Never Send a Vegetarian to Buy Meat!

So, this weekend, Ramses (my darling dog) was sicker than a damn dog. Scary sick. Of course, this was also the weekend that we all decided to use my "venue" to celebrate our friend Mike's b'day. So, I ferried between my barfing dog and my guests. (Oh, brother! Now, there's a mental picture . . .)

What I learned this weekend? Truer words were never spoken ~ never send a vegetarian to buy meat.

So, we decided to make use of the wonderful weather and do a combination BBQ / picnic.

My next door neighbor, Chuck, thought BBQ'd spare ribs would be great. (OK. OK. My first thought was ~ eeesh but, hey, it wasn't my birthday.) I headed to the store and stood in front of the meat case. Gawd, I had no idea. By the process of elimination, I decided on country style (have no idea what that is) spare ribs. Of course, I also bought wild salmon for me and anyone else who might want to nosh on it.

When I got home, I went to epicurious.com for recipes for spare rib recipes. Oh, dear! The majority of them called for preparation to start the night before. Mmmmm, that's not going to work. I need the fast method. One called for boiling them. That didn't sound so appetizing. Another called for cooking them at a very low heat for several hours and then finishing them up on the BBQ. Bingo! That's for me.

So, here was the menu: BBQ's Country-spare ribs, Smoked wild salmon, red potato salad (used the brine from my pickles for the sauce ~ oh! Yum), Caesar salad, smoked salmon mousse, mixed olive tapenade, sourdough bread, red wine, Prosecco with brownies for dessert.

Here were the successes and more about the misses:

The red potato salad. Utterly delish! Used the brine from my pickles and added diced green onions, chopped McSweet's onions, a little mayonnaise, Plochman's mustard, capers, my pickles rough chopped, garlic, red pepper flakes, Frank's Red Hot, kalamata olives, fresh parsley from my little kitchen garden ~ and other things that don't come to mind right now.

The wild salmon mousse. This was really nice and the first time I've made it. My feeling about most salmon mousse is that it's a whole lot of cream cheese and not really much salmon. Well, I had some of my smoked salmon that I wasn't happy with the texture so I put it into the Cuisinart and chopped it up. It was actually very nice and crumbly, then I added a little cream cheese ~ enough to hold it together but not drown it. Then I started adding things that sounded good. Green onions, garlic, some pica de gallo spice, red pepper flakes, a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce, some nice creamed horseradish, fresh parsley and then started tasting and re-adding until I liked the final outcome. Excellent! 'Course, it made a bunch, so a small container went home with each person as they went out the door.

The spare ribs. Mmmmmm ~ not my finest hour. I believed the suggestion of slow cooking it in the oven for two to three hours and then putting it on the BBQ. I decided to put it in the smoker since it's a very low heat. When the time was nearly up, I added a rack at the top for my salmon. Well, I thought the spare ribs looked dry and over-done. I didn't even think sauce would save them. Yes, everyone ate them but maybe they were starving and/or just being polite. The worst of the smoker drama was my salmon. It was overcooked! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat! Jeeze. What was a surprise though was that it was delicious over the weekend once it had rested in the refrigerator. It's a mystery.

The Caesar salad was very nice. Audrey brought fresh lettuce from her garden on Bainbridge Island.

The pictures are of the aftermath. We got so focused on eating we forgot to take the pretty pictures for the blog. Bad Heidi!

Day 62 Everyday Grateful ~

Cool this morning.

Sunny predicted by this afternoon. 

All is right with the world!

100 Posts and Counting . . .

Over 50 years? Gawd, has it been that long?

Apparently so . . .

In my distant youth, I read “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Harrowing, horrifying, terrifying, inspiring. It made me yearn to keep a diary. My "Anne Frank" phase lasted about a page and a half. There’s nothing romantic about being pursued by Nazis and I was leading a pretty plain vanilla-American-grade-schooler life. Sure, we lived at Edwards AFB during the "Right Stuff" era, but mostly I had nothing to write about.

Off and on over the years, I’d try again. The results all seemed so angst ridden and whiny or hideously embarrassing, I'd stuff it into a drawer and go on to other things. I envied my friends who journaled but that just never called my name.

So, for the last thirty-five years, I’ve been an interior designer with my own small firm. During that time, I’ve done work for giant institutions (The Port of Seattle ~ Sea-Tac Airport), the city of Seattle, the University of Washington, several Microsoft billionaires, several millionaires and some thousandaires. Since the 90’s, I’ve concentrated on historic restoration, green construction, and the use of architectural salvage. Deeply satisfying work that matched my personal values.

I ran for Congress in a thoroughly conservative district (that's another story with the working title "The Day I Went Crazy and Ran for Congress!") and immersed myself in crafting my progressive views. I didn't win. It was a profound and inspiring adventure.

My children are grown. My oldest is an attorney with a large American law firm. He is based in Milan. My youngest son is an Equity actor and has his first leading role. They both graduated from schools in Boston and lead interesting, full-filling lives. My late husband was a certified financial planner, a Naval aviator and in one of the early classes of Top Gun. I have a dog the size of a sofa who thinks of our relationship as collegial. I live in a small palazzo in the suburbs of Seattle.

