Welcome to the family, Iggy Smalls!

After we found out about Yango’s ailing health our spirits were pretty low. We knew bringing a dog who needed a forever home would mutually benefit both parties.  So after weeks of searching high and low we found a sweet little Chiweenie mutt to open our home to. Iggy came to us from the Tacoma Humane Society and I must say, they do a wonderful dog of keeping their online profiles of dogs up to date, almost hourly! It was easy to track their adoptable dogs over the last few weeks.

If any of you are like me, pacing the halls of an animal shelter can be very taxing. I wanted to take them all home, and felt terrible guilt about walking away with just Iggy. After we got home, I checked online and found that a few of the other dogs we were looking at found forever homes too. It was a relief, but I’m still a little heart broken for little Lady. She was a little pom-pekingese who had a winning (read: silly) smile and a sweet disposition. She’s unfortunately just about as old as Yango, who I adopted as an elderly dog already. I really hope she finds a forever home quickly. I can at least sleep better at night knowing that the Tacoma Humane Society is a no-kill shelter. Whew!

Although he’s small in stature, he may still have the endurance to go running with us on our shorter circuits. Well we’re off to the dog park to enjoy ‘family’ time. Have a great weekend, folks!

My First Roasted Vegetable Galette

 Hello Friends,
This week I had my nose buried in cookbooks to find new recipes to spice up our weekly menu. I discovered and absolutely love Pam Anderson‘s Cook Without a Book: Meatless Meals. Fact: when your library book has 20 little shards of paper marking recipes, it’s time to purchase the book. So I did. And everyday I sit by the mailbox like some old hound dog cartoon character, patiently awaiting my package. When it doesn’t arrive, I lamentably drag my long sad face back to the house to renew my library book.
Pam Anderson provides master formulas to a number of different dishes. When you have the formula memorized, all you have to do is plug in your favorite ingredients. That’s exactly how I operate in the kitchen! And it’s such a practical application to cooking. Open your crisper drawer and plug those ingredients into one of these beautiful meals.
I’ve already whipped up her galette (if you’re new to this dish like me, it’s basically a pretentious open faced vegetable pot pie) in two different varieties. Monday was the first time I’d even heard of the dish. Tuesday was the first time I attempted the dish. At that time, my crust folding technique needed work. By Wednesday I had the recipe mastered in two varieties. My husband is a fan too, he hasn’t even noticed that these are vegetarian dishes.
Well, I’m sure he has by this point in the post…
Nevertheless, if you’re in the library browsing the cookbook aisle, check out some of Pam Anderson’s books. Or check out her website Three Many Cooks and enjoy!


Touring Washington

This week my husband and I picked up a new addition to the family. We finally got ourselves the Subaru Forester we’ve been drooling over. Fortunately, the weather was nice this weekend so we were able to take it out to Capitol State Forest in Thurston, WA and then over to Steilacoom, WA for some small town tourism. It was wonderful fun, and a great way to break in our new (ok, used) wagon. 

We spoke to a few museum curators who advised us of several great day trip options in the area. Our agenda is now full of sights to see and towns to tour. 
If you’re ever in the area, Steilacoom is a great little seaside town to visit. We’ll be back again for their Salmon Bake later this year. 

Hope you all had an equally adventurous weekend!