Happy Birthday

I'd take a birthday a week,  just for this from Nova and Maya. 

March 30

Today is "National I Am in Control Day." On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt.  It was my birthday so I remember exactly what we were doing when the news came over the car radio.

Oh dear, with The Gipper down, confusion ruled at the White House.  Secretary of State Alexander Haig told the press "I am in control here," and the words were immediately and unfortunately taken out of context.  The political uproar eventually led to his resignation.

But of course that's all ancient history, along with driving down the road moping about "getting old" at age 31.

Gimme my senior discount!

March winds down

If a task is once begun

Never leave it till its done.

Be the labor great or small

Do your best or not at all.

Oh, yesterday was beautiful day.  It hit 70 in Seattle, the warmest of the year so far.  I worked outside and then John mowed after work, good thing, because rain is back for the weekend.

I'm grateful for his lawn mowing service.  I don't mind slashing around with my excellent new weed eater, but mowing is a big job, winding around flower beds and other obstacles.  John says it's about 4,000 steps according to his FitBit, a couple of miles of mowing, I guess. That job takes the place of his afternoon walk.

He was rewarded with a special spring dinner, though.  I bought some scrappy looking lamb "steaks" and cut all the morsels of meat off the bone, marinated them and made grilled kabobs. With homemade hummus and couscous on the side. 

The spring garden is so pretty and lush outside the bedroom window, which was wide open for a while yesterday.  There are just a couple windows here where a person can look out without seeing other houses or power lines. These little views are precious.

No concerts, no activities this weekend.  I was going to take a "granny square class" at a yarn shop in north Seattle, but just heard on the news it's going to be traffic gridlock trying to get around Seattle with several main highways (including the Alaska Way Viaduct) closed for construction.  Maybe I'll crochet at home on Palm Sunday afternoon.  Have a good weekend!

Coconut chips

Coconut "crack"

This is a scientific fact: processed desserts and snacks can actually cause symptoms of addiction equal to that produced by drugs like morphine and cocaine.  Take this bag of toasted coconut chips, for instance. 

John brought some home from work.  He said they were outrageously delicious. He told me to "try just one."  The enabler.

Crispy-crunchy, slightly sweet, slightly fatty, intense flavor-- completely addictive.  I felt like Amy Trotter!  I could cram them in by the fistful!  Of course I went right to Costco and brought two bags to "put in the granola." At least that was my excuse.

Even people who are fairly disciplined and “know better” would have trouble keeping their hands out of that bag.  That's because processed foods contain carefully orchestrated flavors and sensory factors (crunch, mouth feel) designed to make them as addictive as possible.

As we all know, our body's controls on overeating are fragile, and processed snacks actually make us feel hungrier.  But of course it isn't real hunger.  Some foods have a narcotic-like effect on our brains.  This is in stark contrast to whole foods, that naturally prevent us from overeating.  Much as I like fresh coconut, I'm unlikely to sit down and chew up an entire one.

Well, guess what?  The whacky holiday calendar says March 26th is National Spinach Day. Eat something healthy today.  Consider yourself warned on the toasted coconut.

Worth a thousand words

"Startled children and owl..."

From A Study In Contrasts. 

Waste not

• In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills, which are the largest source of methane emissions
• In the USA, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted, equaling more than 20 pounds of food per person per month

The sheer volume of food wasted in the U.S. each year should cause us some shame, with all the hungry people on earth.

In terms of keeping organic materials out of landfills, our composting law in Seattle is well-intentioned, although unenforceable.  But the answer to the problem isn't just composting all that food.  Composting sounds simple and natural, but composting municipal waste is an enormous and expensive operation. 

Portland makes it look like "down home on the farm," but turning urban filth into useful product is high tech and big business.
 
I've been reading lately about the new food waste reduction movement, which educates people on things like thoughtful shopping, meal planning, using up leftovers and managing your refrigerator. The stuff we watched our mothers do, or learned in Home Ec class.

