Life's a Banquet
'...and most poor fools are starvin to death!' ~Mame

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

The food writer event we had at Rodstol Lane Farm last weekend was fantastic! The only thing I regret is that more people did not come to it, mainly because I think it's a shame anyone had to miss it. We had beautiful weather, great music, the food was fabulous if I do say so myself, and the wine was great too. Best of all were the authors who came and spoke to us and let me tell you it was an honor to have these three women all together for this panel. I first began reading blogs when I was researching to see what they were and I became fascinated with a few, particularly food blogs. I realized that I had stopped having time to read books, and I love to read, so this filled that need in small spurts. My first 2 were Orangette and Gluten Free Girl.

I don't remember how I found them since it was about 3 years ago, but I was probably searching for food writing in the Seattle area. Molly (Orangette) writes so beautifully with words that fill my mind with pictures. Shauna's (GFG) writing did the same for me and while I didn't know they knew each other, I began to follow them both. I have watched them grow and change even as my life was changing constantly. (It always is, I just noticed it more back then.) Their writing has changed and so have they, and it is a strange thing to feel like you know someone when you really don't know them at all, and yet these women are so gracious they make me feel right at home. I emailed Shauna for guidance in safely feeding our gluten free customers and we began talking now and then. Eventually I invited both her and her husband (Chef) Daniel to a Chef's Collaborative feast of pork in Seattle and I finally got to meet them in person. They were just as generous and nice as they seemed to be in the writings, and they continue to be as nice as you can imagine. Mark and I were invited to a party celebrating their birthdays last year and that is where I met Molly and her husband Brandon in person for the first time.

Molly and I had also exchanged emails, especially as she and Brandon embarked upon opening a new restaurant. I could relate to much of what she wrote and I wanted her to know she wasn't alone. I just love these gals and yet they don't know me hardly at all so it makes me seem like a crazy stalker, doesn't it. I am a bit in awe of them as they are published authors and internationally renowned bloggers and yet they act like regular people with excellent taste in food. When they both accepted my invitation to speak at the Food for Thought event I was ecstatic! They referred me to a few other wonderful authors and in the end one other could come and that was the darling Lorna Yee.

I found Lorna's blog I think just over a year ago, most likely as a link from one of the other gals. She has wonderful food photos on her blog (I WISH I could figure out how to get pics on this one!) and a new cookbook out, and I had been reading her articles online and in Seattle Magazine for awhile. I was so excited when she agreed to come: I would get to meet her! She brought her dashing husband Henry Lo, and their adorable pup KimChee, and they were both just as gracious and generous as Molly and Shauna are. Truly, all three are a delight to spend time with.

I am lucky enough to know Chef Chris Plemmons (of Two Snooty Chefs and Olympic College) and he agreed to help me with this meal. He came to the cafe at 6 that morning and helped with some prep work before hauling the meats that I had prepared to the farm. He set up the rotisserie, started the wood charcoal, and got the pork roasts and whole chickens turning on the spit. Oh man, was that meat delicious, and we could not have done the meal without him! He also moderated the speaker's panel and I was pleasantly surprised at his natural affinity for it! He did a much better job than I could have and I am so grateful for his help. Mark and I got to the cafe at 4 to start prepping then Erin got there at 5. Leslie was supposed to but she slept in a bit on accident... those gals worked their butts off all day so I won't hold it against her. Between the 4 of us we got it all done (what a great crew!) and were at the farm by 10:30 to get it ready. The girls got the food area all set up, Mark (the most amazing husband in the world) helped with everything and grilled the Italian sausages and we were a go! We had pink pickled onions (I borrowed that idea from last year's Harvest Meal, by Marty over at Agate Pass Cafe in Suquamish...I LOVE those sweet onions!) roasted red potato salad w/raspberry vinaigrette; Summer white bean salad w/fresh corn, herbs & cherry tomatoes, roasted green beans and wonderful olive oil; Gazpacho salad with big chunks of fabulous veggies in lime and lemon juice; fresh apricots and cantaloupe; gluten-free coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and butterscotch rangers.

Yup, folks ate good! I also made 2 sauces for the meats: a vinegar sauce ala North Carolina style and a mustard/beer sauce. All the produce was as local as I could get it, and I utilized Local Boys in Purdy for most of it. Trevor was a huge help to me and they are big on local produce. They know every farmer they work with, local or not, and are familiar with the farming practices used, so you can be sure to be eating responsibly, as well as flavorfully, when you get produce from Local Boys. They have local dairy products, eggs, wine, and the most addictive corn chips EVER...but I digress...

Once the meal was served, the musicians gone and the speakers were done signing books, folks started exiting and the tear down went relatively quickly. Mark and I had a lovely drink on the spacious front porch of the farmhouse with Cynthia and Tony Mora, owners of the gorgeous Rodstol Lane Farm. It was nice to relax a bit with friends before heading back to the cafe for cleanup. If you get a chance to go to an event at the farm (listed on their web site) you really should see it. This is a beautiful working farm and I want to live there!

I left the event details up on our web site so you can check out all the links HERE to see the great winemakers and info booths that were set up at the site also. Thormod from Viking Feast Ice Cream was there to sell his wonderful skyr (it's like a frozen yogurt style ice cream and delicious! You can find him at Silverdale Farmer's Market, Bremerton Farmer's Market, and Poulsbo FM as well as other events.)

Mark and I got home and into bed a bit after 8 that night, and were back at the cafe by 6 am because we had a catering job. Since Whaling Days shut us down for the weekend, and the Food for Thought event was a volunteer gig, we had to make up some of the lost income... we were exhausted when we got home around 2 pm. We went to bed at about 7:30 that night and slept hard! This next weekend we have a big catering event on Saturday and then the Finn River Farm & Cidery event on Sunday, so we will do it again. I am pretty excited, this farm tour is going to be FUN!

Meanwhile, in the back of my mind, I am trying to decide where I want to have my birthday meal at the end of August. I wanted to do the back room at Salumi, but I have not had luck getting a reservation, so I must decide what to do. I think I want to go to Seattle and hit one of my wish list places, and I have it narrowed down to 8 restaurants (yes, my wish list is huge!) and then again, there are 3 food trucks that I really want to visit. I know that sounds crazy so I will give you the links and you can see for yourself how I want to try everything on their menus: Skillet Street Food, Marination, and Hallava Falafel. See? I TOLD you they are awesome! So, should I make a full day of it and take as many friends as possible to the trucks to try every thing on the menus? Or should I do a quiet, relaxing dinner with full service at one of the 8 restaurants that I must choose between? What sounds best to you? Help me figure it out, please!

For next week's cater they have requested a 'regular' potato salad (as opposed to our delicious roasted red potato salad) so I am creating a recipe for that. Here is one that I like by Ina Garten and I will definitely use these ideas for mine. Try it at your next picnic and tell me what you think:

Makes 6-8 servings:

3 pounds small white potatoes
Kosher salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion

Place the potatoes and 2 tablespoons of salt in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are barely tender when pierced with a knife. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then place the colander with the potatoes over the empty pot and cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel. Allow the potatoes to steam for 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, dill, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Set aside.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in quarters or in half, depending on their size. Place the cut potatoes in a large bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, pour enough dressing over them to moisten. Add the celery and red onion, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend.

Serve cold or at room temperature. (Both potatoes and mayonnaise have strong potential for salmonella, so never leave it out for more than 2 hours before cooling it down again quickly.)

Ciao for now!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

HOLY CRAP A DOE JUST WALKED THROUGH OUR YARD! We have lived here over 10 years and never had a deer here because all the neighbors can't manage to keep their animals put, so there are many dogs roaming our unfenced acre+. It JUST happened as I was sitting down to write this! A couple of weeks ago Mark said he saw a doe in the driveway, but he didn't get a good look and I didn't see it at all. How cool is that! (Yes, I am easily entertained..)

We always close the cafe on the 4th and 5th of July, as business is down to nothing those days and it gives the staff (and us if we don't take catering) a nice weekend off. Mark and I decided not to work it, as we have been working a ton lately, and since I HATE the noisy war zone (there is a CANNON in Olalla! Seriously! And they shoot firearms as well as bombs going off all night long into the wee hours...) that our area becomes. So we left the country for a couple of days. Doesn't that sound exotic? It was Vancouver, BC, and we had not spent any real time in that city before so we had a fun time. Our first night's stay was in North Vancouver, at Lonsdale Quay (pronounced 'key'), where there is a big public market, some of which is in a building and some of which consists of vendors outside. We didn't end up exploring the area much because we got on the foot ferry and went across to downtown. It is quite the cool setup they have for their commuters and between that and their light rail and buses, I was once again reminded of how our region is at least 50 years behind the times with our public transportation (or lack thereof) and we need to get on it! (that's a different blog altogether...)

We walked all over the place that evening and we passed some interesting sights. The first store we saw was 'Cannibus Culture', which is Marc Emory's headquarters and storefront. I had a good giggle looking through there, it is the biggest, most amazing head shop I have ever seen! Beautiful hand blown glass items... all out in the open. Mark took some pictures of the whole trip that we will post on Facebook this week if you want to see them, check the cafe page there. (The pictures are HERE now) We were headed to China Town and it was an amazing destination! It is the second largest in North America (San Francisco is largest) and I want to go back and get a tour so we can find out what the items in the herb stores are. I knew some of them from my past experience as an herbal nutritionist, though there were piles and piles of different things that I could never have ID'd. We were pretty hungry so and we were in the area of the 'meat stores' (that is how the English language signs read) watching the butchers at work. The windows had all sorts of items hanging in them (all cooked) from duck and chicken to fabulous pork, sausages and so much more. Mark and I ventured into a couple of them just to watch, and in a smaller one we got a small box of goodies to eat as we strolled. I never knew the Chinese did 'chicharones', (aka 'cracklins' if you are from the South) that is as good as in Mexico...oh yes they do! There was lovely meat left on and the skin was crisp and dark and delicious! We got a few slices of sausage, a couple of chicken wings and a 'hom bow' (a steamed bun filled with pork in a sweet sauce) and I was so happy! We window shopped and slowly made our way through the night market, which turned out to be a little more kitch and less authenticity than we had hoped. All in all the experience was a sensory feast and we definitely want to go back with someone who can tell us what things are and maybe help us try things that we didn't know about. One of the items I am curious about was hanging in the meat shop curing, much like prosciutto in Italy, but it looked like whole chickens! They were splayed out flat and I have no idea how or why and I am fascinated by it. I may just go into Seattle's ID and see if they have it if I don't find out soon. If you know please send me an email... I am embarrassed that I know so little about authentic Asian food cultures, but I dare you to go to Italy with me!

We made our way back towards the foot ferry, looking for a place to have a drink, and after a couple of false starts we eventually ended up at a place called Steamworks Brewing. Their beer was really good and the bartender was extremely friendly, in spite of being very busy. He gave us some tips on other places to go and when we finally got back to the room it was 9:15! I think there must have been a time change because although I was tired (I am usually fast asleep by then) it did not feel like 9:15 to me! We checked out the massive 'super yacht' that was docked outside our window. It is called 'Attessa' and at 225 feet she is unimaginable. That night I dreamed of going aboard and travelling the world in rare style.

We got an early start, had a really crappy breakfast at a place I will not name, and went to our next stop which was the Worldmark in Downtown Vancouver. Although it was early, they allowed us to park so we could wander off for the day. We walked down to the docks and hopped a tiny little boat over to Granville Island, which used to be entirely industrial and now is full of shops, artists, and global crafts. We wandered the island and my favorite stop was at an Artisan Sake Maker that a waitress had told us about earlier. Thankfully! We tasted 5 sakes and only missed the sparkling sake, which I know I would have loved. It is truly amazing how different and complex good sakes are, much like tequila in that there is an aging process and so there are different types (blanco, reposado & anejo in tequila speak) with very different characteristics. We bought a bottle and I am looking forward to enjoying it!

As we were wandering the island I realized that we were as close to the book store that I wanted to visit as we were going to be, so we walked off the island and up about 6 blocks to Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks. I have known about this magical kingdom for a few years. I read Barbara Jo's blog, newsletters, and anything else I can find. They often have chef demo's and all sorts of great sounding events and here I was, finally in the store! Barbara Jo was not there, but copies of her books were, so I bought one that unfortunately was not signed. I had an arm load of books and when I found the 50% off shelves I did put a few back so I could get more of those. I do love a bargain book! I increased my wish list by about 20 (good thing I brought a note pad!) and Mark indulged me in about an hour of browsing and leafing through books about all things food related. It was heavenly! The man at the counter was extra sweet to me as I bubbled on about fun it was for me to be there and gave me a cloth book bag from the store! I was rather giddy as we went back to the island to finish our tour.

Hours later we returned to the Worldmark and were allowed to check in. My parents have timeshare with this company and that is how we got in... the apartment was tiny and fantastic! A kitchen, bedroom eating area and living room with full bath and even a closet with laundry facilities! From our 24th floor nest we had great views and I loved imagining that we lived in the city for a day. We scoured the restaurant listings and while we wanted to hit one recommended place, it was far from where we were, we were tired, and we didn't want to drive. Had we not walked 4000 miles in the past two days we may have been more up for it, but we wanted some place close so we picked a few spots and headed out. With more than one choice we knew that if we didn't like our first pick we could have a drink and move on, which is what we intended to do when we walked into the dark, unimpressive bar. It was called Relish Gastropub and Bar. Our waitress (a raven-haired beauty hailing from Ireland) was intent on showing us a nice time and impressed us right away with her excellent service. I wanted her name to be Fiona but apparently her parents chose Jessica instead, which is still very lovely if less exotic for my imagination. We ordered our drinks and agreed to look at a menu, all the time thinking we would not stay. We had already had a couple of crappy meals with mediocre drinks (one really great beer at Steamworks) and we wanted to have a decent meal. Pub burgers were not going to do it for us. Then she brought my drink and the menus. I love Caesars (aka bloody caesar) and in Canada I can get them everywhere! It's more difficult around here where the thicker Bloody Mary is far more popular. Caesars usually come with a nice garnish of at least olives, often pickled beans or asparagus, less often celery, and of course there are various other things as well. This Caesar was set down in front of me, a tall glass with a celery salted rim, and a celery stick inside. On top of this drink, however, was the finest accoutrement to a Caesar that I have ever seen: a fresh local oyster perched plumply on its shell. Oh my, this was a good sign! My night was looking better already!

We were stunned as we began reading the menu. It started with Cures & Charcuterie alongside Cheese and Oysters. There were small plates, sharing plates and full plates to choose from and every item was gourmet. We knew it would be fantastic because really, why bother producing a menu like this, in a pub environment, if you are not going to execute it perfectly. Perfect it was. We chose several things from the small and sharing plates, starting with a half dozen of those local oysters and I have to say I enjoyed them as much as our own local bivalves. We moved on to a Scotch Egg, which we had never tried before. It is a hard cooked egg wrapped in (house made) sausage, breaded and I believe it was then fried. The crispy outer shell gives way to a taste sensation that we dipped in house made spicy mustard and coated with 'Branston Pickle' which is a gourmet relish.

We also chose Gnocchi Poutine. I have never had Poutine, which is normally french fries and cheese curds covered in brown gravy, and after this I can't believe anything else can be as good. The gnocchi were rather large and sure to be gummy at that size. Not. Even. A. Little. Puffs of gnocchi clouds mixed with cheese curds and served in a balsamic reduction. Another delight was what they named 'Slambers'. You all know what sliders are, and this was a playful rendition that was better than any silly slider you can find. Including the best sliders ever which are at Pacific Grill in Tacoma. Slambers are braised lamb cheeks served on 'choux buns' with mint aioli and grainy dijon mustard. Choux buns are, as you may expect, pate a choux puffs cut in half to make tiny buns. Pate a choux is the same thing that cream puffs and eclairs are made from, so you can imagine that they are a light and airy pastry and the perfect encasement for braised lamb cheeks. I am, by the way, stealing this idea for our catering menu. It is fun and delicious!

There was one more thing that we had and we had ordered all of these items thinking they would be tiny enough that we would share their burger later. Alas we did not get there (the description of their grass-fed beef burger reads: "bacon relish, marrow aioli, aged cheddar". We must go back for this!) and this next item will explain why. Here is the menu listing: "Duck Fat Steak Frites" served with chow chow, a different kind of relish. These were large potato wedges, very crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. Fried in duck fat. Ho. Ly. Crap. Seriously. In spite of this writing I am still rather speechless about the entire meal and this place alone is reason enough to go back to Vancouver, even if only for a day. For dessert we skipped the Blueberry Crisp with bacon creme anglaise (it was painful to do!) and instead had another drink. That way I got my oyster for dessert! My mouth is watering at the memory and by the time we left (we lingered for some time over this feast in miniature) we were adopting Jessica and inviting her to come stay with us whenever she could get down our way. We walked the half a block back to the apartment and watched the fireworks on tv. It was well worth it! If you go to Vancouver, go to Relish.

The next morning we packed up and walked a couple of blocks to Joe's Grill, which the Worldmark receptionist had recommended after hearing my displeasure with my breakfast from the day before. Joe's is one of those great breakfast finds that everyone should have and we loved it! Fast paced, big plates, really great food made from scratch. Yea, baby! As we walked there we passed "Vera's Burger Shack" and the tagline read "You can't beat Vera's Meat!" so it is on our list for our next visit. We had a lovely weekend and as soon as we got home I read Barbara Jo's book "Cooking For Me and Sometimes You" and finished it before bed. It was a truly delightful stroll through Paris and it satisfied all my senses.

I am hosting a wine tasting this Friday from 4-6:30 (open house style) and I have some fabulous new wines to show you so I hope you can make it. It's free, though it would be wonderful if you brought a donation for the food bank. After the tasting we can head south to Rodstol Lane Farm for Music in the Orchard and lounge in the grass together.

So, do you want a recipe today? The produce is really starting to show up at the markets and it is time for lots of fresh, yummy things, especially with the warmer weather. Lori's favorite pasta is the fresh tomato/almond pesto that I make for Spaghetti. I don't remember where the original idea came from, though I suspect Lydia Bastianich is to blame, so I am going to print a recipe of hers for you. SO easy, SUPER fresh, and all you cook is the pasta (though you could eat this on rice, chicken, bread, or whatever else you can think of... it is that good! I use toasted almonds in mine (as opposed to pine nuts in a basil style pesto) and I crush them in the food processor first, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Lydia's sauce is more 'rustica' and chopped, less 'saucy'. Since this is a raw sauce, use the freshest, best ingredients that you can find, along with the best olive oil that you can manage. You will taste it all and you want it to be delicious.

Lydia's Raw Summer Tomato Sauce

Makes 3 to 4 cups, enough to sauce 1 pound of dry pasta
………………………….
2 pounds ripe summer tomatoes, preferably heirloom varieties in a mix of colors and shapes
3 or 4 plump garlic cloves, peeled
½ teaspoon salt
6 large basil leaves (about 3 tablespoons shredded)
¼ teaspoon dried peperoncino (hot red pepper flakes), or more or less to taste
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup or more grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or cubed fresh mozzarella (optional)
………………….
These instructions for NOT using a food processor. If you use one, just drop everything in to it and whir it all up!

Cut the tomatoes—cherry tomatoes in half; regular tomatoes into 1-inch chunks and drop them in a bowl.

Smash the garlic cloves with a knife and chop into a fine paste. Scatter the garlic paste and the salt over the tomatoes and stir gently.

Pile up the basil leaves and slice into thin strips (called a chiffonade). Strew these over the tomatoes, then the peperoncino flakes. Pour in the oil, stir, and fold, to coat the tomatoes and distribute the seasonings.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it marinate at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Toss the marinated sauce with freshly cooked and drained pasta. Serve as is, or toss in 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. For additional complexity, you could add 1 cup or more cubed fresh mozzarella.

Bring some to the cafe and share it with us!

Ciao for now!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I have a wonderful life and in case anyone out there thought maybe I didn't appreciate it: I DO! Every night as I go to sleep and each morning when I wake up I gaze out my window and give thanks for this beautiful place we live (not to mention all the times in between!)I have been 'high' since our Italian wine makers came out for a visit last Wednesday and totally made my day. It started about 2 weeks ago when I found out that several of our favorite Italian wine makers were going to be in Seattle and Tacoma at different events. Our friend and coordinator for our Italy food & wine trip, Doumina Whyman made sure that they got to stop by the cafe for a visit. It was a mad scramble, as I had 5 days (2 of them the weekend!) to make sure I got their wines into the store, had some great food to go with them, and most importantly got the word out so folks could come meet them and taste their wines with them! These men are so gracious and welcoming when we bring our groups to visit them in Italy, it was very important to me to show them as much hospitality as possible while they were visiting here. Meeting us for the first time was the endearing Nini Palama and his wife Isa, with wines from their estate in the Puglia region, the boot-heel of Italy. Then tall and handsome Federico Stella with his adorable father Giorgio, with wines from the Peimonte region, the upper thigh of Italy. We will visit his vineyards in October for the first time. Last and not least was our dear friend from Tuscany (the kneecap of Italy) Alessandro Bocci, from Perazzeta winery, which we can show you pictures of from our trip last year. Around 30 wine-loving people showed up to welcome our friends from Italy, some of whom had a bit less English than others, and we had a wonderful time hearing them talk and sipping their wines. Because of the late notice I did not have much of anything so we had to take orders for most wines, but I think it worked out well anyway, as our customers are the best in the universe and they understood about time constraints. It was wonderful to see the men and I feel like we showed them a great time, and then they got to take the Bremerton-Seattle ferry back on the most beautiful of nights, which I know they thoroughly enjoyed.

The next day Mark and I trekked to Tacoma to see "our Italians" and several other wine-makers from Italy at a trade event. We saw Lorenzo from Podere Ciona (we stayed there last year and it is a place I could live, to be sure! I love his mother and her friends, my Italian mamas!) We also reminisced with Antonio Sanguineti, who has visited the cafe before, and Enzo from Rigoloccio winery in the Maremma. We met Luca from La Quercia, where we wanted to go last year but did not due to the big earthquake, & Elena de Tarczal from the far northern area of Trentino. We missed a few friends and we made a couple of new ones, and I would have to be tortured to decide which of these geniuses makes the best wine. They are all the best of their regions and at the top of their different classes to be sure, and I really do love them all. It was fun to share pictures of last year's trip with them, some of whom were in those pictures, some who will be next year, and the rest just enjoy seeing photos of friends' wineries and familiar places within their homeland. Mark and I both had a fantastic time, it felt like a reunion, and we did not want to say 'ciao' when it was over. We did get one last farewell from Alessandro on Saturday, as he had a public event at Tacoma Boys so we popped in to get a favorite bottle signed and to wish him well. We will see him and some of the others in October-you can join us still, we have 3 spots left on the trip! I promise it will be so much fun you will barely be able to stand it!

Last weekend was my BFF Linda's 1/2 birthday (I thought it sucked that her late December birthday gets overshadowed by Christmas so I started celebrating her 1/2 birthday many years ago..) so I surprised her with a chocolate tour! We went through Savor Seattle and did the 'Chocolate Indulgence' tour, which is a walking tour and therefore puts you into massive calorie deficit and makes it all worth while. We went on Sunday, which happened to be the Gay Pride Parade and that made it all the more colorful of a tour! We parked in Tukwila and took the lightrail down so traffic and parking were just fine, thank you very much. We went to places and experienced flavors that neither of us had been or tried before and it was so much fun! A tasty learning experience, to be sure. If anyone out there wants to take me on the Gourmet Seattle tour, or even the Pike Place Market tour, I am totally game! Yes, it is sort of a touristy thing to do and yet we learned things about our own area and that was fun. Plus we could even fill in the blanks on a few things, like when we sampled Matt Carter's chocolates at The Chocolate Box, I was sure to let everyone know that Carter's Chocolates is in Port Orchard and absolutely worth a visit. By the time 2 hours of chocolate had passed we were done! We lightrailed it back and I had spicy pho for dinner...the chicken soup was light and very spicy to cut all that richness from earlier in the day. When I got home Mark had done most of the laundry...now THAT is a good day!

Have you been watching the FIFA World Cup? I bet you have since it is the most watched sporting event in the world (more than 715 million people watched the final match in 2006!) I am amazed by how in to this I am. Months ago I watched the draw for the lineup and I finally understand it! I am waking up every morning and tuning into the games as soon as they come on, either on tv or on my computer...Mark, Betuel and I huddled around the laptop to see USA score against England and we watched Mexico win early on as well! It is all very exciting and I find myself enthralled with the amazing footwork in the games. Now the USA and Mexico are both out, and I am still watching and loving every minute of it, and MLS is back playing again too, which is difficult to watch this year and yet I am there for those Sounders!

Soccer players are serious athletes, far more generally fit than baseball, basketball or American football players, and dare I say even more fit than Hockey, rugby and lacrosse players. They are running for more than 90 minutes at a time with only a 15 minute break in the middle! They must be eating mountains of protein and carbs before they play and yet the food sponsors seem to be predominantly those of fast food giants. There is simply no way these guys are eating that food and qualifying for World Cup play. There is, of course, controversy over that issue and FIFA (Federation International Football Association) is under fire from various health organizations from all over the world. FIFA isn't saying anything and I suspect that they will not. Money talks and I would bet that this World Cup is going to be more watched than the last one, so FIFA will take the money from whoever wants to sponsor it. I guess it is up to the rest of us to explain to our kids that just because McDonalds advertises at the World Cup, it is not cool to actually eat there. Sigh.

I am partnering with the Library Foundation to have a great food event here in Kitsap that I am super excited about. It is called "Food For Thought: Edible Conversations with internationally renowned food bloggers/authors". It will be at Rodstol Lane Farm and there will be NY Times best selling authors there! We are surrounding the panel with informational booths all having to do with our local food chain, such as our Food & Farm Policy Council and many more. Chef Chris Plemmons from Olympic College is going to roast a pig with me and we will do lots of other dishes that will be great, plus local wine and beer folks will be there selling additions to the meal. I want everyone to go and eat and learn and have a great time, though I have an event the following week that I think you will love, too.

This is one of our local Day Trips to Finnriver Farm & Cidery, in Chimacum Valley. We will create a great meal out of local foods, do a farm tour, have live music, taste their amazingly great hard cider (which tastes more like sparkling wine to me, so I love it) and have another fabulous time. We are still working out the details on both events, but get them on your calendars now so you will be sure to not miss them!

I was recently having lunch with Katie & Renee, both former Monica's team members, who were saying they missed the black bean chipotle soup that we make, since they are no longer working there and therefore not available every time we make it. I decided to put a version of our soup here for you and you can make it at home!

Black Bean Chipotle Soup
Beans (You could use canned beans, make sure you rinse them really well if you do)
1 pound dried black beans (2 cups), rinsed and picked over and soaked over night with a couple of bay leaves and some pepper. Drain the beans and add the following:

4 ounces ham steak , trimmed of rind (leave this out if you are vegetarian
2 bay leaves
5 cups water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt

Soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions , chopped fine (about 3 cups)
1 large carrot , chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)
3 ribs celery , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
5 - 6 medium cloves garlic , minced-about 1 1/2 tablespoon
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo (or more if you like it spicier)
2 teaspoons adobo sauce
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 tablespoons lime juice , from 1 to 2 limes

maybe some cornstarch and water...

1. FOR THE BEANS: Place beans, ham, bay, water, and baking soda in large saucepan with tight-fitting lid. Bring to boil over medium-high heat; using large spoon, skim scum as it rises to surface. Stir in salt, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer briskly until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (if necessary, add another 1 cup water and continue to simmer until beans are tender); do not drain beans. Discard bay. Remove ham steak (ham steak darkens to color of beans), cut into 1/4-inch cubes, and set aside.

