There were a lot of things over the past months I thought that I should write about in my blog. But, as usual, life got in the way. Before, it was the commute that rendered me with no time on my hand. Life in the city is busier than I anticipated. But it’s because we are doing a lot more fun things. We go to the ballet and the movies, have game nights with our friends, participate in our friend’s Confab show, ride our bikes to Ballard farmer’s market, and I cook and bake a lot more.

There is one thing we don’t do, and that is yard work. I don’t miss it at all. Our backyard is about 20′x20′. The builder put in a little patch of lawn in the middle and surround it with garden area. We lived with it for awhile, but we didn’t do anything to it at all. In May, we ripped it all up, and put in flagstone.

Before we started the project, we figured that we wanted stone, no more lawn. But, I couldn’t really decide between cut stone or flagstone. We went to see different types of stones at Lakeview Stone and Garden. I ended up going with flagstone because the cut stones will look a bit too formal for our backyard.

I kind of knew what I want. I could see it in my head, but I wasn’t really sure how it would turn out. Things often don’t get translated well from my idea to reality. It happened to me a lot with paint colors. I would have a color that I want and I could see in my head, but I always chose the wrong one from the 1 inch paint chip I got at the store. Our shed (aka Drew’s brew house) at Indianola house looked like a big grape before I got the right color for it.

So, this time, Drew suggested that I should go out and measure the backyard and sketched it out on a graph paper. So, I did.


Then, we counted all the squares to see how much stone we need. I ordered the stone, and hired a landscaper to install it. And voila! Just like how I imagine it would be!



We mostly have edible plants. We have 4 tomatoes: 2 in pots and 2 in the ground. One zucchini and 4 acorn squash plants are in the ground, and 2 more zucchini in a pot. We also have beans, snap peas, bell peppers, and lemon cucumbers in the ground. The plants that are in the ground aren’t doing well at all because the soil is really crappy. On the other hand, the 2 tomatoes that are in the pots are hugh. Next year, we are going to put in new soil for the garden, and we will have one zucchini in a pot. Two zucchini in a pot is not a good idea because it looks like it’s all roots in there. They don’t really creep or produce much either. But I think for the first year, we’re doing pretty well.

Here are more pictures of the backyard.

Blue moon tonight! I love a full moon. Full moons always make me smile.

I know, I know. It’s been 11 months since my last post. Time flies when you have 4 hour commute, 4 days a week!

2009 in a nutshell:

• Visited my parents in June/July
• Remodeled our master bath …and then, moved

hmm…

• Got a townhouse in Seattle!

I know that from now on I don’t have the ‘I don’t have time to write a blog’ excuse anymore. But, WE MOVED! We got a townhouse in Greenwood!

We moved! No more 4 hour commute! Getting more sleep! More time with my kids! More time to bake and cook! MORE TIME! It takes me half hour each way if I take the bus, door-to-door. If I drive, it takes me 15 minutes! Isn’t it exciting?!

So, I promised that I will blog more now that I have more time. Haha, I know that ‘blog more’ compares to 3 blogs a year is not much, but please stay tuned.

Despite the crazy commute I had. There are things that I will miss about it. Panoramic views of Seattle in the morning, our Friday games of Scrabble, and most of all, my vanpool… I really do miss them.

Actually, he was trying to show me a text message from UB, our friend in NJ.  The text read,

I heard there was a 4.6 earthquake NW of Seattle. Are you guys ok?

What?!

I burst out laughing. I totally slept through it. According to the media, it was centered near Kingston, WA. Kingston is about 3 miles away! So, we’re pretty much in the center of the earthquake? …And I didn’t feel a thing? …And neither did the pets. I just watched some show on the television the other day about how animals can sense that earthquake coming. It talked about dogs and cats went missing before an earthquake happened because they could sense danger coming. Our pets, on the other hand, didn’t have a clue. Simon was wedged between me and my body pillow, Lexy snuggled up tightly on my feet and Jas snored away in her bed as usual. No one budged at all. What pathetic little creatures we have… But, I’m definitely not complaining that no one runs away.

There are plenty of things that should make me feel unhappy about fall — the yellow maple leaves all over the yard that need to be raked up, the perennials are going dormant, and no more fresh produce from our own garden!  Unfortunately, the garden didn’t do well this year at all.  It was cold all the way through May, plus, I was gone all of July.  I didn’t even have time to put stakes up for the 90+ peas that I planted.   When I came back from Thailand, the pea plants were all tangled up into a big huge clump.  The peas were delicious regardless.

But, I do like fall.  Somehow, the very same things that I mentioned earlier make me feel like my crazy, hectic life is starting to slow down.  I can now sit in front of the fireplace, enjoying a cup of spiced hot chocolate, or even better, a cup of hot buttered rum while watching a good foreign film.

I feel like baking every time it gets cold.  I know I’ve told you this before, but baking seems like the thing to do.  It’s just like putting on a sweater when you’re cold.  When I get cold, I go into the kitchen, turn on the oven, and bake something.

