Week 16

The week obviously began splendidly.

Sunny outdoor breakfast at Colville Street Patisserie in Walla Walla

Cigar box guitar

Kiona Winery on Red Mountain

Are my teeth purple yet?

Surprises yet awaited me on Sunday when we left Walla Walla without visiting a single tasting room and took another drive to Benton City, near the Tri-Cities. This is the home of Red Mountain, where some of my favorite Washington grapes are grown. More specifically, this is the home of Kiona, which was the first to plant vines on the "mountain" (more like a large hill), and, I learned upon arrival, was the actual destination for our trip. We went wild for Kiona's Lemberger a number of years ago, and the 2011 (or was it 2010?) vintage became a sort of holy grail when wine shopping. Ensuing years have also been delicious, but there was something magical about that first bottle we opened that year. Needless to say, we really enjoyed our tasting at Kiona (see face above), and the woman who was pouring won our hearts. By the end of it, we were trying to convince her to move to Spokane and I think she might have actually been considering it. But the wine may have altered my memory of that...

While on the mountain, we also had lunch and a tasting at Terra Blanca, and another taste from Taptiel. It was all delicious, and the panoramic views were thrilling. It was fun to taste at the source and really start to understand what makes this relatively tiny area so ideal for these grapes.

Recipes

The quick trip threw me for a loop and I had a heck of a time trying to get my brain in gear for this week. As a result, dinners have included canned soup, lunches have featured frozen veggie patties - at least I'm holding it together with my regular poached egg and English muffin for breakfast. 

I did make this baked mushroom risotto one night, and this sausage and smashed potato with kale salad (similar to this one) another night. Otherwise, we went out for cheap pizza and Mexican food. These days neither of us is very apt to sit around and think about what we want for dinner until it's about dinner time - there are a lot of other things calling our attention as the weather warms up.

On Saturday, I organized a hike for my sweet friend whose birthday is around the corner. It was windy but sunny and the views were gorgeous.

The trees are finally, finally turning green. Joel did the first mow on Wednesday while I took the dog on a walk. During said walk, Luna and I perched on the edge of the bluff as I looked out onto the valley, the sun beginning to set over it. I reached over to give Luna a loving pet and draw her close when I realized her back was covered in dog shit. She must have rolled in it at some point on our walk there when she was off-leash. Grateful for the fact that I managed not to get any on me, I sat there for the next few minutes trying to enjoy the original moment while simultaneously planning out how to remedy the situation when I got home. But ah, glorious spring.

Watching

I think this blog may need to morph into some new categories. I'm not drawn to TV right now. 

Reading

I am still reading Swing Time and am close to the end.

Cookie of the Week

I can't be relied upon for much these days! I'm planning to make myself a lemon tart this week and maybe, just maybe, I'll return to cookies someday. 

For now, it's my birthday week and everything is this song. Join in, everybody!

We stayed out after midnight!