Slingin' Cheese!

I have the coolest weekend job.

Come to the Port Angeles Farmer's Market some time between 10am and 2pm on Saturday and I will offer you a delicious piece of cheese. I promise.

As a representative of Renaissance: the 100-mile Cafe, I might make a bad pun about the Gouda being so good that it can't be bad-a. I may ask you if you like it stinky. I will undoubtedly tell you that one of cheeses you are sampling tastes like the earth.

But, hey, you get locally made cheese out of the deal.

comfort food.

The stars are out. The night is crisp and clear.
But, it. is. cold!

These winter-y conditions call for warmth from the inside out.

Step one. Build a fire.
Step two. Sip a malty winter ale (a.k.a Boundary Bay's Cabin Fever; Jubileale, Iron Horse Brewery's Cozy Sweater....) while nibbling on cheese.
Step three. Make a delicious and hearty meal.
Step four. Digest by the fire and cuddle with someone warmer than yourself (Justin or our cat, Scott, both do the trick for me).

As for the hearty meal...well, we have a standby hearty meal around here--the tempeh "reuben". Almost six years ago, back when Justin and I started hanging out, we were both vegetarians. On a chilly winter evening, Justin made this hearty, gooey, hot sandwich for me. I melted for the sandwich and the chef. Now, we have access to great local meat and enjoy it quite regularly, but I wouldn't switch out the tempeh in this reuben for anything. Although, most recently, we enjoyed our reubens with a side of Nash's brussel sprouts sauted with delicious Clark Farm BACON!

Warm it up.

Tempeh Reuben

1 block of tempeh
soy sauce
4 slices of crusty bread
sharp cheddar or nutty Swiss cheese
sauerkraut
Annie's Goddess Salad Dressing
spicy mustard

1. Slice tempeh into 1/4 in. slices and marinate in soy sauce for 10 minutes. Then, melt a TBS. of butter in a cast iron skillet at medium heat.
2. Brown tempeh slices on both sides. While browning the second side, place sliced cheese on tempeh to melt.
3. Spread a hearty amount of spicy mustard on all 4 slices of bread. Transfer tempeh slices to bread--distributing evening. Top tempeh and bread with a heap of kraut and 1-2 TBS. of Goddess Dressing.
4. Put open-faced sandwiches on a cookie sheet and broil until dressing bubbles. Enjoy the warmth!

Dig In!

On Monday, Port Angeles community members and Washington Conservation Crews from Olympic National Park gathered on a grassy lot across the street from city hall and began to dig--deep. Double dig, actually.

Come springtime, this grassy lot will be fully transformed into the 5th Street Community Garden--one piece of the Port Angeles Victory Gardens. It will be a place where community members can grow good healthy food.

Come join the fun! Check out Port Angeles Victory Gardens on Facebook for more information.
MLK Day Event

Lined out lawn.

Defining the beds and beginning to double dig.

Dish d'lish.

I've never been drawn to the ever-popular "Shrimp Scampi" when it comes to pasta options.

Perhaps, its because the name translates "shrimp-shrimp", for which I can't help but experience a moment of distaste when I hear it called out into the world. Mind you, its not a sense of distaste for the person ordering the dish--that's what it is called in the US--but, for those that named the dish without taking time to learn about its cultural history. I know this rant seems a bit odd coming from someone who uses puns so liberally in her spoken/written life, but i'm kooky like that.

On the other hand, perhaps it is simply because I'm drawn to pesto when it comes to pasta options...always pesto!

I digress. A lot.

This fall, Justin and I picked up some fresh shrimp from the Hull Family who fish (or shrimp) off the coast of the North Olympic Peninsula. We cooked some of them up in fajitas for our one-year anniversary and froze the rest for later enjoyment. Fast forward to last night....
Wouldn't you know it, I got a hankering for some hearty winter fare--aka pasta. I rediscovered the shrimp in our freezer and thought, "Its a Scampi-Scampi night! Who cares what you call it...how does it taste?"

Delicious. Simple. Garlic-y. Buttery. Hearty. Totally worth a double exclamation of dish's namesake!

Shrimp-Shrimp!

1/4 c. olive oil
1 lb. shrimp (deveined and peeled)
1 TBS. dried red pepper, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 -1 c. white wine
4-5 TBS. butter
3 TBS. parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
Parmesan
3/4 lb. angel hair pasta

1. Bring salted water to a boil. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium-high.
2. Lightly cook shrimp (both sides) in olive oil. When they are no longer translucent, remove from pan with a slotted spoon an set aside. Cook the pasta.
3. Add red pepper and garlic to oil and saute for a few minutes. Before garlic starts to brown, add butter and white wine. Continue to cook on medium heat until butter melts.
4. Turn off heat and add cooked shrimp to the pan and toss with the flavors.
5. Add contents of the pan to the drained pasta and toss.
6. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley. Serve with Parmesan!

sweet and simple.

