We finally had a chance to watch Portlandia this weekend and omg I am in love. I'd already seen/heard the "Dream of the 90s (is alive in Portland)" vid all over the place, and snippets of some of the skits, so I knew ahead of time it was going to be pretty damn fabulous. Oh, but it's ever so much more fabulously Portlandic than I even hoped. And yes, "Dream of the 90s" is totally the Portland we know and love.

Shot here, using a mostly Portland cast and crew, it promises to be a hit at least in this little part of the USian TV market. And when they say it's shot here, they really mean it. For the skit about ordering chicken in the restaurant, when they go to the farm where it was raised, I kept telling Sal, "Wow, that really looks like Wealth Underground (our CSA)". More shots, and the more I kept saying, "I swear, that's got to be Wealth Underground." Sure enough, it is -- I guess I missed that post over the holiday. I don't know why, but recognizing the farm -- even more than recognizing all the other locales -- just upped the thrill factor to 11.

Anyway, check it out, especially if you're a local. You'll enjoy seeing our fair city get gently spoofed and fondly skewered, as well as local familiar faces and personalities mixing with more famous ones.

lunch, blue bunny and moons:

• Thai peanut chicken
• cheesy baked potato with broccoli
• satsumas and carrot sticks
• cashews and yogurt covered raisins, separated by a bit of orange dark chocolate.

mr. wizard in the kitchen

Sal's currently on a fermenting bender. It started with a couple of heads of cabbage we needed to use up -- remember the soup from last week? -- and he's been meaning to make a batch of sauerkraut (blech) for awhile now. So some of the cabbage went into the soup and the rest into a big glass jar he uses for fermenting. More fridge cleaning and in went a couple of turnips and a few beets.

When our organics bin arrived Monday, he was beside himself to see what else he could stick in his mad science jar. "Celery root!" he exclaimed. Would I mind if he used it in his sauerkraut? Sure, okay. "Maybe some more turnips?" Well...okay. (Keep in mind the organics delivery is our produce for all meals unless we specifically go to the store, so we actually do use the things in it for, you know, dinner and stuff.) "Oh, and some carrots!" Hey, mister, I do need at least some things to eat. That guy and his food science obsessions....

Anyway, last night he talked me out of another beet (golden chioggas this time), a couple more turnips, and two rutabagas. (And I have until next week to to use the rainbow Swiss chard or he's sticking that in the jar, too.) He spent the next hour happily slicing things up and adding them in careful layers atop whatever crazy brew has fermented already. Aww, so cute.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• wraps -- mozzarella in sun dried tomato tortillas
• Thai peanut chicken (originally roasted on skewers)
• carrots and broccolette (a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale)
• Minneola tangelo sections and Pink lady apple slices
• yogurt covered raisins with a piece of orange dark chocolate on the diagonal

t-minus two days and counting

Vacation begins in two days and it's a race to the finish whether or not Sal and I will drop dead from exhaustion before it gets here. But after this weekend, I like our odds. We worked our tails off but somehow managed a smidgen of R&R in there so we're refreshed for this final stretch. And yesterday was a particularly lovely day. While we both worked (more on that in a minute), we had the radio tuned to the local station that switches to a holiday music format for December and had such a pleasant day together, laughing and singing along. In just a couple of days, we'll have nineteen days of time like that.

My company holiday party was Friday afternoon, and although I couldn't afford the lost time for what I need to get done before I'm gone, it was a welcome respite and loads of fun. Probably the best holiday party we've had in all the time I've been there. We've sure had some doozies so that's saying something. Oh, and I won a $50 Home Depot gift card. Which is kind of funny, since the $100 Home Depot gift card I won at the company picnic bought all those smoke/fire detectors last weekend.

The party finished an hour earlier than scheduled and rather than be the workaholic I'm sometimes accused of being by going back to my office to finish up some things while there were no interruptions, I instead decided to hit Collage finally, after Kim told me about it when we met for coffee last week. I really almost wish she hadn't, because the last thing I (or my bank account!) needed was another terrific art store on my list and within my immediate area. Well of course I spent a ridiculous amount of time there and came out with a ridiculously overstuffed bag of goodies, but what can you do, right?

The dark clouds were just starting to release the flood as I was headed up the stairs to my front door. We've had some real toadstranglers of late, so it was another in a recent spate of them. I had things around the house to be done, but the perfect weather for being curled up on the couch combined with a week of late nights, I ended up falling asleep watching a movie and I blame the rain. Cue Milli Vanili.

