Ewww. It’s dark and gray and raining. I knew the sunny days in the high 60’s were too good to be true, sigh…. The good news is it isn’t too cold, but I am sure not planning to go out and go for a walk or anything.

It is however a great day for going to Cinderella, which came out yesterday and now we have to go. Having two little girls, they have obviously been looking forward to this moment for months, so we are making a family date out of it- I will let you guys know how it is for anyone else thinking they wanted to take their kids.

Last night we went to a dinner party at our friend John and Annie’s house. They are some of our major gourmande friends and I love going to their house. John always comes up with the most fantastic dishes. We had these soy glazed shishito peppers last night and then freshly caught tuna that was seared with a sesame crust, bok choy and sesame rice- it was so good. And they were so sweet and totally accommodated my allergies- in fact the whole meal was gluten, dairy and egg free and they even bought almond milk ice cream for dessert. The cool part was that none of the other guests even noticed. I think it’s not so hard to eat this way when everything tastes so good! But now I am completely motivated to go buy some shishito peppers. I had them in Chicago last weekend too and I am obsessed.

Hey guys- for those of you who are into cold press juice, what is your favorite fresh juice cleanse? If any of you are Seattleites, what is your favorite juice place in Seattle? I am going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks and while I am working hard to shed the last half of my cookbook-baby weight before I go, I think I am going to have to cap it off with a juice cleanse. I have my own 3 day juice cleanse that I make homemade, but I am just too busy to deal. I want to find one that is awesome. Are there any local or ship-in juice cleanses that you have had great experiences with?

So If I thought I was ambitious a few years ago trying to start a little vegetable garden, I was wrong. We did do one little box and a few fruit trees, but then everything was neglected three summers in a row. One, I was writing my first book, the next Summer I was on book tour and last Summer we were in Greece. But I’m in it for real this year. We seriously just pulled out all of the plants on the whole lower part of our yard and the entire thing is going to be a massive fruit and vegetable garden. Here is the before.

I know it’s hard to see and it’s dark and gloomy, but I will be sure to keep you updated on the progress. We just bought a few fruit trees, including persimmon, apricot and apple column trees and raspberry and blueberry bushes. We transplanted all of our old roses and many of our other plants to other areas. I am also going to try some vertical gardening too and have been trying to find all kinds of ideas to add to my pinterest garden board. Will you share your favorite things to plant in your garden?

OK. I am going to get to my sluggy day of watching movies and gardening and undoubtedly tonight Pete and I will just settle in for another hot Saturday Night watching Real Stories of the ER with a bottle wine. I’m not kidding.

And here are some of my favorite bites from around the web this week!

Pumpkin stuffed with Chorizo Rice and Goat Cheese. I think this is the most genius thing I have seen in a while. Truly.

Irish Apple Beer Cake, oh goodness- I am inspired to recreate this GF. The apples just get me.

Matcha Oreos because they are so cute.

Multi-grain Nut Seed Bread (gluten-free and vegan) I want this and top it with smashed avocado and smoked salmon.

Triple Chocolate Buckwheat Cookies (Gluten Free) uh, yum.

Chipotle Salmon Tacos would get shoveled in by the half dozen around here.