I baked these cookies Wednesday night when I should have been in bed.  It was almost 11 o’clock when I started baking them.  They were double chocolate cookies with black currents and pecans.  They were alright.  In my opinion, cookies should be a little crusty around the edge, soft and chewy in the middle.  These were soft and fluffy.  They were more like little cakes than cookies, but they served their purpose well–which was my craving for chocolate.

What I really want to rant about next is the tarte tatin that I made yesterday.  It is basically an upside down caramelized apple tart.  I, for one, really don’t like cooked apples, but this is an exception.  The aroma of cooked apples in butter and sugar will mesmerize you.  It is the easiest dessert to make!  You only have to melt butter and sugar, arrange the apples in the pan, go do something for about half an hour while the apples are cooking.  When you come back, you put the puff pastry dough on top, and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.  See, it’s easy.  One of these day, I would love to make puff pastry from scratch, but in the meantime, the store-bought ones will do just fine.

The picture of the finished product doesn’t do its justice.  Really, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Tarte Tatin

4 apples (I used Jonagold)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 puff pastry dough, thawed at a room temperature (They usually come in a package of 2)

Core the apples and cut them into quarters.  Melt the butter and sugar in a 10 inch frying pan with a heatproof handle.  Arrange the apples tightly over the melted butter and sugar.  Cook over low heat for 30 minutes or until the apples are soft.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Lay the pastry dough over the apples, and trim off the edge.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and flaky.  Remove from the oven and let rest for about 5 minutes before turning out the tart.

So, I stopped.

Six months or so went by.  I was traveling to Thailand in February.  It would take twenty four hours, door-to-door.  I needed something to pass the time.  A book to read sounded good enough.  So, I thought I’d give it another try.  I brought it along with me.  I read it.  I read it to chapter eleven.

And I stopped.

While I was in Thailand, I got to talk to one of my best friends from childhood, Dao. (It means a star in Thai).  Somehow we ended up talking about books.  I asked her if she had read Harry Potter.  She said yes, and said that she loved it! And she didn’t think she could die happy without finishing the series.  I told her about how I couldn’t finish the book, about how boring it was, and she said, “How could that be?  You must be crazy!”.

Another six months or so went by.  One day, someone on my vanpool talked about the next Harry Potter movie, the Half-blood Prince.  It was supposed to be released this November, but Warner Bros. had decided to postpone it until July of next year.  It made me think about the Half-blood Prince.  I read it so long ago.  I didn’t remember how went.  I remembered enjoying it very much.  So, I thought I should re-read it, before the movie comes out.  So, I did.

I finished the Half-blood Prince.  Then, I thought I might as well read the Deathly Hallows.  “Just finish the series”, I thought.  “I am going to give my best effort to finish it”, I told myself.  So, I grabbed the last Harry Potter book from the bookshelf, and I started to read it.  I read, and read, and I kept on reading.  And I FINISHED it!

And…

I LOVED IT!  I love the book.  I love the series.  And here I am, on the couch, hours later, still having bits and pieces of it pop into my head.  I’m thinking about the whole series, about how it all went down, about how well everything tie together at the end, admiring J.K. Rowling for her amazing piece of fiction, and feeling sad that there won’t be the next book…

I guess, everything has its moment, where it’s got to happen at the right place, and at the right time.  So, I am still here, on the couch, hours later, trying to figure out what my problem was, about how I just couldn’t finish the book …because it was boring?

My gosh, I must be (temporarily) crazy!

It is 49 degrees, in April, in Indianola, and Lexy is mourning for the sunny day like yesterday.

What did I do today before sitting down writing this for my blog? I baked! I also made crepes for breakfast while having a couple of glasses of mimosa. Becker came over this weekend to help us chop fire wood. We had a huge Alder taken down a couple of months ago because it was leaning and rotting inside. (Thank you, Becker!) Even with the wood splitter we rented from a local rental store, it was still hard work.

I tried to make a batch of Thin Mint ice cream for the guys this morning, but it wasn’t successful. Somehow the freezer bowl did not freeze all the way. I think the freezer in the beer fridge where I kept the bowl is not working right. I didn’t realized it until 20 minutes later that I still had a VERY runny, thick, not even frozen, creamy …thing in the spinning bowl. I have to say, however, that for $50, the Cuisinart ice cream maker that I have is wonderful. It never failed …before. It comes with a freezer bowl that I find it convenient to just keep in the freezer at all times; so that when I want to make ice cream, I don’t have to wait. I, especially, like the fact that the top of the machine has an opening for adding dry ingredients to the ice cream.

The freezer bowl is moved to the chest freezer, and I’m moving on to the next thing.

I often visit Orangette. Like a lot of people, I really like her blog. I really enjoy reading the way she described how she couldn’t wait at least until October 1st to buy a winter squash because those pesky butternuts had found a way to tempt her and, eventually, won. Molly is a creative writter and a Seattleite foody. I can just spend hours reading her blog. (And no, I don’t mean that I’m a slow reader). I can’t just read one post. It’s always one entry then to the next, and next. Anyway, I came across this post of hers. She talked about her vacation, and Paris, and things you find in Paris, like macaron, falafel, baguette… (…and I miss Paris now like you would not believe). Somewhere in there, she talked about a particular brand of French granola that you can get at Monoprix. It has chocolate in it. I can’t believe that I have NEVER thought of putting chocolate in granola before. And, I LOVE chocolate! And, chocolate is good with everything! Gosh!

