Where were you when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980? I was living in Dallas when the bulletin interrupted Charles Kuralt’s Sunday morning show. The iconic picture of the mountain blowing its top is seared into my memory. My grad school roommate grew up in Pullman, in southeastern Washington. Her school was actually closed for several days due to falling ash. The volcano has had a few returns to life, most prominently in 2004. A new lava dome has formed in the crater.
Since Washington, Oregon, California, and Alaska are on the Pacific Ring of Fire, any of our mountains could erupt at any time. Our local chief worry is Mount Rainier, which last had a significant eruption in the 18th century. So any time Rainier is visible with an intact peak, locals breathe a sigh of relief.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/05/18/happy-mount-st-helens-day/
It may be tongue in cheek, but I daresay some passersby would have the same question.
Proof that the state of nutrition education among the masses is sadly lacking.
I told a coworker about this sign and she admitted that her husband did not know what a carb was when they began going out together. She’s since schooled him.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/05/12/sign-at-pike-place-market/
After a week of mostly liquid meals, Julian is slowly adding soft foods to his diet. We’ve had baked salmon and Thai curry with cod. Yesterday we went to Bellevue. Julian suggested having dim sum for lunch. “Some of those dumplings should work with my teeth,” he said. For the uninitiated, dim sum are little nibbles of dumplings, buns, and other items. The classic dim sum restaurant has wait staff rolling carts around the dining room with different offerings. Customers point to what they want. The bill is calculated based on the number and type of items ordered. As I mentioned in this post last year, dim sum is the equivalent of Sunday brunch in areas with large Asian populations.
Our destination was Din Tai Fung, part of a Taiwan-based chain. The Seattle area has four of these restaurants. Bellevue’s was the first one to open. Din Tai Fung’s specialty is xiao long bao, or soup buns. Cubes of gelatinized broth are wrapped in dumpling dough and steamed. There’s always a long line at Din Tai Fung restaurants because they don’t take reservations. Luckily, we were seated in the bar area immediately upon arrival. We ordered hot and sour soup for two, steamed cod dumplings, and shrimp fried rice. I also ordered a cucumber salad so I’d have some vegetable to chew on. Julian could handle most of the items except for bamboo shoots in the soup and the shrimp. Soon he’ll be able to eat items that he can cut with the side of a fork, which will liberalize our diet significantly – until the next round of surgery.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/05/05/dining-out-on-the-dental-diet/
Some people have photographic memories, I have a phonographic memory. I can hear a song that I haven’t encountered in years and still remember the lyrics. I think it comes from having a transistor radio attached to my ear as a kid. And there are certain songs that automatically take me back to a particular time or place. I’m sure the late neurologist and author Oliver Sacks would have something to say about this quirk, but I have yet to read his tome, Musicophilia.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/05/01/phonographic-memory/
Seattle has had more construction cranes than any major city for several years. Today’s crane collapse was in an intersection that I go through every day when I commute on the bus. An Audi was nearly cut in half by a piece of the crane. Miraculously, the individuals in that car escaped with their lives. Two other people on the ground and the two occupants of the crane were killed. One speculation is that a wind microburst caught the crane. Despite the loss of life, it could have been much worse. That intersection is one of the busiest in the city, as it feeds north and south Interstate 5. Locals not-so-affectionately refer to it as the Mercer Mess. Sadly, it lived up to its name today.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/27/crane-crash/
Julian had the first of a series of oral surgeries yesterday. He’s doing amazingly well after a seven-hour procedure. For the next two weeks he’ll be on a liquid diet, followed by a soft diet. The latter means he can only have items that can be cut with a fork. Our blender and food processor will be getting workouts. There’ll be a lot of soups and smoothies in his future. Tonight’s dinner will be vichyssoise (cold leek and potato soup), tomorrow’s gazpacho. I may do some root vegetable purées for him when I have roasted veggies.
