Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Putting the Bar in Barb
Last weekend Barb went over to Snoqualmie and played a show with Visqueen. Space was tight so they put her throne up on the bar.
Here a picture of her looking like a bad ass!
Here a picture of her looking like a bad ass!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Chanterelles
Somtimes Seattle looks like this from our house:
In these cases one sees no reason to ever leave.
On other days, many many other days, it is a dark, gray, cold, and unrelentingly rainy place. When this is the case, one likes to get away for the weekend, even if said weekend is still in the region and still gray and rainy. So, last weekend we went to a little beach house on a little island in Puget Sound so we could at least stare at the water from inside.
On Saturday, however, I insisted that Jim and I go hunting for chanterelles, since it seemed like the season and seemed like a place where our pal Bob had taken us on a successful hunt years ago. So off we went even though the rain was kinda nasty. Jim forgot to bring any sort of rain protection, and I said "too bad," partly because I am mean and partly because everyone who has lived in Seattle for nearly a decade should know to be ready for rain most days of the year...August being the exception.
We trudged through a state park (which shall remain unnamed...I might share with somebody but not the whole internets!), bushwhacking through the forest, finding a zillion kinds of fungus but narry a chanterelle. Elusive bitches. After about an hour, with Jim undaunted by rain (he won't eat mushrooms but has a bloodhound's determination when it comes to hunting for them), I suggested it was time to give up -- maybe too wet, maybe too late in the season. So we gave up, started up a trail toward the car, and not 5 minutes later I spied a chanterelle right there on the edge of the path. It was a little ratty, and certainly not the best we'd seen, but it proved we weren't totally bonkers for looking for more. The hunt was back on. I stayed on the path, poking through the underbrush, while Jim scurried up the path and searched around at the top of the hill. I found a couple more, which were in better shape than the first one I had found. Into the bag! Thanks to the power of the smart phone (G1's in our case), Jim sent me a pic. Subject line: "Yes"
(this one looks a little funky from the top, but was actually a really nice specimen).
I joined Jim at the top of the hill, and we found a bunch more. They weren't jumping out of the forest at us like they had the last time we were there, but we both found a respectable enough quantity to call it dinner. Especially since Jim doesn't eat mushrooms.
By the time we finished the hunt it was nearly 2:00 and we were cold, wet, and hungry. No time for cooking, so off to a great local watering hole for bar food and great draft beers. The place was on the waterfront and on stilts, and had a pretty heavy slope to the floor. All the better for good low-brow ambiance!
Then to the grocery and back to our cottage. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon, but the street lights came on because it was that gloomy.
In the evening I made up this recipe for sauteed chanterelles:
Clean and slice up your mushrooms. Mince a few cloves of garlic. Use the good knife you brought with you because you can't ever count on hard core cutlery in a vacation rental. Use that medium size cutting board you brought with you for the same reason.
Put a saute pan on medium heat on your cottage rental's excellent Jenn-Air stove. Turn on that down-draft vent that works 20 times better than the one you have at home. Throw in a big pinch of fleur de sel (or plain old salt of some sort):
Throw in the chanterelles and cook until they have softened. Lots of liquid will be released from the mushrooms:
Using a slotted spoon -- no wait, a slotted spatula since your cottage rental is a bit low on useful utensils -- remove the mushrooms but leave the liquid. Turn up the heat and boil it until it has reduced to a dark and delicious liquid...maybe down to a quarter cup or so.
Pour that liquid into a dish. Lower the heat a little and add a splash of olive oil. You know, that good olive oil you brought with you because you always need good olive oil around, can't count on finding it on island grocery stores, and you don't want to accumulate another bottle of olive oil every time you on a weekend getaway. Then throw in the garlic and get it sizzling a little. Important not to scorch, so make sure your heat isn't too high.
Once the garlic has begun to sizzle, add the mushrooms back in:
Then a little seasoning. Fresh ground pepper (probably not more salt since you put that in first, and your reduced mushroom juice will be salty). A splash of whatever you're drinking...in our case a little prosecco.
Pour that reserved chanterelle liquid back in the pan. Cook for a couple more minutes. Give it a taste and see if it needs anything else. Maybe a squeeze of lemon?
At this point you could toss with pasta, rice, polenta, or something like that. I chose to use it as a bruschetta topping, so we just toasted some bread, rubbed it with garlic, and made the mushrooms part of the available toppings. Jim enjoyed Brie, salami, sliced apples, and fig jam. I tried a little of everything but mostly ate an obscene quantity of sauteed chanterelles.
