cold mountain

oh man, oh man, i went to a photography workshop this weekend and it was like summer camp!! instead of arts and crafts we had food styling, and instead of capture the flag we had fishing, or rather sit by the river and drink beer and watch other people catch fish. we even made s'mores and told alien stories around a bonfire. (alien stories are way better than ghost stories, by the way.) it was splendid and beautiful and i miss all of my new friends so much already. 

north carolina was just as pretty as i imagined it would be, it was all mountainy and green, and i got to see some wondrous little waterfalls in the foggy brevard woods on my way from charlotte to cold mountain (thanks to lydia and ben, the best tour guides ever with the best taste in music ever). i think i would probably completely pass out if i ever saw north carolina in the fall.  

cold mountain was the perfect spot for a photo camp. eva and carey totally nailed this location. we stayed in the cutest lodge, ate carey's famous baked oatmeal every morning, took awesome photography classes every day, and at night, we gossiped and yolo-ate cheez-its with red wine. it was so awesome to meet bloggers that i've been admiring through the internet for so long and new-to-me photographers from all over the country. also it was just so refreshing to be with other people who stand on the table for overhead shots and recognize the value of an artfully placed rosemary sprig. 

the weekend was topped off with the most spectacular meal made by my good friend jacob. there was brown sugar crusted pork, black walnut charoset, smashed paprika potatoes, and fancy black bean toast that had about 12 layers on it, i don't even know what they all were, but it made me want to melt to the ground. in the end there was an extra dessert course because at one point during prep jacob's delightful assistant lena mentioned that she gets antsy if she goes three days without baking a cake and i thought, you know what, me too, so shelly and i stole her away and we made olive oil cake with rosemary syrup and lemons from kelly's tree.

oh it was so lovely. 

before flying home, i managed to find room for my first north carolina barbecue and holy poop, what have i been missing all my life. in other words, i'll be back for you soon, north carolina. very very soon.

for now i need to go investigate the landline that eggboy installed while i was gone (i guess people still have those?) and see if it came with any full house vhs tapes or something...

-yeh!

---

p.s. big big hugs to all of my new friends that i met this weekend: eva, carey, jordan, rebecca, grace, shelly, patty, kelly. i miss you guys!!! 

most of the goodies pictured in this post come from: lodge, farmhouse pottery, food52 shop, finex, simon pierce, and carey's woodworker dad!

pinot noir marshmallows + a bonfire

over the radio, jeremy played his goldberg variations and out the window, a large flock of birds flew all oblong-like in that pretty way that birds do. i kept looking left and looking right to check for people and other cars, but there was never anyone else, not even on the highway. 

it was like being on another planet or in another time, but no, it was just north dakota being all zen and unassuming. 

i ended up at my friend evan's ranch, where we lit a fire in an old tractor part, and pet the cows as the sun set. we roasted weenies and talked about china, told our halloween stories and fed the doggies. i had s'mores and a sausage and it was the perfect sunday supper, or just the perfect sunday in general: all cozy and animal-filled. 

i do love a good bonfire.

the crackly sounds. cooking things on sticks. driving back into town, stopping at the target, and smelling like a smokey burnt up log. 

bonfires almost make me want to delay the first real snowfall. almost. 

here was our little fireside menu:

for noshing // leftover halloween candy

for melting // s'mores with pinot noir marshmallows

for roasting // bourbon smoked sausages and hot dogs

for sipping // kendall-jackson grand reserve pinot noir

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

weekend warriors

it started as some of the best weekends do:

with a pizza, on a tractor

(and of course some cookies for the truck drivers)

in the mornings i made potatoes and eggs... and then potatoes and eggs again

first, inspired by this cute eggy/mendelssohny video, and then inspired by the tortilla in steph's book.

my arm workout came by way of teaching a cymbal lesson

and my cardio workout came by way of jumping around all extremely ecstatically excitedly when we got showtime!!!!!!! (get at me, saul berenson!!!!!)

i took a record two (2!!!) showers. one was because i hadn't taken one in a week, the other was entirely because i wanted to become marzipan with the help of this marzipan body scrub.

we had a brunch club get together, only it wasn't for brunch, it was for nighttime pretzel making (!!!!) complete with lye and nutella and mustard and guac (and no burns from the lye!)

and then

i did a thing i've never ever done before...

i helped my new fellow east-coast-transplant friends make apple cider! they have an apple tree that rivals ours, so for an afternoon, we chopped, smashed, juiced (?), and drank part of their 300 pounds of apples. it was so fun and flannel-appropriate and autumny.

the weekend ended with a big bowl of brussels sprouts topped with hot honey and enjoyed in my new robe that is fluffy as fuck. 

eggboy was either sleeping or on a tractor or eating oatmeal for 100% of the weekend, but it still managed to be pretty deeeeeelightful!

how was yours????

-yeh!!!!

an apple picking party

fall is here!!! fall is heeeeeere!!!! holy root vegetable, i am so excited. 

clearly i've already gotten into the spirit of things, but here's a scientific fact for you: fall isn't fall until you've picked an apple from a tree. (right??) like, you can eat all the pumpkin spice things you want, but you mustn't forget about the apples. 

in the past, my annual apple orchard trip has coincided with a trip home to illinois, but this year i figured there would probably be some hardcore apple orchards in the middle of all this rural business, so i conducted some research on the best places to go apple picking around grand forks. 20 minutes of failed googling later, eggboy came in from the fields, laughed really hard, and then directed me to the two fairly large apple trees in our backyard. apple picking parties are a thing here explained cathryn. 

oh.

...cool!!!!!

so rather than having our regular brunch club, the ladies and i became the most hipster versions of ourselves, took a picnic out to my backyard, sipped some wine, and picked a ton of apples. it was perfect. we talked weddings and miss america, we ate cheese and more cheese. we took moody photos of handfuls of apples. (good thing one of us had a fresh manicure.)

and then we retreated inside, away from the buttercream-loving bees, put on the sufjan, and stretched our definition of proper caramel apple coatings...

here was our menu:

for noshing // brown sugar challah, jam, baked teddybear camembert with raspberry preserves, and a bunch more cheese

for dessert #1 // sprinkle cake

for dessert #2 // caramel apples with coconut, toasted sesame seeds, sprinkles, sea salt, and smoked sea salt

for sipping // kendall-jackson avant chardonnay

for supper // chicken with apples + chardonnay 

i highly recommend an apple picking party, even if you don't have an apple tree. make friends with someone who does! or grow your own. or trespass. (don't trespass.)

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson avant for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!