Heading into some busy times but there is still time to watch some travel and our continuing re-watching of Somebody Feed Phil.

Saturday, Tricia made one of my favorites, I do have a lot of favorites, but hey! food is important. Baked shrimp and mashed cauliflower. This is the preparation that even changed our friend Shirley’s view about this delightful cruciferous vegetable. She used to say “I just don’t get cauliflower.” Well she does now, so give it a try – I am sure Tricia would send you a recipe if you ask. BTW on Tricia’s site Shirley is the Paris Corespondent, watch for here amusing posts.

Of course the most important day of the week was my birthday, Tuesday, August 18 – a lot of trips around the sun. The best part of the day was Alexis coming to spend the day with me/us. Tricia made a tomato tart for lunch then we went to one of the true hidden gems of Portland, the Lan Su Chinese Garden. We wandered the gardens and had tea with some baked delights.

After Alexis headed home we went to South Park Seafood for “Bubbles and Bi-valves. We followed that with salmon tartare. It was the end to a perfect birthday. Almost makes me want to get older.

Today we are off on another adventure, but you will have to wait for next week to tell you about it. I hope your August is going well, and that you are sketching a bit. At the moment I am playing with gouache, wanting something more like oils but easy to travel with, so we shall see.

Thank you for following, and keep capturing your moments in a sketchpad.