2. FOR THE SOUP: Heat oil in 8-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking; add onions, carrot, celery, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add garlic and cumin; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in beans, bean cooking liquid, chipotle chiles, adobo sauce, and chicken broth. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors, about 30 minutes.

3. TO FINISH THE SOUP: Ladle 1-2 cups beans and 2 cups liquid into food processor or blender, process until smooth, and return to pot. If soup is still thinner than desired once boiling, stir 2 TBS cornstarch into 2 TBS water, then drizzle in/gradually stir mixture into soup; return to boil to fully thicken.

Off heat, stir in lime juice and reserved ham; ladle soup into bowls and serve immediately, passing garnishes separately. For garnishes you can use:
lime wedges
minced fresh cilantro leaves
red onion, finely diced
avocado, diced medium
sour cream

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

It's another beautiful morning in Olalla with sun-dappled trees and frolicking animals. I swear we live in a utopia out here! This morning I looked out to the bird sanctuary to see what the commotion was and apparently the Douglas Squirrel (aka Kamikaze, or Kaze for short) woke up feeling quite territorial. He was rather ineffectively trying to chase away a crow and a bunny! (We don't have rabbits, we have bunnies.) The squirrel would charge the crow, who would do a graceful hop/fly, lifting up just long enough to avoid Kaze, and then continue eating. Then the squirrel would charge the bunny, who would step aside and let the charging pest run by. It was pretty funny, and the whole time another squirrel was up in one of the trees chirping out his annoyance at the charging interloper. See? Utopia.

Last Saturday Mark and I finished at the cafe a bit too early to hit our beloved Bay Street Ale House, so we headed on up to Gig Harbor North to try a new place we spied while exiting Costco a couple of weeks ago. It is called Blue Cannon Pizza Co. and I love their tagline: "Eat it and weep. It's that good." We were pleasantly surprised by the nice atmosphere and their beer taps had great choices. They offer thin-crust pizzas, hot and cold sandwiches that are served on a french roll and come with potato wedges, salads and a few apps or sides. We enjoyed our pizzas, they make their own dough and sauce, and the toppings were fresh. The peppperoni was a different twist as it was in chunks rather than slices. This puzzled me until I took a bite: while there was not an over abundance of pepperoni (nor a deficit, it was just the right amount), I could taste it in every bite because the thicker chunks rendered more oil than slices. That delicious pepperoni flavor permeated the slices and I am a fan of the chunk! You also get a bit more chew out of them than you do the slices, which is a good thing. This place is really new and I was delighted to get to talk with the owner, Shawn. He was really nice and full of exuberance over his new place. We talked shop a bit and it will be fun to watch them blossom in that space. As far as I can tell they are the only independent operator in the entire strip mall, so I now have a reason to go over there other than Costco (which is a necessity for the cafe) and we love having a great place that close to Olalla.

On Sunday I had a fantastic experience with some wonderful women. Erin and I went to the Chef's Collaborative 'Farmer Jane' Brunch at la Spiga in Seattle, along with Charlotte and Jill. Temra Costa is the 'activist-turned writer' who authored 'Farmer Jane' and you can learn more about here on her web site. She loves talking about the powerful women within the farming/food world and since she was to be in Seattle for a few weekend speaking engagements she called Chef Tinsley and asked her to get together with Chef's Collaborative and they would do a brunch. Calls were made and CC's own Meg Chadsey got it all together. The other speakers were Kären Jurgensen of the Quilisascut Farm and the Seattle Culinary Academy, Kia Anderson (nee Kozen) from Nash's Organic Produce in Sequim, and Brooke Lucy from Bluebird Grain Farms in the Methow Valley. They were wonderful speakers and it was great to hear all they have done not only for themselves and their businesses, but for their communities, farming and food in general. I was very familiar with each of them from Chef's Collaborative, and it was wonderful to be able to share a little bit of that passion with my three companions, as well as the rest of the great folks in the room.

The ferry rides both to and fro were full of lively discussion, as my 3 companions did not know one another. They made the ride go very quickly and I would have enjoyed more time with each of them. Up on Capital Hill, La Spiga is a really large, urban space, and I would love to go to dinner there some time. The four of us chose a table that sat six, so another pair of women joined us for brunch and as crazy as it sounds, they were the other two women in the room from our side of the water! I didn't ask their permission to name them so I will just say that they have ties to the Bremerton and Key Peninsula Farmer's Markets and they were very nice to talk with. Brunch itself was fabulous and it all started with fresh juices and coffee (Caffe Umbria-gotta love it!) and 'bombolone', or homemade pastry cream-filled doughnuts. Oh. My. Once the talk was over we headed to the buffet for fruit from Tiny's in Eastern Wa; delicious cheeses from Quillisascut Farms and Estrella Family Cheese; spinach salad with balsamic and toasted sunflower seeds from Nash's; roasted asparagus with poached eggs, prosciutto and truffle oil; plain roasted asparagus; house made breads and fruit spreads and they also offered brunch cocktails. Everything was full of flavor and perfectly presented. We all received signed copies of Temra's book, which topped it off very nicely. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

On Tuesday I hopped over to the Silverdale Farmer's Market and was surprised to see some old friends who have started a new adventure. John and David, formerly of Henry's Deli in The Norm Dicks building in Bremerton, have opened Viaggio Pizza. It is a traveling wood-fired pizzeria and they were offering 3 or 4 different flavors from the caravan. David has a platform that he stands on as he rolls out the crusts and tops them to order, while John peels them into the oven and serves them up hot. The oven was super hot, which is perfect for Neapolitan style pizza, and they were cooking up in seconds. They offered a 'piece', which is a quarter of the pie, and the whole pie. The pizzas are about 12 inches and the crust had some char, which I love. The oven was so hot that it was curling the pepperoni, and the pie they had on display looked like it had little flowers all over the top. They can be found at different markets and festivals, and they are for hire for private events and parties. It is a great idea and it looks like they are having fun!

Yesterday at the cafe I got a call from Doumina. She was packing up to return from Italy and had to tell me that we have 2 wine-makers coming on June 23 and we must have a big event for them! So we shall... I am working out the details and will have them on the web site soon, as well as sending out another email newsletter to announce it. So exciting! We love our Italian wine makers! We are catering for the WSU Alumni in Bremerton tomorrow, then have a private graduation celebration dinner to cook for on Friday. Saturday should be busy with wonderfully warm weather, and then we will be busy all week preparing for the art walk on the 18th, and a big party and a wedding next weekend. Then the wine-makers come, plus we have a wine tasting on Friday the 25th, and bam! We are into July. Time flies when you are having fun for sure!

The recipe today is one that I learned in Italy and everyone loves this salad. It is great to take to parties, picnics and bbq's because it can safely sit out longer than mayonnaise based salads. You can personalize it in that if you do not like a particular ingredient, take it out, or add in your own. You can really make this one your own depending on what veggies and herbs you use. Follow the Bluebird Grain Farms link above to buy your farro online. It's the brand we use in the cafe and at home! You can add nuts, different veggies, change the herbs, whatever you like! Play with it, it's good to eat!

4 cups water
10 oz farro (emmer berries) and yes, you should weigh it out
2 tsp salt plus more for later
1/4+ cup excellent quality olive oil
2 tomatoes (about a pound), seeded and chopped
5 or so green onions, whites and greens, chopped
1-2 cucumbers, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup Italian Parsley, chopped
3 TBS Fresh Thyme (or any herb), chopped
black pepper, to taste
pecorino romano (or asiago, parmesan, or a combo of any aged cheeses), shredded
1-2 cups chopped dark, leafy greens, such as kale or chard. Romaine lettuce if you must.
2+ TBS good balsamic

Combine the water and farro in a medium saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the farro is tender, about 30 minutes. They should have some bite to them, not be mushy, not be crispy.
Drain well, and then transfer to a large bowl to cool.

Meanwhile prep your veggies. When the emmer is still warm but not steamy hot, pour the olive oil over and mix well.

Add in all the other ingredients and toss very well to combine. Adjust the salt and pepper, and add in any extra olive oil or balsamic if you want to. Keep tasting and adjusting until it is just how you like it.

Serve this salad at room temperature for the best flavor. If you make it a day ahead go ahead and refrigerate over night, and bring it up to temp for serving.

YUM!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Mark and I had a real night out with his parents on Sunday and it was truly fabulous! What is the most fun you have had out lately? I am talking about seeing some sort of show, enjoying some music, having a fabulous dinner and just generally being entertained? The best way I know how to do all that is at Teatro Zinzanni. Do you know about this magical evening? This is a thing that exists only in Seattle and in San Francisco, and it is the best entertainment your money can buy. The setting is a lavish 'big top' made elegant by candle light and white linens. The music is a live band, there is a story line and they choreograph dinner service within the story. Dinner is a 5 course meal by a Tom Douglas kitchen so you know it is going to be good! The menu changes seasonally and it is very well done. When you are first seated at your table you begin to see the entertainers as they walk around in their old time circus style outfits, and you have a show to watch even before it really begins. Your first course is on the table and you can order drinks to enjoy as well. The lights go way down, the music starts, and out comes Miz Francine Reed!! You know her, she is the blues queen who sang on the Lyle Lovett albums. Her smoky voice makes me shiver with delight. The entertainment includes everything from juggling (and believe me, you haven't seen juggling of this caliber!) and the magic of illusion, to trapeze arts, and feats of strength & flexibility, beautiful singing, and so much more. We even danced!

I have been to this a few times over the years and in fact I have a beaded head dress that I wear when I am lucky enough to go. I also wear my best rhinestone jewels and I have a feather boa to add if I am feeling it. Mark has been with me one other time, and it was the first time for Sandy & Don. They were both grinning the whole time and I know they loved it as much as I did! We sat in a booth on the perimeter, where I think we can see so much more than if we were down on the floor. This was the first time in several years that I have been and they have streamlined some of it and it is more user friendly than it was at first. The menu always changes and this time I chose to have the wine flight that the TZ sommeliers selected for pairing with each course and it was delicious. Our dinner menu was as follows:

Appetizer: French Country Pork Pate dusted with pistachio salt(heavenly), served with course mustard, Castlevetrano olives (bright green and not briny at all, SO good), cornichons (tiny pickles) and crispy toasts. The wine was Punkt Genau Rose, a pink sparkler from Austria.

Soup: Dreamy creamy asparagus and leek soup dressed with red pepper cream. (Mild and fresh tasting, Mark wanted to lick the bowl!) The wine: 2008 Delille Cellars Chaleur Estate Blanc, a Washington blend.

Salad: Baby spinach, frisee and pickled red onions tossed in lively mustard vinaigrette, topped with a disc of creamy chevre encrusted the pecans. (I did not get a pickled vibe off of the onions and I wish I had, though the goat cheese was great!) Wine: 2008 O'Reilly Pinot Noir from Oregon.

Main Course: I had the Fresh wild halibut with cucumber coriander yogurt sprinkled with fresh mint, sumac roasted sweet potatoes and sassy snap peas al dente. I took the option of adding a small portion of filet mignon and syrah jam to the plate as well, which Mark happily finished for me. (The other options included just filet mignon, or mushroom strata, which I did not have because the waiter said it was more like a bread pudding and that is not really a strata.) Wine: 2007 Corvidae Lenore Syrah from Columbia Valley.

Dessert: A scrumptious Vanilla Custard Tart with fresh berries and kiwi. Wine: 2007 Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Domauine Des Bernardins. (Much like a moscato d'Asti)

There was coffee service between the main course and dessert and they serve Caffe Umbria coffee, which made me very happy!

The show was to have started at 5:30 and it was a bit late, and we did not get out of there until 9 pm. It is a long, leisurely meal of smallish portions (though certainly not tiny) so you anticipate each course with glee without getting stuffed. All the while being delighted and entertained. You must go see this! It is a very expensive evening if you take it apart to look at it, though if you take it as the sum of its parts it is worth every penny. I wish we could afford to go more often, though perhaps my genuine awe and delight occurs more intensely because I only get to go every 2-3 years. If anyone wants to take me I am not opposed to going more often!

The other fun thing I did last week was to run 2 different types of private wine tastings to see how they would go. They were both so fun that we will definitely offer these on our catering services menu from now on. The first was at a senior living apartment complex in Bremerton and they had asked me to give a little talk about wine (I used the talk I did for the library in February for those of you who attended those) and I tasted the folks on 2 whites, 2 reds and a dessert wine. They seemed to have a great time and it was a most enjoyable evening for me. It was a pared-down tasting with more of a community service purpose, and I will be happy to offer that in the future.

On Friday Mark and I served/hosted a more 'formal' private wine tasting in a beautiful home. The hosts of the party are a couple of great customers who are quickly becoming lovely friends as well. She did most of the food and had us bring some focaccia and our wildly popular Caramelized Onion Tart. She asked me to choose the wines and I feel like I was wonderfully successful in doing so, because I chose 6 wines and, while she enjoyed them all, she absolutely loved 2 of them! I handed out wine notes and guided the 18 or so guests in a casual discussion of each wine. On the way home Mark and I outlined how we can offer this service in the future and I am quite pleased with the plans we came up with! I am not a trained sommelier and certainly not even a wine professional, though I still have a lot to offer because I am intimately familiar with the wines that we choose to serve. This will be a fun new offering and I hope that we get to do more parties like these.

I had a humbling talk with my staff last week, or rather, they had a talk with me. Leslie approached me and asked me to hear her out on some points that she felt very strongly about, and then she rallied the rest of 'my girls' behind her in solidarity. I was informed that I had not updated my value in 4 years and I was deeply undervaluing my service and time. She was right, and while it was difficult to hear and can be very difficult to do, I gave the subject much thought. It is a little scary to set pricing that did not exist before, or to raise prices when it is necessary, because the nasty little voices tell you that no one will want to pay you that money and you will fail. I had promised to honor their concerns and on Sunday I set some pricing guidelines for our catering services. As of Tuesday I have already been hired for 2 separate parties and they did not balk at the pricing at all. This support from the universe is especially interesting because we were closed Sunday and Monday, so these things just came in today. I am very proud of 'my girls' and deeply touched by their love for me, and I thank them for helping me take excellent care of our business and my self.

Today was one of those really busy administrative days where no matter how much I got done there was more to do. For every thing I ticked off of my to-do list at least 2 more things popped up in it's place! I will be able to catch up a bit tomorrow and then it will be time to get ready for the weekend catering. I love cooking for other people's parties! So what shall we cook this week? I am very hungry and haven't been to the store lately so my dinner is not looking promising. Maybe I will raid the freezer for this:

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Whole Chicken, cut into pieces, or 6-8 pieces of all one cut, such as breast or thigh
Salt
Cayenne
A few TBS and 1/4 cup Canola
1/4 C flour
1 Large onion, chopped
2 stalks or the heart of the celery, chopped
1-2 chopped green peppers
4-ish Cups chicken broth, warmed
thyme (fresh or dried)
1 lb andouille or other smoked sausage, cut up
fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp file (fee-lay) powder (you can skip it if you don't have it, or try Chinese 5-spice

cooked rice
green onions, chopped

Season the chicken w/the salt and cayenne to taste. Brown the chicken and set aside.

Get the roux going in a separate pan: Barely warm the oil and then whisk in the flour for the roux. Stirring constantly get that roux dark as the bayou. Take your time with it and go past your comfort zone

In the chicken pan ditch the old oil and heat some new oil and stir in the onions, celery and green peppers, cook and stir until veggies are soft. Don’t get splattered! Add the roux to the veggies.

Stir in warmed chicken broth, mix well.

Add the chicken pieces, thyme, parsley and file powder and bring to a boil. Simmer, partially uncovered, about a half an hour or more, skimming as needed.

Add the sausage and cook for another 1/2 to 1 hour, or so.

Put a big spoonful of rice in a bowl and ladle the gumbo over. The ratio of soup to rice is a personal choice. Garnish w/green onions. Have hot sauce on the table for those of us who like more spice.

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I am so excited to report that we have our next Day Trip/Farm Tour scheduled. It will be Sunday, August 1 at Finn River Farm & Cidery, which I told you about last week and I can hardly wait! We will have pizza dough from their milled flour, toppings from their garden, fruit tarts from their berries, and we are busy lining up local ice cream, cheeses and more from that region! Chimacum is bursting with great farms and artisan products and it will be so much fun to take you out there for the day. This is going to be a great time and I hope that you can come. Once I have all the suppliers lined up I can set the price and then we can start selling tickets. I have had requests already, though I can't set the price without some more information first. We like to keep it as affordable as possible for you, so I must do my due diligence here.

Last week Mark, Sharon, Erin and I toured 'Start Now Farm' in Bremerton. Jean started the Fresh Local store in downtown B-town, and she and Glen have been gardening/farming together for almost 40 years. They are creative geniuses and what they have done is beyond amazing. Their neighbors on either side have opened their yards to them so they have 3 front lawns full of raised beds and 2 greenhouses. In the back of the houses they have more greenhouses and vertical gardens. Seriously, there are cherry trees on the rooftop. As you go up each level there are more and more raised beds and pots full of vegetables and fruit! It is a sight to behold. There is a processing area w/running water, a walk-in cooler and so much more. Jean and Glen take 'Start Now' very actively and when they want to do something they go for it. Last summer Jean talked about providing our restaurant with all of our lettuces. She interviewed me to see what we would pay, how it needed to get to us, and all the details she could get. They grew lettuces just for us and now all of our lettuces at the cafe are from their organic farm. She saw no reason to wait or hesitate, she had the idea and went for it. Start Now. Check out that link to their web site and you will be well impressed, believe me. I bet they would even give you a tour of the farm if you asked nice and took them some of our croissants (Jean loves them!). Just don't damage the kale growing along the sidewalk in front of their home or she will march your buns home and tell your mom on you!

It is great strides like this in our mission that help me to realize that we have had the cafe for 4 years now. We started out knowing no one and nothing and now we know a few people and a few things. Luckily they are the right people and things, so it all keeps growing and moving and we are having more fun than ever. We are also more tired than ever, though we think we see relief for some of that within the next 2 years... that is what we are working towards, anyway. Mark and I have always known our life together is a miracle and now with the cafe it is absolute. Our team and our family of customers is truly ours now, and that feels great! I love recognizing most of the faces in the cafe each day. They are usually smiling and happy to be with us, and on those rare occasions that they are not smiling, we can offer hugs, friendly support and of course, cookies!

Speaking of our fabulous team of amazing staff, Lori is starting back today, part time. Her baby is doing GREAT and thriving after her very rocky start. Her actual birth day will be one year ago on June 6! How can a year have passed? Anyway, we are all excited to have Lori, and her brand of team spirit, back with us 2 days a week. It is also great to not have to train someone right now, which I will take as cosmic payback for the drama we had with hiring folks last year. Thank goodness we got Vicky out of it all!

I should probably remind everyone that we will be closed next weekend for the holiday. We can never compete with the Folk Life Festival and other holiday doings, so we give the team a break. Mark and I will be catering Friday evening and Saturday, though on Sunday we get to go with his parents to Teatro Zinzanni! This was a Christmas present from 2 seasons ago, and we finally can all get together for this fabulous dinner out. They haven't been before, so I can't wait to see what they think. I think it is the best entertainment in Seattle and we are so lucky to have it here! If you ever want to take me, just say the word and I will clear my schedule. I am so amazed by the choreography between the show and the kitchen. I would LOVE to be in that kitchen and watching them get it all plated! It must be the most organized chaos ever, a beautiful thing to see in a well-run kitchen. It feels like magic to the audience, though I know it is a ton of work.

One other fantastic experience I am going to have is a brunch at Osteria La Spiga (Chef Sabrina Tinsley!!) in Seattle, with author Temra Costa. Chef's Collaborative is putting it on along with Elliot Bay Book Company, and they describe it like this: "A sumptuous brunch and conversation with Temra Costa, author of 'FARMER JANE: Women Changing the Way We Eat.' Her message: as farmers, chefs, educators and activists, women are changing the way we eat and farm. Joining in the conversation will be three remarkable women who embody Temra's portrayal of the modern sustainable food movement: --Chef & Culinary Instructor Karen Jurgensen of Seattle Culinary Academy & Quillisascut Farm (Rice, WA) --Farmer Brooke Lucy of Bluebird Grain Farm (Winthrop, WA), and --Kia Kozun, Marketing Manager; Nash's Organic Produce (Sequim, WA). The cost is $48, which includes a 5-course menu of seasonal specialties from the Emilia-Romagna region, and a signed copy of FARMER JANE."
If you want to go get tickets HERE, I already have mine. It would be great to have a group of food-loving women from Kitsap join me!

My mom and dad stopped by the cafe last Friday for the anniversary wine tasting and brought me a few things including a couple of professional reference books. The event was very fun and exhausting, so when I got home I set the items on the ottoman for later perusal. On Sunday I moved them to my desk and on Monday morning I finally looked through them. One thing was a really very old cook book called "The White House Cook Book" and while it is in really poor condition in the front, it appears to be mostly intact. The front cover has been recovered with paper that I cannot get off, and inside it has my great, great grandmother's name and a date: "Antoinette Pottgether, 1901, Chicago, Ill". The title page is missing so I don't know which version of this famous cook book it is, but there are also a few personal notes stuffed into the pages, and recipes taped to the front cover. It is SO COOL! My great, great gramma (known as 'little gramma') lived to be 100 years old. I just love this cook book and I love knowing that she used it and thumbed through it and I can touch those same pages, albeit very carefully. Mark is an antique lover and he told me that he had picked up a copy of the same cookbook at the antique store in Silverdale. We don't know which copy is older, they both read "New and Enlarged Edition" on the spine. His is in slightly better shape, and seems to be from Rapid City, South Dakota, as inscribed by Mrs. Robert Moll. There are recipes stuffed and taped into this book, as well. It is quite a food history and I am loving reading this!

I am going to quote out of this book and offer a recipe from it as well, because it is too irresistible to pass up. I hope you love it as I do.

"Everything in the make-up of a salad should be of the freshest material, the vegetables crisp and fresh, the oil or butter the very best, meats, fowl and fish well cooked, pure cider or white-wine vinegar--in fact, every ingredient first class to insure success.
The vegetables used in salad are: Beet-root, onions, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, lentils, haricots, winter cress, peas, French beans, radish, cauliflower, --all these may be used judiciously in salad, if properly seasoned, according to the following directions:
Chervil is a delicious salad herb, invariably found in all salads prepared by a french gourmet. No man can be a true epicure who is unfamiliar with this excellent herb. It may be procured from the vegetable stands at Fulton and Washington Markets the year round. Its leaves resemble parsley, but are more divided, and a few of them added to a breakfast salad give a delightful flavor.
Chervil Vinegar.--A few drops of this vinegar added to fish sauces or salads is excellent, and well repays the little trouble taken in its preparation. Half fill a bottle with fresh or dry chervil leaves; fill the bottle with good vinegar and heat it gently by placing it in warm water, which bring to boiling point; remove from the fire; when cool cork, and in two weeks it will be ready for use."

So there you have it folks, we are all true French gourmets now. I could go on and on with this book and I have a few other really old cook books that I have picked up over the years, perhaps I will find more recipes in them for you. Do you have any old family artifacts that you cherish? I would love to hear about them. Drop me an email!

~Ciao for now!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Mark and I watched the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" and not 3 minutes into it I was smiling as I instantly fell in love with the writing. The dialogue was so well done and such a pleasure to behold. At the end I found out it was Aaron Sorkin who wrote it and NO WONDER I loved it so much! He wrote the West Wing series that I have fallen in love with of late and it is the writing that gets me every time. If you haven't seen the movie you should and if you have, well, you know what I am talking about. There are many memorable quotes from the movie and I can't choose a favorite, though if you have one I would love to know it.

I was so super busy last week getting ready for the Hama Hama day trip which was wildly successful, thank you for asking! Everything I dreamed for that day came true beautifully. I believe that every guest had a wonderful time and did exactly as they wanted to, the wine was great, the food was great and the weather was absolutely fantastic! The eagles showed up for the lowest tide of the year and I am still rather excited about the great day we had. One of our customers emailed a comment to me and I posted it on the cafe Facebook page for you to see. I prepped all day on Friday and got home around 8:45 pm. We were at the cafe by 6 on Saturday and I left for the farm at 8 am. Mark greeted most of the 30 attendees at the cafe with pastries and coffee, organized car pools and headed them out for the hour+ drive. The tide was going out quickly when I arrived and I spent 2 hours setting up the makeshift kitchen on the beach. Lissa (3rd generation working the Hama Hama Oyster Farm) built a camp fire and we went up to greet the group. They all got a tour of the store and facility, then went out for a guided beach walk with Lissa and her brother Adam. The oyster beds were near completely exposed and they got to see alot! They made their way toward the family's private beach where I was all set up and waiting for them.

I greeted them all with smoked and pickled oysters that were made by the Hama Hama crew. They had picked up fresh oysters and a couple of them started shucking for everyone. Nita was trying raw oysters for the very first time and loved them! We had Justin from the band 'Sideways Reign' played guitar and sang for background music while Lissa put a few oysters on the fire and showed us how to grill them. The folks from Hoodsport Winery were pouring their Orca series of wine and everyone settled in to the pace of the day. Some were happy to sit on the logs and watch the tide come in, while others went out and dug clams for the group, shucked oysters, Panko'd oysters for frying, and watched the cooking demos. We took Mark's crusty Italian bread and it went great with the cheese from Black Sheep Creamery. We showed how to steam clams (and a few mussels that they got as well) and I made 4 salads: My Mama's Broccoli, Farro, Roasted Red Potato, & Caesar; I apparently far over-estimated what 30 people would eat. Don't get me wrong, they did a great job of eating, we just supplied a bit too much food. When it was time to demonstrate the Oyster Bisque I could tell that everyone was ready to slow way down on the eating, so we agreed that I would make it for the soup on Monday and they would all get to come in for a free cup of soup. The final tastes of the day were Mark's Chocolate Brownies w/Olympic Mountain Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream and Hoodsport's Loganberry Cordial. Lissa brewed some of our blend of coffee up at the store so everyone could get a cup for the road and they all slowly meandered away, full and satisfied from a fabulous time. It felt like everyone had the sort of time that I intended them to have, and there is nothing more gratifying to me than that! Mark and I got home around 8:30 that night and we were exhausted and happy. By the way, I had not eaten much during the day-I am rarely hungry when I am cooking-so we stopped at Eagle Creek Saloon for a bite with our new friends, Rose & Mike, from Hoodsport Winery. There is a giant plastic hamburger in front of the building and I have always wanted to check this place out, so I was excited to see that this was where we were stopping. We (3 out of the 4 of us) shared an "Eagle" burger which was something like a pound of hamburger on a bun with jalapenos, mushrooms and I don't remember what else. It was very good and I am glad that Mike wanted to share it with us! It was a great burger: hand formed and well cared for. Lots of bikers and locals in this place, it was the kind of dive that I fall in love with!

On Thursday before the big event I was able to make time for a date with my friend Alison. She was sporting a new hair-do and looking fabulous, and we went to the free wine tasting at Pour at Four, a wine bar in Tacoma. It was really fun, we shared some very good food, and it's a great little wine bar, so if you find yourself in the Proctor district you should look it up. There is also a new wine bar opening in Gig Harbor, called Morso. It is associated with the Water to Wine store downtown and as far as I can tell it will be opening next week. I am very excited about this one, and I think it will be my new favorite place in the Harbor.

