Jun 28

BRUTAL

There’s no other way to put it, friends. The heat wave in the Pacific Northwest is unprecedented and ugly. It reminds me way too much of summers in Dallas – except in Dallas I had (mostly) central air conditioning and ceiling fans. Here at Casa Sammamish we have a floor unit air conditioner in the master bedroom. The office on the ground floor is reasonably cool during the afternoon. The main floor, with south-facing picture windows and a sliding glass door, is an inferno.

There is one upside to this heat wave. My padron pepper plants are blooming and beginning to set fruit. Maybe I can harvest my first crop next week.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/06/28/brutal/

Jun 11

The Slow Schlep Back

As America crawls its way out of the hole that Covid-19 and the initial botched response dug, Julian and I have celebrated a few landmarks.

Vaccines? Check.

No more shopping at “old folks hours?” Check, thankfully for Julian.

Social gatherings in our home and others? Check, with fellow vaccinated people.

Interstate travel? Check, for me.

Last night’s landmark was a trip to the Seattle Symphony. Benaroya Hall was about 10% capacity. We didn’t have our usual seats in a second tier box, as the concert was being live-streamed and the box contained cameras. Masks were required. We had our temperatures taken before our tickets were scanned. No food or beverage service. (No worries there – Julian kvetches about the bad coffee at Benaroya.) The orchestra was socially distanced, and the music didn’t require many brass or wind instruments. All in all, another baby step on the slow schlep back to normalcy.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/06/11/the-slow-schlep-back/

May 31

Ithaca Therapy

The day before Mom’s funeral, I made a spur of the moment trip to Ithaca. I had lunch with a former roommate at her home just north of the Cornell campus. She got takeout from the Collegetown Bagels store/restaurant near her home. This place was the usual Sunday brunch location for Julian and me when we started dating. I even ordered one of my old favorites, the Lindsay. This is a turkey and Muenster cheese sandwich served on a bialy. (For you non-New Yorkers who don’t know from bialys, read this prior post.) I stopped at a Mennonite store on my way down to Ithaca and got some oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies for our dessert.

When I started out for home, I took a route around the Cornell campus because construction is everywhere. I saw the new North Campus dormitories under construction, which have all the architectural interest of state penitentiaries. They make the post-World War II married student housing across the street look good, which takes some doing. Collegetown was even worse. Three buildings just off campus are being torn down for more soul-less, high-rent apartments. I had to detour down Seneca Street to get downtown. At least my old church is still intact. And Purity Ice Cream is still open, but only for curbside scooping – not breakfast or lunch.

Most of townie Ithaca looked similar to previous visits, although the shopping mall is hurting badly. I picked up a couple of provisions I’d forgotten to pack at the Target there and walked around a little. The pandemic is partly to blame, although I’m sure Amazon can take more credit. I didn’t check out the downtown Ithaca Commons. I hope the increase in vaccinated people can help businesses rebound, in Ithaca and elsewhere.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/05/31/ithaca-therapy/

May 24

Bittersweet Homecoming

I’m back east for my mother’s graveside service on Wednesday. Everything was arranged by my sister and niece, all I had to do was fly back.
Flying these days is even more of a slog than it was before Covid-19. It’s not just the masking, other “details” have been added to maximize your misery. Airport security takes longer to negotiate. Folks had to take off their shoes unless they were in the TSA PreCheck program. I flashed my newly-minted Trusted Traveler card (with the photo that makes me look like I got roughed up by the photographer beforehand) so I could wear my shoes. Computers and tablets also had to come out of bags again.
More misery-making: If you’re not in First Class, forget about any food or beverage service (free or paid). I had an hour layover in Charlotte between flights. I thought I might be able to grab a quick breakfast. No.Such.Luck. I had to traverse most of the airport to reach the connecting flight gate. The restaurants on the way had long lines, which negated the chance to get anything to eat or drink. Luckily, I was able to sweet-talk the flight attendant to bring me some water on the flight to Syracuse so my kidneys wouldn’t shut down.
The upside to this trip is getting to see family and some friends. My niece’s kids are growing fast. The older one is about to become a Known Teenager. On Wednesday I’ll meet my nephew’s toddler, who was in utero when I last flew east. Thursday I’ll go out to lunch with three high school classmates. And I may need some Ithaca therapy. Stay tuned.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/05/24/bittersweet-homecoming-2/

May 09

Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes

Yeast Mode, my sourdough starter, needed a workout. I also had a hankering for pancakes for brunch. So I hybridized a recipe for sourdough buckwheat pancakes.
I started with the recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill buckwheat flour bag, then took liberties. (Yes, Julian, this was a gemisch. Deal with it.) I added 1 cup of buckwheat flour to 1/2 cup of Yeast Mode. I then stirred in 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon oil, and 2 tablespoons of molasses. I left this to rise on the kitchen counter for about 6 hours while I read the papers and email and went for a 16-mile bike ride.
There didn’t seem to be much action in the bowl when I came down after my shower. I then stirred in a beaten egg and 1/3 cup of nonfat dry milk powder. Suddenly, POOF! Bubbles! Apparently Yeast Mode contains some bacteria that loves lactose. I also stirred in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a little water to amp up the rising. This recipe made 14 pancakes. I cooked up the rest of the batter and refrigerated the leftovers for future breakfasts.
One note: These pancakes will brown very quickly. You may need to adjust the heat under your frying pan or griddle accordingly.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/05/09/sourdough-buckwheat-pancakes/

May 01

Getting Cheeky

Last month we checked out Double DD Meats, a butcher shop in nearby Mountlake Terrace. This place is a hoot. Not only do they have regular beef, pork, and lamb, but they have game and unusual cuts that you won’t find in the neighborhood Safeway. Double DD Meats also has aisles and aisles of hot sauces, barbecue sauces, and rubs. As an experiment, I found some beef cheeks in the frozen section and decided to try them.

