Comedian? Or Chiropractor?

I've been seeing a chiropractor once a week in yet another attempt to figure out what is going on with my knees/back and to make everything thats wrong with them, right.  At my appointment yesterday he gave me a little checklist to work on outside of stretches to help my healing process. Most were what you would expect...more water and sleep, less refined sugars, working on meditation/stress management etc. However, there was one that after reading I had to pinch myself so I wouldn't bust up laughing in his office.

Eat more vegetables.

Ummm...ok. Lets go through the list of vegetables in our fridge at the current moment and see where exactly there is room for improvement:

2 Spinach

2 Giant Rainbow Chard

Kale

Red Leaf Lettuce

Cabbage 

Basil

Cilantro 

Celery

Cauliflower 

Broccoli 

2 Packages of Carrots

2 Onions

Scallions 

3 Jalapeños

2 Red Peppers 

Heirloom Cheery Tomatoes

Beets

Cremini Mushrooms

3 Zucchini

Snap Peas 

Yellow Wax Beans

Fresh Dill

Yellow Summer Squash

4 Cucumbers

Garlic

While we are at it, a round up of our current fruits on hand:

Purple Grapes

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries 

Cantaloupe

3 Lemons

3 Green Apples

3 Red Apples 

2 Mandarins

2 Apricots

2 Yellow Peaches 

3 Pluots

3 Pears

Ginger

Bananas

So, do tell me Dr Dave. Where exactly do you envision more vegetables into my diet?

Sincerely, Beggie. 

i made this :: BREAD!

II've attempted bread just once about 2 years ago. Impatient Beth got the better of me and I didn't let my yeast sit long enough, so my dough never actually rose. { When I told Mary my bread turned out this time around, she replied "And this time it was able to rise!" I was so touched she remembered that 2 years ago my first attempt at dough never rose. That girl. She's a keeper. } Since that little bread flop, I talked about trying to make bread as if it was the biggest regret I have ever had in all my life. When I would exclaim over-dramatic statements of "I'm so jealous you have a knack for this! My bread NEVER turns out!!! to his sister in law who made us fresh bread up at Snowy, Hunter would give me the gentle reminder of "Dear? You tried it just the one time."

YEAH LIKE I SAID. NEVER!
I'm such a peach.

When we were driving to the grocery last week, he brought it up that I should try my hand at baking bread again and I mumbled something resembling an excuse for why I couldn't, then quickly tried to change the subject to pho, or corn on the cob or something.

Yes, those are my go-to subject changers. You've been warned.

After being convinced now is a great time to try it again, I quickly searched "whole wheat bread recipes" and went with the first one that came up. When I'm cooking dinners or using recipes for anything other than baking, I'm pretty good at loosely following along, subbing what I have on hand and what I think we'd prefer. This time? Not a chance. I read that recipe word for word probably a dozen and a half times ensuring I was doing everything correctly. And what'dya know??! It turned out!

I MADE HOMEMADE BREAD.

I was talking with my mom last night how there is something far more rewarding in baking bread than there is in making a pasta dish, or even a complicated risotto. My mom has been baking homemade bread for as l-o-n-g as I can remember. Rolls, crescent rolls, loafs of bread...you name it. I grew up watching her test the dough for its stickiness, texture then proceed to form perfect rolls and loafs. Needless to say I was so flattered after sending her a photo of the bread and hearing words of praise from her and my grandma on how great they looked.

Toot toot! Yes, I just tooted my own horn.

After the market today, I'm going in for round two. Not implying that we have ate 3 loafs of bread in less than a week or anything! No! No. Not at all.

We totally did.

After I'm comfortable with the process, I'll branch out to trying different multigrain recipes or even......sourdough! Gasp.

Things I really think you need to know on this lovely Friday.

1. I am currently inhaling blueberries, raspberries and cantaloupe this morning.  It's a huge deal for me because I've never been a fruit girl.  I live and breathe by my veggies, but lately fruit is the first thing I turn to.  SHUT YOUR EARS CAULIFLOWER AND CABBAGE.  YOU CAN NEVER BE REPLACED.  Also, I can never spell cantaloupe correctly on the first try.

2. My friend Julia knows how much I love the raspberries from Central Market in Poulsbo.  She lives in Poulsbo and text me yesterday saying she picked up some for me and was bringing them to the Farmer's Market.  I volunteer/work for/with Julia at the Market on Sunday and Thursdays and I thought it was incredibly sweet and thoughtful of her, which makes sense because she is an incredibly sweet and thoughtful gal.

