Category Archives: On My Table

I don’t often shop at regular, national chain grocery stores. I try to buy from Farmers Markets, grow my own, often I go to places that have lots of bulk options or I hit up other interesting locally run shops. I would hardly say I buy our food from one spot.

But, when I lived in Colorado before our stint in Tucson, I actually shopped at King Soopers all the time.

#1 I could walk there and I loved the walk, even on snowy days.

#2 They sold a whole lotta local food and had a decent organic or other natural food selection too. Woot, woot!

For whatever reason, not all King Soopers are the same, it seems. As a personal chef, I shopped at whatever grocery my clients wanted or whichever was closest to them and it gave me an opportunity to notice the pros & cons of each place.

The one near us now after our return to Denver is so-so at best. This past week, I saw an ad that said Colorado grown green beans were on sale. I was quickly sold and we headed to the store for those as well as cabbage, peaches and a couple other fabulous local goodies, too.

Since I had a good ton of green beans, I wanted to do something that made them sparkle and shine a bit. So, I steamed them. Added some sweet onions at the end for a quickie blanch and then gave them a cold shower until they were salad ready.

Xerxes picked cherry tomatoes for me in the rain, while I whipped up the dressing and toasted pine nuts. The feta was easy enough to crumble on top- feel free to use more than I did too!

Italian Cherry Tomato & Green Bean Salad

4 cups of trimmed greens beans
1 small sweet onion (or half of a big one)
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
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4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pinch of black pepper ground to taste
2 ounces feta cheese (about 1/4 cup crumbled) more or less depending on how much cheese you want

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Trim the green beans and cut the sweet onion into thin slices.

Once the water is boiling, add most of the salt (save about a 1/2 teaspoon) and dump in the trimmed green beans. Simmer for 4-8 minutes until the green beans are tender to the bite. Add the onions and swirl around until the strips are intertwined with the green beans.

Drain the onions & green beans into a bowl of ice water (or if you are feeling lazy, spray the green beans with icy cold water from you facet). Shake the green beans dry.

Meanwhile, place the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Shake in the pan for about 1-3 minutes until they are each kissed with a bit of color.

Whisk together the mustard, balsamic and remaining salt in a large salad bowl. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking. Taste. Add more salt and even a bit of black pepper to taste.

Toss the green beans, onions, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and feta cheese together. Taste. Add more cheese, salt and pepper as desired if needed.

Serve this unfussy, tossed salad with a baguette to mop up the drips.

Sweet dreams, friend,

Lilly

Just a day past the 40th and again it feels time to reflect. First, I am patting myself on the back. For whatever reason, starting and maintaining a blog has been an annoying challenge for me. I have started and stopped numerous blogs, always feeling guilty and bummed by my failure.

The other night, as I sat in that super loud restaurant contemplating life rather than chatting with my husband who was out of speaking distance sitting a mere 2-feet away, I finally figured it out! You see, I started this 100-day series because just saying to myself “you will blog everyday” has clearly never worked. Instead, saying “you will blog for 100 days” seemed doable.

Now, I am a bit addicted and determined. But, something seemed to be missing. Rambling everyday about what I am eating was a great starting point, but now I want to offer more. And for the last several days I wasn’t sure what that may be. I considered many possibilities… Top 10 this, Top 5 that, Best of something, etc. But, this little voice in the back of my head said “too challenging”. While in some ways that may sound like a Little Hater (love this video!) which is more often than not the case. But this time, was different. I know the moment I take on too much, I fail. Miserably.

I still wanted to do something that would keep me close to my family without spending extra hours on the computer. Then that little voice whispered “what about recipes”.

Dugh! Of course! When I first started Lilly’s Table I prepared, wrote, and photographed 3-5 recipes everyday. That initial effort created quite an arsenal of at least 1000 recipes for members to play around with. Whether they are creating there own meal plan or they are following the one I create every week.

During the crazy transition this past year and the arrival of Zedekiah, I decided to stress less about 3-5 recipes per day. But, ONE per day!? Now, that I can handle. And for you, dear reader, wouldn’t you enjoy seeing my process of recipe development a bit more?

