• While I actually enjoy doing laundry, there’s nothing more offensive to me than having to put said laundry away. Which means there’s currently one basket of laundry in my closet and two on my bedroom floor waiting to be put away.
• I’m currently obsessed with table linens. I ran into Kitchen Kaboodle on Sunday to pick up a rectangular tart pan (for this recipe) where they had lovely fall tables set with darling runners and wee ceramic turkeys and cornucopias. I dug through all their table runners and could not find a single one over 72 inches. Have we discussed my table before? It’s 96 inches long. It’s hard to find a runner for it. And, Pottery Barn, who sold me the table, refuses to sell me a runner long enough. (Well, they did sell me one, but it has reindeer on it). Tell me this, internet…do you have a super gigantic table? If so, where do you buy your table runners? My Sandra Lee Inspired Thanksgiving Tablescape depends on YOU.
• A couple of weeks ago, we had dinner with some friends of ours at Simpatica. You might recall they catered our wedding. While they weren’t serving the same braised short ribs we ate on our wedding night (OMG, so delicious), we did have some pretty fabulous food. You can see what we ate here, here, here and here. Also, if you’re thinking of that one Oatmeal post, please know that I will never, ever stop taking photos of my food. So there.
• Now that I am married, I decided that it’s high time that I start decorating for the seasons. So, I made this table display outside the front door of my purple house (which needs a good pressure washing badly).  Kind of cute, right? WELL…all the aphids in the neighborhood think it’s just darling. And, delicious. Which is why I found myself mixing up a batch of APHID DEATH last night.  Home ownership has done strange things to me. First, I bought AND READ an entire book on composting and now this.
• I also put this on my mantle, which so far has attracted zero vermin.
• Speaking of being married…the name change is official. I ended up dropping my middle name and using my maiden name in it’s place. Which is weird. I have a new social security card, new drivers license and and waiting patiently for my new passport (NOT REALLY, THE PHOTO IS TERRIBLE). Also, I introduced myself at a meeting a couple of time last week as Rhiannon NewLastName. Creepers.
• Guess what today is? It’s our Two Monthiversary! What are we doing? I’m pretty sure nothing. Except maybe eating Chicken Vesuvio, which I will prepare with love.
• I still need to write about the last stop of our honeymoon – Rome. Do you all even care about Rome?
• Also, I fully intend on continuing my house tour. And, showing you my new yard (which is really not so new anymore). But, the house will have to wait until I hire a house cleaner and the yard will have to wait until it stops raining. (so, you’ll see it in March, probably)
• Since it’s almost Halloween, I’ll end with something very, very spooky. I HAVE AGREED TO HOST THANKSGIVING AT MY HOUSE. WE ARE HAVING 16 PEOPLE. WHAT WAS I THINKING?

You might notice a theme in our travels. We’re totally the couple without a plan. Most of the time, this ends up working out well for us. Sometimes it doesn’t. But, whether we have a plan or not, we always have fun.

Ajaccio, Corsica

When we woke up in Corsica, this was the view from our stateroom. We really had no clue what we wanted to do that day and we hadn’t booked a shore excursion, so we basically got off the boat and wandered around.

We wandered until we found Napoleon’s house, which we toured and then bought a Napoleon coloring book for my nephew (which is pretty much the best coloring book ever).

Then we wandered some more and found a lovely little market.

And, met one of Gelsey’s Corsican relatives. They have so much in common. At this point we were starving and were having trouble being acknowledged at a cafe (my one million years of French really paid off here) so back on the boat we went for totally unauthentic crepes.

Naples, Italy

Again, we had no plan for Naples. Which was very, very unfortunate for us as we arrived there on a Sunday. Earlier, we had decided that we might like to go to Pompeii, but doing so would have required planning and we were flying by the seat of our pants this trip.

So, we ate pizza. Two of them, to be exact. And, then we walked. And, walked. And, walked. Nothing was open. And, it was hot. So, back to the boat we went.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

In Dubrovnik, we had a plan. Hooray! We booked a sea kayaking shore excursion weeks before our cruise. As you know, I am quite the accomplished kayaker. Kayaking in Oregon is serene, relaxing and wonderful. Kayaking in Croatia is that times one million.

