And no, tonight I don’t mean a Dairy Queen! I’ve been enjoying some frozen fruit this week, specifically grapes and now cherries. Girlfriend and her addiction turned me on to the cherries 
Last week’s produce pact worked out well, and I ran out of fresh goodies on Friday. Although I ate more fresh produce, I also had too much other food 
Overeating at dinner out, throwing in a DQ Blizzard, and drinking a lot probably counteracted the good feelings that eating produce created 
Anywho…
This month’s Gourmet Magazine had a great roasted cauliflower recipe. I didn’t add the kalamata vinaigrette, but all was well 
I don’t like the cauli raw (the man prefers it raw), and roasted is now my favorite. Give ‘er a try! I like how this recipe called for the cauli to be sliced into big 1″ sections, rather than florets.
Lily was so cute at dinner tonight!!
Since I was a bad girl and didn’t do the rest of my grocery shopping yesterday, I had no lettuce today for lunch. So, I had a lettuce-less salad of carrot, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, mushroom, and some leftover multi-grain rice from Saturday’s dinner.
Yesterday was WillaKenzie’s Day in the Vineyard, a private event for members with wine classes and a wonderful catered lunch at the top of the vineyard. So gorgeous! Here’s the spread from the wine & food pairing class. I didn’t eat but the wild mushroom and chevre tart b/c of the shrimp and fish the other bites contained, and as I ate it the chef casually mentioned it had bacon in it. :shocked: *^%$%$#*&^%*&(*)????!!!!! Why do ya gotta add bacon??
Daniel, the vineyard manager, raises longhorn cattle and keeps many of them on the vineyard property. Here’s Chris getting up close and personal with a friendly cow (she licked his hand!).
This is the big daddy of the pack—Rodeo Maximus. His horn span is a whopping 72 inches. Whoa!! Better not get too close to that bad boy!
This little darling was checking her reflection out in the truck. So cute! She nosed and licked the truck, and almost took out the mirror with her horn.
Lunch was a green and lima (??) bean salad with a citrus vinaigrette, a quinoa salad with squash, tomato, red pepper, onion, a mixed green salad with caramelized hazelnuts and sundried tomatoes, and yummy olive bread. Not pictured are my four desserts: two oatmeal raisin cookies, one chocolate-chocolate chip cookie, and one almond biscotti.
These two cattle have the optimal longhorns—rather straight out, and possibly a little corkscrew type curvature. Aren’t they perty!!??
Speaking of perty…here I am! We walked up to lunch rather than taking the shuttle van.
Compare this pic with the one from last year:
Andrea and her hubby, Chris, had a party Saturday for their 30th birthdays. I got snuggly with their baby, Basil. He’s such a sweetie, and so darn cute!!
Dinner before the party was an inspired creation: stuffed white acorn squash with multi grain rice, sautéed tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, and garlic, seasoned with s&p, Nature’s Seasons, and Italian herbs. I roasted the squash for ~45m at 325, scooped out some flesh to make more room, then stuffed it with the cooked filling and baked another 15 minutes. Sadly the squash itself was rather bland What can I do to amp it up a bit?
Lily had a vet appointment in Oregon City Saturday morning, and on the way back we stopped at Spicer Brothers Produce. They had tons of great items, with about half of them being local and super fresh. Fresh apples! FINALLY! Although none of the items were labeled organic, Andrea had a great point in that many local growers use organic and sustainable methods, they just aren’t certified. Spicer’s had great prices on most items, and the guys seemed to smile at me a lot. This sexy bitch got her bananas at the “overripe” price rather than the regular price. That’s what I’m talking about.
I got three new items: golden delicious apples, white acorn squash, and donut peaches. After washing everything thoroughly I dug into a peach. WHOA! SUPER sweet taste, with only a mild peachiness. Ideal for mixing in with less sweet fruits, or used in cereal and other applications. The apples are great! Might be a new fave of mine.
I thought Friday’s salad looked especially pretty:
After hitting up DQ for a Tagalong Blizzard Tuesday night, we treated Lily to a doggy cone again She gets excited when we pull in to DQ now cuz she knows what’s coming. Oops!
And that just about sums up the last week. I’ve still been a less-than-stellar worker bee and am still having trouble getting back in to busy mode at work. I’m rather like obstinant-non-worker bee
So, I guess I’ll officially announce that Chris and I are buying my grandmother’s house. This month we’ll be getting quotes for updating the house (gotta green the place up a bit, repaint some, remove wallpaper, change out carpet, add a fence, ya know). After family is in town for my grandmother’s Celebration of Life party in late Sept. I think we can clear out the unwanted furniture/etc., and then in October the work can be done. We anticipate taking possession and moving around Nov. 1. Holy moley—can’t believe it’s really gonna happen!! It’s kind of surreal, frankly, and rather stressful. But exciting nonetheless
Tata!
