The Hiking Foodie

Pickwick, Hot Bodies In Motion, & Reva Devito

2012-02-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I broke my musical Bellingham virginity by going to see a show at The Wild Buffalo. I wanted to get out, do something, all this studying and being a shut in only doing chores and homework was wearing away on me. Not that I want to be a complainer and bitcher, but it is kinda lonely up here in the ham. My friends Peter and Jessica did make a stop up here one Sunday to say hello, and I appreciate it. It's just different now, and I'm still working out if it is a good thing or not.

Okay, The Wilde Buffalo is a little bar venue downtown that had $5 pints on tap, or Rainier tall boys for $3. Guess which one I went for.

I showed up early to case the joint, see if there was some advantage to certain areas. It was only about half full so I had room to move about and see what was what. The place is really short on chairs and stools, standing room only for certain. Or dancing room only if you prefer.

Reva DeVito = hot funk soul goddess from Portland, totally stole the show. Even though they opened they just laid it down in such a way it was going to be hard for anyone to top them. The keyboardist played some sort of tube thing that I think is a talk box.

Hot Bodies in Motion was great as well. A bunch of funky white boys from Seattle and they are pretty dang good. Especially their song "Old Habits", check it out.

Pickwick, a bunch of white boys from Seattle who sing soul, was just okay. Personally I did not see what the hype was about, I mean apparently they were well reviewed in the KEXP countdown last year, but I don't get it.
Something was missing, and I am not sure what it was.

Old soul seem to have that certain drive to it. Like a big block V8 rolling down the highway you can't help but go 85mh. Pickwick, while very talented, occurs to me to be more like a 4 cylinder that struggles to merge into I-5 traffic. It works, but something leaves you wanting.

And just cuz I have them, two more pics of Reva DeVito. I thought that they turned out bad when I took them, that is why I stopped taking photos at the show, but not that I look at them again, they are pretty sweet.

Forever a student

2012-01-09T19:19:00.000-08:00

So I moved to Bellingham WA and transferred into WWU to complete my Bachelors degree. It was an exciting and stressful move, but I am no longer living out of a motel and pretty much have the campus and the town figured out...for now.

January 1st is when I made the move, and the weather was great. I took that as a good sign.Then for the next 4 days it was rainy and windy, which was okay I guess. I was surprised to find that it did not put a damper on my joy of being at a new campus. It is pretty spectacular here. Old buildings, great trees, and it is just the right size I think.

Undoubtedly and to not much of anyone's surprise, the library is my favorite building on campus. It has a great study room in it with old, weathered desks that just scream "many smart people have studied here". But I am sure other, more notorious things have gone on in the library as well. I mean, that's what libraries are all about, right?

This is my view of where I study at on campus. I guess it goes by the name of the "Harry Potter" room.

The town seems reasonable as well, despite what appears to be a rather large number of drifters and vagabonds. There are a number of reasonable eateries and pubs, and most of everything is within walking distance. At least from where I live. Which is about half way between downtown and campus.

I was out on Saturday with some friends we ended up going to a little Irish pub called Uisce. Nothing but pretzels are offered to munch on, so I ate before hand. It was packed with some swanky dressed college aged people and older people were there also. It was rather crowded and my party could only find a small table by the dart boards. Some people, who were playing at said dart boards, asked if they could use our table to rest their beverages upon while they played, to which I agreed only if they agreed that every time they lifted their drink after having set it down they owed us a round of drinks. I was of course joking, and they knew it and we became fast friends. They actually did buy us a round of drinks and invited us to play a round of darts with them. It was very jovial and splendid.

That wasn't even the best part of the night. I ran into two friends of mine that I used to work with at PCC some five years ago, in an Irish pub, in Bellingham WA, on a Saturday night. It was great to see them and catch up. An amazing coincident to say the least and, again, I took it as a sign from the Universe that I as in the right place doing the thing I was supposed to be doing.

A short time later we wandered over to The Copper Hog, of which I had heard of and was keenly interested in. It was great, the kitchen is open late, and best of all they have bone marrow on the menu for only $8. Bone Marrow! The best stuff on the planet! It was just amazing. I mean, the only way it could be better is if the animals the bones came from were grass fed and raised local, and they could have been for all I know.

The rich, buttery marrow was warm, easy to spread on the small bread that came with it, and oh so satisfying after a night of drinking and playing darts. The best bits were two slices of bread the bones were resting on, just catching all the goodness that seeped out of the bones, soaking up all that nutritious good stuff. Man, what a treat.

I have a good class load this quarter, taking 4 classes at 15 credits. They are fairly standard so far, with lots of good reading assigned. My English 202 class, Writing about Literature, is great. We are reading these books:

The Hobbit
The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft
Pontypool
Habibi (a graphic novel)
Threshold
Ready Player One

I did not buy a copy of the Hobbit as the library had a really neat old 1966 edition that I just had to read. I have already read Habibi over break by a shear stroke of luck. It is another graphic novel from Craig Thompson who also penned Blankets. I highly recommend both of these works as they are amazing.

Then, we write about the books we have read. Seriously, it is a fun class. The prof is a little wacky, a self confessed gamer (one of the first things he said to the class was that he was addicted to playing Skyrim) and internet junkie, and very much into teaching about literature.

Okay, I am off to study, but here is a little something has been inspiring, funny, and stuck in my head for you all. Enjoy.

I'm on the path, chopping up bodies, hacking, and slicing, and look at me now.
With loyal friends, joining my party, each step I take I'm fulfilling my vow:
Crush your enemies
See them driven before you
and hear the lamentation of the women

ps. Ready Player One is a very good read, especially if you are all into 80's culture. You know who you are.

Revelations! ( a few days late...)

2011-12-14T13:27:00.000-08:00

So I litteraly had to stop in the middle of organizing my cluttered goods (read, my whole living space) to capture these couple if epiphanies I just had.

I realized that my life is a mess, and I had not realized how much it was until today. I mean, I could say it is a lull or whatever, but no, not for this long of a duration. It has moved from a lull, period, habit and I guess now you would call it a lifestyle. All the while I am persueing a higher education in hopes of attaining better income so I can attain a different socio economic placement, and I realize my old self defeating habits are just as hard at work as ever. Cluttered mess, disorganized to the point of insanity, procrastinating like I am training for the Olympics, plus a few others, which I am glad to report, do not involve abusive relationships with chemicals either legal or illegal.

The good news is that I saw this mess that is my so called life, and my mild ADHD and OCD that likes to clean and organize, should be able to take care of this. Or at least I know that I need to throw a ton of shit out and keep a simple and clean place, because let's be honest, those few note books that I have that supposedly have great ideas for some comic books just are not ever going to see the light of day.

I have been not taking any responsibility for my life. I have become sloppy and lazy, and even a little slow in the brain (okay, lots lazy). I have become methodical and that is very much not how I want to approach my life.

I have given my word to things and not followed through. For this, I am sorry. Both for not keeping my word and for giving up on myself as someone who keeps their word. That is without a doubt the worst of it all.

So to this end, I shall endeavor to make the needed adjustments as quickly as possible.

But, how did this happen anyway? What causes this life of mine to become so fubared from time to time?

What happened to us?

Pizza, it's the circle of life.

2011-12-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed how invasive pizza is in your life? I mean, it is everywhere. Even in Congress, who *ahem* ought to be attending to other important matters and not designating what is a vegetable or not. I understand that I, like many other people on the interwebs, am loosely interpreting the ruling, but yeah, that happens.

This strange, odd and round food has had a recently discovered personal impact on my life. You see, I recently became employed (I know, right? It has been awhile) to work as a Culinary Assistant at Columbia Winery in Woodinville, WA.

There, they just serve a few select choices of noshes that involve, mostly, flat bread pizzas. At this new found place of employment of mine, I was having a conversation with a coworker . We were chatting about how we both know some really smart and put together young people and were reflecting when we were their age (oh...my...god...did that just happen?) and what we were doing with ourselves when we were their age.

I realized that back then I was playing drums in a punk rock band in Sioux City, IA and working at Pizza Hut, making pizzas. What am I doing today? Making flat bread pizzas. WTF? Full circle.

I mean, I get that they are not the same thing. Not even remotely. One is a chain of crap pizza boxes, and the other is a fire powered stone oven flat bread making award winning winery. More like "classy" where the hut was "k"lassy...with a k. Polar opposites of the spectrum, but, they both involve round pieces of dough with toppings on them.

I suddenly realized that, just maybe, this was my calling in life. To be a pizza guy, open and operate a great local beer and pizza place. I mean, it could have been a sign from the universe and really, who am I to deny universal fate?

While I think that it would be fun to do something like that, I also think that maybe not right now would be the best to through myself into it. I want to complete my degree (however haphazardness that may be to my sanity) and that is going to take at least two more years. Perhaps then, if I have the right job, I can start doing some planning and tinkering on the side. It is not like I haven't had this idea before. I mean, to be honest, I have tried the whole "chase your dreams and do what inspires you" thing, and mostly shit don't work out the way you think it ought to. So, in lieu of chasing dreams I am keeping my head down, grinding out this degree, and will try to find a slot to fill in society.

But, in the mean time, I am straight not doing well this quarter at CCC. Ugh, I have had no motivation and have had some serious internal struggle going on. It may or may not affect my next phase of learning, currently scheduled to take place at WWU. I know I mentioned taking some other programs more local, but the truth of the matter is that WWU is all set and ready to go, whole UWB and UW would require more work than I am currently willing to put forth. Things change though, or is it the more they change the more they stay the same?

Whatever...

Christmas in Redmond

Summer Time, Autumn time...

2011-10-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Ola everyone.

Yes, this blog is still living, thank you for asking. I hope everyone has been doing well. I have been busy in spite it being summer. I have taking a few classes and have just a few more to take in the Fall before I am complete with this stage of my schooling career.

Since I am a student, it will come as no surprise to you that my funds for both eating well and or out is rather non existent. Same goes for my music seeing these days. I hope to attend the KEXP BBQ this year, it is free but I am sure there is some sort of cap on bodies allowed in for fire code or some such nonsense. I did go, and there was hardly anyone there, which was odd. It was a great day weather wise, and the beer was cold and in the shade.

I have been working on working my school work, trying to become employed (although I have had some luck dog and house sitting, it doesn't really replace a steady income. Also, I have started working with a friend of mine who owns this company. Every Thursday I can be found at the Bellevue Farmers market selling raw food and soaking up some fresh Vitamin D), and doing other random things like attending friends weddings, seeing friends from out of town, and trying to read some books that are outside my current realm of study (currently re-reading Voltaire and anew some Nietzsche).

I sometimes lament the passing of time, as it seems to pass by ever so quicker these days. Guess my mother was right about that one.

And then the Fall happened! Just like that. Well hello there. Yes, I have not updated much this year in general, but really, it was for the best. Lots of things going on, and the blog was very easily going to become a bitch fest of gripes and what not. Not really good for either of us. So, there is that.

Good news is, I am going to blog again. For real.

No look, I am doing to right now. See, told you so.

I did get to see an amazing St. Vincent show at the newly refurbished Neptune theater in Seattle. It was amazing. Such a talented group and they make great music. The drummer was wearing really cool head phones as well, I was inspired and jealous all at the same time.

Out of habit, I went and checked out the merch booth. Of course, they had some shirts that were okay but way over priced, and a few vinyls. I was leaning towards purchasing the first record on vinyl, but once I learned that the most recent album was on limited edition white vinyl, there was really no choice to make. I mean, look at it.

Nice day for a, white vinyl. (And no, I have no idea who Chris Jacob is)

Lot's is going on, school is almost over. That is a good thing, right? I mean, I am excited, but I will only have my Associates. I am looking at either finishing up at Western Washington at Huxley, or staying local at University of Washington, Bothell and eventually transferring to the Seattle campus and getting my degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The Yours Truly book, 10th edition was created, and since it's publishing I am proud to say there have only been two errors found in it. I think they were both the printers fault, but I would need to check the proof copy to be certain. And they are small errors at that, and one isn't even visible! It is kind of hard letting go of the club this quarter. Breaking in a new club president, giving up command of the ship, having faith it is all going to work out and be great, man, that is a really hard thing to do. But, Louie C K knows all about life being hard. Not sure Wilfred would agree though.

I was in my good, if not best, friends wedding this Summer. It was a perfect day to be outside in West Seattle. I really was flattered and touched to have been part of their day. Thank you guys so much for that.

Okay, I hope to be updating this often, as I have some ideas about stuff and things I want to share. You know, stuff. And yes, the mid-terms are hard, thanks for asking.

