Kingfisher Cove

A List

Sometimes a list just covers what needs to be covered.

1. Just learned that Nate WILL be coming home on leave for Christmas!! He’ll have December 18th – January 3rd and I can hardly wait to see him!
2. Won’t be seeing him for Thanksgiving, though. Which I’ve been prepared for. And John has to work all four days! (Hey, Brother Dave? Dad? Maybe Turkey Day reservations out somewhere….?)
3. Had a ball at the glass store yesterday. Bought my glass for this project, and today I cut out the pattern pieces and applied them to the glass. Next up will be cutting the glass! (They’re really pretty colors, too!)
4. Yesterday I made butternut squash/apple soup, and it was so good! Should have made something to go with it (it’s not overly filling by itself for dinner), but we liked it a lot. I’ll include the recipe below.
5. I can’t even believe it’s time to set the clocks back.
6. John has to work this weekend, so no Harstine. Which is probably fine because I don’t think the weather is supposed to be great. We are coming into my least favorite month of the year, after all.
7. Hmm. Tossed our old pre-lit Christmas tree last year. Maybe this year we’ll get a real tree? It’s been over a decade since I’ve had one! (Gosh, maybe even 15 years…)

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large)
1 tbsp. mild curry powder
2 ½ pounds butternut squash (1 large)
2 sweet apples, such as McIntosh (I used Fujis)
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup good apple juice or cider
1 cup chicken broth

Warm the butter and olive oil in a large stockpot over low heat. Add the onions and curry powder and cook, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.
Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into chunks. Peel, quarter, and core the apples. Cut into chunks.

Add the squash, apples, salt, pepper and chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft. Process the soup through a food mill fitted with a large blade, or puree it coarsely in a food processor or blender.

Pour the soup back into the pot. Add the apple juice and enough water (or more chicken stock or apple juice) to make the soup the consistency you like.  It should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Check the salt and pepper and serve hot. (Can add a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream).

Finally!

Carol, one of my absolute most favorite blogger friends, and I have been trying for months to actually get together and meet! We don’t live that far from each other, and as time has gone by we’ve discovered that it’s  uncanny what all we share in common. We’ve even posted about the same topic on our blogs on the same day, without knowing beforehand. We’re the same age and have very similar interests. Originally we planned to meet last spring, but then she had to go and break her ankle in 3 places! On top of that, work schedules and the daily-life-crazies got in the way and time went by.

Today was the day! We’d planned it about a month ago, and we met at Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue for Happy Hour. (Great deal — half-price appetizers, half-price glasses of wine). I honestly felt like we’ve known each other forever. We know so much about each other from our blogs (and I’ve gone back and read many of her archived posts from before I found her blog). I’ve always really appreciated how open and honest she is in her writing, and in person she’s the same way. What a fast couple of hours! I was totally unaware of the lounge filling up all around us with happy hour revelers. There was so much to talk about, including sharing certain things that we *don’t* blog.   We had a ball. I knew we would. I just sensed it.

And OMG, the appetizers! They were…..heavenly. Marinated steak tips; crispy artichoke hearts with lemon butter; and bacon-wrapped JUMBO scallops. So NOT Weight Watcher friendly. (Carol recently joined and I’ve fallen off the wagon, but I am now very much motivated to climb back up on that damned wagon, and I mean it! We will support each other!) But today was special, and sometimes you’ve just gotta indulge. Right? Mmmmmm.

Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue is on the 21st floor so the view is spectacular, at least on a sunny day. Today was hazy and rather foggy, but I snapped this looking across toward Seattle:

So fun! What a great day!

In other news, I also FINALLY configured that sailboat stained glass pattern as a circular pattern. What a pain in the butt that was! How many times did I start over from scratch, trying to get it to work (and look half-way decent)! Gah!  There was a lot to consider, such as the wrought iron frame around it will take up about a 1/2 inch. And I had to forgo the sun ball because it would need to be anchored with soldered lines and I couldn’t come up with a way to do it without making it too cluttered.  Besides, I wanted the focus to be the colorful sails. I think this is it:

I may need to go to the glass store and pick up some glass to make sure I have all the colors covered.

It’s Finished (But By Far Not My Favorite)

It’s OK. And from a distance it’s nice. The bird itself was supposed to have a couple of different complementary greens, but I didn’t want to buy any special glass for it so I worked with what I had. It was a good first project for how long it’s been since I’ve undertaken one of these.

Today I’ve been trying to incorporate this design into a round pattern using my Glass Eye 2000 pattern-making software (which I’ve been using for years and I really like). It’s proving to be quite a challenge, considering that I have no artistic (or spatial) ability!