I guess it's one thing to throw away half of a frozen pizza (which I don't buy anyway) but when I've cooked something from scratch with the best ingredients, I can't stand to waste the effort not to mention the good food.  The problem is we're getting to be old people in this house, who shouldn't eat so much.  Big meals like soup, stew, pasta sauce and chili get carefully divided and stored in the freezer for later.

Speaking of waste not, want not.  Here's what two Costco rotisserie chicken carcasses look like after you stuff them in the pressure cooker and let her rip for an hour.  Possibly the nicest broth I've ever made.  Hey, I wonder if I could cram a turkey carcass in there?

Of course this mess had to be strained, chilled and skimmed, which is some amount of work. But the next day you have the base for a fabulous chicken soup. 

John keeps telling me I should write a book called "101 Things to Do With a Costco Rotisserie Chicken." Maybe Costco would sell it, and I'd become so rich and famous I'd never shop there again. ha!

The Sibelius Festival

Vintage Finland

This month the Seattle Symphony is featuring a special program called "Luminous Landscapes," including all seven symphonies written by the great Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.  Yesterday we heard No. 3 and 4, plus the spectacular Violin Concerto in D minor.  The Sunday before, we went to a chamber music concert and heard a Sibelius string quartet, a piano quartet and a "sonatina" in the small hall at Benayoya. 

That might sound like a Nordic overload, but for classical music dilettantes (definition: a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge) it's educational being immersed in the work of one composer, rather than listening to dribs and drabs on my "Greatest Classical Melodies" CD collection.

Of course reading the Symphony program and a couple of articles doesn't turn a person into a Sibelius expert, but I think knowing more about the person gives better appreciation for the music. And Jean Sibelius had a long and interesting life (1856-1957) despite health scares and slew of bad habits.

Sibelius is considered a national treasure in Finland, and everyone of Finnish heritage in Seattle was at these concerts. I noticed some very well-behaved children in the audience.

This is a passage from the book "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross:  

Sibelius was not merely the most famous composer Finland ever produced but the country’s chief celebrity in any field. He played a symbolic but active role in the drive toward Finnish independence, which was finally achieved in 1917. When Finns are asked to characterize their culture, they invariably mention, along with such national treasures as the lakeside sauna, Fiskars scissors, and Nokia cell phones, “our Sibelius.” Mostly because of him, classical music has retained a central role in Finnish culture. 

The country’s government invests enormous sums in orchestras, opera houses, new-music programs, and music schools. The annual Finnish expenditure on the arts is roughly two hundred times per capita what the United States government spends through the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Sibelius Festival was sponsored by the Finlandia Foundation, Finlandia Vodka, and Bang & Olufsen, those high-end stereo people.  Perfect.

How to drive the neighbors crazy

 

It was one of those March days 

when the sun shines hot 

and the wind blows cold: 

when it is summer in the light,

and winter in the cold.

 

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

Spring forecast

Spring arrives today at 3:45 pm in Seattle.  This is the vernal equinox, that very pleasant time of year when day and night are close to equal. The hours of day and night are almost the same for all creatures living everywhere on the planet, from penguins to rattlesnakes.

 The world sunlight map at the equinox

Oh dear.  I saw on the news this morning you are enjoying "Winter Storm Ultima" on the east coast.  What a winter.  No one deserves spring weather more.

For the west coast, the new 30-90 day weather forecast from NOAA (if you care about such things) shows warmer and drier conditions than normal in April, and for that matter, right on into summer.

We have a rainy weekend ahead, but at least it's relatively warm rain. Temperatures are in the 50's most days approaching 60.  The plum tree is blooming and I hope the bees are awake to pollinate it. The flower beds love rain and this is the only time of year when the lawn looks like emerald green velvet. All that moss blends right in with the grass! I noticed yesterday the first tulips are ready to pop open and they should be beautiful for Easter.

I wasn't going to plant any new fancy lilies this year, but got suckered in once again at Costco and bought a $12 bag of super show-offy ones.