Tyler Durden, I make and I sell soap. The yardstick of civilization.

To write, or not to write

2011-06-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Right now I should be frantically working on my finals projects, studying for tests, working on my resume to look for a summer job, any number of highly important things other than write a blog entry.

So why am I avoiding my school work? I mean, I should be worried about my grades (I am), but something just keeps nagging me about writing, you know, just to write.

It is a nice break to not have to explain what project management maturity models are, or how a anaerobic digester work and what the challenges are of having one at 17,000 ft (temperature mostly). It is nice just to type, words, just other words instead of trying to frame a business idea and model of retrofitting ocean oil rigs to generate renewable electricity and distill water for needy countries in the same voice while hitting all the key points required by the professor and the possible attendees at the assessment fair we will be presenting at on Tuesday.

I want to write about how well the 10th anniversary of the school creative arts magazine, Yours Truly, was. The band, a string trio, was amazing, but then again I am a sucker for classy music. The food was just as amazing; sausage stuffed mushrooms, spring rolls, chicken skewers, fresh baked desserts. It was probably the best food that campus has ever seen.
One attendee even admitted that when she was at the event she felt like she wasn't even on that campus anymore, but a much more better campus (okay, I embellished that last part, but I think that is what she meant to imply).

I want to write about how I want to write, anything and everything. I want to write about learning how to play guitar, record music, play piano. I want to write catchy pop rock tunes, because they are fun. Trying to be important, unique and creative is hard and well, let's be honest, it has all been done before. So, make a pop album and have fun. The sophomore flop is going to happen anyway, then you can get all crazy with playing saws and using copious amounts of ambient soft noise.

I want to write about my ideas for a movie, for the Incredible Hulk (I think it still sucks as they have, like, a rainbow Hulk team now or something like that). Not that my idea is better or more refined, but I think it would be more fun.

So there you go, me avoiding work, and not editing or checking this entry before I post it to the webernets.

Oh well, life is like that sometimes. If you're lucky, sometimes you get to enjoy the process.

Rest easy internet.
Joshua

Is this good? My Drunk Kitchen.

Snacks

2011-05-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

These were some vanilla cupcakes I made, that I topped with vanilla frosting and habanero sugar sprinkles, they turned out amazing.

It was a nice alternative to the old standard of spicy chocolate, in fact, the vanilla and spice worked very well together.

I bought some nettle infused raw honey at the Fremont Market recently, and man it is great! My jar is almost empty. At first I was just spreading it on buttered bread, which was great. But then I just started eating by the spoonful. Then, I added a few raw almonds to it. I think I may have found the perfect snack.

The exact honey is from Brookfield Farms, their web site is waking-wild.com. At the Fremont market, Ian (At least that is what I think his name was...) was there who is the head bee keeper at the farm. A very nice gentleman who makes a great product.

Give it a try, you just might like it.

Old photos

2011-05-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

So I have been super crazy busy with school and projects I have been working on for school, but I have not forgotten about you or this crazy blog of mine.

Instead of talking about the great concerts I have been to (Yuni in Taxco, Telekinesis, Mal De Mer, The Lonely Forest, The Joy Formidable which was by far one of the best shows I have ever seen, not as good as seeing The Forgetters play at The Vera Project but still damn good) and all the mediocre poor college student meals I have been indulging in (rice and beans make you nice and lean...or at least they ought to), or other peoples parties I have been to and baked killer vanilla habanero cupcakes for, I am going to share some old photos with you.

I have had this roll of film for a very long time, say 5-7 years. Perhaps even longer. I just picked up the developed photos from the store and have yet to view them. I thought, how neat would it be to share my reactions and a few of the allowable photos from my past?

To be honest, I really have no idea what is on these. I have not owned a 35mm camera for ages, these could literally be of anything.

Okay, here goes. I am breaking the seal....

Wow, what a weird collection of odd photos.

The first one is of a cat. I have no idea who this cat is! It is almost as if someone stole my camera to take a photo of a cat as a prank on me. Weird...

Then there are some random ones of friends and I, but because I respect peoples privacy, I am not going to post them. Nothing out of the ordinary, just people.

But then, suddenly, more oddness.

If anyone has an clue about this one, that would be cool. I am pretty sure it is in Seattle, right? Just not sure why I took a photo of it....

A somewhat inappropriate one, I think this was in the Bothell house I lived in. Not in our yard, but seen on a walk one fine winter night.

And then just more random pictures of friends and I.

I was really expecting some epic surprise, I don't know why, but I was. Perhaps delusions of grandeur about how cool I or my past is I guess.

Stay tuned, true believers! As the summer rapidly approaches, so will my free time as I will no longer be working or taking 15 credits! At that time I will attempt to absolve my woes and fretting via this blog. Please note, that does not mean I am going to bitch and whine about stuff, just so you know.

Joshua

Kefir, Pine Pollen and the Forgetters

2011-02-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

As you may know by now, I am a huge fan of fermented and cultured foods. I am pretty sure they are the source of all things good in the world. Like the Easter Bunny and Santa are both, in all likelihood, from a left over pile of goodness and sweets mixed with just the right amount of beneficial yeast and bacteria. You can see, I am still a young and ignorant scientist.

Science!

But I wanted some kefir, and I hated and still hate buying plastic jugs of something called "kefir" and having to recycle the bottle. It is so energy expensive to create those bottles and recycle them, and by that I mean lots of waste gets created.

So I took a crack at making my own. Since I am somewhat an enemy of dairy products, I elected to use raw nuts as the base. Specifically almonds and hemp.

I ordered some kefir "grains" from Cultures for Health and got to work reconstituting them dried kefir "grains". For this part I used Vanilla Coconut Milk from So Delicious. Once my raw almonds and raw hemp seeds came, I soaked them in water for about 6 hours. Into the blend tec blender the nuts went with a few cups of water. I was out of Jesus water so I used distilled and spring water from the store. A quick trip through the blender and then into some cheese cloth. Once separated, I added the now fresh kefir grains to this mix, placed a loose lid on it and put it on top the fridge so it can do its thing.

I used a custom recipe for my nut milk based loosely off this recipe and this recipe. I basically used 1 cup raw soaked almonds, 1/2 cup raw shelled hemp seeds and about 32 oz of good clean water. Blend, and then strain through cheese cloth. Once strained, I added some cinnamon, raw cacao powder, honey, salt, honey and some colostrum to it. Yes it was delicious and yes it was nutritious. It was so much better than plain old boring cow milk, and man did it bring the serious burst of energy. No joke. Try it, you'll like it.

Pine Pollen is supposed to be super good for people, so this spring, in fact in late March I am going to go collect as much as I possibly can in the wild. I am pretty stoked about this, and will let you all know how it goes. My guess is that it is going to be great.

The Forgetters, ah yes, Blake. You see, Blake was once upon a time in a band called Jawbreaker. Jawbreaker played a very large roll in my life growing up as a punk rock drummer in Iowa. But alas, as all good things (and bad, btw) do, they never last. The band broke up and went their ways. Blake formed another band that could have just as well been Jawbreaker 2.0, the sound was clearly a further maturuation of that dispalyed in Jawbreaker. This newer band was called Jets to Brazil. Super good, in oh so many ways. I actually got to see Jets play at Graceland (unfortunately now El Corazon) when they were on tour for Orange Rhyming Dictionary, it was a great small show. I was able to have Blake sign my copy of ORD and shake his hand and personally thank him for making music for my life. As all cycles occur, again this band was ended. But, a new band has arisen from the ashes, called The Forgetters. And they came to The Vera Project on Jan 30th. $11. Pretty good price, seminal person musically for me, but I am also a full time student (i.e. unemployed) and $11 is well, $11.

The Forgetters were incredible. They were so tight and precise, and the energy they performed with could have blown the doors off the Vera. A pure magical night, so glad I went and was able to continue this thread in my life with a long lost unknown friend.

BBQ Sauce

Ah hell yeah, baked beans and BBQ, well, just beans and BBQ actually. I did not bake the beans, but this sauce, ridiculously good. I used tomato paste instead of ketchup, and brandy instead of bourbon, half the called for molasses, and it still was really great.

Speaking of good food, the Seattle Weekly is once again doing the Voracious food tasting, tickets are on sale now. Last year it sold out! I highly recommend this event for any local foodies that want to sample many fine noshes and tasty adult beverages for a decent price.

Another great thing coming up that looks amazing is this: Whiskies for Wildlife. Both of these things are relevant to my interests.

Fight the good fight.

Today is Feb. 13th, 2011, the day I turn 38. What a great life I have. Thanks to all my family and friends whom without my life would surely be lesser than the stellar ride that it has been. Wait...does that sentence even make sense?

The Tractor and some lentils

2010-11-17T23:06:00.001-08:00

I recently went with some friends to see the movie "Strange Powers", a documentary about The Magnetic Fields, and I happened to be in the area earlier than expected. Well it turned out to be serendipitous as they were just getting ready to go eat at The Kingfish Cafe. So I joined them.

I had never even heard of this place, but sure am glad I found out about it. The space itself is a tiny, cozy and split in two; one side has the bar and seating, the other an open kitchen and additional seating. The cuisine is southern, and they serve it up in large portions. Not only are the portions large, but all the dishes I sampled that night were pretty damn amazing. I mean all the dishes we had were just incredible. The collard greens were especially impressive, drenched in a vinegar sauce that was slightly sweet. It literally was the best tasting thing on the table that night. And addicting. I could have eaten three sides of that by myself for a meal and been totally content. But, we had other things as well. The red beans and rice was great and both were cooked perfectly. The mac and cheese was all sorts of goodness, although, because dairy and I don't really get along, I only had one bite. So, if you're in the mood for some great comfort food, grab a friend and head to The Kingfish Cafe.

Stretch your dough (ha, get it, dough and it's about home made bread?)

Baking bread seems like an economical thing to do, so while I was shopping the other day I bought the things I needed in order to do so. The main issue was I have not baked in, like, two years or so. I mean bread type things. I have baked cookies, but that is really a whole different ball game.

I also did not have a bread recipe in my collection. When I used to bake/cook it was mostly dessert breads or quick breads (and to be honest, I always thought the quick breads I made back in the day could have been better). The only thing I used yeast in was the pizza crust dough.

So I hunted and pecked around online and ended up using this recipe for the occasion. But, alas dear reader, as you may have noticed by now that I can't leave well enough alone a plain old recipe. No! I must tinker and toy with it to no end! So I ended up adding: 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup wheat germ. I also used honey instead of sugar.

It turned out surprisingly well, even though, like most men, I failed to read all the instructions and only let it rise for half the amount of time, called it good, and threw it in the loaf pan to bake.

I will say this, it was a little sweet. I was really in the mood for just some fresh bread, more a carrying device for the butter I slather on it. The honey added a little too much sweetness for my liking, that will be corrected in the next go around. But to be sure, all the bread was consumed.

Music!

King of the Beach

Expectations

A Mayan Holiday

The Choir of Young Believers pretty much rock as well. Listen for yourself. In fact their label, Ghostly International, has a few bands that I really enjoy.

Sharon Von Etten is great as well. Here is a song (video is not hers, fyi...) and she was on NPR also. If you have not heard, NPR is a great place to discover new really good music.

Okay, so the snow day I am on today is great, and Cheryl at KEXP playing great songs non-stop, so here is Dan Deacon if you have not heard about him.

Clap your hands.

Links!
http://dailylit.com/
http://www.bartleby.com/
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://scholar.google.com/

The Tractor Tavern

I found myself in Ballard on a Tuesday night in search of a beer and some live music. Good thing I went Ballard, they have plenty of both.

Playing at the Tractor that night was : Smile Brigade, Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount, and Airport Way.

I missed a little of Smile Brigade as I was down the street enjoying a beer, but I caught the last half of their act and they were pretty damn good. They also clearly really enjoy their craft, so that made it all the more enjoyable. I can't really say what they reminded me of, but I did enjoy their rambunctious tunes they were laying down.

Julia Massey and her group were really talented, especially their bass player. He was killing it all night long. The drummer reminded me very much of Chris Daly from Texas is the Reason and Jets to Brazil, very nice. Julia herself sounded like Joanna Newsome, but without all of her unique inflections and harp sound. They had some pretty good songs, but a few weaker songs. It's almost as if they are still getting used to each other, sorting it all out, and not really trusting themselves to be in this band. The bass player was super nice, between songs he ran into the crowd and shook peoples hands to thank them and hugged the obvious couples in the crowd. And then, zoom, back to the stage in just the nick of time to play again. Awesome.

