comment icon 75 more comments Because I’m a big believer in making holidays last all week whenever possible. PS. Hot, steamy, summery wonderful July coming at us in T-1 day. How. This morning I’m writing on-location in a little porch with arched doors and windows, sitting in a chair made of branches (no, like, branches from a tree, curled up into a kind of loopy circular chair formation) = basically I’m in the movie the Hobbit. The cabin that we’re staying at with Bjork’s family for our lil’ vacation this week is just incredibly charming. There’s a huge scenic patio (pictured on Insta yesterday!), not to mention arched everything, the biggest stone fireplace I’ve ever seen, twisty, knobby reclaimed wood for days, one of those zippy, sliding ladders that allows you to crawl up to a secret loft with two tiny beds, a hot tub, secret doors and passageways, and real life nooks and crannies of all sorts around every corner. HOBBIT HOUSE. I’m serious. This cabin trippy is a little different than our usual one with my family because Bjork’s family is a whole five people smaller than our jumbo crew, and there are no youngins to keep the action going which means that ultimate relaxation and slow down time is the name of the game. So right now the agenda for the trip looks something like this: I’m planning to share some pics here on the blog at the end of the week, but if you want to see what’s up before then you can find me sharing pics on Instagram. I’ll try not to get too over-sharey buuut no promises. When you’re staying in a Hobbit house, there is a lot to share. Recipe today: quinoa salad. Quinoa shminoa. Another one! and why are all the food bloggers always making quinoa salads? Are you annoyed? I’m annoyed, and mostly at myself. But annoyance quickly faded to insatiable desire for more quinoa when I took one taste of that quinoa soaked with the lemon herb vinaigrette. Holy summer freshness. That is something I need to be eating more of, all the time, every day. The true reason for this garden veggie salad was that we had a get-together with friends on Saturday and I was in charge of bringing the salad. But when you have to bring a salad to an event where you’re not sure what’s being made as the main, sometimes it’s hard to find something “regular” enough to match with the potential meals. For example, I thought: Greek salad. I love Greek salad. But then what if the kalamata olives don’t jive with the ____ that my friend is making? So salad with fruit! But what if the meal already involves fruit and then everyone de-friends me for overloading them with sweetness? Big decisions, here. Big time. So if I’m being real and true, I’ll tell you that I almost wanted to just bring a salad in a bag with ranch dressing. I mean, colorful garden veggies and regular, simple herby dressing just kind of go with everything. But instead of being a salad in a bag person, I became a food blogger making yet another quinoa salad. And IT WAS YUMMY. When you let the quinoa soak up all that simple dressing, great things happen to your mouth. The beauty about this salad is that you can toss up the quinoa and veggies with the dressing ahead of time, so it gets all extra flavorful and wonderful, but then just bring your greens and toss it all together to preserve the freshness once you get to your friends’ house. Or your potluck. Or wherever you’re going this Fourth of July week that requires you to bring salad. No bags! Make your mouth happy! Three two one go. 4.8 from 10 reviews
