Trail of Crumbs: ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY…and food fit to celebrate

Ben and I recently had the privilege to visit Seattle for our 1^st anniversary. Of course any and all activities I had planned for this vacation involved food: restaurants I absolutely had to try, bakeries I could practically smell from Texas, the famous Pike’s Market, and most importantly, the Herb Farm. We had to pace ourselves, which mostly meant we would explore the streets of Seattle by foot until we were hungry enough to eat again (Ben noted at the forefront of this food adventure that I had more “must-eats” planned than meals in each day). After a few days of stretching our stomachs, we were conditioned for the main event: our afternoonàeveningànight at the Herb Farm. I can confidently label our meal there as the pinnacle of my eating career: 10 courses lasting over a period of 5 hours with wine pairings that heightened the event to a near spiritual experience.

“What was Paradise?

But a garden,

And orchard of trees,

And herbs, full of pleasure,

And nothing there but delights.”

All in the details: 1^st: Marble onions with paddlefish caviar, onion granola, and chervil. Oil-cured smelt, smelt roe mayonnaise, fried bread and salad burnett. Cured asparagus with Oregon summer truffle, homemade mustard and 3-hour hen yolk. Steamed Alaskan snow crab with buttermilk vinaigrette, salicornia, wild goose-tongue greens, Mexican tarragon and seaweed chips. 2^nd: smoked sockeye cannoli and slow-roasted copper river king, breakfast radish, pickled shallots, horseradish soubise, and spruce tips. 3^rd: smoked Berkshire suckling piglet ham with spring pea agnolotti, manilla clams, carrots, lovage oil, and clam nage. 4^th: local spring chicken with celery root saukraut and pickled celery root in its own roasting jus. 5^th: crushed baby Yukon gold potatoes with warm sorrel sauce, roasted spring boletes, braised cascade morels, and wild watercress. 6^th: grilled glazed Ellensburg lamb strip loin and poached tender, with saffron chickpeas with braised lamb coppa, spicy herb salad, and Olympic peninsula saffron lamb jus. 7^th: housemade fresh goat cheese blintz with apple, beet and thyme flowers. 8^th: warm rhubarb consommé with sancho leaf infusion, glazed rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet, and rhubarb tuille. 9^th: Wenatchee Bing cherry-Oregon olive oil cake, lemon thyme-crème fraiche ice cream, whipped spring honey, and candied hazelnuts. 10^th: coffee, teas, and local chocolates.

During our week in Seattle, I had to run quite a bit as I was still training for a half marathon I was committed to run with Ben’s dads and sisters immediately following our return to Texas. During these hours running alone, with Puget Sound to my left and thick sky-high forest to my right, I had plenty of time to reflect on my previous year of marriage and what I might have learned…

Men can vacuum. And should. It is our job as women to train men to live in and maintain a homestead well and not rob them of the pride afforded by a clean house.

I love Ben more than any issue we may be discussing. I say ‘discussing’ because we really very rarely fight (I think this idea of prioritizing him helps mitigate the severity of any ‘discussion’ before it could escalate to ‘fight’ status).

Since my husband most accurately knows my beliefs and witnesses my actions, he is responsible for holding me accountable. I, personally, want my thoughts and lifestyle to be congruent but sometimes (perhaps in the social sphere) have difficulty maintaining this harmony. It is fair (and necessary) of Ben to call me out; he can be an example of a more-verbal-Holy-Spirit when I let him. Thankfully, Ben is not a nagger…that is more often my role (working on it).

Living with Ben does not equate to loving Ben. Since we are studying the majority of our waking moments, our house is most often in library mode. This time (although spent together) cannot suffice for quality ‘us’ time. We still have to do things where we actually focus more on each other than our books or the friends around us.