You Guys Have To Try This

Crack open a bottle of cherry balsamic vinegar that you go and buy at the grocery store.
Then drizzle it over some delicious vanilla ice cream. That's it. It is incredible. The tartness of the balsamic mingles with the sweet, creaminess of the ice cream. The flavors don't fight, they mate.
I did not invent this, but it is derned good. And I derned ate it. And enjoyed every second of it; just as much as I enjoy every type of food with salt. I love salt.
Oh, and I have found the best coffee in Seattle. Cafe Vivace. You can have it sent to you. Do it. You won't be sad.
They make coffee here like they do in Italy. It really tastes like Italy. Also, they make the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. It makes Java seem like K Mart. (sorry whatever-your-name-is who owns Java).

Ha-Ha-Halloween. Halloween.

Happy Halloween to all of you over there! It has been in the sickly 43 degreezis and in this wetness, that is derned hurtful. I have some strategies though:
1)New use for a neck gator....step into it and wear it like those bands that pregnant ladies wear.
2)Gloves that are missing the fingers, that are long and can look like a sweater
3)This is how the layering goes: bra, tight insulating tank, silk long underwear top, whatever shirt or sweater I am wearing and ALWAYS a fashionable (ha ha) scarf.
4)Hand warmers in my pockets...jeans' pockets
5)Never without coffee or tea.
6)Umbrella in back pocket.
7)Rainboots live in car.
8)Oh, and get a job so I can go to Mexico.
Okay. So who is coming to visit?
Love you!!

Clambake Anyone?

'Tis the season for....clambakes? No, not really, but this sure got me inspired.
Discovery Park. Real cool, giant, park, equiped with forest, gardens, and beach. Not a great place for shellfish though.
I like to come to this beach and wander alone in the sea breeze. I also enjoy sunsets and long walks. hahahaha.
Anyone tempted?
xo

One More Thing......

Burrata, the dreamy, creamy cousin of mozzarella, may have roots in Italy, but its home is in L.A.

Please check out this insanely delicious cheese. xoxx

CHEESE MASTER: Vito Girardi with burrata at his Gioia Cheese Co. in South El Monte.

Fall: Some "food for thought"

Roasted Corn Pudding in Acorn Squash

Cherry Blossoms April!

Good Day people!
Why cherry blossoms? Because right now is bulb planting season. Bulbs: tulips, daffodils, crocuses, etc., bloom in the spring. This cute shot was taken in the spring, near my hoose.
Bulbs are what is on my agenda this weekend...along with a BBQ sauce contest, and lots of other yard work.
Yard work means completing the secret rock path, digging, and tilling some soil. It also means taking random breaks to do laundry, read, and maybe nap.
It has been sunny for days, but I think everyone here, in Seattle, knows what is looming off in the distance: grey, grey, grey, gruey, grye.....ooohhhh uuuhhhh blleehhhhh. That's okay, though, I have plenty of vitamin D, a favorite new beer (Manny's-brewed in our very own Seattle, by Georgetown Brewery (they also make a fine Pilsner)), and some chocolate frosting. xoxx

Recent Visitors to Seattle

p.s. click on the images so you can
see the pictures better....there is something
that will you make you chuckle :)

First (official) day of Autumn

Hi! I had a whole 'nother entry in mind, and then I stumbled on this picture and it just made me laugh and get soooooooo excited for ski season. With the every-now-and-then chill in the air, it makes one start to day dream, does it not? This is my brother Scott, after a ridiculous wreck last winter. We were running gates (you all know what a racer I am) and he thought that he was a distant cousin of the Herminator, and well......it turns out he is a VERY distant cousin.
Anyways, SUPRISE! I don't really have anything new to tell you. The leaves are changing, I still don't have a normal job, I have one month left until it has been a whole year since I have actually kissed a boy (and I do mean BOY), there is some great Fall fruit to be found in the streets....plums, chestnuts (for Chinese people), pear-apples (get ready for that one), regular pears, apples, and STILL the occasional blackberry, and well......I still like to cook.
Hopefully, I will see you before the snow flies. OX

WHAT? HUH?

Yeah, so there I was, 6:00 in the morning....looking like this: a crazy person. I hadn't even had coffee yet! "Knock.Knock" on the kitchen door. The neighbor Greg is standing there; right before my very eyes. "I saw the light on. I just couldn't resist." NOT! He is totally "mo", and
he wanted to borrow our internet. I was kind of embarrassed. I couldn't even really speak very well. It is hard for me to speak very well during normal hours. That's the whole story. Good story Javier!

Mermaid

Just in case you were wondering, I look like this: rreal pretty. I was trying to take a picture with myself and my boring old brother, but he wouldn't play. So, I said, "what if I hold the camera out and you can be somewhere in the background?" He agreed to this. But, this is how it turned out. Oh well.
This other picture is where I would hang out for a nap or sunning, if I was a mermaid....or a seal. Right now I actually feel like a mermaid in a seals body.
Again, this is Canada. B.C. eh.