Beef cheeks are as advertised, from the head of the steer/cow. Since cattle are ruminants and chew cud when they’re not eating, beef cheeks are quite tough and require braising. I found the basic method and timing for cooking on epicurious.com, from an old Gourmet magazine. (Obviously this was posted before the site managers decided not to include any more beef recipes.)

I browned the cheek (there was only one in the package) with some onion, garlic, carrots, and parsnips. I added some fresh thyme and rosemary, a bay leaf, and glugged in some red wine. When the wine came to a boil, I covered the pan and set it in a 325° oven for three hours.

The result was underwhelming. The beef could have benefitted from additional cooking time to get more tender. The wine had evaporated down to a thick purple syrup. The vegetables were good, though. The parsnip cores were very tender. In the future I’ll stick to chuck, brisket, or rump roast.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/05/01/getting-cheeky/

May 01

Life with the Nag-O-Matic

Julian and I both have Apple Watches. He uses his more for the Apple Pay app – “Watches are so 20th century.” I use mine for activity monitoring, hence the name Nag-O-Matic.

At 50 minutes of each hour, I get the message, “Time to stand.” If I’m in the office, I walk around for a minute. Or I time my trips upstairs to the bathroom to coincide with the stand command. I get extra calorie points if I go two flights up to the master bathroom.

The move and exercise features have some glitches to them. I’ve had the exercise feature undercount my minutes of activity when I’m out for a walk or bike ride. Sometimes it will ask if I need to pause my workout; other times it doesn’t. The watch will gently remind me that a brisk 25-minute walk will help me reach my goals – just before I’m ready to turn in for the night.

Every so often I get notification that the watch has bestowed some cheesy award upon me: “Congratulations! You met your stand goal all last week!” Alternately, it’ll entice me with the promise of another cheesy award: “Just burn 3000 calories in the next two days and you’ll reach your exercise goal for the month!” This morning it enticed me with the promise of a cheesy award for the month of May: “Surpass 21 days of workouts of greater than 15 minutes!” Maybe…

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/05/01/life-with-the-nag-o-matic/

Apr 25

Rewrite

Sometimes the best-laid menu plans go awry. This afternoon I was busy repotting plants and taking the Grim Reaper (my little scythe) to some overgrown plants off the lower deck. Julian wisely asked, “Are you going to have time to make the bun bo Hue tonight? Why don’t you do the orecchiette and I’ll do the soup tomorrow?” No contest.

We’ve had shrimp and grits on the menu for the last three weeks. Have we made it yet? No. The reasons: the shrimp didn’t get thawed or we had ample leftovers from previous nights. It may get made this week. We’ll see.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/04/25/rewrite/

Apr 18

Downtown Jaunt

Julian wanted to get out of the house today. “How about we go downtown, get piroshkys, and eat them in the park?” There was a long line outside Piroshky Piroshky, so we went with plan B. The Seatown is a small iteration of local restaurateur Tom Douglas’s empire, now mostly shuttered due to the pandemic. Julian had a halibut fish sandwich, while I had baby back ribs with a mango salsa. This was the first time we’ve eaten inside a restaurant since pandemic lockdown. The outside tables were full because of the gorgeous weather. Luckily, staff took great care to reduce risk all around.

After lunch, Julian needed a caffeine fix. His usual place was closed on Sunday. A nearby coffee shop had just closed. We walked up Western Avenue and found a Georgian café, Skalka. (Many of you know that my honorary niece was born in the Republic of Georgia. The breads I had over there were amazing.) In addition to food and drink, Skalka carries assorted Georgian foods. I picked up two sauces for future experiments.

We got plenty of exercise today running around downtown Seattle. While a lot of storefronts are still closed and boarded up, some signs of life can be seen. Many vendors at Pike Place Market are still going strong. Construction on the waterfront is proceeding. And people are coming back. If we can keep the fourth surge of Covid cases at bay, we might have a good summer.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/04/18/downtown-jaunt/

Apr 11

Southpaw in the Kitchen

As with many tasks, cooking can be problematic for those of us who are left-handed. Can openers, liquid measuring cups, kitchen shears, and instant-read thermometers are built for right-handed people. There used to be a store in Pike Place Market that carried items for left-handed folks, but it disappeared 10-15 years ago. Probably the rent got too damn high. Nevertheless, I persist.
Julian decided he needed to replace his roux-stirring implement, a flat-bladed wooden tool properly known as a spurtle. He found a slotted one at Williams Sonoma, but wasn’t happy with it. A little searching revealed a company that makes spurtles specifically for making Cajun-style roux. He showed me his purchase. I took one look and said, “That’s for right-handed stirring.” He smiled and pulled a second one out of his back pocket: “They make left-handed ones, too.”

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/04/11/southpaw-in-the-kitchen/

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