So I am planning on our next Day Trip being at the certified organic family farm: Finn River Farm & Cidery in the Chimacum Valley. They are a hard cidery that does the sparkling cider in the method of champagne, which I think makes it far better than any other hard cider that I have tasted. We love Crystie & Keith and you will understand a bit more about why when you read this quote from their web site: "Finnriver grows a variety of berries and heirloom apple trees, in order to provide luscious, organic fruits for our wines and ciders. We also glean wild apples from old-time local homesteads and source fruit from a fifth generation organic family farm in eastern Washington. We're committed to ecological business practices and sustainable land stewardship through organic production, conservation easements, renewable energy, salmon safe certification, habitat restoration, and community partnerships, celebration and outreach."

You may be wondering what do they grow. They say it better than I can: "we grow an assortment of berry crops, including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and black currants, as well as a mixed vegetable garden, varied flowers, popular squash varieties, and several heirloom apple orchards. Both here and on neighboring farms we grow over 25 acres of grains to produce whole grain berries and, with our stone mill, to offer fresh-milled flours. We also keep honey bees, raise layer and meat chickens, and, sometimes, cows, pigs, sheep or goats." It is a great destination farm, quite beautiful in the winter, which is when I was there, and I cannot wait to see it in full bloom this summer. They also have a wood-fired oven outside the tasting room so you might be able to guess what kinds of foods we will be featuring for this next feast. I have not set the date with them yet, though I am working on it as you read this. I have also been planning the next few wine tastings that we will have. This Friday's is free because it is our 4th anniversary (yay us!) and we love to share the joy. One a month through the summer should keep us all happy and enjoying a nice variety of wines!

Have you seen the Hornby Eagles? It is an adult pair of Bald Eagles just off of Vancouver Island, and they have a chick that they are raising. There is also an egg that did not hatch in the nest. You can see the raptors in real time (it's free, so there are ads on the page) and there is also sound, so you can hear their calls. They get quite talkative at times! There are 2 camera angles and my favorite is the one right at nest level, though when one of the adults sits and blocks the camera they switch it to the angle far above the nest. I have not made time to go to my personal Facebook page in over a week, but I find time to check the eagles at least once a day. It is really cool!

I feel like I am babbling now so I will leave you with this recipe for carrot salad that I recently found and fell in love with. It is not my recipe, it is from a blog I read, though I do not remember which one. Fresh carrots and salty cheese make this a fantastic summer salad!

Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta and Mint

3/4 pound carrots, peeled, trimmed and coarsely grated
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds or about half as much, ground (I used seeds but ground them first)
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds or about half as much, ground (I used the seed but ground them first, again)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon harissa (You could use a few drops of Sriracha chili sauce if you can't find, or make, harissa)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
3-4 ounces feta, crumbled or chopped into bits

In a small sauté pan, cook the garlic, caraway, cumin, paprika, harissa and sugar in the oil until fragrant, about one to two minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Pour over the carrots and mix. Add the herbs and mix. Leave to infuse for an hour and add the feta before serving.

Harissa: Is a North African chile paste that has become very popular. It goes with everything: eggs, potatoes, stews, couscous, sandwiches and more, and there are almost as many recipes as there are people who consume it. The advantage of making your own, as always, is that you can adjust the recipe to suit your tastes and desired level of heat.

8 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded (about 2 oz.)
8 dried new mexico chiles, stemmed and seeded (about 1 1⁄2 oz.)
1⁄2 tsp. caraway seeds
1⁄4 tsp. coriander seeds
1⁄4 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. dried mint leaves
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
1 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
5 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Put chiles into a medium bowl, cover with boiling water, and let sit until softened, about 20 minutes. Heat caraway, coriander, and cumin in an 8" skillet over medium heat. Toast spices, swirling skillet constantly, until very fragrant, about 4 minutes. Transfer spices to a grinder with the mint and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.
2. Drain chiles and transfer to the bowl of a food processor with the ground spices, olive oil, salt, garlic, and lemon juice. Purée, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the paste is very smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a sterilized 1-pint glass jar and fill with oil until ingredients are submerged by 1⁄2".
Refrigerate, topping off with more oil after each use. Paste will keep for up to 3 weeks.
MAKES 1 CUP

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I saw a commercial for the Bounce Dryer Bar. The woman in the ad was over-worked and over-wrought and then she had to do laundry! When it came time to do that horrid chore of throwing in a dryer sheet she smiled...she didn't have to do all that extra work! What a relief! She happily proclaimed 'it's one less thing to worry about!'and I thought HOLY CRAP! I never realized what a huge burden and chore putting in the dryer sheet was! I would LOVE to have one less thing to worry about! I immediately went online to see what this magical stress reliever was all about and to make sure it was environmentally friendly (after all, fewer dryer sheets in the dump is probably good) and alas, they add perfume to it. I get enough headaches without that, so until they come up with an unscented version I am doomed to a stressed life of dryer sheet chores. sigh. A life free from stress was SO CLOSE!

Last weekend Mark and I got away for a whole 18 hours (including travel time) and spent an evening with old friends. My friend Melanie turned 50 and I have known her since she was 30 so this was a big deal. Her party was up north in Skagit County on Chuckanut Drive so we used miles to get a room at the Best Western (for the 8 hours we would be there) and had ourselves a time. There were about 40 of us at the restaurant (we had a private room) to celebrate her life and times and we had us some FUN! There was a slide show up of pictures of Melanie throughout her life along with many of the friends and family that she loves. I enjoyed seeing pictures of her mom, who passed away nearly 8 years ago. Mark enjoyed seeing pictures of me and my perms back then... I always did want curly hair! Mel is all grey now and we were all much older versions of those pictures, and I had not seen most of those folks for a very long time, so hugs and laughter were the game of the night.

Her lovely wife Brenda had appointed another friend to emcee a 'story time' and he had us all stand up together. He asked 'who here has known Melanie for less than 4 years? You may sit down'. He went on to have people sit as they had known her for less than 6 years, 8, 10, 15, and 19. There were only 3 of us left standing: Beth, Mark and me. Beth has known her nearly 24 years so she won, and she went first. I had chosen only 2 Mel stories to tell and as I was sitting down I heard others shouting out 'tell the one about...' and so I stood up and told a couple more. We were laughing so much I think the room could have lifted off and flown with all that levity! Melanie loves good food as much as I do and this was one of the few times in our lives together that the food was not very important to the event. We were at one of her all time favorite restaurants (Chuckanut Manor) and there was an abundance of food, but we were all more interested in the visiting. The service, by the way, was phenomenal. Two women worked the room and we were never without a drink, a water refill, or whatever else we desired, in spite of the close quarters and colorful crowd. They were really great!

We were up and out of the hotel early so we could get back and put out some Mother's Day quiche and other orders that we had for the day and it was a really great, busy day. Business has been picking up and I am so grateful for that! Thank goodness our customers are so great and I am beginning to realize that they love us for who we are and what we have to offer, and they don't seem to want or need very many special deals. We have been putting them out there (and we make them really good!) and very few folks actually take advantage of them. Maybe the just like knowing that the deals are available... whatever it is, our family of customers is the most loyal and great bunch out there and we are extremely lucky to have them. I may be waxing a bit, and that is probably due to our pending anniversary. Four years at the cafe becomes official on May 20th! Every successful day that passes is a celebration and four years is a great big deal! It is very exciting.

For our own Mother's Day my parents came over Saturday night and we grilled some pork ribs and steak, along with some bok choy and a baguette from the Loaf and Round truck. I was so happy to remember where they would be as I was running errands on Saturday and my timing was great! I have fallen in love with their baguettes and I cannot live without them. I also stopped at Colello's Produce stand to pick some things up and it is really a nice place! They assure me that they are reaching out to local farmers to bring in as much local stuff as they can, which will be fantastic once we are in the growing season! It was about this time that I was yelling at the radio announcer for the Sounders. He needs to move to LA! And I digress... So anyway, we grilled it all up, I tossed a raw asparagus salad together and we had some lovely Cab from Eliseo Silva and enjoyed a great candle-lit dinner. Then we all went into the living room and bowled 10 frames. I bowled a record high! Mom and dad played 3 holes of golf and we watched Mark in a boxing match. Oh, did I mention that we used our Costco rebate to get a WII? It is so fun! And since it was sort of free I love it even more! It was a great way to spend an evening for sure.

The next day we went out to Mark's parents to spend the afternoon with his family. Travis mentioned that he probably won't be coming to stay and work with us this summer, which did not surprise me too much. We will miss him like crazy and I hope he will spend at least a couple of days with us just for fun, but he is 16 now and so we may lose him for a few years. It is still my only regret in life that I allowed my last job to keep me from being more involved in his early years, so I don't intend to miss anything else if I can help it. I know that as he gets older he will come back around and meanwhile we will encourage him to live a great life and have lots of fun! He is one very smart kid (all the Downen men are, he is just the first to start finding his potential at such a young age) and he is running, so in great shape, and I bet they will be beating the girls off of him if it hasn't started already. His mom told me that they will let us know when his track meets start up again so we can get out to one, and I can't wait to root him on!

So the week has flown past (again) and the Hama Hama Day Trip is so close! I am so excited to be able to do this, because it is so like the things we do in Italy and I have wanted to share that with the folks here since we started the Italy trip. This is the first in what I hope is a series of food & wine extravaganza farm visits and it is already a success! The next one is in the planning stages and it will be at a different place yet still tons of fun. I promised the staff that it would be on a Sunday so that they can come too, they are all totally bummed that they can't come out with us and enjoy this day. Besides, it is always more fun when the girls are with us! I am trying to decide if I should make the entire batch of Oyster Bisque with the day trippers, or if I should just do a small pot and have the rest done. It is so easy to do, I am leaning towards the whole pot, but if anything goes wrong (I am cooking on a camp stove after all!) then we are down an entree. Not that there won't be enough food mind you... we shall see.

For the recipe today I am offering up my brother-in-law Don's SweetTart Cucumber Salad. He made it at the last family reunion and I fell in love with it!

2 1/2 cup rice vinegar 
1/2 Cup granulated sugar 
15 medium cucumbers , sliced, salted, and drained (see directions)
2 medium red onion , sliced very thin
2 small jalapeño chiles , seeded and minced (or more, to taste)

To prepare the cucumbers: Peel, halve lengthwise, and scoop seeds from cucumbers using a spoon. Stack halves flat side down; slice diagonally 1/4-inch thick. Toss with 1 tablespoon salt in strainer or colander set over bowl; Drain for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 hours. Transfer to medium bowl; reserve for further use.

1. Bring vinegar to boil in small nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Stir in sugar to dissolve; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

2. Meanwhile, mix cucumbers, onions, and jalapeños in medium bowl. Pour dressing over cucumber mixture; toss to coat. Serve chilled.

The longer this one marinates the better it is!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I ruined the pork butt roast. I agonized over what to do... I had ignored my inner voices once; I was loathe to do it again, and yet nothing made sense to me for a moment. Nothing. It was my third annual catering for a Kentucky Derby Party: Oven 'smoked' pork roast, sweet potato 'casserole', cheesy grits souffle, bacon-cheddar spoon bread, and a few other things. I brined this beautiful pork butt for 2 days, got in to the cafe 7 hours before it was due and pulled it out, rinsed it and let it dry. I rubbed it all over with spices to create a flavorful bark. I put it in a slow oven and lovingly tended to it for a few hours. The last 2 times I checked the temperature I was slightly puzzled: it felt just about done, it was tender, and yet the thermometer read quite low. It didn't make sense but I know to trust the thermometer and I was really busy by then getting all the other stuff done. Plus we were lucky to have a fairly busy restaurant day that day, so I was back and forth between the cooking and running out orders for our guests. I didn't listen to that doubting inner voice that told me something was not quite right.

The next-to-last time I checked it I KNEW it was done, and yet I ignored that inner voice again and put it back in. IT DID NOT MAKE SENSE, yet I did it. They arrived to pick up the food and the pork, which should have been done an hour ago, was not. We pulled it out one more time and Mark used another thermometer which read WAY OVER DONE! Holy crap. I jumped back as if I had been bitten, my face stricken and denial-laden panic rising in my throat. I could only think of swear words and I didn't want to cry (THERE'S NO CRYING IN THE KITCHEN!) so I tried to think fast. I grabbed the serving pan and tried to lift the pork onto it and it fell apart like beautiful pulled pork should... but I had to take most of the bark off so the parts that were the driest would come away from the center. I salvaged as much as I could, covered it and took it out to her car, trying to breathe.

I told her, in the most professional tone that I could muster, that the pork was different this year (yeah, RUINED is pretty different!) and then I showed it to her. I explained what I had done, in as light a tone as I could manage, and that I pulled out the very best parts for her party. She had my cell phone number and of course her satisfaction is 100% guaranteed, so I would do whatever I needed to make it right. She laughed, seemingly tickled at my despair. (Thank goodness she had worked with me those other times and knew I wasn't a complete failure!) She drove away and I waited for the angry phone call, I was planning other things I could make really fast and deliver to her. She didn't call... and that was worse because it meant she was too upset to allow me to fix it.

Added note: By the way when I went back inside the cafe I immediately ordered 3 new thermometers. 1 digital remote and 2 old fashioned regular thermometers. It didn't fix it but I did feel a little better for having fired the stupid thermometer that I had used.

Mark and I pulled a 16 hour day that day, longer than our usual 12 or so, and I was exhausted. The Kitsap School of Art had a show that we participated in, so we had lots of the artists and their families coming through. It was an honor to be a part of such a creative crowd! Later we poured at the Body reFORM Pilates Studio's Relay for Life Charity Wine tasting, so I was distracted with talking to people about wine and soothed a bit by meeting Frank Roth and his wife Michaela (I may not be spelling it correctly; it is pronounced: Mish-ay-la). Frank is the wine maker at Eliseo Silva/Tagaris Vineyards and I have been a fan for a few years (his wines continue to come through our place; they are fabulous!). They were so sweet and fun to talk with, and I wish we could have spent a few hours more talking to them. Those things were a nice salve on my wounded pride.

So after that excessively long day on our feet we were going home and of course we were starving. Mark said he would fix us a sandwich when we got home and I said no, I am going to bed when we get home! We decided to take a risk and stop at The Float, a tavern in Purdy that we used to love, and lately have not enjoyed as much as we used to. It was Saturday, it was going to be packed and loud and we would never get served. Let's give it a try anyway. We got a parking spot right in front of the door... that can't be bad since my feet hurt so much they were throbbing. We walked in and it was not so packed, just nicely attended, and lo and behold there was A TABLE available for us! We took it and were served rather quickly. The band took up and they were called 'The Knuckleheads'. They are AWESOME! They were 3 older guys jammin with a bluesy rock and roll sound, a little Johnnie Cash, a little Georgia Satellites... and even a little disco-turned-blues that was really, really good. Even better was the Sounders game on the tv over the bar-except they tied and it shoulda been a win. We enjoyed the music, the food, a nice beer (I love me some Mac n Jacks!) and bed never felt so good...even though someone who ruined the pork roast didn't deserve such comfort.

Still no disappointed/angry call. I slept pretty well (yay exhaustion) and the first thing I thought of Sunday morning was the ruined pork. Did I ruin their party? Were their 22 guests hating me today? Did I let down 2 of my favorite customers? I haven't had such dramatically dark thoughts about my role in the business in quite awhile. When we first started out every time I made a mistake, no matter how small, I was certain that we were doomed to fail within moments. Mark was like that too, though less often than I was. I shuffled around the house, fighting the urge to call my customers and ask them how it went. I always want to do that, call and check in, as if I sent them with my children instead of food that I made. I have so far been successful in refraining from that level of psychosis and that day was no exception, though it was an internal battle.

Monday... will they return the serve ware and tell me of their disgust? No one showed up, they didn't call. More torture.

Today (Tuesday) the ladies had a friend return the serve ware. Sharon called to give me the inventory so I could check off my list and "Oh by the way... the gentleman said you were worried about the pork." I sucked in my breath and waited with dread... "Yes I was" I muttered. "Well", said Sharon, "he said that it was perfect. They loved it and it could not have been better." WHAT??? There is NO WAY that could be true. "Are you sure??? He wasn't just being nice?" There was hardly any bark, it was falling apart and hadn't even had time to rest so it must have been dry! "Seriously" she insisted "he assured me it was fine and I believe him." Holy crap. I thought for a moment... I mean if they liked that they would have married the pork I intended to make.

What could have saved me? Epiphany: it must have been the brine. Brining adds flavor and moisture and I know that it can help any meat withstand a bit of over cooking but I am here to tell you that it was WAY over cooked. I normally would take it out at 150 degrees and my ears and eyes stopped working when Mark told me it was climbing over 190! It should have been as dry as string and it wasn't. Or at least, they say it wasn't, and I have to believe them. I know it tasted good, I tasted the dry-as-wood-slats bark and it WAS excellent in flavor. Ok. I have avoided disaster. I live to cook another day. I did not kill anyone and they do not want to kill me. I did not waste an animal's life and I did not ruin a great party. I am breathing again. I must go in to the cafe and get ready for Cinco de Mayo-I am making empanadas and mole and I must convince Betuel that I can do that...He isn't so sure that this gringa can cook a mole. I have a few tricks up my sleeve and I am hoping to get him to smile when he tastes it. I will let you know.

Obviously the recipe of the day should entail a brine. Rather I think I will give guidelines to brining different pieces of meat. Ok so here is the thing: brining must have salt to work and there is no such thing as 'low salt' brining. On the other hand, the salt in the brine does not necessarily add sodium to the meat. You can rinse off the meat and pat it dry to reassure yourself, but either way it will not leave a salty residue or flavor. Trust me on this. It facilitates moisture, tenderness and flavor and that is all, and yet that is everything.

You should brine any of these meats for this long:
Whole Chicken 3-8 hrs
Chicken Pieces 1-2 hrs
Whole Turkey 12 hrs-2 days
Turkey Breast 4-8 hrs
Cornish Game Hens 1-2 hrs
Pork Chops 2-6 hrs
Pork Tenderloin 2-8 hrs
Whole Pork Loin 1-3 days

Use a nonreactive container that is appropriate for the size. For smaller pieces of chicken or fish a ziplock bag will work fine. I use a 5 gallon pickle bucket for the bigger roasts and fowl... come get one from us any time, we have lots of buckets!

Use one cup of salt for every 2 quarts of water. I also match salt with equal parts sugar or brown sugar, depending on what I am making.

I found the definitive answers to all your brining questions HERE if you want to check it out.

Brine it, Baby!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I have had fun the past couple of weeks connecting with some new friends and reconnecting with others. Do you ever get lonely, even when you are surrounded by lots of people? It happens to me sometimes, especially in relationship to work, because we don't really have friends in the restaurant biz that we can talk with. We do have mentors who have become friends and perhaps the most significant of those are John & Laura Nesby, of Mor Mor Bistro in Poulsbo. From the first moment that we met them they have been gracious and helpful and wonderful role models for us in the restaurant world. While I would do anything for them, we don't have a social relationship, and so it was especially nice to talk with them for an evening last week at the Seaport Salon & Day Spa's annual charity event. They thought they were having a nice night out when I spotted them and sort of crashed their evening, which was never my intention, and then suddenly a couple of hours had passed and I had usurped their entire night out. Of course they were more than generous about it and it was really nice to chat with them and reconnect. They are pioneers in this region when it comes to utilizing local food and they have one of my very top picks for dining out in Kitsap, and certainly the best place in Poulsbo, so check them out!

I have also had a 'second date' with my new friend Cynthia, and we are planning a wonderful event this summer at her farm which I will tell you about as soon as we have more details. You will love both the event and her beautiful farm, which is where I want to live now. Another 'second date' was with Alison, who writes for WestSound Home & Garden Magazine, and she says her article about the cafe will be in the summer issue. She is so funny and fun to be around that on the two 'interviews' we had we ended up talking about everything; what should have taken about an hour took far longer and was far more enjoyable than other interviews I have had!

To top it all off I finally had a one-on-one play date with my friend Shauna. I have known her for a couple of years via email and her blog, we have been to a Chef's Collaborative event together, and I have been at a party at her house. Monday I got to spend the afternoon with her, and sweet Lucy, talking up a storm and watching her make a gluten-free puff pastry that looked impossible, yet she turned it into a beautiful thing. Her story is really something and the way that she shares it with others is a work of art. Quite frankly I am grateful that I do not have Celiac Disease or other gluten intolerance, and I am proud that we can offer safe, fabulous food to our customers and friends who do suffer with this. Shauna has helped me learn ways to respectfully respond to those needs and she has also helped me to know that we are not able to meet every need, every day, and it is okay to do the best that we can.

I hear more people talking about how difficult it is to find new friends as we get older. I have single friends who liken it to the dating scene: where do you go to meet people with the qualities that you hope for in a friend, or in a date? When Mark and I started our business we knew that it would encompass our lives for at least the first five years, and we asked our families and friends to be patient, and to please visit us since we knew we would not be able to get out much. We were so right about that! Many of our friends have faded out of our lives and others have given up on us, and some have stuck with us and continue to forgive our absences. Almost none of them live on the Peninsula and that makes it even more difficult to get together. My friend-for-life Linda changed jobs a few years before I did and she would tell me that she got lonely and I did not really understand what that meant. I completely understand it now and I cherish the times that I do get to talk with or see her. Let's face it, nobody relates to us like our lifelong girlfriends do, not even our wonderful and loving husbands.

What do all those dates and friendships have in common? We seem to come together over some sort of nourishment. A cup of tea, a shared happy hour menu, a hot sandwich and a bowl of soup are all things that I have enjoyed with those aforementioned friends this past month. We have sought out quiet, locally owned places to escape to for a few moments, or we have prepared things for one another, and always the emotional nourishment of good conversations have been so much more enhanced as we share the physical nourishment of food and beverages. I learned this ritual of hospitality from a long line of women and have nurtured that particular habit my whole life so far. When someone is ill or there is a death in the family we take food to heal the wounds and comfort the souls. When we celebrate or gather together for fun we gather in the kitchen or crowd around a restaurant table to excitedly share the tastes of success. We are always more successful when we tickle the taste-buds of our potential friends and beaus and I know that many people shut down and stop eating when they are terribly sad...there are mountains of poetry, parables, and other literature to prove it.

This ritual of feeding each other does not just occur in our society, it happens across the globe in all cultures and across all social stratas. Many cultures have specific foods to feed the specific needs of each occurrence, as in the purple rice they use in villages in Thailand for communal celebrations. We could spend years learning more about how to feed each other in body, mind and spirit. I bet you have built social rituals around food and drink that are based on your family traditions as well as life experiences and I would love to know about them! What is your favorite food or drink to celebrate with? To impress someone with? To nurture someone? To comfort your self? and whatever else comes to mind. What are the stories behind the foods and rituals?

This week we have Dining Out for Life where we donate a portion of our sales to the Kitsap HIV/AIDS Foundation and in order to donate more, we hope everyone who possibly can will come in to eat that day. It doesn't cost the diners anything over and above the fabulous food they will have, and it is a great way to commune with our neighbors and show support for an important cause. This year there are more places to choose from than ever and I love the hopefulness in that! When we first brought this event to Kitsap County only a couple of other restaurants joined in the event; this year I count 11 of us! Ghandi Indian Cuisine has been a part of it since our first year and I think the others are newer to it, and I welcome them! There is room for everyone when we have the best interest of the community in our hearts and minds, and no matter which of us you dine with that day, you are sure to enjoy the meal just a little bit more knowing the good you are helping to do.

On Saturday I am pouring wine at the Body reFORM Pilates Studio Relay for Life Charity Benefit. I am bringing wine maker Frank Roth, from Eliseo Silva wines (Tagaris Winery) to tell his stories behind the wines. Each $20 ticket goes to the American Cancer Society and this is quickly becoming a top annual charity event! You can still get tickets at Monica's and at the Pilates studio.

Time flies and behind that comes Cinco de Mayo (Betuel always makes great food for us on that day), Mother's Day and then on May 15 the big Hama Hama Oyster Farm Day Trip/Food & Wine Tour. We kept the price down to $49.99 per ticket and what a deal that is! It is one of the lowest tides of the year so the guided beach walk will be phenomenal. Lissa will have shrimp, sea beans, oysters & clams for us to include in our feast and Mark will bring bread & dessert. I will make a few fantastic salads and we will have a gourmet feast on the beach! Hoodsport winery will be there to taste us on their new Orca line of wines, and Meg & Brad Gregory from Black Sheep Creamery will be on hand with cheese samples and amazing stories from their farm in Adna. Olympic Mountain Ice Cream will be on hand to add to Mark's dessert and that will take it to a whole new level of goodness. Plus we will show you how to shuck, bbq and make a stew out of the oysters, a clam steaming demo and tips on foraging for all who want to know. Or you can sit by the fire pit and relax while we do all the work for your feast! Lissa is lining up a local band to play music for us and I have asked all the wildlife to be on hand for entertainment purposes. They agreed and so did great weather! We will start the carpool caravan at 9:30 at the cafe and make sure everyone who has a ticket can follow along and even share a ride. This is going to be a most fabulous day and we are limiting attendance to 30 people only, so if you want a ticket you should let me know as soon as you possibly can. Believe me when I say this is the way we want to feed you the seafood you want to eat! If you miss this one we will be planning another farm tour event at a wonderful place in Chimacum Valley this summer, so stay tuned and watch for that one.

The recipe this week is so simple I hesitate to call it a recipe. It is quickly becoming asparagus season and most people I know boil it. I do not. My favorite way to have asparagus is roasted and I want to share with you this beautifully simple preparation that takes about 10 minutes and can be a fantastic addition to any meal once you have picked it up at the farmer's market:

Preheat the oven (or grill) to 350 degrees.
Place a piece of parchment paper on a sheet pan.
Trim the tough ends off of however much asparagus you may want to cook.
Drizzle about a Tablespoon of olive oil per asparagus bunch over the trimmed stalks, sprinkle some salt and pepper over it, and gently schmear it all over the asparagus with your hands.

Lay out the asparagus so it is in a single layer, and generally not touching each other and squeeze a bit of fresh lemon over the top.
Toss it in the oven and roast it for about 4 minutes, then turn it and check it in 2 more. If it needs a couple more minutes let it go, if not take it out. The super thin stalks may only take 3-4 minutes, while thicker stalks could take upwards of 10. I like it to remain a bit crispy and not at all mushy. That's it!

The best way I know to improve on this already fabulous dish is to take it out of the oven and let it cool down just a bit, then throw some fresh goat cheese on it. The residual heat will melt the cheese a bit (which is why you want to cool it some first, otherwise it melts to a saucy consistency that you may or may not love) and some will stay chunky and oh yummy yum yum.

You can do this with just about any vegetable that you can think of. Green beans are about to be in season as well and I love them roasted. Yea, I can't think of a vegetable I don't love roasted... can you?

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

My hard drive was corrupt last week and that is why I could not post. For the past 3 years in a row my hard drive has gone kaput around this time of year. This time I had a feeling... it was not very tangible, the startup was taking a fraction of a second longer than it used to and I just had a feeling. So I took it to my guy and sure enough it had to be replaced! The irony is that last year when it happened I bought this computer off the shelf because we had a credit at Costco that covered the cost. This has Windows Vista on it and I hate it so much that I will NEVER give Microsoft money again. Everyone says 'just go to Windows 7, it's so much better' and I say NO! Unless one of my 2 friends who works at Microsoft gets it for me I will not be spending money.. and I am not asking them to get it for me. My computer guy partitioned my hard drive and put Linux on it for me so I can start playing with it and getting used to it. So far I have not had a chance to do anything because I spent the last 2 days getting all my crap, ur, I mean programs back onto this machine so I can use it again. At least I didn't lose everything this time... that is so much better than the alternative!

