First of all, that last name is just crazy fun to say. Let’s try it together. Mat-ee-oh-nees. Feels nice on the tongue, doesn’t it?

Ian and I had already spent time enjoying Seattle together in 2008 and therefore elected not to commit an extended amount of days there this time through. We were, however, ecstatic for the opportunity to spend the weekend with my awesome roommate from my freshman year of college, Cristin, and her equally cool husband, Mark, who happened to have lived down the hall from us in our dorm. From their place in South Lake Union we had beautiful views of downtown to the south and Queen Anne to the northwest. We walked through the clouds and light rain to the neighboring park and local grocery store, spending the majority of our time relaxing in their cozy apartment, catching up, watching football, playing Settlers of Catan, carving pumpkins, and bridging the gaps from one meal to the next with lovely beverages, both hot and cold.

While Ian might nominate his unanticipated longest road (who really has that much brick and wood?), my vote for most worthwhile accomplishment of the weekend goes easily to the Pumpkin Guts Bread Cristin and I concocted using the innards of our new jack-o-lanterns and this five star recipe. Our 2 medium pumpkins yielded 1 and 2/3 cups of guts, and while the process involved some seed separating, gut pureeing (don’t worry if it’s still a bit stringy), and fraction equating, the result was moist, flavorful, and richly delicious pumpkin bread. My apologies for not having shared before you carved your pumpkin at Halloween!