Couscous with Merguez Sausages and Salad

First off, this is not a vegetarian meal. We do occasionally have meat at home, and this is one of our favorite treats. Plus, this night was extra "treat-y" because we had some apartment-building mates over for dinner. So, splurge on sausages it was.

Merguez sausages are a spicy sausage made primarily with lamb that are popular in North Africa and throughout the Middle East. These particular sausages are from our local Dots Delicatessen. I can't remember when we first tried merguez, but it was probably during a night out at Dots (dinner there is always good). They make their merguez with a combination of spicy lamb and pork and they're just delicious.

Whenever we splurge on a parcel of merguez sausages we like to pair them with a favorite recipe from favorite cookbook Jerusalem.  They play so nicely with couscous! This recipe makes a super flavorful couscous and the crispiness is addicting. We make it quite frequently since we usually have all the necessary ingredients on hand (subbing canned tomatoes for fresh works perfectly well if it's not super-ripe-and-flavorful tomato season). Usually we have it with a fried egg and garnish with a bit of oiled harissa. Mmmmm. The recipe can be found online here or if you're looking for a new, semi-adventurous but completely doable cookbook I highly recommend purchasing Jerusalem.

The salad was a simple one that Kevin whipped up (actually he made this entire meal) to balance out the heaviness of the sausages and couscous. It went a little something like this:

For the salad:

• Two heads finely chopped Romaine lettuce
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• handful of crumbled feta 
• ~1 cup black olives, pitted (duh) and rough chopped

For the dressing: 

• 6 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper 
• Oregano

Whisk dressing ingredients together in small bowl. Toss well with salad (you might not use it all in one go). Easy peasy. 

Sunny Weekend at Kalaloch

Sunny days in January are rare in these parts. Even more so on the Olympic Peninsula. A quick little internet research confirmed that Seattle has an average January rainfall of about 5 inches, while the Olympic Peninsula gets roughly 15 (ahem, see here and here for said thorough internet research). For further photographic proof, avid readers (and my favorite little brother-in-law Scott) may remember last year's trip to this very same spot at roughly the same time last year. It was grey skies, mist, and occasional showers all around. So imagine our surprise - nay, elation - when we stumbled upon a whole weekend of sunny weather there earlier this month.

We stayed at our now favorite spot, Kalaloch Lodge. The cabins there are just so cozy and well situated right on the most perfect stretch of beach. Two walks on the beach were had on Saturday. One in the glorious afternoon sun and the other at sunset with just a sliver of moon overhead.

The next morning we got up early, had a quick breakfast and headed back down to the beach while the morning tide was still out so Kevin could do some surf perch fishing. Clear sunny skies in the day make for cold, crisp nights and the remains of the nighttime chill greeted us on the beach Sunday morning. Have you ever seen frost covered sand? It's kind of magical. Since the sun had yet to come up, every inch of not-wet sand and drift wood was frosted in sparkle. Like a beach of glitter. My pictures don't come close to doing it justice, so feel free to use your imaginations. Note my boots and wool socks. I put on all of the knitwear for our chilly morning beach walk.

We had the beach to ourselves for a good while that morning since the other cabin-dwellers seemed not to want to brave the chill. The surf was so peaceful and quiet, with the most delicate little waves making their way slowly over the long, shallow beach. Kevin spent quite a bit of time with his feet in the water and came back with one surf perch. Not a spectacular catch, but it was just too cold to wade in any further and the tide was starting to come in past where the perch like to hang out.

As the sun came up, I did some good quality beach combing and warmed up a bit from the walk. Then, we headed back to the cabin, fried up the fresh catch with some potatoes and toast, and left daydreaming and plotting over summertime, sun-filed adventures. A clear sky weekend like this one makes you feel like summer's just around the corner.

