Fresh air on a bike ride. On Sunday we rode out to Millwood for lunch, followed by a beer tasting at Millwood Brewing Company. It was perfect bike riding weather, and air. We don't take it for granted.
Labor Day. We biked our picnic up to Comstock Park for the Spokane Symphony's annual Labor Day concert. You should have seen how expertly packed our blanket, wine, cutting board, utensils, book and spread of leftovers were. I live for this stuff.
My bus pass. I have been asking Whitworth for maybe 12 years to give employees a discount on monthly bus passes. This year, to my sheer delight, they have given them to us - employees and students - for free. I am thrilled. I bought a new backpack and I feel like I'm as gleeful as a nerdy kid who loves riding the bus to school.
Delightful reading. Less by Andrew Sean Greer is my current book and it's very endearing. I find I'm reading certain passages more than once because of the unique phrasing and humor. I expect Pulitzer Prize winning novels to be heavy, but this is so light while capturing so much.
I'm also finding a common theme in the kinds of articles I'm drawn to lately, from last week's about being OK with not subway tiling your kitchen (my own takeaway) to this, on the Unbearable Sameness of Cities. Can we be unique in the age of Instagram and DIY shows and IKEA?
Joel cooking. Last weekend he picked up The Flavor Matrix from the library used it to make an otherwise blah Tuesday feel like my birthday due to his culinary risk taking. The book explores flavor combinations through intel from IBM's Watson, displayed in colorful infographics, with recipes that explore how and why these unusual combinations work. I came home to pan-roasted pork tenderloin that had been rubbed with coffee, cardamom, cinnamon, and combined with peaches and shallots sautéed in with bourbon and soy sauce, topped with fresh thyme. On the side was grilled corn on the cob with savory vanilla butter. If it sounds sweet, it wasn't. It was the weirdest, good-est thing.
On Saturday he made chicken burgers with strawberry "ketchup," exploring how strawberries and mushrooms play well together. You have to taste it to believe how good it is. He's got another recipe in the works for this next week for a black tea tomato sauce.
Finishing. I am so close to finishing my sweater that I feel safe in saying it will be done before fall is officially here. Oof.
Paul Simon. Joel's reading the new biography and each day he tells me another mind-blowing fact. (Did you know that "Going Home" was the original lyric for what would become "Kodachrome"?) When I came home on Friday, the world was turned upside-down (in a good way) upon the discovery that Paul had just that day released "In the Blue Light," which is nothing but fresh takes on old and lesser-known tracks. The timing: it was impeccable. Goosebump city. We hope he lives forever but know he won't.
No comments:
Post a Comment