Last Friday Mark and I stayed up very late and went in to Seattle to see Pink Martini play at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I have seen them both before and loved them separately. Together they do more than make beautiful music together.. they make every cell in my body reverberate with the musical magic that they perform. You have never heard Pink Martini as well as we did that night, unless you have heard them with a symphony. I counted 86 people on the stage total, including the conductor. It was so amazing! We were both already tired and at one point we were sitting on the light rail train headed in, and we joked about having dinner in the Mt Baker area and heading back home. As soon as the first song started I was so glad that we went. Because we had to get my computer we did not get to stop and have Vietnamese food like we wanted to. Rather we had hurried appetizers at the Triple Door (which is the same kitchen as Wild Ginger, with no wait!) and then got in to our box. I love getting box seats at Benaroya! It makes me feel special and it is such a great view. Mark loved it more than he thought he would and that did not really surprise me. Unfortunately, because we were up until after midnight (which is way past our usual bed time) we felt hungover the next day. And I only had 3/4 of my pint of beer! We catered/served dinner for 18 on Saturday so it was a long day, but all worth it in the end.

The nicer weather last week afforded us a couple of grilling nights and that was a big hooray! We got some halibut and I always forget how much I love halibut. It smells a little fishy and yet it never tastes that way! It is so good and all we did was the usual: olive oil, salt & pepper. We grilled some green onions out of my sister's garden and those were great as well. They were a little short because I had been using the greens to garnish things for a few days. We also pan 'fried' the oysters we got at Hama Hama and they were fantastic as well. Lissa had told me that she felt oysters needed to be parboiled before frying them, so they are more well-cooked than otherwise. We tried both ways. I decided not to parboil because she admitted that they lost flavor, so rather I melted some butter and began the cooking process in that. I took them out when they were about half cooked and dropped them into a simple coat of cracker meal and polenta. The others I just put directly into the coating. I got a pan hot and 'fried' them all up (the reason I say 'fried' is because I don't use much oil. I spray the pan with cooking spray and add a small dollop of peanut oil, just to coat the surface). Mark and I agreed that while delicious, we far preferred the raw oysters to the par-cooked ones. The flavors were cleaner, stronger and true oyster flavors while the others were a bit 'dumbed down'. I suppose if you are introducing someone to oysters for the first time this might be a way to go... but I love oysters too much to muffle the flavors.

The other thing we both agreed on is that polenta is not the right thing to coat them in. The grains are too big and the only reason I used it is that we did not have a finer grind of cornmeal in the house, so I won't do it again. Panko is our favorite and we will stick to that. We ate all that lovely seafood with some bok choy and kale raab that I got from the Poulsbo farmer's market. I heated some olive oil, toasted some garlic in it and then discarded it, sprinkled in some red chili flakes and sauteed the greens all together. I added a few drops of wine and lidded it for a minute just to get the tougher stems tender, then finished the saute so the liquid evaporated, added a sprinkle of salt and VOILA! The tastiest greens around! I ate them for dinner, then breakfast, then made more and did it again. They are great with a couple of over-easy eggs on them. I got eggs from Cynthia at Rodstol Lane Farm and the yolks are gorgeous! We also lucked out and got some bacon from Jerry Darnall (a local hog farmer and co-conspirator on the Kitsap Food & Farm Policy Council). It was the tastiest bacon we have ever had and that is truly saying something! I cannot wait to eat more of his pork later this year.

So here we are at a wonderfully busy week. Leslie's birthday, Rheycel's birthday, and 'Earth Day'. Since every day is Earth Day at the cafe we are having a Spring Party on Saturday the 24th. We will make some of our catering menu specialties (such as caramelized onion tart) and give out free samples, plus wine tastes. There will be a live radio show via KITZ AM 1400 and the Kitsap Community & Agricultural Alliance and we will have musicians from the Washington Academy of Music playing upstairs. One of the coolest parts will be that our Sailing & Rowing Team, which is based in Old Town, is hosting their first district wide regatta down on the docks. We are making sail boat cookies to celebrate and root our team on! It will be too busy for me to get to a farmer's market on Saturday; luckily the Old Town Silverdale market opens today. So Saturday will be super festive and fun and then Mark and I have to get out of town so we can help his Aunt Dee & Uncle Johnnie celebrate 50 years of marriage. It will be a family party and fun to see all his cousins, not to mention his parents, brothers, and of course our favorite nephew Travis.

Travis is driving now, by the way. For those of you who followed his working with us the past few summers we are hoping he will want to do it again and this year he can drive me in! Pretty amazing since just a couple of years ago his dad and I were in the 9th grade together... or maybe it was longer. Time flies when you are having fun!

I have to get in and get ready for 30 boxed lunches, 15 CO/XO wives have a reservation (we love our Navy community!) and a couple of functions this evening that I need to be at. Since I embedded recipes in above I will not add another here, and if you have made something that you want to share with us send it to me! I would love to get it out there for you, plus we all want new ideas to make for our families and ourselves. Have a great week!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

The Poulsbo Farmer's Market opens tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it! It will be fun to see who is there and what they have and what I can use for a catered dinner we are doing next week. Port Orchard will open on the 24th and that is the other one I get to more often than any of the others. I mainly hit Poulsbo when I can simply because there are more farmers and at PO there are more crafters and plants people. PO has the bbq guy though, and that is worth it's weight in diamonds. THE best bbq this side of Mississippi! Poulsbo has CJ's breakfast burritoes and I love those darn things so much that I can't believe I just went 6 months without one! I want to try to hit more markets, more often this year, though we shall see. Saturdays can be busy at the cafe with catering and special orders and the season for that has started (thank goodness!!) we have a seated dinner for 20 upstairs on the 17th, the Spring Party and radio show at the cafe on the 24th, an off site catered Kentucky Derby party and a charity wine tasting both on May 1. That Kentucky Derby party is a really cool job that we love. The ladies who put it on came to me 3 years ago with a menu that they wanted and we have adapted the recipes to do them 'our' way, and they have loved them every year! From oven-smoked pork butt, sweet potato casserole and cheese grits, to spoon bread and caramel nut tarts, I look forward to cooking this party for them every Spring.

Yesterday Mark and I went out to the Hama Hama Oyster Farm just outside of Lilliwaup (the other side of the canal) and spent some time with Lissa, who is part of the new generation that is running the farm. This place is super special to both Mark and me. We have childhood memories all around this place and we have been eating their oysters practically all our lives. I met Lissa James and her brother Adam a couple of months ago on that agri-tourism seminar farm tour that I told you about, and we started hatching a plan. Most of you know that Mark and I host an 8-day food and wine tour in Italy each October, and I have been wanting to do something like that, in day-trip form, around here. Hama Hama will be our first trip. We are going to take up to 30 people for a day trip in May, on the lowest tide of the year. There will be a farm tour, guided beach walk and fire pit. There will be live music, and Meg & Brad Gregory of Black Sheep Creamery will hopefully be there with samples of their fabulous sheep cheese and info on cheese making. We will learn how to pick oysters, shuck them, and do a cooking demo class all about oyster stew. We will also dig a few clams and learn about the other foragable edibles in the area, and then have a wine tasting with Hoodsport Winery and their new 'Orca' line of wines. We will have a wonderful meal with a bounty of seafood: oysters on the half shell, bbq'd, pan fried, pickled and in the stews; steamed clams; canal shrimp; sea beans from the estuary at the farm; Mark's crusty Italian bread, 2 or 3 different styles of salads and side dishes; wine; and oh yes, we are hoping to get the folks from Olympic Mountain Ice Cream out there with their gremolata for the oysters, and their ice cream for dessert along with some wonderful creation of Mark's. Oh yea, baby, this is going to be amazingly fantastic! We have invited a few eagles and other wildlife to make their appearances and with the lowest tide of the year we just might find a lost civilization out there. I CANNOT WAIT for this to take off! Lissa and I are still finalizing a few things before we begin to sell tickets so watch the web site and here for that announcement in the next week or so.

This is my final installment in the story of how I got here, and the things that helped to shape my life as it is now, in relation to all things food. I started the story 3 posts ago and in this fourth post I will bring us to present day. All of the things I have written about (and more) played roles in building up my value system. Of course, my parents played (play) the biggest role of all, from forming my food tastes and values, to supporting me endlessly in my endeavors. I remember our family going in search of the divey-est dives with the most phenomenal food that we could find...breakfast joints, Chinese food, teriyaki steak and eggs... of course we got the occasional bucket of chicken or take out pizza, and Lord knows when my parents were both working hard and raising two young daughters frozen meals were relied on more than a few times. But those are not my key memories; the huge family gatherings with everyone cooking and bringing great food to the table are. The 'try at least one bite of everything and then you can go' rule was way better than at my friends' homes where they had to clean their plates no matter what. As we got older and our lives could have easily grown apart from family meals, my parents made us merge, at least a couple of nights a week family dinners were still a priority and telling one thing we learned that day was more often fun than it was a chore.

It is a natural transition for us to go from living our values, to living our values through our business, and yet so often we find others to be surprised that we do this. Why wouldn't we? I know this wasn't the original plan: I was so sure of my law enforcement career plans that when they got derailed I thought there was no meaning left in my BA, or anything else that I had done. I tried other paths, including the time I became a certified Nutritional Herbalist and Reiki master, and I learned many more things that help me in my business today, though I certainly never thought that could tie in. I still love those parts of my life, and I do not mourn the loss of those dreams like I thought I was going to. Rather I am grateful to have had them and for having them help get me to where I am today. Looking back it is so easy to see the path and how it all ties in... which was unimaginable during those parts of the journey. That knowledge helps me sit more easily within the journey I am on now. I may not know where we will end up, though it doesn't really matter because I just keep getting happier and more satisfied with my life.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I can tell you from experience that the best way to be happy doing it, no matter what you do, is to live your values all the time. It's the only way to fly!

The recipe today is my grandmother Marylee's Oyster bisque. It is a simple dish and I have created other styles of stew based on this recipe.

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped (her recipe says to julienne them, I do not)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 leeks, chopped
6 'tender' celery stalks (I use the innermost part of the stalk, leafy parts and all), chopped
5 TBS unsalted butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

1/4 cup flour
6 cups hot fish stock and/or chicken stock (I use mostly clam broth and add some chicken stock)
2 cups dry white wine or vermouth
1 large bay leaf

32 fresh oysters, drained
4 more TBS butter
10 drops worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper

2 cups sour cream whisked w/3 egg yolks
fresh herbs, chopped fine (I use flat leaf parsley and chives)

In a covered 3-quart saucepan, cook the vegetables slowly in the butter until tender, though not browned-about 10-15 minutes. Season to taste.

Sprinkle the flour over the veg and cook, stirring gently, for about 3 minutes. Dribble in 2 cups of hot stock and whisk or stir to make a perfectly smooth mixture with the flour; gradually stir in 4 more cups of stock and the wine. Add the bay leaf, bring to a simmer and simmer slowly for 10 minutes. adjust seasoning as needed.

Meanwhile melt the next 4 TBS butter to bubbling in a frying pan and add the oysters. Let cook for one minute, turn them and cook one more miute, or until they are plump and swell slightly. Drop in the worcestershire, S&P, and pour it all into the soup base. Be sure to swirl some of the soup into the pan to get all the oystery goodness out and into the pot.

Whisk the eggs and sour cream together in a heat-proof bowl and by driblets whisk in 2 cups of the hot soup liquid into the sour cream to temper it. Fold the mixture back into the soup pot and stir over moderate heat until the liquid has thickened slightly. Do not bring this to a simmer.

Adjust seasonings and serve at once with a sprinkling of the fresh herbs. Voila!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Hanging out with Ruth Reichl was really wonderful! I had so much fun and really I owe that to my friend Cynthia, who went with me that night. Dawn ended up having to work and missed out on the whole thing, and Cynthia decided to go with me. We started out at the Hwang Do Noodle House, and while we took a meandering route to get there, it was well worth it! The name of the restaurant was not in English so it took a bit of deduction to get to it, though once we were in and saw the name of it in English on the menu we were very pleased with ourselves! We shared the house special soup with hand made noodles, a light broth, some clams and a few other things. The noodles were spectacularly good! We also shared a pork dish which was quite spicy and not Cynthia's cup of tea, so to speak, (though I loved the tea there!), and we also ordered the dumplings. It was an appetizer and we thought that this amount of food sounded reasonable, after all, the soup cost 5 bucks, how much food could it be? Well let me tell you something, the Koreans are abundant with their food! We got a huge bowl of soup (don't worry Cynthia, I won't tell everyone how you entertained me trying to figure out the chopsticks on that dish), a sizzling plate of pork, all the little side dishes and kim chee that always accompany Korean meals, which I LOVE! And 6 hockey puck sized steamed dumplings that were the best dumplings I have ever eaten. The flavors in the filling were so varied and lovely, they teased and pleased my tongue like never before! I must go back for more dumplings. I am dreaming of those little purses of pork!

Sated in both appetite and conversation we headed out to go the few blocks down to where Ruth was speaking. This was Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, and it was put on by the Library: A FREE EVENT! I brought my 2 favorite books of hers, hoping to get them signed, and when we walked in to see an auditorium full of chairs and bereft of people we couldn't believe it! We got 3rd or 4th row seats, right in front of her! There was a pre-function event for library donors and that is where everyone was: across the hall! So we got our pick of seats and that was fine with me! The auditorium filled in behind us and then suddenly she was there. They gave a great intro for her and she filled the next hour with stories and sometimes I closed my eyes to envision her tales. She is a wonderful speaker and it was a thrill to hear some of the behind-the-scenes details of her career and books. She flew in just for this event and was leaving again right away... in town less than 24 hours and the only event she did was this one! What a coup for the Pierce Co Library! Way to go!

As we stood to head up towards the signing table I was sure the line would be interminable, and I knew Cynthia was running on little sleep AND she had not brought books to sign so I was beginning to chicken out. Cynthia would hear none of it and insisted we wait in line. We actually got up towards the front of the line after mowing down a few seniors who were moving slowly, and it went very quickly. Everyone ooo'd and aaah'd over the fact that I had a hard-back of Garlic & Sapphires, because I read it a few years ago (thanks, mom!)... we got closer and my throat began to close up. I asked, in what I thought was a perfectly loud voice, if I could take her picture, and no one heard me! Cynthia took the camera, asked in the same voice that I had (I thought!) and Ruth said yes. The woman who was assisting in opening the books to the right pages pulled me over and said "stand next to her!" and my eyes got as big as pancakes! Ruth smiled, pulled me to her and put her arm around me and I got my picture taken with her! Holy cripes, I was so speechless (yes, it's true!)and the grin on my face is so crazy! You can see it on the cafe facebook page if you want a good laugh!

It's my dad's birthday this week and my sister Lisa is coming up for a few days so we can have some family time around it. On Saturday we are going to Slim's Last Chance Chili Shack in Seattle, which I love anyway, to enjoy a record release party. Many moons ago Lisa, a self-taught drummer, was in a rockabilly surfer style band called Los Hornets. They were really great and even opened a show for Dick Dale, so that tells you how good they were! Los Hornets was old school, with a stand up base and rough-around-the-edges vocals and they were very popular in a time when grunge was becoming really well known in Seattle. Quite frankly, I like Los Hornets better than Nirvana, but I digress. Lisa is a marine biologist now, though she keeps in touch with old band mates, (sadly, Slim, whom the bar is named after, has passed away) and this release party has to do with the old days. I am looking forward to some great chili (how will I decide which one to have??), throwing some peanut shells on the floor, and hearing some good music.

So let me see...where was I in my past history telling... I will keep this one short since I already took up so much of your time today. I was on the opening team of the flagship Shari's restaurant in King County (Renton), at the Benson Hy/Petrovitsky rd. My roommate made the pies for that store and I was a server... I refused to work in the kitchen when I saw what they had to work with. I did, however, learn to make great milkshakes there and we hand blend our shakes at the cafe. I worked in several restaurants starting as a bus 'girl', working as a waitress, in catering, as a hostess/floor supervisor, and then I hit the kitchens. I went from one job, making 800-1000 pies a day, (1500-1800 during fair season!), to another shucking oysters in cold prep and flipping omelettes on the buffet station at a hotel fine dining restaurant, finally to helping run the kitchen (Charlie's Bar & Grill-no longer there) at the Maple Valley Golf Course. The first chef I worked under was a former prison chef and he was a giant Mr Poopy Pants, though he taught me how to make everything from scratch. We made absolutely everything by hand in that place, including our cheese sticks for the bar and anything else that we served. He practically beat into me the importance of making good food to serve, or get out of the kitchen, period. (Ah yes, I remember the screaming matches we would get into...) When he left he was replaced by a guy named Greg Rooter. Greg was a pit man and he hand built a brick bbq station in back of the restaurant. He taught me about bbq and grilling and catering, and I heard that he eventually opened his own bbq restaurant in Covington. He was a nice man and taught me a million things that I still use today. Charlie's was sort of a dive with fabulous food and strong drinks, just what every golfer loves it. It pains me to think about them tearing out that bbq pit when they got rid of Charlie's and built a big, shiny new fancy-pants restaurant on the course closer to the highway.

My last restaurant job was actually front-of-the-house for a big name hotel restaurant in Seatac. I was finishing up my BA in criminal justice and I hated the attitudes of the admin there. I swore I would never work in that field again because of how they treated their staff, and 16 years later when I decided to get back to the craft, I swore I would never be a boss like they were. I succeed and fail at that goal daily, and will continue to strive to be the boss I never had, yet always wanted. My mentor Greg Rooter was the closest, though technically we worked for Charlie and he had some serious addicition problems so there were issues. I learned things from every boss I had, sometimes it was more about what not to do, though more often I was learning all about the restaurant business and cooking, even though I didn't realize that was what I was learning. I thought I was just working my way through college.. little did I know I was preparing for my dream life.

Next week for the diner classic/comfort meal we are roasting up half chickens and we are serving them with truffled risotto. I am also going to make a lemon and almond rice pudding to have and so that is the recipe for this week. Yum!

4 cups whole milk (don't skimp here, it won't be creamy if you do)
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp sea salt, fine
1/2 cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons-zest them first!)
1/4 cup amaretto
Zest of 3 large lemons
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

In a heavy, medium saucepan, combine the milk, rice, sugar, vanilla seeds, vanilla and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender, about 35 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together the lemon juice, amaretto, and lemon zest. Slowly stir the lemon mixture into the rice mixture and cook for 10 minutes longer.

Stir in the whipping cream (mixture will still be runny but will thicken as it cools). Spoon the rice pudding into 4-6 small serving bowls, or one big bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Sprinkle the chilled rice pudding with sliced almonds and serve.

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Ruth Reichl is coming to Tacoma for a free event! I cannot wait... My BFF Dawn is meeting me to go see her and I will be star struck for a couple of hours. Saturday, March 27 at 7 pm.. it is a library event being held at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood on Steilacoom Bv SW. Want to go? She is an amazing woman and talented writer...big doings in the food world!

Kat and I went to Juanito's in Bremerton the other day and had a fabulous meal. They make food similar to the taco trucks in Southern California and their tacos are muy authentico. Their rolled tacos remind me of when Mark was at Camp Pendleton and I visited him. We would hit Roberto's and get rolled tacos the morning after lots of partying and they were SO good! If you want some great, simple mexican food that is not dumbed down, get thee to Juanito's. The people there are super friendly and for those who want something a little different try the carne asada fries. French fries topped with carne asada and cheese! We didn't try those and they are not so authentico, though John (Juanito) says they are very popular.

Another fun thing that happened this past week is that Jennifer Morris, a writer with the North Kitsap Herald/What's Up interviewed me. The link to the blog is HERE.

As I continue my musings into my food past I keep thinking of new things. One that sticks out is my first love: Del the auto mechanic. His shop was right next door to our house and I was very young, perhaps 3-5 years old. I don't remember what he looked like or how old he was, just how much I loved being around him. I can still see the signage for his garage 'Del's', and that he would let me roll around the garage floor on the wheeled back board that he used to crawl under the cars. He must not have had a lift; maybe no one did in those days. I remember the Coke machine that (I think) cost a nickel for a Coke. They were in glass bottles like they still are in Mexico, and you could open the glass door to see the Coke bottles poking out lid-first, in a vertical row. You could touch the tops of the bottles, but you could not pull one out until the money was put into the slot. Del would drop the money in and let me pull out the Coke, then open it for me on the attached bottle opener. I don't drink soda now (unless we are somewhere like Silver City that has Ginger Ale and Root Beer on tap...I love that!) and I haven't for years, though I certainly enjoyed a Coke with Del when I was 3!

My mother's family loved to gather, and we always had food at those gatherings. Lots of food, never ever did anyone go away hungry or wanting for lack of food. My family fed people at every opportunity: birthdays and funerals, holidays, weekends and other celebrations, whether you were happy or blue, if one family member was anywhere near another they were feeding each other or cooking together for someone else. I remember Thanksgivings in a community or church hall, because nobody had a house big enough for the whole family to gather in. Gramma Marylee made a family cookbook from recipes that were used at many of those gatherings and I still love my copy of that book. In summers we would gather in parks, sometime camping and other times it was just for an afternoon. I would go from picnic table to picnic table soaking up so much love from all the 'elders' that it still feeds my heart as write this. Most of them are gone now and many of the betweeners, my parents' age, are gone or scattered too far away to gather regularly these days. In August we are having a Long family reunion (Virgil's side) at the coast in Oregon, which seems to be a more central and certainly a cooler location than Walla Walla in August.

The other Thanksgivings I remember were at Dick & Louise's house with the big table extended as far as it would go and other tables throughout the house. (Gramma has a twin sister and the family was bigger back then.) This side of the family was the more 'serious' side, and that may be, at least partially, due to the fact that alcohol did not flow so freely here. And just as I label the Wrights as the more serious pair of grandparents I can see Grampa sitting down to dinner and saying 'Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, yaaayyy God!" and Gramma would would admonish him "Dick!" (she wasn't swearing, that was his name!) and then we would say "real" grace as grampa bowed his head, winking and grinning at me on the sly. I wish you could hear his laugh...both my grandfathers had wonderful laughs. Dick enjoyed a beer now and then... and his beer was cool because it had puzzles on the pop tops! They were rebus puzzles (consisting of a combination of pictures, symbols and letters) and it may have been Rainier Beer? That part I am not sure of... We had a real mincemeat pie there once, which I thought was so gross! I bet I would like it now. Maybe. Gramma and her sister Lois will be 87 this year and they are healthy and able, which is fantastic to see.

When we lived in Kennewick (7-12 years old?) my friend Peggy's mom made something called Kududa's for Easter. It was sort of a giant cookie that was shaped into a ring, and it was not overly sweet. There was anise flavors and a sweet glaze on top, and embedded in this cookie were whole eggs. I recently found out that they were raw eggs that ended up like boiled eggs when baked. It was Easter and I think the eggs were decorated, though perhaps it was just the sprinkles that were strewn over the surface and into the wet glaze. Thanks to Facebook Peggy and I are reconnected and she gave me this recipe! After years of searching for something like it I will finally get to make it this year. I am very excited to taste that memory in real life again!

When I was 14 we moved into a house in Renton. I tried to make 'no bake cookies' once and totally flubbed it, completely ruining a coffee pot and the kitchen counter top in the process. My first 'public' dish that I remember making was a fourth of July cake. I helped out in the kitchen at home and gramma Marylee's throughout the years but for some reason I think that I made this cake on my own. Since I was around 10 or 11, probably I was just allowed to decorate it on my own, and we have a picture of me proudly displaying my cake sporting the U.S. flag over the entire top. I made Empanadas for a school project. The Mexican version of a dumpling, I must have made them for Spanish class, and I remember really thinking they were great. I researched the recipe at the library and in cookbooks and my teacher told me that it was very authentic. I wonder... When I was 16 a group of friends decided to go to the Spring Prom together (I think it was a Sadie Hawkins dance) and we had dinner at my house first. I made baked manicotti for the gang and it was a huge hit! I was on my way to cooking for others and I loved it even then. My grandmother Marylee was diabetic and had many health issues, especially in her last 5+ years, and I would often cook for her. She loved my stuffed peppers and since she had been an accomplished cook in her own right she would give me hints and tips about things I could do with the recipes to make them my own. I loved feeding her healthy and great-tasting foods, it felt like a real accomplishment.

My first restaurant job (my first job outside of babysitting) was when I was 16 I was a bus-girl at Cinnamon's restaurant in the old Sheraton in Renton. I also ran room service orders (an adventure in and of itself) and helped in catering as well. My first trainer to show me the ropes on the floor was a super cute guy who was 4 years older than me and I had an instant crush on him. His younger brother was in my high school class so I knew who he was. My trainer was Mark Downen, who didn't much know I was alive back then, though we met up again 4 years later (thanks to that younger brother who worked with me at another restaurant) and it would be 4 years after that when he asked me to marry him. In September we will celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary, and in May we will celebrate 4 years of working together in our restaurant. From Del the mechanic to Mark (who was a mechanic for 16 years)... I have always loved a man who works with his hands!

The recipe this week comes out of the book my grandmother made for us. It is a compilation of recipes and memories from a family reunion in 1979 at Hood Park, near the Tri Cities. The recipe is Gramma Marylees: a salad and dressing that was one of Grampa Virgil's favorite's.

Romaine or Green Leaf Lettuce (it needs to be a hearty leaf and can be a combination of things like frisee, that will stand up to a bit of heat later. Spinach can also be used)
1/3 C thinly sliced green onions (red will do if you don't have green)
6 slices of bacon
2 TBS sugar
4 TBS vinegar (cider or wine vinegar, whichever you like best)
1 egg, well beaten
salt & pepper

Wash and dry your lettuce; tear it into pieces and place in a large bowl (about 2 quarts) Add onions. Set aside.

Fry bacon until crisp and remove from pan onto paper towels to drain. Crumble on top of the salad greens.

Discard all but 4 TBS of the bacon drippings. If you don't have 4 TBS you can add olive oil to make it.
Whisk together sugar, vinegar, egg, salt & pepper, with the drippings, and cook over low heat until thickened... do not boil or the egg will scramble.

Pour immediately over the salad, toss and serve.

The lettuce will wilt a bit under the heat and it is really tasty!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Did you see my last column in the paper? It is HERE if you didn't, or if you just want to read it again and again to be sure it is really there...or is that just me?

Lately I have been thinking quite a bit about where I get my food tastes, what brought us here and why we have the values that we do in the restaurant. It all leads back to love and I have decided that I want to share some of it with you. A glimpse into the life of a restaurateur who is passionate about so many things. I was going to write a quick entry about it and then it started to evolve into something more, and too long to be just one entry. So the next few blogs will be my version of my story. Food memories, other memories and all of my senses have been involved in the planning of this. On Saturday mom and I went to see and hear the lovely Molly Wizenberg, author of one of the first major food blogs ever, Orangette, and then a book: A Homemade Life. Molly and her husband Brandon own Delancey Pizza in Ballard, she writes for Bon Appetit magazine, and if that weren't enough she shared with us, her adoring audience at the Tacoma Art Museum, that she and Brandon recently got a dog! (Sidenote: Mark is forever telling me that we cannot have a dog right now because instead we have a restaurant and therefore no time to spend with a dog. I have been arguing that I would take the dog with me everywhere and the dog and I would spend all kinds of time together! We could make a doggy bed outside the cafe and doggy will love it! He just grumbles about needing a fence at home and calls me unrealistic which is beside the point. sigh.) So anyway as I was listening to Molly for the first time I realized that I wanted to tell more of the story than I was and hopefully you want to know more of the story, so I have decided to make it an installment series as far as blog entries go. So here we go...