Now that I have rambled long and loud about my next step during this 100day process, here is what I have to share about today’s recipe…

As you know, my fam and I are on a sugar detox. I love baking and cooking on the weekends and doing something a bit outside of the box for breakfast. Many times, this is sweet and each of us adores my scone recipe, which only has about a 1/4 cup of sugar in it. Thinking about it further, I figured scones are just a sweet biscuit, right? Wouldn’t a biscuit taste pretty good stuffed with bits of Colorado fresh peaches?

This past February when I was preparing my Tucson Supper Club I researched graham crackers and found out it was simply a cracker made from graham flour. I remember noting that I had no idea where to buy it.

The other day I saw graham flour for the first time at the store for just a a couple bucks. Without much thinking the graham flour landed in my cart.

As I envisioned these unsweet scones, the flavorful graham flour suddenly had a use. But, if a package of graham flour didn’t land in your shopping cart recently, just substitute a whole wheat flour.

Peach Graham Biscuits

1 cup all-pupose flour
1/2 cup graham flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
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5 tablespoons butter, cold & cut in pieces
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract, optional
1-2 peaches, washed and chopped (Our peaches are giant, but if you have small ones, use two)

Preheat the oven to 375.

Toss together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the cold butter. With your fingers or a pastry cutter, press the butter into the flour until it is pea-sized and grainy.

Pour in the milk and almond or vanilla extract. Gently fold the mixture together, until it is just combined. It will be super wet. And as I recently read about biscuits, the wetter the better.

ALSO- when I say “until it is just combined” I mean it. The moment you over do it with the mixing, the biscuits will become sad and tough. Gentle with your dough. Gentle.

With that delicate touch, fold in half of the chopped peaches. Barely. This is not an opportunity to overdo it! Gentle.

Use a bit of butter, or as I like to do take the butter wrapper that is still a bit greasy, and wipe it around a 8-10 inch cast iron pan or cake pan. Scoop up the biscuit batter and dollop in six big blobs in a circle.

Gently press the remaining peaches on top of each glob. At this point, I would be seriously tempted to sprinkle the top with a bit of course sea salt next time. Just to add another element of character, but please know that I did not actually try it. Yet. If you do, please tell me about that experience in the comment section.

Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden and the biscuits are fluffing up. Cut in wedges and serve warm.

Remember, these are unsweet, savory with little kisses of peachy sweetness.

Speaking of kisses…

xoxo,

Lilly

The floods around our state are devastating. We haven’t been quite as effected by the impact. However, seeing images of places we love in our gorgeous state completely underwater is sad and scary. We feel blessed, but are praying for those who will hopefully be able to finally begin recovering in the next couple of days. For now, the rain has stopped but it seems likely to come again.

In the midst of the chaotic weather, I have been stealing away moments all week to read Bringing up Bebe that I had checked out from my library. As parent’s Xerxes and I entered the job with a vague amount of past experience (I lived with my sister, her husband and four little ones for awhile) and the culture that we were raised in. Somewhere in the middle of my first pregnancy, one of us threw a parenting book across the room and we were both wary to grab another. So, in the first three years of being parents we have been sort of winging it.

For the most part, this seems to work. While I hold my infant and write this I realize I am super comfortable with the baby stage. When in doubt about what to do, I usually nurse him. It is when they get older that I feel a bit more confused. When the book started talking about the slightly older child I was all ears.

The basic gist from the book is that children need boundaries and a whole lot of freedom within that. In many ways, you could argue Americans want a lot of freedom too. There seems an obsession with things such as self-soothing and sleeping through the night, but it seems our idea of freedom is often at the expense of boundaries. Then we manage to over-parent in strange ways that actually hinder creativity and freedom, elements that I feel are essential to the growing process. Reading the book, or her shorter al a carte version that I just found, will give you the actual incite as relates to your own life and I highly recommend checking it out.

