it's my darlin'

This is the best thing I ate in the five days we were on our trip.

A Happy Camper donut from the Glazed and Amused food cart in Bend. This place has officially ruined me forever in the donut department. They make each donut fresh to order and the difference is otherworldly. We ended up going back again later the same day for another. This needs to exist in Seattle.

Our final meal in Bend was lunch on the way out of town at Jackson's Corner. Another super fresh, super local menu. It was very similar to Volunteer Park Cafe but about three times the size and with freshly brewed Kombucha on tap.

The Havana

Biscuits and gravy... again... we really like biscuits and gravy.

A perfect peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and my new favorite soda, Fentimans!

On the way home we stopped at Smith Rock for a hike. It was right off the highway but so secluded. The beginning of the hike looked like the Snake River in Idaho and then we arrived at these rocks and it was like we had been transported to Arches National Park in Utah.  The colors were so bright and climbers were scrambling up the side of every rock face.

The sun shined the whole way home on the Mt Hood Pass. It is pretty incredible watching the shift from the east side of the pass to our side over here as high dessert switches to wet fern filled forest. The Northwest is such an amazing place.

Don and I met my parents in Bend, OR last weekend for some skiing, new town exploring and lots of good eating. I kept my eye out for style to photograph but came home empty handed. No shortage of good food photos though. I couldn't believe how many restaurants there were there. I felt like I was in a small scale more intimate version of Portland the whole weekend. Everyone bikes and walks to get from place to place, the food at all the restaurants is local, sustainable and organic and the people living there are nice beyond nice. It is an outdoorsy persons dream. There is skiing late into spring, a wide calm river running through the middle of downtown that is begging to be played in and endless hiking both in and out of the city.

Our first dinner was at Brother John's Alehouse. I ordered the Mac & Cheese after some strong encouragement from the locals. It was really incredible.

We had brunch at local favorite Chow. This was Portlandia to the max... You could inquire with the server about each ingredients farm of origin. 

The daily french toast with a honey lemon cream cheese and wine poached figs

They offer biscuits and gravy in several variations both vegetarian and meat

The Locavore: described by CHOW as a three egg omelette filled with the seasons best available ingredients served with roasted potatoes. 

We stayed in the most adorable craftsman bungalow rental house called The River Run Cottage just a 10 min walk from downtown and right on the Deschutes River Trail. If you go to Bend I highly recommend staying at one of the Bend Cottages. Our house was the same price as a hotel room per night but it had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a hot tub, a fireplace, a huge kitchen and laundry machines. I wanted to take this house home with me.

More Bend tomorrow.

I finally got my butt over to Georgetown! It had been such a long time since I last went there so the other night I headed over for the afternoon to check out my favorite shops and have dinner. I stopped by the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall on Alaska and bought some great clothes at Cathy's airsteam. She has such an eye for vintage clothing! And even when she is all bundled up trying to stay warm on a super cold day Cathy manages to look totally adorable. I love her style.

Have you been to the Trailer Park Mall? It is such a fun idea. All these old trailers lined up in a parking lot filled to the brim with vintage treasures. The clothes and accessories in all of the trailers are  so well displayed that each one is like a mini boutique. Go! go! And while you are over there get the Cottage Pie at Calamity Jane's. It is this amazing vegetarian shepherd's pie made with French lentils, veggies and mashed cauliflower potatoes. So good!

I featured Raya this week for my Hill Style feature on CHS. You'll find more photos and a little about Raya there.

Though I am a creature of habit when it comes to my own hair (same cut and color since my stylist moved years ago) I can't get enough of adventurous cuts and colors on others. These are some of my favorites from over the years.

15th on the Group Health campus

11th & Pike

Eric is a stylist at Coupe Rokei Salon downtown.

At 6th & Pike during a visit from Vancouver, BC. Brooke's coat is from her favorite store in Vancouver called Oak & Fort.

I was recently given a box of Chokladbiskvis from Liberty Bakery in Vancouver BC by my friend Stacy from Bijou Living. Since eating up the box over the weekend memories of these cookies have been tormenting me. The bottom is like the two perfect cookies that sandwich the filling of macaron, the filling hiding underneath is a fluffy chocolate buttercream and then they are dipped in tempered dark chocolate.  The combination of flavors and textures is totally amazing. I don't know how I have never seen these at a bakery before.  

I found several recipes online and decided to try to replicate them at home. I ended up using this recipe from Me and My Sweets but taking tips on the different steps from this version on Anne's Food. None of the recipes I looked at had a suggestion for creating an even smooth cookie on the bottom but I found that it worked best to chill the dough and then to form each disk with my fingers after running my hands under cold water then lightly drying them off before molding each one. Also, because butter is the main ingredient in that filling I definitely recommend getting the good stuff from the co-op or the farmers market (you can buy fresh butter at the U-dist Saturday market and Ballard Sunday market). Same goes for that chocolate shell. Grab a nice dark chocolate bar to chop up for melting. 

Thanks Stacy for introducing me to my current obsession.

Happy Valentines Day readers! I hope that you too treat yourself to some good food today. 

Broadway & Harrison

I love hats. I buy them often because I like the idea of wearing them but they very rarely seem to leave the house. I'm going to make an effort to wear my hats more often. You should do the same... then I'll have more hat wearing Seattleites to photograph. Perfect!

 Here are my favorite photos that I have taken of people wearing great headgear.