My mother tells me that my first food memories stem from when I was less than 3 years old. Random thoughts: I ate graham crackers and called them 'cookie nummy nums'; we lived across the street(and railroad tracks) from the Bur Bee Candy Company, though I have no recollection of ever going there or getting candy from there... it may have been shut down even then. I know that my grandparents played a role; my maternal grandmother (Marylee) taught me how to eat an artichoke when I was three years old, and it is a distinctive memory that I hold dear. She sat me on the couch to wait as she steamed the artichokes in the kitchen. The fact that I was seated on the sofa and waiting for her, rather than watching from a chair in the kitchen, was how I knew it was a special moment. She was treating me like 'company', and making a ritual around this event, which was something Gramma loved to do. She carried the steamy artichokes in with a side of melted butter and placed them on the coffee table. She showed me how to peel off the leaves and dip them in butter, then scrape the meatiest part off with my teeth. I love artichokes to this day! She must have been very adamant that I not eat the choke because I still get nervous when I see choke on my artichoke hearts! When I was a teenager I decided that I did not like the hearts (makes me shake my head in wonder now) and so I only wanted to eat the leaves. This made my great-grandmother-aka 'Gram'- (Marylee's mother, Dorothea) very happy because she did not like the tedium of the leaves.

I remember picking blackberries in the patch between our little house and gramma and grampa's house (same piece of property) in Walla Walla. I remember my paternal grandfather (Dick) pulling over at someone's farm and 'sneaking' into the pea patch to pick fresh peas for us to shell and eat right there like it was candy. (I am sure he knew the farmer, but he made a game out of it like we were being naughty, which of course made it more fun! We shouldn't tell gramma (Louise) or she would be mad at him!) Of course he was also the one to take us to Baskin & Robbins where I always got Pralines & Cream ice cream. I remember my maternal grandfather (Virgil) growing tomatoes on their deck and they tasted just like heirloom tomatoes do at the farmer's markets today. Marylee made 'hamburger sandwiches'. When all the other adults got together to make liver & onions, grampa Virgil gathered up all the kids and got us out of the house. This was unique since the usual rule was that we had to have one bite of everything, and then we could go. Grampa hated liver and onions so much that he over-ruled the rule and took us kids with him when he escaped the smell. He took us to Ice-berg Drive-in for burgers and shakes. I have never been a fan of big chain fast food and it was rare that we ate fast food in general. When we did I mainly remember it being at local independent places like the Ice-Berg, and it was so good that it's still there. Chocolate-banana milkshakes with premium ice cream and real chunks of banana in that thick chocolate! My mouth is watering with that memory.

Birthdays were really celebrated and the 'rule' was that we could have anything we wanted to eat on our birthday. I always wanted something like steak and lobster, so my folks were saving up all year for me because I never chose anything like fast food or quick serve places. I have never worked in fast food, though I've had friends who did, and in high school my best friend worked at Taco Time. I would go visit Lana at work and sometimes she would bring me something to eat and, ironically, she always made me something that was embellished and not on the menu. So even when I did eat fast food I didn't technically eat the food that others did. I stayed with Gram for some time after high school graduation and on my nights off from the restaurant that I worked at we would go get Chinese take out, then go to the Burger King drive-through and get milkshakes. Yes, I know it is odd, Chinese food and milkshakes, but Gram loved it and it was her idea and it was just funny and strange enough for me to totally support it! We shared artichokes and acted like 2 teenagers home alone for the weekend, doing things our parents would never have approved of, and it distracted me from my first (and so far only) broken heart, which I am sure was her intention all along.

We vacationed at the beach, both the Oregon and Washington coasts. I was on the beach making sand candles with Marylee when Elvis died. There were always lots of snack foods: licorice, peanuts, cookies, chips, etc... though we vacationed with other family friends and so did not go out to eat, we cooked. We went to Ocean Shores to go razor clam digging and mom and gramma, etc, made clam chowder and broiled steaks and Aunt Betty (who is not really my aunt but my grandfather's niece, which is confusing so I have always called her aunt) fished for sturgeon and that is still my favorite swimming fish to eat. We ate foods that members of the family fished, foraged, dug, and at Dick & Louise's house I seem to remember venison that someone hunted. We got sides of beef from the local ranchers and in general what I remember is that most often we made our own food. Mom and dad both worked (I was the original latch-key kid) and of course they dipped into the frozen convenience foods now and then. I also remember mom teaching us how to dry and roast our own sunflower seeds. We had fresh peaches and at the neighbors we churned fresh peach ice cream (I hated churning!) I developed food sensitivities that I grew in and out of: tomatoes and peanuts each made me throw up at different times and I love them both to this day! (Though I hate catsup!)

Dad made popcorn on the weekends and it is still my favorite snack. Mark makes it on the stove in a stainless steel popper and I love it! Friday night was 'eat wherever you want to' night, so we were freed from dining at the dinner table with the family. My sister usually opted for eating in front of the tv (we were limited in tv hours so maybe it didn't count against hers, I don't remember. Or more likely, as mom would say to my sister Lisa: we liked you better so we gave you more tv time; mom would say to me: we liked you better so we saved your brain for better things.) I would more often want to eat in my room. More specifically I would eat in my closet. I had a 'fort' carved out in there with a blanket and pillow, a little lamp, a round red plastic am/fm radio with dials that made it look like an alien smiley face, and lots of books. I have always loved to read and I would sit in there and read for hours. When I wasn't reading I was creating fantasy day dreams that were quite elaborate. Sometimes I would sing and on Friday 'eat wherever you want to' nights, I would dine in my fort. No one else could come in and I thought that no one knew of my private world, it was my secret space.

I don't have a fort in my closet anymore, though I do still love to read and I have a very active imagination. Pretty much every night is 'eat wherever you want to' night at our house and while it would not necessarily surprise Mark to find me eating in my closet, he would probably shake his head in wonder and ask me if there was anything that I needed, because he always takes good care of me. Except for when I need a dog... but I digress.

Do you want a recipe this week? How about instead a list of books about food. These books are all on my wish list, some of which I have read, and others that I have not read but really, really want to. Not in any particular order:

'Take Big Bites' by Linda Ellerbee (whom I ADORE)-this one is food and travel
'In Defense of Food' and 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' by Michael Pollan
'Forking Fantastic' by Tamara Reynolds, Zora O'Neill
'The Deluxe Food Lover's Companian' by Ron Herbst
'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver
'Slow Food, the Case for Taste' by Carlo Petrini
'The Art of Eating' (and anything else written) by MFK Fisher
'An Omelette and A Glass of Wine' by Elizabeth David
'The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation' by David Kamp
'Best Food Writing 2008'
'Slice of Organic Life' (and anything written) by Alice Waters
'Fast Food Nation' by Eric Schlosser
anything written by Ruth Reichl
'Gluten Free Girl' by Shauna James Ahearn and watch for her new one coming out!

There are a billion more out there... tell me what you think I should read, I would love to add to my wish list!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

It's snowing! Crazy and true, I gotta love the weather here. It's odd since it is about 40 degrees, and has been all day... and it has been spitting snow all day as well. It was gloriously sunny for awhile, just like it was last week, though today it only lasted a couple of hours at best. It isn't sticking, and I don't even think it is scary to those who get scared about snow. (I never have been one of those, though since owning a restaurant and losing massive amounts of business to it I no longer love snow during business hours like I once did.) I have been trying to catch up and clear out my piles of email and desk papers that accumulated more than usual last week since Sharon was on vacation. Funny how doing her job made doing mine so much more difficult! Then I looked up and saw the snow again and had this overwhelming urge to talk to you. Last week I just did not have time to write anything and today my piles are finally dwindling to a manageable stack (for a moment) so I am taking this time to say hello. Are you hungry? I have some things to tell you about!

I got to attend my favorite Chef's Collaborative event last week, the 'Farmer, Fisher, Chef Connection', where we all gather to learn more about supporting each other by sourcing locally and using sustainable practices. It is an all day event and since it is farmers, chefs and other food producers there is certainly food involved. I had the honor of making a dish for the massive lunch (400 people!) and they asked me to make a vegan salad using grains from Finnriver Farm & Cidery. Ironically I had just met them a couple of weeks ago at the culinary/agri-turism conference put on by the state up in Port Townsend! I also used apple cider vinegar from another local cidery, greens and root veggies from 2 Olympic Peninsula farms, and locally produced tofu from Small Planet Tofu on Vashon. I pickled red onions with the vinegar and laid them atop the grain and veggie salad, and dressed the whole thing very simply in premium olive oil, salt and pepper, just like I do at the cafe.(Sidenote: the snow is REALLY coming down! Big, ploppy, puffy snow! Super wet so it melts right away... it is so pretty!) So anyway I was so excited to make this dish and I spend the better part of Sunday working on it, with Mark's help of course. It was delicious and I was proud to present it to this very esteemed group of food professionals. I mean we are talking about chefs like Maria Hines, Jason Franey & Seth Caswell! Farm folks from such fame as Full Circle Farms and Nash's Organics (whose veggies I used!) so this was not small time by any means. I was so honored to cook for some of the finest food professionals in the world, never mind our region! Ok, now I am nervous again just thinking about it... and I was nervous! My dish was great and I believe I did the fine foods I was offered justice; and I can't help but hope they all thought that as well.

One thing I got out of it is that delicious baked tofu from Small Planet. Many of you may know that I do not generally find the need to use a meat 'replacer' because the foods we make are good and if they don't use meat there is nothing wrong with that. In this dish I used it because I could not use cheese and I really wanted a creamy element to the dish, so I opted for Phil's tofu. It was so delicious! I am definitely going to build some recipes around this tofu so you can taste it. Tofu skeptics and haters be warned: your tongue will not know you are eating tofu, only that you are eating delicious food!

This Chef's Collaborative event is my inspiration for creating the Harvest Meal even that we all adored last September and will again this September 19th. If you haven't joined the Kitsap Community & Agricultural Alliance yet (it's a measley 20 bucks for the year!) you should do it now to begin taking advantage of events like the harvest meal. Go HERE to see about joining if you are interested in local food. The next meeting is tomorrow night (Tuesday March 9)at 6:30 at the Silverdale Grange on Clear Creek Rd NW. Come on out to hear about the Puget Sound Food Network!

Last Friday was our Spanish wine tasting and it was a blast! I made several 'tapas' style dishes for the wines and everyone seemed to enjoy the food and wine immensely. Tristan educated us all in the wines and regions of Spain, and I made a couple of new friends who love Italy as much as I do! Angie & Bill have been lucky enough to live in Italy (twice-he is in the Navy) and they talk about the food, wine, people and culture at least as passionately as I do. They are a gorgeous couple and I can tell we will be fast friends since we all have such fabulous taste!

On Saturday Mark and I met his parents at Cosmo's in Port Orchard to support the Kitsap Community Food Co-op, as if Cosmo's great food weren't reason enough. They are the only place (that I know of) in Kitsap to get wonderful, fresh Gelato! That is as excellent a reason as any to stop by! They will give you tastes of the various flavors and you will fall in love with the creaminess and intensity of flavor. Unless you are crazy for really crappy ice cream, in which case you may not love this stuff as I do.

This Friday is the Art Walk in Old Town from 6-8, and we have new photography by Timothy Johnsrude upstairs for it. I always love our artists and have a difficult time when they take their work down, as Shirley Sakatani did last week, and I mourned the loss of her beautiful colors. And then we get new stuff and I fall in love with that and it starts all over again. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for you to walk around and check things out down here because it is a really fun event. We always take donations for the food bank and homeless dinners (food, toiletries, clothing, camping equipment, etc...) and in exchange we offer cookies. I also offer complimentary coffee for everyone and wine tastes for adults. Most of us down here offer something for fun and the art is beautiful so I hope we will see you Friday night.

Meanwhile I put the beef brisket in the brine last Thursday and I will be tending to it until Saturday when I prepare it for the braising it will get to become Corned Beef. I am so excited about this! We will serve it all week with braised cabbage and roasted Ozette potatoes. The Ozette is lumpy potato which was introduced to Makah Nation people in 1791. Since then, the Ozette potato has been passed down by generations of Makah gardeners, who prize it for its distinctive flavor, and we got 20 lbs to roast up and serve to you, my friends. We will also slice up the brisket and offer it to you on sandwiches next week. I may even make some corned beef hash to serve up towards the end of the week if we are all really very lucky! It all starts on the 15th and runs until it is gone. I got 40 lbs of beef so it should have a pretty good run! Mark will be busy with Irish soda bread and St Patty's Day cookies next week, and whatever else we think you might like. Last year we did a fabulous Shepard's pie, and decided not to this year since we just did lamb shanks last month. I think the next comfort meal will be Pasta e Fagioli, as taught to me by Giacomo while at Parco Fiorito in Umbria, Italy last October. You can meet him if you go with us on our trip later this year!

Of course, I am open to suggestion on the comfort meal so send me your ideas. We have lots of fun stuff coming up next month and I am looking forward to sharing a new farmer's market season with all of you! Our recipes will stem from what's in season then.

For this recipe I will tell you a different way to pan roast potatoes. It is so simple and so delicious, I think it will be your new favorite way to do this. It goes with any main, or you can do what my dad does and pile all kinds of stuff onto your potatoes to make that the main event. From beans and salsa to salad and dressing, dad loves a good potato for dinner. For this style you want the small potatoes, they could be white, gold or red, but not russets. Ozette's would be great here!

Place one potato at a time on your cutting board; take your frying pan and gently smack the potatoes until the skin just splits and the insides are exposed.

Take a clean, dry, heavy bottom pan and put it on a low heat burner.

Place your potatoes in the pan, in one layer-don't stack them-so they are firmly on the bottom and not tilted or crowded.

Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid. Let them cook and just give the pan a good shake every 5 minutes or so, so they don't stick. Cook them 10+ plus minutes, making sure that the heat is not too high and they are not burning on the bottom. Flip then over and do it again, letting them cook 5+ minutes, undisturbed, and check them for doneness. (A fork will move in/out of them easily.) If they need a few more minutes just cover them back up and let them go.

Remove the lid and let them cook for a couple of minutes, until any condensation is evaporated. (If you are going to add garlic to the potatoes now would be a good time to add it to the pan, along with a touch of olive oil, simply moving the spuds out of the center of the pan so the garlic can cook a bita.

Turn off the pan and toss the potatoes in premium olive oil, salt and pepper, and I love to add fresh herbs and garlic, though even if I don't these are delicious.

Do you want to taste our region's heritage potatoes? Want to try Ozette potatoes and can't get them? Talk to me and I will help you get some.

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

THANK YOU SUNSHINE! Business was great this past week and I believe it is in large part due to the fabulous sunshine that we have been experiencing. Mother Nature has been great to us and even as it is pouring down rain right now I am so grateful for those few days of abundance. We even found time to grill some Lopez Island Farm pork on Sunday and it was GOOD. The sun-filled memories are recent enough to keep me calm about our broken coffee machine and leaking espresso machine and on and on it rolls. Have you had any great local meals lately?

Mark and I went to the West Sound Business Expo last week to see if it is something we may want to participate in next year. We sampled every restaurant and caterer's offerings and hands down the best food to be had was CJ's Evergreen Store from Bremerton. I know they have been growing their catering and their food is truly fantastic. CJ, Richard and the staff utilize local food whenever they can and they are fiercely loyal to local goods and causes. Who wouldn't love that??

This week I am going to go out on a limb here and champion a cause that is near to my heart. Aside from constantly beating the 'value local' thing into you all, I have not done this before on this blog to this extent. I hope that you will love the idea and if you do not, I hope that it will at least open our minds and hearts to be able to come up with a mutually agreeable answer. Rather than a recipe at the end, I am offering a recipe for the true meaning of community in this writing.

Chief Lusk of Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue has begun a wonderful thing for our community. He was the first in the state to apply for, and become granted, a piece of history. Steel from the Twin Towers is being made available to communities across the nation who want to honor those lives lost. Chief Lusk will be receiving a large piece of steel and he wants to erect a memorial monument somewhere in Kitsap County, his current first choice being Old Town Silverdale. This is a huge step towards offering healing, education, and remembrance to our community and those around us who can make the pilgrimage to Kitsap, and may never have the opportunity to get to New York City. Even those of us who have been to Ground Zero will appreciate the opportunity to reach out and touch this piece of steel that represents so much more than nearly 3000 lives lost on September 11, 2001. So many more lives have been lost since that day, and we continue to lose souls to the fight for freedom from terrorist acts.

I think that there are only 2 other areas across the state that have definitely been approved, and 2 others under consideration. I am surprised by a few people's negative reaction to having a September 11 monument erected at the Old Town Silverdale waterfront. The vehement objection that I first heard was that the park is for everyone, including 'children and older people' and that a memorial monument would be 'too depressing' for the community to endure. This reaction was from someone who was hearing about the artifact for the first time, had very little information about what it was, and no information whatsoever about the plans for this beautiful site that is being proposed for our area. The closed-minded statements being uttered instantly reminded me of the reasons that we even have this topic to discuss in the first place. It was an uninformed fear reaction to proposed change. I know that most of us struggle with change, even when we want and look forward to it, and for reasons that I do not understand this topic is making a few people feel challenged at their power base.

Did they have this reaction to Kitsap County's only Veteran's Memorial, which is located at Waterfront Park? That monument represents far more lives lost and I do not believe that anyone views it as too depressing to endure. The 9-11 artifact will bring many people to our area, especially at first, and that will continue to be true. The initial plans include art tiles made by children who were born in 2001, a meditative walk that represents a timeline of the day, a pentagon shaped area to surround the steel and seating along the way for folks to reflect with the beautiful views of the inlet and mountain beyond. The plans are no where near finalized as this site is actually the second that Chief Lusk has proposed, and his team needs to personalize the plans to the space available.

The first site was at the new Y in Silverdale and the monument was rejected by that site in the end because it was 'too depressing'. I am sure that my law enforcement background has skewed my thinking around this, and I am having a difficult time getting past 'SERIOUSLY'?? Do we really not see what an honor it will be to have such an amazing thing in our midst? Parents can educate their children, people can pay their respects and touch a real piece of our recent history which happens to be one of the major historical events of the world.

I certainly hope that the Port commissioners find a way to work this piece in to their property in Old Town. It will be good for our economy and for our community on so many different levels. When the steel is brought across the nation there will be an escort by the Patriot Guard Riders who estimate as many as 80,000 bikes will join the ride at different points in the journey. It is coming to Kitsap, we just don't know where or when yet. It would thrill me to be able to meet the steel when it hits Spokane and escort it across the state. Who wants to join me?

So far the funds for this project are entirely based on donations. If you want to donate you can do so through us, or at the Silverdale American Marine Bank. Donations should be directed to the 9/11 Memorial Fund. You can email the committee here: 911ArtifactCommittee@ckfr.org. If you want to encourage the Port of Silverdale to consider this (or to discourage them, after all that is what our freedom of speech is about!) you can email them here.

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I ordered Boeuf Bourguignon last Saturday at Brix 25. Mark and I had dinner there with my BFF Linda and her husband Bob, and it was fabulous. I have not ordered beef in a restaurant for nearly 20 years, so this was a momentous occasion! Chef Lyman uses grass fed beef of course, and I had sampled this dish of his in the past off of Mark's plate, and I had never forgotten it. So I decided to go crazy and have that for dinner. As tender as warm chocolate and certainly as dark, the flavors and texture were as rich and comfortable in my mouth as Etta James' version of "At Last" is in my ears. Heaven. We all enjoyed our food immensely and the co-owner Katie had this wonderful idea that I loved so much I may just borrow it some time. On the way out we passed by a self serve candy 'bar', so lovely to see, decorated in all shades of pink, were several glass dishes in varying shapes and sizes, filled with valentines candies such as conversation hearts and pastel MnM's. Each guest was encouraged to fill a little cellophane bag with the candies and tie them with the gold twist ties to take home and enjoy later. You start with a complimentary glass of sparkling wine and end with candy, how can you not have a wonderful time here??

On Sunday Mark and I went to mom and dad's to celebrate Chinese New Year and mom made traditional Chinese Hot Pot (it's basically fondue with broth rather than oil) which she learned from her cousin-in-law Mae, who is from China. It was delightful! I made a mess on myself slurping noodles and broth and my very favoritest (yes it's a word!) combo was the bok choy/spinach/rice noodles in the sauces. It is definitely a fun group meal to have and it tasted great making all our own little flavor combos out of our choices of shrimp, scallops, pork, beef, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, greens, and other things. There was cilantro and green onions to top it (though I kept forgetting to use it!) and a couple of different sauces to mix in. Did you celebrate Valentine's day or Chinese New Year with a great meal? I would love to hear about it! It is the year of the tiger now by the way, so congratulations to you tigers out there!

I had a wonderfully full week and I can only see that continuing. I attended a culinary and agri-tourism workshop put on by the state in Port Townsend and it was a fantastic event to get my creative juices working. We did some farm tours including Hamma Hamma Oyster Company, which I have been visiting since I was a little girl. They have a new building with a little store full of locally produced items, a commercial kitchen and you can view the shuckers as they race through piles of oysters. There is an outdoor area where they are going to make into another commercial kitchen with seating and a great view! This summer I am going to work with them to create a day trip that will combine a cooking class, wine tasting, meal and fun for whoever wants to go! It is going to be a blast and I will keep you posted so you can sign up the minute we announce it. We also went to a place up towards Chimacum called Finn River Farm & Cidery that will make another fantastic day trip, as they have a pizza oven and lots of great activities on and near the farm. It is really close to the Olympic Music Festival and if you go you should definitely stop in to see the place, get some berries and hard cider (which is very much like sparkling wine: dry, delicate and lovely) for the concert.

The best restaurant that we ate at was in Sequim, called The Alder Wood Bistro. Chef Gabriel put out some amazing food and he is fiercely into the local food movement so of course I love that! If you find yourself anywhere near Sequim I cannot recommend this place enough, and I hope that we can get to know Chef Gabriel and his wife Jessica in the future. After the conference I raced back to Port Orchard to attend my first official meeting as a member of the newly formed Kitsap Food & Farm Policy Council. This is some seriously good work we are going to be doing and bringing up awareness of local food and agriculture within the county, as well as making agricultural pursuits more attainable and accessible to everyone. When you go read that article I hope you will look around the site a bit and consider joining the Kitsap Community & Agricultural Alliance, as it is the best $20 bucks you will spend to join anything this year. You will be supporting your interest in local, fresh food and we definitely need that support! I was recently asked to write a column for the "What's Up" section of the local papers, and you can see my first one here.

Some fun things are coming up including our Ivy is turning 21 tomorrow! We will be toasting her and then if I have time I will stop by the Bremerton Green Drinks event at the Downtown Bremerton Library. 612 5 St from 6-9 and they love it when we RSVP. Bring your own glass and save the earth! These events are always fun and this is special because it is their 2 year anniversary for the group. Join the fun and see what is happening in your community.

Another event that I can guarantee will be super fun is the "For The Love of Wine"
talk and tasting that I am hosting at the Port Orchard Library. The talk is free, and starts at 6 pm at the Library. The tasting is $10 and will be held at Puget Sound Wine Cellers so if you don't have your reservation call to get one, because it may sell out; the one in Silverdale did!

I have yet another call to action for you: If you know of (or are) any Old Town Silverdale business owners please pass this information on to them: We are having a meeting to discuss the revitalization of Old Town on Monday February 22, 4 pm, at the Port commissioners' office. The Port, the County, the Chamber and many others will be there. The community at large is not invited to this meeting, as there is not enough room, once we have a general plan down we will have a much larger community meeting to get all the input that we can. For now we just want to see who the major stake holders for Old Town are and what they are willing to do to step up business down there. Building owners count! I have no way to get the word out to everyone so please pass it on and they can call me or email for more info if they need it.

So I wonder what sort of recipe you would like for today. I think I will go with an oyster stew since it is super easy to make and Hamma Hamma is on my mind. I put a little bit of a Thai twist in my recipe because it is really good that way and I keep it easy with a store-bought ingredient. You can leave the thai stuff out if you want to, but I think you want to try it!

1 quart shucked oysters in their liquor (I use medium Pacifics; use any kind you like)
about 1 cup fish stock or clam broth
Salt and black pepper
4 stalks celery, cut in medium-sized pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
Canola oil
4 cups coconut milk
2 cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Thai Green Curry paste
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce
Paprika
Chopped fresh parsley or lime leaves

Pick over the oysters for shells. Strain the oysters to get the liquor out and hold both aside.

Cook the celery and onion in a little canola oil until tender, season with salt and pepper. Add the oyster liquor and fish or clam broth(should measure about 2 cups)to the pot, and then add the coconut milk and cream.

Heat the butter in a small sauce pan, then whisk in the flour to make a roux. Cook just a few minutes, no need to brown this, and add the roux to the stock mixture; stir briskly until thickened and smooth. Add the Thai curry paste (Start with 1 heaping Tablespoon and see if you like the heat level. You can keep adding until you have the level that you are happy with), the lime juice, and fish sauce. Correct the seasonings.

Add in the oysters and mix well; cook until done, about 6 minutes, depending on the size. Top with the fresh herbs, keep warm over hot water until time to serve. (Option: You can blend this soup to make it smooth, or you can hold out the onions, celery and oysters and just blend them together.)

Garnish with paprika and fresh herbs and even some Creme Fraiche if you like.

Eat this and love it!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I know I have been away longer than usual... I have had writing-shyness for some reason that I do not fully understand. It isn't exactly writer's block since I am not really a writer and I have lots of things to talk about. It is more like this: sometimes when I get to the page where I write this blog, I get a little overwhelmed, and I just can't start. When I do start it flows ok and I forget all about it, though once in a while simply starting is too much, so I don't. I know it is partly because I feel very busy and with the economy now effecting (and affecting) our finances (it didn't seem to at first) I get to feeling anxious and conflicted: I am never doing enough, I can always do better, and yet I sometimes feel overwhelmed and in need of a break. I steal time hear and there... read a few pages just for pleasure, go to a movie alone (I love that and it is such a rare treat!) or, like last night, get together with someone I love for a couple of hours.

Mom and I schedule time together once a month to connect, just the two of us, and catch up. We have always met somewhere, usually a restaurant, and we sit for 2-3 hours and talk. This week I asked her to come to the house, as I could not think of a place that I would rather be. She had asked me to bring home some fresh rolls for her dinner with friends the next day, though due to a conspiracy against me (technology sucks sometimes) I did not get in to the cafe yesterday, I worked on the computer all day long. So at 2 I started some dough and made the rolls for her, which happily reminded me how easy making bread is, and how satisfyingly it fulfills me. The smell of the yeast is so comforting, and the process of kneading is meditative for me. I feel creative and since I was making them for someone else, nurturing. It is pure pleasure and I don't do it very often at home. When mom got here I pulled out the makings for a jambalaya and we worked together as we talked. There is very little that is more satisfying to me than cooking with loved ones. It embodies the spirit of community and hearkens back to a time that we remember, if only cellularly. Mom peeled shrimp while I chopped veggies and added them to the pot. I opened the wine (some for the pot, some for us!) and she stirred the pot. It turned out soupier than it should have: too much liquid, not enough rice. It tastes great! We had one of those warm rolls and with it and finished that bottle of wine. We played with the kitties and laughed and talked and now I feel a bit more energized.

One of the things mom pointed out to me was that in my last blog entry I talked about snorkeling, and my neck. When I wrote that I did not connect the fact that my neck had been stiff and sore since the end of December. It got so bad at one point that the spasms kept me from even sleeping at night. Dad had gone with mom to So Cal for 3 weeks so he wasn't around to help it (the best massage therapist around!) so I suffered. A lot. When they got back I saw dad 4 times in one week, so he did one almost full massage, with most of the focus on my neck, shoulders, & back, a couple days later he did some concentrated energy work on my neck and shoulders, then he did a full body massage that was pure heaven. The last appointment I had he did more energy work and really pinpointed the worst spot in my neck and the next morning I woke up and did not cry out in pain for the first time in a month! I realized it after I had been working for about an hour (I get up and hit the computer around 5 these days... sleeping in to 5 is fabulous!) and I am so grateful that dad is so good with those healing hands. There is still a tiny tinge spot in there and I know we will get it with another massage. You should get one, they are fabulous!