FO: Selbu Modern for Mom

Pattern: Selbu Modern
Yarn: Warm Valley Orchard's Worsted
Needles: US 3 (for ribbing) US 5 (for the rest)

This very special yarn was purchased on a trip Mom, Kevin, and I took last May to the San Juan Islands. We spend most of our time during that trip on Orcas Island, and my one request was that we stop in to Warm Valley Orchard to take a peek at their yarn. It's a very small shop that sells much more than just yarn, but the yarn they have there is super cool. Most of it is from their own sheep! You can even see said sheep grazing in the misty field as you drive in. I have a soft spot for woolly, undyed natural sheep's wool. This stuff also has lots of natural lanolin still in it, so it's a pleasure to knit with and produces a fairly water-resistant fabric.

The pattern is one I've made before for myself and the hat has become one of my favorites. Mom had also admired it, so we decided to pick out some yarn at Warm Valley so I could make her one of her own for Christmas (which I did finish in time thankyouverymuch). The only problem was that the wools we both liked where worsted weight, which is much heavier than the fingering weight called for by the pattern. Not to worry, I simply cast on less stitches and did fewer pattern repeats of the colorwork section. There was some math involved, but it was fairly painless. The resulting hat is definitely more stiff than slouchy and much more dense. For Mom this isn't a problem because it means it's super warm and suitable for even the coldest Wisconsin winter days. Except when it's -30, because no one should go outside in -30.

Raveled: here.

Saag Paneer

One of our favorite restaurants to go to in Seattle is an Indian / Tibetan / Nepalese place called Annapurna Cafe. We've been there a handful of times and I always order the same thing: Saag Paneer. Sure, a girl could branch out. But why? When you found the perfect dish already? The only unfortunate part about Annapurna is that it's not in our neighborhood and is therefore a little bit out of the way and a trip in itself to go there. So, I got it in my head to try to recreate my favorite dish at home. I remembered seeing a recipe on Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks  blog, which I've mentioned before in this space and still regularly read. You can find her recipe for Saag Paneer here.

I made it to recipe ingredients wise, but was a little short of spinach and a little heavy on the paneer. If I made this again (which I'm planning on doing) I'd reverse that balance. More spinach and less paneer. We decided we wanted more creamy and less chewy, which is more how they make it at Annapurna. The flavor profile was spot on though.

I had a little trouble finding paneer in our regular grocery store, and ended up having to go to Whole Foods to find it. So, it may be difficult to find if you don't have a specialty foods store in your area. Here's a crazy idea for my fellow Wisconsinites - how about using super fresh cheese curds?? I know. I'm so wild. They'd be more salty for sure, but I think the texture of a day-old cheese curd might be just the ticket. Or it could melt into a delicious cheesy mess in the pan that one would have to scoop up and eat on the spot. But who's complaining about that?

It's a Road Trip!

This holiday season we decided to take a road trip from Seattle down the California coast. We weren't great this year about making our plans far in advance, so airfare options were limited and more expensive than was prudent by the time we were actually looking at booking something airfare related. So, an easy peasy laid back road trip it was! Kevin and I haven't been on a long road trip together since our big move from Wisconsin, so we were really looking forward to it. There's just something about a road trip. Seeing lots of different landscapes, roadside oddities, and having lots of time to just be together. Oh, and lots of knitting time. Yipee!

We set out in the afternoon on Christmas day. We drove just to Eugene, OR that first day and didn't do much other than hang out at our hotel. Most places were closed for Christmas, so we just laid low with some board games and leftovers from home. 

The next day we lit out early and crossed into California! The plan for the day was to explore the Redwood National and State Parks. Our first stop was Crescent City for lunch-ish, which set the tone for our trip food. Burritos. We ate more burritos than there were days I think.

We also grabbed a map of the park and some helpful advice from an awesome ranger at the park office. He had very strong opinions about what we should do on our WHOLE road trip. It went like this: 

"Are you going to do so-and-so or such-and-such?"

"Uh...."

