We had a couple friends over for some wings and good conversation. Cake from Helen Bernard. It was a magical evening and I’m feeling very blessed. We realized than no one can remember my 40th birthday last year, not even me. I know that things at home were pretty rough with a colicky baby so…

I love my birthday. What a year it’s been. I don’t even remember what I did last year and I posted two posts all month. My guess is I was probably either walking the ends of the earth trying to keep the little one happy, or I was in a sleep deprived daze and felt…

We had a double date… or I guess a triple date to Dancing Roots Farm with our friends Liz and Carl and their son Max, who’s a couple weeks older than Juniper. We picked blackberries and I took a few photos of the farm. It was my first visit there. Things are at their peak…

Tomato juice Tomato sauce I decided this takes too much effort unless you’re completely swimming in tomatoes and you have a very very large pot. Blackberries from our CSA Apricots

Sungold tomatoes grow like crazy in Portland. This is the second year we’ve grown them and they keep us supplied with sweet, juicy tomatoes for several months on a near daily basis. What we can’t eat right away I like to make into compote. It’s super simple and fast and it freezes really well. Once…

Ive been having trouble getting dinner ready lately and with all the CSA veggies we get every week, I hate to see anything go to waste. We had a ton of parsley, cilantro. scallions, banana peppers, tomatoes, and walla walla onions that needed to be put to good use. We split a quarter cow with…

Orange, gold, and blue fuzed glass pendant. Satin cord.

Juniper was born one year ago. Life sure is different than I’d imagined in many ways — but at the same time not. I knew it would be unimaginable to some degree, so this is just what unimaginable looks like. I like it. I’m madly in love with my daughter. The one painful part of…

Portland abounds with u-pick farms and blueberries are one of my favorites. I snuck in two visits to blueberry farms this summer and had enough for 10 jars of jam plus a batch of ice cream and some freezer berries to tide us over a while. I feel very rich having all this delicious jam…

We eat a ton of canelinni beans around here so I figured it was high time I can some. It wasn’t easy, so I’m hoping they turned out ok. I figure the worst case scenario is that they got too soft and I’ll have to use them for winter soups instead of summer salads. Not…

2 cups canelinni beans, rinsed 1 zucchini, diced 3 scallions, thinly sliced generous handful of cilantro, stemmed and chopped juice of 1 lemon 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper This sald is super easy, keeps for several days and goes well with just about any summer lunch or dinner. Mellow, citrus-y, and fresh, it’s…

Well, it took me nearly a month to get down the block to see it, but I finally made it the the Meg Hunt show at Land Art Gallery on Mississippi in Portland. The room is full of her charming gauoche drawings, screen prints, pillows, and cut paper mobiles. I think my favorites were the…

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Jeff Mandel’s Custom shoe shop in Portland with some friends. Jeff’s shoes are completely and lovingly handmade to fit your feet like no shoes has ever before. The tools of his trade are almost as beautiful as his shoes. Shoe lasts and women’s shoes Cabinet full of gorgeous…