These are a few of my favourite things

I've always wanted to compile a list of my favourite things (one of which is British English spellings for words like I just did). I'll keep this list ongoing I guess ... we'll see how long this gets. For now,

10-30-10

The gentle sway and quiet click-clack of the Amtrak Cascades train and that luxurious soft rippling sound that the faux-leather chairs make when you shift about

The quiet, occasional rustling of papers or a backpack inside of a school library and the general "hum" of studying

Rain

My blanket and what's in it :)

A cuppa' tea, freshly brewed

Corded landline telephones

Desktop radios

Desktop computers (I'm not really a fan of laptops even though they are WAY more practical)

Running my hands over the varnish on my violin and thinking about how amazing it is that the entire thing is carved out of such incredibly thin wood using methods that haven't changed for hundreds of years.

When my crème brûlée sets just right

That crinkly clear plastic covering that public libraries attach to the dust cover of books (and used/worn books in general)

Fountain pens you have to refill with a piston drawing from an ink bottle/well, and good ol' wooden pencils that are sharpened in small handheld sharpeners so they have the small little tip rather than the long tips made by electric sharpeners

11-3-10


Clear umbrellas - like the one I have in the picture to the right (taken in Miyako, Iwate, Japan) --->

Concord grapes and the rich, glossy, glass-like jam they make

Electric trolleybuses here in Seattle and the occasional click-click and tiny flash of sparks the overhead electric lines make when the poles run along the switches

The nonstop circulation of public transit systems shuttling everybody to and fro

11-4-10


Tulips (Ian surprised me with some when he came home =] )

Golden dollar coins

12-14-10 


Radio programming from NPR, PRI, and BBC

Antenna TV ... and the general idea of tapping into a free, region-wide broadcasted invisible signal

Sending a hand written, stamped letter or perfectly taped up package at the local post office (I'm always amazed at the invisible logistics of the post systems)

How an old-fashioned wooden pencil feels when writing on a single sheet of lined paper on a wooden desk surface (the muted tap-tap of each time the graphite touches the paper)

Car-free streets, reclaimed neighborhoods

Chez moi

I apologize for the lack of pictures which are usually part and parcel of my blog - this entry I guess is just a quick journal note

With all of my midterms done after last week (bye-bye two hours of nonstop writing and brain-busting literary analysis for advanced french composition), it's been time to catch up on my house husband duties I've largely been putting aside. Over the last couple days, however, I've been getting up to speed on scrubbing the bathtub, doing a couple loads of laundry (more importantly, folding it and putting it away), and other tâches ménagères around our little apartment. I'm thinking of doing a little rearranging of furniture as well ... maybe moving the couch and repositioning the desk against the window?

B. helpfully reminded me that next semester's classes were available to look at on ASU's site, so I spent the last day or so doing some preliminary planning of my final semester of undergrad. Nothing shocking really, just need to take 15 more semester hours in order to fulfill the 120 or so hours required for my B.A. I'm interested in taking 19th Century British Fiction - or at least for now the idea of it sounds fun. We'll see once the reality of the daily reading requirement begins to set in.

I've been working on trying to plan out dinners and meals at home better. While I've lately been pretty good with finishing leftovers and using up what we have at home, I'm still trying to make it that much better. Today when I was in the checkout line at our co-op market, I winced at the $60 price tag on the little shopping cart of produce and bulk foods (cornmeal, rice, bread flour, dried beans, some fresh produce, etc). I always wince at the sight of the total ... but I have to diligently remind myself that my $60 has bought everything for 5 hearty meals with lots of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. In that sense, meals start to average around less than $5/person - the picture starts to look a little more reasonable. Plus, I have to consider that one meal out easily tops $20 ...

That being said, I do indulge a little according to the season, and I'll be making my pumpkin pie totally from scratch (including the crust and cooking down a whole small pie pumpkin for the filling). I finally got the extra flour I needed, so I can attempt it tonight.

Coming home from the market, I always walk through Cal Andersen park because it's pretty and it's a shortcut. Today, warm and not a cloud in the sky, there were 5 homeless men drawing and painting on cardboard, wood, and old canvas - some pretty damn good artwork too. I believe they were trying to sell a bunch of their work as well. And then just outside of our apartment lobby's door was a trio of guys playing some fun folk music - one singing, one on guitar, and one man playing spoons. I love this neighborhood.

