lala

I posted a few weeks ago on a few hits and a major miss around Florence. A few goodies and one Baddie

One friend keeps giving me miniature graters. You've seen them - about an inch and a half high with such cheap, sharp edged punched out grater holes that I'm afraid to touch the darn thing. I just don't understand...

"Gwaah!!" Must be one of those technical cheese terms, eh? Glad he took it back!

It's funny how many Northwesterners/BC'ers have mentioned fresh berries just plucked off the vine...and I agree. Standing out in the sun, surrounded by buckets of fragrant ruby berries, eyes closed, popping "just one more" into your mouth... *ahem* Also, for me... September: Fresh black mission figs wrapped in prosciutto, grilled and drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar July: Peaches. Or as they're sold in the Pike Place Market "Oh My God Peaches" January: A creamy bleu cheese and glass of red wine August: Corn 5 minutes off the cob, barely warmed in boiling salted water Anytime: the crispy bits from a garlic/rosemary roasted leg of lamb. Anytime: Midwestern deep chocolate fudge cake with warm fudge sauce and premium vanilla ice cream Whenever I'm in town: a dozen raw clams and a scallop or mixed pan roast at the Grand central Oyster bar.

Sometimes my friends and I specifically order different dishes so we can taste each others, and sometimes, we get the same dish because that one sounds so darn good. My gripe is when I'm out with someone and they say they're going to order dish B, then after I've ordered dish A, they order the same, saying "I like to get what you get because you always get the best thing". One person in particular does this. Sometimes I change my order at the last minute, just to confuse him!

In Port Townsend, during the summer months, there's a fry shack setup on the dock that makes fantastic lemon-dill battered fish. You can eat on the dock, or if you're in your boat, just pull up under the shack, and they'll send your lunch down in a basket. I think that this shack is run by one of the local restaurants.

Never! Really! What a suggestion! Each month, the place where I work as a staff meeting (about 30 folks), and a couple of people have the responsibility of making noshes for all and birthday desserts for the folks who have their birthdays that month. Some people go all out, with themes (Cowboy day with two homemade chilis and cornbread, Persian day with those specialties), but some people order pizza or put chips and salsas out. My first time, my partner and I did a luau, complete with decorations. We didn't have a barbeque pit (we weren't allowed to dig up the parking lot), but we did source all the traditional foods. The second time, my partner (different partner) and I did a Provencal theme with whole roasted white king salmon (ok, we're in Seattle) with pistou, grilled marinated veggies, baby potato salad with olives and a rose wine tasting bar. I found out that this year, I'm working with two other people in a month that includes the quarterly meeting (40 people), off site, with 7 desserts to make. Seems to me that the meeting scheduler is on to me...

Interesting. Yes, we did this kind of thing at the CIA, and people definately preferred one side of the house to the other. You have to remember that cooking and waiting tables takes two somewhat different skill sets, and it's rare to find one person, let alone 20 who can do both equally well. And they'd have to, because if your waitstaff aren't selling (and they ARE salespeople, not just food delivery systems), you're going down the tubes fast.

Eh. Her 15 minutes will be over soon...

I've been both the Cook, and the besieged. It was a large house, with each person in his/her own suite, but a common kitchen, and most of the other people were college students. I cooked more often than any of them, actual meals from scratch, and I'd find myself cooking for an audience, as they drifted in, lured by the aroma of real food. The first time this happened, it freaked me out - I had been concentrating (my hearing tends to shut down when I do this), so I was not aware that there were a dozen people lurking in the doorway, watching me cook. The downside was the shared refrigerator, where the law student jerk from across the hall would 'buy' my food - just take what he wanted, leaving a pile of change where the food had been. Needless to say, we fought about that frequently. It was just a portend of his twisted personality, as I finally had to call the police on him for beating his girlfriend. Didn't mind making that call in the least.

It's that whole zen thing, where cooking becomes the meditation and the only focus is on the creativity and love that you are expressing.

At least Portalis is there to take its place. If you haven't been yet, do. The have a great space and the people/wine/food are fantastic. ← It's nice, but it's just not the same...

Grapes Wine Bar in Ballard. Interesting selection of wines by the glass, simple but fantastic food - they cared about their cheese, and always served it in impeccable condition. Gone now, so very sad...