For me, especially this week I have been relaxing a lot about how I parent. Mostly, I have realized I am not the type to get down and play with Juliette on a regular basis. But, I am aware that is the norm in our society. This often leaves me feeling guilty and frustrated since I am unable to ‘get anything done’ because I am battling with the ‘fun’ obligations to her. I’d love to go to a park, have her play and just read a book without feeling guilty, but that isn’t what we are expected to do as parent’s. Honestly, I usually let her run off and I will occasionally swing her or if she requests go down the slide with her. But, I want her to experience, feel and love the world without me. Standing by and catching glimpses of her joy is my prize.

Reading the book made me realize my natural desire to let her play solo is actually a good thing. This is where she is gaining independence. This is how she learns and becomes creative. My interruptions are not helpful. Granted, there are days I will build a sandcastle with her at the beach, run alongside her bike and put her up on my legs to play airplane, but this is no longer a daily demand.

There are other elements that I became more aware of, too. For example, our ‘good little eater’ probably comes from our semi-French approach of just expecting her to try everything at the dinner table, not forcing her to finish anything and more importantly not downplaying her taste buds by only serving ‘kid-foods’. We also don’t snack much in general and for example today she didn’t finish her lunch, but declared she was hungry after school. We opened her lunch bag and she dove in and finished most of it.

She seems to have become aware that everything from goldfish crackers to pirate booty are super special treats that she can enjoy at friend’s homes. We don’t offer them here, but they are not really missed either. We do have popcorn, which she loves helping whip up a batch and we usually enjoy it while watching a movie as a family.
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Speaking of food, Juliette and I started the day with a breakfast of yogurt, peaches, and a light sprinkle of granola. Despite our sugar fast, the book has made me realize that for her complete absence from sugar will only make it more crave-worthy, so I am trying to lighten how I approach it with her. The rest of us in the family know this is temporary and should be able to fully handle living without. Although, I did notice a bit of ketchup being used with fries and the burger that was eaten last night, but I didn’t do too much finger wagging. We all have our indiscretions and I am feeling guilty enough about my small mistakes throughout this sugar process to point too many fingers.

For lunch, I made sandwiches for Juliette and I to enjoy separately: Cucumber & Hummus Sandwiches and Homemade Ricotta & Peach Sandwiches. Hers went into her lunch bag, mine tucked in my purse/diaper bag. I loved mine up on the bed while rocking Zed back to sleep, after a morning at a cafe. Juliette brought home her lunch bag that appeared only slightly touched. The six little raisins in her coconut flake greek yogurt had been enjoyed and a bite or two out of each little sandwich. The Carrot & Celery Stick Stack had decreased in size, but not by much. Of course, as I mentioned above, she devoured it as soon as we were home.

Barely a couple hours after we got home from school, Xerxes texted to say he was done with work. They let everyone go home early since road closures continue to increase by the hour as every new storm arrives. Knowing the roads between him and us were relatively fine, we headed to Golden, swooped him up and went to the Mountain Toad Brewery. A barbeque Food Truck was also there and the large picnic table umbrellas meant that any impending rain would not ruin our fun. Which we certainly had! There were games for Juliette to play and the Homemade Potato Chips, Smoked Pork, Slaw and Potato Salad were a great compliment to our micro-brews. A few of Xerxes’ co-workers and wives arrived as well.

Just as our fun was about to finish, Lulu arrived. As the sun set we were blessed with a gorgeous double rainbow and a generous sprinkle of rain that really only required rain jackets and umbrellas dangling closed from our swinging hands.

At this point, we walked along Clear Creek which was rushing madder than we had ever seen in all of our time living in Golden. We continued our walk and ended up at Table Mountain Inn for a bit more food: Guacamole & Chips and Xerxes and his Mom shared a Burger. Much to my chagrin, we ordered the Mac n Cheese with Fruit for Juliette, but the swirling noodles were actually prepared with sauce & cheese not powdered mix and this made me feel a bit better after my subconscious declaration to not buy from the kid’s menu. It was a huge portion, so I dined on some of it myself. 😉

Cheers and for anyone in Colorado- I pray you stay dry and out of the deep mud and scary floods,

Lilly

I love these Seattle days. Refreshing. Rejuvenating. Peaceful. Despite the sleepy weather, Zed had an “awake day” but blessedly did not cry much throughout. It was challenging because he seemed tired, however refused to sleep.