Costco claims they have turned the warehouse shopping experience into an "adventure."  I guess so, if you consider an "adventure" wandering around the acreage trying to find a box of oatmeal.  You can easily find the stuff everyone buys, like toilet paper and rotisserie chicken, because it's always at the back of the store, which gives the shopper lots of opportunity for those impulse purchases.

Besides, the mentality of the place is such that you feel you deserve a treat after trudging across the parking lot and wandering around in there "saving money."  Maybe a jar of miracle face cream, maybe a bag of bulbs, maybe a hot dog on the way out.  In that regard,  I'm the model Costco shopper. 

I'm anxious to get my new lily bulbs in the ground while they are fresh and moist, but I have to wait until the old ones pop their heads out of the ground, or I'll chop them off by accident.  This has been known to happen, and then unladylike words emanate from the beautiful spring garden.

The last day of winter

Spring Follows Winter Once More

Lying here in the tall grass
Where it’s so soft
Is this what it is to go home?
Into the earth
Of worms and black smells
With a larch tree gathering sunlight
In the spring afternoon
And the gates of Paradise open just enough
To let out
A flock of geese.


Tom Hennen

Thar she blows

As you know, Bertha has been stuck for over a year underneath downtown Seattle.  They finally finished the 120 foot deep rescue pit, and she recently managed to creep forward into the hole. Of course she is dirty!  You gotta love the "car wash" action on this video.

Starting this week, they hope to pull her above ground so repairs can begin. But since no one really knows what the problem is or how long it will take to fix, the saga is just getting started.

If you just can't get enough of watching our tax dollars at work, the Washington Department of Transportation has thoughtfully set up the "Follow Bertha" website with live construction cams and time lapse videos  CLICK HERE.

St. Patrick's Day

The first Patrick’s Day parade took place in New York City in 1762. According to Census data, there are 39.6 million Americans who claim Irish heritage, almost seven times more than the population of Ireland (6.3 million).  After German, Irish is the most common ancestry of Americans. There are half as many Italian-Americans as Irish-Americans.

What are you having for dinner today? Corned beef and cabbage is about as "Irish" as lasagna. Pork and potato stew was the preferred dish for the dirt-poor Irish immigrants who arrived in America. They couldn't afford pork, but beef was cheap and the Irish in New York City tasted their first corned beef at Jewish delis and lunch carts.  Cured and stewed much like Irish bacon, it became a tasty and cheaper alternative to pork.

You either love it or hate it, but a lot depends on the quality of the meat. Instead of the supermarket special this year, I splurged on a big brisket at Costco. An expensive piece of meat deserves a better fate than 3 hours in boiling water. I rinsed off the salty slime and then oven-braised it with a bottle of beer, plenty of onions and garlic. 

After four hours cooked "low and slow" in the cast iron casserole the meat was fork tender and moist.  Time to add the cabbage and red potatoes.  Many folks won't touch cooked cabbage (I'm married to one) but I think it's delicious, especially stewed in salty corned beef broth.

A once-a-year treat of a dinner.

And I had time to bake a big batch of bread. Nothing fancy-- just old-fashioned Betty Crocker white.

That should make a dandy corned beef and cheese sandwich for lunch today.
 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Tasty tomato soup

It rained hard all weekend and several inches fell on Sunday alone, setting a new record.  We really need the rain, but on the weekend it makes for long, soggy afternoons. Instead of doing something useful like cleaning out a closet, you tend to laze around eating salty snacks, reading books and magazines. Throw in a nap or two. Soon you feel as heavy and dull as the weather.

So it was good yesterday afternoon to get out of the house for a bit. John bought some last minute tickets for a chamber music concert at Benaroya Hall and we went hydroplaning downtown.

After these afternoon concerts it's too early to go out to dinner, and too late by the time we get home to start a meal from scratch. So I always try to make something ahead of time to heat up. Yesterday I was pretty rushed, but I remembered a Tom Douglas recipe for tomato soup that I tore out of the Alaska Airlines magazine. 

I love tomato soup, even the horribly salty canned kind. This soup is restaurant quality (well, it is Tom Douglas :-) but also economical and fast to make.

