In the six years since we bought Casa Sammamish, we’ve replaced the microwave/ventilation fan, range, refrigerator, rice cooker, espresso machine, sink, garbage disposal, gas grill, and coffee grinder. This means our dishwasher has a large target on it.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/04/10/the-appliance-shuffle/
Mar 28
Farm Girls Gotta Farm
Farming is the ultimate faith-based pursuit. Last year’s debacle (documented here) should have deterred me from further efforts. Nevertheless, I persist.
Last week we went to Sky Nursery in search of herbs and other plants. It’s still a bit early to put peppers, basil, and such outside, so I restrained myself to hardier crops. I got two types of mint, two types of chives, and rau ram (alias Vietnamese coriander). I also bought two varieties of fuchsias and three types of ferns for the shady planters out front. Last year deer or rabbits savaged the impatiens. I hope the critters don’t go after the ferns. I needed some potting soil and compost. The latter had all sorts of tasty ingredients in it, including bat guano.
This afternoon I decided to repot most of my purchases. It was raining and windy, but the planters on the north side of the condo are sheltered from the wind. I made reasonably quick work of the planting, mostly in an attempt to stay warm. My next door neighbor, the Master Gardener, came home while I was working. She observed, “This is an unusual day to be planting.” My response, “The ferns don’t mind.”
I’ll need to get some more potting soil before I repot anything else. (Those large bags don’t go very far.) I’ll check out what Yakima Fruit Market has in store. It usually has nice petunias. I’m also thinking about a bleeding heart or two for the planter boxes. Stay tuned.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/03/28/farm-girls-gotta-farm/
Mar 13
The Portrait
A large package arrived from my sister. Julian hoped it was more Junior’s cheesecake, as Terry knows how much he likes it. Usually QVC sends that directly to us. In addition, the package was way too big for even Junior’s largest confection. After digging through about a month’s worth of upstate New York newspapers, this is what I found:
It’s a picture of my mother, taken when she was a little girl. I needed a place to hang it, since most of our windows face south and it would get bleached fast. Luckily, the portrait fit on the wall to the left of my desk. Mom never got to visit Casa Sammamish. She was unsteady on her legs and didn’t want to repeat the fall she took in our garage on her last visit to Seattle. In a way, she finally made it here.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/03/13/the-portrait/
Feb 28
Pizza Night
While ordering pizza is easy, making it isn’t particularly difficult. Making your own allows you to get the crust as thin or thick as you like. You can add a little whole wheat flour, or even sourdough starter. You can also put whatever you’ve got in the fridge or cupboard on the pie.
Tonight’s pizza was relatively unadorned: Canned pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, and kalamata olives. I made the dough in the morning. I used a Mark Bittman recipe that came together in the food processor. I added a little Yeast Mode for flavor more than leavening. In retrospect, I probably should have used more all-purpose flour rather than bread flour. The resulting dough was quiet glutenous. After a while it covered the bottom of the half sheet pan. I added the toppings and baked for about 15 minutes. An easy dinner.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/02/28/pizza-night/
Feb 14
Cat Quilts
One of my friends was curious about the quilts that my mother made for the cats. Ask and ye shall see…
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/02/14/cat-quilts/
Jan 30
Rest in Peace, Mom
My mother died on January 28 at age 88. She collapsed at the nursing home where she lived. She was revived and taken to a nearby hospital. She had low blood pressure that couldn’t be stabilized, kidney failure, possible pneumonia, and extensive blood clots in her legs. The prognosis was grim, so my sister had her taken off life support. My sister and niece were able to be at her bedside when she passed.
Rather than give a traditional biography, I’ll give a few episodes to illustrate the woman Mom was. She practically earned a nursing degree from her years caring for my brother, who was born with spina bifida. As a result, Lyle lived to be 45 – no mean feat, since most kids born with spina bifida in 1960 didn’t make it past 7. He was able to live at home his entire life. In his last years, he had nurses’ aides to help when Mom couldn’t maneuver him. She was at his bedside when he died of kidney failure in 2006.
Mom got into crafts in her 50’s. She started out making Cabbage Patch-like dolls. My niece got an early version, which my sister named the Onion Head Baby. I got one, which I named Libby. Later on, she started making quilts for family, friends, and patients at the Veterans’ Hospital in Syracuse. One day she was describing the quilt she was making for somebody’s baby when I asked, “What about my babies (the cats)?” A package arrived on my next birthday, containing two cat-sized quilts. Our current pair of felines sleep on them all the time. I also have queen size and lap quilts that she made. Her final craft obsession was adult coloring books. When she first moved into the nursing home, Terry had to bring many of her books and marking pens down. As certain colors ran dry, Terry had to deliver fresh pens to the nursing home.