On the way up to chez moi, I almost dropped my keys into the miniscule tiny gap that exists on the floor between the floor you're on and the elevator floor - you know, that gap in the floor where the doors usually cover? I always think about how one day I'm going to drop something into that crack ... phone, driver's license, keys ....

And as I sign off on this post, on Broadway Ave outside my window, there are at least 40 bicyclists in halloween costumes riding in the street. Always something to see here in Capitol Hill.

Fall rains, tomato harvest, and a hungarian crêpe cake

How exciting! I've never lived anywhere where the weather radar shows not only blue (snow), but pink/purple! (ice):

It's been really rainy for the last couple days and apparently will continue for another week - it's amazing sitting at home in the evening seeing so much rain come down outside. It's hypnotizing, and I love it.

The tree outside the window grows thinner and thinner every week, one branch turning red before another - nature's own calendar

As it's starting to get really cold and wet, I think it's about time to start harvesting the tomatoes. The constant rain will start to rot the leaves anyways, so I might as well begin plucking them to keep inside as they ripen. At the very least, I'll have green tomatoes to use as well for something creative in the kitchen.

My first golden tomato :-) How pretty

So the other day I got a wonderful surprise invitation from some friends to come over for dinner. I had a great time indoors warming myself with delicious Hungarian beef stew and spinach/cheese stuffed tomatoes while listening to the rain fall down outside. Going with the theme of the dinner, I decided to attempt a Hungarian layered crêpe cake. I was looking through a bunch of different Hungarian dessert recipes, only to realize that they are very similar to Austrian fine pastries (think Austro-Hungarian empire - remember AP world history?). At first it looked complicated, but I realized I had everything on hand already and figured it wouldn't be the end of the world even if I failed, so ....

The crêpe making begins!

Probably made about 20-25 crêpes, layering them with my recently made apple spice butter and another cake with my strawberry jam ... baked with a glaze made with my peach preserves

The crêpe cake I served at the dinner was much prettier, but here's the strawberry one we have at home ... crêpes all layered together and powdered sugar on top. Not too sweet (I hate super sweet desserts) so you could enjoy the taste of the fruit preserve and the crêpes themselves.

My new Tretorn rain boots have been very helpful in keeping my feet warm and dry, and my Columbia rain shell is being put to the test this week with all this rain! 

Off to orchestra rehearsal now ... less than 1 month until the concert - everything is coming together nicely.

Apple Spice Butter

Before I begin, check out the weather radar to the right! We are in for a week of rain ahead! And I was hoping to go sailing on Sunday ... oh well! Maybe I should start prepping the winter garden instead - start the kale and collard greens indoors.

Went to the store the other day and saw 10-pound bags of local Washington gala apples on sale, buy one get one free. With apple season coming to a close and so many apples on sale, I figured why not try making apple butter?

For those who don't know what it is (I had no clue), after making it, I can comfortably describe it as a thick applesauce texture spiced apple spread. There is no butter involved - the name just refers to the thickness of the apple spread (spreadable like butter).

With that visual in mind, I made it in my crockpot. You can do it over the stove, but crockpots are great because they won't burn your product and you can wander away from the kitchen to do other things. Since I didn't have apple cider/juice, I made this recipe by just blending up some extra apples to make an applesauce which I substituted. I have provided both ways:

Ingredients: 2 cups apple juice/cider, 8 medium to large sized apples (or about 10-12 medium apples if you don't have apple cider for this recipe),  two or so tablespoons of any kind of ground spices you like (think autumn spices like cloves, cinnamon, allspice, star anise, ginger, etc), and 1 cup brown sugar (I guess you could also substitute maple syrup, honey, or something else but I haven't tried that).

Begin with 8 apples if you're using the recipe with apple juice/cider, or around 10-12 apples if you don't have apple juice/cider (I didn't have any).

Peel and core the apples - I simply cut the "meat" off around the core with a knife, avoiding the tough core fibers which contain the seeds. Chop the cored apples into smaller pieces, maybe about 1" or less. Throw these chopped apples in the crockpot. If you are doing this recipe without apple juice/cider, reserve about 2-4 chopped apples to blend into an applesauce. This will be your "2 cups of apple juice/cider" as described in the ingredients.

Grind your spices if not already pre-ground. I simply found some bulk "cider spice" at the store which contains cloves, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and star anise. You should have around 2 decent tablespoons.

Throw the chopped apples, spices, brown sugar, and your 2 cups of apple juice/cider (or your blended applesauce from extra apples) into the crockpot.