 

I just think it could be very cool, very pretty, and a lot of fun to do. Once I figure out how to make it work.

Wild and Woolly to Stellar and Sunny

We headed down here to Harstine yesterday afternoon and WHOA did the wind blow after we arrived! Inside the trailer, it felt like we were riding in a big ol’ truck on a pot-holed road with piss-poor shocks. Branches, limbs, and fir cones pummeled the roof and sides. It was crazy, I tell you!

And then, what a difference a day makes.

Today has been just gorgeous. Chilly (unless we’re moving around). John chopped some firewood and re-gooed the roof for leaks; I steam-mopped the linoleum in the trailer. And then we took a beach walk (and yes, Mojo accompanied us and the weenies — as usual!)

I’ve been going through the photos I’ve taken at Harstine throughout the year to compile for my 2010 Harstine calendar that I put together with Shutterfly. There are a few that I really like, as well as some possible older photos, but I decided it would be good to see if I could capture some more on our walk today. I just may have!

The one directly above was sort of an accident. The sun reflected off my iPhone camera lens and created that sunbeam. I like it!

This is probably my favorite one I’ve taken this year:

I’m looking forward to putting it all together! (Projects! I have projects!)

And….Not Such a Marvelous Day

It wasn’t terrible, though. Just….not marvelous. I guess we only get those once in a blue moon or so.

It all actually started yesterday when I came downstairs and was greeted with a big bloody blob of I-don’t-know-what, gifted by Mojo. Possibly a rat? He only leaves behind the, er, innards, so it was impossible to tell, but whatever it was, it was BIG. Eeww. (What is up with a cat eating the fur, tail, EARS — even the TEETH? And never a drop of blood on his white paws. I’d best not dwell on this).

Then, I was completely out of coffee. ARGH!

And today when I placed my soldered stained glass garden stake in the wrought iron frame — IT DIDN’T FIT. It’s too big. (I’ve had troubles with this before because even if the glass pieces fit the pattern just right, the process of foiling the pieces and soldering them make them “grow.” So I had to grind all around the edge of it, which is a pain. It does now fit! I’m ready to patina it and get ‘er done (I’ll post a picture then).

Good news is that John gets off work a little early tomorrow and we’re heading to Harstine! The weather isn’t promising to be great, but just getting out of Dodge will feel good. PLUS, he doctored the Durango and it’s not sick anymore! It’ll be so nice to have ROOM for all our stuff, the animals, (and ourselves!)

What a Marvelous Day

People who know me well know that I technology, at least in the user sense. (Don’t ask me how a computer works because I know only enough to realize it’s way over my head. Binary machine language? Fingers in my ears and la-la-la-la-la!) It had been a while since I’d felt “blown away” by technology, until I got my iPhone. (As much as I love my Kindle, it doesn’t particularly blow me away as much as make me feel warm and cozy). But the iPhone is pretty much freakin’ magic in my eyes! The color and clarity! The speed! The touch screen! Everything that it does! Truly blows me away. (Now they need to come up with a way to make the battery last longer…)

And then just today, I had another technological epiphany: Skype. I know that Skype has been around for a while, but I’d never had occasion to use it, mostly because I never had a webcam. But my new laptop came with a built-in webcam, which I’ve had fun playing with on a silly basis. Well, Nate just bought himself a new laptop (side note: he was really smart about what he bought, too! It’s a mini-laptop — Toshiba — with just a 10” screen, so it’ll be very easy for him to transport. Plus, for as small as it is, it’s powerful and has a fair amount of bells and whistles, including a webcam! All for $400!) Anyway, we talked on the phone for a while last night and he mentioned he’d downloaded Skype. This morning I did, too, which was the quickest and simplest thing I’ve ever done! What? Done and installed in seconds? And it could self-test to make sure the webcam was working with it. Oh, and the microphone! I didn’t even know I had a microphone! (Plus, it’s FREE!) I went up to take a shower and when I came back downstairs there was an invitation from Nate on Skype. I clicked on a video option and THERE HE WAS IN ALL HIS GLORY RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY COMPUTER SCREEN! We both went “Whoa!” For me, it was the video phone that we were promised way back in the ‘60s (along with flying cars). Sure glad I’d had my shower, though!

I can’t begin to tell you how awesome it was. I haven’t seen him for two months and it was just like how it was when we’d have our fun chats sitting at the dining table (when he’d generally have me falling out of my chair laughing!) The image was truly real-time and clear and the audio was perfect and we were both just, well, blown away! Nate absolutely adores Mojo and the feeling has always been rather oddly mutual, so I went and grabbed the cat so Nate could see him. I swear that Mojo was fascinated to see and hear Nate. His eyes were riveted on the computer monitor for the whole duration! And Nate….you could see the longing on his face and he “tried” to stick his arms through my monitor to grab him! (heh) We even hugged each other (OK, our monitors….) Talk about the magic of technology! I haven’t been able to wipe the grin off my face all day long! (Not that I’d want to!)