So now there is so much to tell you about and I will weed it down a bit and try to stay more timely in writing the blog! I think there are a few more of you out there reading it, which gives me a little thrill. Perhaps because if you aren't reading it then I am talking to myself, which I am very good at and don't need much practice. First of all, I have been told that my "Local Food" column was published in the paper today. The 'What's Up' section of all the local papers for the county has it, though it is not online. I wrote it a month ago, I hope I still like it! It is very exciting to be spreading the word of local food out there so I really hope someone reads it. I was appointed to an 'at large' spot on Kitsap County's new Food & Farm Policy Council 2 weeks ago and I join 13 others in making Kitsap a fantastic place to grow, purchase, cook and eat local foods. I have always loved making up my own rules and now I get to help do that for the whole county! How cool is that!

I did a really fun thing last week by attending Kim Ricketts book event at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle. The author was Gretchen Rubin, who found out that very day that her latest book hit #1 on the NY Times best seller list! The book is called 'The Happiness Project' and am happy to report that it is not frivolous by any means. Ms. Rubin spent a year researching and living her project and she shares her experiences with the rest of us so that we can start our own project. It was never that she was an unhappy person, more that she believed she could be open to having more 'happiness', more contentment and satisfaction with her life, so she focused her intent in that area. I am starting a happiness project for anyone who wants to join in on it! We can meet at the cafe at first, and as the project grows we can move it around. Anyone out there want to create more happiness in their lives? Drop me an email at monica@waterfrontbakery.com. If you want to take me to a Kim Ricketts book event I am all for it! There are a few coming up that I am very interested in!

I need to get going as I have a quick meeting this morning with one of the Port Commissioners to talk about the revitalization of Old Town. It is a preliminary meeting where I will ask for help and/or guidance from the Port with the economic development of Old Town. We are suffering and it does not look to be improving any time soon. My friend Skip gave me some wonderful ideas for Old Town and I am going to see what we can do to get them to come to fruition. I am instigating this because I don't have time to actually run with the whole thing myself and if I have learned anything these past few years it is that asking for help and delegating are keys to success!

Plus I am brining some lamb shanks so I can prep them up for braising on Monday. Braised lamb shanks and polenta will be the comfort meal next week and they have been so popular that I am increasing the frequency from once a month, to every other week. We have some fab new wines for Valentine's day and for the Winter/Spring transition-we are focusing on WA/OR wines this time, along with our Italian favorites, and we have a great selection for the tasting coming up. I hope we will see you there!

I am going to write up the guidelines for making the jambalya style dish I made last night. I will tell you to use less liquid than I did, though you can always add more later if you want to!

olive oil
1 1/2-2 onions, chopped (depending on size)
celery heart and a stalk or two, chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped
1-2 red peppers, chopped
1 TBS garlic
S&P
Creole seasoning blend
smoked paprika (I used bittersweet)
1-2 cups red wine
2 cups rice (I use brown or thai red; if you use white hold back one cup broth until you know if you need it)
4 cups chicken broth (if you need more liquid you can add broth or plain water later)
28 oz can tomatoes
flat leaf parsley
1 package Hempler's andouille sausage (made in Ferndale)
1 lb raw shrimp (32-40's), peel/devein them

Heat the olive oil and add the chopped veg to it as you finish them. Stir it, add the seasonings through paprika and cook for about 10 minutes on med low (gas) or medium (electric) heat.

Add the wine and let it reduce by about half. Stir in the rice for about 3 minutes and then add the broth, tomatoes and parsley. Let it go about 8 minutes, then stir in the sausage. (You can also use chicken, or any other meat in combination here) and let it cook until the rice is done. Stir it every few minutes and add hot liquid if you need to.

Toss the shrimp in at the end, it will only take a couple of minutes to cook them and you are done. There is not alot of spicy heat to this, so if you like alot of heat you should add cayenne (1/2 tsp) at the beginning, and then you can add hot sauce to taste at the end. I just add my own hot sauce since mom and Mark don't like it as spicy as I do.

YUM! This pot will last us a couple of days and we love leftovers!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Snorkeling has become my cheesy allegory for life these days. When I wake up in the middle of the night and the stress of my mind gets busy keeping me awake, I relax by going snorkeling. I envision the warm water enveloping my skin, the sun on my back, the beautiful fish and corals that I can see... and usually I am asleep again pretty quickly. It does not always work. For instance last night I was mentally submerging my body into the water and I started analyzing what I love about snorkeling. On the first day of any snorkeling vacation it has been a very long time since I last snorkeled. The water has control so that first dip into the water is always a bit stressful and I struggle to get my fins on, keep the mask clear, regulate my breathing, and to get my swimming rhythm back. I love being in that salt water, the buoyancy is so great! I don't even need a PFD, I just float along so nicely I can even relax completely and take a nap in the water! I know you think I am kidding but last time I was snorkeling I got a big fever and I was not feeling well at all... which would not keep me out of the Mexican Caribbean! And I did drift off for a second... Anyway when I first get out there after a long time I tend to be so excited by everything that I am seeing that I keep my head up so that I can look ahead. After a while my neck gets tired and I realize that I am missing what is directly in front of me by doing this. If I rest my neck too long and only look at what is directly in front of me, I begin to miss opportunities to see and do more, and I fail to plot my course appropriately and have more than once ended up over some tall coral that I cannot get around, so I must backtrack. Keeping the balance between watching the beauty unfold right in front of me, and keeping an eye on what is to come so that I can have a general plan for my course, is the best way to snorkel. My neck doesn't get too sore, I can stay out there far longer, and then every once in a while I flip over and gaze out on where I have been and what is all around me from a different angle. It is relaxing and it helps me remember how to get back on to the beach, since I haven't figured out a way to live in the water yet. Snorkeling keeps my attention in the moment so well that there is not room for worrying or complaining or obsessing over silly problems. Once in a while something really scary (to me) happens, like the barracuda get too close and I do not like that! Though more likely I will see a giant turtle and begin squealing with excitement (which sounds even funnier with a snorkel in my mouth) and follow it all around for as long as I can.

I still drifted off again last night even with all that mumbo jumbo going on...though when I woke up this morning I decided to share that with you. Maybe you will get something out of it, or at least try snorkeling on your next vacation because it is THE BEST! (Sidenote for the divers: I cannot dive because I have an inner ear imbalance that cannot be fixed... I can barely fly without pain.. so yes, I imagine diving is awesome but it is not available to all of us like snorkeling is.)

Last week I went the grocery store and for the first time in ages... probably since last winter, I needed to buy onions. I have been getting them from farmers markets, direct from farmers, and from FreshLocal in Bremerton. I walked up to the onion bin and I was confused: every onion in the bin had the root ends cut off and they were all trimmed. It looked strange to me and I couldn't figure out why they would do that. A grocery store employee saw my befuddlement and asked if she could help me and I asked if there were any onions that had the hairy root ends left on. She must have thought I was a nut job, but she looked around (not the red onions, they too are trimmed) and found some big white onions that she could point out to me. Yes they had the roots... they were $1.79lb and they were from Peru! I am not buying onions from Peru if I can help it... unless I go to Peru, in which case I will be happy to! So I looked around a little more and found a corner with some bagged onions that were whole and happy with their roots still attached. They were from a farm in Prosser, WA, Thank you! Too bad they weren't more prominently displayed, I can't believe I am the only one who wants the whole food from a more local source...at least I hope I am not! As I looked around I realized that much of the produce was like this. I had not noticed because even when I do shop for produce at the grocery store I am in the organic section and they offer more of the whole foods, like carrots with the greens, and that type of thing. It seems strange to me that our society is obsessed with 'clean' and trimmed produce. The meat is one thing, but are we so out of touch that we cannot stand the thought of a little dirt on our food before we prepare it? The cashier who checked me out mentioned how 'dirty' those onions are and they would need their own plastic bag. I told her they were fine and that my cloth bags were used at the farmer's markets so they were used to having dirt in them, it would not hurt their feelings. She thought that was very funny as she sanitized her hands after touching the dirty onions. Sigh.

We are casting out our luck lines and trying to win a local business grant that would help us pay our taxes this quarter and we could REALLY use the help! So if you have a minute please go to the Intuit Love A Local Business site and vote for us. Just put in "Monica's" for the business name, "Silverdale, WA" for city and state, and we are the first business to pop up. Click on our business name, write a nomination in, and send it. You can see all the nominations for us (and other businesses) so far and I thank you in advance for taking the time to do this!

This month we tried our hand at biscuits and gravy. Jason Parker, one of our highest points-earning customers, has been requesting this dish for some time, and I have been wanting to make it since we opened! It is difficult to find time to do new projects like this... so I made the gravy and a recipe for the biscuits, which Mark perfected for me. We make them with butter so they are not quite as flaky as the shortening versions, though they taste great. It was a big hit and I am going to get it on the menu at least once a month from now on. Jason told me that he thought the biscuits were the best ever, and the taste of the gravy was fantastic, and he would only want the consistency a bit runnier if he could. Well we can certainly see about that! We also did chicken and dumplings as our monthly comfort meal 'Diner Classics' and it was a huge hit! I made the stock on Saturday and our Navy intern Marcus took all the meat off the bones for me, which was a huge help! I made the dish on Monday, which turned out to be our slowest business day in a year! Tuesday was not much busier and yet we sold out of the chicken and dumplings! I thought it would last 3-4 days and it did not even make it 2 days! So I think this idea of doing these comfort meals is a good one. Next month: Lamb Shanks in Tomato Sauce on Polenta. We will start serving them up on February 8 and see how it goes.

Sunday Mark and I were at The Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor, ironically to say 'farewell' to Jason Winniford, who's great service skills I told you about in my last blog. Right after I wrote that I found out that Jason is leaving Brix 25 and having a celebration party at the Tides. We went early and were lucky to snag a few private moments of conversation with Jason before the big crowds got there. He is following his former bosses, Nick & Joleen Reynolds, over to their business Seabeck Pizza. This is great news for our industry because it means that Jason will be teaching and mentoring the next generation of food service professionals, and we need people like him for that! His high standards and thorough mind will be a huge asset to his new company and we are very happy that he is keeping his talents in this region.

Tonight I am headed to the Bremerton GreenDrinks event at La Fermata. Dave from Full Circle Farm will be the speaker. He came to our place last week to talk about us being a host site for their CSA program, which we are really excited about! This should be an extra fun green drinks and I would love to see you all there! I will be there at 5, though it is open house and runs until 8 pm.

The next event we are doing is at the Libraries, both in Silverdale on the 13th and Port Orchard on the 23rd. They have asked me to give a talk on wine, which I entitled "For the Love of Wine", in homage to Valentine's day. I am excited to talk about wine and loving it! Each talk will be followed up with a tasting nearby (the Library cannot have wine on premise) so the Silverdale tasting will be at Monica's and the Port Orchard tasting will be at Puget Sound Wine Cellars. It will be tons of fun for all types of wine drinkers!

I am extremely excited to have been asked by the Sound Publishing Group to write a local food column for their 'What's Up' section of the area newspapers. I wrote my first column for last week's paper, though it got postponed because the whole section was 4 pages shorter than usual and they had to drop some things. I am really hoping it gets in this time and I would love to hear feedback and suggestions from you! What does local food mean to you and what would you like to know about it? What information would you like to share? What do you wish everyone knew? There is lots of potential here for us to get the word out and the movement going to generate a strong local food network! I will post a link to the article once it does come out and you can get back to me on the rest.

I have been in the mood for beans and rice and that sort of thing, so yesterday I made up a huge pot of lentils and sausages. For our vegetarian/vegan friends all you need to do is use veggie broth and whatever you use for sausage, although they could be left out all together. This is a hearty dish and could be a side dish if you prefer, though I just ate a big bowl of it for breakfast. Please note that for most of the veggies, I just processed them quickly in the food processor so that they pieces were tiny and melted right into the dish. You can finely chop everything by hand if you do not have a food processor.

Makes a smaller pot than what I did:

4 sausages (I used spicy Italian-use what you like)
Olive Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 TBS tomato paste
3-4 carrots, finely chopped (chop up the greens if you have them on)
2-3 celery, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/2 lb french green puy lentils (or whatever kind you like)
1 1/2 c red wine
chicken broth
1 bunch red chard or your favorite green, torn into manageable pieces
2 cups broccoli, chopped
Italian parsley, chopped

You can leave it like this and it will be fabulous! Or you can sneak in more flavor and veggies that no one will know about like this:
On the same pan roast some cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil; 1-2 bell peppers of any color (whole) and 1 poblano or other spicy chili (whole). Remove them to cool as they are done. Deskin, deseed and destem the peppers and chili, throw it all in the food processor and blend the heck out of it. Stir it in to the pot and no one will know it is there, but they will notice the great flavors, texture and of course the nutrients will pack it up nicely!

Otherwise... brown the sausages in a bit of oil and set aside.
Add a couple of TBS olive oil to the pot and throw in the onions and tomato paste. Cook them on med low, stirring once in awhile to keep from sticking. As they begin to deepen in color toss in the carrots and celery and cook them until they are sweating, about 5 minutes.

When everything is humming happily along in the pot, add in everything from garlic through lentils and stir it up nicely. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to keep everything coated, and then pour in the wine. In the words of Lydia Bastianich: "remember: cooking wine is drinking wine and we never cook with anything that we wouldn't want to be drinking".

Keep it stirring for a minute or so and then pour in enough chicken broth to cover the lentils. Slice up the cooled sausages and put them in along with the chard, broccoli and parsley, and season with a bit more salt and pepper. If you need more liquid to make sure everything is mostly covered, add it now, stir it up, cover and turn it to low heat. If you pureed the extra veggies this where you will add them in.

Let it bubble away for about 20 minutes and then give it a stir. When you put the lid back on don't seal it up, but tilt it off to the side just a bit so there is a small gap. Let it bubble away for anther 20 minutes or so and check it. If the lentils are tender you are good to go... everything else will be cooked just fine. If it needs more time it won't be much more, most of the liquid will be gone and you should check for seasoning, you may want to add salt and pepper to it.

We like to add hot sauce, you could serve it on rice to bulk it up if you don't have the meat in it and this will keep you very warm this winter! Buon Appetito!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am not sure I ever thought the year 2010 would be real to me when I was a kid. That seemed so far away! And here we are, 4 days in and we should probably start Christmas shopping so we don't get too far behind! Just kidding...sort of. Did you ring in the new year? To many people I know it is not really a big deal, though I love celebrating the new year even if I do celebrate it on East Coast time. I have been excited to write this because our New Year's Eve celebration dinner was SO FABULOUS that I even got a copy of the menu so I would not forget a thing about it. Mark and I went to Brix 25 because we know we can depend on them for fabulous service and food... and it was even better than we expected!

First, I know you are dying to find out how the wine was. Mark's Uncle Johnny gave us a bottle of wine for Christmas: Siskiyou Vineyards (Oregon) 1987 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. (Siskiyou Vineyards is now Bear Creek Winery) and we had no idea how it had cellared all these years. We got to the restaurant and were greeted by manager Jason Winniford who was on crutches and sporting a cast boot! I was feeling for him for sure since my ankle has still not fully recovered from that fateful fall in the kitchen-but I digress. Jason took our bottle and brought a decanter for it. As he peeled away the outer layer to reveal the cork, it did not look promising. The cork was soft and there was quite a bit of 'crud' that was crumbling off it. He was very careful in opening the bottle and did a perfect job of not getting any cork or crud into the wine. He decanted and then poured...and we sniffed. So far so good... swirling and letting it open and sniffed again: It smelled great! I took a tentative slurp and it was glorious! Jason shared a glass with us and this wine really was a very good wine. As it opened and blossomed throughout the evening we went from plums to prunes, molasses, tobacco and a little spice. It went nicely with a few of our courses and it was a marriage made in heaven with the beef.

They start every guest with a glass of sparkling wine and that is only the beginning of the great service they offer at Brix. Next comes some fresh bread and 2 compound butters that change nightly (I think). Ours was a black pepper butter (YUM!) and a marsala butter, which had a hint of sweetness to it. This is the only restaurant where I actually put butter on my bread! After all, if they are going to focus on details so well as to personalize their butters, I am going to appreciate that. As Mark and I perused the main menu I saw sturgeon and knew I was in for a treat. It is my favorite swimming fish, after all! Then Mark said-rather tentatively- that I should look at the fresh sheet. There were 2 special menus: A 4-course New Year's Eve Menu and a 5-course Old Year's Night Menu. (Each course was offered with a perfectly paired wine, which would have been great but we had Uncle Johnnie's wine and did not need 11 more glasses.) We decided to share those 2 menus and we did not regret one single thing..unless of course you count wanting more oysters as a regret.

The first course was the Grilled Romaine Caesar (which is on their regular menu and remains my favorite salad ever!) and an Apple & Endive Salad with apple cider dressing, Rogue Creamery (Oregon) Blue Cheese, & toasted pecans. Luckily Mark loved that one even more than I did so I got a bit more than my fair share of the grilled romaine. Yay!

Next came the broiled oysters that had a touch of sweet and a touch of acid, both from a sabayon (fancy for foam) of preserved lemons, and dropped down on them was some caviar. Divine! We really did want more...though we by no means left hungry!

The next course was a Seafood Bisque with butter poached lobster, jeweled yam gratin, and a buttermilk foam. It was rich and velvety and truly lovely. We also got the Japanese Braised Pork Belly (I forgot to ask what made it Japanese) with a drizzle of mulled berries and molasses, and a drop of dijon. This pork belly was so tender and supremely cooked that I wanted to run back and kiss Chef Lyman! It melted in my mouth and the cuts were carefully chosen and had a fantastic meat-to-fat ratio.. I have never had pork belly done better than this. It brought out beautifully a smokiness, and certainly the molasses, I was tasting in the wine.

The 'main' courses were Grass Fed Filet Mignon, cooked perfectly medium rare, and served with a caramelized onion bread pudding, baby carrots and green peppercorn 'jus'. A bite of this beef with a sip of the wine and our tastebuds were transported! Then I tasted the Oven Poached Black Cod. The fish was poached in white wine with capers, dill and shallots, and served over a bed of kale, which topped lemon risotto, and the whole thing was topped with a buerre blanc. Now I have to admit I was not overly excited about having boring ol' cod with a too-rich butter sauce. I knew it would be good, you know, just fine for sure. HA! How I underestimated the talents of this kitchen! First of all the cod was as tender as butter and the flavors were full and beautiful! Then I tasted the lemon risotto, which you know I was skeptical of since I make a mean risotto...and the bright lemon flavor floored me! The rice was creamy and perfectly cooked, which is so hard to do in a restaurant! Ok so all aspects were superb until I tasted them together: buttery (and NOT too rich!) sauce, tender fresh fish with a salty tang of capers, a fresh herbiness of dill, a sweetness from the wine, shallots & rice, and then the burst of lemon combined to make it SUBLIME! I will rethink my attitude towards black cod, thank you Chef Lyman!

We were quite sated at this point and with dessert still to come we needed a moment. We had taken our time through these courses and 2 hours later we were just finishing up. Yes, I asked for more bread so we could sop up the sauce...I am always willing to forgo class when the food is that good! Be warned if you are dining with me! Mark did it too...

We enjoyed their locally roasted coffee and then our lovely and talented waitress, Holly, brought out our desserts. Mark had asked her to bring the recommended wine pairings with this course, so we enjoyed: Whipped White Chocolate Mousse with cinnamon poached pear and fresh berries, which was paired with 2007 Nobility Late Harvest Riesling. The other dessert that I ate way too much of was: Valrhona Chocolate 'Snickers'-a de-constructed dish of house-made chocolate/almond nougat, hazelnut semi freddo (sort of like an ice cream) and crispy salted caramel, which was presented in sheets (like gelatin sheets, only way better!) and this was served with Churchill's 20 Year Tawny. Oh. My.

We savored each course, lingering and enjoying every bit of it. We made reservations for Valentine's weekend on the way out. This particular location has been our favorite restaurant since we moved here 12 years ago. First it was an Italian style restaurant called Marco's, then it was Brix 25 under different owners than it is currently, and now Katie Doherty & Chef Thad Lyman have improved it even more. Keeping the manager was brilliant, and (as I know all too well) not changing too much about the menu, though improving it with their own twists is a great business plan! And their menu, much like ours, changes with the seasons and available foods, and that gives them a much greater creative license than a restaurant with a set menu that never changes. Fantastic service and fabulous food will win me over every time! Exceeding my expectations will keep me coming back and of course I will blab about it all over town so that you will go there, too! They are the best restaurant in Gig Harbor and one of the best restaurants ANYWHERE. They are world class and we are lucky to have them so close!

Ok, ok, I will stop blathering, I think it was revisiting the menu that got me going. Now it is back to earth! For New Year's Day both sets of parents came over and we made our Halusky (my family's tradition) and Mark's mom brought their family's tradition of sweet rolls to go with it. We had a really wonderful afternoon of visiting, and Mark finally got to show his parents ALL the Italy pictures (it took awhile) and we got almost all the holiday decorations put away. Or rather, Mark got them put away. It's a nice deal: I put it out and he puts it away. On Saturday we went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie and I remembered that I hate the seats at the Gig Harbor Uptown Theater. It's a great theater with great sound and all that goes with being new, but the seats force you to sit back, which cuts off circulation in my legs and bothered my already sore (from coughing last week) neck. I prefer the rocking style seats where you can sit back if you want to, or sit up straight which I always prefer unless my legs can be up, too. How whiney is that! Sheesh!

We are gearing up for the week and I think that this Friday/Saturday will be the debut of our biscuits and gravy for the morning! Then next week we will have Chicken & Dumplings for our Monthly Comfort Classic Meal. Farm fresh chickens and veggies, how can that be anything but fabulous?! We are also focusing our soup & salad specials (as always) towards wholesome, healthy options for those who are renewing their commitment to healthy eating, and we are even going to have some smaller cookies and 'better' dessert choices offered this month to help folks get on track. We are nothing if not supportive of our community!

I saw my favorite tv chef (Anne Burrell) do an interesting cauliflower ragu and so I am going to present that to you for this week's recipe, though I am going things a bit differently than she did. This is a great thing to eat on it's own, with some polenta, on some pasta, or as a side dish. It is wintery and warm and quite easy to make, so go ahead and make it!

Cauliflower Ragu

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
Kosher salt
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes (always buy whole tomatoes-I prefer San Marzano) crushed by hand or run through a food mill.
Water or broth (chicken or veg, your preference)
1 large head cauliflower, divided into bite-sized florets
1 lemon, zested
1/4 cup slivered Gaeta or kalamata olives
1/4 cup sliced caperberries, cut into thin rounds (or more olives if you can't find the caper berries, which are near the olives in the grocery store)
A good bunch of Italian Parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350

Coat a large saucepan with olive oil. Add the onions and bring to a medium heat. Add a generous pinch of salt and a small pinch of crushed red pepper. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onions look wilted and cooked but do not have any color. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and 3/4 of a can of water (or broth), and season with salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Taste, it should taste good.

Toss the cauliflower with olive oil, salt & pepper. Spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put into preheated oven. Turn after 20 minutes and let it roast another 15 before checking. When done it should be really soft with some caramelization on the outside. Add the cooked cauliflower & parsley to the tomato mixture. Cook the cauliflower in the tomato sauce until the cauliflower has completely broken up and the sauce clings to the cauliflower, about 20 to 30 minutes. Taste to see if the seasoning needs to be adjusted. Stir in the lemon zest, olives and caperberries.

Enjoy!!!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Did you have a nice Christmas? I always wonder about folks who do not celebrate the holiday. Is it enjoyable down time? Or annoying because you cannot get anything done since the majority of people are off for at least a couple of days if not more. I know that trying to get business accomplished on Christmas Eve was difficult, as I made calls in between getting orders out, I found that almost everyone else was already out of their offices. We did enjoy some nice family time: Christmas Eve at our house with my family, which was perfect because we were exhausted! So we got home and they already had the music on, candles lit, food out and wine opened. Aaaahhh... that was so nice! We got into our pj's and just enjoyed the evening and then when everyone left we crawled into bed. No driving home, or packing anything up... mom and dad even did a bunch of clean up and all we had to do was put some food away and turn out the lights. The rest was attended to later. The next morning we slept in until 6:45! It was fabulous to sleep in and then lounge in bed. Santa came so we checked out our stockings and then got ready to spend the day at the Downen's.

Breakfast, presents, lounging around and visiting, then dinner and home by 7. So nice to get into bed and read! My favorite gift: A photo book of our Italy trip that my mom created online, using Mark's amazing photos. You must come to the cafe and see this! He is a wonderful photographer and mom put together a fantastic rendition of our Food & Wine Tour... it took our breath away. It is really beautiful and I will have it to share with everyone at the cafe.

Saturday was a free day so I read A LOT. Sunday Mark had to go in to work for a few hours to prep up for Monday. It is always a big job when we have more than one day off because we give all the food that won't make it (bread, cookies, sliced veg, soup, salad, etc...) to the homeless outreach program that we work with. So when we go in on Monday we have to start completely over from scratch from nothing, and there is quite a bit of prep work involved. I cleaned up the house and did a little work on the computer-usually a big no on Sunday, but again there is too much catchup to do if I don't at least clean up the emails. I did not have to cook at all over the weekend because we had lots of leftovers! From Christmas Eve we had smoked salmon, cheeses, crackers, grilled radicchio, pasta, braised chicken, roasted beef, bbq'd turkey (dad does it best!), and lots more. No one even noticed that we forgot to bring Christmas cookies home for the family! Christmas day leftovers included steak and turkey and we just ate off the leftovers all weekend.

Our catering went really well on Wednesday and Thursday, and that always makes me so very happy. All the special orders got out and we only screwed up one order (Mark dropped the Key Lime Pie...That Sucked!) and they were exceedingly nice and understanding and accepted the caramel macadamia nut tart that we offered in lieu of the pie. Whew! The tart is worth more than twice the pie, but if I didn't get what I ordered and had counted on, I might still be disappointed at first. Everything worked out and Erin got to her plane on time (as far as I know!) after coming in to bake early, and we all got home safe and sound. I hope you did, as well.

Next up: New Year's Eve! It has always been one of my top favorite holidays and even though I can no longer make it up until Pacific Coast midnight (I celebrate East Coast New Year's Eve!) I still love it. I like to have a special meal with great wine to celebrate the end of the year, and to welcome in the new one. I love the feeling of a fresh new year and this year we want to stay close to home, so we saved up and are going to enjoy the FABULOUS service and food of Brix 25 in Gig Harbor. Unfortunately I waited too long to get a reservation so we have to be there at 5:30. We can draw it out nicely, but that is a bit early even for me. It will be worth it though, and I can hardly wait! We wanted to invite friends and family over to watch the Olalla Polar Bear Jump, but we cannot find out when it will be. High tide is usually the time, and that is at 0635, so I don't think anyone will want to come watch at that hour! It is pretty funny to watch all those crazy people jump into the cold Puget Sound! Brr... they also blast a stupid cannon that I hate (yes, it is really an actual cannon!) so I won't be sad at all to miss that this year if they don't do the jump.

I added a new appetizer to our catering menu based on something I learned from Rima in Florence. I finally found the cherry peppers, although they are already cleaned and pickled, which actually makes my life much easier! I made a tuna mousse by adding our totally fabulous sardines in lemon (everyone who says they hate sardines LOVES these!), some capers, some olive oil... and stuffed the little peppers (which are mostly sweet with just a bit of a kick) and oh man are they good! It is a great addition to our party foods and I can't wait to add them to someone's party. We will serve then up at our Winter Blahs party in January so you all can sample them along with some of our other goodies.