We spent the weekend working on the creative room, getting the painting done and most of the furniture together. Woohoo!! We'll finish up the furniture and putting the room together on Wednesday, then decorate and put things away in the room on Thursday, and by Friday, we should be able to use it. Arty crafty days, here we come!

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• hazelnut crusted chicken breast
• jasmine rice with sweet & sour sauce
• Honeycrisp apple, celery sticks
• satsumas

The weather's been positively biblical all weekend. Rain measured in inches, records broken, that kind of thing. AND freakishly warm. Like, high 50s, low 60s. We had to open the windows to air out the house a bit last night -- Sal baked an apple pie (OMG SO MUCH LOVE) and something from a previous meal started smoking in the oven -- and ended up leaving the windows open most of the evening, it was that warm. Torrential rains and unseasonable temps? That kind of wildly erratic weather doesn't bode well. Because, in the words of the venerable Lewis Black, "I know what comes next...

...locusts."

art journal bento

This is the lunch I packed Sunday night for Monday that I ended up not eating yesterday. I'd intended it for today's lunch instead but got too busy for lunch, so it's dinner tonight. Which is nice, actually, since we're low on food that isn't for the Thanksgiving Extravaganza, and I'm in the midst of an art journal project tonight so I didn't really feel like making a big production for a meal. It's kind of like a TV dinner except, you know, awesome.

dinner, blue bunny & moons:

• dry rubbed pork chop (from Saturday's dinner Sal made for Kurt's visit)
• pureed parsnips -- roasted parsnips with leeks and fresh parsley, then put through the ricer so they're like mashed potatoes (also from Saturday's dinner)
• green beans sauteed with nions, garlic, and mushrooms
• red grapes
• Granny Smith apple with cashews for gap fillers

this is what math tastes like

Oh man. I have wanted fractal cauliflower (aka romanesco broccoli) in my bento for years. How could I not? It's math in a vegetable.  Who in their right mind wouldn't want that?

So imagine my delight when I was checking the Wealth Underground blog Tuesday to see what would be in the week's share and there in the picture:  A FULL HEAD OF FRACTAL CAULIFLOWER. Did I voice an audible OMG FRACTAL CAULIFLOWER that caused both cats to stare in alarm at the crazy human? Did I immediately envision my next bento, featuring said fractal cauliflower? Did I entertain the notion of eating my lunch in the company lunch room for the first time ever simply to show off my fractal cauliflower?

You can't prove anything.

So I think it's safe to say Best. Share. Ever. And featured heavily in today's lunch.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• Panko breaded chicken breast
• mashed potatoes
• FRACTAL CAULIFLOWER OMG
• rainbow carrots & two leafs of French sorrel* underneath
• purple grapes with pomegranate seeds as gap fillers

*This is one of my favorite things I've experienced in the share so I'm glad to see it back as we near the end of this years' share. You can eat the leaves just as they are and they have this wonderful sour taste. Not bitter -- it's kind of like sucking on a lemonhead (though it doesn't taste lemony). And you can imagine the wonderful dimension it adds to a salad!

each of us was created for it

No breakfast today so I was extra grateful to have such a pleasing and yummy lunch waiting for me.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• hazelnut-crusted chicken breast
• jasmine rice with peas, carrot flowers for garnish
• Cortland apple with carrot pieces as gap fillers
• walnuts and dark chocolate covered raisins

the view from the library to the back yard, through the back porch

I'm so in love with our home I can hardly contain myself some days. There's still a lot to be done, but we've reached a point where we can enjoy it as it is, even with the bathroom in its semi-demolished state and the kitchen looking like something right out of Good Housekeeping circa 1966. And in the fall, my favorite season, in my favorite city, it's like falling in love every day, this house. I took a few random pictures to remind me of that.

spider web on the front porch, with Sal's Japanese maple in the backgroundIt was another whirlwind of activity at Hall House this weekend, so it was nice to have the steadying comfort of home throughout. Saturday was another OCI graduation, which meant Chef Salvatore gave another graduation speech. He gives the same one each time so he's had time to refine it, but he changes it every time, too, so he stays fresh and funny when he gives it. I've decided I'm going to video it next time.

a close-up of the crape myrtle I posted about last weekThe ceremony takes place in the morning and then there's a reception for the students and family afterward, so it takes most of the day. Things finished up just in time for the arrival of our Smiley family, who were coming to spend the night. We had a roast and veggies going in the crockpot all day to keep dinner easy, they arrived bearing a loaf of sourdough and a pan full of chocolate chip bar cookies. This is the reason our family is awesome. Well, one of the many, anyway.

