just laura

David and I went camping at Lake Wenatchee two weekends ago and had a lovely time. It was car camping and it kept it pretty simple. A small cooler with snacks, cooked our dinners over a campfire, and brought an air mattress to be more comfortable in the tent. On Saturday we did a lovely hike near Leavenworth’s Icicle Creek that was aptly called 8 Mile Lake Trail. The weather was in the 70s, warm, and sunny… lovely for hiking but not too hot. We attempted to swim in the lake on Sunday but the water and winds were a bit much. We pitched our tent at The Cove since the state sites were all full.

Cove Resort on Fish Lake
22494 Chiwawa Loop Rd, Leavenworth, WA 98826
(509) 763-3130

Other than our foul mouthed drunken neighbors who yelled all night in front of their young children, the place was lovely. Had a playground for the kiddos, fishing docks, a boat let, and showers/bathrooms as well. Felt like a traditional camp ground that hadn’t changed in probably 50 years. Camping was only $18/night which was somehow super surprising for me… seemed amazingly affordable. Good times.

Caroline, Lee, Jess, and I went camping at Shi Shi Beach last weekend. It’s part of Olympic National Park, on the Washington coast, nestled in the midst of the Makah Reservation’s tribal lands. It was a beautiful 2+ mile hike through the forest to get to the beach, backpacking in carrying all of our gear, water, etc.

Went to a literary reading last night and was inspired to make a meatloaf today. Cheers for unexpected consequences! I believe it’s the first time I’ve ever made meatloaf and I’ve got to say it turned out lovely! I used 1/3 turkey and 2/3 beef.

Meatloaf
Prep Time: 20 minsTotal Time: 1 1/2 hrs min
Serves: 4-5
by Nita Holleman on food.com

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (ground shoulder roast is good)
1 slice bread (broken or chopped finely)
1 eggs
1 small vidalia onions or sweet onionstype, finely chopped
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2- 3/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half

Sauce
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2-4 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed firm (to taste)
1/2 cup ketchup

Directions
Meatloaf: Combine meat loaf ingredients and place into a loaf baking dish.
Smooth out top.
Sauce: Combine sauce ingredients and pour on top and sides of meatloaf.
Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done.

Yum!

This month has flown by, just like every other on record.

Fourth of July weekend was a big camping trip for Barry and Maja’s wedding. David and I were 2 of the 150+ friends in the woods, in the middle of nowhere near Omak, WA. We celebrated with hula hoops, nature walks, juggling, eating, grilling, and lots of live music and DJs! The wedding weekend was a celebration of creativity and vitality, with much giggling, silliness, and so much love for the people around me! Even the drive to and from was a great chance for connecting with David while driving through some gorgeous WA areas, including adorable Winthrop where I’d love to return for river tubing someday.

Last weekend Laura Beal arrived from Austin and we took off on a whirlwind week! I threw a surprise party for David’s birthday last weekend, and had about 100 show up in my backyard! Total success! Laura and I left the next morning for three days in Oregon. I had meetings in Vancouver, we stayed in Portland (at the Mark Spencer Hotel, highly recommended), and we made a side trip to Astoria and Cannon Beach where they filmed Goonies 25 years ago.

We got home from Oregon on Wednesday night, met up with Erin Daniels (who’s pregnant!), and then left Thursday for another camping weekend in the woods, this time near Mt Vernon. It was Critical Massive, the regional Burning Man event for the Pacific Northwest, and we had people from across WA and British Columbia celebrating in the woods, including a handful of the same great people from Barry and Maja’s wedding! It was a huge family event… some people brought their gray haired parents in wheelchairs, others brought their toddles and teenagers. It was another great weekend where I’ve felt constantly thankful for the bizarre mix of young and old, serious and silly, creative people in my life! Laura Beal came in town from Austin, and she joined David and I for the festivities, as did Caroline and Suzanne! We did arts workshops (hair pieces and costumes!), learned electronics (my first time soldering was this weekend making an EL wire contraption), had many picnics, watched fire spinning, enjoyed locally made iron work fire sculptures, and did lots of dancing. It was a weekend of good conversation and good people throughout. Again, I’m continually thankful to be involved with such a terrific community!

And now I’m a very tired girl. Two more social engagements tonight then I’m hoping to get eight hours of sleep for the first time in a long time! :) Wish me luck!

I’m loving my garden! I’ve been eating kale, chard, arugula, strawberries, and sugar snap peas. I also planted rhubarb last summer and just harvested some of it this week! I found a new recipe online and it turned out great! (So far, four taste testers and all four were very very happy). Enjoy!

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Bars Recipe #427411
by Minnesota Wildflower from www.recipezaar.com
1¼ hours | 20 min prep
24 bars

Crust
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup butter

Rhubarb Layer
* 2 cups chopped rhubarb
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons flour

Cream Cheese Filling
* 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 eggs

Glaze
* 2/3 cup sour cream
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine crust ingredients. Spread in 9X13″ pan and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
2. Toss together ingredients for rhubarb layer and pour over crust. Bake for 15 minutes.
3. Mix together cream cheese and sugar. Beat eggs in one at a time, pour mixture over rhubarb and bake 25 minutes at 375.
4. Mix glaze ingredients and spread over bars as soon as they come out of the oven.

