Amy Artisan

Ever since I’ve lived in Chicago, I’ve always heard great things about Door County, WI and had never trekked northward to visit. My current work assignment has me “roughly” in the vicinity…since driving northward on August 1st, I had over 200 hours in the office with only 2 days “off” by the time I left work on Friday afternoon. To say that I was ready for a bit of a break was a mild understatement.

With an iced coffee in hand and a full tank of gas in the rental, on Saturday morning I typed “Sister Bay, WI” in the navigation on my phone & began a delightful day trip.

After stopping at the visitor’s center on the edge of Sturgeon Bay, my passenger seat was filled with maps & brochures and I continued northward through charming towns and beautiful scenery. My first stop was Tannenbaum – a favorite tune is “We need a little Christmas” and indeed this shop fit the bill. I might have walked out with the start of a new nativity for my collection and some other holiday treats for loved ones.

For a late lunch, I sat at the counter at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the Swedish pancakes and meatballs with eggs. The goats on the roof were in prime locations for capturing “touristy” pictures.

After lunch, I enjoyed the views and breezes of Sister Bay – a shaded park bench was the perfect spot to sit and read and knit for a bit and continue decompressing from work.

While I could have easily stayed on that bench for the rest of the day there were other things that I wanted to do, so I got back in the car and headed south.

As I approached Fish Creek, I stopped at a local yarn shop, Red Sock Yarns and added a skein to my stash and some cute Door County stitch markers.

In Fish Creek, I stopped for a mid afternoon sweet treat at Not Licked Yet for frozen custard – the Bee’s Knees Sundae hit the spot: vanilla custard with Door County honey & cinnamon sugared almonds – delicious!

I turned “into” the peninsula and sought out Stones Throw Winery for a lovely tasting and picked up a few bottles for my wine rack at home.

I continued across to the other side of the peninsula – by the time I got to the Cana Island Lighthouse there wasn’t enough time left to tour before it closed for the day – another time.

It was a perfect day – the weather was in the mid 70s, the sun was beautiful, the skies a gorgeous blue – and every so often the tips of trees had been touched with the first signs of fall color. (head shaking at the thought of that…)

I drove clear to the northwest end of the peninsula – when I saw the ferry to the nearby island I knew it was time to turn around and bring my adventure to an end. An iced honey latte from a cute coffee shop was the right refreshment for the trek back down and around the bay and towards my “pseudo casa” at the hotel.

At the end of the day, I had driven more than 320 miles and achieved some much needed “work decompression” in the process. Between the photos, the memories, the maps and the brochures I have plenty of options for planning another escape – hopefully for a longer stay…

All-in-all, a delightful day in Door County!

Caprese salad has long been a favorite of mine – as a starter to a meal or sometimes as the main part of a meal. It captures summertime on a plate. Five years ago, it was an ultimate summer meal as Rebecca & I enjoyed it on a Saturday afternoon on Capri.

Since eating out for 3 meals a day each week when I’m on assignment up north can get very old (especially in a smaller town with limited options), I try to pack a few meals to take with me each week. In the winter months, soups were a frequent part of my cooler bag. Now that it’s summertime the bag is filled with salads. In addition to my regular “green salad fixin’s” the cooler bag this week will include a taste of Capri with a bit more substance: Quinoa Caprese with Basil Vinaigrette.

As I grab bites of this salad for lunch this week amidst the meetings & document review that fills my work week, I will fondly recall favorite moments from Italy.

Quinoa Caprese with Basil Vinaigrette

1 cup dried quinoa

1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped

3/4 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped

6-10 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Basil Vinaigrette (1 small shallot, chopped; 1 c. loosely packed basil leaves , torn; 2T balsamic vinegar; 1T water; 2 cranks fresh ground pepper; 2 cranks ground sea salt; 6T extra virgin olive oil)

Salt & Pepper to taste, fresh ground

1. Cook the quinoa & let cool.
2. Prepare the Basil Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients in the blender & blend until smooth.
3. Assemble the salad: Combine the quinoa & vinaigrette – mix thoroughly. Add tomatoes, mozzarella & basil – toss until well mixed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Enjoy immediately or chill until serving.

For the last several years, June has meant a weekend trip to Michigan with my sister. This year the tradition continued, although we were along the shore of a different great lake. In March, Rebecca was enthralled by the daily locale picture on the Bing homepage…Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. Since my current work assignment has me in northern Wisconsin, on the border with the UP of Michigan, we decided to plan our sister’s weekend around this picture. After a bit of online research, we booked into a charming motel for 4 days in June…Rebecca booked a flight to Appleton, WI and before we knew it, we were on vacation.

In short, it was a great time! 4 days…900+ miles driven…2 scenic boat cruises…hundreds of photos taken…countless cups of Cherry Roast coffee…many fun memories! Stay tuned for our adventures in shipwrecks, sculptures, shorelines, waterfalls and more!

(P.S. Work is beyond all consuming these days…hence the blog silence…I’ll be doing some short blogs posts in the coming days to revisit my vacation…)

Once again, I am in a cycle of baby knits for friends.  In early February I cast on this project anticipating that it would be for a May baby; however, the recipient ended up being another cutie – baby Grady, a sweetheart of a little guy who made his debut on Valentine’s Day. In March I had the opportunity to meet baby Grady as I dropped off a gift bag and some treats for his Mom & Dad. My Sunday afternoon was delightful as Grady snuggled onto my shoulder and snoozed as I listened to his parents share the story of how he came to join their family. I was definitely smitten with this little cutie and have offered to babysit whenever they need.

What a treat to check email this week and see pictures of Grady snug in his kicking sack – I never tire of receiving pictures of babes in/on the hand knits that I’ve made for them!

This was a great project to knit & I definitely plan for more of these bags to come off my needles this year – what a fun way to use sock yarn. The details are on Ravelry.

(By the way – lovin’ the new “share” links on Ravelry that don’t require signing up to access.)

No matter how March arrives, it also signals that it is time for a visit to my 2 favorite little girls in Texas. This year was my fifth (!) winter escape and it was definitely needed. The days were filled with so many fun times both with the girls & their Mom, a dear friend.

Our Friday outing to the Dallas Arboretum was a beautiful day -

…seeing the blooms just made my heart sing!!

After beautiful weather to enjoy the blooms, the rest of the weekend tended towards lionish -

rain & cold on Saturday provided for another M’Amy, Miss Butterfly & Miss Doodlebug craft time…

…we made & painted stepping stones for their garden.

And the weekend was topped off by waking up to several inches of snow on Sunday morning.

No matter the weather, this winter respite is an annual trip I eagerly look forward to – my time with the girls was the perfect recharge from some rather intense weeks at work & helped to remind me of the balance that is so important in life.