(You can see the reflection of my hand on my monitor as I snapped a picture with my iPhone!)

Then, to top this day off, John had discovered last night that my front passenger tire on my Bug was completely flat! So he changed it out with my silly looking spare and stuck the flat tire in my trunk. Today I took it to Les Schwab to have them repair it (turns out there was a small nail). I did have to wait for a while (Twittered on my iPhone and played Bejeweled) and then they called my name and they didn’t even charge me! Wow! They are well known for their incredible customer service, but I really didn’t expect that! Let this be a “shout out” (actually, I hate that term and you know why…) but Les Schwab rocks!

Nummy BBQ Pork Fried Rice! (even John liked it and he’s not a rice person.)

Years ago when I worked in downtown Tacoma, I’d often walk to a local Chinese restaurant and order just their fried rice (oh, and a cup of their excellent hot and sour soup) for lunch. I LOVED their fried rice — it was the best I’d ever had, and I’d also place an order to go to take home to young Nate for dinner because he loved it, too. What made it so good? It was loaded with diced Chinese barbecued pork. You know, the red-tinged slices  of sweet-ish goodness served in Chinese restaurants to dip in hot mustard and sesame seeds? Mmmm. And I’d always order the fried rice without peas or carrots (I hate cooked peas and carrots!)

It’s been ages since I’ve had decent fried rice (we don’t eat out at Chinese restaurants very often because John’s just not a fan), but lately I’ve been having a hankering. SO…I decided to make it myself! I searched the web for some recipes to use as a guide that I figured I’d tweak to my specific desires! I’d found a 1-lb. package of already-sliced barbecued pork (just like in the Chinese restaurants) at our local grocery store and went from there! Here’s what I came up with and I cooked it yesterday. It turned out great! (And yes, even John liked it!)

 

BBQ Pork Fried Rice

(Note: Ingredient quantities are flexible — I certainly wasn’t exact! But I’m providing measurements as a guide. Also, this makes a truckload!)

• 1 lb. pre-cooked Chinese barbecued pork
• 4 Tbs canola oil
• 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 C diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 C diced yellow pepper
• 1 C diced onion
• 1/2 C thinly sliced green cabbage
• 1/2 C thinly sliced snap peas (I do like snap peas — totally different animal from pea-peas!)
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 6 C short-grain white rice, cooked and cooled
• 3 eggs, beaten (I’d recommend at least 4, maybe even 5)
• 1/4 C soy sauce or more as necessary
• 1/4 C sweet cooking rice wine (Aji-Mirin)
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 C chopped green onion (I didn’t use this — didn’t have any on hand)

Cook the rice according to directions and allow to completely cool (day-old rice works perfectly).

