Ode to Grilled Cheese

I think people need to remember that grilled cheese is delicious and should not be left out of the cycle of your meals. We definitely don't make it every two weeks (yes, we are dorks! We plan out two weeks of meals and then shop for them), but I'd say we make it every 2 months or so.

Tom really wanted to be included in this blog (even though he doesn't read it), so here is his contribution. This is very much the meal that HE makes, and I must say, he does a fantastic job of it.

This is NOT a picture of our most amazing grilled cheeses. The level of amazingness (I know, not a word) depends on the cheese, and we did not get amazing cheese this time. We did however include bacon, which always makes for a winner.

I am not giving a recipe for grilled cheese - I am just singing its praises. Give grilled cheese a chance!

Italian Plum Jam

Tom and I have had a very interesting time making (we'll we're not sure if we have succeeded) plum jam.
It was easy enough chopping the plums. It was easy enough boiling them with water. It was easy adding the sugar and then AAAAH we suddenly realized we had to boil the jam in a water-canner. What is a water-canner you ask? It's a large pot with a wire rack inside to keep the jars from touching the bottom. Do we have a water-canner? Of course not. So we ran to Fred Meyer (strange faux Wal-Mart) to buy one, but alas they didn't have one.

We decided we would pot a pot top in the bottom of a big pot. We tried that but didn't have enough room. We searched through our boxes and found our GIGANTIC lobster pot (thanks Liane). I found the perfect top to put in the bottom, and we are on our way to "processing" our jam.

Mixed with the death-plum farts coming out of Harper it is somewhat amazing that we are still alive. Pictures soon to come.

Discovery Park

I met up with my freshman roommate from college Alicia in Magnolia this afternoon. What a wonderful way to spend my last "free" day before heading back to the grind.

It was a quick and easy drive south and over the Ballard Bridge. I missed the turn off, but I made my way anyway. I went up some hills and down some hills. I found the park without a hitch despite my wrong turn along the way.

Alicia looked great. Just as good if not better than at 18 when I met her. We walked with Harper down to the beach area. It says NO DOGS ALLOWED on beaches, but there weren't many people - and no cop looking people, so we let him on. He swam a bit and dug in the sand and explored and we gossiped and caught up. It was a hike up stairs back to the top, but we made it. Slightly sweaty, but alive. It was really nice to catch up and fill each other in on the many years since Wes.

I checked out Tom's office on my way home. It's got a nice conference type room and three nice offices. Bathroom down the hall. Very simple and cool views of the water. Great location in Ballard. It will be hard for him to take lunches to work with all of those places to eat! The traffic gets super busy down there though. Jeese!

And now I'm safely back home and ready to make some halibut meuniere for dinner. Then we head out to check out houses for sale. Full day before heading to work tomorrow.