Except for heavy cream (I used half and half instead) any kitchen with a cook probably has these ingredients on hand:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a knife and peeled
• 5 cups canned whole tomatoes in juice
• 1 cup water
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano or
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, water, cream, salt, red pepper flakes, celery seed, oregano, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Remove from the heat and puree in batches in the container of a blender. Return the soup to the pot and reheat to a simmer, seasoning to taste with more salt and pepper.  Or, use an immersion blender right in the soup pot.  A wonderful invention, I don't know how I lived so long without one.  

With grilled cheese on rye, a pretty good supper for a rainy night.

How the mighty have fallen

"Who else would soar above the view of men, 

and keep us all in servile fearfulness..."

Julius Caesar

Shakespeare

Act I, Scene 1

Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th, or Ides, of March, 44 BC.  Ever since then, the Ides of March has been considered an ill-fated date. The Romans used the term "ides" to note the middle of a month.

A soothsayer made the spooky prophesy in the play Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March."

It's a myth that Caesar died a noble, dignified death with the last words, "Et tu Brute." Along with the soothsayer, that quote was a Renaissance (Shakespearean) invention.

Caesar was a hardened solider, and if you tried to stab this guy, he's going to fight back.  Even though he was cornered and out-numbered, it was a scrappy end. He probably pulled out his stylus (writing instrument) to defend himself. 

At any rate, the death of Caesar was a turning point in Roman history, one of the events that marked the transition from the historical Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

Speaking of Rome, it's the time of year when I like to watch movies from my little DVD collection of classic epics: The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, The Robe, Quo Vadis, and so on. Nothing says Easter afternoon like a ham in the oven and Ben Hur on the TV.

But first we have to finish up a sleazy, modern fall from greatness that we're streaming over Netflix.  Kevin Spacey is finally the president in Season 3 of House of Cards, and surprise, it hasn't made him a nice person. Ditto Wife Claire.  They spend a lot of time bickering and plotting on Air Force One, which looks like a Hilton Hotel.  Who knew?

What could possibly happen now that the Underwood's biggest ambition is realized?  Well, actually this season started out as sort of a dud, but the episodes are picking up momentum.

Since just about everyone who can has already binge-watched House of Cards, I'm being careful to avoid the Internet spoilers. We have 4 episodes to go.

Seattle

The red badge of shame

In Seattle, the trash men will tape a rude flier like this to your garbage can if they notice any banana peels, pizza boxes, moldy bread, chicken bones, dirty paper towels, napkins, pizza boxes, etc. etc. They are educating us on the new law before fines take effect in July.

The regular recycling (cans, bottles) has a separate bin, and now kitchen garbage goes in with the yard waste. Yes, this is a nasty mixture in warm weather, especially for poor gardeners who also have to use the same bin for their weeds and clippings.

Of course rotting food outdoors attracts all sorts of undesirable things, so the city suggests storing your kitchen garbage "in the refrigerator or freezer" until trash pick-up day.

Well, a person has to draw the line somewhere.  My new secret vice? The garbage disposal.

 Oh, the good old days of urban sanitation...

We got our first shame notice in January.  At the time I was more annoyed than embarrassed.  I asked a friend who throws out everything, and she didn't get a notice on her can.  Is this fair? Sure, after weeks of holiday entertaining we had a fair amount of Christmas "trash."  But it still surprised me to get nailed because they picked up on a dark morning. How could they even see what was in our bags?  

There's a very long list of illegal trash so it would be great if the city just told us the few things we can still throw away.  And now poor Seattle has become a laughing stock of the nation.  This month the AARP Bulletin wrote about our garbage law in their "You've Got to be Kidding- News Stories That Make Our Blood Boil" section.  They said something along the lines of Seattle is trying to reach the "Utopia of universal composting by using Maoist public shaming." Ha!

OK, enough complaining for one morning. We're enjoying a one day heat wave in advance of the pineapple express arriving with rain tomorrow.  I'm headed out to the foothills.