Airport Way I had heard of before, probably on KEXP, so I was interested to hear them because of this. I was a little confused, I only had time to listed to three songs before I had to leave to catch the bus home, but each song was different. I mean, they are talented people, but please, settle on a sound. Unless of course, not having a sound is your sound. The first song was folk-ish until the end then it rocked out. The second song was a equal parts 311 and Sublime, and the third song was clearly inspired by the Chili Peppers. Oh well, I was off the bus anyway.

So I started a sourdough starter, from scratch, pretty cool. I just hope I can keep it alive and use it. I also started a kefir with coconut milk. I think that is going to be great. Can you tell I am into cultured and fermented foods?

I also made some really good lentil soup.
Want to know how? Okay...

Well, the real trick is to start with some left over soup as the base. I cooked one cup of green lentils with two cloves of chopped garlic, added a Tbs of turmeric, a dash of cayenne powder, salt, and a spoonful each of: powdered cat's claw and Health Force Earth (google it). After it all cooked for about 20 mins, I added two stalks of chopped celery, 1/4 of a diced red onion, a Tbs of sesame seeds, 1/2 cup chopped red cabbage, and two talks of kale chopped. Cook for another 10 mins or so. Test the lentils to make sure they are soft, and serve. I topped mine off with a sprinkle of hemp seeds and some salsa. It was much better than I had hoped it would be, and I am pretty sure it is because I started with the old soup base. It was the previous batch of lentil and diced tomato soup.

The truth of the universe.

Some things I found in the dryer...

2010-11-03T19:52:00.001-07:00

You must not know who I am.

*Warning* This link is a video that has band language in it.

Well guess what, I have all these old half done blog posts laying around and I ran across this one from towards the beginning of this year about some corn bread that as I recall was awesome! That and I have been crazy busy, like one million thoughts per minute crazy "quick, write that idea down before I forget it".

So at campus, I feel like the youtube ambasador of funny clips. Well, at least of the ones I think are funny. It amazes me that somewhere in the world, even right now, someone is being deprived of seeing old GI Joe PSA's being dubbed over. *warning, see above*.

I was going to go see The Head and the Heart play with Avi Buffalo, but when I got to Neumos I found out the show was sold out. But the evening was not lost as we then went to The Elysian on Capitol Hill for a beverage. Surprisingly we ran into a table full of fellow Cascadia College Students who just happened to go there after a tour of McKinstry. There was also two others there, sitting at a different table, that I know from the now defunct Sunday Brunches. At first I did not recognize them and thought they were waving to someone behind me, but when I got closer I recognized them. Clearly, there must have been some sort of planetary alignment going on for such a rare moment to occur.

It is also the season for skipping Thanksgiving and going right to Christmas! Not really, in fact, thank you all. Never the less, here are a few of my favorite things: Brazilian Girls, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto 1 - B Flat Minor,

As you may have guessed, I have been slammed with school work and on campus club meetings. One of my professors is teaching us with a 400 level text book written by this guy which has no teachers edition and the pre req for the class was only Math 107. Needless to say, it is challenging. But fun in an odd self torturing sort of way.

One of the new clubs on campus that I am involved with is a new online school news paper. In the first meeting we threw around some ideas about possible names for the paper (my original idea was to call it The Kodiak Times as the Kodiak bear is the school mascot) and I happened to be flipping through the most recent edition of, oh I can't recall, it was either The Stranger or The Seattle Weekly and reading my horoscope which I do for pure entertainment purpose. That particular week the word Skookum appeared in my prognostication, and it was described in the passage as being in harmony and perfect for the job. I suggested skookum as a possible name, and to my surprise and horror, it was voted in as the name for the school newspaper. It is a regional Chinook Indian word so it does hold some relevance that way. Not sure if I should be proud of that or not, but as the typical dry and humorless saying goes "it is what it is", but isn't it always? I will be a contributing writer, possibly with a pen name, doing my best to write articles like this guy. Lord save us all.

- the Seattle Weekly horoscope had this to say about my people:

Aquarius(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Aquarians are likely to travel very far before they realize they took a wrong turn. Perhaps you’ll be 90 percent of the way toward being a doctor before you figure out that you really don’t want to practice medicine. Of course, such a revelation or admission could be almost traumatic (for you and whoever paid for your years of schooling), but don’t get too worked up about it. Your first impulse will naturally be to change course immediately—however, that wouldn’t be the wisest decision. Although you should begin to consider alternatives, see this choice through to its next immediate conclusion (graduating from medical school, for instance) before you figure out what’s next. You’ve come this far, after all.

(Oh how I can relate to feeling like I have gone way too far down the wrong path in many areas of my life. Surprisingly, I do become more than a little self doubting when I reflect on my life and where I think I am at in it. I have been doing some life reflecting these last few weeks, and I am not overly happy about the conclusion I have come to. I was inspired to hear a key note speech by Nancy Rawles at the 2010 WCCHA Conference and she shared a story about a conversation she had with a retired therapist who told her of course most people are depressed, that you had to be smart in order to be depressed other wise you would not know what you are missing and not be depressed. I wonder what this guy has to say about that? Actually, probably something like this.)

- The Stranger Free Will Astrology had this to say:

Numerologists say the number 10 signifies completion, wholeness, totality. It could rightly serve as your lucky number in the coming weeks -- a symbol of your power to draw long-term processes to a climax on your own terms. But you might also want to consider using 11 as your emblem of good mojo. That number denotes the drive to surpass the success you've earned before -- to transcend easy triumphs and conventional wisdom so as to reach for a more challenging conquest. Either way, Aquarius, I think you'll be flying high for the foreseeable future, so there's no need to worry about which way you should go. If you do choose 11, the risks will be somewhat greater and the rewards more interesting.

...and then the other day at the Symphony, on the say out, I found $0.11 on the floor! What does it mean?

- "Yours Truly" is once again taking submissions, so if you know any artists of any sorts, point them in that direction if they are looking to submit pieces for possible publication. This is the 10th edition of the magazine and are going to be putting out a mega great book (well, they always do, but more so this being the big 10 and all).

And now some notes on cooking and other kitchen related stuff....

This just in! Salt and chocolate products that are awesome. More chocolate. More salt!

Date line: November 12th, downtown Seattle pre-symphony...

The Brooklyn before the concert was amazing. Crowded, yes, but man you can't beat $1 oysters on the half shell and $4 pints. Even though it was crowded, it was surprisingly not filled with all swanky dressed people. There was common folk there as well. Oh sure there was a few well dressed people, such as myself, but there was also an average couple sitting at a table playing cards (didn't get close enough to tell which game it was) while they waited for their food and drinks. All in all it was a swell crowd. Apparently, when it is this crowded (which is most of the time I guess), you get to sit at the bar and get to know your neighbors real well as the drinks and food flow.

And in closing, I ran across this corn bread recipe that I used way back in the beginning of the year at a dinner party with pulled pork sandwiches. I am not sure if I have already shared this recipe, and really even if I have, it is worth sharing again. This, was, amazing...oh wait. I get it now, I think I used a terrible pun about it being a-maiz-ing or something like that. Oh well. Read this, make it, enjoy it!

I used a regular corn bread recipe with some tweaks: I added some cheese, used keifer & sour cream, whole corn (which was pulsed in a food processor with the cheese, keifer and sour cream). I baked it in a cast iron pan that was coated with the grease from 5 thick cut strips of bacon that I cooked in it earlier. I also added some diced jalapeno's in the pan with the bacon fat to really infuse the whole thing with a nice jalapeno flavor.

It was dynamite!

Boom!
Also, some serious cole slaw. There were two versions at that the party; one was jalapeno and cilantro infused and the other was regular but delicious as well. I only have the recipe for the second one (maybe if the maker of the jalapeno cilantro one reads this entry they could put the recipe in the comments box?):

1/2 head of green cabbage
1/4 head of red cabbage
(this ratio can be changed based to what you like)
1/2 red onion (aren't they really purple?)

Dressing (or as the cook called it "sauce"):
8 Tbs Mayo (your choice, you could also make your own)
2-3 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper

I found it great slapped on top of my pulled pork sandwich, man it was awesome!

(Shout out to the host, thanks for having me over. I had such a great time) I had never been to this location for a dinner party before and it was great, mostly because it reminded me of the house I grew up in. The wood trim around each door was the same, and the 45degree angle/slant in the upper part of the last foot of the wall before it became the ceiling was also the same as in the house I grew up in. Of course the company and the food played the most part in the overall enjoyment of the evening, but the feelings of nostalgia the abode brought upon me was gentle and soothing in the evening as well.

Good night everyone, thanks for reading.
- Joshua

Hey-ooo, nothing but good times

2010-09-30T10:19:00.000-07:00

When you're standing in a chow line!

Yeah, so hiking for the time being has been put on hold as classes are in session. I have been biking lots; mostly to campus and for classes and club work. But, I am happy to say I got out and saw some live music!

It was Friday, the 22nd, and I had bought my tix to go see the Vaselines at Neumos. Local Seattle band The Young Evils was opening followed by The Dum Dum Girls from Cali. KEXP DJ Troy Nelson is in The Young Evils, and The Vaselines heavily influenced the Seattle grunge scene back when that was still a thing. Nirvana actually covered their song "Molly's Lips".

Beer

But before all that, I went to The College Inn Pub, apparently where all the cool grad students hang out. After a few pints with some friends, we ran into some other friends, and of course they all got invited to see the show. I mean after all, it was the Seattle City Arts Fest weekend, and the sad part was it was not even sold out.

After conversing and agreeing to meet at the venue, we departed to Aladdin Falafel Corner for some quick grub before the show. I actually had heard about this places some time ago, way back when I worked for WashPIRG when after a canvasing shift everyone would go out here to eat and lounge on the couches. I, however, was working two jobs at the time and always went straight home after words to sleep.

Anyways, the grub there was great.

We then made our way to the venue, met our friends there and began to listen to the sounds.

The Young Evils

There was a short food break we took before the Vaselines went on. We went just down the street from Neumos to Rancho Bravo for some of the best taco's you can get on Capitol Hill.

...wait a minute, we need to got back for another epic night that took place about 4 weeks ago....

Actually, a few things happened that weekend. First, the place where the band I play in was being vacated by the tenants and the band mates that lived there. What does that mean? We lost our practice space :(

Second, one of the gentlemen moving out was having a going away blast. That day, if you recall, was a gorgeous Saturday in Seattle. Sunny and just warm enough to be sleepy. What a better way to celebrate than go hit up Paseo for a awesome sandwich (seriously, if you have not eaten here, please do so before you leave town), pick up a six pack and head down to Gas Works park to have a picnic? None!

Later that day we all met at Linda's Tavern in Seattle. Yeah, so we got there about 9ish, and I had to use the facilities. 9pm on a Saturday, as you well know, means the place is not yet jumpin. So I made my way to the Men's room where I was the only occupant. Now this is a regular men's room and it is built to accommodate several gents at a time, which is why it was odd that while I was using it there was a "knock-knock" on the door. I answered "Hello?" like "who the hell is knocking on the men's room door?" And to my surprise, the door opened to reveal seven women standing there begging and pleading with me for my help. Turns out it was a brides maid party on a scavenger hunt and they needed to have their picture taken in a men's room by a urinal and they asked me to take a photo of them. So I did, it was the least I could do. I mean, they already invited themselves into the restroom. But then they said they needed another favor, and one of them handed me a banana. Yes, I was as confused as you are right now. They said I could anything with it, so I proceeded to unzip my pants and stick just part of it in leaving the majority of it exposed. This, of course was received with hoots and hollers from the ladies, and one of them actually got down and put the other end in her mouth while another one took a picture of the event. It does my heart good to know I am now part of someones pre-wedding scavenger hunt memories.

Mind you, this was all before I even had a chance to get a drink from the bar that night; the bar for the evening was set very high indeed. I am happy to report the night lived up to it's expectations. Oh, I almost forgot, it was also someone's birthday that day (you know who you are), so in effect it was a DOUBLE PARTY!

So then Sunday, the following day was the Fremont Ocktober Fest and 5k run. Well, needless to say, I was in no shape to run and did not even make it to the fest until 2pm. But, it was still great. I got my shirt as if I ran and all my beer tokens. I met a friend of mine there, also named Josh, and at one point in the afternoon, his better half left me in charge and responsible for both he and I. Note: never let Josh watch Josh at a beer fest. Well, I mean you could, just be aware of the only possible outcome.

But wait, my weekend of binge drinking is not over yet! We then went to Brouwer's and had absinthe drinks and goat stew, and a few more beers. But wait! We were still hungry and thirsty as the night wore on, so off to the North Lake Tavern for pizza and beer!

