Julie, Julia & Meg

This summer I read Julie & Julia and My Life in France. They both made me laugh. They both made me hungry. And they both made me want to cook.

But with record high temps outside and in my kitchen (there were several days where it was at least 84 degrees or higher in my kitchen) and that pretty much wiped out my desire to cook.

But it's cooler now and I'm ready to tap into that inspiration. I think it has something to do with fall. The cooler temps and colored leaves make me want to bake and make soups.

I got a little creative with the mass amounts of tomatoes I got from the garden. I decided I was going to whip up a sauce for our pasta. So with a couple of handfuls of tomatoes, some green onions from the garden and chives from the herb pot, I tossed them into the pan and cooked them down to a delightful topping.

And then I heard the peaches calling my name from the farmers market. So I whiped a tart from an old receipe (that I've saved forever but never actually made). It's from Real Simple. It calls for a pre-made pie crust, and while I do love baking, sometimes, you just need to fake it and use a pre-made pie crust, know what I mean? I also didn't have enough peaches so I improvised with a handfull or two (don't you like my great measuring systems?) of fresh raspberries.

I have to say, both dishes were quite divine. I think the ladies would be proud.

Here's to a return to the kitchen.

Bringing in the heavy artillery

I know spiders are a good thing. I just can’t wrap my mind around that fact when they seem so confident strutting through my TV room. Or bedroom. Or bathroom.

They are really big ones too. Seriously freakishly big. And I’m done with them. Tomorrow, the exterminator arrives to help me rid the house of these unwanted arachnids.

And they really have no one to blame but themselves. The other night, as I was getting ready for bed, you know where this is going right? Right, as I was getting ready for bed, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was brown and moving and on my bed. I screamed and grabbed the comforter and flipped it off the bed. Of course, in doing that, I also flipped the spider. But I couldn’t ever find the spider. And we looked. And looked. And shook out the bedding. No luck. It was after 11 and the hubby was tired of indulging me and went to bed.

And so did I. The next morning I found – what I’m telling myself – is the same spider in the bathroom, and squashed him and flushed him. I killed three others just like him that same day. Seriously, this is stopping.

To illustrate this post, I thought I’d share a few photos of some of the spiders that have taken up residence outside. While they’ve never made it in the house (yet) their friends have entered, only to never be heard from again…..

The latest crop

The first carrots of the season are here.

Too bad my fabulous lettuce crop as decided to stop producing. There go my dreams of a totally home grown salad.

Figures.

When a yarn store shuts down

It's always a sad thing when a yarn store closes their doors.
It means no place to go for help with a project.
No place to sit and visit with fellow women who you may not know when you walk in, but are friends when you leave.
It means no place to just stroll and look and touch the pretty, pretty things.


But....


It also means a SALE!!! The store in question is my mom's favorite yarn store in Eagle, Idaho: Handmade. It's a fabulous store in a beautiful custom made log cabin house with over stuffed chairs, couches and shelfs filled to the rafters with yarn.

Thier sale: 50% off everything. EVERYTHING! Unfortunately, I didn't know about this sale before I came for a long weekend visit. I would have better prepared myself for upcoming projects. Instead I just grabbed some pretty yarn that I'm rather fond of.


I purchased 5 skeins of Dream in Color Classy in Worsted Weight. One skein of Some Summer Sky (which will become a Foliage Hat for my sister for Christmas); 2 skeins of Cloud Jungle (to become a hat for the hubby); 1 skein of Butter Peeps just because I love the color. They were all sold out of the Dream in Color sock yarn but this is still quite the steal!


If you're in the vicinty of Boise, Idaho, I HIGHLY recommend a side trip to Eagle for this fabulous sale!

Whew!

I'm trying to catch my breath here.

For the past few weeks, work has been totally crazy. Like insane crazy busy.

Between work stress and a busy vacation to N. Idaho, I haven't had time to catch up with knitting, blogging, reading, and sometimes life.

This weekend I'm off again, now to Boise to visit my family and see from friends and get some r & r! Well, the r & r is in the plan but we'll see how that goes too!

A blog update to come complete will all vacation pics and hopefully a few more knitting projects finished!

Lucky Winner!

I was a lucky winner for one of the Blue Book Guide to Canning from the blog Canning Across America. It'a great blog founded by very talented cooks, writers, canners and many others from right here in Seattle. It's full of great culinary stories, tips and links! Check it out, then start planning your next canning party. That's what I'm doing!

Lovey Dovey

Pattern: Lovey Dovey Top by Spud & Chloe

Yarn: Spud & Chloe in Watermelon & Firefly Sweater

For: a sweet little baby beach girl