Cider

Yesterday I gave the Disney version of the Johnny Appleseed legend, but John found a Smithsonian Magazine article Click here  that tells a much more interesting story about apple cultivation in America. The beverage of choice was once hard cider, and folks drank it like we drink water now.

Johnny Appleseed Day

Have an apple today in honor of Johnny Appleseed.  He was a real person (1774-1845) named John Chapman who traveled west with the American settlement movement. The legend goes he planted apple trees along the way and sold trees to pioneers. During his life,  the "West" was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.  He preached as he traveled, lived the simple life and gave away most of the money he received.

The apple tree originated in Asia, where they have been grown for thousands of years. Apples were brought to North America by European colonists and the first apple orchard on the North American continent was planted in Boston in 1625.  Today, more than half of the world's apple production comes from China with the U.S. second.

The proverb "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" dates from 19th century Wales.  The original saying was "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.” Yes, an apple is certainly better for you than a bowl of Tillamouk ice cream.

Apples have fiber, but they're actually light on essential nutrients like vitamins.  However, the peels contain various photochemicals.  Not much is known about these mysterious chemical compounds in plants, but some have been considered "drugs" for thousands of years.  Salicin, from willow bark, is an example.

Out like a lamb...

Seattle has set twin records for all-time warmest February and all-time warmest winter since official measurements began at Sea-Tac Airport.  This year is pretty much what the gurus predict for about 2070, under global warming.  The Northwest will be warmer with less snow but normal precipitation. Speaking of rain, we haven't had a drop this month, but that will change this weekend with a pineapple express headed our way.

No surprise, the tulips are blooming early at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.  I went there once with my sister in 2009. It was a memorable day and I still like looking at the photos, but we haven't been back since.

I guess there are almost more people than tulips these days, and epic traffic jams to the fields.  Another Northwest "festival" that's becoming a victim of its own success.

What else is new?  Well, The Today Show is sending a reporter out to Puyallup next week to film Amy Trotter.  I knew it!  And as John says, "you can't hold back true talent." Stay tuned.

The Seattle Times article about Amy performing at the Seattle Kennel Club is now on their most read list.  Click here.

The primrose path

It was a gorgeous spring weekend in Seattle, and like many of our neighbors, we were busy from start to finish.  On Sunday morning John changed all the house clocks and watches.  This takes a long time, and after making breakfast I try to stay out of the way.  I think the sunshine and blue sky helped our "spring forward" grumpy routine, but nothing takes away the awfulness when that 4:20 alarm becomes a rude 3:20 wake-up on a dark Monday morning.

People rave about having it "still light at 7 o'clock" but that isn't much consolation for folks who have to get up early.  Lucky me, I stayed in bed for another dazed half hour this morning nursing my coffee, but if you had to be at work, you have my sympathy. 


While John was springing clocks forward yesterday morning,  I escaped to the barn and had a nice quiet ride on Spanky.  This view sure clears the head of cobwebs. Thanks, Dolly!  He was a super good boy, other than wanting to munch down every green fern in sight :-) but he got two apples later for all this strenuous work.

What else happened? Another impulse purchase by the person who always vows no more bulbs this year.  Well, who could resist that color combo?

The star azalea blooming, very lovely in a simple way.

A freshly mowed lawn.  Yea, John.

Hyacinths and daffodils blooming...

And I cleaned up and hosed out our slightly crooked but still precious wabi-sabi gazebo, built by dad in 1983. It's my favorite place for a glass of wine. My heart will break when these beautiful old pots finally crack and the gazebo falls down. Not this summer.

A new bird house hung on the garage.  Thanks, John.  This was a Christmas present from Amanda and Tom (suitable for fancy wrens) and probably soon to be inhabited by house sparrows.
I cleaned the moldy grill; John bought propane. I made steak on Saturday, and last night a nice spring chicken dinner.


Got the fairy gardens all ready for little girls.

Oh, we miss them.
But here's a picture of our darlings, sent by Amanda on Saturday morning...