Snapshot Sunday: September 9

 Here is the summary of our first week living in our new house in Seattle! By the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH! Wish I was celebrating with you today. Drink a fruity cocktail for me.

Monday: necessary Labor Day adventure - Ikea. 

Tuesday: apparently uneventful. I put together ikea furniture & listened to podcasts

Wednesday: lovely message on the bike rack by my yoga studio

Thursday: an hour spent in a new coffee shop

Thursday: this is the result of a LOT of work.

a finally put together area of our house!

Friday: our pre-movie dinner. Salad & Herbed Flatbread. Big deal?

Yes! Tracy Shutterbean liked this on instagram

Saturday: our first Seattle hike! 

We went to Snow Lake

Huckleberry Ice Cream

Don't get me wrong, I love Seattle (especially after our hike today), but I am missing a few things from this summer.

 1) Service like this:

2) The Firepit (the firepit! the firepit!)

3) This little man (who happens to be eating my ice cream with his fingers)

Common denominator between these things: huckleberry ice cream! (You had to know that was coming). I made this recipe after our hike to Huckleberry Lookout. It took 2.5 hours to get up and about 5 hours to get down. The extra time was because we were stopped for awhile picking our share of huckleberries. If you've never had one they taste like an amped up version of a blueberry, they're slightly more tart and crisper. We ended up with 3 Nalgene bottles full so they had to be used up!

This recipe is adapted from the Taste of Home and could easily be used for raspberries or blueberries.

Huckleberry Ice Cream

• 2-3 cups huckleberries
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

To make:

1) Blend the huckleberries. I simply put mine in a blender and went to town until they were smooth

2) In a small saucepan heat the milk and sugar together, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

3) Pour your milk/sugar mixture into a bowl and stir in whipping cream and vanilla. Next, fold in the huckleberries. Now, depending on the type of ice cream you want you could strain this mixture over a metal colander. I like the bits of huckleberry so I skipped that.

4) Let this mixture cool in the refrigerator.

5) Once cool make according to your ice cream maker directions. I always like mine extra frozen so once done in the maker, stick it back in the freezer for a few hours. 

Enjoy!

Sunday snapshot: September 2nd

Apology for the missed Sunday snapshot yesterday but we were Internet-less until my husband stayed up way too late fixing it for us! Here is what I had scheduled.

I cannot believe we've finally moved into our home in Seattle. Let the unpacking begin. Due to the fact that I'm exhausted from moving furniture all day you're just getting one picture of my week. This a snapshot of one of my favorite things to do in Seattle so far

Book reviews: Thievery, Love and Oskar

You guys! Exciting news, I can get a Seattle library card now. But the bad news is that all the libraries are closed from now until Monday. Wah wah (that's the Debbie Downer noise if you didn't know). Until then I'm stuck reading whatever books I can find that I have with me, which is limited. Such is life. Enjoy my latest book reviews. 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I'd seen this around on various twitter feeds and book lists and decided to pick it up. It's narrated by Death and written about a little girl, Liesel, in Nazi Germany after she is taken in by foster parents. Her real father is/was a Communist and her mother essentially disappears after taking her to the new home. Her career as a book thief begins with the burial of her younger brother and continues through late childhood and adolescence. This book really really excellent. You fall in love with Liesel's foster parents, her swearing mother and her endlessly patient and loving Papa. I love the perspective that Death brings and the way its written. It's almost as though Death gives away major plot points before they really happen in the story and the whole book is written to explain how they come to be. I highly recommend this book. 

All There Is by Dave Isay

This is another StoryCorp book. I reviewed Listening as an Act of Love awhile back (you can read it here) and wanted to pick up this book. It's another quick read (it took me an afternoon) and holds more poignant stories from real people. These are all focused on love, some on love lost or love found. Many will bring tears to your eyes, like the couple that both have multiple sclerosis and found each other later in life. This is one I could say you should pick up to read over a cup of coffee at home on a rainy afternoon.








Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer


I had never been really drawn to read this book. I very vaguely knew it was about a kid who lost his father during 9/11 and that it was made into a movie with some controversy. A friend here in Seattle had it and highly recommended it so I decided to give it a try. It was really different than I thought it would be. Its narrated by Oskar Schell, an 11 year old living in New York City who is dealing with the grief of losing his father on 9/11. He is an interesting child who is teased by kids in his class and constantly invents things, like fanny pack parachutes, when he can't sleep. After finding a key in his father's closet he embarks on a journey to find the lock it matches which takes him all over the city and introduces him to a variety of people. I love the chapters that are written from Oskar's perspective. There are also some written from other people in his life that honestly, I didn't enjoy as much. The whole book I just wanted Oskar to deal with his grief and be able to live a healthy life. Thankfully there is some resolution to the book which gave me hope for the rest of his childhood, and even though he's just a book character it did make me feel better. It's really raw so I would say pick it up if it appeals to you, if not, skip it. 

Back to basics

Living in someone else's house where you're scared to use any of the food in their pantry because you're not sure if they're the kind of person that knows exactly what they had before they went to Hawaii or not really forces you to go back to the essentials of a kitchen. It's astounding how simple things get when you're not in your element. The other night I made one of my very favorite basic meals: pasta + veggies with lots of parm cheese on top. 

Now, this isn't so much a recipe as it is just tossing stuff in boiling water free form. 

Step one: gather the things you either have leftover or bought that day at the store. In my case it happened to be spinach, broccoli, whole wheat spaghetti & unshelled edemame (apparently mukimame - who knew?). 

I also love using asparagus & peas if I have them too. And you can use any pasta you want, rotini, egg noodles, whatever!

To make my pasta I tossed the whole box in a pot of boiling water and a few minutes before it was done I tossed in the broccoli so it would cook to al dente. While the pasta cooked I steamed the edemame in the microwave and also sauteed the spinach in some olive oil with garlic salt on top (because I forgot to get whole garlic at the store...). 

When the pasta & broccoli are done and I've drained them (in the weirdest strainer I've had to use...) I toss it all together in a pot. I squeeze from fresh lemon on top, add some pepper and then just dump parmesan cheese on top.  Enjoy!

Snapshot Sunday: August 26th

Can you believe the last time I blogged I was living in a completely different place? We've been in Seattle for a week and it is lovely (and not one drop of rain). Sorry you guys are just stuck with pictures on the blog. I'm refraining from writing further posts until I have some sense of normalcy in my life. Lets be honest, my meals are mostly pasta and things I can cook in someone else's kitchen with minimal ingredients & mess. Enjoy my pictures from this week!

Sunday: on our road trip. 

Look at the clouds in that valley!

Take out from  our first Seattle meal @ Thai Ocean 

Monday: My first morning in Seattle. 

Kuchen from my dad & coffee press coffee. 

A little taste of home in a new place

This is on the gum wall in Post Alley by Pike Place Market

I felt like since I live here now I should own it

Tuesday: enjoying the blue skies while we have them here!

Wednesday: we our house sitting at the house that may have the most amazing tree house ever.

Thursday: this is Spencer, the dog we're dog sitting

Friday: I cannot believe I live in a place with this view!

Saturday: this was shot at 12:10 am after an evening of Rock Band.

Sometimes a late night just needs a bowl of cereal

Sunday Snapshot, August 19

We are currently moving to Seattle. Our car is packed to the brim with bikes strapped on the back. It's been a really fantastic summer, full of ice cream, family, hikes and adventure. My blogging may be a little sporadic for the next few weeks seeing as how we'll be living out of a car & house sitting for strangers so forgive me. In the mean time enjoy my Sunday Snapshots of this past week!

Last Sunday in Tahoka, TX: 

We were there for a family wedding and got to spend time with good friends as well. 

This picture is celebrating the Settling of Catan!

Monday: I smuggled a yellow watermelon in my carry-on. 

Needless to say my bag got searched but we made it in tact. 

And it was delicious.

Tuesday: check out my sweet new ride!

Wednesday: one last Glacier hike.

We did Huckleberry Lookout and picked excessive amounts of huckleberries

 (they're like blueberries but more tart & only grow wild in the NW)

Thursday: A quote I love from The Book Thief. 

Friday: my sweet birthday present from my sister. 

This will be an herb garden

Friday: love this girl. Although she may not love me

Saturday: one last breakfast with the family. I made my nephew a rabbit per his request.

And we're still eating the huckleberries.