Campfire for one.

Lately I’ve been spending almost every night in the backyard with the baby monitor, lighting fires, reading, and listening to the beautiful soundtrack of my neighborhood. Endless DIY construction sounds, children laughing, birds going batshit (seriously, it’s been like mating season all summer), the blend of music playing at nearby houses. It’s a lovely way to spend an evening alone.

The first fire of the season was made entirely out of old dried-out pinecones, and it was pretty magnificent. Huge flames, much much hotter than a regular wood fire. Also: I need to get my hands on some sage to burn to help keep bugs away. Neat old trick, that.
Stacker marshmallows are the best for roasting. I’m not at all a fan of smores, but roasted marshmallows are a delicacy. They’re pictured here not with the book I was reading, but with the book I’ve been using to get the fire going. (Seriously. That book sucks.)

And here is the absolutely irrefutably right* way to roast a marshmallow: Stick it right in the flames, but not in the direction the smoke is blowing. You want all flame and no smoke. Hold it still until it starts to bubble, rotate and repeat. Rotate again, so that each corner catches fire. Blow each fire out after letting it burn for 3 seconds. Cool for 20 seconds, devour. Crispy outside, melty inside, very minimal time commitment. Perfection.

I’m pretty obsessed with the remains of unstirred fires. These pinecone ashes held their shape, but the second you touched them they just disintegrated. It was kind of incredible.

Also: Remember fire safety. Maybe also remember to remind me about fire safety.

*Sarcasm. Your preferred method for roasting is just as legitimate as mine.

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Today’s incredible giveaway on Sometimes Sweet is this cute pair of orange flats! Check it out.

nomnomnom.

My dinner tonight is a religious experience. I love you, watermelon. I love your seedlessness and your lycopene.

Also, the corn muffins from Smiths are INCREDIBLE.

Pete’s Diner: Just go there.

Awesome things about Pete’s Diner:

• The menus are great for playing peek-a-boo with, obviously.
• Every single thing I have ever eaten there has been absolutely delicious. Seriously. Best diner food ever.
• The coffee is amazing. No one I’ve talked to can tell exactly why it is so amazing, but the fact remains.
• The waitress, Julie, is wonderful.
• The dish I’d recommend the most: veggie omelet with a pancake instead of toast. It’s heaven.
• It’s in downtown Provo, right around where a handful of my friends live.
• My grandpa would have loved it there.
• It resides on a block that Nuskin (one of the demon corporate bastards from hell that are homogenizing downtown Provo) recently bought for expansion, but I’m pretty sure Pete’s held out. So Nuskin will just have to build around them.

Pete’s is located at 190 W 100 S in Provo, and it’s open from 7 to 7 Monday-Saturday. They only take cash (which I find really endearing), so come prepared. And seriously. Just go there.

COOKIEWATCH 2011

So far this year I have eaten 31 cookies.

When you think about that as 1.45 cookies per hour, that doesn’t sound so silly.

Maybe 2011 should be the year I keep track of how many cookies I eat. So then at the end of the year, instead of saying stupid things like I did this year (a.k.a. “This year I kept my infant alive and happy” or “This year I added hundreds of articles to my portfolio” or “This year I was financially responsible”) I could say, “This year I ate X cookies.”

Of course, if I continue at my current rate I will have eaten 5,657.5 cookies. That would make me preeeeeeetty special, right?

(The cookie above, like all cookies I’ve eaten this year, is a homemade oatmeal/raisin. The recipe is of mysterious origin, or I’d link you to it.)

Cheap sad tasty dinner.

Cheap beans and rice

• 1T olive oil
• 1 can pinto (or black) beans
• 1 bag Bird’s Eye Steamfresh “Long grain white rice with mixed vegetables” – this is like 80 cents at Walmart, in the frozen vegetables aisle. It comes in a blue bag.
• Nutritional yeast to taste
• Celery salt to taste
• Seasoned salt to taste
• Whatever seasonings you like and have on hand

Pop the rice in the microwave for 4 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Drain and rinse the beans, then pour onto a clean dishcloth to dry off a little. Put the beans in the skillet.

When the rice is done, put it in the skillet with the beans. Add spices, and stir occasionally for like 3 minutes. Makes 2 big servings. I like my beans kind of dry – if you want it more moist add more olive oil after about a minute of cooking.