Wildflowers, Pine Nuts and Dietary Restrictions

Spring flowers east of the Cascades in Washington State; "He'll have the mac and cheese"; What's up with the pine nuts

Flowers growing in Ellensburg, WA

Over the Mountains for sunshine and wildflowers

This past weekend I took a first-ever Mom-Daughter hiking trip with my daughter across the Cascade Mountains. We landed in Ellensburg, which is a relatively short 2 hours’ drive from Seattle. I didn’t know what kind of wildflowers we’d find, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that we found quite a few! I counted 14 from the photos I took over two days. Bonus, all the hiking was great exercise for the Ride the Hurricane bike ride I’m training for in August.

We know what we like

But sometimes it’s hard to choose a place to eat when you’re not eating alone.

My son is pescatarian. One day he was watching video about the history of food with his Dad, and there was a hunter that killed an animal. Something switched in my son’s brain and he just said I’m done with eating animals. He was completely vegetarian for about 2 months, and then on his own decided to eat fish again. But even with that wider window, sometimes options are limited. Our family was invited to have Texas BBQ at Terry Black’s a week ago, and while all of us were drooling the little guy asked what he could have. Mac and cheese with some green beans was his option.

If you feel like you have these kinds of issues with dietary restrictions, check out Rosehip Studio for news on how to deal with these issues!

I also created a very quick Food Survey - I’d love your input if you’re passionate about letting others know what you can and can’t eat.

What’s up Pine Nut?

Along with all the other supply chain issues going on, I’ve noticed that I can’t get pine nuts at Trader Joe’s or Costco anymore. Oh woe! I know you can make pesto with other kinds of nuts and herbs (almond and thyme? walnut and pea?) but in my hands the traditional basil-pine nut pesto is best. Fresh pesto is my favorite condiment, so it’s hard to see pine nuts selling for $30/lb on Amazon. I’ll keep looking though! It’s not like I can just plant a pine tree in my garden to fulfill our pine nut needs. At least I’m not addicted to white truffles.