After several weeks of winter, Baltimore got a brief glimpse of spring this weekend. It's possible that I love winter more than anyone you'll ever meet. I run faster in winter, I'm happier in winter (nothing makes me fussy like being hot and having sweat running down my face), and I truly love being cold. I lived in my last apartment for almost 3 years and never once turned on the heat. My new apartment is so warm without heat that Sheppie and I actually have to open a window at night to get the apartment to what we consider an appropriate sleeping temperature as we both enjoy a nip in the air and snuggling under blankets. Have I mentioned that Aussie is basically me in dog form?
In writing about my love for cold, I was instantly reminded of one of the first times sister came sleep over at my first DC apartment. Unlike in my last home, my first DC casa only had a window unit air conditioner. Because it was a studio apartment, there also weren't a lot of options when placing furniture. As a result, the bed was placed in such a way that the window unit blew directly onto the bed. Delightful for people that like to be cold when they sleep, hell for poor sister. I shouldn't laugh, but this is one of my all time favorite pictures and I feel like it depicts so well how cold I like to keep a home:
Yes, she's created a fort out of the pillows to help block the air conditioner. In hindsight, I should have traded sides with her.
I said all that to say, despite my affinity for winter, I truly enjoyed the warm weather this weekend. I spent Sunday doing so many of my favorite things. If I'd squeezed in time to paint it would've been perfection.
Following a delicious brunch at a new neighborhood joint (whereby I had bacon for the first time in many years and realized how much I'd missed it), I finally got Aussie to check out the park in our new hood. I'd tried to get her to go once before when it was semi-nice out and there wasn't snow on the ground, but alas, strong-willed to the end, she got to the base of the park (it's on a hill) and decided she was done with adventure for the day (mind you the base of said park literally touches the parking lot of my apartment building, so it's not like I made her hike for days to get to it). Today I had the magic ingredient (other people in our midst). She's such a ham and loves the attention she gets when friends come over, so she wasn't about to give that up for the sake of not venturing into uncharted territory. And what do you know, she had a grand time! We've been fortunate enough to live by two huge parks in both of our city apartments together and I'm hopeful that our new park will provide the same solitude from city life that the last one did.
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Living puppy life. She's secretly excited to spend more days here once it gets permanently warm.
After shooting the breeze at the park and parting ways with friends, I found myself desiring to cook an inventive Sunday dinner. One of my favorite things about having a car again is being able to run to the grocery store and pick up something for dinner without it being a huge production. Plus, I can take Aussie with me on my journey. She loves car time almost as much as park time, so she's always up for accompanying me on the ride.
For some reason, I never buy fresh fish from the seafood counter. It's not something I really gravitate towards, but for the life of me I don't know why. I love seafood, it's what prevented me from becoming a full on vegetarian for all these years, and I'm a good enough cook that I could easily make some divine dishes with it. But alas, I haven't. As with so many things this year, I decided to change that on Sunday. I picked out a piece of fresh salmon and decided I was going to make magic in the kitchen. And I did....plus if points were being given out for this dish, I would've gotten bonus ones for using one of my two FOTYs as one of the focal points. It's possible I watch too many cooking shows.
I ended up enjoying this little impromptu meal so much that I think Sunday dinners may become a new staple around the casa. Stay turned. For now, a 30 minute meal Rachel Ray would be proud of.
Salmon with Roasted Sweet Potato, Asparagus, and Leeks
Ingredients
- Salmon
- 1 lemon, half sliced and juice from remaining half
- Asparagus, rinsed and stems trimmed
- 1 large leek, washed and sliced in half longways
- 1 medium sweet potato
- Fresh thyme
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
* I drew inspiration from all over for this recipe, so there aren't clear measurements yet again. Instead, I'm going to tell you basically what I did and then send you off to interpret in a way that works for you. Good luck, you can do it!
1. Rinse salmon, place in baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Drizzle lemon juice from half a lemon and top with lemon slices before baking.
2. Insert salmon dish into cold over and turn temperature to 400F. Bake for 25 minutes. Almost every recipe I looked up swore by this method for the most tender salmon results. They did not lie.
3. Whilst salmon is baking, peal and slice sweet potato, leeks, and asparagus. Place sweet potato and asparagus into large bowl and lightly toss with olive oil. Lay out, single layer, onto baking sheet. Add sliced leeks to the fun (and lightly drizzle with olive oil). Sprinkle all with salt and pepper before baking.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until leaks are slightly brown and others are at desired level of tenderness.
5. Plate. Eat. Enjoy.
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