Solstice parade was last weekend.
Today was BevDay in the park.
Watching World Cup games on the intertubes at Jessica’s place.
Yesterday was our first backyard BBQ and bonfire of the summer!!

It would appear that I only posted on travelingcat.com while in Cape Town… oops! JustLaura stayed quiet the whole six weeks. Needless to say, Kenya and South Africa were great and I’m now home back in the thick of things.

Seattle’s in summer mode so it’s time for biking to work, BBQs, Solstice parties, bachelorette goodness, gardenings, and pie bake-offs. Hope y’all are well!

Fabulous lunch at Andaluca for

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/seattlerestaurantweek/

Gala Spinach Salad
Seared Halibut w/ roasted tomato burre blanc
Beef Skewer with cabrales blue cheese crust
Petit liquid chocolate cake w/ Mint semifreddo

YUM!!

Not sure that I ever posted these, so I’m trying to get them up now. Better late than never, right? Enjoy the dusty fun!

David and Cat in Mayapan, Mexico in Feb 2010

My boyfriend David works for a large company where half of his team works in Seattle and the other half works in South Africa. He was just approved to spend 3.5 weeks working in Cape Town and has asked me to come with him! I couldn’t say no! I was just offered a new job, and my boss approved unpaid leave, so I decided to make it an even longer trip! I decided as long as I was going to be in the region, I should also make time to go to Kenya. I just bought my plane ticket this weekend and am super excited to return!

Kenya – May 2-16, 2010
I plan to visit friends in my old village, Malava, and hope to see many SNDs as well, in both Nairobi and Malava.

South Africa – May 16 – June 8, 2010
We’ll stay in Cape Town (probably in a self catering apartment near the V&A waterfront in Green Point). David will work a normal work week from his company’s Cape Town office, and I might work remotely during the week days if there are projects I can do remotely. Hopefully we’ll get to explore the Cape region on the weekends. No plans on what to do yet, but we’ve got a tiny bit of time to figure it out. (First step, do dinner with Maggie and Jim tonight to hear about the month they just spent in Cape Town!).

I am very excited to return to both Kenya and South Africa, I’m very excited to travel with David, and I am very excited about making new memories on this return trip to Africa!

I went home to Austin for a short trip last Thursday to Monday. It was a good time picking berries with family, BBQing with friends, going to the Salt Lick BBQ and a RR Express baseball game with family, and hanging in the Arboretum park with friends. Can’t believe Maggie is already a smiley 9 month old and Gus is about to turn 4!

As always, the visit felt super short, but it was great to see everyone! In addition to family, I saw Chris and Alyssa, Charles and Laura, Miss Beal, Andy, Dan and Erin, Bill and Caris, Beki and Craig, and many of the kiddos. :) I didn’t take many pics, but here are a few pics from berry picking.

Spent Friday picking berries with Stef, Gus, Maggie, and Dad. Also saw some beautiful wildflowers. Pics to follow. :)

Sweet Berry Farm
www.sweetberryfarm.com
1801 FM 1980
Marble Falls, TX 78654-7384
(830) 798-1462

Well, last year I did tons of gardening at Mez’s house, then broke up and moved out, leaving the garden to slowly perish without me. This spring I’m still inspired to give it a second try. I built two garden boxes from scratch two weeks ago, and planted them last week with “early season” veggies. It’s still rainy and in the 40s for the past few weeks, and will be another two months before I can plant tomatoes. On the bright side, I haven’t had to water them yet. On the down side, my beautiful bright lights chard is looking super sad. For now, I’ve already planted arugula, purple peacock broccoli, Chinese broccoli, chard, bright lights chard, kale, purple kale, sugar snap peas, asian mustard, two kinds of strawberries, and an herb garden of rosemary, sage, thyme, and mint. Wish me luck!

I’ll post more updates once I plant more and/or get to start eating what I’ve already planted!

Um, maybe.

David and I are still dating, and have been for just over seven months. He’s still patient, caring, and sweet and I’m lucky to have him. (Even met his little brother Paul this week… just as charming and very entertaining, yay geeks!). David and I are debating a trip to South Africa in the month of May. Half of his team at work is in Seattle and the other half is in their Cape Town office, so there’s a chance he could go on the company dime. He’s invited me to go with him. If it happens, depending on my work, finances, and schedule, I’d love to join him! I’ve been to South Africa twice (one week with Cindy and almost a month with Susie), and I’d love to go again! He’s still negotiating dates and duration with his bosses… I’ll share more once I know details. I’m excited and hopeful, but don’t want to get too excited until plane tickets are actually purchased. :)