Since it is a bit cooler, cooking indoors has been easier. I am lingering over the stove with less of a sense of urgency. I was even able to sit in between dinner duties. I found myself staring into Zed’s eyes and repeatedly saying”I love you” and joyfully responding to any gurgle back that had an “L” sound in it. Clearly he is reciprocating my affection, no?

I am typically one of those people who puts on an outfit and rarely deviates from what I throw on. When it comes to cooking though often I will start with one combination of ideas or ingredients and then end up with a totally different dish than I intended.

Tonight the strangest thing about dinner is how I started out making tacos:

Caramelized Onions
Hatch chile strips
Green Beans
Shredded Carrots

Then I added a splash of braggs aminos for a bit of salt.

The soy sauce flavor was just enough for me to start craving a stir-fry. Suddenly I was making a faux Pad Thai with steak and these Red Rice Noodles that I saw on sale today at King Soopers. How could I resist? I have cooked red, purple, black rices… putting them into noodles seemed the perfect next step.

In the spirit of pad thai, I added lime and a handful of torn basil. Then we piled up leaves of cabbage in order to roll up dinner into wraps.
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Somewhere in there I managed to overcook the noodles and they became a bit gummy, but we inhaled it and fought over the last few bites, so it was at least relatively successful.

Originally, I thought the evening would involve pesto, but we started the day with a delightful cherry tomato, pesto and feta stuffed omelette. For lunch, we followed up with a Pesto & Cherry Tomato Omelette Pesto Cucumber Sandwich.

I spent the day sharing most of my meals with Juliette, so when we considered having a snack I looked in the fridge and realized all that I wanted was the Hot Dog and Whole Wheat bun staring back at me.

I feel one of the initial successes with this sugar fast is how I managed to convince Juliette to not have ketchup. Actually, I offered her mustard and mayo (not exactly traditional, I know) and when she asked about ketchup I simply told her it had sugar in it. She was okay with that response and happily settled on the mustard & mayo.

Speaking of the sugar fast, I did pretty well avoiding it all day, but if someone offered me dessert I probably would have to say “Yes, with sprinkles on top, too, please!” Actually, as I type this I am day dreaming of how I am going to devour a peach very soon. I am looking forward to these intense cravings to subside.

May you have peachy sweet dreams tonight,

Chef Lilly

Yesterday, I was at the whim of my desire to work in cafes and yet it mostly just lead to some frustration and less than exciting food choices.

Today made up for it! Breakfast was the same, but I have intentions to make exciting changes in that. After eating, Xerxes and I whipped up some might pretty Hummus Sandwiches with cucumbers, tomatoes, and a bit of provolone.

We met our friends at the library for the rainy afternoon and this particular library is nice and let’s families discretely eat in the kid’s area. This was perfect since we couldn’t exactly go outside for a picnic.

One of our friends also brought a basket of Berry Muffins. She has been gluten-free for a long time and loves to bake, so I felt compelled to try one since I imagine she is a good baker. Of course, it was also obvious that they certainly had sugar or a sweetener in them. She mentioned it was unrefined and I reminded myself that we were just skipping desserts this week. Juliette and I split one. Speaking of Juliette, she adored her sandwich as did I.

While we were enjoying our library time, I was also making arrangements to swing by a friends house to help her with her over-abundance of cherry tomatoes. She also ended up with a Colorado grown leg of lamb that had to be slow braised tonight. I couldn’t help, but agree to assist her with eating it.

We came home and I got to work preparing a simple Braised Summer Squash & Caramelized Onion dish, topped with a crumble based on the topping for my Mushroom Crumble. Unfortunately, I decided to pulse the mixture in the cuisinart, somehow used too much butter, to compensate I added cornmeal. In the end I created these herb-pellets that were okay on top, but not great. As I discussed the situation at dinner, we all agreed the taste was still good but it is good to try and fail in a recipe to at least know what not to do.
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Our other contribution was a Mint-Basil Pesto. At first I wasn’t crazy about the finished product, but after it settled it worked perfectly with the lamb- which did I mention was perfectly medium-rare and delightful. Now, to find out the name of the company that grew that fine animal.