"DO"

And so we did. We also joked that as soon as we drove into California the clouds parted and the sun poured in. Which actually did happen but was still somewhat unexpected since we were preparing ourselves for the possibility of rain (or even snow) in northern California. However, we were super lucky with the weather the whole trip and didn't see even a drop of rain. It was sunshine all around.

We went for a few different hikes in Redwood. It felt so nice to just get out of the car and tromp around. We drove through the park with our windows down (and seat warmers on) because it just smelled so wonderful. As the sun was just starting to go down we were finishing up the trail in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and it was just spectacular to see the sunlight coming through the trees. We stayed in Eureka that night, relaxing in the hot tub with this cool German family we met at the hotel. They were roadtripping all the way from Seattle to LA and fulfilling a dream of driving the coast on the 1. How cool!

The next day we made a few more Redwood stops. On the ranger's suggestion we took the driving detour through the Grove of Giants. It was kinda just "meh" since we already done our hiking the day before, but it was worth it to me since one of the attractions along that stretch has a felled tree you can stand in. We also stopped and did the drive-through tree! We weren't sure if this existed on our route or not, and were excited to come upon it just as we turned off the 101 onto the 1. It was pretty touristy, but we still got a HUGE kick out of it. C'mon, it's a drive-through tree! How is that not super cool!

 

From there we left the Redwoods behind and began our drive on the 1. The views of the coast were spectacular and constant. You're pretty much driving right on the edge of the coast for most of the way. The sun continued and there was lots of stopping to get out at different vista points and beaches for pictures, oohs, and aahs. We also stopped for lunch at an obligatory roadside burger shop. It's just so road-tripy right? Our stop of choice was Jenny's Giant Burger in Fort Bragg where we shared a burger and shake while sitting at the counter. Perfection. Then we continued on to our destination for the day of San Francisco, making one more stop along a beach to watch the sunset and take a wee walk before piling back in the car. It was dark by the time we crossed the Golden Gate bridge, but still very cool and epic.

 

The awesome weather continued in San Francisco. We were having such a good time bopping around that I seem to have neglected taking many pictures! We had dinner at Burma Superstar the night we got in (so good!) and stayed in the Alamo Square neighborhood. The next day was spent pretty much entirely in San Francisco. From here on out we didn't have much driving left to do so we took it easy. First there was brunch at Serpentine, which was a bit out of the way but totally worth it. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around shops in the Mission district and The Haight. All the vintage shops on Haight street were so fun! We also stopped in at the massive Amoeba Music and although we kind of struck out on finding anything too good to pass up we still had a fun time purusing.

As we were driving out of the city, Kevin made me take this picture and told me to label it: RUSH!

Our destination that night was Santa Cruz, where we did nothing but sleep, eat burritos, and walk by the beach a bit. Then it was on to our most southern stop: Big Sur. Along the way we made several stops and discovered there were whales and dolphins to be seen! Apparently there are large numbers of grey whales migrating at this time of year. We're not 100% sure what kind of dolphins we were seeing, but after consulting a placard later on we think they were Risso's Dolphins.

When we got to Big Sur, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed at first. There were sooo many people. I suppose it was because of the holiday and the nice weather, but it was way more packed that we were expecting for a winter trip. We also had trouble finding a good, moderately long hike that wasn't packed with other visitors. However, Big Sure redeemed itself once we found our campground: Andrew Molera State Park. We were able to snag a campsite early on in the day, and returned back later and walked down to the beach. There were far less people and the park offers several hiking trails.  There was also a group of people surfing, which looked absolutely perfect (except that it was freezing cold). In hindsight I wish we would have skipped some of our other Big Sur stops (like the much anticipated and very disappointing McWay Falls) and just headed straight for Andrew Molera. Ah well. Next time. Camping that night was chilly but totally doable. The stars were absolutely spectacular and the no-chance-of-rain weather meant we could leave our rainshield off and look at them all night. Well, Kevin could. I can't see farther than my nose without my glasses.