We spent some time with the Fabulous Miss M before her bedtime, then had a late dinner catching up with Sister and Guy. (Late, at least in part, because Miss M insisted there was a ghost in the guest room. We promised her it was friendly.)

Sal and the Fabulous Miss M watching a movie on the inflatable bedThey had come for a race in town they wanted to go to and we would watch Miss M while they were gone. It meant an early start Sunday, but Miss M and I snuggled under the blankets while we watched Finding Nemo and that's not such a bad way to start the day. The three of us played and colored and had a tea party and ate breakfast, and next thing we knew Sister and Guy were back and it was time to say goodbye. But it was okay...we have Thanksgiving to look forward to next month, and Christmas after that, and I'm sure some get togethers in between.

just looking at them makes you want to take a nap, doesn't it?After they left, Sunday was a lazy day to recharge before the week starts up. We spent the day on creative stuff and naps and not being as productive as we ought to be and taking ten million more pictures of the cats because we needed still more of those.

view from the front porchBut mostly, we spent the day watching all the ways the light turns Hall House into an illustration from a storybook and thinking there's magic in the world if you know where to look for it.

the corner of my desk (yes, the decoupaged table), which happened to be lighted very prettily; it's part of a map of the Oregon Coast, with an arrow pointed to Oceanside; the full Maya Angelou quote is here

a day late, but hopefully i still have all my dollars

Yesterday's lunch, but I was having trouble accessing the site (still trying to figure out what's up with that...sorry, guys) and then just got too busy.

breakfast, cute animals sidecar:

• half Bartlett pear
• Rainier apple
• grapes
• kiwi berries

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• cucumber slices in apple cider vinegar (with a cucumber heart on top!) in the silicone cup
• star molded egg, cut in half and a wee baked potato with an itty sprig of rosemary, with mini smoked sausages underneath
• tiny squares of rosemary cheddar on the skewers
• Rainier apple slices, kiwi berries, grapes
• the other half of the Bartlett pear, with cashews as gap filler

bento catch up

Dad and Mo were here this weekend for a visit on their way to the coast, so it was nice to see them for a bit.  We had simply stunning weather while they were here, though it's been freakishly humid. But beautiful and warm so we can't complain, really.

I did pack a bento for yesterday but ended up staying home, so it became a sick-day-work-from-home bento instead of an office bento. So we have two days' of bentos here:

Monday lunch, blue bunny & moons box:

• carrot sticks and flowers, lemon drop and cherry tomatoes
• basil chicken sausage and Dubliner cheese (under the carrot flowers)
• Gala apple slices
• Reliance grapes
• macadamia nuts

Tuesday lunch, black strawberry box:

• green beans & caramelized onions (underneath)
• smoked sausages
• mashed potatoes
• Reliance grapes
• cheddar bunny crackers
• cashews

Even though we got our fruit bin delivery last week, we've already devoured it -- only some grapes left! So I'm a little low on fruit to add, and of course didn't think of the twenty billion pounds of fresh-picked blueberries and blackberries in our freezer. D'oh! Actually, I should make some pie....

a mix of work and play

We got some much need yard work done yesterday, which makes me feel that our otherwise leisurely weekend was nonetheless productive. The predicted cold and rainy weather never really appeared -- seems to have held off until today, but even so, it's neither very cold nor very rainy -- and yesterday and Saturday were particularly gorgeous days.

Yesterday was a planting day, which involved a trek to Portland Nursery in the neighbor's borrowed truck to spend way more than planned, as usual. We stopped at Flavour Spot on the way home, then finally got started actually digging and planting things mid-afternoon. We had several things to replace, stuff that we lost from last year (though thankfully, not as much as we'd originally feared): the star jasmine (victim of a late freeze in February), the three Ilex trees in pots on the patio (victims of the freeze), one  of the clematis (victim of the raccoons that we battled all last summer/fall), and the two Japanese bayberries on the front porch (victims of our serial neglect*).