Put the lid on, and set the crockpot to "high" until the mix starts to bubble nicely (for me this took about two hours), then switch it to "low". You will need to stir a little just to make sure everything is getting heated up nicely and prevent burning about once every hour - it's very low-maintenance in the crock pot. The original recipe I went off of said that it should be done after 10 hours or so, but I actually started this in the evening (8pm?) and left the crockpot on "low" overnight until the next afternoon (1 or 2pm?), so mine went for more like ~18 hours.

When I woke up the next morning, I actually took my hand blender and blended up the apples in the crockpot a little bit in order to get a smoother "spread". I guess you could do this right at the beginning before cooking it all down, but I did it at the end and it all seems fine.

You will be able to tell when the apple butter is done when the sugars in the apples have caramelized (turning everything a nice brown color) and the mixture has thickened with most of the water cooked off. You're looking for a thick, drier applesauce texture - don't hesitate to cook it for longer on "high" with the lid off if you need to get some more water out. The time to cook this down for will vary since every slow cooker is different, but for me it took an evening, and then better part of a morning into the afternoon (how's that for accuracy! haha). 

For reference, you can note the colour of my apple butter. It looks darker than some pictures I've seen, but that could be because of more spices used, longer cook time, sugar content of apples, etc. The biggest thing you want to achieve is a thick texture.

I washed and sterilized some jam jars to seal a couple jars worth of my new spread :-) Standard canning procedures apply for those who wish to seal your stuff in jars - this stuff sets pretty nicely (i.e. not runny) in the jars. Otherwise, I guess you could simply freeze it or use it quickly. In total, I probably got around 4 or 5 cups worth of apple butter.

The library is holding a great book for me called "The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook" which I look forward to flipping through. Its different preserves are organized by season, so I can get some ideas ... if you try this apple butter recipe out, let me know how it went and any adjustments you made!

And just before I sign out, here's an awesome link to a Huffington Post video/article on how to make a homemade pizza oven for just $7 !! Technically, I think it's more like "instead of buying a $50 pizza stone, here's how to achieve the same effect for $7", but still ... at the very least the dough recipe can be useful: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/economybites/homemade-pizza-oven_b_766798.html

~ En tout cas, Bonne Chance et Bon Appetit! ~

Care for a cuppa' ?

Yesterday Ian had the day off and it was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we decided to do quite a bit of walking around the city. There was a little bit of aimless wandering, but we were out mainly to look for some warmer jackets and other winter goodies. Although I haven't found the kind of jacket I was looking for (maybe a kind of wool peacoat?), we did manage some other great finds

Perennial Tea Room, tucked away in the quiet western end of Post Alley right by Pike's Place Market.

We always walk through the eastern end of quaint little Post Alley, but Ian saw a sign for this tea room which we've been meaning to check out for quite some time, primarily for:

Barnes & Watson Tahitian blend tea - loose leaf, of course ... I think Perennial Tea Room is one of the only shops in town that sells this blend and WOW was it good. It's served as an iced tea in a lot of the best restaurants around here, but considering how cold it's getting, we've been having it hot (and then steeping the old leaves overnight in water for iced tea) and it's equally delicious.

Also, in the little silver pouch, is a blooming tea. Walking by the French bakery Le Panier was dangerous for the wallet as well ... I could have bought so many palmiers and croissants, but I settled on some hazlenut and chocolate tea cookies (officially in French, petits carrés aux noisettes et chocolat noir) to go with our new tea.

We wandered around Nordstrom Rack to check out some warm winter gear, and then ended up heading over to gigantic flagship REI where I found some olive Tretorn rain boots on sale!

I've always been a huge fan of Tretorn, a Swedish shoe company which makes the cutest rubber boots. An incredible steal of a deal plus fleece lining combined with all the rain we'll be getting up here this winter definitely contributed to this being one of my all-time best buys. I went with these high-top boots as opposed to the full length since these had fleece lining, and I figured they're much more versatile. Looks like I'll be nice and warm when the rain and snow comes down

On the balcony garden front, I believe I posted a picture of the tomatoes beginning to ripen ... only one of the golden tomatoes was ripening just a couple days ago. Now, however, I've got three golden tomatoes and one of the big red tomatoes beginning to blush :-) How pretty to have these colors outside the living room window:

I only have two different tomato plants, but doesn't it look like I'm growing colorful heirloom varieties?

