Weekend Things

Hi!  What if I watched four movies, two TV show episodes, six football games and one award show this weekend?  Is that too many things?  Is that why I barely read this weekend?  Don’t worry, I still fit in a (the last??) bike ride to the farmers’ market, a facial, dinner with my sis and Sunday chores, but I sure do feel like I watched a lot of things this weekend!

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Joey really really wanted to see It Chapter 2 and was considering going by himself when I decided I could take one for the team and see it with him.  I am NOT a scary movie person but I fully committed by watching the first one BY MYSELF on Thursday night so we could see the second part together on Friday.  I’m not going to lie, I did not love the first one and the second one felt SO LONG, SO REPETITIVE, SO NOT SCARY.  But, sitting in a packed theater for a horror film was actually a very fun experience!  Mostly, Stephen King just seems really hard to adapt and I’m not sure why we keep doing it, but give me Bill Hader and I’ll sit through anything!

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Saturday started with coffee and whole wheat pancakes for two, which were a lovely reminder that buttermilk is the best.  Afterward, we biked to the farmers’ market and there was that unmistakable fall chill in the air!  Felt kind of nice.  This may have been our last trip to the Union Station Farmers’ Market so I snagged peaches one last time and tried not to feel too sad.  The rest of the day included a trip to the grocery, lunch and a facial for me, but then we had evening plans with my sister and Wayne.

First, dinner at Chook.  It’s just rotisserie chicken and side dishes but it’s somehow much more!  After, we saw Ad Astra, which I’ll be honest, I was not very excited for.  The trailer made it look like the same old stoic astronaut with daddy issues plot.  I was hoping to be pleasantry surprised and… I was not.  To be fair, it is GORGEOUSLY shot — the color palette, the galactic scenery, Brad Pitt’s face — but god, I was bored.  I can’t even imagine all the trouble they went through to make a film in a futuristic version of outer space but with nothing new to say.  I hope to have my mind changed but for now, meh.

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We relaxed Sunday morning — did anyone else watch Between Two Ferns: The Movie??  I thought some parts were very funny and some parts were very dumb, but Paul Rudd is a national treasure! — then we went over to our friend Josh’s parents’ house to watch football.  Their house is STUNNING and I ate a bowl of the best pozole, but watching football basically amounts to me just not speaking for three hours.  Joey wouldn’t even let me bring a book 😛

Back at home, we watched an episode of Deadwood, took a picture of a pup’s nose then made lunch salads with Lars and the Real Girl on in the background and man do I love that movie.  We had eggplant pizzas and the Emmys for dinner.  Tonally, that telecast felt very weird and I did not need that hard to hear commentary by Thomas Lennon.  There is just so much to watch on TV that I feel more and more disconnected from the Emmys every year because there’s so much I haven’t seen!  That being said, I really loved the wins/speeches by Alex Borstein and Michelle Williams plus that look on Gwendolyn Christie’s face when the crowd cheered for her was INCREDIBLE.  Also, I reserve the right to feel outraged by the Julia Louis-Dreyfus snub until I watch Fleabag, okay??

Please tell me how your weekend was and… Happy First Day of Fall!

Make This Now

Even though it is the end of July and I’m already (sort of) jokingly lamenting that “summer is over,” temperatures in the upper 90s, nightly dinners in the backyard and the pain I suffered when I wore black pants outside earlier this week means we are truly in the thick of it now, friends!  Please enjoy some of our very favorite recipes from this summer, and just remember there are plenty of tomatoes, corn and peaches and eggplant to come.

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BBQ Salmon Cobb Salad

Katie Lee does not mess around with a good salad and neither do I!  Perfectly cooked flaky salmon, salty bacon, egg that is boiled to my liking (help, I recently developed an aversion to soft egg yolks), in season corn and tomatoes, a creamy avocado and most importantly: homemade croutons!  We really dug this meal.

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Juicy Grass-Fed Beef Burgers

What’s summer without a really good burger, though?  Get this, these ones have mayo MIXED INTO THE PATTY!  Why have I never thought to do this??  These were SO GOOD.  So juicy that they were dripping everywhere and I was sad because I wanted those flavors in my mouth and not on my plate but what can you do?  Also, Joey claimed these were better than the BA Burger Deluxe which had previously been our go-to classic burger recipe.  Reader, I gasped when he said this but… he’s right!  P.S. Please season the outside of your patty with salt and pepper, regardless of whether this recipe tells you to or not.

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Loaded Summer Chili Fries

Switching gears entirely, we now enter the vegan portion of this post.  I make this cashew cheese sauce often and always have so much left over — I’ve tried halving it and my blender says NO — so I have to find ways to use it up.  Enter these chili fries, which already called for a similarly-made cashew sour cream, so it seemed like an easy substitution to make.  I was not prepared for how delicious this meal would be!  It was light and fresh but still hearty and satisfying?  I was FULLY in my happy place.  Plus, even though it seems like a lot of components, it was pretty quick to whip up.

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Peach Crisp for Two

Okay, this actually served four but that means two nights of dessert for each of us, instead of one, so I’m calling it a win!  A gluten-free vegan peach crisp is, in fact, NOT Betty Crocker’s peach cobbler but I just can’t make it like Mom, so why even try?  I actually don’t know how this tasted as good as it did considering there was no butter or white flour involved but IT DID.  I would 100% make this again!  And that’s the end of the vegan portion of this post 😛

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Grilled Salmon with Whole Lemon-Sesame Sauce

I made Joey watch a video of the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen making this recipe then said “I don’t care what you think, I’m making this!”  He’s maybe not quite as into lemon as I, a person who will eat the lemon slice that comes in a glass of water, am but don’t let the idea of cutting up a lemon skin scare you because when mixed with shallot, olive oil and honey, it’s really mellow and lovely.  I really love the easy salmon grilling technique used in this recipe too and scattering basil over anything just feels so fresh and summery, doesn’t it??

Please tell me what delicious things you are whipping up this summer!