Thinking about our new home! We found another house and signed the lease this week. We're officially moving in on May 1 but can start moving our stuff next week, and our subleasers aren't taking over our apartment until the 15th, which should hopefully make the whole moving process a little easier. I never know if fast and furious or slowly but surely is the way to do it, but either way moving is pretty much always the worst. We'll only be ten minutes from where we are now, but part of me is really sad to not be living in South End anymore. The other (larger) part of me is excited for a big bright kitchen, and office, and a fenced-in backyard.

Listening to On Being with Krista Tippett. What an interesting show. It is so incredibly thoughtful and I always walk away feeling like I've learned something really deep and important. I'm currently in the middle of this episode and it's really cool.

Watching Flaked on Netflix. I really like Will Arnett. We also just finished Cooked a couple weeks ago and it was so good--if you're at all interested in food, science, and/or cultural studies you might really like it. Watch the fourth episode about cheese and come back so we can talk about how cool that cheese-making nun is.

(Not) reading anything. It's terrible. I borrowed A Moveable Feast from the library but I still have to finish it--I just never make time to read anymore. What are some of your favorite books you've read lately? I need to start a reading hour every day. It's been too long since I read a full book--I want to hear your suggestions! 

Eating rice cakes with some mayo and sliced turkey. Oh my gosh. It's the simplest snack but for some reason it's delicious. I thought maybe I was just boring but I started making them for Rob as well and he loves them just as much. You have to try it.

Looking forward to this weekend! All of Rob's brothers will be here (all four of them are hardly ever in the same place at the same time) and I get to see my nephews, one of whom I haven't even met yet--everyone went to Arizona to see them last fall but I was in Virginia helping my mom after her first surgery. It will be so good to see everyone. I haven't seen my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and other nephew since our wedding almost two years ago.

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What does life look like in your world lately? I hope you have a lovely weekend!

I've been home from Seattle for over a week and I can still barely believe it all happened. I didn't even know Kristan and Annie three months ago and suddenly there we were, planning the biggest event of our careers so far together. 

There were countless emails and phone calls and weekly video chats where we went over our never-ending to-do list, and somehow it never even felt like work. I grew up in a house where entertaining and feeding people was the norm, so something about planning a big lunch party just felt really natural. And it was even better to be teaming up with La Crema to make it happen--can you believe I've been working with them for two years? So wonderful.

The table was just dreamy. Annie did such an amazing job styling it and setting up all the place settings. We originally wanted to get a ton of flowers but ended up only needing a few little ones, so we picked them from Kristan's backyard. Like I said, dreamy.

Look at that space! We rented Cannelle et Vanille's new studio space as the venue and it was absolutely perfect.

I think this is the most beautiful charcuterie board I've ever put together. We had so much fun deciding which meats and cheeses and other snacks to include, and it ended up looking totally gorgeous on the table with La Crema's Russian River Valley Rosé. (Hi mom if you're reading this then you probably can assume that we had way more food than we needed on this table. Thanks for that.)

But the soup might have been my favorite course--I loved it so much that I actually just bought all the ingredients yesterday so I can make it again this week. I don't think I've ever made quinoa before but I loved toasting it up on a really hot griddle and using it as a garnish! Kristan got that idea from Dolly and Oatmeal and it went so well with our soup.

Roasted Leek and Cauliflower Soup (adapted from Love and Lemons)

Ingredients:

• 4-5 large leeks, washed and sliced thinly (only the white a light green parts)
• 2 heads cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 4-5 small waxy potatoes, quartered
• 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
• About 1/3 cup olive oil (plus some for drizzling)
• 3-4 cups vegetable broth
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• The juice of one large lemon
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Crispy toasted quinoa, for garnish (recipe included below)
• Sliced green onions, for garnish

For the crispy quinoa garnish:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa (we used tricolor)
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium high heat.
2. Pour in the quinoa and stir until crispy, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Instructions: 

1. Season leeks, cauliflower, and potatoes with salt, pepper, and olive oil and then divide between two baking sheets and roast at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until slightly browned. Rotate pans halfway through cooking time.
2. Remove from oven and transfer to a blender (allow to cool slightly). Add half of the vegetable broth and blend until smooth. Add more broth if necessary.
3. Transfer to a pot and simmer on low. Drop fresh thyme and lemon juice in and stir well. Add more vegetable broth if it gets too thick. Season again, remove the thyme sprigs, and serve hot; topped with crispy quinoa, green onions, and a drizzle of olive oil. 