*So completely inexcusable. I mean, they're right there, right by the front door! We walk past them every single day! And we both would see the poor things getting a little dry and droopy and be all, "Gee, I should water those." And then...nothing. Meanwhile, our house increasingly looks like the Addams Family house, utterly desicated plants by the front door, enveloped in cobwebs. In conclusion, we suck at adult responsibility, you guys.

Sally also picked up two hops vines (finally), which will be a good catalyst for getting the hops trellis built, and I got annuals for all my patio pots. Portland Nursery always has a great sale on fall color annuals and half price on their end of summer annuals, and since we have such a lovely and extended autumn season here in the PNW, having those cheerful pots of flowers all around just makes the patio that much more enjoyable this time of year. (They're also having a 20% off sale on vines, so check that out if you've had any vines on your wish list.)

We finished up late in the day yesterday, then he remembered he had to go to the school to glaze some tortes, so it meant a late dinner. But a dinner with leftovers, thankfully, which means a hearty lunch today.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• herb roasted chicken
• green beans sauteed with caramelized onions
• baked potato with sour cream and butter
• grapes and Gala apple slices
• cashews and dark chocolate covered raisins

Our other accomplishment this weekend is that we mainlined Season 4 of Friday Night Lights, which we'd been waiting for like junkies. (That whoop and holler you just heard was Cat flipping out that we're caught up and are so completely bonkers for this show.) It came out on DVD a couple of weeks ago but even though I'd preordered it, Amazon was being a bitca and didn't deliver it until Saturday. That meant that we could hardly contain ourselves and simply had to mini-marathon it.

I think I'm going to have to write up a squeeage post about it, because you guys, srsly. SRSLY.

i'll point in the direction you sing to me

I could swear the weather man said yesterday was going to be in the 80s. Which means he basically lied or doesn't know jack (or I'm mistaken, as vanishing a possibility as that is), because yesterday? Was hot. Not surface of the sun hot, but when you're expecting 80s and you get mid 90s, that's not good times, y'all.

Which means the dinner I'd planned to make for myself had to be scrapped because I have no desire to eat anything when it's hot, let alone cook anything. Which meant no leftovers, and thus, today's lunch of randomness. Like that's anything new.

breakfast, pink strawberry sidecar:

• half a Granny Smith apple
• blueberries
• blackberries
• slice of (homemade by me!) zucchini bread

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• ham rolls
• cucumber slivers
• smoked gouda
• cheese crackers (Annie's organic bunny crackers ftw!)
• the other half of the Granny Smith apple, sliced
• another slice of (homemade by me!) zucchini bread
• blueberries
• dark chocolate covered raisins

Needs some more veggies and a carb/starch, but oh well.

I've been on the hunt for a CD by a short-lived band called Blue Merle, and didn't want to have to resort to Amazon* if I could help it. Stopped by Everyday Music downtown last night, but they didn't have it, and it showed as backordered (read: unavailable for order) on their computer. The guy offered to call their other stores and thankfully, the store on Sandy had it (and put it on hold for me), but I wasn't in the mood to slog through rush hour traffic down Burnside to the east side and through all that construction where they're diverting Sandy onto Couch.

*(No iTunes, either, unless I'm desperate and/or lazy. I HATE that they make it difficult or impossible to burn (some? most? all?) songs as MP3s on a disc (vs. being able to make a regular audio CD...so nice of them to "allow" us dirty peasants to start doing that finally) so I don't buy much music on iTunes, unless I'm sure I won't want to make a big mix MP3 CD with it. I'm a slave to all things tech and electronic as much as the the next geek girl, but don't fuck with my music, for that way lies badness.)

So I texted Sally to see if he wanted to head over there with me after he got home from work. And this is reason #65,782 that Portland is awesome, because Everyday Music is not only open, y'know, every day, but they are also, ALSO open until midnight every day. We've taken advantage of this very feature many times in the past, and I was quite pleased to be able to last night, because I really wanted that CD nowish. I know! What is up with me and this instant gratification thing? It's like I'm five years old.

Sal picked up the new Mumford & Sons while we were there, and we had a nice drive home listening to new music with the windows rolled down, cruising through our nighttime city.

I've been all over the place with music lately, which is generally an indication of my mood. So I guess that means I've got a lot knocking around in my noggin of late. Broken Bells, Fleet Foxes, Aimee Mann (of course), Cat Power, Mirah, Blue Foundation, Bon Iver (I can't imagine ever tiring of them) and then randomly, early No Doubt and Journey(!) and Nirvana. Wtf, brain?