The next day was Sunday, so it was time to head home. Naturally the weather had turned sunny and beautiful just in time to end our getaway weekend. On the drive home Jim kept spotting chanterelles just growing under the trees by the side of the road. He's my truffle hog :-)
In these cases one sees no reason to ever leave.
On other days, many many other days, it is a dark, gray, cold, and unrelentingly rainy place. When this is the case, one likes to get away for the weekend, even if said weekend is still in the region and still gray and rainy. So, last weekend we went to a little beach house on a little island in Puget Sound so we could at least stare at the water from inside.
On Saturday, however, I insisted that Jim and I go hunting for chanterelles, since it seemed like the season and seemed like a place where our pal Bob had taken us on a successful hunt years ago. So off we went even though the rain was kinda nasty. Jim forgot to bring any sort of rain protection, and I said "too bad," partly because I am mean and partly because everyone who has lived in Seattle for nearly a decade should know to be ready for rain most days of the year...August being the exception.
We trudged through a state park (which shall remain unnamed...I might share with somebody but not the whole internets!), bushwhacking through the forest, finding a zillion kinds of fungus but narry a chanterelle. Elusive bitches. After about an hour, with Jim undaunted by rain (he won't eat mushrooms but has a bloodhound's determination when it comes to hunting for them), I suggested it was time to give up -- maybe too wet, maybe too late in the season. So we gave up, started up a trail toward the car, and not 5 minutes later I spied a chanterelle right there on the edge of the path. It was a little ratty, and certainly not the best we'd seen, but it proved we weren't totally bonkers for looking for more. The hunt was back on. I stayed on the path, poking through the underbrush, while Jim scurried up the path and searched around at the top of the hill. I found a couple more, which were in better shape than the first one I had found. Into the bag! Thanks to the power of the smart phone (G1's in our case), Jim sent me a pic. Subject line: "Yes"
(this one looks a little funky from the top, but was actually a really nice specimen).
I joined Jim at the top of the hill, and we found a bunch more. They weren't jumping out of the forest at us like they had the last time we were there, but we both found a respectable enough quantity to call it dinner. Especially since Jim doesn't eat mushrooms.
By the time we finished the hunt it was nearly 2:00 and we were cold, wet, and hungry. No time for cooking, so off to a great local watering hole for bar food and great draft beers. The place was on the waterfront and on stilts, and had a pretty heavy slope to the floor. All the better for good low-brow ambiance!
Then to the grocery and back to our cottage. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon, but the street lights came on because it was that gloomy.
In the evening I made up this recipe for sauteed chanterelles:
Clean and slice up your mushrooms. Mince a few cloves of garlic. Use the good knife you brought with you because you can't ever count on hard core cutlery in a vacation rental. Use that medium size cutting board you brought with you for the same reason.
Put a saute pan on medium heat on your cottage rental's excellent Jenn-Air stove. Turn on that down-draft vent that works 20 times better than the one you have at home. Throw in a big pinch of fleur de sel (or plain old salt of some sort):
Throw in the chanterelles and cook until they have softened. Lots of liquid will be released from the mushrooms:
Using a slotted spoon -- no wait, a slotted spatula since your cottage rental is a bit low on useful utensils -- remove the mushrooms but leave the liquid. Turn up the heat and boil it until it has reduced to a dark and delicious liquid...maybe down to a quarter cup or so.
Pour that liquid into a dish. Lower the heat a little and add a splash of olive oil. You know, that good olive oil you brought with you because you always need good olive oil around, can't count on finding it on island grocery stores, and you don't want to accumulate another bottle of olive oil every time you on a weekend getaway. Then throw in the garlic and get it sizzling a little. Important not to scorch, so make sure your heat isn't too high.
Once the garlic has begun to sizzle, add the mushrooms back in:
Then a little seasoning. Fresh ground pepper (probably not more salt since you put that in first, and your reduced mushroom juice will be salty). A splash of whatever you're drinking...in our case a little prosecco.
Pour that reserved chanterelle liquid back in the pan. Cook for a couple more minutes. Give it a taste and see if it needs anything else. Maybe a squeeze of lemon?
At this point you could toss with pasta, rice, polenta, or something like that. I chose to use it as a bruschetta topping, so we just toasted some bread, rubbed it with garlic, and made the mushrooms part of the available toppings. Jim enjoyed Brie, salami, sliced apples, and fig jam. I tried a little of everything but mostly ate an obscene quantity of sauteed chanterelles.
The next day was Sunday, so it was time to head home. Naturally the weather had turned sunny and beautiful just in time to end our getaway weekend. On the drive home Jim kept spotting chanterelles just growing under the trees by the side of the road. He's my truffle hog :-)
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