luncheon

First off, I don't know if I'm gonna get around to blogging the rest of our trip.  It may happen but I'm gonna stop feeling pressure to do it before just going on with life.  

Today I felt like blogging this.  

I hosted a little luncheon last week for a couple of special ladies who have taken care of David at MOPS this year.    We had a good time and it was fun to set a girly table.  

Remember those free vintage cabinet doors I picked up last year?  

A year later I *finally* used one of them!  

I like how it turned out.  

Menu: 

cold pasta salad (recipe from an Italian cookbook from a castle I got to visit in college!)

spinach with grapefruit, blue cheese, toasted pecans with soy sauce balsamic vinaigrette (salad idea from Texas Co-op magazine we used to get free with our utilities in TX - I had an affinity for that magazine I must admit - dressing recipe found online and made by Adrian) 

cheddar corn cornbread muffins inspired (but not nearly as good as) the cheddar corn biscuit we had at Crema in Portland.  Oh why oh why did I just torture myself by googling them and looking for a photo of that delicacy just now?!

And for dessert, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies served up on a milk glass platter - a gift from my mother-in-law who knows me oh so well and made into a pedestal by placing it atop an upside down milk glass flowerpot from my collection

Kelly

what do you think?

This post is completely unrelated to the photo but what is a blogpost without a picture, right?

So here's my question.

Do you have a microwave?

Ours seems to have bitten the dust and we're contemplating just not replacing it.  

Would I miss it?

This is where I want to hear your thoughts.

Thanks! 

Kelly

I saw this on our trip.

It made me want to reach right for my wallet.

um, actually not.

I'm sure there are probably some deletable dishes you can make with it but it just did not appeal.  

Have you ever bought/cooked with duck fat?

What is the oddest ingredient you have bought/used?

I'm trying to think of mine and drawing a blank.

Maybe that means I need to break out of my shell a bit.

Kelly

day two - transportation and second city

We took Amtrak between San Francisco and our second city to visit, Portland, Oregon.  

It was A LOT of fun!  

We got to see some gorgeous scenery and meet some nice people.  

The couple we sat across from at breakfast live in Oregon and were able to tell us about the "Root Beer Falls" as we went by.  Sure enough, they were brown and foamy.  Apparently some mineral causes it to be that way but it looked exactly like root beer and made you want to sing "Big Rock Candy Mountain" or something. 

Also, sleeping on a train is fantastic!  I love that rocking motion and it was great to get good rest on the train.

My sweet shutterbug husband

We pulled into Union Station in Portland and were blessed with such wonderfully sunny and warm weather while we were there for a place that we half expected to be rainy.   

finding our swanky hotel that we got using airline points - we like a good deal

fancy

(they even gave me slippers)

pretty

                                     
                                     Ready to hit the town!

Crafty Wonderland was really fun, like etsy in person

What's a trip to Portland without hitting Powell's Books?

I really liked it and could have spent more time there for sure. 

That night we met up with a high school friend of Adrian's and her husband for dinner at Ristorante Roma.  It was good and after trying all of the dishes at the table, I would say get the fettuccine bolognese.  It was the best.

Have you ever been to Portland?  

What do you like to do there?  

p.s. Mindy gets points for guessing correctly on Portland!  

Kelly

San Francisco

We actually went to two different places and San Francisco was the first.  That is where we honeymooned (and then we drove down the coast some too) and we thought it would be fun to re-visit.  

After getting off the BART at the Embarcadero we started off with a tour of the Ferry Building.  So many foods, so little time.  

We ended up eating here at the Cowgirl Creamery - this time the creamery really was all about milk unlike here - a cheese plate with honey and almonds, crackers and apples with cranberry chutney was washed down with a caramel milk while sitting at the counter.  

We walked down the waterfront where we saw this "little" fella.

Here's his belly is closer up.  Pretty cool, huh?!

There were gorgeous poppies in bloom which always remind me of my Poppy.  

Then we began to climb up Hyde Street.  You'd think we'd have learned our lesson when we did that on our honeymoon.  

Can you say steep?!  

But there are neat things to see along the way like this door and of course the crookedest street in the world (which I apparently didn't take a photo of).  

Signs along our walk

We went to Chronicle Books which was fun (also no picture) and of course people watched.  One guy was ranting about how those new "plastic" cups made of corn are ruining the world - of course not as fast as plastic he said, but still he seemed quite distraught about it.  

We took the cable car back down the hill and spotted familiar places from our honeymoon. 

We got to end the evening with a fantastic meal at Pinnochio's.  We have been talking about the polenta bolognese appetizer there for over three years.  It was nice to be back.  

Kelly

ten on ten - May 2012

Well apparently I could have called this post 110 on 10 because that's how many photos I took today!

To be completely accurate, that's how many photos were taken with my camera today.  One of the ladies at MOPS used my camera for a while and then Adrian used it some too.  I will not post 110 photos for you today however and I'm sure you're probably glad!  

So, without further ado, the (close to) ten photos from today inspired by Rebekah's great idea and all in black and white thanks to my friend Betty's (or was it her friend Kailee's) idea to do all black and white this month!

Ready to go to our last MOPS meeting of the year

One of our fabulous mentor moms giving back massages

I never knew that after I became a mom I would switch lanes so that my boy could see a truck

"cotton balls" according to David

I am praying for perseverance to make it through "moth season".  Literally.  These suckers are driving me nuts!

lovely backyard white irises looking like ruffly petticoats

playing in the laundry room

balloon/ball pit time!

need a refreshing drink?

souvenir from our trip bought at Vintage by the Pound to use as a summer napkin

"yummy dinner"

snowballs

evening walk

hanging with Dad

last May's ten on ten

see more ten on ten participants here

Kelly

where oh where?

Anyone want to guess which city (cities?) we went to?  

One we had been to before together, the other we hadn't.  

How's that for a clue?  

Our awesome family kept the little mister so we could have this time away.  Soo thankful for them.  

Also, please do not forget ten on ten if you'd like to participate tomorrow!  Rebekah who dreamed up this fun project just had a brand new baby!  

Kelly

stepping out

We stepped on out of our usual routine last week and took a little trip, just the two of us.  

It was a blast!  

And I got to wear my fun new stripey dress.  

Kelly