I love my crock pot.

The project of the day was sweet curry-squash soup in the crock pot, and it turned out so beautifully that I had to share some photos. 

I ended up with plenty to go around!

As you can see, I'm squeezing everything I possibly can out of this season...come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've made more pumpkin dishes this October than there have been days in October so far. October 6th? 

Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin soup, pumpkin shakes, pumpkin-quinoa bake...

well, almost.

Mom's fabulous quiche

Fabulous quiche number one:

Fabulous quiche number two:

Salad:

Mmmm...

Mmmmmmmmm.

Quiche number one: Artichoke, Mushroom and Swiss. 

This quiche includes artichokes, spinach, green onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese.

Quiche number two: Bacon Quiche with Carmelized Onions. 

This one is full of bacon, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions, and sharp cheddar cheese (or in my father's description, "Bacon. Need I say more?"

Let's be honest, she had us all at bacon.

Salad: 

Mixed greens, red onion, fresh raspberries, steelhead trout, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Wine:

A round, buttery Chardonnay (those are the words of my father, I'm still in wine connoisseur training).

I'm thinking this one might even be Food Gawker worthy.

Mom, take that as a huge compliment!

Today I miss the mountains.

Today I miss waking up early, feeling the chill of the air and remembering that I am in Venezuela. I miss pulling on a sweatshirt and walking to the open window to gaze at the mountains, just to reassure myself that I'm really here.

It was like this in Uganda, too. But instead of waking up to crisp, mountain air, I woke up to tropical air. I remember the air being thick and heavy, and smelling of sun-warmed earth and spices.

I think one of my favorite things about traveling was the rush I got when I woke up and remembered that I was somewhere unfamiliar. It's exhilarating - and somehow always caught me by surprise.

It's so different from that other familiar and pleasant feeling - the one you get when you wake up in the place where you feel most at home. It's the feeling you get when you stay over at your parents' house and wake up in the morning wrapped in your favorite soft comforter to the smell of breakfast and coffee.

My theory is, if you go too long without one of those feelings, you start to crave it. For example, when I was abroad in Venezuela, I embraced the rush of excitement that overcame me every morning as I woke up. But then, as I neared the end of my trip I began to crave the comfortable and familiar feeling of waking up in my own bed, close to people I knew and loved, where I could brew my own coffee and drink it out of my favorite coffee cup.

However, now that I've been enjoying that comfort for over seven months now, I'm ready to go abroad again. Where, you ask? At the moment, my list looks a little something like this:

1. Italy
2. Spain
3. Greece
4. India
5. Indonesia
6. Argentina

Lofty, I know. This travel bug is BAD.

Summertime

There's nothing like grilling on a beautiful summer night. 

Last week my parents and I took full advantage of the nice weather...and of our local farmer's market. We used colorful locally grown veggies in our salad (red peppers, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, and lettuce), and the rest we threw on the grill (yellow onions, fingerling potatoes, skewered chicken breast chunks tossed in extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and rosemary). Simple, yet one of the best summer meals I've had this year!

There are many ways to approach enjoying a summer evening, but here's my preferred method:

1. Grill

2. Relax, eat, drink wine

3. Drink more wine and drool over food magazines.

I want

these Gold Honeycomb Earings. 

Find them, here.

Oh, and this "Dipped in Mint" Blouse...

found, here.

Both of these stellar finds come from Notheast Minneapolis' own Parc Boutique. 

Why, Hello again.

I am blogging from a new url...again. Since graduating from the U of M in the spring, I have adopted a new personal e-mail address - one that simply ends in gmail.com (there are a whole host of problems that come along with using a U of M-hosted gmail account). I am happy to say that I have finally created a blog associated with this new personal e-mail address, which embodies my new life as a college graduate, free from the pressures of homework assignments and group projects, ready to unleash all of the stored-up creativity accumulated over the last three years of hectic schooling. Well, maybe that's a little ambitious. It's my goal, anyway...to allow more time for creativity. But also to read more, to get out and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, and to cook more. So far, I've been succeeding on all levels but the "creative outlet" one. So this is my attempt to begin achieving it.

The last few months have been a whirlwind. I graduated from college and started a brand new job and a new internship. Now I'm preparing to move out of my apartment and into the top floor of a house in uptown with three new roommates. Lots of change, yes, but they are good changes. 

The best of all though, is that I finally have the time and money to do a little bit of traveling again. Maybe not back to Uganda or South America at this point, but last week I did book a plane ticket to California to visit my best friend for a week. I haven't seen her in a year (the last time I saw her was on her wedding day in August of 2011), so you can imagine my excitement to reunite with her and to see the entire life she's built with her husband on the other side of the country. Not to mention my excitement to visit wine country and road trip down to the beaches of Southern California. 

On top of it, I got the news that she's visiting Minnesota in a few weeks, too, so I'll get a much needed dose of chick flicks and endless laughing sessions with my bestie even before October when I'm scheduled to visit =)

In short, life is good, and it's good to be back.

Beyoncé

 This will never cease to amaze me.