small things...

Out with the old

As some (many?) of you know the condo I live in was my mom’s.  My sister and I inherited it after she died and then a couple years ago I bought my sister’s half and moved in.  I was moving from a small one bedroom apartment into a large 3 bedroom condo.  The furniture I had to bring with me was all Ikea or found in my alley.  So I didn’t bring much of it at all.  I was moving into a fully furnished condo so there was little need for my crappy stuff.  My sister and I divided up as much furniture/art/odds-and-ends as we could at the time and I began living with what was left. 

As fortunate as I was to be moving into a fully furnished apartment (and a beautiful one at that), it is strange to move into your mother’s fully furnished apartment.  It’s her stuff and it’s hard for me to get past that sometimes.  To get the place where this place feels like mine and the stuff around me is my stuff is a major goal.  So, slowly, very very slowly I’ve started to replace her stuff with new stuff of my own.

This weekend I found a couple of things that are so small you may wonder if it makes that big of a difference.  Let me just say that when you are trying to make a place your own these things add up.

**Don’t get me wrong – there are some things of my mom’s that I could never part with.  That remind me of her and I want to keep close.  These are not those things.**

I use a butter dish.  Do you?  I use a butter dish and keep my butter out on the counter and never in the fridge.  I use a little butter every day on my morning toast so it gets used up pretty quickly.  But this is what I’ve been using for the past 2-3 years:

It isn’t cute – It isn’t! don’t lie.  Or if you do like it let me know and I’ll give it to you!  But don’t be jealous when you see where my butter will be living from now on:

My whole kitchen just got happier. 

And then there were these.  They’re fine – it’s true.  But they are thick and kinda heavy for little bowls

Maybe I should keep the matching ones for chips and salsa? Or you could – just let me know I’ll wrap them up like a present and mail them to you!  because now I have these

They’re cute! They’re simple! I can hold them in one hand!  But I won’t b/c I don’t want to break my new bowls, yo.

I realize that this may seem silly to you especially if you weren’t aware of my angsty existence in my home.  But these little things – they feel like me.  and that is a good, good thing.

Go get you some!

Birthday in PDX

This time last year I had to cancel a birthday trip to New York City (that was still taken – just several months later!)  But this year, THIS YEAR, I got to take a birthday trip to visit some old friends in a city I’ve never been to.  This year I went to Portland, OR. 

I went to find out if it was really as full of hipsters and foodies and cyclists and the tattooed and friendly folks as it has long been rumored.  I was only there for 3 nights so I cannot verify that all of this is true, but I got a good enough glimpse to confidently guess that it’s all totally true.

These are the folks I went to visit.  My friends and yours, the Wil-Co’s

The weekend was jam-packed full of food, friends and sightseeing.

The Food

We were all starving when they picked me up from the airport.  (By the way, did you know how crazy the seating system is on Southwest Airlines?  I did not.)  They took me to a restaurant that is in an old converted school – which also houses several small bars, a hotel and a movie theater. 

(source)

That night we ate a local Mexican chain called  Cha-Cha-Cha.  The guy who took my order commended me on my willingness to try a little of everything when it came to taquitos.  Apparently, some Portlanders, are a little particular when ordering their food.

On my birthday I had 3 special food excursions.  Yay birthday feasting!

For brekkie, my friend Reba took me to the WAFFLE WINDOW.  I know, for realz, it’s a place where you buy waffles right outta the window.

So genius.  I think maybe I should open up one of these in Evanston. Don’t steal my idea!  I had a savory waffle which consisted of a smallish waffle covered with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, maple bacon and chevre.  so YUM.

(source)

Sho and the girls picked me up at lunchtime to take me to one of the many food truck outposts in town.  This was actually one of my favorite things about Portland – anywhere you could find a small empty lot you could find 1 more more food trucks parked.   this place was like a food truck-food court.  The food was fresh and delish (but sorry, no pics of the food.  Just picture in your mind a warm falafel sandwich)

Instead of birthday cake we had treats from another famed Portland spot: VOODOO Doughnuts.  I couldn’t believe the line at the original spot so we ran over to Voodoo two and found a much smaller group of folks waiting for the good stuff

And finally, Sho and I went to dinner and a movie at the Laurelhurst theater.  Kind of a brew-n-view, but also you can get dinner!  We saw “The Fighter”.  so good.  Head-body-head-body

The Sights

Portland was pretty rainy and cloudy for the couple of days I was in town, but still quite lovely.  On Sunday we took a drive up the Columbia River Gorge. Have a gander…

Vista House and view of the river.  It was insanely windy up there.  Just getting to the building from the car took feats of strength and balance!  Don’t believe me?  Take a look at Harper’s hair in this picture. 

That’s sideways, yo.  And look at Nigel! He’s all crooked against the wind.  It was exhilarating.

