Aspen tree on my dining room table

Tah-dah! This, my friends, is what happens when I go to the most enchanting fabric store in the most enchanting village in all of Maine, or possibly in all of the land period, with my husband and brother-in-law in tow. I get inspired. They help me pick fabric. We make friends with the ladies working there and leave happy and enchanted (did I mention that already?).

I fly 3000 miles home and make a little autumnal aspen tree quilted table runner and call it good.

The end.

Larch Mountain

We are home from the east coast* and have been swept up into a flurry of activity around Ryan's thesis and plans for the road ahead. It is an exciting and nerve-racking time.

On Saturday, inspired by the crisp & brisk sunny autumn morning, we dodged our life maintenance chores by hopping in the car and going for a drive to the Gorge. We ended up at Larch Mountain, which afforded us outstanding views of Mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount Hood. It was a medley of volcanoes, if you will, totally breathtaking and unexpected.

The day ended up being a wonderful distraction from Life, and we'll be heading back there again soon to explore more trails.

*In lieu of a prompt post from moi on our awesome trip to the east coast, check out my b.i.l.'s overview. He did a great job of sifting through the hundreds of pics and summarizing our time together.

This is the stuff the great Northwest is made of, people:

Party in a bowl, aka delish diner for one

My culinary prowess has taken a backseat since Ryan headed back east. I've been eating a lot of the same thing, and trying to fit in as much fiber and veggies as possible. Exciting stuff, right? But tonight I landed on a gem of a meal. Its so simple it should qualify as a five-ingredient recipe, but so quick to pull together and versatile it doesn't really even require a recipe at all. Here it is in all its glory.

Pasta Party in a Bowl
Put a pot of salted water to boil and, when its time, add 3/4 c. pasta. While the pasta is cooking, add the following to a cereal bowl: a little butter, some minced garlic, lemon zest, fresh chopped rosemary, pine nuts (toasted if you have the time), red pepper flakes, sea salt, and pepper. If you have some fresh or frozen veggies on hand add those to the pasta pot to blanch in the last few minutes of the pasta cooking. When the pasta is done, drain thoroughly and add the pasta to the cereal bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil, mix everything up until the butter is melted, and dive in.

Easy schmeezy and quite delicious. I'll gladly return to this meal tomorrow night and the next!

Side note: The drizzle of olive oil at the end really is important. Tonight, several days after I first had this, I forgot the oil and everything except the pasta lumped together and 'twas no good.

Additional afterthought: Having had this several times now I'm thinking there is a more elaborate version of this dish that might be better. I haven't tried it yet, but follow me. Roast a head of garlic and put the soft cloves in a food processor with 1/4c. room-temp butter, 4 oz. shredded parmesan (or more because, you know), zest of one lemon, several branches-worth of rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add some olive oil, zip until smooth, and then toss with cooked pasta & veggies (four servings worth) to coat. Top with pine nuts.

I'll stop here.