Finally, after much hassle, my castanets arrived:

I spent the whole afternoon trying to practice them and attempting to get them to roll. Bryan wasn't joking when he said castanets may very well be one of the most difficult things he's tried to play (and that's even coming from a percussionist). I can whole-heartedly agree ... this is going to take some time to get right. Then again, who was I to think that I could just watch a video of a professional castanet player playing the De Falla and then believe that I could just play it equally well having never even touched castanets before. Regardless, I have about a month to see if I can play these well enough to be a soloist at the concert - as of now, it's not looking that way :-p haha

At this past Monday's rehearsal of the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra, we finally met the soloist (a high school senior) who will be performing the Carmen Fantasy and wow is she good. It's going to be a fun concert for the audience, especially with all the flair of the Carmen piece (and a soloist who can hit all the trills and harmonics).

Before I go .. I forgot to mention, Zillow ranked Seattle as best city for trick-or-treating! Still, I don't know if I'll be doing any costume parties or going out since it'll get pretty crazy around here in Capitol Hill. Maybe I'll finally make that pumpkin pie I've been wanting to make totally from scratch ... starting with a fresh, homemade pie crust and then baking and mashing a cute little sugar pie pumpkin for the filling. In any case, support healthy biodiversity and fight commercial monoculture this season by perhaps buying an heirloom pumpkin instead. There are some at one of our local shops: http://marigoldandmint.blogspot.com/2010/10/in-halloween-state-of-mind.html

Stay tuned for news on the pie...

Fog sighting

Woke up this morning earlier than I normally do (i.e. 8:00am) and saw that it was foggy outside ... reminds me of good ol' San Francisco.

Obviously the entire Pacific coast has fog, but this was the first time since we've moved here that I've seen it here in Seattle. I guess it happens less frequently here because the Olympic mountain range on the peninsula west of the city usually blocks the majority of directly-on-the-coast related weather patterns (see the weather radar to the right for a visual)

That said, it will probably all burn off by the afternoon considering it's sunny, but I hope it lingers just a little while longer ...

Up here in Capitol Hill looking east towards 15th Ave

Puget Sound and the middle of the Space Needle hidden by the wall of fog :-)

Is there for honest poverty

Is there for honest poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that?
The coward slave, we pass him by --
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Our toils obscure, an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The man's the gowd for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a' that?
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine --
A man's a man for a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that,
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie ca'd 'a lord,'
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that?
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif for a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that,
The man o' independent mind,
He looks an' laughs at a' that.

A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that!
But an honest man's aboon his might --
Guid faith, he mauna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities, an' a' that,
The pith o' sense an' pride o' worth
Are higher rank than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may
(As come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree an' a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's comin yet for a' that,
That man to man the world o'er
Shall brithers be for a' that.


-Robert Burns


Standard English Translation:

Is there for honest poverty That hangs his head, and all that? The coward slave, we pass him by - We dare be poor for all that! For all that, and all that, Our toils obscure, and all that, The rank is but the guinea's stamp, The man's the gold for all that. What though on homely fare we dine, Wear course grey woolen, and all that? Give fools their silks, and knaves their wine - A man is a man for all that. For all that, and all that, Their tinsel show, and all that, The honest man, though ever so poor, Is king of men for all that. You see yonder fellow called 'a lord,' Who struts, and stares, and all that? Though hundreds worship at his word, He is but a dolt for all that. For all that, and all that, His ribboned, star, and all that, The man of independent mind, He looks and laughs at all that. A prince can make a belted knight, A marquis, duke, and all that! But an honest man is above his might - Good faith, he must not fault that For all that, and all that, Their dignities, and all that, The pith of sense and pride of worth Are higher rank than all that. Then let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that) That Sense and Worth over all the earth Shall have the first place and all that! For all that, and all that, It is coming yet for all that, That man to man the world over Shall brothers be for all that.

One of these things is not like the other!

I guess I've been buying some random things at the markets lately ... here's a look at my latest finds:

Purple potatoes!

Local chanterelle mushrooms and Romanesco broccoli. These mushrooms are usually so expensive, but they were cheap at the farmer's market - I guess that's the benefit of living in a cold, damp place ... mushrooms grow really well!

Tried my first dragonfruit the other night ... basically tastes like a bland kiwi (similar in texture). I'm sure, however, if you eat these locally where they are from they are delicious.