...whew...

just recalling it all to tell you all is making me tired. But I am happy to report that despite all that, I was up early on Monday, all fresh eyed and bushy tailed ready for the first day of the quarter....

wow, and now mid-terms are already here.

c'est la vie

Super Blue Smoothie, Amaranth and raw food

2010-08-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

A is for Amaranth. A little while ago I had some amaranth instead of rice or other carbohydrate with dinner. While it was cooking however, I noticed that it was not like I expected; what I had expected was some sort of quinoa like texture loose individual grains. That is exactly what it was not. It was more like malt-o-meal or perhaps even a bit like grits. So instead of eating it next to a big bunch of stir fried veggies with savory sauces, we saved it for dessert. And it could not have been a better choice on our part. We ate it with cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered ginger, sprinkled the top with a little sugar, drizzled it with just a touch of dark agave, and man was it good. (sorry about no pic, I am still in the process of buying a new camera). While it was good just like that I can dream up many other ways to enjoy this incredible tasting food. Oh, I don't know, cream and fresh berries would be been ridiculously delicious as well. And from what I understand, amaranth is incredibly healthy also. In fact, I think it can help prevent gray hairs.

Check it out, make it a staple in your pantry, start consuming mass quantities post haste! I think it is so much better than malt-o-meal (and so very much more nutritious). It will be my Fall/Winter breakfast of choice this year, bar none.

Super Blue Smoothie

From time to time I end up concocting some crazy super food smoothie, and usually I add in whatever I have on hand at the time. But in this particular instance I had visited Whole Foods and bought some dried blue corn and I have no idea why. I mean, why would I do that? I have no idea what to use it for besides grind it up and try to make tortillas with it, and just between you and me, that was so not going to happen.
So I decided to add it to a super food smoothie. I realized that it was hard, I mean like way too hard. Even though my blendtec could have made it into a fine dust powder, those fine dust powdered blue corn particles would still have been hard as diamonds and therefor potentially hazardous to my health. After contemplating what to do about it, I decided to boil the corn in just enough water to cover it. It made the corn softer and the water that was left in the pot turned blueish, so I used that in the smoothie as well. I am certain some sort of antioxidant anti-aging something or other was in it.

Super blue corn smoothie: blue corn, coffee, goji, blue berries, maca, raw cacao, red pepper flakes and chili powder. I put it all in my blendtec blender and let her rip.

The end result was a nice, masa kind of tasting spicy drinkish thing that was overall a pleasant to consume. It was very high energy; I drank one in the morning and then did tons of yard work, rode my bike to Seattle, and back, and was not even bothered by hunger pangs.

Rice, eggs, beans and garlic stuffed olives

Here is a run down of what is in that bowl overhead. It was a great meal, in fact I made it twice in one day.

I cooked the rice w/ garlic, ginger, curry powder, salt, pepper, butter, juice of one lime, coconut milk and tomato sauce. The re-fried beans I used came with roasted Chile and lime already in them (found those at Whole Foods).
I topped it off with one fried egg, some cinnamon (that I added on top of the rice, so the egg is over it), and four garlic stuffed olives (in my opinion olives and garlic are two of the top ten super foods on the planet).

Let me tell you, it was tasty and probably could fetch at least $7.99 on a menu, if not more, and people would be highly satisfied with it as a meal. Or a place could charge less and serve the working class students of the world, like a real bohemian place ought to.

Now for the random bits of the blog:

And can someone please tell me why this looks so darn addicting?

A newly discovered band for me with a great name, The Drums. Here is their song called "Book of Stories".

Yet another list of places that need to be checked out

Apparently The Dahlia Bakery has some great peanut butter filled cookies that are all the rage. This might require a bike ride into Seattle to try one.

Of course, Sweet Iron has been on my "bike into Seattle to grab some breakfast and then ride home" list and I have yet to do that. But I have been biking lots, so we shall see.

Proletariat Pizza (proletariat means working class) in White Center is fast making a rep for itself on the pizza front in Seattle, and for those of you who have read my blog all along, you know I have a certain weakness for this form of food. Actually, I am checking this place out next week, stay tuned....

Crap, I hate waiting so long to post. Because then I create a back log of places and ideas to blob about and to be honest, this is what I (and by default, you dear readers) get with my super awesome non existent system.

Anyway, the Blind Cartographers recently played in West Seattle at The Shipwreck tavern which is conveniently located right next door to The Heartland Cafe, so I ate there. The Tater Tot casserole was outstanding, had not had a dish like that since I was growing up in Sioux City, IA. Great food for a great price. Well worth the trip any day. It's like a little slice of home right in West Seattle. Yet another great reason to move there (speaking of which, Ballard, West Seattle or Columbia City? Debate...).

Raw Food

I realize that I need to get really super healthy super fast (5 K coming up and a few bike rides and triathlons next spring), and I think one of the ways to do that is incorporate more raw foods. Particularly raw fermented and cultured foods. So I am going to start making Almond Coconut yogurt and keeping it on stock (as budget allows). It can be used as a base for smoothies or just a few spoonfuls to get going. It also works well as a base for cream based salad dressing. Recipe thanks to this guy.

Raw Almonds, soaked for 24 hours water and then drained

1 cup almonds
1 cup young coconut water and water
+ the appropriate enzymes, probiotcs, etc. Check them out.

Put it all in a blendtec and let her rip!

Also, if you do not know about "of Montreal" (they are playing the Paramount in Oct) or Joanna Newsom, well, here is you chance to check them out.

You should also start reading up on: Sir Isaac Newton, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. These peeps is smart yo. Also, they are very inspiring.

Joshua

ps. wordle my blog, it is great.

pss. the kitchen at Brouwer's is serving a plate called the Teaser that is amazing. Go get it now before it leaves the menu. I ate at Ocho as well and man that place has great food as well. No camera, no pics, but I can say that all three things I ate there were off the hook (is that an appropriate phrase still? Or should I say something more like "If there was a hook, this would surely not be on it"?).

Sunday Morning Muffins

2010-08-08T10:58:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I made muffins on Sunday morning, so what?

I had the good fortune to have some garden fresh zucchini's and it was either muffins or bread.

Here is the recipe I used (I used nutmeg, cinnamon, and walnuts. Oh, I also used 1 & 1/2 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup oats. And I used 1/3 cup butter and substituted the rest equal parts vanilla yogurt, 1/3 less fat cream cheese, and apple sauce. Also, I added 2 tsp pf HealthForce SuperFoods MacaForce). Man, I really get out of control sometimes when I alter recipes. I only experiment to make things more healthy and healing for the people who eat it. It is just one of my ways of showing appreciation and acknowledgment to people in my life.

The outcome? The muffins turned out pretty darn good, I must say. Despite the fact that I had made both the wet and dry mixed components before realizing I had exactly zero muffin papers for the tin. So that created a mid muffin making grocery store jaunt to get those. I was able to pick up a coffee while out also, so all in all it turned out to be a great thing.

Post training Snack

1/2 avocado
1 can tuna, drained
4-5 olives stuffed with garlic
salt & pepper

Also, here are some links I have been meaning to throw in the blog:

To Read:

Wondermark

Goats

To eat/drink:

Boka
Tulio
Canlis
Rob Roy
Ocho
Monsoon
Vessel

These are all places I sampled when I attended Voracious. BTW, great event for the money, I highly recommend it. Also, buy the tickets as soon as possible, it sells out. As for the goods sampled, these places were pretty darn good.

Oh, and when you're in the mood for chocolate, eat Dalene's Raw Ecstasy bar not this.

Will It Blend?
Raw Superfood Smoothie

Grape Fruit (peeled), ginger, garlic, pepper, goji berries, blue berries, macaforce, earth, cats claw, 1/2 jalapeno, raw cacao powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, juice of one lime, half a cucumber, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, fist full of cilantro, celery, and a couple of stalks of whatever this is.

This

Minimal Acceptable Amounts of ginger and garlic to be used in my smoothies

It blended!

It turned out a bit thick, so I had to use a spoon to eat it, but it was tasty, zingy and zippy. And really really energizing! So this, some pumpkin seeds, a coffee and a zucchini muffin is what will sustain me today.

Joshua

p.s. Shipwreck Tavern, West Seattle, Aug. 28th, 10pm.

The Roommate who sheds a lot

West Seattle Food-down

2010-07-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ari, however you spell his name, reads my blog! Someone all the way over in Michigan or Wisconsin...well far away anyhow reads it! Course it seems he never comments (which, by the way, has me seriously thinking about moving this over to Wordpress so I can track views and what not) just like most others who peruse this web page frequently, but really that sounds like more work than I am willing to put in at this time for now.

So Friday the 16th was an eventful day, lots of food and drink tasting and a little walk/hike on Alki , and some reading of Cryptonomicon. I have been a fan of Neal Stephenson ever since I read Zodiac, a pretty darn good eco thriller. I have a fondness for these types of things (eco thrillers and saving the world and all that jazz), like the Audi A3 Super Bowl Green Police Commercial. After I saw that I wanted that job really bad. Course I want one of those cars as well.

But anyway, let's get on with the reviews, shall we?

First I visited Two Beers Brewing and had a beer and chatted with owner/brewer Joel. I have visited Two Beers before, and have enjoyed their beer on tap at such well known places as the Bothell Main Street Ale House and the Montlake Ale House. Always good, always refreshing, they just consistently make and serve a darn good beer, in my humble opinion. Joel is having some decent success in ...ask him some questions here and have a q & a.

I then rallied over to Elliot Bay Brewing in West Seattle to drink some of their potion and try their food offerings to the food review blog gods.

Should I walk along Alki here or after the Italian meal?

Then it was off to Cafe Revo for a nice Italian meal and some wine.

...or not!

What a day that would have been, but alas, best laid plans and all, right?

Well, what actually happened was I did meet Joel and all that. I then tried to go to Naked City Taphouse but they do not open until 3pm! What? I am starving now and need a beer as well! How could you?

So, guess what? I can not recall what I did then. Crap. That is what I get when I do not update on a as I go basis or even, * gasp* more often! The thought, the sheer brilliance of it is a bit...well blinding and all that. But not only do I owe it to you dear, dear reader, but to myself as well. I am sure some day in the far off future my memory will begin to fail me even in some greater capacity and I will be reduced to reading these very same pages to fill in the gaps on my pothole marked memory.

So I planned a picnic and had the crazy idea of making PB&J in a ravioli form and serving it with a strawberry goji berry type sauce that is sort of kinda like jelly I suppose. More sauce like, no knife needed to spread it all over.

My take on a summer time picnic PB&J

Ravioli (used Whole Wheat flour), stuffed with honey roasted peanut butter that has been mixed with maca, a twist of salt (just one really) cinnamon and nutmeg, boiled, slightly broiled to give the cooked pasta a caramelized toasted bread bend to it. The sauce is homemade strawberry goji berry goodness.

Let me just say, making these guys was a total pain in the ass. Probably due to the very affordable ravioli die I was using in my vain attempts to be frugal. The next time I make ravioli I will use white flour instead of whole wheat and maybe even use a high end machine to churn them out.

The Product

The Drink

Not sure what to call this here combo, it was good (well, I liked it at least). Not as good as my watermelon, gin blend (dubbed the Wet Ruby) but good non the less. I did use that Ginger People drink thingy, but I would have liked to have juiced my own ginger juice, that would have been awesome. Man I miss my juicer.

The Helper

Joshua

ps...dang! I missed July, like that *snaps*! And now when I wake up, some mornings smell like Fall.

Dear Summer,
Our affair was much too short for my liking. Please come back to me.
Forever yours truly,
Joshua

Fortune

2010-06-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Fortune (according to Merriam-Webster) is as follows: a hypothetical force or personified power that unpredictably determines events and issues favorably or unfavorably (there are other entries but this one,1, will do).

I have had the good fortune, thankfully, of going to check out the Georgetown Music Fest (or is it called the Seattle Weekly's Artopia? They clearly take place the same weekend, within the same 3 block radius, and both offer music. Confused much? Welcome to my world)this past weekend to catch some live music and I ran into a couple of old friends I had not seen in some time. The weather turned out to be great also.

All in all, that weekend was pretty damn sweet.

The Best Comics in the GPNW?

I went to the GTMF to see and hear Ladyfriend and The Black Whales. I got to the GTMF early, not knowing what to expect for parking and crowd size. Parking was easy, and the crowd was not large yet. So I wandered around to check out the lay of the land, you know, where the beer gardens, portajohns, music and food vendors were. I was glad to find out that Fantagrahics was local to GT. At first blush, this was after all my first time to be in GT (Georgetown), it seems I was falling for it hard.

