Proper beach attire

I am very lucky.  Although my family lives thousands of miles away, my three siblings, mom, and mom's boyfriend all came to visit us last week!  We had fun spending time together: watching movies, exploring Portland, playing board games, cooking at home.  We also took a day trip to Cannon Beach, which is a lovely place to visit any time of the year.  One doesn't go to the Oregon coast to sunbathe in December, so we occupied ourselves in other ways.

After my family flew home, Matt, the doggles, and I took a short trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  We found a cottage in Forks, Washington, not too far from the Olympic National Forest and some breathtakingly beautiful beaches.  It rained, as expected in the rainiest part of the country.  We were in a rainforest, after all.  It was glorious.

The four of us donned our raincoats and set out for our first hike together, not encountering any beast or person for the entire two hours on Christmas morning.

What a beautiful part of the country!

Happy New Year!  I hope 2012 is filled with happy surprises, time spent with loved ones, and new opportunities for us all!

Collards and Mac

Mixing a vegetable in with your mac and cheez isn't exactly a novel idea anymore.  I've done broccoli, cauliflower, and peas, but perhaps my favorite mix-ins are collards.  I like to cut them into long ribbons so I can swirl them up with my fork, each bite having a plentiful amount of both the veg and the mac.



Kristen from the Noochy Noodle spoke really highly of the Cheezy Mac recipe from Julie Hasson's Vegan Diner.  I just got a copy of the book from the library, so I thought it would be a perfect recipe to try for this dish.  And it was!  This recipe is creamy with a great smokey flavor.  It's only been recently that I've started liking smokey flavors, so it was my first time using smoked paprika, but certainly not the last!

So how did I prepare the collard ribbons?
I started out with enormous collard leaves, cutting out the stalks (and giving them to patiently waiting doggles), and lining them up on the cutting board.

 Then, I rolled them up, lengthwise and started slicing.

I plopped the collard ribbons into a pan and steamed them for about five minutes.

For dessert I made the couscous cake that won me over at A Bug and a Fish.  However, I flavored mine with rosewater instead of vanilla and used pistachios and home-grown strawberry slices for the top.  It was quite good.  Apparently couscous cakes have been around forever, but I've never heard of them before!  I think I'm going to try making it with quinoa for a nutty, gluten-free dessert.

Oy.  It wasn't ready in time for natural light.  And I wasn't going to wait until the next day to eat it!

Lastly, I leave you with photographic evidence of Andy's method of opening a soy milk container.

Oh, Andy.

PreMoFo Doggles

It's almost upon us.  You know what I'm talking about. IT'S ALMOST HEEEERRREE!

In the meantime, a totally non-food-related post, to ineffectively counteract the wave of food content that will soon be overtaking this blog:

You have a beautiful, sunny fall day in Portland.  What to do?  What to do?  Oh yes, soak up some vitamin D with the doggle buds and woohoo!  Doggle bath party!

Gah!  Naked Doggles!

 

 

 

 

Okay, so they don't actually love the baths so much, but they do love being out in the sun.  Poor timid-of-wet-grass Emerson has a few rough months ahead. 

Family Portrait!

My photographer friend, Carly, came over to assist with a fun project yesterday. We have the honor of appearing in the Cares4Pets 2012 calendar, scheduled to be released in a few months, and Carly snapped some great shots of the four of us together. As you can imagine, it's not always easy to photograph pets, and given that ours are of a particularly squirmy variety, Carly did a fabulous job! I like how so many of them feature Emerson's tongue on Matt's face.

Which shot is your favorite?

(Don't worry; The chosen image will be much crisper than those portrayed here.)

A preview of what's to come

Under the guidance of a Mr. Joel Verdon, I have been working on several furniture building projects of late. Most excitingly for me, I've begun work on a work/storage station for the kitchen. This beaut will sit in my "nook" area and will house spices, herbs, teas, produce, oils, vinegars, etc. I've installed two rustic shelves full of vintage mason jars containing beautiful legumes and grains above where the station will go. I love how it looks and can't wait until the station is complete!

So far, we've created the legs, beautifully tapered by Joel, and the apron, the front of which will also become drawer space for spices and teas. I brought in a jar of mung beans to my local paint store and found the PERFECT color to match. (This is my absolute favorite color- love it!) The legs and apron have been sanded a few times and painted twice. Each leg has a double bolt to provide extra stability for those awesome doughs I'll be kneading.
More photos soon! Hopefully the entire project will be complete by next week.

A couple of cuddling doggle shots:

Andy and Em enjoying the fleeting sunshine. Notice Andy's arm around Emerson.

Doc snapped this one when Emerson came to cuddle with me on the sofa last night and put his arms around my neck. A very unflattering photo of me.

My birthday!

I celebrated my birthday today, ushered in with well wishes from lovely people, and even a visit from a few friends and my brother!

Brother, Nat, cuddling with the Emerson.

The birthday celebrations included dinner at Portobello Vegan Trattoria, game night back at our place, and TWO delicious cakes. Just look at 'em! DocDufresne made an amazing cheezecake with strawberry sauce, and my buddy Shivels from Seattle, made a decadent chocolate cake topped with rich chocolate icing, coconut, and almond slivers. Aahhhmazing!

Yuuummz.

I've been very excited about our soon-to-be epic garden (see Evidence A, below.) This will be a first for both DocDufresne and me, and we might be getting a little carried away, but it's hard not to with a blank slate of a lot. Today, Doc stayed home from work, and after we ate the yummy French toast he made for breakfast, we walked to the nursery down the street from us to pick up some more veggie and flower seeds.

Evidence A: The once empty lot (minus the 90 yr old house and garage)

Then we headed to Native Bowl to pick up lunch to go, and trekked to the highest location in Portland to witness a spectacular view. We were able to see many mountain ranges, including Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helen's, and Mt. Rainier.

I didn't bother using my polarized lens and it was a little hazy, so Mt. Hood isn't really clear in the photo.

After that, Doc and I rushed home so that, with the remaining daylight, we could play with the boys in the new backyard! We had a fence installed and it was finished today!!

Andy had quality time with a certain Mr. Frisbee.
So much so, he didn't want to come in when it was time to.

Emerson enjoyed his first time off leash outside grazing.

Finished up the day watching the Star Wars trilogy. A great birthday!

Bonus sweepy little doggleson shots.