Whenever we forget to thaw meat for dinner, we usually go to PCC and buy a rotisserie chicken, and then come up with ways to use it up over the next couple days. And since I’ve been stuck in the apartment for a few weeks with a pretty annoying high ankle sprain, I have been using this time to come up with delicious dinner ideas.

I got this bird on sale at Fred Meyer for under five dollars, so I bought some lemons and rosemary sprigs to adorn it with. I’ve never baked a whole chicken before (I grew up grilling everything), so I googled a bunch of recipes until I had a general idea of how to slow roast it. After patting it dry with paper towels, I stuffed it with a halved lemon, rosemary sprig, and some garlic cloves, before rubbing a lemon slice over the surface, coating it with olive oil, and liberally grinding salt and pepper over it. I topped it off with the lemon slices and some garlic cloves.

THIS biscuit is so good. Seriously. I am not an adherent to the gluten-free lifestyle (semolina pasta is life), but about a year ago I went to nearby coffee shop Milstead and Co. for a drink while I read, and realized that I was pretty hungry. I saw it in their baked goods display under the gluten-free options, but it looked really moist and filling.

It definitely was. Not too sweet, but definitely on the dessert side of baked goods.

I didn’t see it anymore in Milstead (my guess is that I was there the only time it hadn’t sold out before noon to all the nearby tech employees), so imagine my surprise and delight when I spotted it in the cookies and baked goods display at PCC. I of course bought it and devoured it before I even made it around the block to my apartment.

A quick Google search of “PCC gluten free marionberry biscuit” showed the recipe above from Macrina Bakery, who supplies many of the baked goods to grocers and coffee shops around Seattle. It asks for things I don’t really keep in my kitchen, but they were pretty easy to buy in the right quantities at PCC in the bulk foods section.

If you know anything about me, you know that I am a foodie. I love going out to eat in Seattle, cooking new recipes that involve a lot of time and effort, and that feeling of surprise when you try a new dish that is so delicious you wish you could order it again.

Enter the restaurants il Corvo and Ask for Luigi.

The former is a lunch-only restaurant in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. Dishes are cheap, and inventive. They serve two new items each day alongside their staple papardelle alla bolognese. Unique dishes with flavors you never knew could work together are essential.

Then there’s Ask for Luigi. Located in a seedy part of Vancouver, BC, Ask for Luigi is so different from il Corvo. Although similar in layout (both are small and cramped with limited seating), AFL could be described by me as Italian comfort food. Simple dishes that seem to have far fewer ingredients. Upon first sight of your dish it’s almost a feeling of confusion after eating regularly at il Corvo. Where are the multitudes of colors? But after your first bite it starts to make sense: this is Italian food you might expect from an Italian grandma who passionately follows the rules of Italian food.

Today I bit the bullet and completed a project I have had in mind since we first moved to our little abode in Fremont last year.

I bought these four beautiful dining chairs from Goodwill a few years ago, and at $6 per chair, I was able to overlook the paint job (I’m a critic of painting wood) and odd choice for the seat cover fabric. It appears that these chairs were someone’s first foray into reupholstering, because the fabric selected, while attractive, is very thin and did not hold up well to being sat on nightly for three years.

We recently bought a new sofa cover for our couch from IKEA, and I really didn’t want to waste this old fabric, which was in great condition (aside from one side that had been lovingly scratched by our cat Mia).

I bought a staple gun from Fred Meyer for $15, cut the leftover sofa fabric around it with an inch or so excess, and stretched it tightly over the seat, which I had removed from the chair.

The project, while lasting only about an hour from start to finish, was a great learning experience for me. I have a terrible habit of jumping into crafts without doing research, measuring for accuracy, or thinking about the most efficient way to complete these projects. I very much fit my M.O. on my first two chairs; I cut what looked like a decent amount of fabric and started stapling away. Once I reinstalled the seat to the chair, I noticed excess fabric hanging down, making my chair look as many of my projects do: attractive in idea, rough in execution.

Once I decided to be more mindful about where I cut the fabric and how I stapled it to the seat, I noticed that I didn’t have to go back later and re-staple visible fabric hanging off the chair.