September 2015 – Long Distance Baking

When Kelly and I went to Portland last year for her birthday, we went to the most amazing Mediterranean restaurant. We order every appetizer on the menu and stuffed ourselves full of hummus and olives and fresh, hot, homemade pita bread. The bread was unlimited, but I think the chef was probably regretting that by the time we left. We ate so much! We just couldn’t help it. It was sooo good. One of the appetizers we had was baba ganoush, which I had never had before. I think of it almost like … [Read more…]

  Guys, I hiked Half Dome this past weekend with my cousin… It was way harder than I thought it would be! This hike has been planned since back in February and this past weekend the date finally arrived. (We hiked on Friday, 9/11 which was, I think, a slightly ominous date). Because of the recent fires around Yosemite and the fact that Friday was supposed to be 103 degrees, we started hiking at 11:30pm Thursday night… Yes, you read that right. Thursday night!! Now, … [Read more…]

I’ve never been to Tennessee in my life, and now I’ve been there twice in three months! My sister Cassie and I decided on Nashville for our second annual Sister Vacation (Chicago was the first) and it did not disappoint. I didn’t go with too many expectations or have much on my to do list, but I loved every minute of it. Here’s my Nashville To-Do List: To Eat & Drink Breakfast Pancake Pantry The Pancake Pantry has been a Nashville tradition since 1961. It’s one of those breakfast … [Read more…]

Granola is healthy, right? Even with the addition of chocolate? Ok, great, that’s what I thought! So here ya go, healthy peanut butter chocolate chip granola… I’m hiking Half Dome one week from tomorrow and I’m feeling surprisingly very calm and cool about it. The only thing that really concerns me about the hike, the three things really, are: the cables (yikes!), the lack of restrooms (I’m not fond of going to the bathroom behind a tree), and two tourists who recently visited Yosemite … [Read more…]

I usually only make zucchini bread about once a year. And every year, I wonder why. It’s easy, delicious and I consider it a health food because it has vegetables. Growing up we always grew zucchini and I remember having so much that we’d be begging neighbors to take it off our hands. The last two years I’ve tried to grow my own, and for one reason or another they died. All of them! It’s getting really annoying. So even though this isn’t homegrown zucchini bread, it’s still pretty … [Read more…]