After dinner, I ducked outside and filled a bowl of bright orange cherry tomatoes and a few baby red cherry tomatoes. It was drizzling and with Zed in the pack sleeping I wasn’t able to pick nearly as many as I would have liked, but I did a pretty good job. At one point, I bumped into a large white spider and her web. I am not really afraid of spiders, but touching it creeped me out a bit to say the least.

The evening ended and we needed to pick up Xerxes, but we needed to kill sometime prior. So, we headed to a drive thru Starbucks. And then I realized that would not be nearly enough time, so we ran into Whole Foods for eggs, a few dairy products and fruit.

Now, moments before bed, we discussed how we are all doing on with the sugar fast. It seems everyone had a slight indiscretion, but for the most part we are all skipping the big old desserts we were having way too often, so we decided we were still on a good track. Trying to stay away from sugar is a challenge!

Good night, sleep tight,

Lilly

Lulu has Monday’s off, which means Juliette gets to spend the day hanging with grandma. And I get to spend the day with my favorite little boy and my laptop. This work day was especially nice, since Xerxes also needed some coffee shop time and we planned to meet around noon.

Zed and I must not have slept well, because I was half awake & cranky when Xerxes handed me coffee and an Egg in a Hole. It was finally appreciated once I took a breath, vaguely remembered some crazy dreams and had that first sip.

By the time I finally made it to the coffee shop, I was quite hungry again. They had a nice frittata with a few lettuce leaves on the side that I devoured. I also bought a Bhakti Chai, which is one of my favorites since it is more spicy than sweet.

Remember that sugar fast? Well, I finally did after that first sip! Gulp. Then I remembered we were planning to start slow and that ‘hidden’ sugar was okay for this first week, really it was a week of giving up dessert, which I was certainly having more success with doing.

So I forgave myself and continued to drink, although I was indeed a touch guilty, but I will remember next time. Next week.

When Xerxes finally arrived, I realized I was still hungry. He graciously gave me some of his Reuben, chips and slaw while he dined.

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We had casually noticed that T-storms were on the radar all week, but NPR was making grand declarations of flash floods. Later we found out the flood predictions were for Ft. Collins, but the storm that arrived had huge 1/4 cup drops of water. Eventually, the storm settled to a mere thunderstorm and the cafe announced it was closing. Not because of the storm, just because 3pm seems an appropriate time to end the day. Dismayed, we packed up the car with baby, bike and headed out to the next cafe. On the way, we passed small floods, huge puddles and piles of hail that caused cars to swerve off the road and caused a van to get stuck as well. Crazytown.

After finding out the cafe was closing early so the crew could attend a funeral, we managed to get to Sloan’s Pub down the street from our house. We are officially regulars it seemed, but until today we didn’t realize it had wifi. Relief! Since we were running out of places to go and traffic was starting to interfere with our work day.

I tried a St. Germaine, Gin and Soda Water cocktail, while Xerxes had a beer for happy hour. We also had some wings and a quesadilla. Once we are done the sugar detox, we may have to figure out a way to curb our happy hour addiction. But, for now, we are relieved to have found Sloan’s.

And here is a quick toast to the rain that helps gardens grow! Enjoy,

Lilly

Juliette ran into our room this morning with a loud good-morning and then requested “Porridge, please!” Clearly someone is enjoying her new Three Little Pigs book.

Xerxes rolled over and asked what exactly porridge might be. Why oatmeal, of course. And then I mentioned I was pretty sure I had used it all of the last batch of granola.

We still had some steel-cut oats lying around and since Juliette had woken up rather earlier, there was plenty of time to simmer them into submission with raisins too.

I actually had mine with a bit of peanut butter, because I can’t really handle the sugar crash after.

Then Juliette helped me pack her lunch:
Leftover Chicken Leg
Cherry Tomatoes, Carrot & Celery Sticks with Tzatziki Sauce
A few Whole Grain Crackers
Homemade Yogurt with RaisinsShe was very excited about everything. In general, she was just thrilled for another day of school and to meet up with her friend who missed yesterday to be with her family for Yom Kippur.

