Walking Northwest Seattle

Have you noticed that Monday's travel posts have become a bit scarce around here lately? Well, about a month ago I took a step towards crossing off an item on my life list and signed up for Matador U's travel writing course. This means I'm edging the throttle back on my travel posts here so I can focus on learning more about travel writing. I'll still be sharing wanderlust inspiring photos on Fridays, other travel related posts will just become a bit more infrequent but hopefully the writing will be of a higher quality. 

I'd like to share my first assignment with you - a short piece about walking in my adopted hometown of Seattle.

Of all the places I’ve lived, I’ve never explored any of them by foot the way I have in my adopted hometown of Seattle, Washington. Perhaps it’s something about the unique personality of the Ballard and Phinney Ridge neighborhoods or perhaps it has more to due with the lack of West-East/East-West public transit. Over the course of a typical weekend, I find myself taking a number of walks to explore the neighborhood along with my husband and our pup. 

The weekend starts on Friday night, with a walk up the cherry blossom lined hill to Phinney Ridge. Along the way we pass mini neighborhoods that house small businesses ranging from the Barking Dog, often open late into the night for local customers to walk in to Makeda Coffee, where the laid back baristas makes a killer hemp milk latte. Other local curiosities include a giving tree, Little Free Libraries, and friendly folks saying hi to our dog. On the ridge, with a bit of light still in the sky, we see the outline of the Cascade Mountain Range – including one mountain that always reminds me of a brain.

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Scenes From France: Chateau de Gilly

Our whole whirlwind trip to Europe late last summer was prompted by a very special wedding being held in the most fairy tale like setting: a historic French chateau. We were lucky enough to be able to stay at Chateau de Gilly and I'd highly recommend it for a base to explore the Burgundy region. Especially since you can walk in the moat...

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Rhubarb Tea Bread

It's been a couple of months, but now I'm back on the Gluten Free Ratio Rally wagon! This month Brooke from B & The Boy is hosting and we're baking up tea bread. From the research I did, I learned that tea bread is very similar to a quick bread but with fewer eggs and only slightly sweetened. It's also best served on the same day it's baked, of course, with some tea. My favorite pairing with this particular bread? Darjeeling. For my ratio, I ended up with 6 parts flour, 5 parts milk, 1 part egg, 1 part sugar, and 1 part butter (fat).

Since I've been going on a total rhubarb frenzy recently (which you've likely noticed if you follow me on instagram), I decided I had to make a rhubarb tea bread. My final version, the one in the above photo, was actually made with rhubarb stalks from our edible garden - so that feels pretty good. I pumped up the flavor with vanilla and my other all time favorite, meyer lemon zest.

Make sure to check out everyone else's recipes too! I've included links to their tasty tea breads at the bottom of the post.

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Reading from April 2013

Where I Was Elsewhere On The Web

Sharing some tidbits of our wedding playlist as part of APW's new series. 

What I Was Reading

As part of a new series on Call Me Cal, Jeanetta is sharing great gluten free friendly eateries around Los Angeles.

One part of California that's still close to my heart is the North Coast.

Since I consider the foreign service to be one of my ghost lives, I love this Kuala Lumpur post in the Notes from the Field Series.

I cannot wait for this book.

Wonderfully nerdy and gorgeous gluten free cookies.

Guatape looks beautiful.

I should probably write more about this subject, but I never made the transition from the SLR world to the DSLR world - partially because I can't afford it (and no, I can't afford to "invest" in it) and partially because the bulk doesn't suit my travel lifestyle. So I'm loving this best of list of high end point and shoots.

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Scenes from Washington: Kalaloch

After living within walking or short driving distance of the Pacific for most of life - I crave time by the ocean. Kalaloch is quiet beach filled with beautiful piles of (dangerous) driftwood and it's probably my favorite getaway from the city. There's just something special about this place we visited on our first trip to Washington State, two years before we moved to Seattle, and where we went away together to work in on writing our wedding ceremony.

 

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