Conchiglie Pasta With Kale Pesto

I'm back after almost a month and if it's any comfort, I've missed you just as much as you've missed me. Part of the reason for my absence was that Desi and I were traveling. We flew up to the west coast and then made our way from San Francisco up through Portland, Seattle and finally Vancouver in Canada. Along the way we stopped at the state capitols in Sacramento, Salem, and Olympia (have I told you Desi loves to see statehouses?)

It was a hectic trip and we packed in a lot, but it was also exhilarating, as travel always is. We drove through curvy mountain roads flanked by snow-covered evergreens, and past breathtaking volcanic peaks like California's Mount Shasta and Washington's Mount Rainier. We walked in the misty rain in Portland without umbrellas (like true Portlanders, we're told), bought food from the city's famed vegan food carts, and I discovered I have a sweet tooth after all at the quirky Voodoo Donuts. We went up the space needle in Seattle and took pictures of tourists posing inside the first Starbucks at Pike Place. And even pouring rain could not keep us from joining hundreds of Vancouverites exploring the night life on buzzing Granville Street on a Friday evening.