One memory that sticks in my mind was the cookout we had the day after my nephew’s wedding in 2014. My brother-in-law’s dad (Stan Sr.), sister, nephew, and nephew’s girlfriend were there along with my family. Mom’s first job after high school was at the Birdseye plant in Fulton, and Stan Sr. was her boss. They had a blast reminiscing about that summer. A great many guys were quite interested in the new girl in the lab – one of whom became our father.
The pandemic and resulting lockdown affected Mom’s cognitive ability, as it did many others in long-term care facilities. I bought her a simple cell phone the last time I was in New York. She’d forget to recharge it or fail to answer it. Terry then got her a land line. She’d never answer it, either. On the occasions that we could talk to her, she mentioned that her parents were there. She never gave up on the idea that she’d get a car and an apartment in Hannibal again.
Was her death due to Covid-19? Not sure. The nursing home tested residents several times a week and she’d always tested negative. She got her second vaccination a week before she died. The blood clots in her legs were probably due to not moving around much, although some people infected with the virus develop blood clots. I’d say that Covid-19 contributed to her death rather than caused it.
Be at peace, Mom.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/01/30/rest-in-peace-mom/
Jan 27
Cincinnati Chili
[You were probably wondering when I’d get back to posting about food. Here you go.]
When I was cooking for myself, chili was my standard Sunday dinner menu item. It was cheap and provided leftovers for lunch. Chili was also adaptable to whatever meat or beans I had on hand. (Yes, Texans, I usually made chili with beans when I lived in Dallas. Deal with it.) These days I don’t make chili very often. Julian prefers the Texas all-meat-all-the-time recipe. However, every so often we make Cincinnati chili.
The Cincinnati variant of chili has a unique set of ingredients and structure. The recipe in the latest edition of Joy of Cooking includes allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and unsweetened chocolate. All well and good; however, the Joy recipe calls for boiling the ground meat. We do not boil hamburger in this home. I wound up browning the meat and adding the spices, onion, garlic, and tomato sauce. That was left to simmer. As dinnertime approached, I grated cheese, cooked up some spaghetti, and chopped some more onion. I also microwaved some canned red beans.
For an authentic five-way Cincinnati chili, one ladles chili on top of the spaghetti, tops that with beans, then sprinkles the top with onion and cheese. Some versions also put oyster crackers on top, but that’s something we never have in the house. A fine weekend dinner.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/01/27/cincinnati-chili/
Jan 22
Stain Removal
I consider the last four years as analogous to a stain on a vintage patterned rug. (Choose your nastiest stain.) At first the stain is obvious and disgusting. However, with time and aggressive scrubbing, the stain blends into the background. You know the stain’s still there, but it’s not as overt as it was in the beginning.
In the case of the previous administration, it was a succession of stains on our body politic. The Russia-coddling and Ukraine-bribing. Appointments of incompetent and sometimes corrupt toadies to government agencies. Family separations and child imprisonment at the southern border. The botched response to Covid-19 that’s resulted in the deaths of over 400,000 Americans. Finally, the denial of the election results and the insurrection on January 6.
Fortunately, the stain is beginning to lift. An experienced, empathetic man was inaugurated as President on Wednesday. His Vice President is a woman who’s proven herself in California and national politics. The cabinet appointments are diverse and highly qualified for their positions. Although it’ll take a while to scrub the worst stains of the previous administration out of our national life, we’re on the way to restoring the fabric of America.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/01/22/stain-removal/
Jan 16
Can’t Drive Twenty-Five
The city of Seattle has imposed a 25 mph speed limit on most arterials (main drags) and 20 mph on side streets. While the goal of reducing pedestrian and bicycle fatalities is admirable, the speed limits will be almost universally ignored.
We have firsthand experience of the futility of 25 mph speed limits. Our cul-de-sac empties onto a street with that limit. It’s a de facto arterial because many people use the street to avoid driving on Western Washington’s Longest Parking Lot (alias I-405). The speed limit is flouted by nearly every car on the street. One crosses the street at significant peril to life and limb. The city put a “Your Speed” sign on the street for a few weeks some years ago. It didn’t work, except when a Bothell Police car was stationed a block up the street in plain view of the speeders.
If Seattle is serious about the lower speed limits, it should back them up with aggressive enforcement. Given the dire budgetary straits due to Covid-19, speeding tickets could be an untapped source of funds. Something to consider.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/01/16/cant-drive-twenty-five/
Jan 01
Another Closure
The New York Times published a list of restaurants nationwide that had closed because of Covid-19 closures. The list was, naturally, East Coast-centric until the last few entries. The one that really hurt was Pok Pok. We made that restaurant a regular stop on our trips to Portland. We even went to their outpost in Las Vegas. All of the branches, alas, are no mas. Andy Ricker, the owner, has moved to Thailand. I plan on making a variation of Pok Pok’s chicken wings in its memory in the next few days.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2021/01/01/another-closure/
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