There are lots and lots of new year food traditions around the world, and when I was a little girl the men made our New Year's Day celebration meal. It was called Halusky and if you click that link you can see my blog post about it from last January. I will make my version of halusky again this year because I just plain love to eat it!

Beans and rice are a very traditional dish to serve for good luck at the new year so here is a recipe for you. It uses dried beans, though you can easily use canned if you like, just be sure to rinse them really well so you get the tinny can taste off of them.

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over
3 tablespoons bacon grease or olive oil
1/4 cup chopped tasso, or chopped ham
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/2 pound smoked sausage, split in half lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound smoked ham hocks, scored
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
10 cups chicken stock, or water
4 cups cooked white rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions, garnish
Directions
Place the beans in a large bowl or pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight at room temperature. Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the bacon grease or oil over medium-high heat. Add the tasso and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the onions, celery and bell peppers to the grease in the pot. Season with the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the bay leaves, parsley, thyme, sausage, and ham hocks, and cook, stirring, to brown the sausage and ham hocks, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and stock or water, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 hours. (Should the beans become too thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.)

Remove from the heat and with the back of a heavy spoon, mash about 1/4 of the beans against the side of the pot. Continue to cook until the beans are tender and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.

Serve over rice and garnish with green onions. Serve with some hot sauce for people like me who like it spicy!!

Good luck in the new year!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

It's a foggy morning and the quiet morning belies the panic in Erin's eyes. Erin is our morning baker and she had a longer than usual day yesterday. She was here for close to 12 hours helping Mark with special orders and other prep. Mark worked close to 17 hours yesterday so he could finish up the Christmas cookies and Erin was a big help taking care of other things. So Erin was tired and this morning she slept in. Sharon arrived at the cafe close to 6 this morning and the thing we have dreaded since we opened had happened: the baker over slept. Sharon called me and Mark just happened to be on his way out to get back here when I hollered out to him to wait a second. I told him that Erin was not there, so he shot out the door saying 'see ya later'.

I called Erin and she woke up grabbing the phone already apologizing. I said to her calmly 'it's ok, just go now, as fast as you can, and be safe'. I shut down my computer and hit the shower (we will be here until 9 or so tonight, I HAD to take a shower!) and realized that I was not panicked, and neither was Mark when I spoke to him a few minutes after he left. This was simply a thing that we had to adjust to and so be it. We knew what needed to be done and luckily there were no special orders first thing, so it would all get out when it got out. I got here and Erin had beat me, thank goodness. You should have seen the look in her eyes... so disappointed and still panicky, even verging on teary. I gave her a hug, didn't say anything and just got to work. They had worked so efficiently and quickly that there was not much for me to help with (though there will be when the bread has risen) so I am here to blog about it. We have already started teasing her about it (oh yes, there will be merciless teasing!) and she is relaxing and realizing that even when her idea of the worst happened, it wasn't exactly a crisis.

So we are all here settling in to serve dinner for 25 upstairs tonight, among tons of other special orders. The group upstairs is having a choice of 4 entrees: Braised Chicken w/Almonds & Mushrooms; locally smoked wild coho salmon & crab in cream sauce over fresh taglietelle pasta; grass fed beef tenderloin roast from Oregon Country, crusted in pink peppercorns; and for the littlest kids fresh raviolis with butter and parmesan. There will be roasted veggies, mashed or roasted potatoes, dinner rolls, salads, and of course dessert as well. My mom and sister and Lori are coming to help with service (thank you!!!) so Mark and I will be exhausted and yet quite satisfied by the end of the day. Tomorrow we have another beef tenderloin dinner for 10, and lots and lots of special order quiche and things. I had to clean, trim and tie those tenderloins and even though I have not had to do that in so detailed a way (in a restaurant) in over 20 years, I did a beautiful job! These are some beautiful cuts of beef.

This holiday season has been a billion times better for us than last year because the snow forced so many cancellations that we never recovered. Our customers are the best in the world and they have truly rallied around us this season! We can tell that they are choosing to support us and I am grateful every moment of each day lately. Every time someone walks through that door I can't help but grin. Thank you thank you thank you is all I can think!

Last Saturday Mark and I went to the Seattle Symphony show of 'Messiah' with my parents and we had a wonderful time! After the show we drove around and stopped in Tacoma for dinner at il Trattoria di Merende and had a fabulous meal. 'Merende' literally translates as 'snacks', and in this case they mean it as it relates to small plates. They have lots of shareable options and boy did we ever share! We tried the risotto and it is the best restaurant risotto I have had in the states, outside of New York City. Most places disappoint me with their risotto and Merende absolutely did not. We also tried the broccolini which had been put on the grill and it may have been everyone's favorite thing. Simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and red chili flakes, the grill gave it fantastic flavor. I had the bolognese and I LOVED it! We all loved our food and we enjoyed some wine and I have to say that they have some of the best Italian food around. And you all know I have very high standards for Italian food!

The next day we headed to Bellevue to the home of Mark's Aunt Dee & Uncle Johnny. It was the annual extended family gift exchange: Mark's mom and her sister and all of their families were there. Someone brought in some Cougar Gold cheese and it is delicious! Sharp and tangy, a bit crumbly with a great salty bite... we were all eating it up quickly. It was a really fun day catching up with the cousins (we missed it last year because of the snow!) and even though Mark and I got there an hour early (we thought it started at one...oops!) it went by really quickly! The annual pictures were snapped and we were all merrily on our way. Dee and Johnny have always given us wonderful gifts for as long as we have known them, and this year was certainly no exception. Johnny has collected wine over the years, buying one to drink and one to cellar for his retirement years. Now that he is retired, fate has conspired against him and he is unable to drink the wine that he so lovingly cellared. (He says 'let that be a lesson for you'!) They honored us with the gift of a bottle of French Cabernet from 1987! Can you believe that?? We were so surprised and thrilled! This will be the most special bottle of wine we have ever had and I have a specific plan for it, with a toast to Johnny being the first part of it! I will let you know how it turns out.

So I need to get busy and start prepping for the dinners tonight and tomorrow. I hope we get some great New Year's Eve parties to do as well, since that is my favorite cooking to do. For the recipe this week I will tell you how to cook the beef tenderloin, in case you have one in your fridge as well. It is so easy, and I think it showcases this mildly flavored cut beautifully. It is based on about a 5 lb tenderloin, already trimmed and tied. (You want it tied with the small end tucked under, so that it cooks evenly without charring any part of it.)

olive oil
salt
peppercorns (a medley of colors is nice; I use just pink, though white and black could easily be thrown into that mix)

Pull the tenderloin out 2 hours before you will cook it, so it can gently come up to room temperature.

Lay out the beef on an oversized piece of plastic wrap. Rub it all over with the olive oil.
Sprinkle salt on all sides and then press in the peppercorns. Pull up on the sides of the plastic wrap to help pick up all the dropped spices, and be sure they get pressed into all sides of the beef, even the bottom.

Lay the beef on a cooking rack, on top of a baking sheet and set aside until time to cook.

Preheat the oven to 350 (325 convect) and when it is ready place the beef in the center of the oven. Turn it at 20 minutes. It may cook upwards of 40 minutes, though you should start checking the temperature at 30. If you are eating a cut this expensive, I am assuming you will not cook it past medium rare-medium, and therefore you want the internal temperature to be around 125.

Pull it out, tent some foil over it, and let it rest for about 30 minutes (20 minimum) before you slice it.

We like to slice it about finger width, and then lay it all out on a bed of arugula, surrounded by tomato slices or cherry tomatoes. We offer a little horseradish on the side, and I do even that with trepidition. This cut of meat is not the most flavorful, and you could even sear it all around before baking it to get a bit more flavor, though I think this presentation is perfect. Tender and juicy and perfectly cooked; you can't go wrong.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I am so happy our real winter is back! I know it is not the popular view: I love the rain for many reasons. It is cold but not too cold, and when I walk out the door I smell the trees, the sea, a whisper of smoke from someone's fireplace... I can smell the place we live and I love that! I also love the sound of the rain and the only thing I don't love is the cold rain hitting my head and face. (Sidenote: We really need a breezeway from the back door to the walk-in door at work, if anyone has some spare time and that sort of talent!) Plus, when we do have one of those gorgeous, sunny and cold days, I appreciate the beauty of it even more. This time of year I want stews and soups and one-pot dishes like risotto more than anything. Comforting, warm, simple and hearty.

Last Saturday was two of my favorite holiday traditions: Story time with Mrs. Claus at the cafe (Mrs. Claus is phenomenal!) and the Gig Harbor Lighted Boat Parade. For the past few years we have been invited to watch from the yacht club at Arabella's Landing. We all bring food for a potluck, some wine to share, and we can watch from the warmth inside, or step out onto the deck for a chillier, albeit livelier view. It is the only non-family holiday party that we are always invited to and we thoroughly enjoy! I was disappointed though because we never did see a real Santa out there. I don't think they had one this year, because I waited out there in the freezing cold and he never went by. I was very pouty about it! I admit to being a Santaphile (did I make that word up?) and ever since he stopped his route in Olalla every year I really miss him! sigh.

Ok so I have to sidetrack here and ask if you have seen the Travel Channel show "Meet the Natives"? It is about 5 tribesmen from a remote South Pacific island called Tanna. They are traditional hunters and farmers, wearing grass skirts and penis sheaths. Per the show: "They have no electricity or TV, and a very limited idea of the world beyond their tiny island until now." ... I guess someone with lots of money and time convinced them to come to the US and stay with different people across the nation. Mark and I stumbled across it and we could not stop watching. It is tabloid television, to be sure, and yet these men have a mission to learn about the state of our nation, and they truly want to help us find a better way of life. They speak of peace and mutual care. They think it is odd when in Peoria the food for Thanksgiving comes from cans. They look at the canned yams and whisper 'does she know this food has no life?' They are shocked to find a homeless man in Central Park, and do not understand why the rest of us do not build him a house. That is what they would do on their island, after all. What a ridiculous notion to go homeless when there are plenty of people who can help you out. If everyone would work together and respect each other, treating each other at least as well as we treat our pets, the world would be a more peaceful and more advanced place. I think they consider themselves more emotionally and spiritually advanced than we are in general, because we refuse to see how easy it is to take care of each other and set aside, or even celebrate, differences. Hmm. I have heard some say that their way of life would be Socialism. I disagree. The definition of Socialism is generally having to do with economics and government, while the definition of Democracy generally has more to do with power coming from the citizens (or our elected officials) and majority rule. So actually I think they are a better example of Democracy than we are at times. If you watch the show, focus on the tribesmen and their questions, as well as their answers. It is an interesting insight into their culture, as well as our own.

I am going in this morning and I have a couple of new things I want to make-hopefully I have time to get those recipes in! I will 'twitter' when we put them out so you can get them fresh (hint: one project is soft pretzels!) Next Saturday we are joining my parents at Benaroya to see Messiah, which I have wanted to see there for years so I am very excited! After the show we will probably go get some great Italian at Via Tribunali (I have yet to get there and hear so much about it!) or Trattoria Merende and I can't wait to report back about that food! On Sunday we have Mark's extended family (maternal side) Christmas party, and then on to the holiday! So fast! We have the tree up and even decorations out, though I did only about half of what I used to do. We don't have the time or the energy to set it up OR take it down these days. I know I will get back to my Holiday House some day, where I clear out almost every room and decorate with Christmas, Hanukkah and Solstice decor. It is fun, and it takes a lot of time! Most of my Santas are out, and they are my favorites. Do you have a favorite holiday decoration? I would love to hear about it or see it!

So what recipe would you like this week? How about a comforting breakfast dish that you can actually mix up the night before, combine in the morning and bake to keep it super simple. It will work for guests as well as a warm weekday breakfast. Here you go:

BAKED OATMEAL

4 cups rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup chopped almonds
2/3 cup raisins or other chopped dried fruit
2 apples, chopped
3 cups whole milk
4 large eggs
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 TBS canola
4 TBS honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 and butter an 8 inch baking dish.

Mix together oats, baking powder and salt. Stir in nuts, fruit and apple (you can do this the night before and set it aside)

In a separate bowl pour in milk, whisk in eggs, brown sugar, oil, honey and cinnamon. (you can do this the night before and put it in the fridge.)

The next morning, or whenever you are ready to cook the dish: Combine dry ingredients with wet and stir together. Poor into the baking dish.

Bake until liquid is absorbed and top is golden brown (about 45-1hr?) Serve warm in bowls.

Maybe we will offer this at the cafe... what do you think?

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

As you all know, last week 4 Lakewood police officers were ambushed and executed by, for lack of a better word, a psychopath. We have all seen the anguish of the community and the incomprehensible grief of the families. We have seen the police family rally and encase the families and community in love and support. We have even heard about the trauma of the employees and other customers who were at the Forza Coffee Co that morning. What we have not seen is the communications staff who was behind the scenes of this event. I imagine this so clearly, after having done that job for 15 years in King County. There was at least one 9-1-1 operator who took a call about the shootings while it was happening. She probably stood up and called out to the dispatcher to check on her officers who were at Forza just before she wrote the call into the system. Adrenaline was kicking in, though denial was at the forefront to begin with. The dispatcher probably called for her officers on the air. I am sure the radio silence made her blood run cold with terror. All she could do was stare at the radio and try willing them to answer; willing backup to GET THERE NOW and say it was ok. Willing someone, or something, to fix this and let it not be true. Not on her watch. Not 4 of them. She had to remain calm and professional so that she could reassure the other officers out there that she was there for them. These are the stories we will not hear and I can only hope and pray that those call receivers and dispatchers are getting as much help and support from admin as they can possibly stand.

Mark and I were honored to be offered a ride in the funeral procession by a King County detective who I used to work with and remain friends with. It felt important to be able to show our support and quietly honor all those involved in This Inconceivable Loss. This was not my first police funeral procession, though it was certainly the biggest. The biggest any of us have ever heard of. We rode in honor of the fallen, their families, and certainly I rode to honor the valor of those communications specialists who go to work every day hoping for the best. You can see some pictures that Mark took, including car shields from many of the different agencies there, though I bet he didn't even get half of them. Some of my friends who are still on the job went down to the Pierce County communications center and worked for the call receivers and dispatchers so they could attend the services. (Sidenote: When I learned they were doing that, it was the only time since I quit 5 years ago that I actually wished I was still certified so that I could help.) Law enforcement communications specialists go in each day to be there for the community and to be there for the cops who need them, whether they know it or not. In my experience there is no where near the level of administrative support for communications, as there is for the officers, even though they are a part of every call. Yet they continue on. It is a call to duty no less strong than any other, and we are very lucky that they show up to fulfill that call every day. May blessings shower upon every one of them, and may they never know the terror of that radio silence when they call one of their units.

Mark and I did not go in to the funeral, as we knew space was limited and we did not want to take up 2 seats that could go to officers who traveled across the country to be there. Instead, we hopped on the LINK train with the intention of catching a bus back to the park and ride where we left our car. We ended up near the Pacific Grill and we went in to enjoy a happy hour. We could see the King County helicopter circling the Tacoma Dome and it somehow felt right to stay nearby during the service. We were able to relax a little and get distracted by some fabulous food while we processed the day's emotions. Pacific Grill has a phenomenal happy hour (as do a few of the downtown Tacoma restaurants) as nearly everything on their extensive bar menu is 50% off, and they have drink specials as well.

What we had was all really great, though we did not have much. Gorgonzola tater tots are awesome! I loved them more than Mark did and he thinks it is because they were hush-puppy like, and I love those. I think it was the gorgonzola sauce that got me. We shared the cheeseburger sliders-which sound so simple and yet were the best little burgers I have ever had. Remember, I don't love beef unless it is grass fed and even then only in small amounts. Whatever this was it was tender and had excellent flavor. They came with 'fries'... very thinly sliced and heavily seasoned (just the way I LOVE them!) and then tossed with roasted garlic cloves and fried sage and rosemary. Oh man were those awesome! We also shared the Vietnamese "Bahn Mi" pork sandwich and coleslaw. It was the best coleslaw I have ever had and possibly the favorite thing I ate that day. The sandwich was tangy and zingy and flavorful, and just a little messy which is always a good sign. I enjoyed a glass of house red wine which turned out to be something worth looking for in the stores. The waitress said it was 'Gladiator Cabernet Sauvignon' and the only thing I am finding that might be it is Cycles Gladiator. We are going to check out the wine shops to see if they have it as we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

We felt a little better, or at least a little calmer and fortified, after sharing that food, and I know that the comfort comes from both the sharing, and the excellent food. We watched the helicopter make protective circles over the dome, until the bus came to take us out to Purdy, wishing peace upon every soul in and near that arena. When we got home we watched it on the news channels and I cried some more. I hope that as you watched the proceedings you had someone to share your thoughts and emotions with, or at least to hold hands with while you watched. Business was slow all day and I have a feeling many of you were glued to your tv's and radios, showing your support the only way you could. Now it is time for all of us to move forward a little bit and breathe together a sigh of determination. We must be determined to support each other and let pettiness pass. We must be determined to make the best of what we have, and share it whenever we can, with everyone that we can. We must be determined to work through our grievances and to show respect for ourselves, as well as those we come into contact with, even when they annoy us. And when we are not able to resist a burst of anger or frustration, we must be determined to take responsibility for it and do what we can to make it right. We do need each other, and we all need a little help now and then, no matter how much alone time we might cherish.

We are working on lots of catering and special orders this month, which we are abundantly grateful for, as well as some extra goodies that we hope are appealing to all of you as great Hanukkah, Solstice and Christmas gifts. Next month, which is next year by the way, we are going to start a new tradition of once a month offering diner classic comfort meals. Things like chicken and dumplings, corned beef brisket and braised cabbage, lamb shanks, and so on. We will make our own fabulous version of these dishes and offer them as a special until they are gone, then move on to the next item. I am hoping the comfort of 'down home goodness' will work its magic and help bring us together in ways that only great food can. We want to be a cornerstone for our community and in feeding and nourishing your bodies, we hope to be feeding and nourishing your hearts and minds, as well.

It has been so icy cold outside that soup seems to be the recipe I should share this week. I have had a lovely head cold and so I am thinking something to boost our immune systems would be nice. How about some Spanish spicy garlic soup? mmmm...

Sopa da Ajo (about 10 servings)

olive oil
10 garlic cloves
1 large onion, chopped
10 slices of day old, peasant style bread (1/4 inch thick) OR even better would be our croutons
2 TBS smoked paprika (I use the piquant, or spicier version)
12 cups water or broth (at home I use chicken broth; at the cafe I would use our veg broth)
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted in a pan and then crushed in a spice grinder (or 1/2 tsp ground cumin)
salt & pepper
chopped parsley
1 egg per serving if you want to do this part

Put a good amount of oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium high. Drop in the garlic cloves and saute, stirring frequently, until they are a lovely, golden brown. Keep them moving so they do not burn or they will get bitter. They will be soft and puffy and a rich golden color, then you will remove them with a slotted spoon and set them aside.

If you are using bread lay in the slices and toast them on both sides in the oil. Left them out and set them aside.

Add a little oil if you need to and get it hot, then drop in the onions and saute them until they begin to caramelize. Reduce the heat a bit so you can take them as far as you like, of course the more you cook them the sweeter they will get.

Stir in the paprika, which will absorb the oil and become sort of a paste. Pour in the water or broth, and add the cumin. Crush the garlic cloves with a fork and add them to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the parsley.

Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for about 8-10 minutes total.

You can stop here and serve the soup with the bread placed in each bowl, or garnish with the croutons instead. This is a very brothy, comforting soup, a little sweet from the onions and garlic, and a little spice from the paprika and cumin.
OR
You can do the egg thing. There are a few different ways to do this, you get to choose. You can dish the soup into oven proof bowls, then break an egg into each bowl. Place the bread or croutons over the top (gently so as not to break the egg) and bake in the oven for about 4 minutes, until the egg is set.

You can use the casserole you cooked the soup in and 'poach' the eggs in the soup on the stove top.

You can use the casserole and place one egg per person on top, then top it all with the bread/croutons, and bake it all at once in the oven for about 4 minutes until the eggs are set.
No matter which of those methods you use the egg yolk should be soft, so as to blend with the soup when it is stirred in.

You can beat the eggs (use 1 egg for every 2 servings) and cover the top of the soup with them, then place it under the broiler until it is set.

Any of these ways would be super yummy and you can make this soup for me any time!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Can you believe Thanksgiving was just last week? Truly, it seems like a long time ago. So much has happened in our region, and in our neighborhood, and my little mind has been whirling and twirling like crazy. There are good ideas coming out of there so stay tuned! I hope you all had plenty of good food to eat on your holiday and I hope that at least one thing you ate this past week was locally produced. You know me, I cannot-or perhaps will not- get off that Think Local First soapbox. I am tenacious when I feel something is this important and just!

We had a wonderful time with Mark's family; we do not get to see them as often as we would like to. You may be as shocked as I was to find out that our nephew Travis has grown about 3 inches and 1.5 shoe sizes since he left us for home in August! His voice is deeper and he has been running cross country so he is long and lean. I think this cross country is really good for him! He is a quiet kid and now is more relaxed... it seems that he has gained some self confidence, or maybe just a certain amount of comfort in his own skin. Do you remember 15 years old? It was pretty uncomfortable! So we enjoyed him even more than usual, if that is even possible. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he comes back to work with us again next year, though he will be driving and I do not look forward to the year that he decides to get a job closer to home. Of course we will give him a great reference, even if we do miss him like crazy!

Erin's birthday dinner at Indochine was as good as always, and we were glad she asked us to join her! If you go to Tacoma, that is definitely a good place to go. After dinner we walked with her and her dad across the Chihuly bridge, which neither of them had ever seen, and that is a fantastic way to end an evening! If you haven't been to the Museum of Glass in Tacoma you are missing out on some amazing art. The outdoor exhibits are always up and always free, and the Dale Chihuly glass art that lines and covers the bridge over the freeway is absolutely beautiful. I would love a ceiling like that in my bedroom! Very often when I have trouble quieting my mind for sleep I imagine/remember snorkeling in Mexico. I envision the colors and textures as clearly as I can, focusing on details, so my mind can stop and relax. A ceiling like that would be wonderful to relax to. Now you know what to get me for Christmas! and please don't forget the backlighting, it is crucial to the experience!

So this Saturday there is a great event called Stockings For A Cause in Silverdale, at Judy's Junk & Java, from 2-5 pm. Our beloved coffee roasters, Paul & Dean, own this lovely vintage items store, and it is right next door to Lisa Stirrett's Art Glass Studio. This silent auction and festive event has proceeds going directly to benefit families and individuals living with HIV AIDS in Kitsap County. Come on out and join us for a fabulous cup of coffee and some fundraising fun!

Then boom we are into the Hanukkah, Solstice and Christmas season! Decorated cookies, red envelope prizes, specialized goodies, gifts and our now famous chocolate dessert wine will all be in full swing next week! Let's hope the weather stays mild and even beautiful like it has been so we can all get out and enjoy our community this season. Art Walk is next Friday and we are combining that with the Old Town Ladies Night so it should be very festive and fun. Then we have Mrs Claus, lots of catering going on and Christmas is 3 weeks away. Sheesh! I will go into those things more next week, this is just a teaser.

I had a long and arduous day today (read: I had to think about numbers a lot so I am tired and would love a glass of wine!) so I will bid you adieu a bit early. However, I know you must have frozen your Washington grown turkey carcass and are wondering what you should do with it now. Here is what I did to make a great broth that I have yet to strain and get into the freezer:

Pulled out the giant Le Creuset stock pot/dutch oven that I bought on ebay a few years ago for a steal!!

Broke up the turkey carcass and threw that in with a chicken carcass I had in the freezer as well.

Layered in a bit of olive oil, layed out some onions (with skins on) on their flat sides in the olive oil, then threw in some: peeled carrots, a few ribs of celery, a few bay leaves, a handful of pepper corns, a bundle of thyme, a scant handful of salt, a bunch of Italian parsley, about 20 cloves of garlic with the skins on, a bit of freshly grated nutmeg, and a round of panchetta that was loitering in the freezer and would add some body to the broth.

I turned up the burner and let the olive oil get hot and the onions start to sizzle a little bit.

I covered the whole lot with water, put the lid on and lit the fire on high. When it came to a boil I turned it down, tilted the lid and let her rock and roll for about 4 hours.

Then I strained out the solids, pressing on them to get out all the good stuff, and strained the broth again just to be sure. I put it in the fridge and it is now awaiting a nice skimming of the fat that I will do with some cheese cloth over a 'spider' (a Japanese strainer with a long, bamboo handle) to be sure to get the icky stuff out. Then I will freeze it in quart containers to use in risotto and soups for the next few months. YUM.

Notice I said a scant handful of salt. I like to salt things pretty well and I use good salt, though every dish calls for a different amount. Therefore I just gave it a nudge and will salt each dish appropriately as I use the broth up. It is difficult to take back a heavy dose of salt and usually even if you can adjust it the balance of other flavors is thrown off irreversibly. So go easy on the salt, just give the broth a taste of it, so it can see it's own great potential!

Now. What will you do with your broth? Let me know if you want ideas!

Here we are at the cafe, Erin, Mark and I. We have already worked 6 hours and Mark and I only have 7 1/2 left before we close up for the weekend. I love the mornings here, when folks trickle in and pick up lots of yummy treats for the day, or just grab their latte for the road. I love that we are the first stop of the morning for a few special people and we get to start their day off nicely! While we normally go out of town and escape during this holiday weekend (it is, after all, the longest stretch of time off we all get here) this year I have extra projects to do. Since we are staying home I will work part of Thursday & most of Friday, and hopefully be able to have all of Saturday & Sunday off. That would be really nice! We will go to Mark's mom and dad's for Thanksgiving dinner and it is always nice and relaxing over there. I always end up sitting in a chair with my feet up just enjoying the company and down time.

We did not get nearly as many pre-orders this year as we have in past years. I am not sure what this signifies, though that fact, combined with sales being down 14% and costs of goods being up 13%, we are worried. Nonetheless we are forging on and still baking all the extra rolls, pies and cinnamon bread that we usually do in hopes of a big walk in traffic day. I have a big plan perking around in my head that I will announce next month, and the my FABULOUS staff team is rallying and coming up with some great ideas of their own, and we are going to turn this thing around. Until then, we will hang on tight and keep on trying! December is our 'No Peeking' red envelope giveaway, where we give out 1000 envelopes, each containing a secret prize, that the bearer may not open until s/he returns in January. Each envelope gets opened in front of us and we award the bearer the prize right away. It is so much fun! No one can see through the envelopes to try to see their prize before hand, though many have tried. Plus Mrs Claus will visit on the 12th and that is a wonderful family event for the kids.

Last Saturday was our staff meeting and we had so much fun. We always invite our past staffers to join us at the 'after party', and our current team is welcome to stay after the meeting for us to wine and dine them. While us gals take care of business for a couple of hours, Mark makes pizza dough, pizza sauce, cranks up the ovens and gets all the toppings ready for us. When the meeting is over and we have all hugged it out we tromp down the stairs and there is a flurry of activity. The girls go in the kitchen and are all chatting, getting wine glasses out and pouring for each other, getting excited for a fun evening. I am always the last one down and my very most favoritest thing in the world is slightly self indulgent (as all the best things are) and just a quiet moment. As I come through the door into the downstairs dining room I pause and listen. The happy chatter of those I love, all working together and happy to be with one another, is delightful to my ears and heart. It is slightly self indulgent because I know that I have created this loving environment and built this fabulous team, and it is some of the best results of my hard work. From the moment I decided to be a boss it has been my goal to be the kind of boss that I always wanted and never had. I work on it every day, and some days I am more successful than others, and yet every day I have at least a small victory in reaching that goal. Our gals are awesome! (and yes, it is in part because they let me call them 'my girls'! Even though one is slightly older than me...)