The view from Bridal Veil

And the Grand finale, Multnomah Falls

And finally, the view from our lunch spot in Hood River

It was a great trip.  Very quick and go-go-go. 

Now I’m all jacked up because of the time-change and daylights savings, and my kitty puked in her excitement of my return, but am happy to have seen some old friends and a new city.  Til next time, Portland!

xoxo

erin

ps – where to next?

I Yam what I Yam

*groan* that title was sooo lame.

sorry.

As promised, a little yam experiment as I try to use up all the veggies from my veggie box this week!

The Before picture

And *obligatorydrumrollplease*

The After

Yam chips!

They were cut quite thin enough so they didn’t get as crispy as I might have liked them, but the were delicious nonetheless.  A little bit of olive oil and coarse salt, baked for about 30 minutes total with a flip of the chips halfway through and you’ve got chips. 

I’ll definitely make these again and perhaps invest in a mandolin slicer to really get ‘em thin.

yum.

Farm to table

I picked up a $15 produce box from Newleaf Grocer this weekend with the intention of using ALL of it this week.  I know I’m not alone when I admit that in the past produce has had a habit of going bad before I end up eating it.  Not that I couldn’t have eaten it in one week, but somehow I’d end up at Panera at lunch (how does that happen?) instead of making a salad from all the lettuce I had wilting at home.  In the last year I’ve developed a new habit:  Freezing!  In the past year I’ve put just about everything you can think of in my freezer *to be used at yet-to-be-determined date*.  My freezer is filling up and the food still isn’t getting eaten. 

Notable exception: bags and bags and bags of berries I froze last summer.  I’ve used those all year long in my smoothies.  Best decision I made last summer.

Anyhoo…about this week.  In my box came the following: arugula, cabbage, boston lettuce, 2 yams, several sweet peppers, 3 apples, 3 kiwi and 2 naval oranges.  The fruits will be incorporated into my smoothies and as snacks so they are well taken care of.

The first thing that came to mind when I unpacked my box at home was the sweet pepper pizza from Union pizzeria in Evanston.  The next thing that came to mind was the arugula topped pizza made from, my friend and yours, the Barefoot Contessa!  So a little mixy-mixy was in order. 

First the goods:

  

Next the tasty, tasty pizza.  I used the dough recipe from Barefoot but free-wheeled the toppings.

My pizza’s always come out as triangles.  I don’t know.

Now two great tastes that taste great together? Behold

If you aren’t putting salad on top of your pizzas you should start.

******************

tomorrow: you may or may not see my yam experiment

(hint: you will)

xo

erin

Sundays in the pub

Over the weekend we celebrated my sister’s birthday at a local pub where on Sunday afternoons the place is filled with families come in to have a pint and a listen to the weekly Irish jam session.  It’s a fun atmosphere.  Loud and crowded but room enough for the kids to meet each other, do a little dancing and run amok.

Pints were had by the adults

Kiddos were not left out

please notice my nephews exceptional balancing skills

 

The whole thing got me thinking about our trip to Ireland, now 6 years ago already.  Where we spent a good deal of time in pubs down there listening to “trad” and having a pint. Maybe I’ll share a few more of those memories on St. Paddy’s day next week.

But until then a parting wish of pints for all of whatever you’re drinking

:: O’Donoghues pub, Dublin

Let’s be lions

A million years ago (okay 3 years ago) I used to write a newsletter that I sent to people that belonged to my email list.  Every month I’d write a little message inspired by the month itself.  I realized quickly that though the notes were meant to be meaningful to the people receiving the emails – more often then not they were messages I most needed to hear, heed or follow. 

That March I wrote a note inspired by the idiom about March, “In like a lion, out like a lamb”.  {I wish I could remember more of what I’d written that month, but I’d not gotten into the habit of saving those emails.  As soon as I sent them – they were gone.}  The idea was to harness a little bit of that extra energy that blows through in March (the lion) for yourself. 

I am needing a bit of that raw energy today, this month, always.  February was rough and I find myself whimpering into March, dragging my tired spirit in behind me. 

I have some plans for myself this month.  Trying to get some writing done, a vacation for my birthday, a little less Facebook and a little more life.  Yet I still had a little whimper left in me this morning leftover from yesterday’s February-ness.  And I found myself wandering around my apartment unable to commit to any one task.  I actually have some clear goals for myself and I couldn’t get myself to sit down and face any one of them. 

And then I remembered the Lion.  March isn’t about taming the Lion; it’s about letting the Lion roar.

In my mind, lions get sh*t done!  I mean look at this cat.

 

He is ready to *own* you. 

So I stopped the wandering let out a roar and got to work. 

Let’s be lions, friends.

 

ps – if any of you reading used to get that newsletter and happened to hold on to any of them, I’d love to see them again!

pps – ROWR!