The next morning we got up early and walked back to the beach for a sunset light breakfast. There was no one else on the beach that morning so we had it all to ourselves as we warmed up with the sun and walked around to unstiffify our limbs (yes, I did just make up that word). Then, we packed up our campsite, and stopped for a more hearty breakfast before getting back on the road for the day. We didn't eat anywhere else in Big Sur, so I can't compare it to other places, but we chose the Cafe at Ripplewood and it was just perfect for us. A diner counter with a super friendly staff who keep your coffee cup full combined with my favorite breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, and toast after a chilly night made me one happy girl.

From Big Sur we were headed to Berkeley, with a quick stop in Monterey. In Berkeley went for a walk in Cesar Chavez Park for the views of San Francisco across the bay at sunset. While we were in San Francisco in the Haight, I finally talked Kevin into buying a super cool denim jacket, which he wore that night and looked dashing in if I do say so myself. We also hit up another Amoeba Music location and found a few things that time, including a very appropriate copy of the Beach Boys Endless Summer album which Kevin described to me as the soundtrack of his childhood.

 

After Berkeley, we set off early and bombed it back to Seattle in the hopes of making it to a New Year's party at Andi's house. It was a lot of driving that day, but we were ready to get home and were looking forward to celebrating with friends. The most exciting thing that happened that day was us hitting 100,000 miles on our little VW Golf! Although it's a fairly new to us car and we certainly didn't put all those miles on ourselves, we still got really excited about watching it turn. You can also see the total mileage of our road trip at that point below the 100,000. Unfortunately, it reset at when it hit 2000 so we couldn't get a shot of the total mileage.

December in Instagrams

December is my birthday month. While some people might think having a December birthday is not great (you know...because of that other holiday), I like it. It just makes the festive season seem longer and better. Here's our month in here-and-there pictures:

1) Our Christmas tree! Foraged and tagged from the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. 2) Grandma's beads and my new pair of Gingher scissors for a Friday movie / knitting night at our regular haunt. 3) Best. Breakfast. Ever. I call it egg in a frame. 4) Woke up to a very unexpected few inches of snow. It was gone by lunch time but beautiful while it lasted. Coincidentally, this was the morning I had to take our little car to the garage (just an oil change). Yeah, I went anyway. Pshaw snow.

1) Mom found and sent me a ceramic lighted Christmas tree just like I'd been wishing for! 2) Got this guy back from his business trip to China and couldn't be happier. Lattes all around! 3) Sadly, I wasn't able to finish Kevin's sweater in time for Christmas....so I wrapped up a nearly completed sweater. 4) Out annual batch of Cullen Skink.

This last group of photos are from our California road trip. I'll be sharing lots more (pictures and stories) about that trip soon. These are just a taste.

1) Crescent City! Our first stop after crossing into northern California. The coast! 2) A walk through Redwood National Park. 3) One of our first views of the coast after rounding a spectacular corner on Hwy 1. 4) Brunch in San Francisco. This one is from Serpentine.

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas

First food post of the year! Wahooo!

This recipe is from familystyle food, and I made it almost exactly as written. I did end up leaving off the extra herbs and squeeze of lemon because this was more of a scraped together dinner than a planned one. Also, I probably just used whatever kind of onion we had on hand.



This is a fairly new to us recipe, but it was so good that it's going straight into the regular meal rotation. It's got all the things that I love about a good vegetarian recipe. Plenty of protein and veg, a simple list of ingredients, and such a "pow" of flavor that you wouldn't even dream of missing the meat. Plus, minus the cauliflower and feta, all the other ingredients are things I generally have stocked in the pantry anyway (and by pantry I mean the huge corner cupboard with pivoting shelves where I hoard cans of chickpeas and bags of potatoes). We also still have an almost full jar of the most amazing harissa left from our Tunisia trip. Just a tablespoon makes everything magic. You can also find very good harissa at many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, or African food stores. Or you can make your own. It's a wonderful condiment to have on hand. We love it on eggs, too.