In other news, I bought some castanets to begin practicing for our orchestra piece La Vida Breve by De Falla. I jokingly sent out the video to the orchestra and our director mentioned that if I could get it to be good enough, we could include the castanets. So, for the next month alongside violin, I will be learning to play this piece:

Maybe on November 20th at 7:30pm (@ Seattle Town Hall) I will make my debut as a castanet soloist! haha

As far as the balcony garden goes .. EXCITING NEWS!

My golden tomato plant has ripened our first golden tomato! I had used one of the tomatoes from the red tomato plant as a green tomato a couple weeks ago (fried green tomatoes .. yum!)

However, the days are getting WAY shorter so I don't know if the other tomatoes will ripen in time. At the very least, I'll have almost 10 green tomatoes to use for various things. To think that I raised these plants from when they were less than 1 foot tall, and now they're almost done for the season - pretty cool :-)

The salad greens I had started about a month ago are starting to grow big now - time to transplant again. I'm curious to know whether or not these guys will survive as it keeps getting colder and light becomes more scarce with the increasingly cloudy/rainy days?

For the winter season, my seeds are ready for planting. I'm going to start these guys inside and harden them off to the cooler weather outside, but Kale and Collard Greens especially should do well in the cold winter weather. Who said you can't grow stuff in the winter? On the left you also see some seeds from Japan ... dandelion greens, autumn spinach, and green onions. Once the tomatoes die off due to the cold, I'll be transplanting the greens (especially the collard greens and kale) into what were previously the two tomato planters.

I've been posting these views of the tree outside the living room window for a while now, but the differences have been difficult to tell. Now, however, there's no question that the leaves are really turning red! How exciting - my first time living in a place where tree leaves change color! Take that Arizona and Hawaii ...

Rainy rainy view of the balcony from inside with a cuppa' tea! I love how everything looks when its raining :-)

With the temperatures beginning to dip into the upper 50s and lows in the 40s (you can see current weather in the top right of this blog), it's getting quite crisp in the evenings and mornings. Can't leave home without the sweater (and occasionally even my scarf) anymore.

Couple more midterms to go ... halfway done with my second-to-last semester of college ... almost there ...

Seattle, mon amour...

So Ian reminded me today that it's been a while since my last blog post and I was in need of an update, so...

I was clicking through some old pictures and given that some old high school friends may very well be moving up here to the beautiful Emerald City / Jet City / Rain City soon (here's to you Meagan & hopefully Katherine!), why not put together a bunch of my very own photos in a "Seattle life" photo essay of sorts. Some of these you may have already seen before, but don't worry - you'll survive. Everybody always does "top 10" so why not mix it up and fall one shy .. here's a "top 9"...

#1 - As strange as it sounds, SeaTac Airport. As if the forests and rivers lining your aerial approach into the city weren't enough, seeing snow-covered Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and (upon landing) majestic Mt. Rainier is pretty cool.

#2 - The gorgeous cityscape (everybody who has visited so far has independently commented on how clean Seattle is, so I guess that's bonus points too? haha)

Did I mention, good public transit?

A little old right next to the new

#3 - Books, books, books (and libraries!) Seattle has been ranked "most literate city" consistently ... regardless of that, I just think the central library is pretty badass - 10 floors of funky shaped glass:

University of Washington's Suzzallo Library can't escape the theme of "great libraries" in this city either

#4 - This one is a given ... forget Starbucks, Tully's, and Seattle's Best (although all three giants are from here). This city is home to some hardcore, amazing, independent java:

My favorite coffeeshop ... Caffè Umbria in old town Seattle's Pioneer Square district

#5 - The wonderful, natural bounty that is the state of Washington and its farmer's markets. According to fabulous wikipedia, "In 2004, Washington ranked first in the nation in production of red raspberries (90% of total U.S. production), wrinkled seed peas, hops, spearmint oil, apples, sweet cherries, pears, peppermint oil, Concord grapes, carrots for processing, and Niagra grapes. Washington also ranked second in the nation in production of lentils, fall potatoes, dry edible peas, apricots, grapes (all varieties taken together), asparagus (over 1/3 of national production), sweet corn for processing, and green peas for processing; third in tart cherries, prunes and plums, and dry summer onions" PHEW!

Don't forget about all the seafood here as well !

Too many varieties of salmon to count ... King, Coho, Yukon, Copper River, Chinook, Steelhead, Chum, Sockeye ....

Just as many varieties of local mushrooms as salmon - if not more!