3. We watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close last night.  I read the book a few weeks ago, so it was still on the forefront of my mind while watching it.  I took away 2 main things: I should never expect movies to be as good as books and I need to start reading happier books.  I guess I took away 3 things, the third being never watch a movie with someone when you've read the book and the other person hasn't.  Sorry for the constant correcting of the plot line and basically ruining the movie for you, H.

4. I simply can not get enough of this song lately.  Repeat, all day err'day.

5. Over the weekend I'm hoping to finish a project I've been working on for a few months now.  Keep your fingers crossed for moi!

6. We were out for a 2 night, 3 day camping trip this past weekend and it was incredibly dreamy.  The entire trip out felt like one huge hug from Mother Nature.  The only way the trip would have been more perfect was if the bunghole who had the last camping site before us didn't take it upon themselves to leave CRAB SHELLS spread all.over.the.site which made it smell unpleasant to a girl who doesn't care for seafood to begin with.

Here are a few snaps from our getaway!

Oops.

Adding to the list of things I have zero patience for:
Caramelizing onions.
Waiting for my nails to dry.
Finalizing blog design before uploading it.

Bear with me on this one, it can only get better from here.

I made this :: Spring Rolls

I've had spring rolls on the brain to make at home for a few weeks now.  The challenge wasn't finding the courage to try them at home, rather finding the blessed rice paper in our town!  I searched 4 grocery stores + 1 asian market store high and low with zero luck.  Thankfully, our favorite grocery store about 20 miles away carries it, and I bet if you looked hard enough they would also carry unicorn tears 

{ read: we heart central market }

I'm working towards perfecting my rolling, but these crisp, cold, light rolls are a perfect summer food.  I didn't end up following a recipe, though did reference this post for basic folding techniques.  I have made these a variety of times with different combinations of red pepper, carrots, cucumber, basil, cilantro, romaine, tofu, jalapeño, broccoli, green onions - the list can go on and on!  I believe the less amount of veggies you stuff them with, the easier they are to roll and stay rolled.  Just this morning I read that Vegan Yack Attack heats up a little coconut milk in with the water she uses to soften up the rice paper which I will be trying that next time!  I make a basic peanut dipping sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, olive oil and { lots of } sriracha. It hasn't been photographed but is definitely worth mentioning!

TGIF!

Happy Friday, friends! Hunter and I are wrapping up a little vacation in the San Juan Islands today! I'm currently drinking a juice on the bay, making small talk with the cute locals and waiting for our ferry while Hunter is meandering around Friday Harbor one last time. I hope you all have a fun, healthy and adventurous weekend!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

insta{nt} replay.

I need to first and foremost state that the title of this post { and likely all my instagram update posts from here on out } is 100% ripped off from Jessie at Jessie's Journal.  Somehow the title of my instagram post updates went from "Instagram Dump" to "Insta Dump" which I'm so embarrassed to even have that on my blog after Phil pointed out to me what the name of those posts really sounded like.  I've been mulling it over and over { actually, I really just mulled it over maybe once, but two overs sounded better in that phrase. } and I simply can't come up with anything as good as what Jessie has come up with.  So why not just embrace it & link to her awesome possum blog while hoping some of my readers become some of her readers?  Glad we agree.  

Most bloggers jump at the chance to have their Facebook linked to their blog which is linked to their Instagram account which is linked to their Pinterest account which is linked to their Tumblr account which is linked to their blood type and SSN { dramatic much, beth? }.  For whatever reason I really, really hate linking my social media outlets.  Instead of having a cute little vector Instagram logo for you to click on and see my IG feed, which really would be so much easier, I'll work on updating a few of my favorite IG photos throughout a couple blog posts.  I haven't done an update like this in a while, so these are already dating a few months back.  Enjoy!

:: took this right when we moved into our condo.  still in awe of our view to this day!::

::the day we got our juicer.  the juice didn't last long enough to properly make it's ig debut::

::soaking up the views from our friends judy + bill's beautiful home!::

::found a running trail where i was dogging seashells left and right vs goose poop like i'd been used to for years::

::stopped in the middle of foot traffic to bend down and snap this heart shadow photo::

::right before heading out for our first wa camping trip!::

::weekend hikes make beth's heart happy::

::and when that hiking happens next to this?  few things better::