We leave for Seattle tomorrow! I am so excited to go there- in my head it’s a haven for beer, coffee, and food. The GS is a little disappointed that it looks like it’s going to rain the whole time. Clearly he doesn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy.

We’re going to be there for 4 days and, naturally, I have us scheduled about to the 5 minute mark. Reservations, breweries, the Space Needle, a tour of a glass museum, Pike Place Market. I can.not.wait.

Apologizing in advance for the excess of Seattle photos to come- I just got the iPhone 7 Plus and it has an amazing camera on it so I will be an obnoxious tourist, through and through.

Then on Wednesday we fly up to Calgary- the GS is the best man in a wedding at the Chateau Lake Louise. If you think that sounds really fancy, you’re right. It is.

Guess who still doesn’t have shoes for the wedding? This girl.

Itinerary there (besides the wedding) is hopefully going to include skiing, snowshoeing, dog sledding, sleigh rides, and some kind of ice castle. Again, more and more pictures.

To make up for my absence, I’m leaving you with hands down one of my favorite things I’ve made this year. It’s so simple that I didn’t originally intend to blog it, but then they came out so good I had to do it.

Leek and Feta Burgers

makes 4 burgers

1 lb ground chuck (I used 80/20)

1 medium leek, chopped and rinsed

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup feta cheese

1 container plain Greek yogurt

1 cucumber, seeds removed and chopped

arugula

1 lemon

olive oil, salt & pepper

one loaf of ciabatta bread

First slice the leek thinly and soak it in cold water to remove all the grit/sand. Then I chopped them up even finer using that Pampered Chef hand chopper that I forgot I had (thanks, Mom!). Saute in olive oil with 2-3 cloves minced garlic and seasoned with salt and pepper until soft- about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. You don’t want to mix the hot leeks with the meat because it will start to cook the meat and gross.

Combine the cooled leeks and about 1/2 cup feta with the ground chuck until just combined- don’t overwork the meat. Form into burgers and refrigerate.

Remove the seeds from the cucumber and dice it up. Mix with the Greek yogurt. I intended to add some dill here to make it a true tzatziki sauce, but my grocery store didn’t have any. I think it was a good thing, though, because sometimes the dill flavor can overpower everything else. Add a little bit of lemon juice and lemon zest, and set aside.

Lightly dress the arugula with the rest of the lemon juice, a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

You can either grill your burgers or pan fry them- I did mine on the stove because I don’t have a grill or any outdoor space to speak of.

Slice the ciabatta into bun-sized pieces and lightly toast. Assemble your burgers- Greek yogurt sauce, arugula, burger, and a little extra feta.

I made yucca fries to go with these and intended to blog those, but they were just okay.

Let yourself eat regular fries and make. this. burger.

PS these are the last food photos I shot on my old phone, so be prepared for this blog to be taken to the next level.

*This post is not sponsored by Apple, and in fact I believe the Apple representative who helped me select my new phone was supremely annoyed by me.