The salad was lovely too. The day before the party, Kristan and I went out for breakfast and I asked for some greens on the side of my baked eggs instead of bread, and they gave me this lovely lettuce that wasn't chopped at all, and it was simply dressed with really beautiful olive oil, so we were kind of inspired by that and didn't cut up our lettuce before dressing it with nice oil, a spritz of fresh lemon juice, and a pinch of coarse sea salt. Delicious. And how pretty are watermelon radishes?

Mixed Greens Salad with Shaved Fennel and Radishes

Ingredients:

• 5-6 cups washed and dried mixed greens--we used a combination of frisee and butter lettuce
• 1 large bulb of fennel, washed and thinly sliced (it's easier to slice first and then wash since the bulbs can collect dirt)
• 2-3 watermelon radishes, sliced thinly
• Juice of 2 lemons
• About 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse sea salt, to taste

Instructions: 

1. Assemble salad plates with mixed greens, then top with a small pinch of sliced fennel and three or four radish slices.
2. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the salad and squeeze lemon over each plate. Season with salt and serve immediately.

The main course was delicious and we were lucky enough to get salmon courtesy of Drifters Fish, a small business local to Seattle. We marinated the fish in a homemade honey mustard glaze and baked it. Visit Annie's blog for the recipe! You'll love it. I never make fish at home but this was really easy and it ends up looking quite impressive so I may need to make it the next time I have some friends over for dinner.

Kristan made the most delicious dessert I've ever had--it was a strawberry rhubarb galette topped with pistachios and served with homemade vanilla bean + orange blossom ice cream. Hello. We paired it with La Crema's Late Harvest Gewurztraminer, which might be my favorite of their wines--it just feels so special. 

What a day! It felt like a dream. We were so exhausted the next morning but couldn't believe how smoothly everything went and how lovely our guests were. Brunch on Sunday felt like the night after a wedding--recapping our favorite moments and how beautiful everything looked. Everyone had such a great time and I left Seattle feeling pretty lucky, and with the biggest smile on my face.

This event (and blog post) was sponsored by La Crema.

Invitations, Menus, and Place Cards c/o Minted | Plates c/o Hayneedle | Salmon c/o Drifters Fish | Glasses and Flatware c/o Vintage Ambiance | Additional sponsors who donated supplies for our kitchen and goodie bags: Le Creuset, Wolf Gourmet, Kristas Baking Co., Mustard and Co.

Photos by Oguz Uygur.

I wrote this post over a year ago and thought about it again yesterday.

When we first moved to Charlotte we were full of the uncertainty that can sometimes come with settling down for the first time. "Is this it? What's next?" Like I've mentioned before, I had gotten so used to planning for the next thing that I found just sitting in the present moment to be a bit of a challenge.

And yet, through my parents splitting up and moving, my mom's second cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgeries, and my own health issues, somehow I managed to find a way to put roots down. To get up in the morning and brew coffee and start my day and make lunch for my husband and find friends and schedule regular dentist appointments. I sit at my desk and write, and twice a day I walk down the hall and let our neighbor's dog out. On Fridays Rob and I take Ender to Atherton Market for coffee at our favorite place, and on Sundays we sleep in and then watch a documentary while we eat breakfast.

It's been almost two years and we have managed to create a life here.

The other day I felt a random compulsion to check Craigslist for rental houses. Rob and I talk a lot about moving into a house when our lease is up, but that's not until August so every time we look we always remind ourselves that it's too early. And I fall in love with every property that has more light and a bigger kitchen than our current apartment, so I push the laptop away and say "let's just wait." 

But sure enough there we were the next day, walking through a house and picturing ourselves living in it. The kitchen with a window over the sink and the third bedroom where you could put a desk or maybe a baby; and the fenced-in backyard where Ender could run. 

We magically managed to wrangle up a summer sublease for our apartment and I was practically starting to pack when the landlord texted me the next morning to say that he had already rented the house to whoever saw it earlier that day before. And I cried in my car, over this house that I visited once and fell in love with the idea of even though it's in a neighborhood I don't really like that much. 

We've spent two years focusing on the present, but I can feel the tide coming in and pulling me back out to what's next, and next, and next after that.

“I’m coming home to the lights and buzz
Streets look the same, still nothing’s as it was
This place is paradise I’m sure, here’s my reservation
I’ve gotten lost here once before
Inside a good vibration ”

— The Lights and Buzz, Jack's Mannequin