Porter

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Manny's:

 

Less Manny's:

 

 

Corned beef dinner:

God Bless America

 Such optimism.

Where I Want To Live

I need a treehouse up here:

 

The Finger

 
 Perfectly fine finger on right hand:

Damaged finger on left hand:

Roasted Pears

Core and slice pears into eighths. Toss with a tiny bit of vegetable oil, some cinnamon and a pinch of kosher salt. Roast at 325 for 30-40 minutes, stirring a couple of times while in the oven. This morning they just went on top of Fage plain, nonfat yogurt. Sometimes they end up on top of oatmeal. Sometimes on top of yogurt with granola on top of that. Anyway, I roasted a whole panful, so I've got plenty for a couple of more breakfasts.

Higher Ground

Yesterday I woke up to news of the earthquake in Chile and a tsunami advisory all the way up here.  Being a realist, I wasn't too concerned about anything of significance actually reaching the shores of Alki.  But I did have a moment of doubt yesterday afternoon when I saw all these crows gathered (literally) in the tree tops.  What did they know that I didn't? (Turns out: Nothing--or at least nothing tsunami related.)

 

Spring Is Springing

 From "on high" -- maple tree:

 

And "down low"--fallen cherry blossoms on bed of moss:

Cantaloupe

Mmm...

 

Roasted Romanesco Pecorino Pasta

Tonight's dinner (and tomorrow's leftovers). Whittled down some romanesco cauliflower, tossed it with some olive oil and salt and stuck it in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes, tossing it a couple times. Got the water boiling for the pasta. Chopped up some garlic and threw it in a pan with some olive oil, butter and salt, then added some breadcrumbs until everything got toasty. Then I took the crumbs out and set them aside. Put the pasta into boil. In the same pan I cooked the breadcrumbs in, I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, some more garlic and some red pepper flakes. As the pasta approached the end of its cooking time in the other pot, I added the roasted romanesco to skillet with the olive oil and garlic, tossing it around a little bit. Then I added a healthy coating of finely grated Pecorino Romano and then the drained (now finished) pasta. I also added about a quarter cup of pasta water and stirred everything around until it got creamy and melty. Dumped it in a bowl and then sprinkled the top with the breadcrumbs. (I saved and refrigerated the rest of the bread crumbs, because they're always delicious on top of these veggie pastas.)

More Blossoms

 
 

Vietnamese Squid Salad

I made this for the first time this weekend.  It was really quite tasty, but seemed more like a summer thing to me.  So, I'm pretty sure I'll be making it a lot this summer.  Very healthy. No fat, no carbs.

This recipe is supposedly from Jacques Pepin.  (Although I did no research to find out if that's true or not.)

Squid Salad a la Binh (as modified by me) 

(Makes 4 small salads)

1 pound squid, cleaned 

4 cloves of garlic, minced 

1/2 red chile pepper, minced

1 cup very thinly sliced onions

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

A few thinly sliced basil leaves

lettuce

Prepare dressing: mix garlic, chile, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and salt together.  Slice onions.  Mince a tablespoon or two's worth of cilantro stems and toss with the onions and dressing. (I use only the stems at this point because they have a lot of flavor and can stand up to the acidity of the dressing.)

Bring water to boil in a large pot.  Cut the body of each squid crosswise into 1-inch slices and the tentacles into 1/2-inch pieces.  Add the squid to the boiling water and cook for about three minutes, stirring occasionally, just until the water returns to a boil.  Do not overcook. Drain immediately.  

Add warm squid to the the dressing, onion and cilantro stem mixture.  Toss, cover and refrigerate.  (I made it the night before I planned to eat it.)  

To serve, add chopped cilantro leaves and the slivered basil to the squid mixture.  Toss.  Spoon on top of lettuce leaves.

Eat!

Happy Valentine's Day

Blossoms ten minutes before brief downpour...(I made it home in time to stay dry.)

 

More Puget Island

This is the everchanging (lightwise) view from Joe and Andrea's living room.  I don't know how they get anything done--I'd just sit and watch this all day long.

 
 
 

From Joe and Andrea's Dock

 
 
 

Puget Island Flora and Fauna

A quick walk down the road revealed llamas, cattails and a "herd" of dogs (they really did not act like a pack) that were very disappointed when Denise stopped petting them.  "Please come back!"

 
 
 

Saturday Sunrise Puget Island

View from Andrea and Joe's living room last Saturday morning.

 

The Most Beautiful Salad Ever

In our beautiful new Heath Ceramics salad bowl...

 

Made You Look

I love how both of these shots look like they could be satellite photos.  They are not.  The first one is a close up of part of the seawall at Alki and the second one is the moss covering someone's boulder in their Japanese garden.