#6 - Views from my apartment and living IN the city

Mt. Rainier from the bedroom window and front door (looking south)

Panorama of the city from the rooftop here in Capitol Hill

View westward towards the Olympic mountains

#7 - Water, water everywhere (and everything it brings!)

Watching the seaplanes swoop around the Space Needle to land on Lake Union from the apartment balcony (and trying to dodge them when sailing in the lake!)

The largest ferry fleet in the US shuttling everybody between the city and the surrounding islands/towns in Puget Sound

Day trip to Bainbridge Island via ferry

Boats all around

Cool drawbridges and waterways to let all the boats through

#8 -  The ability to trade the bustling city for the breathtaking natural world in an instant

Case in point ... Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighborhood. 12 miles of trails through forests, meadows, and shoreline on 534 acres of nature preserve - all accessible by the city bus, less than 15 minutes from downtown

Or, just east of the city ... the Cascade Mountains

Hidden glacier-fed aquamarine lakes

Wild berries (raspberries pictured) all over Washington -  go ahead and eat up ... there's plenty more 

Huckleberries as well

#9 - Last, but not least, my favorite. I guess this is similar to the previously mentioned #8 in terms of "escape" from the city ... trains!

Amtrak Cascades ... running from Eugene, Oregon through Portland, OR and Seattle, WA up to Vancouver, British Columbia. Unlike airplane travel, traveling by train is relaxing, scenic, and gets you right into the heart of the cities (Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver stations are in their respective downtowns). The Amtrak Coast Starlight also runs from Seattle all the way down to Los Angeles daily.

Bistro car in the train 

Slow down your traveling and soak in the view

Train runs along the coast and Puget Sound the whole way up to Vancouver ... I live for these grey, misty Pacific Northwest skies

Well there's that ... I hope you enjoyed some day-to-day goings-on from the northwest

The low has been starting to dip into the upper 40s and I'm excited. Apparently this winter is supposed to be pretty cold with possible snowstorms given what's going on with the La Nina weather patterns around the equator right now ... apparently the coldest ocean temperatures in the equator since the Eisenhower administration - the most intense La Nina conditions since 1955. Here's the Seattle Times article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013042975_forecast01m.html

I've never been in a snowstorm, but I've seen videos of the "snowpocalypse" that blanketed Seattle in 2008, a city that otherwise has pretty mild weather considering how far north we are (a result of all the water we have around us). In the meantime, it's already time to break out the scarf!

More red leaves on the tree outside the window every day 

And, of course, some random stuff ...

So I've never had Concord grapes before (at least, that I can remember), but after casually grazing at the co-op market, I felt like I've been missing out my whole life ... when I popped one in my mouth at the market, I was NOT expecting it to taste SO intensely grape-ey (only way I can describe them?) that they seem fake! You know that welch's grape juice? Yeah .. like that, except WAY better. There's seeds (which is why massive, industrialized, commercial agriculture probably doesn't like to grow a ton of these since the generic population wants seedless) ... but after eating these every day for the past week, I can never go back to "normal" green and red grapes. Concords have ruined grapes for me ... but in an oh so great way!

Also found these kiwi berries from Eugene, Oregon ... like mini, crunchier, fuzz-free kiwis ... but I think I still prefer the fully-grown kind ;-)

Ian making his own custom blend trail mix that we call E-mix (for "Ian" .. "E" ... get it?!) :-p ... I usually hate trail mix (the sulfur used in the commercial dried fruit has a gross taste and they always have a weird ratio of the different components - too much of this, not enough that ...), but using bulk, un-sulfured, wholesome dried fruits in the proportions WE like is a whoooole different story. Not to mention, it's way cheaper.

Oh! I also learned some basics of sailing for the first time last Monday ... Ian and I spent the lovely afternoon on a friend's sailboat in Lake Union. I'll take pics next time, but suffice to say it's quite an amazing feeling to be leaning so close to the water, loosening and tying ropes for the different sails, dodging other boats while all of the sea planes are landing and taking off right above your boat and right next to you! I definitely have to get used to how much the boat leans depending on the turn, direction, and wind ... at two different points, I managed to accidentally lean the boat so hard that things were falling off of tables (and both times, somebody was in the bathroom ... sorry!). What an incredible experience, and all with the downtown skyline in the background while we zipped around the docked houseboats and under the bridges.

Anyhow, that's all I can think of to add in this random update and it's 2:30AM so I should probably head to bed ... getting up to watch Ian play soccer with a mug of freshly brewed tea in hand. Go Stonewall!

à bientôt