Kayak Parking Lot

Cool huh?
You gotta love
Canadia.

The Walk Down to the Skookaroni

This is the walk on down to the get in. It is about an hour of flip-flop walking. We walked out one day, and left our boats over-night at the "boat parking lot". The other times we paddled to the wave from our camp spot at Eggmont Marina. The paddle is about an hour, as well. If you like starfish, jellyfish, kelp, barnacles, oysters, mussels, clear, warm (not tropical, but warm) water, ferns and cedars at waters edge, seals, little fish, seaweed, lobster and prawns for sale, and weird currents, then this is a place for you.

Why don't you go kayak at Skookumchuck, B.C......eh?

Hi! Okay, so........there we were in beautiful British Columbia last weekend on a little kayak adventure.....These pictures were taken in 1/2 hour intervals. The first picture was taken just as the tide was beginning to turn at around 4:00pm on Saturday.
As you can see, the water is totally
calm and flat, and when you look at
it, you wonder, "now how is a wave
going to end up there?"
Well, some time goes by, and you start seeing ripples, and then you can just sit and stare at it, and slowly watch it grow. It is just like watching a sunrise or a sunset, but slower. The water starts ripping by, like water flowing down a drain. (Maybe around 10 knots?) It is quite a phenomenom. I stopped taking the photos after the 5:30 ones because I had to get in on that myself.
Well, it was more like get in there and flail my arse around, as I am not really in super paddling shape.......but damn, that sure is a cool place. So, by 6:30ish, the wave was even larger, and at that point, you drop in from the top and just float into it and get stopped by a nice fluffy wall of foam. It is quite fun. It is even fun to be there if you are not a kayaker. Swear. People were down there and they looked like they were having fun. They were talking, stuffing their faces, you know, good old Canadian fun, eh. The walk down, through the forest is bitchin'. ...big tall cedars, ferns, moss, filtered sunlight, poisonous berry bushes. The person in the kayak is my broham.....not me, so there is no use even trying to make fun of it. Besides, he looks great, right?

This past Sunday's spoils

Well, they aren't from this past Sunday, they from two Sunday's ago. Franklin Farms is in full swing :).....JP has a green thumb on the rooftop garden. The strawberries were relocated to a more shady spot- imagine having to do that in Seattle - and now they are doing much better. Don't worry, I am not hanging out having beers with just tomatoes and peppers.....although.....

Go Sounders

Yeah so, last week we went and saw a soccer game. I like the upside- down-ness. And yes, that is some of the family + Monica and + Kathryn's bf, Will. (Please note Dad in the back. I don't know where he gets it.)

BerryObsessed - Part III

These are the first purple Huckleberries that I have ever beholden thanks to the Maybo's 2 weekends ago, up nears Lake Kacheese. They were so sweet and yummy. They are very tiny. Manhands have to be extra careful.... :)

BerryObsessed - Part II

Okay so.....these are Huckleberries from the Beach Place. Why are they red? I don't know. I didn't actually know that Huckleberries weren't red until I saw the cartoon with Huckleberry Hound. Then I was confused. Later in life I was treated to Huckleberry Pie, but it was purple! Then I got to have a Huckleberry Milkshake! That was purple too. I am confused. I am going to make a pie anyways. And we are going to eat it on Thanksgiving at the Beach Place. Note: I will have to use lots of sugar. xo

BerryObsessed - Part I

Okay....so, the berries have arrived in Seattle and my mission is total blackberry destruction. That means: purple fingertips, purple lips, and probably some stained white, longsleeved shirts. It is a fine year for blackberries here. They are giant and sweet and seemingly endless in quantity. Mostly, I have been picking them near my house on Lake Union. But today, I discovered another hot spot....with a view...in the N. Ballard area....I sha'n't be specific. hahahaha.
Vanilla Icecream + Blacberries = StaciaDiet2009.

Shady's Back.

Yeah, guess who's back?! The poltergeist moment has arrived. After a long awaited computer hospital release.....plus, me just not picking it up......I have my little toy back...just in time for the heat wave. Prepare for some sweat and wilting PNW's. Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THESE ARE MY NEW DRINKING BUDDIES......
Sure do miss you guys....even though Seattle is just full of....... "babes"?
This pack of "hot stuffs" was spotted down south, in the lovely Kenmore, Washington while a certain somebody was on a scenic bike ride.....the Burke Gilman Trail, to be exact.....all alone....whilst her mountain bike, whose tires were, and still are..... wearing.....slicks! :(
Fear not! I did just purchase a mountain bike guide book, and there are lots of great rides if I drive for about 2 hours! ha ha ha ha ha! Jokes on me!

THERE'S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES :)

Right On!!