Monthly Archives: July 2009

>Creative marketing and signage

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>There’s more than fish at Pike Place Market in Seattle! There is coffee, of course. I sampled my share of the refreshing beverages. And as we wandered the booths of produce, I kept saying, “Honey, can we move here? I want to live here.” Husband (a.k.a. Chuck) was kind as he reminded me that no, we had to go home.

But meanwhile, behind the big sign….

We shopped for cheese and we found this tip jar.

This sign not only announced what they were selling (fresh herbs), but gave a Rhyme Time reasoning to buy!


If you want to buy an avocado, though, be gentle.

And as for the beans, don’t touch — or even consider it!
At least they said “Thanks.”

This offer may seem extreme, but they were handing out sample slices. The fresh and juicy peaches really did make people shout out in praise.

Sometimes, the hanging bundles need no written description. They sold themselves.

If I can’t move there, can we go back? Soon? I’m free tomorrow….

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>Eating in – locally, if possible

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>Last week I showed you our in-house snack on the rooftop deck at our hotel. That was just the warm-up for Iron Chef Chuck, the Husband re-named due to cool shoes. In true Iron Chef form, he decided our last meal on the trip should be a rooftop dinner with the entire menu found in and near the Public Market. The challenge: we had no way to cook. With no microwave and very little room in the fridge (due to crowding from overpriced minibar), we had to be creative in our preparations. With all that in mind, we hit the market.


We bought cheese at a creamery that would have been right at home in Wisconsin. They were making cheese all day; folks stopped to watch through full length windows. The cheese we bought was very fresh and delicious.

Next, the vegetable market. He picked out just enough mixed lettuces for a salad, and then he added carrots. Two small carrots. We found vinegar and oil for dressing at a tiny shop and added those to my tote bag with the bread from the bakery next door.

He knew he wanted crab, and he chose to pick that up just before dinner to avoid the storage hassle. Two crabs, fully cooked, gutted and prepared by the fish folks. Last item on the list: the perfect wine. With a little browsing time and a few suggestions from the expert at the shop, we had the entire menu planned and purchased.

He borrowed dishes from the hotel (they were happy to oblige), prepped the whole meal on the floor of the hotel room, and then we set up on the rooftop deck. The weather was perfect, the mountains were glowing from the sunset, and Iron Chef Chuck (he of the cool shoes) earned perfect scores for presentation.

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>Coffee, of course.

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>Last year I chronicled my vacation in a journal of daily coffee consumption. I know some of you must be wondering, “Daisy! You went to Seattle, the birthplace of Starbucks! Did you not partake of the local fare? The local drinks? The coffee, of course!!”

Yes.

Yes, I did. In fact, I documented a few in pictures. I picked up a Big Train Choco Chip Latte from this place, conveniently located across the tracks from the first Amtrak station. It was delicious: a good omen for starting the trip.

On the train I had the option of picking up a plain cup of coffee any time I wished; Jose, the car attendant, kept the pot fresh all the time.


I brought my daily pick-me-up into the roomette with me, set it in the cupholder beside my seat, and read the morning paper (local to whichever stop we’d made last).


Then we arrived in Seattle. I sampled the hotel packets (Seattles Best brand). We visited Starbucks – the original location! I was nearly speechless. Husband took my picture, I think. I was too wrapped up in the history of this tiny store and its location to notice.

Each day we went somewhere else for breakfast. I had so many different kinds of coffees I lost track. I know there were at least a few we didn’t get to try. I guess that means I have to make another trip to Seattle some time. Darn.

You know me, though. I brought some home. A package from Starbucks, a package from Local Color (an awesome little shop with coffees, art, and fascinating people), and a couple of extras from the hotel room.

The thermos on the left is from Starbucks. It’s made from 40% recycled plastic. We bought the Amtrak mug at our last breakfast on the train. As if I didn’t have enough mugs…of course I brought a new one home from our trip!!