I wandered across a busy street to what appeared to be the food vendors area, but to my surprise and delight, it was the GT Farmers Market. Lots and lots of fresh good food, and some raw food!

I know the owner of this company, but it had been some time since I was in touch with him, but it was nice to run into him and catch up. Plus, the raw food he makes is ridiculously good and all raw and vegan. Out. Of. Control. Kind of like this.

Ladyfriend

I went to the Ladyfriend stage/flatbed truck and found myself presented with a great find; there was a beer garden directly across from them. That is actually where I took this picture from. I got to the garden early, the beer was just starting to flow and I was a little unsure if I was at the right place. So I asked the person pouring the beer and the other patron in the garden if they knew if this was the stage Ladyfriend was playing at. The other patron said yes it was, she knew because she was in the band. So I introduced myself to Taylor and she went to the stage to perform.

Aside from the fact that there was some damn jet show going on at the Boeing Airfield and some crazy jets flew by overhead, Ladyfriend's set was great. I mean, just listen to their song "Backyard Seance", it is cool and catchy all at the same time, or at least I think so. Another excursion where I find great people who make great music.

I then made my way to another stage to see a band called Black Whales perform. They played at a much large stage/beer tent. In fact there were two stages. And another friend I had not seen in some time. Crazy day.

Black Whales

I first found out about the Black Whales a few months ago when I was searching for local entertainment/bands for a school club book release event I was planning. I really liked their song "The Diamond Divide", but unfortunately they were not available to play our gig. So I saw them play live at the GTMF.

Strong musicians all around, their new songs, or at least the songs I did not recognize from them I considered new, were different, but still well crafted and played. I think the newness of the songs had the crowd just appreciative of them, but when they busted out Diamond Divide, the crowd started to bob and weave to the beat.

Megasapien

I stuck around to finish my beer, but really what I was there for was to listen to the power duo that is Megasapien. They started playing and I started listening and was like "Who the hell are these guys?". The drummer is good, damn good. Pretty much they are straight ahead rock, and they use a Mac for some added sounds here and there (like at the end of their set when they were playing the Superman theme song while they broke down. It was a nice touch). I will say this, their live performance blows away their recordings online. Their live show brings more energy and a stage presence that adds lots to their songs.

Magically Delicious

So I get lazy when it comes to cooking for me, but still require putting minimal effort into making something better than stock. For instance, frozen cheese pizza. Not my usual M.O. to say the least, but I think it turned out pretty good, for frozen pizza at least.

Pre-baked

Take one stock bare bones frozen cheese pizza, add more cheese of your choice (obviously), some greens (spinach or in this case I used mixed baby greens), seasonings such as: salt, pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and fresh pressed garlic. Lots and lots of garlic. I used 8 cloves. It could have used more.

Post Baked

Of course, some your might say I ruined it in the end because I drenched it in La Victoria Red Taco Sauce. But what can I say, I was in the mood for spicy.

I will say that I am not lazy all the time when it comes to cooking. For instance, an upcoming potluck picnic I am making come home made peanut butter toasted ravioli with this bad boy.

So I have some guilt about always reporting about cool bands I have seen and giving no preview of upcoming things that people might like. Well, I now have the opportunity to present something some of you might like and even enjoy. If you like the movie Amelie, that same director has a new movie out called MicMacs, and it happens to be playing at The Egyptian Theatre. I have yet to see this, but plan on doing so this week or weekend sometime.

Also, I am really dying to check out emmer&rye on Queen Anne. Local seasonal food paired with some good drink selections, what is not to like?

What else might you, or dear reader, like? How about The New Pornographers playing with The Dodos & Imaad Wasif at the Showbox @ the Market on July 31st?

Or maybe a new funny show? (this might offend some people, it airs on Adult Swim at night).

Have a great day in the Sun everyone, I know I will.

Joshua

It must be the shoes.

The Tin Table and a show at The Crocodile

2010-06-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Tin Table

Okay, so school is done for a whole week. Bonus, I only have to take 6 credits over the Summer! Man, talk about some serious blogging time that I will have. What that really translates into is getting to hike, eat, listen to music and write.

So to celebrate these events, and because I believe in the Universe giving signs for a reason (I mean how else do you explain ads for the Tin Table that just keep showing up in front of my face, and I got an email coupon for $50 of food/drinks for only $25. So I bought it.) I ate there on Saturday.

Oh Saturday, how eventful you turned out to be. So I had my whole day planned, eat at the Tin Table, see a rocking show at the Crocodile, ride my bike home. I mean, what a perfect way to include three of my favorite things?

Folks, I literally live between the 2nd and 3rd bus stop in Redmond of the 545 bus. I had never encountered a bus that had a full bike rack (they can hold three), until Saturday. Really, I was amazed. First of all the weather was amazing, second of all one of the bikes and the bikes owner had paper race tags pinned on them, so clearly they were in a race or event of some sort.

So I was faced with a situation; leave my bike and catch the bus and not be late for my reservation or wait for the next bus and be late. I chose to lock up my ride at the bus stop and hop on. Well, so much for my master plan on how to get home after the show.
(As I was writing notes for my blog on my bus ride, trying my best to capture the essence of the day, I noticed that 520 is kinda shitty in some places. Or maybe it was the shocks on the bus?)

I got there and the place was empty. Which was great, I got to talk to the bartender (who also works at Ocho in Ballard) and tell him the ingredients that go in my newest, and possibly all time, favorite drink:

The Brain Duster
1 oz Rye Whiskey (preferably 100 proof)
1 oz Absinthe
1 oz Vermouth, Italian
1 dash Angostura bitters
mix well with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass

This drink, of which I had two of, does an amazing job of living up to it's name. The bartender and I chatted a bit about different choices of rye and absinthe, and I am interested to try a few different places and see how they make them.

I ordered the fish tacos off the menu, and they were great. Perfectly done fish bits; not too dry or moist, smothered in a red sauce of some sort that was wicked good. Copious amounts of cilantro and some Cole slaw.
My guests and I had to move seats once as the table we were seated at was reserved for 7pm, so we moved to a bar seating area by the windows. The windows were cracked open some and the fragrant odor of fresh cooked waffle cones was wafting in from Molly Moon's below. So we ordered some dessert: The lemon blueberry brioche pudding and New Orleans style beignets.

Overall, the place was great: I liked the location, the decor (although, sad to say not one table made of tin) and the food was great. One issue, the music they were playing was not in line with the overall ambiance of the place, I hope they change it.

The Crocodile

Okay, you may have noticed like I have that some of the bands I like (and by like I mean support monetarily and in person) play at the Crocodile in Seattle. Often apparently. Not that I mind, I like the excuse to make a day of it, with food and drinks and all. Fortunately some of my good friends were accompanying me this fine evening, so that made it even better.

The opening band was called Skeletons with Flesh on Them which I am guessing it means people are just that, or maybe there is some deeper meaning to their name, I'm not sure. In any case, they are great. I heard them first on KEXP awhile back. They have a very nice, pop-ish sound reminiscent of other popular NW rock acts like Pretty Girls Make Graves (RIP), Modest Mouse, etc. Highly recommend them.

The second band, whose name is awesome, Math and Physics Club, was a little subdued live. A kind of alternate 50's light rock with awkward endings. Clearly they are talented, maybe it was the sound levels or an off night or who knows. Or perhaps it was because they were tucked between other bands that were loud, punchy, pop? Who knows for sure, and even then can they say?

The last band, Aqueduct, pretty much stole the show. Or more accurately, took it with force. Pop hooks galore and a heaping dose of enthusiasm coupled with some vaguely familiar songs made for a great, great show. I mean, I am not even sure I can explain to you, dear reader, how much they rocked without sounding like a brain hemispheres fused idiot set to redundancy. I am surprised that they are not more popular. I mean, they do play biggish shows, go on tour, and had at least one song on a soundtrack to a movie.

Great sound, good crown interaction, they rocked, and man the cymbals sounded great! I love, love, love the sound of Zildjian K's. It's great because I need new cymbals myself and had no idea what kind to even look at. Listening to samples of cymbals online is hardly accurate or telling. So I was resigned to going to several music stores and hitting cymbals and then trying to imagine what they would sound like in comparison to my drums. But after seeing several live shows where the drummers sounded great, and noticing they were playing Zildian K's, the deal is sealed.

Also revealed at the show it was the Three Imaginary Girls 8th anniversary, so that was cool. Apparently, one of them was there, or at least that is what David Terry said. Or is that what she said? Anyway, a big THANK YOU goes out to those girls, they have been rocking the Seattle scene for 8 years, here is at least to another 8 more!

Yours Truly

The Tractor and Voracious

2010-04-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

Voracious Door Stamp. Yes that is a Martini. It was indeed time to get my drink on.

Dear fellow blog readers,

Hi! Hope you all are doing well, it has been sometime hasn't it? Well, I don't mean to expound upon the obvious, but I have been kept fairly engaged recently hence the late blog update. Please forgive me, I will try to be more dutiful to you all.

So awhile back I visited The Tractor Tavern in Ballard , WA where I saw a few bands play that you should all really know about. Well, two of them at least. The first band, Doctor Doctor, was not band per se, I think they were par for a rock band. My opinion of course, but you should check them out for yourself. The next band was Spanish for 100 (which I think is a pretty clever name) was great, I really thought they sounded like a sort of cross of Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse, and them. Be warned, Spanish for 100's recording quality online is not what they sound like live(Hmm, much like another band I know of). And then there was Slender Means (another name I really like) who blew that place out. I mean, these guys are pretty good. (No pics, my camera is being recycled as we speak because it ate batteries as fast as you could put them in it. So I am in the market for a new one. Suggestions are gladly accepted).

After the show, my compatriots and I we a bit peckish and realized other than the hot dog cart on the sidewalk, there were some slim pickins in Ballard for late night grubbing.

We ventured forth and found sustenance, but in light of that evening wheels have begun to churn...

So you may have heard about this little food thing in Seattle called Voracious. It is a Seattle Weekly column, blog, and annual event the weekly hands out awards for this and that. But more importantly, the event has food, good food and lots of it. And, as I found out, drinks galore! The ticket was decent, only $25 for entry and all the good food you could stuff in your face and pockets and open bars as far as the eye could see. And the venue, it was held at The Paramount (a great place where I saw The Shins play) and if you have never been there, you should go. The words I would try to use to describe it's ambiance, it's feel, would not due it justice. The closest thing I can do, dear readers, is tell you that it reminds me of a theater in my hometown of Sioux City,Iowa called The Orpheum. I remember going to see many great movies in the Orpheum, like when my grandparents took me to see The Swiss Family Robinson as we brought our own homemade popcorn in a big brown paper bag. Or that time my dad took me to see Tron there, and they had the Tron video game in the lobby. Every time I step into The Paramount, the nostalgic feeling of what it was like at The Orpheum is there for me. Old yet modern, filled with lots of lost history, and you just know whatever is going on inside is going to be so worth it just from the ambiance the building provides, the buzz, the juice the place has. Places like this are very much alive in a sense. Just like the recently refurbished Columbia City Theater.

This is indeed what I would classify as a true America bargain. However, as in all things in life, there were some places that clearly brought their "A" game, and some places there were clearly mailing it in, resting on their laurels as it were.

Scotch (well, what was left of it) and Cupcake

I mean, seriously, how can one place be serving Fillet Mignon, to order, on a separate plate and another place *cough* Uli's *cough* that was serving their product Ala weekend Costco style? I mean, yes I understand, you make a damn fine sausage, that is why you are a staple in Seattle. But even a little effort would have been nice. What you did was kind of a slap in the face, which part of me can kind of respect. Like giving a little finger to the fancy pants places, but still, I wonder how all the people in attendance took it.

What were some of those other places you ask? Well, I tried many, but only want to comment on a few. Boka, for instance, was serving (well, what I think they were serving) a de-constructed potato chip. A slice of potato (raw or very lightly cooked) with toppings that made it taste like a really good version of a fully loaded potato chip you get in a grease filled bag. Expect, this had a really nice subtle flavor profile, and no grease. It could of used more salt, but then again I think that about most things. (Although, thanks to Joe, I have been reminded how good a nice coating of fresh ground tellicherry black pepper makes everything better. Even popcorn. Try it, you will be amazed).

The other place I really liked was a little, unassuming fish fry place. That is right, fish fry. Catfish Corner was serving up fresh fried catfish and hush puppies, and I think it was the best food I ate that night. Not overly coated or spiced, fried to golden perfection, along with the smartersauce (their version of tartar sauce) they were serving made for just really great food. The people working their booth were nice and friendly.

