I was born for the woods

We took another weekend trip to the cabin.

I just can't get enough of that place. It's in my blood. For awhile, growing up, I dreaded going there because I wanted to spend time with my friends. Now I understand why Mom and Dad would have gone every weekend if they could have.

There's something so peaceful about being in the woods. When you look out the windows, all you see are trees.  And I don't mean the windows on that one side of the house that doesn't face the street. Every window has trees.

It's so refreshing to spend the morning taking a walk in the woods. Even if it is more like alternating between sliding on ice and knee deep snow stomping.

My favorite part of hiking is the crazy stuff, like climbing a really steep cliff-like mountain and crossing creeks on fallen trees. Mom went around...she's not so big on creek crossings.

Being there even makes me quit taking pictures of food. The gorgeous views of nature are too distracting! We did have some yummy treats including:

• leftover cake balls from Valentine's Day (they might be a week old but they still taste good!)
• Sloppy Josephines (I've been looking for a good vegetarian sloppy joe recipe. This is it. Thanks Mama Pea!)
• Roasted sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts
• Mom's whole wheat blueberry pancakes (a cabin staple)
• Samoa Blondies (I used less butter than the recipe called for and still had to use 6 paper towels to blot out the excess. Yikes! Next time I'm trusting my instincts and using about 3 T. That should be plenty. There will be a next time, though, because the coconut chocolate flavor was super tasty!)
• Homemade pizzas! One with BBQ sauce mixed with leftover sloppy josephines, onions & mushrooms. The other with roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, spring onions, & brussel sprouts. 
• Pumpkin Muffin Buckwheat Bake from Ashley. I love her recipes using yummy grains. 
• Gourmet raviolis from Vermont

 

Poor Dad thinks I'm crazy, trying all these new recipes! He's always a little skeptical when Mom and I get in the kitchen together. :-)

Of course, having spent an afternoon on a wine tasting tour helped make the weekend even better!  We went to Eagle Rock Winery, Winterland Winery, Laddsburg Winery, and Birdsong Winery - all Endless Mountain wineries. Two weekends of wine tours in a row! For the record, this is unusual for us. Unusual but fun!

There's a case in the basement waiting for girl time. :-)