Dice and slice the vegetables and the pork in a food processor, keeping the pork and the garlic separated from the rest of the vegetables. In a wok or really big skillet, heat the canola oil and add the ginger, as well as all of the vegetables except the garlic. Cook for 3 minutes until all the vegetables are cooked, then add the garlic. Before garlic browns, add the rice and mix rapidly so the rice doesn’t stick to sides of the wok or pan. Once mixture is thoroughly combined, pour beaten eggs over the rice and vegetables and toss again rapidly until all egg is cooked. Add the soy sauce, sweet cooking rice wine, and sesame oil, and then the diced barbecued pork. Mix well. Garnish with green onions (and sesame seeds, if desired). Serve immediately.

~~~~~

It was delicious! (And I’m looking forward to leftovers for lunch!) I also bagged some and put it in the freezer because it made such a lot for just two of us. The food processor made all the slicing and dicing a piece of cake, but boy did I make a mess with the oil spattering! I’d recommend adding the ginger at the same time as the oil and allowing it to heat up together. Jeesh!

Wow. Up for Air.

I’ve been remiss! Ignoring (sorta) my blog! I’m sure it matters deeply to so many people! (heh).

Actually, I’ve been in a reading frenzy, something I haven’t been in for a while. When I’m deeply immersed in a good book, everything around me pretty much goes to hell in a handbasket. (Hmmm, yes, I ought to vacuum one of these days…) I’ve even been remiss with my stained glass project, although it’s *pretty* close to being finished. It’s all soldered. Just need to tidy up some of the soldering then apply the patina and polish it. (It’s looking quite rough right now, so I’ll wait before I post a picture. Not sure yet how happy I am with it).

So…I finished Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol.” (Cringe. I know. Clive Cussler dealing with cryptology). It was written better than “The Da Vinci Code,” (marginally). But mostly it was a yarn, and it sucked me in. It made me think of a computer adventure game with all the puzzles and mysticism. And if nothing else, I do tend to get a bit of an education with Googling certain artworks and architecture along the way and learning about them (and viewing photographs of them). I’m not going to trash the book because it did keep my interest.

But the book I just now completed was incredible! “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” by Stieg Larsson. It was the second book in a trilogy (the first book is “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”) Both are awesome. The author died in 2004 just before all three books were published. The third book is due out sometime in 2010. These take place in Sweden, and the main character is a tiny, tough-as-nails, rather “Goth” young lady (lots of tattoos and body piercings) who isn’t particularly likeable, and yet you find yourself loving her, admiring her, and rooting for her. She probably has Asberger’s Syndrome (very anti-social), and yet she is wicked smart and the master of survival. These are murder mysteries, but so much more.  They’ve made a movie in Sweden of the first book (not released in the U.S.), and I’ve read about rumors of Quentin Tarantino directing a U.S. version. When I first heard about a movie being made, my first thought of casting this intriguing main character was Ellen Page. She is really born for this role. I did a little reading up on the internet (here is the website about the Swedish film version.) I don’t do subtitles very well, so I would actually prefer an English version.  If handled properly, this could be one helluva film. Some of the discussion I’ve read online DOES mention Ellen Page, which I think would be awesome. But there is also discussion of Brad Pitt which absolutely does nothing for me in the role he would play. Nope. Needs to be somebody a little more edgy. Hmmm. (I love pretend-casting!)

Too Many “Dried Plums” and a Concert

“Dried Plums” (OK, prunes) are a nummy snack, people! They really are, and I had a few yesterday. Such moist, pruny goodness!  (Not dry a’tall!) Actually, I had more than a few yesterday. And oh jeeze oh my oh GOD, I won’t be doing that again any time soon…(ever).

So we head to the Snow Patrol concert at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle last night. On the drive there, my stomach is playing the Timpani, bass drum, and snare all at the same time. Not good. Oh, so not good. I love percussion instruments, but they do not belong in my belly!

Then we discovered that our seats, indicated on the tickets as “Orchestra Level,” were actually General Admission. The main floor of the Paramount Theatre was rendered seatless for this concert — which meant we’d be standing in a pressing throng of bodies for over four hours! OMG.

A few sordid details (TMI alert!):

• The people thronged tightly behind me were treated to some mighty whiffs, that’s for sure.
• On a number of occasions, I would have taken great pleasure in swinging a machete.
• Doubled-over cramps. Got the picture?
• Pretty much? This was my view (I’m short):

• Four frickin’ hours of standing. Heels, hips, and back be damned.
• Good thing the music was rather loud to drown out the super-sonic fart blasts.
• If I could have actually “let go” as I wished, the earth would have tilted with the power and we’d be in the heart of spring right now.

So, you ask, how was the concert? It was excellent! (Through gritting my teeth, shifting my weight, and clenching my belly, I was definitely aware of this). The opening band (thankfully just one) was great, too! The name of the band — Plain White T’s — wasn’t familiar to me, but several of their songs were, including “Hey There Delilah.” We liked everything they played — the lead singer has a beautiful voice. And then Snow Patrol is always awesome. We listen to their music at Harstine all the time. Seeing them live is a treat (regardless of the circumstances….)

Eventually, we had to untangle ourselves from the crowd (on the verge of a panic attack with all those bodies and elbows in my space), and we moved to the back of the floor where it turned out we could see better anyway!  And LEAN against something to soothe our aching backs!

Finally, sitting in the car to head home was almost orgasmic! Getting out of the car to climb the stairs into the house just about did us in.

And then: I took a little anti-gas pill and almost immediately the percussion frenzy in my belly subsided! If only I’d taken one earlier! Gah!

Such adventures in becoming old (farts).

A Cat Walk

The dogs were restless and Mojo seemed a bit at a crossroads after having caught two mice (that we know of). So even though it had been downright chilly, we decided to head on down the path to the beach and let the animals get some exercise (and kick up some beach gravel). As usual, on our way down the path, Mojo joined us.

                                       Are you coming or what?

                                              OK, then, let’s go!

                                              But rub my belly first.

                                               Let’s get a move on.

            Need to stop for some shenanigans. (I’m a panther, you know.)

                                                      I live for this.

As a cat panther of unique intelligence, I also appreciate the beauty, believe it or not.

It’s a trudge back up the path, though. Time for Sheba! Or maybe there’s another mouse in the bushes with my name on it…

                                                           Zzzzzzzz…

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