I was able to work for a few hours after dropping Juliette of at school, while Zed slept in the ergo. We stopped in to Whole Foods where I lined up at the burrito bar for a quinoa-carnitas-black bean-veggie-salsa packed wrap. It was only a bit more hectic when I attempted to pay for it and Zed decided to be squirmy and challenging. Fortunately, he was also very smiley to a group of ladies on a lunch break.
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At this crazy moment, I jumped in the car to pick up Xerxes and we headed to the preschool for a parent-teacher conference. We suddenly felt more grown up than we felt, but our chat with the teacher was pleasant and lovely.

After this we headed to Lulu’s teashop. Xerxes enjoyed a Chicken Salad Croissant, Juliette had a fruit salad and I had a scone. Of course, we all had tea too.

This day of running around led to a bit of quiet time in the afternoon and I followed with a Greek Salad full of chunks of leftover chicken from last night, summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamatas, artichoke hearts, marinated garlic, and fresh herbs. For the special addition, I chopped up a leftover flatbread and seared it in olive oil, salt and garlic. The little croutons were the perfect finish.

Dinner ended barely after dark and we headed inside for a popcorn and movie night. With a mid-movie break of the Puffed Corn Treats from yesterday.

Sweet dreams!

Lilly

After all the vacation fun, being sure to wake up and actually get everyone out the door to Juliette’s first day of school was a challenge. But, it was well worth all of the joyful moments of the day.

Breakfast was the last Plum Kuchen we will probably have until next year. I loved the way it overlapped with this exciting new start. I believe Juliette did as well.

Packing her lunch was a bit of a highlight of the day. She had two small containers. One with yogurt, raisins and a bit of granola, the other was homemade Hummus and a sprinkle of feta cheese. She also packed herself a handful of carrots, celery, and cherry tomatoes. I gave her a slice of bread, cut into four pieces.

In the end she devoured the yogurt, cherry tomatoes, and bread. She didn’t do much with the Hummus and there were several carrots and celery leftover. That lunch seemed successful, overall.

Can I just say, it is so joyful to walk up to a playground and see how happy your sweet daughter is playing?

We ran errands together and some little girl got shiny silver sneakers that she is so proud of. When we returned home, we each had a bit of hang time before realizing we were in need of a snack. I warmed pitas from the other day to go with hummus and she requested a quesadilla. I am pretty sure she has liked hummus in the past, but once again she rejected the hummus, instead gobbling up my pitas solo. I gently informed her the whole point of the pita was to have a smear of hummus on top. She didn’t buy it.

When Lulu got home I ran out to the Farmers Market by myself. Which was a nice quick break from sleeping Zed and excited Juliette. I picked up the most fragrant little melon, a long cucumber, almost squishy ripe peaches, and corn on the cob.

The corn quickly ended up on the grill. Followed by the chicken pieces lightly seasoned with smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Meanwhile, I chopped up a zucchini, kale and ripe peach with a balsamic dressing. Nothing fancy, but easy and satisfying.
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After dinner though, I started getting creative and realized I needed to get rid of those Homemade Marshmallows I brought home from Washington. The only other way I think to enjoy marshmallows in general are in rice krispie treat form. Seeing as I did not have rice krispies, I thought to do popcorn. But, then I saw that we had this puffed corn cereal.

photo-102 So, I melted a stick of butter, folded in the marshmallows and made it saucy. Then we started to raid the cabinets. First, I grabbed marcona almonds, cashews, blobs of peanut butter, and unsweetened coconut. With a generous pinch of coarse salt. I was trying to figure out ways to balance the otherwise intense sweetness of the melted marshmallows. It worked!

We put blobs in cupcake liners tucked into a muffin tin. I then proceeded to lick the bowl, because it is not everyday you get to do that, right?

What other types of everything but the kitchen sink treats could I make? Feel free to suggest!

Good night!

Lilly

Windmill on the drive along the gorge

Arriving into Gifford Pinchot I felt instantly at home. As an adult I have been to some of the most beautiful mountains and forests, but these trees are mine. I felt instantly sappy and nostalgic despite the fact that it has been well over 15 years since my family went huckleberry picking and my memories are spotty at best.

