May 1st – 8th photos

Now for this most recent week… settling into the new house, starting to unpack, and starting to get back into normal life routines…

1st + 2nd – We’re still excited to have our own washer+dryer, and watching the clothes in the front loader is fun!  hehe we’re silly.  Finally got back into a knitting project – that hat I was mentioning a couple posts ago:

3rd – Spent some time unpacking boxes of books and starting to get the library set up!

4th + 5th – We had a weird/stupid day, with Ikea having discontinued the items we needed, terrible weather, and other frustrating and stressful things, so we tried to end the day on a good note with our buddies, eating happy hour veggie burgers at Kennedy School and playing cards.  Fun times!  Then I found the desk I had wanted from Ikea on Craigslist, so the next day we drove out to Gresham to pick it up and stopped at a couple of thrift stores in the area while we were out there.  The insanely bright rainbow was spotted outside a Goodwill:

6th – In order to get the huge corner desk into Pete’s Prius, we had to take it almost completely apart, so the next day I had to put it all back together again – not easy!  But I did it!

7th – Had fun with a photoshoot in our front yard!  This is my favorite plant we have – our Satomi Dogwood tree:

8th – I finally tried making quinoa for the first time the night before (I’d eaten it before, but not made it myself), and had tons of leftovers, which I played with for lunch and dinner.  I’m totally in love with quinoa!  It cooks exactly like rice (my rice cooker makes it so easy and good!) and I can use it exactly how I use rice, but it’s way healthier!  This is my quinoa, 3 bean, and grilled mushroom quesadilla, photographed before piling a ton of cheese on top and a second whole wheat tortilla… who says vegetarians don’t get enough protein?!

In case you don’t know about quinoa, here is an excerpt from wikipedia:

In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians, vegans and athletes. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.

Cool!