Speaking of nice people, lots of great people there. I am sure all those free drinks and free good food (well, not really "free" but you know what I mean...) probably loosened everyone one up. It is like I stated in a previous blog, good food is about bringing good people together and celebrating, and that is exactly what this was. I hope to be attend it for years to come.

On a closing note, I just want to thank you readers. I know I have not been the most punctual of bloggers, however this is something I truly enjoy. Now that the quarter is almost over and I am only taking 10 credits over the summer, I hope to get back on my blog more often. Oh, that reminds me , the Creative Arts Club I am part of at Cascadia Community College is having their 2010 Arts Magazine release event on Wednesday, June 2nd from 3pm - 7pm on campus at Mobius Hall. If you show up, there will be sandwich boards up to provide directions. There will be live music, Greek food, art presentations, and copies of the magazine all FREE!

Italian food and Simplicity

2010-03-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

Bowl full homemade of goodness

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of having some incredible, made from scratch, Italian food. I have never been to Italy (or Europe, yet) but I have to confess that in the past I was somewhat of a food network addict and watched that channel often. I hardly dared to ever recreate anything that I saw. Sometimes I visited the web site to swipe recipes and translate them to my own liking, but never directly tried to recreate something from those recipes.

I do make a pretty good red sauce of my own concoction, but usually I skip the making pasta part and just roll with some store bought goodness (thanks America's Test Kitchen). I always figured it was the sauce that made the pasta anyway. And while I may be correct in certain aspects in my train of thought, it is now incredibly clear to me that having both home made red sauce and good fresh hand made pasta is, how do I say, a culinary delight of the highest order.

Apparently Italians eat their pasta separate from their meat (beef, lamb, what have you), so that was how we enjoyed the evening. The sauce that was used on the pasta was the same sauce the beef cooked in for who knows how long. It had good, deep flavor and roundedness that can only be coaxed out of food with time and deliberate love and intention.

The pasta itself was tender, wide, and thick, with just enough topography to have the sauce cling desperately to its sides and not slip off when the fork is half way between your mouth and the bowl. It was perfect.

The beef, I'm not not sure of the cut, the brand, or about the recipe used to prepare it. I do know that it was delicate, moist and , like the sauce, had flavor that was deep and rich, but not over powering on any note. It was the kind of beef you could eat for dinner for days, no months, on end and never get tired of it. So, it was much like the pasta.

Dessert was the real Italian deal. Authentic almond biscotti (direct from Italy in fact I think) that we dipped in some after dinner wine (of which the name escapes me). Espresso and some more wine made the night fly by, and before we all knew it, the new day was upon us.

I dare say, with all due respect to my mother, it was the best birthday meal I have had since, well, my mothers home made lasagna. Many thanks for good friends. Next meal is on me (I mean the cooking, not literally).

Simplicity

It seems the more and more I explore the craft of food, the saying "less is more" is very true. Basic good, local and fresh ingredients, mixed and made with love and care always outperforms any and all other foods, period. A simple beet salad, lentils with curry, a glass of vodka straight from the freezer; small and simple delights will never lose their appeal.

The sun has begun to poke it's head around, and I am glad. I am ready to start hitting the trails again, ride my bike everywhere, and get back to letting you all know about the hiking around here. One of the main reasons I enjoy doing this is that it makes me look to new areas to hike in and around. So I get to see new areas, and hopefully you get to read about hikes that not everyone in the GPNW has already been on or blogged about. And the trails I do end up hiking on that have been done before, I hope that I can see it or present it in a new way to you.

Jamie Oliver has a new campaign going called Food Revolution. He is on an education trail to empower people in eating well (which usually also means better tasting also) with a focus on children and school meals. It is a great cause and I encourage you all to sign his petition on his sight.

Popcorn built the Aztec Empire

It's a"maize"ing

(ugh, sorry about that)

I love me some popped corn. Especially when it is cooked proper like; in a big pot with salt, pepper, oil and butter. Of course I occasionally add other spices as needed; like oregano or Lawry's. If I end up using coconut oil to pop the corn in, I add curry as well as salt. What you end up with is some very tasty coconut curry popcorn that is as addicting as it sounds.

Food & Good are only one letter apart. Coincident? I think not.

2010-02-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

Molly Wizenberg @ Cascadia Community College

Hi everyone, it has been awhile since I posted. How have you all been?

First of all, let me give you some advice. If you ever blog, please write all your entries in word or some other doc format. I had over half of this entry done and usually blog spot auto saves every so often. However, something went batty and nothing was saved. Redundancy, it's never a bad idea.

Food, the one thing that I can truly say is important in everybody’s life. You only live once; you deserve to eat good food. A life well lived is filled with amazing foods right?

But what I recently discovered is that when I prepare meals just for myself, the food is usually just meet my nutrition standards (and those fluctuate from time to time). I never really go out of my way to prepare great meals for myself. But when I cook for friends, look out.

Why? Well, Michael Hebb (this article) and Molly Wizenberg’s (public speaking at Cascadia Community College) pointed out some very interesting things to me.

Cooking food, for me, has never been all about the food, but about bringing people together around good food. For me, it is about taking care of other people and surrounding myself with good fun happy people. For exqample when I make myself breakfast (when it is not just buttered toast and our the door!), I will fry up some eggs, heat up some refried beans, dollop some cottage cheese on top, sprinkle some hot sauce on it and call it done.

The Breakfast of champions

But when I cook for others, it’s all eggs Benedict with hollandaise from scratch and free range chicken eggs. Or fresh picked berries from the alley to put in the pancake batter and in the warmed syrup.

Soup and Trees, what they mean to me is everything.

Which brings me to this: I love soup. My grandfather, Morris, has always been a mastermind when it came to making soup and being able to identify trees of all sorts. He makes the best soup out of leftovers: raid the fridge, scraps of pasta, maybe some canned tomatoes from the garden, and bang, the best ham slop you ever did taste.

Cabbage Soup

I made some cabbage soup recently, andI made a huge batch of really good spicy cabbage soup. While the soup was good, the best part was the fresh cracked pepper. I loved savoring the half cracked bits of pepper in my mouth. I relished the experiencing of getting to know the spice and did not grab for a glass of water to wash it out. How else am I supposed to get acquainted with it? Spices make the world go round.

The cabbage soup recipe was a snap. Water, cabbage (both red and green), spices (I used a handful of dried green ones like basil, oregano, etc), salt, pepper, a dash of hot sauce, onions and garlic. I first sautéed the onions and garlic in the bottom of the soup pot with some spices in a little butter and olive oil. Then the water, cabbage and fennel went in. Simmer it all until warm and ladle it out. Easy peasy.

Steak, the other white meat

I also have to plug Bill the Butcher in Woodinville WA. His steaks and raw goats milk are local, hormone and antibiotic free. Plus he dry ages his steaks. They are more than amazing. His butcher's choice ground meat for burgers and chili is concocted of the scraps of meat he has lying around (pork, lamb, steak, etc) and let me tell you, that stuff makes the best burgers (or anything for that matter) in town. Some of that, and his local bacon, were used to make this:

Possibly the best baked beans, ever.

And now a preview, the star of an upcoming event, real Russian vodka. I have no idea what the label says, so if any of you speak Russian komrad, please tell me what this says.

Russian Star

Creative Arts Club presents...

2010-01-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog Readers,

I would like to invite you all to a speaking event taking place next Tuesday, January 19th at the North Creeks Event Center of Cascadia Community College. The Creative Arts Club is proud to present Molly Wizenberg, local Seattle Author (Books and blogs) and owner of Delancey's will be reading selected passages from her book beginning at 4:30pm. There will be light refreshments for this event.

This event is free and open to all, so if you come bring friends! This is sure to be a great event, and did I mention it is free!

I hope to see you there.
Joshua

Egads!

2009-12-26T19:19:00.001-08:00

Look at what my diet has degraded into! Ashamed, a little. But it has been fun and liberating in some odd way. (that is chicken strips in the plastic sack right of the cereal, btw)

The Eve

2009-12-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

My view this morning

Hello Faithful Readers! By now it might be obvious that while on break from school I have WAY more time to write my blog, but just in case you did not I thought it was worth pointing out.

What an early morning barker may look like.

I awoke today to the sound of a dog barking as I am dog sitting, prompting me to get up let them out and feed them. After a fitful yet restful night of sleep, probably due to the recent splurge of poor diet and reading the first 59 pages of "How I became a Famous Novelist" by Steve Hely, (btw, a pretty good book) I rose to do so.

Self explanatory picture of the book I am reading

It was an amazing view as everything was frosted in white frost and the was just beginning to reveal itself lazily on the horizon. Oh how I could relate.

After letting the dogs out, playing with them, and feeding them, I returned inside invigorated from the crisp morning air. I felt inspired so I turned on the television with high hopes some great seasonal show would be on. To my dismay and non surprise, GMA, Today and The Early Show all had on the usual fair of depressing news: air travel mishaps, missing person cases, etc. No all day festival of being grateful that I hoped for. So my choices were between Sesame Street and White Christmas; it was a close race but White Christmas won.

There happen to be a few extra ripe banana's in the house, so I am going to bake some banana bread using this recipe today. Seems to be a fine thing to do today, bake that is.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with some holiday sprinkles

If you have not had a chance to try Beecher's side dishes, do so as soon as humanly possible. This one is filled with kale, copious amounts of the real thing. It was incredibly good and cheesy. Normally I do not like frozen dishes, well not as a grown up anyways. But this one caught my eye the other day and I was feeling lazy, so I bought it. What a treasure I found. It seriously reminded me of the kind of dish I would make if I were to make a really good brown rice cheesy kale casserole. Those people over there in that Beecher's test kitchen experimenting making this type of goodness, yeah, they have it rough.

Heat in the oven and BAM, good eats.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Cookie Attack!!!

2009-12-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

The Aftermath

No seriously, I woke up Saturday under attack by the baking bug. Don't laugh, this isn't funny. I had no choice in the matter. So I baked a few batches of cookies.

Chocolate Chip

The first one I made was a standard chocolate chip, but the recipe I found and used called for a 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cup sour cream. I did not include the unsweetened chocolate and I may have added a little extra vanilla. These are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. Soft, moist, tender with a great chocolate chip to cookie ratio i.e. these cookies are packed with chocolate chips! (there's no such thing as too much chocolate)

In the fridge, M&M sugar cookies waiting for a baking.

The next batch I made was a sugar cookie that I added nutmeg and cinnamon to and added both dark and milk chocolate holiday M&m's.

Trail Mix Cookies

The third cookie I made I just followed the Chocolate chip base recipe and instead of adding chocolate chips I added a bag of trail mix and some cayenne and cinnamon (Next time I make these I am going to make my own trail mix to add instead of using a store bought bag). They turned out much hotter than I anticipated, but were still pretty dang good.

Also in each batch I also added a splash of Chaokah brand coconut milk and a dash of fermented coconut water. You know, just to make things interesting.

Happy Holidays.
Joshua

Happy Seasons!

2009-11-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hello faithful readers! I guess being busy with school studies, final exams and papers, and being involved in school clubs takes up more time than I realized. I have had no time to cook, hike, or go visit any new bands live. So that leaves me with the question, what am I going to blog/report about?

So I am going to share a couple recipes that I would have loved to have made these last few weeks, share about some bands that I have been using recently to help me get through these days, and share a little about what my life looks like and why I think I may have made a mistake.

A friends cheesy potato recipe

I have had these in the past, and man, they are incredible. No one has ever complained about these showing up for meals.

"Quarter and boil some gold potatoes, 8 to 12, for about 45 min to an hour, until they are soft and the skin starts to peel off. Drain the water completely, then add a block of Philadelphia cream cheese. Beat until smooth. Add a couple few dollops of sour cream and beat in until the potatoes are the consistency you want. Finish off with 2 or 3 tablespoons of butter on top, and put a lid on the pot so the butter melts. That's it!"

Too easy.

This is how I roll

This is a recipe I found at Simple Daily Recipes.

I recently made these and they turned our very nice. I used a little more butter in the recipe and next time I would cook them for a little less time and or make them larger (I was a tad conservative in pinching them off).

The recipe is in the linky link also.

1 package quick-acting active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup milk (105 to 115F degrees)
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour or whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted butter (I used 3, 2 in the mixer with the oil and the rest melted on top)
coarse salt

Dissolve yeast in warm milk with sugar in electric mixer bowl. Stir in 1 cup flour, oil, and salt. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour, scraping dough from side of bowl, until soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 45 minutes.

