Saying Goodbye and a Bit of Hope

I'm sorry I haven't posted since the 10th. The next day I found out my cat, Chisum (as seen in this post), was very, very ill and last Tuesday, the 16th, Aaron and I had to say goodbye. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done.. I've said goodbye to pets before but this was the first time I had to make the choice. Posting about food didn't seem like a priority. I took the next day off from work and on Thursday doing a Things I Love post seemed wrong.

Aaron adopted Chisum during the summer of 2001 when he was 2 months old. We all moved down to Portland together at the end of May 2002 and have been a little family ever since. Even with the addition of Doser, our ridiculous dog that he was only really starting to not hate, Chisum has been a good friend and nighttime snuggler. I miss him every day, but it's slowly getting easier.

My tomatoes are starting to turn red. My basil plant has gone insane in the good way. The rosemary and oregano make my backyard smell so good. My gypsy pepper plant may actually put out another pepper and the jalapeño one is giving me presents. My mom, as a graduation gift, gave me lavender, rosemary, oregano/thyme, and sage plants. Things grow and change. The night we said goodbye I had a plate of nachos from Cha!Cha!Cha! and a veggie burger with goat cheese from Little Big Burger and we watched Role Models and tried not to feel so bad.

It's getting better. I'll be posting again soon because I still love food and still have my anniversary cupcakes to tell you about. And I grilled pizza for the first time! And I made mint chimichurri and a delicious salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Looking at my photos, I have a lot more to share.

With love,
Becca

Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest or: How You Can Help Me Graduate

As you might be aware from all of my excuses when I'm not posting, I'm currently in semester 4 of 6 of a Master's of Library Science program. I love food, but I also love libraries. Anyway, I'm really enjoying it, even if it stresses me out. One thing that's really cool about being in this distance program is the ability we have to plan our own graduation...but that also means we have to pay for it.

Enter the Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest Calender! Most of the photos were taken by my friend Lisa at the Pacific Northwest College of Art library and even though we do look amazing, we are looking amazing for a purpose. Proceeds from calendar purchases help fund our graduation. With shopping season upon us, don't you want your money to go somewhere useful and give your friends and family an awesome present?

Yeah, you should. And spread the word! My friend Turner wrote a post about this as well, which has more details, or just check out the calendar page.

Thank you all so much and I promise the next post will be about food.

PS: I'm August.

The Visiting Librarian's Guide to Portland

Okay, so this isn't food related at all (maybe a little), but I'm just so damn proud of this video, I had to post it here. The Public Library Association (PLA) is having their annual conference in Portland this week and a few of my classmates and I put together a video showing off Portland to all the librarian's coming to our fair city.

I do eat cupcakes in it. And talk about doughnuts and coffee. There's also some beer. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, watch it. If you have, watch it again. I'm okay with it. :)