One advantage to the liquid diet is that anything that’s liquid at room temperature qualifies. That means ice cream.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/25/eating-softly/
The last couple of years, Passover and Easter have coincided. Last night was our traditional Mixed-Marriage Passover Seder. Twenty celebrants ate matzoh and read the Haggadah. Our contributions to the festivities were pavlova with strawberries and a roasted carrot salad. The latter was my invention. I roasted about 3 pounds of carrots sprinkled with salt and pepper, and tossed them with lemon juice, a little olive oil, and Penzey’s Italian herb seasoning. I used that mixture because it doesn’t contain any garlic, onion, or chile/red pepper. Both were well received. The Haggadah reading was more resonant with me this year than in previous years, particularly the parts that mentioned “we were once strangers in Egypt”. The hosts’ cousin brought a special Seder feature, Plague Puppets. I am not making these up.
After I got home from church, we drove out to Monroe to a cat show. Unfortunately, Julian read the date wrong: The cat show is this coming weekend. Easter dinner included the usual lamb and mint sauce with potato latkes (frozen, not from scratch), leftover carrot salad, and roasted padron peppers. Julian made a fruit salad for dessert.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/21/holiday-weekend/
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities has come to my mind this week. As billionaires and the French government pledge money to rebuild Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the Yellow Vest protests continue. While I do not condone vandalism and violence, the underlying circumstances that spurred the protests nearly six months ago have yet to be addressed by the government. In addition, this New York Times article indicates that Notre Dame is emblematic of the aging churches, cathedrals, and historic sites that have fallen into disarray in France.
Lest you think that this is only an issue for nations with many Medieval monuments to maintain, let’s turn the camera lens closer to home. The National Park Service, the guardian of our national heritage, will suffer a nearly $500 million cut if the current proposed budget is approved. (See this article for details.) Anyone who’s visited a National Park of late knows that the staff is overworked and the facilities and roads are falling into disrepair.
Madame Defarge, have you started knitting yet?
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/20/it-was-the-best-of-times/
This is the season of renewal. Whether you celebrate Easter, Passover, or the Vernal Equinox, spring engenders hope. The fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during the Christian Holy Week was a horrific sight. Paris has lost an icon. However, the city has many examples of places that represent renewal.
A couple of miles away from Notre Dame is the church of St. Gervais. A German rocket came through the roof of this church during World War I – on Good Friday. Eighty congregants were killed in the bombing. The church was rebuilt. The windows at the top of the sanctuary were replaced with more modern glass art. The church has memorials to those who were lost, but the church is still a living sanctuary.
Notre Dame will be rebuilt. It will not be a clone of the original structure; however, it will return to its role as the sacred center of the city.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/15/rebuilding-and-resurrection/
One of the perks of living in the Pacific Northwest is the plethora of fresh fish and seafood that’s available. Our regular grocery stores have tanks and iced displays of locally-grown clams, oysters, mussels, and Dungeness crabs. Mussels and manila clams are reasonably priced and make quick and tasty meals.
We have two go-to recipes for clams. The first is the traditional Italian linguine with white clam sauce. The second is Chinese clams in black bean sauce. We first had this dish at a restaurant in Seattle’s International District, the late lamented Hing Loon. We tried for years to replicate Hing Loon’s recipe before finding a close facsimile in Stewart Chang Berman’s book, The Potsticker Chronicles.
A few bits of friendly advice about cooking clams:
- Clams sold out of tanks are more likely to be alive than those sitting on ice. A further advantage to buying clams from salt-water tanks: They’re relatively clean and don’t need the sand-purging treatment some recipes call for.
- Discard any yawners, those that don’t clam up (close) when you tap them. They’re dead on arrival.
- Clams, especially our local Manila variety, cook quickly. Get all of your ingredients chopped and at the ready before you inspect and rinse the clams. It’s also a good idea to set the table before cooking. Put a large bowl on the table to collect empty shells. Provide plenty of napkins or paper towels.
- Often you’ll get clams of widely differing sizes. It will take the bigger clams more time to cook. Be patient. If a Manila clam doesn’t open after about 8 minutes, it’s dead and shouldn’t be eaten. For the larger littlenecks, allow about 10 minutes for larger ones to open.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2019/04/15/clam-o-rama/
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