Day 12

Matcha for the madeleines I made today. The madeleines themselves were less than entirely successful, so the recipe will have to wait.

Day 11

I think I will call days like today "red chair days." So if I am uninspired for photographs, or just utterly drained after a long week at work, photos will consist of random household objects, like red chairs and glass doorknobs.

Day 10

I spotted this on my walk home from work.

I love Portland.

Day 9

Matt and I went out after work tonight with a couple of friends, so, (excuses, excuses) it took me a while to get around to taking my daily photo. I entertained myself by taking pictures out the windows of our kitchen after dark, tonight.

Day 8

Matt was working today, so I stopped in briefly for a latte and some pictures. He's gearing up for a latte art competition next month, so I photographed a few practice lattes, some of which made it onto his coffee blog.

I had trouble picking out a photo for today - I was pleased with a number of them, which are up on my flickr page now.

Day 7

Wednesday is Farmer's Market Day, which involves me dragging Matt out of bed far earlier than he deems civil, and then fighting our way through the crowds downtown to buy a good part of our weekly produce. The blackberries are Chester blackberries, and are my favourite of the varieties we've tried so far. Before moving to Portland, blackberries were such a rare thing that I had no idea that there were multiple varieties. Now, they are a regular part of summer.

Also, apropos of not much, I love the word "aubergine" instead of eggplant.

And the arugula, shallots and green beans (along with the corn that I had to buy at our local not-farmer's market) went into this salad, which is quickly becoming a mainstay on our table.

Day 6

Chuck, as usual, has to be involved in anything I do. He is constantly underfoot, dipping tail or whiskers into anything he can reach. Sometimes, like it is here, it's really cute. Other times, not so much.

The salt cellar he is currently investigating was a gift from a friend of my parents who I have known my entire life. It is a little painted clay pot from Panama, and it holds coarse sea salt. It generally lives on the windowsill beside our table.

Day 5

So, this post is a little late, but this photo was taken on Day 5, I promise. I got home from a somewhat grueling day and only remembered to take a photo once the daylight had gone, so I had to get a little creative with our indoor lighting and my subject.

This chair has been in the family for a couple of generations, now. My mom got it at the Salvation Army for five dollars (I think) when she was a teenager, and it lived at my grandmother's house when I was a kid. I inherited it when I was seventeen or so, but it was taken over by Matt shortly after we moved in together. It is now his "Learning Chair," and lives in the corner by my desk.

Day 4

I am aware that flowers rarely make for terrifically interesting photography, but I came home from work today to find a bouquet (the first one Matt's ever gotten me) awaiting me, and had to document it. Extensively, actually. Sixty or seventy photos, actually.

I had intended to post about the scones I baked this morning, and discuss how I enjoy being up early, but not getting up early, but the flowers take precedence. I am also highly entertained by the fact that every two out of three times I go to type "flowers" it comes out as "flours." An indication of the fact that my brain is usually focused on the kitchen? Perhaps.

Day 3

One of my coworkers has a plum tree growing next to her apartment, with the branches reaching conveniently to her balcony. The plums have finally ripened, and she brought in a bag of them today for all of us to share. I haven't actually tasted one yet, so I can't say if they are any good or not, but I thought that the colour was so pretty and mottled that I wanted to try to capture it. Each plum has tiny white speckles all over it, as well, like freckles or something. They are visible in the flickr set that this picture is linked to.

Ordinarily, I would bake something with these, but Matt doesn't care for plums, so I think they will probably just go into my morning yogurt bowl for the next couple of days.

Day 2

The other day, as we were contemplating moving out of our current apartment, I started listing all of the things I love about it. This list included our doorknobs, which are those fantastic vintage glass ones, and our radiators, which are also fantastic and vintage, but work really, really well. (Which is a good thing during our grey Portland winters.)

I also like the fact that my cat Chuck will often perch on the radiator and look picturesque. Chuck is a hellion, but he does picturesque rather well. Taylor, the sweet one, won't really hold still, but I will attempt to capture her soon.

Day 1

I made bread very late last night - or maybe very early this morning. It is a no-knead sourdough loaf, my regular. I think perhaps I need to work on expanding my bread-baking repertoire.