Heat oven 400F degrees. Punch down dough in center and fold over a few times. Prep a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pinch off 1 inch balls of dough and quickly roll in palm of hands. Put 3 balls to one muffin cup, brush with melted butter; sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake until crust is light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

New Music?

Well...I have not explored this part of my social life recently. I do listen to 90.3 FM KEXP as any good person should and there is always good music on, and some of it is new as well. If not new in generally then at the very least new to me. Sadly I have not had the pleasure of discovering a new band or stumbling over a lost treasure. Actually, I take that back. I stumbled across some funk that is just great. I can not even recall where and when I was exposed to it, but I immediately went to Pandora and created a station for it. It was Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band.

I also have been listening to some older bands that I think are great. Such as Jawbox who recently reissued their first album "For Your Own Special Sweetheart" ala remastered. It sounds great.

And Sparta, while they are good, I think some of their songs are redundant. All though almost each song on "Wire Tap Scars" has some sort of power pop-ie hook melody like thing that grabs you.

Also The Promise Ring, The Helio Sequence and Nada Surf. BTW, I like some of the things that Pitchfork has to say, but mostly I like them because they offer free music. I find some of their review scores to be biased and actually I hardly ever take into account what others say as far as reviews go as I am my own person and am more than capable of creating my own interpretation of things.

Go download the KEXP podcasts right now to your MP3 player and soak up some good tunes. (Podcast 81 song 4 "The Heavenly States - The Race", clearly they have called the Fountains of Wayne Hotline...oh song 5 is great as well "MGMT - Kids")

What else is going on?

- On December 5th, my old stomping grounds, the Kirkland branch of the KCLS is re-opening! This is the first time it will have been open since it closed for the remodeling it has undergone. Should be great.

- On December 12th, the 12 Bars of Seattle charity pub crawl is taking place. This year they are raising money for Dynamic Family Services. Sounds like a good time.

- Also on Saturday December 12th the Juanita Woodlands and Denny Creek area are looking for volunteers to plant trees. This is where you will find me.

And now a formal Apology

As you may or may not know, I am currently in school earning a degree in Environmental Technologies and Sustainability. Why you ask? How did this happen?

Well, it came about in equal parts haste and desperation. It was the best of all possible options in front of me at the time (mind you it has turned out incredibly well, mind numbingly so).

The fact remains that I have some regrets.
I regret not taking a harder look at culinary school.
I regret not taking a closer harder look at earning a musical degree.

I do not regret being back in school and learning, that much is certain. And I realize I can complete either one of these above mentioned goals easily upon the completion of my current studies. Which I intend to do.

I resolve that upon completion of my current school curriculum, I will immediately enroll in either a culinary program and then a music program (or the other way around). It is just common sense.

Duh

Merry Jubilation!

Boo!

2009-10-31T19:25:00.001-07:00

Happy All Hallows Eve! I was just carving up some jack-o'- lanterns and I thought "Hey! I should take some pictures and post a blog post." So I am.

I love squash. It is very good for you. I mean pumpkins are chock full of good stuff for you. And the seeds? Don't even get me started!

Soaking in salt water after a rinse

Of course while I was doing all this, I was also cooking a meal for myself. For some reason, even though I have never had it before, I was particularly craving beans and toast. So I toasted some bread, buttered it up, heated up a can of black beans with some spices (chili powder, onions, oregano, onion powder, salt and pepper) and placed a heaping spoon full on the buttered toast. See...

Mmmm...

It was delicious! Of course, being the pro protein person that I am, I also added a dollop of cottage cheese on top of these as well, of course, after I took the picture.

Now for some scenery!

Tree

Leaves

Boo!

B-eats (a subtitle for my blog)

2009-10-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Crocodile, Seattle WA

Given the nature of my time spent these days as well as my availability to make it to the great outdoors to do some trail hiking, I have chosen to focus on music as well as food. A while back while hiking with some friends at Rattle Snake Lake, this issue came up and we started bouncing potential names around, and that is how the blogs new subtitle was concocted:

"B-eats"

Get it? Music and food, beat/eat...how very clever my friends are.

I have written music reviews in the past for a now defunct web site called Dark America, which got me into some great places such as Graceland (now called El Corazon) to see The HIVES when they first came through the US in 2000 with The International Noise Conspiracy. Somehow I was able to parlay this into getting a monthly press packet kit from Epitaph records to review CD's from them and become a live show reviewer for Skratch magazine. These two sources placed me on the press list for many local shows in the Seattle area which allowed me to see bands in exchange for writting reviews about them and their performance.
One of the last shows I went to go review was at the Crocodile in 2001, and somehow even though I was supposed to be on the press list, I was not. I was being a bit stubborn about it so I opted not to pay my own way in, and obviously submitted no review for the show. I lost that battle with Skratch. As it turned out, there were many local music writers in Seattle that were willing to take my place.

(Personal history: I played drums in a punk band while growing up in Iowa called The Doppler Effect. We played many shows at the local venue The Cattle Club (from what I understand, it is still around, in a new location and new ownership, in Sioux City Iowa). My now brother in law taught me to play drums. He still plays drums in a band called Hawn Swamp. I took a hiatus from playing drums, until last year when I bought a new kit and started playing for Blind Cartographers.)

So that was the last time I was at the Crocodile. It was closed for awhile, and has since been refurbished and reopened. The Dutchess and the Duke played a show there on Oct. 9th. I was excited to go to, basically, a new place and see a band I really like.

But before you ask, yes, I did have some food of sorts that evening as well. Right next door to the Croc is Via Tribunali , and I indulged in a double shot of Maker's Mark, neat, and pint of beer. While this is not food per se, it is how I consumed my calories for the evening. The setting at Via Tribunali's was...well...dark.

The Chandelier at Via

I mean really dark. Like "can not read the menu unless it is so close to the candle it might catch fire" dark. Usually I would have no qualms about this setting, but I was there to eat, well drink, as opposed to doing shady things in a high backed leather booth.

But the drinks were strong and the show was starting soon, so it hardly mattered.

The Stage

The show was really good. I was very happy to visit this old friend and check 0ut the new attire. Besides plying myself silly with shots of spiced rum and PBR's, I listened to the music and watched the crowed. And man was there a crowd. I did not take a head count but from what I could tell, that place was purty durn near maximum capacity. A sea of locals had filed into the Crocodile, drinks in hand, eagerly anticipating the promises of the evening.

The first band, Meth Teeth, was okay. They had a pretty good sound overall and I would say for the most part I liked them. I would be open to explore more of their work.

Meth Teeth

The second band, Dead Ghosts, played well, I just did not care for their sound. Even though by the time they came on the stage, I was pretty well lit up. I mean I was well on my way to having a very bad hang over at this point. Luckily I did not drive, so it was back to the bar for another drink for me.

Isn't the name "Dead Ghosts" redundant?

Then the THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE came on and they were great. I mean, I already liked them. Seeing them live was a treat. I highly recommend them.

D&D? I think not.

So that about wraps it up, as you can see, there was not a food installment in this episode. My hopes is to start again having food entries, very soon.

p.s. The Strangers new Happiest Hour guide is just out and my personal goal is visit all the listed establishments before my next birthday. That means by February. Feel free to join in the libations.

Love in the time of H1N1

2009-10-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Immune defense boosters

Just a quick note about what one can do to avoid this malady as many of us are coming into contact with the masses who may be carrying this particular virus as we go about our daily lives of doing those things we love.

In the photo: fresh brewed green tea, 5 garlic cloves, about a inch of fresh ginger and a orange.

I peeled and diced the garlic, and just diced the ginger, put it on a spoon and washed it down with a few swig of green tea. Than I ate the orange.

Not only do I feel this is great for prevention of flu and cold, but just even doing this as daily maintenance would seem to me to have enormous benefits overall. (I may even be vampire proof if I am luck)

Also, if you have not heard about elderberry extract, but it is very anti viral as well. (In fact, so is eating with real silveware ((I heard you can find authentic silverware at pawn shops and consignment stores and save some $$)) and zeolites).

Speaking of elderberry's, if you think about it, elderberry mead/wine is kind of like the first NyQuil. Strong antiviral and alcoholic enough to help sleep through the night. Those monks who invented it were very smart indeed.

In fact, I am pretty sure eating any type of brightly colored edible berry is healthy for you. But wait! Now it is fall, and fresh berries are hard to come by. So now what you ask. Well, the answer is simple: squash.

Pumpkin and pumpkin seeds. Cinnamon, pumpkin pie, and spiked hot cider also may help alleviate the flu. (course, I always have been a sucker for egg nog rather than cider)

Umami

2009-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Auguste Escoffier 1846-1935 (image from NPR)

I have been reading lots of Jonah Lehrer recently (well, that and some scintillating text books), specifically "How We Decide" and "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" . For what it is worth, I highly recommend both these books.

How I cook (notice the Library bar code, holla!)

In "Proust..." there is a part about Auguste Escoffier and umami. After reading this I became inspired to try it myself.

Step One
Rendering the Marrow Goodness

I purchased some beef shank bones and some cubed beef for making stew, baked them in a pan with copious amounts of vegetables at 350 for about 5 hours.

Step Two

Step Three

After the baking, it all goes into a pot with some red wine and some water, and gets reduced. I repeat this step, minus the wine, four more times.

The Result

I then strained out all the solid stuff, so just the liquid remained, and reduced this still until it reached a desired consistency.

It took some time to complete but the end results were decent enough. No one complained and the aromatics it gave off while it was baking, cooking and rendering was absolutley ambrosial. I am very sure that this concoction was very nutritious as well as yummy. I used it to accompany steaks and rice. Not just any rice, I might add. But lime nori green tea rice (organic white aromatic jasmine rice, Whole Foods, bulk # 6706). What? All that in rice? Absolutley, make it as good as possible. Antioxidants, polyphenols, Lime Juice, it is all good and essential for living well. (If you have not caught on by now, I regard eating well an essential staple in this communial experience we all call living.)

The Ingredients...

...in a pot...

...on a plate!

And of course, a little bit of celebration at the end of a meal never hurt.

Mmmmm, beer.

Urban Hiking, Pizza and a Pantry Challenge

2009-09-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

In the beginning...

Soul Party

A Soul Party was thrown, and food was made. Specifically pizza galore. I used the previously posted dough recipe with a few variations. I used a self raising dough and added 1 egg per batch of dough. A variety of thicknesses of dough were made and both thick and thin were damn fine.

Pizza Margherita

Some other pizza with yummy toppings that was eaten

Sadly, there was an0ther pizza made, but it was eaten too quickly to be photographed. I can provide witnesses, if needed, to back this story up. I think the last one, the one not photographed, was the best.

The rest of the spread was delicious, some dried cured meats, olives, cheese, and wine were available as well as some very very fine soul music that was danced too.

The hostess also served Molly Moon's Ice cream and another guest made some killer brownies to go with it. I could have rolled out of that party and home I had so much food, and that was even after I danced some of it off.

Urban Hiking

What urban hiking may look like

Urban hiking has temporarily replaced my hiking in the rural wooded areas, and I recently went to take in all the local areas of natural wonder in my neck of the woods. And drink, of course.

What foraging for food on an urban hike may look like

However, I quickly realized how similar urban hiking is to real hiking. There is beauty in those fine crafted cement squares you walk on, the way the houses are laid out in the neighborhood, the fences may have been aligned many years ago when created but now lean this way and that way every so often giving it a lazy look almost as if on purpose. There is just as much art and beauty in the city as in the woods; one just need to look for it. Even if the house or fence or cement layer years ago was not aware of it, he was making art, and even probably at the deepest level of their being knew it.

What a natural source of wild refreshment may look like on an urban hike

After the last stop on my urban hike, I decided to walk back to my lair as it was a sunny day and the fresh air after all of my jubilation was more than likely needed (and in the end it proved to be not enough to counter the wild intoxication of the urban hike). I began my walk home and again found myself amazed at the local bounty of art and grand art in the makings of man. After cresting a hill on my way home, a view of the far off jagged horizon appeared. The mountains in the distance adding to the serene placid beauty I was already experiencing and surrounded by on my urban hike. As if the mountains were not there to counter the city, but to make it better in any way they could.

A Challenge Arises

The beginning of a pantry challenge meal

I was recently challenged my a friend who came upon my blog. The challenge was simple; make a great meal out of whatever was in the pantry. The catch was I did not get to know what was in the pantry until I arrived.

The sauce is about to me made

The host was going to cook some all organic grass feed free range steaks, which I had marinated in lime juice, garlic and beer. The pantry was well stocked (according to me, not the host), and I found quinoa, seaweed, and a host of spices and other goodness to make a sauce and side dish with. The garden out back had some delicate baby squash that was sauteed up in, what else, garlic, onions, butter, salt and pepper.

