impromptu dinner party

With new jobs, crazy schedules, boyfriends, friends, car trouble, overtime hours, unexpecteds and, oh yeah, the fact that she lives in Vancouver, it's been a long time since Ashley and I have been able to slow down enough to catch up with each other. And so this weekend when her boy Brandon was out of town, we jumped at the chance to play.

Of course, this past weekend at work left me with my head spinning around like those damn plates Radiohead has been singing about all these years and even when we got our act together and decided "Yes! Saturday night! SAT-UR-DAY NIGHT!" by the end of the work day I was about to fall down and wail helplessly trying to figure out what just happened to the last nine hours of my life ("busy, busy, busy") (Vonnegut point for Moshboy, who probably doesn't even read this... That's fine).

So Saturday didn't work. I didn't have the stamina to make the hour drive from Dundee to Vancouver at that point. Sunday though... Sunday was the day. Armed with a bottle of 2005 Leland Vineyard Pinot Noir (ooooh) I crossed the border into Washington and landed at the Briley/Gamble household. At this point, Brandon was home and dinner was being made (not a bad event to walk into). The menu? Lime & jalapeno marinated tuna steaks on the grill, fresh salad with veggies (most of which were from their garden), oven-roasted potatoes and strawberry shortcake (which gave Ash, who rarely drinks, some trouble there when trying to perform kitchen conversions for the butter and egg components after a glass of wine - entertaining for me though)

Dinner aside (which was amazing) the evening was much needed. I've known Ashley for almost three years; one of my first friends at Living Room and Portland in general. Our initial bond formed when we took that leap of faith and became Facebook friends (isn't that, after all, the true validation of any relationship?) (wait, it's not? I need to go reevaluate my belief system...) and discovered we both had had religious experiences reading Shantaram. As far as I'm concerned, this novel is the perfect cornerstone for a friendship. Fast forward to the past year and that's when I really realized that she had become one of my best friends. A true and solid member of the Portland family I have found myself fortunate enough to be a part of.

The three of us ate our tuna, doused our potatoes with Creole seasoning (Brandon's addition to the meal... Hey, these kids are from Louisiana, they know what they're talking about) and finished off the Leland. Leaving us to girl time, B headed off to bed but not before prepping the hot tub for the ladies (here meaning, taking the cover off while we popped open another bottle of wine). And for the next two hours Ash and I alternated bubbling in the hot tub and perching on the edge to bring our body temperatures back down to a normal level. We talked about the classics - love, life, faith and philosophy -  you know, solving the world's problems. We've both found ourselves in similar situations in the past year and both come out better, stronger women for it. Not taking for granted these lessons, we decided that the pits of despair we have teetered on the edges of off-and-on for the past few months were all entirely worth it. and above all else, we are thankful for them - something we were only able to realize here in hindsight.

My point is this: that old saying, "Wherever you are, it's your friends who make your world" is entirely true. My best friends, the ones who make my heart beat and soul strong, are peppered all over the place (here, there and everywhere). My utopia would have them all within arm's reach (alas...) but it's sure nice to know that wherever I go, they'll be there.

good day sunshine

two-thirds

The Beatles once sang, "I get by with a little help from my friends," and then moved swiftly into a phase of pschyedelics and yellow submarines. Personally, I'm going to stick with staying up late and playing with my friends and skip the drug induced spurts of creativity (I've got more than enough mental anguish to keep me churning out new work to need any further aid).

this pretty much sums up the evening

So Monday night mom and I headed down to San Francisco to fetch Sir Knight for his rapid, 24-hour, talk-and-lovingly-abuse-her-off-her-ledge, whirlwind visit. His flight was delayed so we didn't get back to The Burrow (mom's house, yes, a reference to the Weasley household in Harry Potter, the place where no matter how crappy life is, it's always a little bit better once you're there) until after eleven. A normal person would have gone straight to bed to prepare for a busy following day but we've never been accused of normalcy and we're not about to start now. In lieu of that then, we decided to make margaritas and act like idiots. Idiots how? I took the opportunity to somehow drop the bottom out of the blender thus causing the Great Spill of 2011 (photos of Blake and me slurping beverage off the countertop with straws to follow) and the other two decided to channel other worldly spirits with the damn Ouija board (I took no part in it other than to sit at the table with them because I choose not to mess with things beyond our realm, but that's just me).

