Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

A few weekends ago, I found myself with 2 pints of strawberries, a rhubarb patch that needed some love (it'll go to seed if you don't pick it!) and a sweet tooth. What's a girl to do? Make strawberry rhubarb crisp, of course! So I followed this recipe because it seemed to have the simplest ingredients and quite honestly, looked easy. And damn, it was good.

I brought it to a Cinco de Mayo party and it was a hit. But I honestly don't think you can go wrong with rhubarb; it's so flavorful and fresh. So now I'm already looking forward to picking my next rhubarb recipe, but there are so many to choose from! Which would you choose?

Here's our little rhubarb patch in our backyard.

Mixing the ingredients.

 The magic of rhubarb comes in the baking. Yummmmm.

P.S. I remember when I was a little girl, I'd fill a dish with sugar (for dipping since it's sour!) and go out to our rhubarb patch and eat myself silly. But I always had to leave enough for my mom's famous Blubarb Crisp! (Blueberry Rhubarb :))

I covet

When we were in Sweden two years ago (what, TWO YEARS?!), I saw a lot of these little Fjällräven backpacks in stores. I really liked them - maybe it was the versatility or just knowing it was an iconic Swedish brand? But I resisted buying one because I opted for my ceramics instead - however, I didn't stop thinking about the cute little pack. (And seriously, I don't know why, it's just a backpack!) But then a few months after coming home, these backpacks started cropping up everywhere! On blogs, JCrew, and more!

What do you think? Do you like this pack?

This is what happy looks like

Just a group of ladies soaking up the first sunny, hot day of the year at Green Lake with a glass of rosé last weekend. Yep, this is what happy looks like.

One Year Olds

Goose and Fifi turned one on May 1st. In true crazy-cat-lady form, I made them "kitty cakes" - a whole can of wet food with crushed up dehydrated chicken and dry food on top. They legitimately WENT CRAZY for them. We spoiled them with the two cans - not thinking they'd finish - but in a matter of minutes, they nearly devoured both. And for the next hour after that, they wouldn't stop lickin' their chops.

The finished kitty cake. Appetizing, huh?

Joe let Fifi take a peek at what I was making and she was liking what she saw.

Rather than eat their own, they ate one then moved onto the next. These cats sure love each other.

P.S. Are you jealous of our kitchen floors?
P.P.S. On a scale of 1-10, how crazy do you think I am now? I mean... kitty cakes.

Flowers

A few weeks back, I had the gardening itch. So I went to the store and picked up a few plants to spruce up our front porch and backyard deck. There's something about a bright, colorful flower that can bring a smile to your face, don't you think? My favorites of the group are the dahlia (wedding flowers!) and ranunculus. I wanted to bring a white anemone home too, but no such luck. Maybe on the next flower shop visit!  

What is your favorite flower to grow?

P.S. The flowers must be happy with all this SUN today. Is summer here to stay?! Please say yes.

Baby Dahl

This weekend, Stephanie, Merith and I headed home to the Skagit Valley for Sarah's baby shower. At seven months pregnant, Sarah looked absolutely adorable; the pregnancy glow was in full effect.

It's so fun to see people you've known for ages start a new journey together - they've been together since high school, went to college together, got married, jumped around for jobs together, bought a home together and now they're about to embark on probably the most exciting journey: poopy diapers. Err, I mean parenthood :) No doubt, they will be fabulous parents!

Now the waiting game, only two more months until we get to meet little Cameron Martin Dahl!

Fancy Friday

A couple weeks ago, Joe and I got all nostalgic about Taste of Washington. So we decided to make our own little fancy meal at home - arugula salad with homemade salad dressing, chevre and cambozola cheeses, delicious crackers, rosemary rolls, tomatoes and castelvetrano olives. And it was made complete with a glass of Washington red wine. No cooking, just putting it all together and enjoying. Wouldn't this be the perfect meal every Friday?