Ferry to Bremerton, starting the paperwhite bulbs, and random kitchen happenings

Last Thursday was the earliest I've woken up in a really long time .... just before 5AM. Ian was attending a morning nursing information session at one of the colleges in Bremerton, so we were on the first 6AM ferry out of downtown Seattle. For those unfamiliar with the pacific northwest, Bremerton is a 1 hour ferry ride west of Seattle across the Puget Sound:


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Traditionally, Bremerton was a town of heavy industry - particularly, shipbuilding during WWII. Today, the shipbuilding presence is still very strong with the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard based right in the city, as well as the US Navy Kitsap Base. Nearly everybody on our early ferry seemed to work for the Navy in some capacity - lots of people who looked like naval engineers or something.

Just arrived at the Bremerton ferry landing, looking towards Port Orchard as dawn breaks at 7AM (we left Seattle and sailed the Sound in total darkness)

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard right next to the ferry landing

All the naval ships docked in Bremerton. That giant Hammerhead Crane No. 28 was built in 1933 and is one of the nation's largest cranes, capable of lifting 250 tons

Bremerton Marina - view from the ferry heading back to Seattle in the afternoon

The ride back to Seattle in the beautiful sunshine that afternoon was gorgeous, weaving through the waters, islands, and channels of Puget Sound and with snow-capped Mount Rainier dominating the distant skyline behind the cityscape. This area is so beautiful - it's such a shame that so many people here advocate building more massive highways and widening streets, destroying the landscape. Anyhow, if Ian ends up going to the nursing program in Bremerton, maybe we can just live on a boat in that marina :)

Ian surprised me with tulips ... such beautiful simple flowers :)

And in other flower-related news...

My paperwhite flower bulbs arrived. I have five bulbs, but I only wish to grow one at a time so that way we'll have some flowers to brighten up our home throughout the entire cold grey winter. Here, I've set up the bulb on some corks and brought the water up until it just barely touches the basal plate (bottom root growing part) of the bulb. I actually did this yesterday and checked it this evening ... roots are already growing, so it looks like a thumbs up for the plant.

As far as the balcony garden goes, all of the tomatoes are officially picked off of both plants. In fact, it's getting cold enough now (highs in the low 50s and lows in the 40s, cloudy more often than not) to where the plants are totally yellow and wilting. It was a fun run seeing the two grow over the past couple months - they were the first plants I bought the second or third day we moved here (from Jones Creek Farms @ the farmer's market right next to our apt). Some other guys seem to be growing strong still - the lettuce, for example, so maybe I'll get another bunch of seedlings started since they can withstand the cold. In particular, the green shiso plant (あおじそ) has been growing well. I kind of ignored it all summer and just let it grow like a weed with tons of leaves: 

I have no idea if the shiso can survive a mildly cold, wet winter (I think in cold, northern Japan where my grandparents grow this Japanese herb, it dies in the winter and grows back in the spring?), so I decided to cut about half of the plant and preserve some leaves just in case. I threw a couple in the freezer, but I saw a Japanese site talking about preserving by layering washed, dried leaves with salt in a glass container, so...

That's exactly what I decided to try to do with an empty jam jar. Layered and salted each leaf. I read on that same Japanese site that this should preserve them well and cure them (like my moroccan lemons) to where they will be perfect to use as a wrapper for おにぎり (rice balls). I'm looking forward to trying them this way! I can also just wash off the salt if I wish to use a "plain" preserved shiso leaf. This jar goes in the fridge for the salt to draw out the moisture out of the leaves.

Now for more food ... there's still one last slice of that from-scratch pumpkin pie. I should eat it with some tea. Anyhow, I was letting the yeast work on the flour overnight like I normally do for my no-knead cast-iron pot rustic artisan bread (see here for the secret if you haven't already read about my method). Except, I let it go for two nights instead of just one ... note to self, don't let the yeast work too long or your dough will turn to mush, which is what happened. Otherwise, the simple overnight fermentation makes a beautiful loaf of bread..

Remember how I always say to keep those broccoli stems, the bits/pieces of the tops and ends of carrots, outer layers and skins of onions, and the tops/leaves of celery stems that people always just chop off and throw away? With just the addition of a couple bay leaves, a clove of garlic, and some salt, I put all of those otherwise unwanted parts of the veggies into the crockpot with water overnight, and the next evening strained my delicious, homemade vegetable broth for future use - no preservative and filler-soaked artificial powdered broth for me!

I also decided to use that butternut squash that had been sitting on the kitchen counter for a while ... I was waiting for a good idea to come along, and it did! Roasted butternut squash stuffed with brown rice, leftover crunchy cornbread, herbs, grilled onions, and fresh diced tomatoes from the garden. Success - and very filling.

Finally, at my new favourite little tea shop tucked away in Post Alley which I mentioned in my previous post, I had bought this blooming tea along with that delicious Tahitian blend. Only tonight did I finally open up that shiny little wrapper and try it out:

Before: little blooming tea ball in the carafe

After: yay! It brewed a predominantly white tea tasting like silver-needle tea, but those frilly white things in the middle of the "blossom" are rose petals I believe, and gave a nice second dimension to the infusion. All in all, a delightful way to spend the evening for just $1.25 :-)

On a random note, I helped Ian's soccer team do some volunteer work after their game today ...

Switched the couple of clocks that aren't automatic back an hour ... my first time living somewhere where I have to deal with daylight savings time since the two other places I've lived until now (AZ and HI) are the two places in the US that don't change their clocks!

I'm all signed up for my final semester of college ... Bryan and I are in an online class together next semester! I told him about the benefits of online courses and their flexibility when he told me about his being tired of sitting on campus for hours between classes, and found him a couple classes that he needed to take available online instead. He seems really happy and looking forward to the change in schedule. I had a phone meeting with my advisor who said everything is looking great for my graduation. I'm happy all those little green check marks on my degree audit are finally checked off ... my international studies certificate will be complete after this semester as well.

With that I'll sign off with a picture of the birds all lined up on a telephone wire in Bremerton :)