A creepy red sunrise this morning from the high level smoke. Fortunately, the air isn't too bad at ground level-- yet.
A perfect white dahlia you could just about lose yourself in. I've grown dozens over the years, but this is the only plant left. People are passionate about dahlias, one way or the other. Dahlias symbolize elegance, creativity, positivity, and growth.
We are busy this morning making a double batch of chutney. The big chore is chopping, which my kitchen assistant enjoys. Then everything goes into the pot at once and it simmers down for a couple of hours before I can it. Easy.
This is an old recipe called "Washington Chutney" that I've been making since the 1980's, and good on curry. It ages in the jar nicely, coming to peak flavor in about a year.
Rice noodles can be tricky to cook. They are all different and the package instructions impossible to read. You can wind up with a white, sticky lump that looks like a jellyfish. I lucked out this time.
Speaking of fledglings, that's Nova at the trailhead yesterday with her stash of avocados. She can easily eat one a day along with a bushel of salad, so that might be the biggest hardship out there on the coast. Four days on the trail with family of four requires a bunch of food, and everything has to be stuffed and carried in "bear cans." The secret is in the planning and rationing. They've done this many times.
Have you seen the summer blockbuster movie, "Twisters?” We went yesterday to our local Admiral Theater. It's sure nice having a theater in walking distance, although we were lazy and left the car across the street at my gym parking lot, where I have a permit.
The Admiral is a historic theater, built in 1919 and saved from demolition by the Seattle Historic Society. Like all theaters now, it's been divided up into smaller rooms. The semi-reclining chairs are a bit weird for smaller people, but other than that, no complaints.
It was a good story with cute actors, and of course plenty of action, with all and sundry getting sucked up and spit out by the violent twisters. There was so much Oklahoma dirt and debris flying around, my eyes felt positively gritty when we left. Or maybe because it was 2 hours long, pretty much our limit for sitting through any movie without a break.
Monday starts another week of perfect summer weather-- cool clouds in the morning, followed by afternoon sunshine. Not even a chance of rain.
Amanda, Tom and the kids are backpacking on the ocean coast this week. They had quite an epic journey driving to the Olympic peninsula yesterday. The North Cascades Highway was closed (fire) which led to a massive traffic jam headed west on Stevens Pass. They had to spend the night in Sequim, instead of pushing all the way to the coast in one day. They should be setting out on their wilderness adventures today, and we won't hear anything from them until about Friday.
The Romas, on the other hand, look good, as do the cherry tomatoes. Even though the summers keep getting hotter, our marine climate isn't great for growing big tomatoes. Too chilly at night.
In the NYT cooking section I read each morning, they are gushing now about the luscious New Jersey varieties. There is nothing like a perfect tomato sandwich on good white bread. With bacon and mayo, it tastes like heaven.
On the Pennsylvania farm, we gorged ourselves on garden tomatoes for a few weeks, then ate Mom's canned ones for the rest of the year. That's how fresh vegetables worked back then. Now we are spoiled, but somehow things don't taste as good.
But here's something that does: I scored a bag of New Mexico Hatch peppers at Safeway, which means the labor intensive, once-a-year project of making homemade chili rellenos. A good weekend project.
"At the Garden Table"
Vishee August Macke
August is summer's last stand, a bittersweet month. August has a lovely quality that feels heavy and light at the same time. Soon school starts, vacations wind down and fall ramps up.
Dare I say, football? The Sea Hawks have a new coach, now going from the "oldest" to the "youngest" in the NFL, as the announcers will constantly point out.
This is Sea Fair weekend in Seattle, a raucous time on Lake Washington with the hydro boat races and the Blue Angel's screaming around the city.
We are somewhat trapped in West Seattle, unless we take the old detour. The elevated viaduct that connects the Bridge to I-5 is shut down for re-paving all weekend. It's full of cracks and pot holes, although people are wondering why they didn't fix it during the 2+ year Bridge closure. So it goes in Seattle.
Anyway, beautiful weather ahead here, but getting really hot and dry again in Twisp. Good timing.