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>Creole Seasoning for Dirty Rice and more

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>My family (politely) complains that my cooking can be a wee bit bland. They’re right. I haven’t mastered the fine art of spices and seasoning. When I found a Gumbo recipe that had a Creole Seasoning recipe on the side, I ripped the page out of the magazine and made the seasoning right away. Honestly, I admit it; I made the seasoning the next morning. That’s still a fairly quick turnaround, isn’t it?

The other issue is this: our latest dietary guidelines. On our doctor’s advice, we’re cutting carbs down to a very tiny portion of our daily eating. Since instant white rice is not so good for either of us. I went searching for an alternative to our favorite boxed dirty rice mix. Using the new seasoning and a bag of long grain brown rice, I came up with this Dirty Rice.

Creole Seasoning Ingredients:
2 1/2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Store in a tightly covered jar. Yields 2/3 cup.

Daisy’s Dirty Rice

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef or ground chuck

1/4 cup each: green pepper, red onion, celery

1 cup cooked brown rice (check this out; it takes a while to cook)

Brown ground beef with pepper, onion, and celery. Drain and rinse in colander. Add rice and beef mix to skillet along with 2 Tablespoons Creole Seasoning Mix and 1 cup water. Simmer until heated through and excess water has evaporated. Serve with fruit or a salad on the side.

The verdict: delicious. La Petite and Chuck (formerly known as Husband) added green tabasco sauce to theirs, but they pronounced it a success. I don’t think they knew the rice was healthier than our usual brand; I didn’t tell them!

Creole Seasoning from a Gumbo recipe in the Braille Monitor, July 2009 edition. I’ll try the gumbo and pass it on if it works!

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>prepping the produce for the freezer

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>I had great plans. I was going to use my big, bold food processor to dice the fresh chives from the garden and then freeze a few jars for winter use. Great idea, right? Wrong. I tried three different blades, and none of them diced the chives evenly. This is what I got.

So…. I diced the pile by hand with a sharp knife, dropped the results into two small glass jars, labeled the jars, and placed the jars in the freezer. The good news: chives were done. The bad news: I still had a batch of green onions waiting for me.

I did these by hand.

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>Shopping ’till your husband drops

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>Shoe shopping. I enjoy it, La Petite loves it. Husband tolerates it; Amigo hates it. I handled shoe shopping with both boys recently. With Amigo it was enter the store, go directly to the dept., try on two pair, choose the best, checkout, leave. Immediately. Grumpy teenager and tolerant- going-on-grumpy mom survived again.

Husband was similar. He tried on a few pair, chose the pair that worked and fit, then got ready to check out. I managed to walk him through another department so I could get some cloth napkins on sale, and then we checked out. We had success on both counts: picture below.


Imagine my surprise when we were in a Nordstrom Rack store looking for a wallet and he voluntarily walked into the shoe department and picked up a colorful pair of Converse All Star sneakers! La Petite is a connoisseur of Chuck Taylor (“chucks” in her words), and he thought it might be fun to wear “cool” shoes.

Husband? Trying on shoes? Voluntarily? By choice? I had to sit down. Then I pulled out the camera to document the occasion. Maybe I should stop calling him Husband and rename him – Chuck! What do you think, dear?


He bought them. Yes, she was surprised. She was a little impressed, too. She should be: at 22, she’s influenced her father’s wardrobe! Now if I can keep her from nominating me for What Not to Wear….

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>Packing lists

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As the A-list bloggers post the adventures of their trip to BlogHer in Chicago, I’ll post the adventures of our train trip. Husband and I set off to celebrate our anniversary (25 years!) by ourselves while Amigo was at summer school and La Petite was available to watch the house and feed the bunnies.

There wasn’t much space to spare in our roomette on Amtrak, so the carry-on luggage had to be planned well. You can see the camera case (it’s tiny), reading material, empty water bottle, drink mixes (for water bottle), lumbar pillow (orange squishy thingie), and address book for postcards, stamps tucked inside cover. In the bag itself are a change of clothes, toiletries, and basic daily medications.