We also had a new discovery that has gone over very well. Now mind you I KNOW it sounds disgusting, and it doesn't even look very good. It is called "Chocovine" and the label says it is a blend of 'Dutch Chocolate and Fine French Cabernet Wine'! Gross, right? You shake it up, serve it cold and it would last up to 6 months in the fridge if you could possibly resist drinking it all. It has the alcohol content of wine (14%, so a high alcohol wine) and only costs $12.95 a bottle (or $20 for 2 in a lovely gift box) and it is SO good! We handed out samples at the wine tasting Friday night, all day Saturday, and for a couple of hours on Monday, and all 4 cases are gone. That is how good it is! It tastes like a cross between Kahlua and Bailey's, and at half the price of those bottles how can you go wrong? We have more on order and will get it Friday December 4 and I wish it were going to be sooner because everybody wants more now. It is the oddest wine I have ever carried, though since it is very unique I think it fits our quirky little wine collection. Such great wine and so little time!

Sunday was my first MLS game, at the MLS cup (thanks to Kat who gave us great tickets!!) and it was awesome! Especially since LA went DOWN! We were outside at the peanut stand where the peanuts are far more reasonably priced than inside, and I noticed a familiar package. They had CB's Nuts!! From Kingston! I bought a bag right away and a woman asked me 'what's the difference between those and the others?" I was very happy to tell her that they are roasted in Kitsap County and the best nuts you can eat! She bought a bag too... keepin' it local, baby! I can't wait to go to a Sounders game next season, so anyone who wants to take me to one let me know.

Friday is Erin's birthday and she wants us all to meet at Indochine in Tacoma, which is really not a chore since we LOVE their food. It's her birthday and she gets to eat what she wants on that day for sure! Saturday for fun we could go to the 55th annual Silverdale Christmas Tree Lighting around 5 pm (Santa arrives at 5:45 by police escort (though I think that speaks more to his dignitary status than to any criminal tendencies) and lights the 131 foot tall Douglas Grand Fir. (I have mixed feelings about that... though I don't know where they got it.) Another fun activity this weekend will be the Harrison Foundation's Festival of Trees which runs both Saturday and Sunday. For those of us in the south end there is always WinterFest at Peninsula High School in Purdy. I love that festival and have not gotten there in several years so I may just take a peek this weekend.

What will you do to get into the holiday spirit? Or would you rather not? I enjoy it for the month of December and not before or after, so we don't get burned out on it. I need to go pull the turkey out of the fridge so it can rest at room temp before I cook it. Thanks to Farmer George's meats in Port Orchard we got a 15 lb local bird and it is gonna be good! I will share with you my mashed potatoes method (as it is more a method than a recipe) in case you want to change up your method a bit. Have a wonderful weekend!

A bunch of yukon gold potatoes (It depends on how many you want to feed)
Cut them into chunks and boil them in chicken broth. I use a food mill so I just leave the skins on.

Meanwhile, carmelize an onion or two, and roast a few heads of garlic.
set out a tub of mascarpone cheese so it gets to room temp, as well as some unsalted butter.

When the spuds are done (fork tender) drain them, reserving the liquid for later.

Put them through the food mill (or ricer, or masher, or whatever you use and plop in a good blob of mascarpone and butter (yes, 'plop' and 'blob' are technical terms!) while the potatoes are still hot so the butter and creamy cheese can melt.

Salt the heck out of em, add some pepper, toss in the onions and garlic (you can chop those up more if you want to) and blend it all together. If you need more liquid add in a little of the broth that you set aside earlier. Keep mixing until you have it they way you want it. Eat em up! YUM!

You can use that broth later for your turkey soup, the starchy from the spuds is quite all right.

Ciao for now!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

I am cold this week! I keep hearing everyone bemoaning the 'nasty' weather and everyone seems to be so surprised at how rainy and cold it is. I looked up the averages and our temps are very normal for November. We do have about an inch more rain than average, though I don't think that is so much that we are noticing. What I really think happened is that the combination of the onset of our blustery November weather, combined with a later changing of the clocks, has thrown us off. Personally, I think it is ridiculous to change our clocks and if I could stand Arizona at all I would be tempted to move there so I wouldn't have to do it! It's an outdated and irrelevant practice, and I think we should stop. Pick a time and stay with it! Although I do remember fully enjoying being on graveyard shift when it was time to 'Spring forward'. I hated it extra on graves when we had to 'Fall back', that was never fun.

Last week I picked up some chicken from Shannon Harkness, a local farmer and purveyor of excellent chicken. They are plump and juicy and so flavorful! We just finished the last of our Sunday chicken last night and we can't wait to roast anther one, so thank you, Shannon for taking such good care of us by growing great food! For Thanksgiving we have an order from Farmer George for a locally grown turkey. I tried to find a farmer to go to directly, but no one had any around here. We did order a heritage turkey, like last year, though that one is down by my sister's place in Bingen so my family will get to enjoy that one without us. Fresh-Local Bremerton is now open so we can get local produce, grains, and other items at this great new store! I love that! They will serve their own blend of coffee, soups, sandwiches & other food that they make at their commercial kitchen across the street, and generally just be a wonderful place to gather and enjoy our community. I love that Jean Schanen has forged ahead with this fabulous project! It is so exciting!

On Saturday night we went to dinner in Covington with my 'BFF' and her husband. They took us to Trapper's Sushi: a locally owned place with a modern decor and fantastic fresh sushi. Their menu is simple in that it really is primarily sushi and sashimi, with a few appetizers and I noticed one or two teriyaki style dishes as well, though I really only read the sushi part. Lots of sushi long rolls, and several hand rolls (the cone shaped ones) as well. I got the sushi/sashimi combo plate to share and Mark got a long roll called 'extreme', and it was plenty for the two of us. I liked the snapper and the 'tako' (octopus) the best, though I did not taste any sushi that I didn't love. The best part, of course, was seeing my friend Linda, who I miss so much that it hurts sometimes! It wasn't enough time and we didn't get a chance to really dig in and talk as much as I would have liked, so next time we get together (it won't be soon enough) I will push for just the two of us to get together, I think. I miss my girl time with her!

We started gearing up for a busy week on Tuesday, when Italian wine maker Antonio Sanguineti came in for a couple of hours to sign bottles and schmooze with us wine drinkers! As always he was charming and pleasant and even though we only had a couple of days' notice for his arrival, quite a few folks came in and enjoyed the afternoon. We handed out samples of our caramelized onion tart and Gorgonzola pizza 'truffles' that were such a big hit at our last party. We tasted his white blend 'Vincero', his red blend 'Caruso', and his beloved 'Chianti'. It was just a tease preview of our Friday night wine tasting where I will open several of our new Small Vineyards wines to pour, as well as a super secret treat that I will unveil that evening. Teaser: it has wine in it, it is more for dessert than for with the meal, and it is really fun to sip! Friday night is going to be so much fun! It is our last wine tasting of the year and I am excited to premier these amazing wintry wines.

Saturday we have our quarterly staff meeting, which I always look forward to. After every meeting we invite the staff to stay for our 'after party'. They are each welcome to bring a guest, and we invite our past staffers to join us as well. Mark makes pizza dough & sauce, and gets all the toppings ready while we are in the meeting, and then once everyone is there they can top their own pizzas however they like! We enjoy a little wine, some great conversation, and sometimes even play a board game or two. It is a fun family night and Mark and I enjoy feeding our family this way. I love being surrounded by our 'girls', it makes me very happy.

Sunday is a special day for two reasons: 1)it is our little kitty's 1st anniversary with us. Mark fell in love with her and brought her home last year and since she is clearly part Persian, and very cute, I decided she should have a show name. You know how they do those super long names that we don't really understand but somehow delineate the cat's heritage... though they always call the cat by a very shortened part of the name. Well our Callie is technically: Madamoiselle Amouse Bouche Callebaut Bonnie Blue Butterfly McQueen. (I can explain it if you really want me to...) The #2 reason Sunday is special is that we are going to the MLS cup!!! THANK YOU, KAT! My friend Kat got us great seats with her via the Coast Guard and while my Sounders won't be on the pitch (frown) it will still be a blast to have my first pro soccer match be the superbowl of soccer! I remember going to my little sister's games (she played for many years) and as I got older I was forced to go (it was my little sister, after all!)... then I married a guy who played soccer and here I am a huge fan of the game! It was a surprise to me how much I loved it this year since I only watched the first game to hear my beloved Kevin Calabro. (I missed him after the Sonics left. Sore spot!)I watched every Sounders game that I could, as well as the other playoff games. It's crazy fun!

So that is our week in a large nutshell... we are getting our Thanksgiving pre order forms in and can't wait to get tons more! Rolls, pies, croutons, wine and more for the big day, quiche and pastries for the day after when all the company still has to get fed, and anything else anyone could want to make their holiday as easy as possible! The day before Thanksgiving is busy and hectic and we love it! Mark and I will be there for 14 hours at least, then go home exhausted and happy and sleep for a long time. It will be good.

Are you roasting, bbq'ing, or otherwise cooking a turkey next week? If so, I highly recommend using a brine first. The brine locks in juices and flavor, and makes it really hard to have a dry turkey, even if you cook it to the government's ridiculous recommendation of 190 degrees. If you don't brine it and cook it that long, your turkey will be dry every time. Not cat food dry... just dry enough to where it is fine, it is edible, and you need extra gravy to get the outside white meat down your throat. We have all had them and there is no need to continue suffering! Just do this:

Take out the gizards and neck if they are stuffed inside and place the turkey in a clean and sanitized bucket. for every quart of water that you put in to cover the entire turkey, also add 1/2 cup coarse salt (or 1/4 cup table grind salt) and let it soak for 48 hours, keeping it refrigerated. Pull out the turkey the night before you want to cook it, pat it dry all around and inside, and place it in the fridge, uncovered, until the morning. You have to be careful to give it a shelf all it's own, so you do not risk any other food touching it and getting cross contaminated. Cook the turkey however you want to and this super easy brine method will ensure that your turkey remains juicy to the end.

If you want a bit more flavor to your brine here is what I am going to do to our 15-ish pound organic, non enhanced turkey (this is good for 12-15 lbs):

6 quarts water & apple cider combined
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 c. kosher salt
5 bay leaves
3 T. whole coriander seed
3 T. crushed chili flakes
3 T black peppercorns
3 T. fennel seed
3 T. mustard seed
1 bunch thyme
10 cloves garlic
1 quart bourbon

a big wad of cheesecloth in the brine as well.

Later you will need the below mentioned dry rub, as well as a quart or so each of chicken broth and apple cider,

Submerge turkey in brine and soak 24-48 hours. Keep refrigerated!
Remove turkey and get all the herbs and spices off; pat dry inside and out.
Place in fridge on it's own shelf over night before roasting.

I get the roasting pan ready with all my veggies in 1/2 inch dice thrown in the bottom:
1 onion, 1-2 carrots, 2 celery, 4 garlic cloves, 2 granny smith apples, 4-5 bay leaves, and 1 bunch thyme and then season it well with salt. Arrange the turkey on top of the veggies and refrigerate overnight UNCOVERED! This will help the skin dry out and become really brown and crispy. Make sure that there is no raw food near the turkey in the refrigerator. After refrigerating overnight, the turkey is ready to go in the oven.
Keep the cheesecloth in the brine and refrigerated, though you could certainly move it to a smaller vessel.

The next day, pull the turkey out of the fridge 1-1.5 hours before roasting, and get it on the counter to come up closer to room temp. This is perfectly safe to do as long as you keep all raw foods away from the raw turkey, and do not let it out for more than 2 hours. Get that cheesecloth out of the brine, ring it out a little bit, but keep it good and wet, and then place it in the cavity of the bird. You do not want so much in there that there is no room for air movement, but you do want it touching all surfaces to leach out it's briney flavors into the cavity.

Preheat the oven to 450

Pour 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup apple cider into the roasting pan, over the veg. Massage your turkey with the dry rub as follows:
Dry rub: Combine: 2 cups bro sugar; 2 cups salt; 1 cup ground pepper; 1 cup smoked paprika

Loosen the skin on the turkey (use gloves and really work your hands under the skin)rub olive oil (or butter) all over the bird, under and over the skin. Grab up some of that dry rub and schmear that all over the outside of the bird, making sure to get some under the skin for extra flavor. (I do this on chickens as well)

Roast the turkey in the 450 oven for about 40 minutes, or until the skin is getting brown. Lower the heat to 350 for the rest of the cooking time, and turn the bird around every hour or so. You can baste your turkey every 30 minutes to really keep the flavors flowing over the whole bird. You may need to add extra chicken stock and apple cider to the base to keep it all moist and happy. (ps this veg base will make a great gravy later on!!)

You should cook it about 17 minutes for every pound, and if it begins to get too brown you can put a piece of foil lightly over the top (don't seal the edges) and it will stop browning. You want the bird to get to at least 160 degrees. Make sure your thermometer is in a thick part of the meat, not touching bone or pan, and check multiple areas to make sure it is accurate all over.

Once it has cooked long enough, take it out and place it in a safe spot on the counter, tent it with foil, and let it sit for AT LEAST 30 minutes. It will continue to cook from the residual heat, the juices that were swirling and bubbling on the surface of the bird will all soak back into the meat and the meat will relax and get super tender for you. The skin will get crispy and this sounds so good I am salivating! I can't wait!

If you want to make gravy out of the juices just throw the whole thing into a strainer, pressing on the veg to get all the juicy goodness out, toss them aside and then go on to make gravy as usual with the drippings. If you kept up on the broth and juice additions you should have a good amount of drippings to use. You can always enhance it with more chicken stock and herbs and spices.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

What a lovely day it was today! The sun was shining most the day and while it was definitely chilly, it was really very nice. In case you want to see the many pictures that Mark took while we were in Italy, he has posted them HEREfor you to peruse. There are many photos, and he is a very talented photographer, so hopefully you will find the experience quite pleasant. Hosting 18 people was more work than we thought it would be, and yet we will definitely do it again next year! You can check out the details of the new trip HERE and then sign up to go with us!

I have been busy for the past couple of weeks due to staffing issues. First Sharon had a nasty cold that she is still not completely over, so I was working for her for a couple of days. Now Rheycel is on vacation and Victoria is still rather new, so I have been closing with her and working the opposite end of the day. It's actually good that Rhey is gone for now, because we have been really slow. Everyone's hours get cut a bit, though far less since we are technically 'down' one person. Hopefully business in Old Town will pick up next week, I have heard several business owners bemoaning the state of our community lately. We want so much to be a destination that is convenient and service oriented, as well as homey and community-centric. We know we have more to offer than the mall and it's surroundings, yet we seem to get forgotten down here more easily than not.

We are all working on different ideas about how to make Old Town more appealing, and specifically how our business can cater to the needs and desires of the community. We would love to hear from you and get your input and ideas, since you are who matters to us the most! What is on your mind these days? What do you wish Old Town had more of? Less of? Was different from? We could use your help for sure.

Meanwhile I have a couple of fun things for you to know about that, unfortunately, are not in Old Town Silverdale. They are a part of our community, nonetheless, so of course I want you to hear about them. First is Port Orchard's wine store the Puget Sound Wine Cellar, which is more than just a whimsical play on words. On Saturdays they have a $5 wine tasting from 2-5 and it is generally a great time to be had. John & Ann Ready are the 'new' owners, having bought the place in the past year or so, and they are quite fun and funny to hang out with for an hour or two if you are on the bay front in Port Orchard, or taking the foot ferry over from Bremerton. It's too bad the farmer's market isn't there anymore, the two places combined made for a fabulous summer Saturday!

You may remember how much I enjoyed my first visit to Suzy's Kitchen in Bremerton, from this blog post last April. It is a Korean BBQ joint and I think it is really fabulous. Her food is so good and her prices so reasonable, that she deserves to be more packed than she is, so I thought I would remind you about her. You can get food to go, and I think that much of her business is done in this style, though I would encourage you to try the Korean food for the first time in the restaurant while it is fresh and you can ask questions if you want to. I don't expect you to fall in love with the decor, the ambiance, or the oddly styled menu. Go straight for the Korean dishes (I am sure the other stuff is great, it's just that her Korean food is Fabulous, and she IS Korean, so that is what I think you should try there) and remember that when you order a main dish, you get the traditional 6 sides and rice with it.

The other night I needed a quiet moment to myself between working the cafe and heading to a busy meeting, so I stopped in for some 'soup'. My meal was comforting and wonderfully tasty, and I am so glad that I stopped! For under 10 bucks I had hot tea, a bowl of spicy chicken & pork 'stew' with big potatoes, onions, and other things, a bowl of rice, and the 6 side dishes. I love those side dishes! The potatoes were soft and warm, spiced similarly to my 'stew'. (I just don't know what else to call it, other than yummy!) Next were some pickled yellow radishes that had sweet undertones to the tang of the pickliness. They were cold and refreshing, crisp and delightful! The soy bean sprouts tasted of sesame oil; also cold and crispy and a nice intermittent bite to take the sting from the spicier dishes. Suzy's kim-chee is very good. 'Al dente' is a good descriptor here, and very spicy, just the way I like it. The broccoli side dish was a surprise, perfectly cooked and reminiscent of the same sesame oil from the sprouts. The last little side was a white pickled radish and it was spicier than the yellow was. It is so much fun to take a bite of one taste, then another, and have the juxtaposition of contrasting & similar flavors and textures, and then jump around to different combinations.

I was told that traditionally Koreans love their food HOT (I mean temperature-wise) and that the bowl of rice is meant for you to spoon a few bites of your main dish into, then eat with the rice. The one thing I noticed is that nearly every dish had some form or another of egg in it, and I am curious to find out what, if any, significants this has to Korean cooking and/or culture. Do you know and will you tell me?

One week until our wine tasting of the new Italian wines that we ordered and I can hardly wait! They have arrived and I have them up and listed, if you want to come in for a preview, or go to the web site wine page.

Last week I said I would offer you the Shrimp Risotto recipe and so here it is. Risotto is a style of cooking that can seem intimidating, though it should not be. After you make it the first time you may be like me and get hooked on making it frequently. It can be homey and comforting, elegant and impressive, and anything in between. Follow a few simple tricks and it will be easy to make, no matter what kind you do. Do pay attention to ingredients and prep everything before you start, and you will have no trouble at all. You may have heard that you must watch the pot and stir constantly; this is not exactly true. There is stirring involved, though it is not constant by any means.

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen pink shrimp (32-40 or 42-50 work well): head off, shells on, uncooked
2 cups fish or clam broth
2 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups chicken broth/1 cup water if you don't have the other stuff)
Old Bay Seasoning (optional; readily available in either the seafood or the spice department of your grocery store)
olive oil
1 1/2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice (arborio should be easy to find)
salt & pepper
1/2-1 cup dry white wine (whatever you will serve with the dish)
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
hand full of asiago (or parmesan) cheese (maybe 1/2 cup or so) (optional)
2 TBS unsalted butter, cold and cubed (optional)

Peel the shrimp and throw all the waste into a sauce pan, add the broths and a few dashes of old bay seasoning, put a lid on it, bring to boil, reduce to simmer

Coat the bottom of a heavy bottom skillet or pot with olive oil. Season the shrimp and place them in the pan, cooking them on each side for about 1 minute. You want them to just brown a bit, and barely start to cook; they should begin to turn more pink and curl up. Get them out of the pan and onto a plate; set aside.

Recoat the pan with oil; do not clean it out. Add in the rice and stir to coat all the grains with the oil. You are going to 'toast' the rice on medium heat and this step is very important. Keep stirring it around, you do not want it to stick, though you do want to give it a chance to toast evenly, so let it be between stirs.

After it has toasted for a couple of minutes add in the salt, pepper, and wine. You want enough wine to not have it evaporate immediately, but not so much that it completely drowns the rice. Give it a stir and let the rice begin to soak in the liquid.

Strain the broth back into the sauce pan and keep it hot on the stove, over low heat. (You want to add warm broth so the cooking process will not slow or stop.) Once the wine is fairly well soaked in and evaporated put in 2 ladles full of broth. Give it a stir and put the heat down to med-low. Add in the parsley.

You will know when it is time to add more broth when you give it a stir, and slide the spoon across the bottom of the pan. If the liquid rushes back in to fill the space, it needs more time. If the spoon leaves sort of a trail behind it, where the liquid is very slowly filling in, then it is time for another ladle or two full of broth. As the rice cooks, the time between adding in broth will lengthen.

Do give it a stir now and then to check the progress and to ensure that it does not stick. You do not need to constantly stir the pot. As you are adding the broth you may begin to run out. Simply add some more of the broths and Old Bay Seasoning, or just add hot water and Old Bay if you are out of the broth.

When you think it might be ready give it a taste. Make sure the spices are where you want them to be. (If you are adding butter, you may want a pinch of extra salt to go with it; if you are adding one of the hard cheeses, you may want a little less salt, because they will add a bit of salty bite to it as well.)
The rice grains will be 'al dente', just like good pasta, not mushy and not hard. Each grain will stand on it's own; you will feel them individually as well as all together. The 'sauce' will be creamy and thick, so that when you spoon it onto a flat-bottom bowl or plate, it will slowly spread, and there will not be any 'liquid' or runniness around the edges.

If it is just about where you want it to be, stir in the shrimp and turn off the heat. If you are not adding the butter or cheese, give it a couple of brisk stirs, put a lid on, and leave it while you pour the wine and set the table. If you are adding the cheese or butter do that, then stir it briskly until it is incorporated, and cover for a few minutes.

Plate it up and it will be eaten! The shrimp should be cooked perfectly and the rice very flavorful. You will kiss yourself!

Link: http://www.waterfrontbakery.com

Last Saturday we hosted a party at the cafe and we had a blast! Several people came in and got to sample the dishes we made and a couple of wines that we loved in Italy, as well as check out some of our pictures that Mark took on the trip. We had a pot of Pasta e Fagioli (pasta and beans... on the east coast it is commonly referred to as 'pasta fazoole') and we topped it with our fabulous olive oil. Everyone loved that so much that we offered it for sale while we handed out the samples. I made a caramelized onion tart that was so popular and had such an enthusiastically positive reception, that I have gladly added it to our catering menu. Mark made 'pizza truffles': little rounds of pizza dough stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, drizzled with olive oil and baked. Oh yea, they were fabulous, though better hot than after they got cold. Mark made our olive oil cake, which we usually make with hazlenuts, but instead we made with fresh chestnuts thanks to Ron who brought them in to us. That was a huge hit, as well. I made some marinated zucchini and that went over nicely, as did the wines we served.

I left my computer on with a slide show of our photos, and we got to see 5 of our fellow travelers who all came out for the festivities! Our tour coordinator, Doumina Whyman, was on hand to talk about next year's trip and the whole day had a festive and fun atmosphere. I poured some 100% Vernaccia from Le Rote (near San Gemignano), and 2 wines from our beloved Perazzeta: Erio (50% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet, 20% Syrah, 10% Merlot) and Sara 90% Sangiovese 10% Ciliegiolo, all of which are nearly gone now. We sold out of the Rigoloccio Rosato (100% Cabernet Franc) which is still the best rose I have ever had and I am very sad that we will not be able to get any more. Folks always say 'oh, I don't drink rose', thinking it will be like white zinfandel. Then they taste and are, without exception, very surprised at the wine. Even if they still do not prefer the wine, it is always surprising as to how good the quality is. Europeans drink rose all the time and theirs is good, we just have to get used to thinking of it differently over here. And while I decidedly do not enjoy white zin, I never bash it because that is the wine that actually got me started drinking wine in the first place. Bartels & James wine coolers got me to Sutter Home White Zinfandel (I preferred it over Beringer for some reason), then on to Gewurztraminer, and then on to an array of different wines. So hooray for white zin!

All in all I am calling the party a success because everyone had a good time and we introduced some new flavors to our friends and family at the cafe. We will have another party in January or February and serve up some more goodies and wine, since we are always looking for an excuse to have fun!

Last week I told you about a new place that is opening and Friday is the grand opening! Fresh-Local Bremerton is the place to be on Friday from 3-8 to see this new concept for a grocery store. I am so excited and I plan to be there the minute they open! First I am going to go check out the new bakery that has taken the space where Luigi was. Heidi & Lowell, of Hi-Lo's 15th St Cafe fame have opened The 15th St Bakery and they hired Luigi's former staff to fill the place with breads and baked goods. They also have an art gallery in there, merchandise for sale, as well as their fabulous coffee. Heidi took me around the space last summer as she shared the plans with me so I have been very excited to see this come to fruition. Heidi is one smart business cookie and I love just love that whole gang! I will get there before the grand opening at Fresh-Local and have a lovely full day of fabulous local food! I hope to see you all there and when I ask the question: What did you buy locally this week? You will have an easy answer!

By the way last week was Mark's birthday and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at home, and then later in the week I made him shrimp risotto that he loved so much he almost married it! I was going to give that recipe today and then was asked so many times about caramelized onions that I decided to do that instead. You can email me if you want the risotto, or maybe I will do it next week, you never know! Or maybe you have a recipe to share with me, I would love that, too.

Caramelized onions have many uses and while they are naturally very sweet, they are great in savory things, too. You can caramelize onions a little, so they are a light brown and not too sweet, but still soft and supple and add a great depth of flavor to sauces, soups, pastas and more. Or you can give them such an extreme, deep caramel that they are fabulous on toast and act as fruit preserves only better! I love them on pizza with roasted cashews and while that sounds odd, I did it as a lark and that is what I always have at our staff meeting pizza parties now! Last Saturday when I put them into a quick pastry dough the crowds went wild. Everyone who tastes caramelized onions always asks 'what is this??' because no one expects it to really just be onions, but it is, and it is so simple. The only difference in preparation between lightly caramelized and deeply caramelized is time. That is entirely up to you! It takes time, but not much work.

How much do you want to make? 4 onions will reduce down to 1-2 cups, depending on original size and cooking time.

Peel, cut in half, then slice the onions to the size you like. I do 1/4 inch slices

Pour some olive oil (I use my good stuff for this) into the bottom of a heavy bottom pot or deep sided skillet. Coat the bottom of the pan.

Drop the onions in and if they are not sweet onions (you can do this with any kind at all) you can add a touch of honey to get the sugars going. Just a quick drizzle is all you need.

Stir to coat all the onions in the oil, turn it up to medium high, put a lid on, and let it go for 5-7 minutes, until the juices start to release and the bottom of the pan is fairly wet.

Remove the lid, give it all a really good stir, turn it down to medium low and leave it alone. Do not stir it too often, though do stir it often enough to keep it from sticking to the bottom. If it does stick, vigorous stirring usually loosens it right up. The first half hour I might stir it 3 times at the most, then less after that. I usually turn it down a bit more after the first half hour as well. The longer it goes, the lower you can make the heat, and the less you need to stir.

They will go a minimum of an hour for a light caramel and you will be surprised at how much they reduce. They will go upwards of 3 hours for the deepest caramel, and they will be a golden lump of goodness by that time.

When they are as done as you want them give them a little salt, which will brighten up the flavors and balance a bit of the sweetness. For 4 onions maybe a 1/2 teaspoon will do... start light because you can always add more but you can never take it out.

Voila! That is all it takes! You will love this result and you can do many things with these onions. I know the farmer's markets are pretty well shut down by now, so check out the fresh-local store for onions from our farmers.

And remember to Think Local First! It's better for all of us!