mumm napa... bubbles & sun

The next day was a first for me. Growing up in Napa (and in the wine industry for that matter, with Dad's business taking us out to wineries on a daily basis from the time I was seven weeks old, curled up in a little snuggly pack... I was a great mascot) it surprises even me that I have never been wine tasting in the Napa Valley. Sure, I now know the Willamette Valley left, right and sideways but my own hometown? Ha. I was out of here before I turned eighteen and kept far away unless a holiday demanded my return for the better part of the last seven years (I think it's fair that most people stray from their hometowns, at least for a while... I had a certain bitterness about Napa though, another story for another time). But you know what I discovered? This place is lovely! Holy moses, I got to grow up here and I completely took it for granted! Sure, I always knew how beautiful it was and would often request a quick spin up valley on the not-so way home from school, but this was a chance to see it from a new vantage point.

prager port winery - one of my favorites, even as a kid (they had winery cats)

Everywhere we went Dad saw someone he knew (no joke, whether he was sticking his head into a cellar, walking through a crowded restaurant or just entering a tasting room, he knew everyone). The day was just about perfect - even the sun came out to play! After months and months of rain, I had almost forgotten what it looked like (and boy, I must have thrown it for a loop with the blinding quality my alabaster skin has developed this winter!) So we made our rounds - Mumm, Conn Creek (yum!), lunch at Rutherford Grill, Prager and Stag's Leap. Conn Creek and Stag's Leap are both part of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which owns Erath as well, so it was fun to get to a couple of our "sister wineries". I was really impressed with Conn Creek in particular. The folks in the tasting room reminded me of the people I work with and were so welcoming! And the wine was amazing (I bought a bottle of 2006 Anthology which is a blend of everything Bordeaux and it made me melt). And then a stop at Prager, of course. The family owned winery has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember (my dad is friends with the family and as a kid I spent a lot of time chasing the old cellar cats, Use and Less, around the barrels) (also, one infamous luau party where they buried and roasted a pig... big fun when you're six). One of founder Jim Prager's sons was in the tasting room along with one of his son-in-laws as well. It's so wonderful to know that as corporate as some of the places in Napa have become, there are still the strongholds. The character of the place is fully in tact and shows no signs of waning... When you're there, you're family. And the port? Leapin' lizards. The ruby, the tawny, the white port! Hell. Nothing tops it. I've actually had the privilege of meeting and tasting with the winemaker of a port winery in Portugal and it didn't touch the quality Prager has harnessed. It was definitely a highlight of the day.

the boy riding the "circus bike"

Nothing helps to take your mind of the more craptabulismic (word origin: Sean) times of life than to be surrounded by family and one of your best friends. Of course my mind wandered many times throughout the day to places beyond my control, but having Blake lurking around corners to pop me on the back of the head or make an inappropriate comment about, er, everything really... Helps.

The Beatles were right. I do get by.

(more photos to follow, these were the immediately available iPhone shots)

croque monsieur

Much as I love the idea of a lean, svelte me running about town without the worry of someone noticing that I'm not a size 4 anymore (oh, there was that brief moment in time somewhere between Spring Break '08 and 700 calories a day)... I love the idea of cheese more.

And so tonight I dove into that most notable member of the grilled cheese hierarchy - Croque Monsieur.

After cheese, there are two other things that I love more than my imaginary waistline: cooking for my boy and movies where Meryl Streep is her most fabulous self (like this one which, incidentally, inspired this meal).

So anyway, I went with The Barefoot Contessa on this one, only modifying her recipe a bit by using rosemary ham (yes, ham, with rosemary, look into it) and sliced sourdough bread with crusts (both from Trader Joe's).

And much more imprecise measurements of gruyere because I cannot be held responsible for the amount of cheese I inflict on unsuspecting Indianians. And those darling little asparagus spears were a happy addition courtesy of the new Grocery Outlet in Newberg, of all places. $2 a bunch and they were delicate and tender and amazing, just lightly sauteed in a splash of olive oil, garlic salt and pepper!

Paired with a glass of our Pinot Gris, of course. Perfect "God-I-wish-it-was-spring-already" dinner.