Coming home to September

I sometimes hesitate to post poems to my blog... worried my work will somehow not stay my own. But it also seems a shame not to share it... especially since the last few days have had that moody fall quality to them... 

Coming home to September

My garden has tomatoes for days

the season of last,

lingering.

The daylight hours, not.

I close my eyes, and the warmth still feels like summer… memories of August.

remnants of red leaves are scatted on my porch, 

like a secret between me and Fall.

“I’m coming”

I browse the neighborhood, which is still holding verdant,

as the seasons days begin to dwindle

and I wonder where they started their journey.

I am finishing my own… at least for today,

As I come home to September.

effortless summer dinner

I love this time of year. There is the potential for fall, for change, but the days are still hot and longish feeling, and the food is still fresh and seasonal. I love that an entire meal can be inspired by a single tomato (heck it could almost be the entire meal) and that this time of year the ingredients can me minimal and simple to produce the best tasting things. Simplicity.

Last night I harvested a basket of sungold tomatoes (as I do almost every day… they are taking over my life and my garden) I threw several handfuls into a large skillet with a drizzling of olive oil, a bit of sel gris, and a few bits of savory and let them simmer. A bit of pasta, some basil leaves, and mozzarella cheese, all thrown together in a bowl and sprinkled with salt. It doesn’t get much simpler, or much better. Hot fresh ingredients, not over-powered by a bunch of foof and flashy presentation, just pure flavor.

It’s the type of meal best consumed on the front porch, with a mason jar full of (insert beverage of your choice here), and some good company or a good book.

Dinner Dates

I have been eating some really amazing meals lately. A few of them I cooked on my own… but the last few weeks the dinners that stick out in my mind are my fancy dinners out with girlfriends.  The good food, the good company, the wine, the conversations… upon describing my foodie dates a friend of mine asked “are you sure you aren’t into chicks?” Yes T, I’m 100% sure I’m not a lesbian…(even in spite of that one somewhat sexy dream I had about Natalie Portman, I’m pretty sure just about every human has had that dream) but there is something about sharing a great conversation over a good meal that just resonates… romantic or no, my dinner dates have been fabulous, and just the grown up break I’ve needed out of puppyville.

  

A few weeks ago in Seattle a college friend and I indulged in a fancy dinner on the water… there were cocktails, wine, meat and cheese plates, seared, tuna, truffle mashed potatoes… melt in your mouth goodness. But that really stood out among all the food was the crispy pork belly. It was, in a word, perfection. You could tell because we both stopped talking, our eyes sort of rolled back, and we immediately slowed down to savor every last bite.  I will be thinking about that pork belly for a good long while.Seriously get the RILLAUDS!

Sunday night I finagled a speaking role at a Plate &Pitchfork dinner at Champoeg Farms. This meant, free wine, free dinner, and an extra ticket.  So I called up my friend Mari, and off we went to a dinner in a field, on a farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, pigs, and open spaces. I didn’t bring my camera, and I didn’t actually get a copy of the menu, so I can’t tell you exactly what we had, and what order it came in. I can tell you there was a chilled corn soup with basil crème fraiche,  a grilled romaine salad wrapped in prosciutto. There was pork from the farm that was incredible, and couscous with Harissa… overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the dessert, but there was goat cheese rolled in berries, and strong strong coffee. The wine was delish, and once again the company was divine.

a really bad cell phone photo of the grilled romaine

Recently, my friend Beth, put together and organized the 100 mile diet challenge through the local slow food chapter. Last night was the celebratory dinner at a local eatery downtown. I grabbed my co-workers and headed out for a truly wonderful 100% local meal. The salad was fresh and crisp, the grits were creamy, the peaches were sweetened with honey. The pork was good (not as good as the other two mentioned pork dishes… but still good). 

Red Ridge Ladies at Community Plate

I’m so lucky to live in a place where fabulous restaurants can be found on every corner, good company is easy to find, and local ingredients are always on the forefront of everyone’s mind. I’m also lucky to live in an apartment with a garden, and a climate that supports a growing season! But more about my garden bounty and what I’ve been cooking another time.

Nap-time Multi-tasking

The last week has turned me into a super multi-tasker… not that I wasn’t before. I am constantly trying to do a million things at once, hardly ever sit down to eat (at least not when I’m home) and when I’m on the computer I have at least 4 different windows and applications open… and then I got a puppy. 

Life with Toby is great… but it really is like chasing a two year old around all the time.  I have no children, but after leaving Toby with my parents over the weekend on my 12 hour work days, they quickly informed me, that having Toby around was worse than having an infant. Probably because infants you diaper, and put in a crib, and they are completely immobile. Puppies on the other hand, are constantly moving, not house-trained, and put EVERYTHING in their mouths… there are no breaks, there are no “oh I’ll just go in the other room for a second”… but there are still messes, feedings, late night trips outside… So yeah… I’m feeling a little bit like a frazzled mommy. But we are working on it. I definetly am ready for a glass of wine in the evening, and I think it goes really well with training time. But already, I’ve had him a week, and he knows how to sit, lay down, shake, high-five, and we are still working on “leave it”.

