2012, Week Twenty-Five

Last week was kind of exhausting. All-night road work and early summer heat conspired to ensure I wasn’t sleeping well, which meant that I was only half awake during waking hours, too. I wish I had more to say about the week than that, but let’s take a look, shall we?

Tacos
June 10 – Sunday night we made tacos. We grilled some Trader Joe’s steak and I mixed up a quick lime and cabbage salad. This was our dinner after a totally butt-kicking hike, which means all the short-cuts involved (pre-marinated meat, pre-made salsa) were so worth it.

Mushroom and Broccoli Pasta
June 11Mushroom, Broccoli, and Goat Cheese pasta: easy, fast, and full of flavor, which makes it a perfect weeknight dinner.

Lobster ravioli
June 12 – On Tuesday night, I re-made one of the more popular recipes on this blog so I could re-do the photos. So easy and so good. If you’re looking for a quick and simple cream sauce for ravioli (particularly for lobster ravioli), look no further.

Salmon Burgers
June 13 – Salmon burgers are becoming a new favorite in our house. Look the recipe later this week.

Barley salad with bacon, mushrooms, and chard
June 14 – Barley salad with bacon, mushrooms, and swiss chard. I love a good grain salad, and apparently, I’m not alone. Both Bon Appetit and Food and Wine featured grain salads in recent issues. It’s a thing.

BBQ Pork Pizza
June 15 – Friday night pizza. This was a total winner, made with barbecue pulled pork from Burger’s Smokehouse, BBQ sauce, and cheddar cheese on a multigrain crust. I already want to make this again.

Moscow Mule
June 15, again – I didn’t get any pictures on Saturday (whoops), so here is a bonus Friday picture. I had an evening cocktail at Plum Bar, and their Moscow Mule is fantastic. I love these copper mugs.

This promises to be another busy week: I’m heading out of town on Thursday for the American Library Association conference in Anaheim, and then a few days with the family in San Diego. I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll get a few blog posts up for you all before I go. Life has really been getting in the way lately, and it’s all too easy to let the things I love doing (like sharing here) fall by the wayside. It sucks, though, to neglect the good stuff when the less-good stuff starts taking over, so I’m working hard at maintaining a better balance.

So keep an eye out for some tasty salmon burgers and a kick-ass beet salad. And this week, I hope you can find a good balance, too.