We paddled out to this gorgeous little cove where Bill was able to snorkel and I was able to watch him. And, hold his wedding band. I was amazed at how calm and clear the water was. I have to admit, going “sea kayaking” scared me a bit. I like to stay in shallow bodies of water. Preferably ones without boats. After the kayak trip, we went back to the boat to change, then hopped on a shuttle back into town where our bus driver almost got into fisticuffs with another motorist. Seriously. They both got out of their vehicles. I was too scared to take photos of the ordeal, but there was much yelling and arms waving and honking from other drivers. After all of that excitement, we stopped in for lunch and a beer at Nautika.

After lunch, we walked through Dubrovnik’s old town, which is seriously cute. Bill bought a tie (did you know the necktie originated in Croatia?) and I bought a stripey shirt (because everyone was wearing stripey shirts and  I need to be like everyone). Sadly, our ship was scheduled to leave at 4, so we didn’t get to explore as much as we would have liked, but we definitely decided a longer vacation to Croatia is in order in the near future.

More photos from Ajaccio, Naples and Dubrovnik.

First things first…I have a very, very lovely new blog design! Please click over from your reader to check it out! HUGE THANK YOU to Joy from How Joyful for making it so pretty! I told her I wanted my blog to look like a Marimekko print and she did just that).

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Since saying “Good Riddance!” to my orange Rachael Ray cookware and, “Hello, Lover!” to my beautiful All Clad cookware, I have a renewed interest in cooking. I could never take myself seriously with bright orange non-stick cookware.  Also, it’s amazing how much free time you have when you’re not obsessing over seating arrangements and table decor.

Here’s what I’ve made the past couple of weeks:

Tom Kha Gai from Sunset Magazine – This recipe is fabulous. I made a bit of jasmine rice to go with and it was a perfect (and healthy) dinner. I highly recommend this soup if you feel a bit of a cold coming on.

Herbes de Provence Roasted Chicken – Herbes de Provence has long been one of my favorite things to cook with. This chicken was excellent. I didn’t do the best job of buttering up the chicken so the skin could have been a bit crispier, but it was delicious nevertheless.

Martha Stewart’s Garlic and Rosemary Potato Puree – This recipe is from Martha Stewart’s Cooking School which is one of the most used cookbooks in this house. The recipe says you can either rice the potatoes or put them through a food mill. I riced them and wished I had opted for the food mill. Also, I used dried rosemary as we removed the rosemary bush from our hard because it was about to eat the house. Next time, I’ll use fresh.

Cheddar Tomato Fondue – I’ve had a giant wheel of extra-sharp white Tillamook cheddar in my fridge for a while and I’ve been wondering what to do with it. I ran across this recipe while looking for fun stuff to make for a pre-Greek Festival get together at our house. I have no idea if anyone else at the party even ate any of this, but I loved it. We served tiny par-boiled potatoes, sliced chorizo and bread with it.

Cream of Lentil Soup with Chorizo Croutes – I’m newly obsessed with the Cooking Channel. It reminds me of how the Food Network was before they hired Guy Fieri and the Neelys. This recipe comes from a show called French Food at Home. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you this is the best lentil soup ever. We’re big fans of puy lentils and we will be making this soup again. If you make this, be sure to slice your chorizo extra, extra thin so it gets crispy enough. Also, we buy teeny-tiny chorizo links at World Market. (photo here)

Quiche Lorraine – I’ve been CRAVING quiche as of late. My middle name is Lorraine and I wanted to find a Quiche Lorraine Recipe, tweak it and then call it Quiche Rhiannon Lorraine. (I AM SO CLEVER). I got carried away with my lentil soup and didn’t add the extra ingredients that I picked up, but NEXT TIME. This was good. Not great. We bought the bacon at our neighborhood butcher (Laurelhurst Market) which was seriously, the best part of the quiche. I bought refrigerated pie crust and I’m not proud of that. Next time, I’ll try and make my own.

Now…you tell me what you’ve been cooking!