That being said, I have learned that Nap-time is my window of opportunity… My opportunity to hang onto my sanity, and get some personal things done/ personal time.  Today I watered the plants, did laundry, harvested my garden, ran to the grocery store, did the dishes, answered work e-mails, made phone calls, ate lunch, made coffee, took some pictures, etc. all during naptime. Of course, by the time he wakes up, I’m pretty exhausted and feel like I too, need nap time… but we are working on our schedules.  Of course, right now, I’m frustrated because I have been waiting for my neighbors to take their stuff out of the community washing machine for the last 3 hours… and now that I finally have a window of opportunity, Toby just peed on his bed (not the one he really sleeps on, just the one he plays on)… guess I won’t be doing my dark load next… maybe during the next nap-time…

R and R

So I’ve had Toby home for roughly 30 hours… but this is not a blog about him… Though I am in full puppy parent obsession mode, I need some balance in my life, and I figure not everyone wants to read about the snudgy cuteness of bulldog…. All in due time.

I escaped to Seattle for a long weekend with my college roommate. It was so wonderful to get away, have real conversations, reminisce about old times, catch up on tv and celebrity gossip (they are re-making Dirty Dancing? Why god why, are we allowing this to happen? I respect the Havannah Nights prequel… in fact I may secretly like it better than the original… for different reasons. Don’t judge me… but don’t you think Patrick is rolling over in his grave just a little? ) We ate, we drank, we took in some baseball games… all in all it was the perfect weekend…

Yes, I was spooned/ smothered by a giant cat (he weighs 19 pounds… Toby only weighs 16) and I am no cat person, but I put up with the awkward nighttime encroachment, and I’m glad I did.  Wakefield didn’t get his 200^th win… but by god, there were garlic fries, and lots of them!  

Safeco field is one of my favorite places for awkward encounters. How many thousands of people does it seat, and yet some-how I always manage to run into someone I know. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. This trip, I made a point of meeting up with an ex from a million years ago. We are friend(ish) now, but its been a long road, filled with a variety of tensions… but what safer environment to meet up at? There are thousands of people, and the garlic fries alone are enough to make sure that regardless of any ulterior motives, nothing sexy will ever happen. (they are pretty much fool proof). I managed to get through the encounter with… well probably not grace, but it wasn’t awkward either. There was a moment, in which I spastically flailed my foot around trying to show off my tattoo… more spastic than awkward though… and we drank our beer, ate our garlic fries, talked about Toby, hugged, and went our separate ways.

nothing is quite as awkward as this photo though...

A more awkward encounter was when I was eating said garlic fries, with said ex, and ran into my old roommate’s husband’s parents. I have met them dozens of times, I have hosted them for Easter brunch, I even coordinated their son’s wedding… and still I got the “excuse me…. Did you go to Linfield?” Really I cannot be surprised about this…. I blame it on my homeschooling, but I seem to have a knack for blending into the woodwork. I get this in the wine industry all the time… I’ve been working in it for the past four years, and it doesn’t matter how many networking events I attend, and how many times I make an introduction, it doesn’t even matter if I’m behind the wine bar at my place of work…. People cannot seem to remember my face or who I work for…. I like to think that this would make me excellent as espionage. Forgettable face, ulterior motives (not really, I don’t have any… but seriously… for a person this awkward, I certainly don’t stand out in a sea of faces). It’s ok…. I have other talents.

It was the perfect pre-pet ownership getaway. I got to dress up, talk baseball, order fancy menu items, sleep in, lounge around, and indulge in cocktails, brunches, and excursions... Thanks for a great weekend!

Because Toby Needs a mustache toy.

Ok,

Not to go all “pet mom crazy” on you (it’s sort of where I am right now, you can deal with it) but there is this huge part of me that thinks I need a dog registry. I thought this was a humorous idea, until I realized there are actually some pretty terrifying websites out there that offer this very thing, and they are all for the high maintenance people who actually throw birthday parties for their dogs, and want their guests to bring the perfect gift (I’m not even kidding!) 

I would like to approach the registry from the direction of A) I do not want real children, and B) I am on a fixed income… and let’s face it, how is registering for a baby really that much different than registering for a dog? (my dog baby) You can ask your friends to buy you onesies, car seats, those weird diaper genie things, shoes a baby grows out of in like a day… and people do this glady. They throw you showers, and make finger foods, and play weird games, and they buy you lots of random stuff.  Not that I need a hand-out, but really, in the days where having children isn’t automatically the norm, why is it so ridiculous to think that having a pet registry is a terrible idea? How is putting money towards a kennel, or a Martha Stewart Pet bowl any different than forking out money for a stroller, or outfits for babies?  Just think about it.

Were I really to create a registry for Toby, here are a few things that would be on it.

Obviously he needs this mustache ball! Come on!

This Artichoke chew toy is perfect for the dog with a foodie owner. Also it gives the dog vitamins, and you can hide treats inside! And its cute. (they also have a strawberry & eggplant version)

Once again, a treat toy, and its perfect for a Dog who is a Red Sox Fan.
(the baseball, not the pug)

Love this Martha Stewart Bowl!  It has a lid, so you can travel with it! Perfect for the dog who will be packing a lunch to the office.

A baby-gate. Any kind would do.  (ok 2 baby gates) to keep him in the nook while I’m cooking dinner, or getting ready in the morning… I don’t want to put him in the crate all the time, but I also don’t want him to have free reign of my house.

A Kiddie Pool. It's August... and though in Oregon we are still waiting for the heat, I'm optimistic it will come. And I don't have AC, so Toby needs a pool. 

He already has a little Kong, but just like baby-shoes.... dogs outgrow their toys

Because, why would you not get your dog a Dental Dinosaur?