ahi tuna with a smile

This beautiful image is brought to you by Erin and Jaime, two of the loveliest ladies I know.

We and our significant others gathered around the table last night to share a bottle of saki and a platter of this homemade sushi.

Erin and Jamie taught me the ropes. It was a blast...

Thank you ladies!

Fresh ahi tuna with avocado and cucumber. YUM!

Sushi doesn't require many special tools other than these little mats,

and maybe a good sharp knife.

There are some particulars about cooking the rice.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Sushi-Rice/Detail.aspx

No special skills required except a little patience and creativity.

Some basic knife skills would come in handy too.

Simple, delicious, and low cost Friday night fun!

I close with this picture...just because...

my boyfriend is the cutest man on the planet.

Have a good weekend everyone!

pumpkins, compact cars and my wildest fantasies

Seed starts in segments of toilet paper and paper towel rolls.

Every year, I entertain fantasies of an abundant urban homestead.

I envision crowds of smiling friends and neighbors dancing with glee in a circle around me as we celebrate the record-breaking size of my harvest...

...Okay so I only have 32 square feet of garden space
(imagine a king sized bed and you've actually imagined too big).

They say there is some power to positive thinking.

So here I go again barreling into another spring with dozens of seed packets and a dream.

Hundreds of blueberries WILL pop off of each of my three bushes.

There WILL be a pumpkin the size of a compact car begging me to make a pie.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Daydreaming of spring...

Making the most my sunny day off, Cadence and I headed to Sky Nursery.

Note: Co-pilot poking her nose out of the rear window.

But first we had to stop at a friend's garage sale.

(By we I mean I.)

Picked up a HUGE vintage wooden frame for $5!

Craft project coming soon...

Sky Nursery is beautiful any time of year. They are dog friendly (if your dog is people-friendly), and their staff is incredibly well-informed about the ins and outs of gardening in the Pacific Northwest.

Visit their website for a $5 off coupon for every $25 purchase.

There is also a coupon in the most recent Chinook Book.

http://www.skynursery.com/doc/gifts_specials.htm#coupon

http://sea.chinookbook.net/

Ah, I can't wait for Spring!

I might have gone a little overboard on the seeds this year...

Fantasizing about large fresh salads, pumpkin pie and butternut squash soup forced me to load my basket with seed packet after seed packet.

How can I resist such names as

the exotic Dolce Vita basil,

the silly Pinokkio organic lettuce,

the seductive scarlet nantes heirloom carrots,

and the teenage boy of the cucumber world, the burpless muncher?

It wasn't my fault, honest.

Can my tiny urban backyard handle my visions of bounty?

For those of you interested in sustainable gardening and urban homesteading on a budget,

visit the fine folks of

http://backyardfarming.blogspot.com/.

The Great Giraffe Masacre of 2011

This morning I stumbled upon the scene of a brutal crime...

The puff balls filled the air. Sunshine lit up the scene...

Who is the culprit you ask?

I venture to guess it is none other than...

CADENCE!

Oh no!

She came back to finish the job!

What a vicious beastie!

$1 Goodwill stuffed giraffe = Countless hours of fun!