That is the weirdest concept I have ever heard of. You pay someone to cook food, but then you can't take home what you've cooked, you have to pay again to take home someone else's food? WTF? That makes NO sense. How long did that last before they switched to the other concept? Did anyone actually pay them to participate in that scheme? ← That incarnation lasted for about 5 months, much longer than I thought it would. Guess they got a few suckers, until the suckers figured it out! I wish I'd kept the brochure, it was so funny...

I'm not a Mom, but I was a kid! Fortunately, my brother and I were fairly adventurous eaters, but the rule was that we had to taste everything, even if we didn't finish a particular dish. We were allowed to take more of one dish if we couldn't stand one of the others. My problem was that my parents loved green peppers, so we had all sorts of one dish goulashes and stews that contained them. I mean, I LOATHED green peppers. I would take a small portion, then raid the fruit bowl after dinner. Bro did the same on liver nights.

Yep... this is why we usually haul our own food... I did take everyone out to Driftwood Shores one time for dinner... just horrifying. Piles of fried crap and really bad wine. Well, I guess I'll hope for the Live Crab signs to be out in Depoe Bay, and just deal with the rest as it comes. It's only for a few days, anyway...

I'm packing up the car and taking a friend to Florence to visit, and stay with her Mom for a few days at the end of the month. When we do this, we usually shop in Seattle and tote coolers of good food with us, but due to time constraints, it's not going to happen this time. I will, however, as a good guest, be cooking dinner one night, and taking Mom out to a couple of meals. The Fred Meyer is a relatively decent store, so the cooking won't be too hard, but I don't know anything about the restaurants in Florence - other than that place on the river where I was served an old, dry crab and grey nuked potato... help?

You may also want to look beyond the Northeast Corridor. NY/DC aren't the only towns in America.

There is a company here in Seattle who tried this concept and got it horribly wrong. They charged for the time you spent in the kitchen (they viewed it more as "Entertainment", where you pay to go cook/play in a professional kitchen), and you cooked their recipes to be frozen for other people to purchase. Then, if you wanted to take food home, you had to pay for previously frozen meals, which had been prepared by other suckers, er..clients. I remember going in there to investigate, and just not understanding the concept "I have to Pay to make the food -in essence, pay to be Your labor, then I have to Pay to take food home that some other, unknown person off the street made?" They said Yes, with straight faces, and I nearly fell on the floor, I was laughing so hard. My friend had to haul me out of there. Needless to say, this concept bombed, and now their "Chefs" simply prepare "Gourmet" frozen meals that you just flat out purchase. Hopefully, others will get this concept right from the beginning...

The corkscrew is taken care of - it's always in my purse. I have been known to take my own knives when I go visiting, and often pack my stone and steel, so that I can leave them with sharp knives. When I go on vacation to rental cottages or condos, they usually have the cheapest set of kitchen equipment on the face of the earth. I bring a few knives, a rollable plastic cutting board, mini pepper grinder and sea salt, whatever herbs I think I may need, a small bottle each of olive oild and balsamic vinegar, and any specific items that I will need, if I have a menu in mind. I bought a man's bathroom kit, the kind that unrolls and has a hanger, with many pockets and use this - there's always a knob to hang it from in a kitchen, and all my necessary stuff is easily at hand. I also bring a good frying pan, as I've found that this is always the worst piece of equipment in any rental kitchen. When I visit my parents, I always bring a selection of freshly bought herbs and spices, as they never replenish theirs, and they're always old and stale.

I usually start by doubling the tax, which here in Seattle (King County, where we're paying for two stadiums with this tax) is 9%. So my base tip is 18%, and better service gets a better tip. Unfortunately, I'm innumerate, so when I travel, I have to ascertain the tax rate, so I can calculate based on that.

Interesting. I shop regularly at TJ's, and a friend showed me those frozen taquitos. One look at the nutritional information and I made her put them back. Waaaayyyy too much fat. You choose your fat. I'll take a nicely braised sparerib over a frozen fat-bomb any day!

Dining Table (view of downtown Seattle and Space Needle, very comfortable chair) Sofa, with feet up on coffee table (nibbling on toast while reading paper) Etta's Restaurant in Seattle (huge booths, very comfortable)

Out of town friends coming up for the weekend, and we're going to try to get a sneak peak at the flower fields up north before it gets crazy. I have no idea what there is to eat in La Conner, but I've heard rumors that there's some good grub to be had in Edison. Any thoughts?

At the holidays, I noticed that my local liquor store in lower Queen Anne had limoncello, which I thought was fairly progressive. However, their wine prices suck.