Welcome to Pennsylvania

I had to go to the DC area for work, so I was lucky enough to get to go out for the weekend before my meeting and see friends and family.

I visited Pennsylvania....
While there I visited my friend Melody, her hubby and her son, Colin.
Isn't he a cute boy????

Melody and I have known each other since 1991 when we met in Fargo, ND while working at the USDA. We still look 20-something, right???

Lovely sleeping Colin.

Melody and her little boy.

Another blast from my Fargo past....Chris was the boss that brought Melody and I together. I made a joke that we looked 20 years older....oh, wait! We are almost 20 years older than the day we first met.

I was so lucky to also see one of my old Stitch N Bitch girls, Eva, from our group who moved to the DC area. We had a wonderful Ethiopian dinner. Yum!

I feel blessed that I was able to see so many friends while on a business trip!

Cooking....

Last weekend I made pita bread for lunch. From start to finish it is a pretty quick bread to make, maybe under 3 hours with very little actual active working time. Here is the last step before baking.
The fun part about pita bread is that is puffs up some when you cook it to make the pocket inside. Here is one batch baking and puffing up. It was tasty and my kids even liked it.

I had gotten okra at the farmer's market. I thought I would try something new with okra other than battered and fried so I made curried okra.

The first step is sliced and then soaked in salt water overnight.

In order to get the okra soaked, it recommended iced water.

Afterward it is sauteed with onions and curry. I added lentils to the mixture to make a whole meal. It tasted great with the pita bread.

Another recipe I recently tried was caramel apple cookies. I substituted caramel's for the bits because I couldn't find them. The cookies were really good but if you use caramel pieces, cut them up in REALLY TINY pieces!

I didn't make this meal but it is one of my favorites. Green papaya salad and summer rolls from a local Thai restaurant.

This is the last soup I made from the farmer's market produce. It is a butternut squash and sweet potato soup. I made up the recipe as I went along so, nothing exciting on that front. I topped it with fresh basil and Sriracha sauce.

Happy Sunday!

Stitch N Pitch

I met Heather for the Stitch N Pitch Diamondbacks game today. We saw Sue from Fiber Factory and she was showing us how to make the crocheted version of the Rasta Hat.
The Fiber Factory also had people demonstrating spinning and bobbin lace making (below).

We thought we needed a photo to show you all how long our hair is now. Both of us used to have very short hair. Hmm....maybe we get along so well since we are about 5 days apart in age. Weird, huh? You meet someone at Stitch N Bitch and just click! Luv ya Heather!

The view of the field from our nosebleed seats.

You can't really see Heather's hat but you can see me modeling the scarf that took me nearly 2 hours to knit the last row. However, it is ready to block and send to its new owner somewhere cold. The scarf is made with Silk Maiden yarn given to me for my 40th birthday last December by the Queen of Snarkville. She drove all the way from Santa Rosa, CA to Sacramento to have lunch with me to start my 40th birthday extravaganza. We had never met before...but that is the wonderful thing about blogland. You meet amazing people!

I THINK the Dbacks lost but to be truthful, I don't care. I went for the company and time spent knitting my friend.

Recent Meals...

I made grilled Chimichurri Tofu a few weeks ago. The tofu marinating.
Fresh seeded baguette from the Farmer's Market ready for grilling.

The finished meal of grilled tofu on grilled bread with an avocado, cucumber and heirloom tomato salad. Definitely would make it again!

Yesterday I made roasted tomotoes for Ina Garten's Caprese Salad.

It was really good and a good use of my Farmer's Market bounty.

Vacation to Colorado: Day 2

Our little house at Dean & Mona's. Our "little house" was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the depression for tourists and rangers at Mesa Verde. As the story goes, after tourists required "fancier" accomodations at Mesa Verde, the park service sold off all the little houses for $0.50 to $1 to the people in the area. Legend goes that this was a ranger unit because instead of having two bedrooms, it has a living room, small kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom. It was perfect for us!
We visited Spruce House at Mesa Verde.

Our hostess, Mona, with the kids.

Pretending they are grinding corn.

Another cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde.

A gorgeous view.

More cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde.

"Back at the Ranch" hunting for toads. (Notice Hannah's fashion look of white leggings with white shorts.)

Hannah with a toad we never thought she'd touch!

Self portrait with my camera. I know my "pre-teen" daughter sitting on my lap and thinking it is cool is a fleeting thing and I am enjoying every moment.

Maple Apple Tarlets

Our friends in Cortez, CO gave me the recipe for the Apple Maple Tarlets. So yummy and so easy.

Start with Puff Pastry (I used my Silpat brought back from France by my sister instead of parchment paper).

Add sliced apple pieces, a bit of cinnamon sugar and butter.
Bake and add some Maple Syrup (thank you to Matthew & Mindy for the birthday gift!).

Delicious and beautiful. I brought 6 to work for a MDA bake sale fundraiser at work. They were gone within 30 minutes. Hmmm...must have looked homemade. :)

Colorado Vacation: Day 1

The kids and I took a road trip to Cortez, CO the week before they went to school. We visited real dinosaur tracks in NE Arizona.
Aren't they cool?

Simon thinking his Mom is crazy. I know...it will get worse.

We visited the Navajo Museum in Tuba City.

They had a special exhibit about the Code Talkers that Hannah enjoyed since she studied them last year in school. Simon liked the guns.

We also visited Monument Valley National Monument in Utah & Arizona.

We finally reached our destination in time for dinner after a long day of driving. Thankfully, Dean & Mona had Legos, lots of Legos to entertain the kids.

First Day of School

I can't believe summer is over! The kids were happy to go back to school yesterday so that is a GOOD thing!
Plus, they both survived the day well.

Tomatoes & Children

After visiting Micheal Chiarello's restaurant, Bottega, I started reading one of Diane's many cookbooks. One of the recipes I saw that looked good was the Oven Dried Tomatoes from Michael Chiarello's cookbook. I had 3 tomatoes & a toaster oven.
I mixed up the Herbes de Napa in my mortar & pestle.

Slathered it over my tomatoes with salt, pepper and garlic.

And baked until done. The toaster oven worked great!

Hannah had decade day at her summer camp program. She was able to borrow a dress from her friend (who is a lot shorter than she is!) and worked the leggings with the dress.

Totally reminded me of the 1970's.

Is it me or is she suddenly growing up faster than normal??