It occurred to me this morning that my favorite meals from last year were not expensive, elaborate restaurant outings, nor painstakingly prepared home made affairs. The two meals I recall most vividly and fondly were simple, featuring just a few ingredients and almost no prep time.
In the spring, we bought a crusty loaf of bread from Ken’s Artisan Bakery in Portland. We paired it with a supermarket haul of a soft, stinky cheese and a thinly sliced prosciutto, all wrapped up to-go in brown deli paper. We hit the road toward Troutdale, along the Columbia River Gorge, in search of the great Multnomah Falls.
After hiking a loop, we unpacked our parcel of meat and cheese, and satiated the appetite born of several miles effort with the shush roar of 620 feet of falls as a back drop.
Hear what I mean by shush roar. This is nearby Wahkeena Falls, part of our hiking loop:
Wahkeena Falls from Sara McGuyer on Vimeo.
Later in the fall, we planned a day hike to get away and celebrate our seven year wedding anniversary. With stories swirling in my head of Turkey Run feeling like a wholly other place than flat, corn-fed Indiana, we set out for our first visit to the state park. The rock formations in browns and greens, with trees growing out of impossible, unexpected places did not disappoint.
We took our picnic of cheese and crackers with Perrier at water’s edge, laid back on a cool, flat rock in the shade.
This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox
Prompt: “Play Date. You know the story about all work and no play… How did you play with others this year? Let your hair down and share how you escaped for an hour, a day, or more.”