Oh, and I'm obsessed with that new Brandon Flowers single, "Crossfire". (And revisiting The Killers because of it, along with Pet Shop Boys, because holy crap, do they sound like each other.)

Weirdly, though, I haven't been in the mood for The Decemberists lately, which has me a bit freaked out, frankly. (Though I expect my burning love will be reignited after the concert in a couple of weeks.) I mean, The Decemberists are my constant! What happens if I get caught between time dimensions and my nose starts bleeding and then the smoke monster comes for me? What then?

heat and the marking of a decade

This weekend was the kind of hot I loathe, the kind that sucks every last bit of will and energy you have and spits it out on the baking sidewalk to sizzle into oblivion. We had exactly two things on our to-do list for this weekend -- 1) washing the Prius, and 2) washing the Camry -- and accomplished neither of them.

But! We do get to sleep on the back porch when it gets hot like this, and we have a perfectly idyllic backyard to enjoy, so there are things to be thankful for. Plus -- and I do feel guitly about this -- as hot as it's been and is forecasted to get, we've had an insanely cool and mild summer while the rest of the country has sweltered. So really, I have no business complaining.

lunch, blue bunny & moons

• grilled Thai peanut chicken skewers
• jasmine rice
• green and royal burgundy string beans
• rainbow carrots
• cherries
• Babybel cheese with sour cream & chive bunny crackers as gap filler

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary since we packed up our possessions and left Wyoming for our Great Oregon Adventure. Tomorrow will mark 10 years since we became Oregonians. Ten years. It seems simultaneously like it was just yesterday and like it was another lifetime.

"you didn't tell me we had polenta left over!!"

Those were actual words I actually said last night when I was actually packing today's lunch. Heh. The polenta is left over from the grand meal Sally made Saturday night, of which I had thought there wasn't any left over. So discovering a bit of it in a container tucked a little out of sight in the fridge was like discovering a small decorative box of gold. Except, you know edible.

lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• creamy polenta with parmesan, garnished with broccoli; sugar snaps, mini smoked sausages, carrots, broccoli
• grapes (on a thin layer of Marcona almonds and with a few Marcona almonds as baran), cherries, strawberry; four halves of chocolate cookies Sal made for last week's picnic

One of the things I love best about bento is the way it makes you poke about in your fridge, freezer, and cupboard for those forgotten bits -- the last few cherries from a bag of them you'd snacked on one afternoon, the quarter of a tuna fish sandwich someone thought they'd finish later, the small carrot stub that was all that was left from a plate of crudites and you didn't have the heart to throw out. I hate, hate, hate waste, especially food waste, and one of the many benefits of doing bento is that it keeps those odds and ends from ending up in the garbage needlessly.

they're baaa-aaack

Hee. For months and months, dark chocolate-covered (and yogurt-covered) raisins featured in almost every bento. And then I finally depleted my 1 pound supplies (meaning 1 pound of each) -- purchased in January! -- so bentos have been -covered raisin-less since. ::sadface::

I bought some more while I was at New Seasons the other day (not a pound this time) and had a big ol' gap to fill, so it was clearly time to bring back a little treat for myself. Well, that and we're completely out of fruit, if you can imagine such a thing. And the next bin doesn't come until Monday. But raisins count as fruit, and if they just happen to be covered with chocolate? Well, that's hardly a bad thing, is it?

Lunch, blue bunny & moons:

• joi choi sauteed in a bit of toasted sesame oil and soy sauce with crushed peanuts for garnish
• omelet of eggs*, broccoli*, basil*, tat sois*, and a bit of Dorset Red cheese for a smoky, salty bite
• broccoli* for gap filler
• onion sesame crackers
• Marcona almonds
• dark chocolate covered raisins

*from our share

We're in dire need of ordering some groceries. We have a ton of great produce, but are out of staples like bread, milk, sugar, flour(!)(in a chef's house? that's practically a crime), etc. etc. Sigh. Where's my personal assistant who's willing to work for free and live in my basement?

Yesterday while I was out and about running errands, I had some time to kill between appointments. Not long enough to run home, but too long to just sit in the car, especially on such a beautiful summer afternoon/evening. So I pulled over at the Columbia Park Annex and kicked back for a few minutes on a bench overlooking the bluff.

It'll be 10 years next month since we moved here, and I still pinch myself.