As soon as I have a big kitchen again...

I plan to try these recipes out:

Ultimate Turtle Brownies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Apple Spice Cake

All images and recipes are via the blog Dinner & Dessert.

I heart this blog, it has so many great recipes that I can't wait to try out.

Camper Grilling

I have had a hard time staying motivated to cook in our camper. I love to cook, but the tiny prep space and the even smaller area for cleaning dishes have had me dragging me feet.

Since it has gotten cooler (let's be real, it's been downright cold), I have decided to make more of an effort and make use of our grill {mostly because there is less clean-up involved}. I am not a griller. I have almost no experience grilling. I have dabbled with it, but as a grown woman, I figured that I am perfectly capable of honing my grilling skills.

So this week's menu has included grilled steak with baked potatoes {cooked in the microwave} on Monday; grilled salmon and asparagus with brown rice {cooked in the microwave} on Tuesday and tonight I will be grilling hamburgers with blue cheese and sweet potatoes {cooked in the microwave}.

I am actually pretty proud of my grilling so far. Thanks to grilling suggestions that I found online and the Neelys suggestion to let your steak rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, then season with salt and pepper right before throwing on the grill {to keep from drying the steak out}, I made a pretty sweet steak.  

Last night my salmon turned was pretty good too. I found an online recommendation on how long to cook the salmon and I made up a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce and sesame seed oil. I also flavored my brown rice with a hint of sesame seed oil and used EEOO and cracked salt and pepper on my asparagus. This meal turned out to be delicious and incredibly healthy.

I am really starting to enjoy the grill. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of cooking more regularly – we are both getting sick of eating out so often.

Project 52 Date Nights: Three Sisters

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Last Friday we met friends at The Terminal Brewhouse for dinner. Afterward we headed downtown to meet more friends for the Three Sisters Festival – a FREE live bluegrass concert. We saw Sierra Hull, Chatham County Line and Ricky Skaggs play. It was a fun concert with perfect weather, not too overcrowded and we even managed to score FREE parking {after I drove over a curb to get to it}.

Daniel created a sling to carry our chairs with out of webbing that was in the trunk of our car.

Sierra Hull playing. It was too dark to photograph Chatham County Line and Ricky Scaggs.

Daniel and I enjoying the music.

Thumbs up for date night: we had the winning combination of good food, good music and time spent with good friends.

Pumpkins

I'm not going to lie. Every year, I have good intentions of buying a pumpkin to carve. Most years I make the purchase, but I don't actually go through with the carving part. I think we might have carved one pumpkin when we were newly married. 

Last year, I saw this tutorial on how to use a doily and paint to decorate a pumpkin. I tried it out and loved it {I actually used a Sharpie marker instead of paint – less messy}. I also liked that I could leave it out past Halloween. 

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This year, I am really liking the idea of using a pumpkin as a container to hold mums.

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Since I am lazy about the carving part, this type of project would probably go into the pile of good intentions that never happen, but I do like the elegant use of the pattern.

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Did We Miss Fall?

Two weekends ago, when we were in Mboro/Nashville, Daniel asked me if we should get our coats and electric blanket out of storage. At the time it was still quite warm so I told him that I thought that we would be fine. He was smart and grabbed his polartec and on second thought I pulled a sweater out of our one box of winter clothes.

Boy was I wrong about the temps. The last two nights have been rather chilly in our camper. 

Last night we had the foresight to get our small space heater out {I'm glad that we had it stored at the camper} and I didn't feel quite so frozen. It seems like we went from an extra month of summer, to a few days of fall, to winter-like temps {at least at night}. I will be a much happier camper when we get our electric blanket out of storage.

A Weekend of Eating Out

Tonight we ate at Mellow Mushroom in downtown Chattanooga. This was our first time at this location {we have been to the Asheville, Nashville and Charlotte locations}. For atmosphere, the Asheville location is hands down the best, but the food tastes great no matter where you are. We had the House Special and the crust was amazing – it is probably one of my favorite pizza crusts. 

Last night we went to Las Margaritas {Cummings Highway location}. This is our favorite local Mexican restaurant because 1) it is close to Raccoon Mountain; 2) they always have fast service and 3) they serve a mean chimichanga {I base all of my Mexican restaurants on the chimichangas}.

Friday night we met friends at The Terminal Brewhouse – it is on our Top 10 list for restaurants we like in Chattanooga.

52 Books in 52 Weeks, Book 37

Growing up I really believed that I could do anything that I wanted. It was instilled in me that it didn't matter that I was a girl. If I wanted to play basketball, then I should go for it. If I wanted to climb mountains, no problem. If I wanted to become president, nothing should stop me but myself.

The sky was {and is} the limit. As a grownup I have learned that it has not always been this way in our country and in some cases still isn't. For instance Daniel went on an interview last year where he was given the impression that the wives of employees were expected to stay home and take care of the house and family – he didn't accept that particular job. Being able to choose whether or not to stay home is different from being expected to stay home by men you have never met.

Throughout the world, opportunities for women are slim and equality is often a pipe dream.

Breaking Trail, A Climbing Life by Arlene Blum is her account of what it was like wanting to climb mountains in the 60s and 70s. Mountaineering was a boys-only club and generally women were only allowed to "tag along" in order to cook the meals and take care of the men. 

Arlene made great efforts in order to be able to climb the high mountains that she loved. She organized the first all-women attempt {and summit} of Denali. She participated in the first American attempt of Everest {where she was overlooked for the summit bid because she was a woman}. She organized an attempt on Annapurna I – the first attempt by Americans and it was an all-women team. In addition, Arlene made great strides in chemistry, making many discoveries.

As a woman, I am so thankful for women like Arlene, who wouldn't take no for an answer. Who kept working at it until they were accepted, regardless of their gender.

A few excerpts from the book: 

"It is so great to see another woman out here. Sometimes I feel pretty weird, liking to run, do chemistry, climb mountains." I told him about not being invited on the trips to Nepal, Afghanistan, and Denali, all because of my being a woman.

Climbing the ridge was an extreme meditation, thinking about my breathing and moving with focus, concentration and harmony. Where I placed my foot determined whether I lived or died – future plans, past regrets, and the normal clutter of my mind were silenced. I found a peace and distance from the world reminiscent of that I'd found as a child in our cherry tree or vacant lot watching the clouds.

Yousef explained that the women were curious about me and happy I'd come to talk with them. "They see you as a different sort of creature, neither man nor woman. You eat dinner, talk, and climb mountains with the men, but you look like a woman." 

...I felt a bond with the Kashmiri women whose lives were so different from mine. And I realized how fortunate I was to be able to inhabit two worlds – that of men, and also that of women.

The most important thing for the welfare of the world is to improve the status of women. A bird cannot fly on only one wing. – written in 1895 by Swami Vivekananda

"Something to do, someplace to be, someone to love. That is the tripod we all need for a happy life," my Sherpa friend told me. "When one leg is missing, the tripod is not stable."