In November 2008, the recession caught up with me and I needed to change directions.

This March, I was driving back from a client’s on a wonderful bright Seattle day. Mount Rainier was out. I had an epiphany. I need to do something different.

Now, I write. I have things to say. I love everything about the process: crafting the thought, taking the photos, launching the post. Soul satisfying.

While it is true, the Nazis aren’t chasing me, my house is underwater and, like many of you out there, I'm tap dancing as fast as I possibly can. I'm working to make a dollar act like $10.00. And, I live in fear of Bank of America. Does that count?

As I explore this new adventure, let me know what you think . . .

A Multicultural Dinner ~ Chinese, Mexican, Swedish, Norwegian, Romanian! In fact, The Pretty Much the Whole Damn World Was Represented!

My entire peony "crop."

So, Eme (our Chinese exchange student who now works at Microsoft) brought her mother (who is visiting from China) to dinner this evening.

Kim (who is staying with me) is a visiting nurse and pretty much did the whole dinner. Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Guacamole. I did the black bean salsa with blue and yellow corn chips. We started with a nice bottle of wine and finished with a couple of bottles of three buck chuck Shiraz.

A lot of the world was represented. Chuck and his girlfriend Dana who is Canadian by way of Romania. I'm Norwegian, Scot and a little German. And, over dinner we found out that Kim's great-grandfather was Chinese. Whaaaaaat!

God, I love having dinner with friends. Conversation around the table is fascinating. Eme's mother is a charge nurse in China. So, through Eme's translation her mother and Kim got to swap stories which is how we found out that Kim's great-grandfather was Chinese and the towns people in their Mexican town didn't like him running around with Kim's soon to be great-grandmother. Utterly compelling story which ended in a lynching. Oh, dear God. Another reminder ~ everyone has an astonishing story.

The beginnings of Spanish rice

Anyway, it was wonderful.

After cleaning up the kitchen and loading the dishwasher, I started brining the wild salmon to get them in the smoker this weekend. Talk about pioneer woman.

A really, really nice day.

Homemade Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Black Bean Salsa, Guacamole ~ Oh! Yum.

Kim's homemade guacamole

Enchiladas? You're going to need these.

Black Bean Salsa in papier mache bowl

Day 52 Everyday Grateful ~

Such a gorgeous sunny day. Warm, still, bright.

Friends over for dinner.

Happy!

Don't Read This ~ You've Been Warned!

A while ago, I told you about what a hairy hound Ramses is. Well, the last few days have been very warm in Seattle and ~ how can I put this delicately? Ramses has started to blow his coat. If you recall my blogpost of May 16, I discussed His Supreme Hairiness in (I'm sorry) excruciating detail.

Today makes that post read like Ramses is a Mexican Hairless! Especially because I'm having friends for dinner and he's a complete shedding fool. Professional, even!

So, here's what is happening. This evening, my exchange student from China who stayed here last summer while she interned at Microsoft is coming to dinner with her mother. Eme graduated from university a little while ago and her mother came to see the ceremony. Eme is starting work at Microsoft, has rented her apartment and is ready to go. She wanted us to meet her mother before she goes back to China the first of the week.

My neighbor Chuck is particularly fond of her. His hectic travel schedule sometimes makes coordination of festivities difficult. But, good news! He and his girlfriend are available tonight to see Eme and her mother.

So, I've been doing all the things people do who are having others over for dinner ~ blow off the driveway, the courtyard and back decks, mow the weensy patch of lawn, make the shopping list for dinner and hors d'oeuvres and vacuum.

Good thing my napkins are ironed (God, that Heidi! She's such a little overachiever! :-), but . . .

Whoa! What the hell is Ramses' coat doing? As fast as I vacuum it up, the more the hair literally blows off his body. Oh, jeez! He's blowing his coat. I know, I'll give him a quick brush/comb. Oh dear God! It's time to go nuclear. A major attack is required. So, for the last hour, I've been brushing/combing Ramses. The horrifying thing is I have this mondo pile of feather-soft apricot undercoat (see above) and he could really benefit from another hour of combing. But, if I spend another hour combing him, I won't be ready for dinner at 6:00.

So, I'm going to call it good (that's an optimistic view ~ read fairy tale) and get back to work.

Mmmm, I wonder if there's a cottage industry in constructing hairnets for dogs?

"Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. I'll think about later . . .  when I'm at Tara" . . . right now, it's shopping, preparation for dinner and another quick vacuum.

I'll report in later . . .

Day 51 Everyday Grateful ~

Such a gorgeous sunny day. Warm, still, bright. 

Friends over for dinner.

Logan is in rehearals for Rent!

Happy!

http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Wind-Margaret-Mitchell/dp/0446365386

http://thefairhero.blogspot.com/2012/05/wow-what-great-dog-does-he-shed-much.html