We are all at home for quite some time now, at least until June 12th when we are headed to Arizona for a week, and it feels so good to be at home together. This past weekend was our first “normal” weekend in such a long time. Like all weekends at home, we started off with a lazy night at home on Friday. I made one of my favorite meals, Middleeastern, and hadn’t made it in quite some time and we enjoyed a movie on the couch. Saturday began with soccer and pancakes and on Sunday we went for our first family bike ride of the year; more on all of that in a minute.
I should add that there are, as always, certain things I left out on Reese’s updates that blanked my mind when writing it. First and most importantly, she is B.O.S.S.Y. She likes to tell us what to do and what not to do. She is very particular on how certain things are done. She has her spot on the couch and don’t you dare take that spot. She does not want the pillow there either and that will be thrown off of it in seconds. We are working on “please” and “thank you” constantly, sometimes she is really great at it, and other times we have to ask her over and over again to ask nicely which she then says to us “nicely”. You have to watch yourself around her and doors because she likes to slam them in your face. She does not like her hair brushed but I still manage to do it most days. And she is adamant about wearing her “pink shoes” that are well over a year old, too small for her, and falling apart. I have tons of other shoes for her which she won’t wear and have more similar shoes ordered for her but probably won’t arrive until mid June. Hopefully sandal season is quickly approaching because she will wear those, most times. We are also still working on potty training, our gradual Bryan/Chelsea approach to all things parenting, and it is a slow work in progress.
But back to the weekend. We went to soccer twice actually; first with Daddy (which was great as I wasn’t feeling super well to my stomach and laid on the couch and read the whole time they were gone) and second with Mommy (which I think Bryan enjoyed watching a movie by himself). We went for a walk to the Arboretum playground on Saturday afternoon. We played with lots of toys around the house. And on Sunday afternoon we headed north on the Burke-Gilman trail all the way up to Kenmore (aka too far for our first ride) to stop and play at the Log Boom Park before heading back. It was 26 miles round trip and my butt started screaming at me 10 miles in so, you know, fun ride. I was spent on our return home and we chilled out for the rest of Sunday evening because honestly we couldn’t manage to do much of anything else.
Lottie made her grand return to Seattle after another 1.5+ weeks away and I picked them up at the airport midday on Monday. Bryan and I also had our first ultrasound appointment up at Northwest Hospital (we just love this hospital as it is so calm and peaceful) and all went great and we are starting to get excited and let the reality of this new baby sink in. Reese still understands that there is a baby in my belly but she refuses to acknowledge a picture of said-baby from our ultrasound. It makes her mad?!? I think it just confuses her that you can take a picture of something she cannot see.
My dear friend Polly finally had her baby (a week late) on Monday, May 17th, and I got to meet baby Niko this Tuesday evening when I delivered them a meal. Not only did I get to meet Niko but I got to hold her for the full hour that I was there and she fell asleep on me and it was heaven. I haven’t been able to hold a little baby since Reese was about 8 months old and it was just the best! I was happy that Bryan and Reese had some daddy daughter time that night as well.
I know I said weeks back that I was not going to try my luck at gardening this year…unless I got free plants from neighbors, of which of course I did. I have not purchased a single plant but I now have (4) kale plants, (2) basil plants, (2) tomato plants, (1) zucchini plant, (4) leek plants, and I have the herbs that persisted from last year including rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, chives, and mint. One basil and tomato plant came with our Hitchcock CSA boxes and the rest came from neighbors who had extra on hand!
And speaking of our Hitchcock CSA subscription, we started our introduction to it over the past two weeks. These boxes have been a lot of fun, albeit a bit of work, and have introduced me to some interesting ingredients and some different types of cooking methods. The first box we made last week was a really fine pork cut known as a “pork new york”. Similar to a New York steak its lean but flavorful, somewhat of a cross between a pork loin and a juicy pork chop, but boneless. This we seared and roasted and sliced on top of some parmesan polenta, wilted spinach, and topped with a porcini mushroom cream sauce. This meal was fantastic and certainly restaurant quality. Our second box featured a lamb loin, cooked in a similar fashion, but with spices and ingredients leaning towards Ethiopia. The lamb was spiced with berbere seasoning and I decided to slice that and serve it on top of a harissa chickpea (deliciously made from dried chickpeas), spinach, carrot and cauliflower sauté and then topped it all with a bit of harissa yogurt sauce. It was also fantastic and both meals left me stuffed to the gills (easier these days to do). We have had some of the other ingredients here and there and have a whole bunch of ingredients left to use including crunchy breakfast radishes, black lentils, spicy watercress, some delicious cheeses, blackberry salad dressing, goosetongue greens (!), whole leaf spinach, rhubarb, green garlic, and mustard greens. This is the best part because I love using it all up in various ways so we will see what I can come up with.
And to round out the week we’ve had a few takeout meals after those elaborate meals; tamales from Frelard Tamales in Green Lake that were so good, Turkish pides (pizzas), salads and baklava from Miss Cafe in the Pike Place Market that were so tasty, and tonight we are trying the local Capitol Hill Taku’s Japanese fried chicken from Chef Shota who we have been watching and pulling for on the new Top Chef Portland. We are trying this tonight with Sarah and Lottie and our neighbors as we kick off this much needed three day weekend!
So thankful for a three day weekend with my crew!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 