when is simple, boring?

i am a simple girl. i like simple things and things simple.

my favorite dishes have less than 5 ingredients for the most part. orecchiette with sausage and broccolini. baguette and brie. buratta with grilled bread. warm apple galette with vanilla ice cream. hell, vanilla ice cream!

i think i was 11 or 12 10 years old when my mother, her mother and i took a 4 (or was it 6) week road trip through the west durning the summer. car camping and sightseeing all mother nature had to offer. we went to the grand tetons, grand canyon, canyonlands, mesa verde, moab, the flaming gorge.....it was an amazing experience, spending all that time in a car with my mother and grandmother. when we visited yellowstone there were ice cream stands at all the viewing spots, i asked my mom if we could get a scoop and she said at the end of the afternoon, when we are done with hiking around we could. after an entire day of seeing all these ice cream stands and people eating ice cream it was torture not to have any of my own! finally, at the end of the day, it was ice cream time! what did i order? vanilla. yup. my mother even commented on the fact that all day all i wanted was ice cream and what did i get when i could finally have some? vanilla.

two nights ago i made myself a dinner of chicken cutlet, roasted brussels sprouts and a baby green salad. for lunch today i made a sando out of it. whole wheat bread, mayo and the chicken. i think it's perfection, so simple and honest. if i didn't eat all the arugula the other day, it would be the only thing i would add to this lunch.

so, at what point is simple, boring? i think this is the perfect sandwich and you might too, unless of course you don't like mayo (i don't understand those people anyway, no offense).

happy wednesday!

warning: girlie post! new summer hair!

so i think i just found my new summer hair style thanks to love maegan

i need a little practice, but i love it!
what do you think?

girls weekend extravaganza!

every once and a while a girls weekend is just what the doctor ordered and with the mr out of town it was the perfect time to have ms july and ms jenny to drive down from seattle saturday afternoon.

of course, some girls weekends involved boy bashing, drinking, clubs, dancing on bars to top 40 or wine, cheese and romantic tear jerk movies. our girls weekend revolved around FOOD.

it all started as soon as the girls arrived at the apartment. we put our heads together and wrote out a menu, made a list and then headed to whole paycheck.

Menu:
crostini with sauteed mushrooms, butter cheese and truffle salt

grilled flank steak marinated in garlic and balsamic vinegar, grilled asparagus, baby arugula with avocado and fennel salad. we also enjoyed an AMAZING bottle of grenache that ms july brought to the party.

strawberry rhurbarb pie with vanilla ice cream (along with a few Lady Gaga music videos)

for breakfast: very cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze, big pot of seattle's own lighthouse coffee (thank you jenny) and prosecco with elderflower syrup

more pictures of the evening, flickr set

big thanks to ms july and ms jenny for driving down, i had so much fun! very much looking forward to that camping trip ladies!

till next time,
amanda

Happy Friday!

wow! what a day out there! clear blue skies, warm sun! MY FAVORITE!!

wishing a very big happy birthday to sarah and adam kramer! can't wait to celebrate you tonight!

happy weekend!
amanda

a simple lunch for a simple girl and other ramblings

per usual, the mr has left* on a biz trip early this am and will be gone till NEXT friday. ugh. but fear not, i have many items on my to-do list and daily planner. tomorrow is a birthday party to celebrate both ms sarah and mr kramer births (yippee)! house guests saturday night, ms july and ms jenny will drive down from seattle for a girls weekend! so far the plan is a roof top supper on the grill, baking and (window) shopping. the question is, what to bake? i am thinking of a tart or pie to go with some homemade ice cream and definitely some sinful cinnamon rolls like these or these for sunday breakfast. yum.

of course the sun isnt sure if it wants to come out today. it keeps peaking through the heavy clouds but gets pushed away. sigh. the good news is tomorrow is supposed to have a high of 72 and saturday a high of 83 (!@#$!).

whats on the stereo: the national

my lunch today:
toasted baguette with goat cheese, cucumber and avocado sando with mixed greens

ingredients:
quality baguette
1 tbs goat cheese
1/2 avocado
1-2 inches of an english cucumber, sliced
1 cup mixed greens
sea salt
pepper
1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp olive oil

to make:
smear goat cheese on one side of toasted baguette. avocado on the other.
add sliced cucumber. sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. a squeeze of lemon.
toss greens with salt and pepper, squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil.
plate, eat and enjoy!

*for all of you who fear for my safety if i publicly declare on the internet to be home alone, thank you for your concern, but i live in a giant high rise. good luck trying to get past the front desk, up the elevator and even to my door. now, when (fingers crossed!) we move to a detached single family home, it will be a different story.

another gloomy wednesday

so this happened today:

the mr brought home mini donuts after he got a hair cut (he looks mighty handsome btw)

we took a trip out to fred meyers to buy mason jars for the wedding

and then this happened

and this

which of course led to this

hipsters know how to dance!

last night, the mr and i ventured out on a dark but not too cold night to see a band called !!! (chk chk chk) at the doug fir lounge in ne portland. we first saw them last october at the treasure island music festival and were thoroughly entertained by them. the lead singer dude has his own unique dancing style, which can only be described as awesome.

not only did the band entertain, our fellow show goers really had it going on. within a 20 foot radius of us we had the completely hammered "a little older definitely not hipster couple" doing the head shake and fist pump. the "american apparel lace body suit wearing hipster girl" all over the "baseball cap wearing not so hipster" boyfriend. the "interpretive dance hipster girl" dancing with the "interpretive dance totally gay hipster dude".

now i am not passing judgment or being mean. i had a really good time watching these people get their dance on. it was AWESOME! and all this on a tuesday night!

oh how i heart portlandia!