Sometimes, its best to keep it simple. By it, I mean most things. Explanations, color combinations, plans for the day or for life, and food. As I relish in the simplicity of a cold winter evening in front of the woodburning stove with a good book and a much-welcomed phone call, I am thankful for a simple dinner.

A lady-farmer-friend filled our crisper with a small mountain of plump parsnips the other evening. Since then, I have been enjoying the sweet and simple nature of these roots. Tonight, for example, dinner was as follows:

1. Peel and quarter 3 parsnips and 1 yam. Spread them in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Roast at 425 degrees until edges of chunks start to brown and crisp.
2. Fry an egg.
3. Fill a bowl with fresh spinach, top with roasty roots, and top that with fried egg. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Sweet and simple.

tasties.

While visiting Illinois, I had a pretty open schedule--no work, no thesis, etc. Instead, I had time to read, help my parents wrap gifts for our holiday extravaganza, and, of course, wander around the kitchen. Spending a little time in the kitchen offered a sense of order to my unstructured days and I felt like I was helping out around the house. Okay, it wasn't laundry or cleaning the gutters, by I like to think my parents appreciated a little home cooked food after a day of work.

One of the longest kitchen adventures was on a chilly Saturday morning with my mom. We pumped out six delicious varieties of holiday cookies--three of which had my grandparents' handpicked and hand shelled pecans in them. We did sugar cookies, pecan sandies (i.e. russian-italian-mexican wedding cookies), chocolate chip cookie (with pecans), peanut butter cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate-pecan biscotti. All were tried and true except the biscotti, but its "exotic" nature made it a fan favorite...that and the fact that anything dunked in coffee or tea is a winner.

My mom, dad, Justin and I were put in charge of preparing an appetizer and some veggie sides for the Christmas day gathering with my dad's side of the family. Of course, my mom made the delicious and always anticipated green bean casserole! Justin and I volunteered to do the appetizer and the other veggie. Justin whipped up a festive magenta beet dip, while I did a simple saute of brussel sprouts.

Now, the beet dip was certainly an attention getter--as any neon-colored appetizer should be. Each new wanderer in the kitchen asked, timidly, "What is that? It's really....bright." *pause*
But the flavor lived up to the chatter. Or, perhaps, the chatter of a holiday gathering with family made the flavor.


Enjoy the festive treats sometimes in 2011!

Creamy Beet Dip

2 TBS. olive oil
1/2 c. finely chopped red onion
2 medium beets, peeled and coarsely shredded
2 TBS. apple cider vinegar
1 TBS. honey
1 1/4 c. sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet, heat oil and add onion--cook until softened. Add beets and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
2. Add 1/4 c. water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until beets are tender (5 minutes). Add vinegar and honey and cook uncovered on high until the liquid has evaporated.
3. Remove from heat, let cool. Stir in sour cream, salt, and pepper.
4. Serve with veggie sticks or crackers.

Chocolate-Pecan Biscotti
adapted from Food & Wine

1 stick of softened, unsalted butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 TBS. dark rum
2.5 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1.5 c. raw pecans, chopped
*recipe actually called for pistachios*
1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and rum and continue to beat until smooth.
2. In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients and slowly add them to the wet mixture and mix on low. Stir in the nuts.
3. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a 1 1/4 in. thick log. Arrange logs onto oiled baking sheets and flatten slightly. Brush with egg white.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes--until tops are cracked and glossy. Let cool slightly.
5. Cut logs into 1/2 in. diagonal slices and arrange them on the baking sheets. Bake for another 20 minutes or until dry.
6. Serve with a warm drink.

Newness.

Much time has passed since my last post, but even more striking are the miles, moments, snowflakes, love, and flavors that have come and gone over the last month. It began with a journey by train from Seattle to Minneapolis--my first journey by rail.

Aside from the ache-y tailbone, the 40 hours passed like a breeze. I intentionally left my technological distractions at home in hopes of challenging myself in the art of stillness of mind and body--aside from the constant 70Mph passing beneath me. Staring out the window at hundreds of antelope bolting in the vastness of Montana (yes, they do, in fact, roam) , watching small towns with big stories pass in and out of view, and meeting travelers on their own journeys oh, so enjoyable.

I pulled into Minneapolis 5 hours late, but refreshed because my favorite pixie in the whole wide world was there to swoop me up and show my her life, her lovely lovely life. On the day that I was to hop a 1 hour flight south to St. Louis, mother nature dumped nearly 20 inches of pillowy, silencing, slowing snowy goodness onto the upper Midwest. Thank you, mother nature, for the reminder to let things happen as they will.



I soon made the hop to my homeland and was greeted by the most comforting and grounding of sights, my parents. This trip was special, because I we had time to settle into one another's company. We got to go for walks, sip coffee at The Abbey, cut down a Christmas tree, bake tons of cookies, be tourists in St. Louis, and just BE. I also got time enough quality time with special friends and family to reminisce about the past and to build on the present. Moments were so nourishing. I feel so blessed.