The sweater was a bargain. La Petite talked me into going shopping with her (she twisted my arm, really), and I found this. It’s perfect for an airconditioned train; I’ll just take it off or unbutton it when the temperatures are higher or when we take outside breaks at stations.

Packing? I’m getting good at this. Actually, the 22-year-old is getting good at it and I let her advise me. These kids of ours; they do grow up, and it’s fun to have them around.

There it is, hanging on the wall beside Husband’s seat where I could reach it whenever I needed it. The camera moved into my purse for the duration of the trip, but the rest was just right in the duffel.

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>animal, vegetable, locavore?

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>I was reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in our Seattle hotel room and I thought about how difficult it was at times to remain true to a locavore philosophy. We were fortunate to be near a fantastic source for both tourists and locals: Seattle’s Pike Place Public Market.

At lunch on our first full day, I sat down to a sandwich with locally made sausage and potato salad on the side. Husband ordered a local beer and picked up a halibut sandwich and coleslaw. The coleslaw surprised him. Rather than the creamy or the tart styles we get in the Midwest, it was made with red cabbage and had a delicious sweet-tart tang.

We continued to focus mainly on local specialties. We looked for fish of all kinds, locally made baked goods, and (you know me well) coffee. We were in Seattle, people, home of Starbucks and more!

One night Husband asked the waitress where he could buy the unique raspberry lambic beer he’d had with his meal. It wasn’t one of the restaurant’s own brews, so she directed us to a store a few blocks away. On the walk there we decided to pick up supplies for an evening snack on the hotel deck. We gathered cheese, salami, crackers and the fruity brew, and then brought out a container of fresh cherries we’d picked up at the Public Market earlier in the day. It was a perfect evening treat. The sky was clear, the sun going down behind the Olympic Mountains, and Mt. Ranier was making an appearance in the distant sky.

Less expensive than the hotel’s minibar, more relaxing than going out, we had the perfect combination of food and drink and ambiance.

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>Applying the lessons of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

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>I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle recently. It is an amazing book, fitting my sensibilities and interests well. Kingsolver and her family dedicated a full year to feeding their family on local foods. The backstories describing her reasoning and the supplemental stories describing her disasters and successes make this a great story. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an easy and fascinating read.

Implementing her advice is more challenging. Kingsolver addresses this, facing the fact that not everyone has a large garden space like hers or the opportunity to raise chickens, turkeys, or other meat animals. She spends a significant amount of space on suggestions for folks like me, people who would like to move toward a more locavore philosophy but face stumbling blocks on the way.

My garden is coming into its season now. I’ve been gathering spinach and lettuce already, and I found the first handful of beans when we came home from vacation. Pea pods look good, too. This is the first year I’ve successfully grown peas, so I’ll have to look them over carefully to make sure I only pick those that are truly ripe! There are at least three zucchini appearing from the blossoms, and I see flowers on the tomato plants at last.

Here in the Northern zones, we don’t get as much food for as long as Kingsolver does on her small Virginia farm. I can use what I have, though, and pick up more local goodies at the farmers’ market every Saturday until October. For now, at least, I’ll put delicious and local foods on the table. Next year’s goal: learn to can. Maybe. We’ll see.

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>Some pictures, well, just don’t turn out.

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Top: Husband outside during a train stop

Next: Rocky Mountains. Really, they were sitting still and smiling. I wasn’t. Sitting still, that is. I’m sure I was smiling!

Right, Below: It seemed like every time I got the camera ready and clicked, a tree jumped in front of the train window. Do the trees practice this? “Hey, I’ll wreck this picture if you get in the way of the next one.”

Husband got a few blurry tree shots, too, but he had enough sense to go outside at the various stops to look around and take pictures on solid ground. If only he’d stood still a little longer, I might have had a decent picture of him, too!

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