Before our departure, we started the morning with Zucchini Scrambled Eggs and toast with Raspberry Butter. This fueled us up for the biggest chore of running around doing last minute packing. We did manage to get everything packed into the two cars without looking too much like we were overdoing it.

The day before our departure we found out there was no longer the delicious mountain fresh water being pumped into the campground. So we filled a couple of old water jugs. The next morning they were a leaky puddle. Fortunately, we had more and it was not that big of a deal.

Originally we planned a 9am departure. That quickly became apparent we would be leaving closer to 11am. But, we made it on the road with iced coffee in hands.

The gorge as always was *gorgeous* to drive along. We decided to follow google maps, not our traditional route, which meant crossing over to Oregon. When we got to the town of Rufus, a cop car with flares made it seem like an accident must have been up a head. After being re-directed for about an hour, much of it going just a few miles per hour we finally made it to Hood River. We pulled into a Starbucks and tailgated. We were all too exhausted to find a beautiful picnic spot, which was the original intention, but we happily made do gobbling on the Sonoma Chicken Salad Sandwiches with swiss cheese.
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Tailgating in Hood River

We arrived to a very rainy campsite, which made the dirt roads a little less dusty, but everything was a bit muddy as a result. The campsite we found was one we enjoyed several years ago. I don’t remember it, but it was cozy with plenty of space for three tents including my parent’s gigantic new one.

Since it was raining we periodically would dash into the tent with our camping chairs. Xerxes eventually took the initiative to put up a large tarp over the picnic table. This was perfect for allowing me to chop without being interrupted by the occasional dumps of rain.

As soon as allowed, I started chopping up the veggies from my parent’s garden including zucchini, eggplant, small green bell peppers and a big old onion. We set up the new Coleman grill with the griddle across the top and sautéed each veggie in batches. Then I pulled out the huge marinated tri-tip and started to sear it. A few minutes into the sear, we realized this steak would take forever to cook through. So, Xerxes butterflied the steak and everything worked out much better.

We set up our chairs under the tent, while munching on chips with guacamole. Once the steak was done we warmed tortillas on the fire and thinly sliced the steaks. Piles of sautéed veggies were added and then we wrapped them up for dinner under the tarp.

Saying good-bye to family and happy shared memories is always sad. But, starting the morning with eggs, sausage and Huckleberry Pie makes it a bit better. I am planning to share the whole fabulous huckleberry camping story soon, but I need to get you caught up on today’s travels first.

My Mom helped me with the final packing including making us Smoked Salmon & Cream Cheese Sandwiches for our lunch. We also grabbed the Oatmeal Cookies that my nieces had made and we had not finished eating.

The biggest food part of the day however was packing all the great deliciousness that just had to come back with us to Colorado. This included not only two bags of frozen huckleberries, but our own chunk of my Dad’s smoked salmon. Our family friend’s Italian prune plums and my parent’s cucumbers were tucked into bags alongside the frozen items.

This seemed easy enough, but TSA at the Pasco Airport was not as excited about it. They nicely unpacked everything and I think they were rather charmed by the suitcase full of produce, but it was certainly a challenge to figure out how we had so carefully managed to get it all in there originally.

On the flight, we listened to a couple of kids screeching with joy and occasional frustration. Thankfully they were not our children, but I had deep sympathy for the mom flying solo with them.

Halfway through the flight Juliette and I toasted our glasses of sparkling water and dined on Sandwiches. And then she watched more of Ratatouille. Fortunately, it was a relatively quick flight.

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I woke up hungry. So, Xerxes, Lulu and I collaborated on a delightful meal that showcased the stars of our garden. Lulu started by shredding up one of my parent’s cucumbers into Tzatziki. Xerxes threw two ears of corn, a head of cauliflower and chicken drumsticks on the grill. Then we picked additional vegetables from the garden including the abundant Juliet tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash and super spicy arugula and sweet basil.

All the vegetables were chopped into a pretty salad and we smeared Tzatziki across with greens, chicken and cauliflower alongside.