Garlic lemon quinoa with seaweed

The quinoa dish was easy enough. I prepared the quinoa as normal, added a few crushed and whole cloves of garlic, a few tablespoons of lemon juice, and a handfull of rough chopped seaweed.

The End Results

The sauce was made with a little peanut butter, lemon juice, olive oil, tumeric (the yellow) powder, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, pepper, and mayo (I hardly ever use this terrible stuff, but it was just needed to help with the texture).

I also sauteed some baby carrots, red onions, garlic, and black olives that were generously topped upon the quinoa.

The end result was a great meal with things that the host already had in the pantry. I was pleased with myself in the end, but is always the case, found things to do different and more better next time.

Spanakopita and the Olympic Peninsula

2009-09-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

I made some spanakopita on Friday as a snack for an all day Sunday exploration of the Olympic Peninsula. I was a little worried that after making them, and then freezing them, and then defrosting them in the car they would deteriorate into something less than edible. They did taste and smell great right out of the oven, but the real test would be the road trip on Sunday.

On some Saturday mornings I make a brunch meal for some friends of mine, this past Saturday was one such day. I wanted to make french toast using brioche bread, but being the consummate procrastinator, I ended up using some fresh baked french bread from a local grocery instead.

I made a caramel sauce from scratch, using 2 cups sugar, 2tbs butter, a shot of cacao liqueur, about a half cup of brown sugar, and some heavy whipping cream. The stove I happened to be using that day was of the electric variety, and it has two available cooking temperatures: off and supernova.
Melting the sugar into liquid without burning it was challenging, and even though it did not burn it had many hard crystal hunks in it. For a very brief moment I thought about throwing it out and starting over, but then I decided to put it in a blender and blend those crystal hunks out. It worked out fairly well, leaving only very small pieces left over that acted as little intense flavor crystals in the caramel sauce. It was delicious!

For the french toast frying dip, I used eggs, cultured butter milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and soda, and a little sugar. I whipped it all together in the blender, put it in a bowl and set it aside until I was ready to use it.

I toasted some walnuts in a dry pan, sliced fresh bananas and made fresh whipped cream to top it with.

As a side dish, I sauteed onions and garlic in butter and then made scrambled eggs. I had some coffee with mine.

Later that day, after some drinking and karaoke, I added some salt to the left over caramel sauce and dipped some left over walnuts in as a late night snake. If you have ever had salted caramel, this was just like that (but in my very humble and biased opinion, way better! Well, except maybe for this).

Sunday came, and it was a rainy day in Washington, well at least on the peninsula. I got to be the driver, which is a rare treat for me these days, while the owner of the car got to have a very nice lazy Sunday nap ride on a overcast day, all warm wrapped up in a blanket. It was supposed to be a sight seeing day, but the overcast weather was hardly cooperating. We took a lunch break in Port Angeles at a Mexican place, it was rather nice even if the place had very over sanitized restrooms. There was also a store, Curtis Interiors, that had a large golden elephant as the mascot. That makes two recent times out I have seen this mythical magical beast in some form, sort of a trend don't you think? What in the world could this possibly mean?

The Golden Elephant

While I did have a rough plan of visiting the Sol Duc mineral hot springs, the cold rain was not having any of that. So I had to audible to another plan, which was just go to the coast. However, on the way I saw a turn for Cape Flattery and thought that would be a nice alternative. So I took it.

A view of what Cape Flattery may look like on a clear day

The road ran through a few small towns, a few stinky bays, and hugged the north coast of the peninsula and reminded me of the road to hana on Maui. Painfully slow and curvy, but very intense in cinematic scenary at the same time.

It was a very poor audible on my part. The end of the road still had a 3/4 mile trail to hike to get to the actual view. The trail was very muddy from the copious amounts of recent rain, I was wearing flipy flopies, and my co-pilot was on doctors orders to refrain from hiking. So we had the spanakopita as a snack.

This was it, the moment of truth and dread I was waiting for. Would they be plain tasting spinach wrapped in soggy phyllo? Or would they be edible? After the first bite we knew, they were still tasty and somewhat flaky; completely and totally edible. Success!

The trip back home was just as good if not better. Lots of Neil Diamond on the playlist, and I got to become reacquainted with the Thompson Twins (which oddly enough came on right after we spotted a double rainbow in the sky that was for the moment clear.)

We made our way to Port Townsend, where after a momentary lapse of recollection, we made our way to the Water Street Ale House for a drink and dinner.

We orderd dinner (I had the seafood chowder while my co-pilot had the mac and cheese) and we both ordered the in house brewed beer called Swag light (which was much more like non-light disgusting blah). The food was at least passable; my chowder was more like thin flavored sea broth than anything else. The mac and cheese was redeemable only in the fact the elbow pasta was done to perfection and was in a very thin but great tasting garlic sauce.

We set course for the ferry at Kingston, to take us back to our homes. After a long day, the gentle rocking of the speeding ferry cross the water at night was the perfect background for the story of "The Miserable Withering Wretched Richard and the Kingdom of Happiness". But that is a story for another time (like after I edit it a few good times).

Pretty Lanterns at the Water Street Pub.

Mt. Pilchuck and Red Sauce

2009-09-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

"The Hike"

I hiked up Mt. Pilchuck this past weekend, if you have never been, the view is spectacular, usually. If you go, check the forecast, or at least be aware of the fact that there may be a limited view or no view at all. The hike itself is great, the view would have been incredible. I did however find some things along the way. Such as...

This Elephant looking tree about a third of the way up on the left hand side of the trail. It seemed to be a good omen.

And here is a pic of the "view" from the top. In spite of all the clouds, it was pretty epic being on top with all the clouds whipping by, with small glimpses of the surrounding landscape opening and closing with the changing winds.

One of my favorite things about hiking is the free food, like these huckleberries.

I still do not understand why they are not as popular as blueberries.

I got lost on the way to the trail head of this hike...twice, and was behind schedule all day. I at least had the fore sight to make some red sauce and pizza sauce the day before.

"The Red Sauce"

I made it all from scratch save for a small can of tomato paste. I blanched and pealed the tomatoes, put them in a blender, pushed them through a fine mesh strainer.

In a sauce pan I had butter, olive oil, garlic, shallots, half a seeded and diced jalapeno and poblano, and onions (red and white) sauteed. A half cup of red wine to de-glaze the pan. Then I added the fresh tomato sauce.

Fresh rosemary, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, and dried oregano also joined the party.

To go along with the red sauce and pasta, I sauteed green beans with garlic and onions and tossed it all in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, as you can probably tell by my prior postings, a summer time favorite of mine. I also made a batch of sauteed onions, garlic and mushrooms in a butter red wine reduction, with fresh thyme. (Also another favorite of mine).

Here is what the end result looked like. (That is fresh cilantro on top.)

"The Pizza Sauce"

I reserved some of the red sauce to use as a base for a pizza sauce. I added fennel seeds and a half cup of paremesean cheese and cooked it down some, and added some more pureed fresh tomatoes. I used the red sauce that same night, but the pizza sauce was used the next day, and after a day of all those flavors mingling together the sauce was incredible. I mean I had some high expectations, but this sauce was pretty durn good.

I have a pizza crust recipe that I want to share also, but I can not find it now. It is a great vegan pizza dough recipe, and as soon as I find it I will share it with you all. (updated, see below!)

A friend of mine commented about my entry about Delancey's and suggested I try Apizza Scholls in Portland. I had a slice delivered to me (never mind you how, just know that I have my ways) and although it was a road trip less fresh, it was pretty good. Good enough to warrant a road trip to try it fresh.

9/3/2009 update...the pizza dough. Use this for one pizza about 14inches, depending on how thin you roll it.

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 pkg (or 2 T) active dry yeast
Add together in mixer and let bloom 2-3 minutes.

Add: 2 cups all purpose flour, beat.
Add: 2 tsp salt, 1 T red wine vinegar, 1 T olive oil

Continue to beat/knead and add additional flour as needed until dough is firm, attached to kneading device, and only slightly sticky to touch. Place in oiled bowl, cover and proof for about 1 hour.

Delancey 2

2009-08-26T21:38:00.001-07:00

So I made to Delancey on Wednesday, must have got there about 530ish or so and there were a few open tables, lucky me!

I sat down after riding my bike there (I rode right past it one time, it is unmarked on the outside as far as I can tell. But from reading the blog and seeing the photos of the place, I recognized it as I swung back around), hungry and thirsty. I was quickly served and ordered a water, a Chuckanut Helles, and a Padron pizza.

As you can see by my picture, I destroyed that thing! It was fairly easy to do, I mean the pizza was by far, the best I have ever had, period. I know some of you have tried the pizza that I make, and said it was good. While I agree about that, compared to this creation above, there is no competition. This makes my pizza look and taste like a generic frozen pizza from the grocery.

The crust was a combination of a light and chewy goodness, just done enough to hold it together in the middle while the outside edge was burnt to just the right level of crispness. I found it provided a very nice flavor spectrum while eating a slice from the middle to the crust. The tomato sauce (I am guessing it was home made) was light and fresh, providing the perfect amount of acidity and palate balance. The cheese was also portioned perfectly. Just enough to melt and provide a salty stringy bight, but not enough to drown out all the other delicious flavors. The peppers were not too hot and brimming with a nice smokey flavor.

I look forward to going back and trying other pizza's and dishes. This pizza place is a big hit, get there and see for yourself.

fyi, the rest of that pizza and beer perished after I took the photo. They are survived by a very satisfied biker.

Delancey and a dinner from meager cupboards

2009-08-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are local foodies in the Seattle area no doubt know about Molly, her book and blog and now the pizza her and her husband make @ Delancey's.

I have not been there, yet, having just only been recently introduced to all of this goodness at Delancey's, but all the reviews have been amazing.

I was most moved by the reviewer who mentioned how great it was to not only have great pizza but also great cookies at the same place. This struck near and dear to my old heart. You see, I have been cooking, baking and trying my best to make great food for, well, I guess my whole life, but more seriously over the course of the last year or so as it has also been my source of income. I liked nothing more than to make a pizza on Sunday night to bring to band practice and have everyone be thoroughly satisfied and amazingly happy with the experience. Same thing with making cookies.

Some cookies I have made that have been a hit are blueberry chocolate chip cookies, coconut macadamia pineapple cookies, and a spicy Aztec super food cookie that had a always changing ingredients list. These recipes will follow in a later blog update called "The Cookies".

When I read that this new and fascinating place made both of these staples, I knew that I needed to try it. And soon enough I will, I have plans to visit on Wednesday.

So today I fixed my bike that has been in disrepair for the last two months needing new brakes. To celebrate I rode it about 16 miles from Woodinville to Montlake, everything went smooth but I can tell there has been a slight drop off in my aerobic capacity.
When I got to my destination, I was immediately called into duty as a cook. This is not an uncommon thing, and I do not mind at all, really. I like to cook and find pleasure in it always.
So what I had to work with, some would call sparse and minimal, but all I could see were the endless possibilities.

So this is what I made:

Sauteed onions and garlic in butter, carrots, celery and red kidney beans with spices and Couscous with garlic, spices, and lime juice.

I also made this nice fresh salad to accompany the main dish: granny smith apple, english cucumber, vine ripened tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lime juice.

All dishes were also seasoned with salt and fresh cracked pepper. It turned out to be a rather filling and fresh meal. One friend called it a California Farm fresh throw together meal, whatever that means, although I think it was a compliment.

The flavors were great, not over power by the lime juice (I only used 3 of those 4 halves in the picture). I made the Couscous as normal, with some dried cilantro and dried oregano, and 3 whole garlic cloves, salt and pepper.

The frying pan for 1/4 stick of butter, melted, 2 small white onions, 5 garlic cloves minced, 3 celery stalks, 3 small carrots, and after that all sauteed until it was all done, a can of drained red kidney beans was added until the beans were heated through.

The salad was really simple (on a side note I have re-fallen in love with Balsamic Vinegar, or at the very least I have been reminded why I fell in love with her in the first place.)

One granny smith apple, 3 vine ripe tomatoes diced, half of an english cucumber (quartered), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, fresh cracked pepper, and lime juice.

I am not really sure what else to say about this meal; it was fresh, good, simple, and made with things that were all available to me. I get crazy when offered challenges like this, but I at least get to pick and choose what I want to use. Those poor bastards on that semi mediocre Food Network show "Chopped" do not get to choose at all, and that is why I would never go on that show.

Or actually, I take that back. I would totally own that show.