Well, here is my version of chocolate granola. Basically, the granola I’ve always made for yogurt, and now with bittersweet chocolate (and banana chip because Drew wanted it).

Granola for Yogurt
yields about 4 cups
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup bran flakes
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup flax seeds
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt

Combine the following liquid before adding to the dry ingredients:
2 Tbsp raspberry honey
2 Tbsp. oil

Spread evenly on a baking sheet and bake at 325 for 20 minutes

Add the following ingredients after it cools down:
1/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup chopped banana chips
1/4 cup Craisins

Voila, the best granola I have ever had.

I also made two small loaves of chocolate banana bread. They came out too dry, in my opinion. I’m still getting used to baking with silicone loaf pans. I like them because I don’t have to grease the pans before I put the batter in. But, they take longer to bake than the metal ones. I never use a toothpick to test if the bread is done. When I was working at a bakery, I was taught to press lightly on top of the bread. If it bounces back up, it’s done. But, somehow, I just can’t get it right with these silicone loaf pans, yet, but there’s always next time.

Last but not least, I had given the ice cream maker one more chance. The timer is going off. It is time to go.

I really do have an excuse for not blogging more often. Let see… I get up at 5:30am. I get out the door by 6:05 to catch the bus. The bus comes at 6:15. I listen to a lesson of Pimsleur French for half hour on the bus. The bus gets me to the ferry terminal around 6:50 and I catch the 7:05 ferry. I listen to the same lesson of Pimsleur French for another half hour on the ferry. The ferry gets into Seattle around 7:40. I get on the vanpool from the ferry, and I get to work at 8am. For the way back, I leave work at 4:35pm. I walk from NE 45th and 11th down to Brooklyn and Campus Pkwy. to catch the van. The van picks me up between 4:45 and 4:50pm and we get to the ferry at about 5:05 to 5:10, depends on the traffic. We get on the 5:30 ferry which gets us back to Bainbridge Island at about 6:05. We sometimes play Scrabble on the ferry, and other times, I listen to another French lesson. I get on the bus from the ferry terminal and I get to Indianola Clubhouse at about 6:50pm. I walk from the clubhouse and get home at about 7pm. I make dinner, feed the cats and the dog, eat dinner, and clean up the kitchen. I get to sit down in front of a television for about an hour, and it’s time for bed. On the weekends, I squeeze in grocery shopping, cleaning up the house, laundry, walk Jasmine down to play on the beach, and working on the donor database for PAWS of Bainbridge Island. (Oh! I guess I have to tell you first that I’m volunteering to do this for them. It’s a database that keeps track of all the adoptions, volunteering, and donations). Don’t you See? I don’t have much time to spare for my blog.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I’m making Dark Beer Chili and cornbread. The cornbread didn’t turn out so well. It’s not sweet enough. I don’t think I put the right amount of sugar the recipe called for. When you double the recipe, you have to be careful about stuff like this. The chili, on the other hand, turned out really well. Deschutes’ Obsidian Stout I used in this recipe compliments the beef really well. The only think I did wrong this that I did not strictly follow the recipe, and I made a whole lot of it. I think I made about 3 gallons of chili!

We had Becker, Mike and Gina for breakfast this morning. I made blini with smoked salmon, caviar and egg salad. I combined the blini recipes from epicurious.com and from Food TV’s Barefoot Contessa.  My blini came out flatter than the pictures on epicurious.  I also used red onion instead of chives.  We got two types of cheap caviar from DiLaurenti in Pike Place Market. One was red Lumpfish and the other was black Whitefish.  The red was more pungent and brinier.  The black was mild, but has more crunch to it.  Anyhow, breakfast was great, and this is the first time I had caviar.

We had dinner with Mike and Gina. Gina cooked prime rib. I think the last time I had prime rib was more than 11 years ago. I made roasted vegetables with pearl onions, carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas. I found that sage is too strong for roasted veggies; so, I only used thyme and rosemary this time. It turned out so good. But I was more happy with the Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions that I made. I may sound like a dork, but I have never made more beautiful caramelized onions! The key is not to stir (well, I stirred it once). It was such a fluke. I was busy washing and chopping the Brussels sprouts. And for dessert, we had cranberry chocolate tart (with crytalized ginger and creamy Mascapone cheese….mmm). It was the most easy dessert I have ever made.

After dinner, we watched Stardust, a very cute, funny fantasy movie. Even though, it was a very predictable movie, I really liked it. You know, a young man tries to win the heart of a woman he loves by venturing into a magical forbidden land to retrieve a fallen star, and he’s not the only one who’s seeking the star…blah, blah, blah. I remember that Devon went to see Stardust when it was in the theater and really liked it. So, I’ve always thought that it must be a science fiction movie …but, noooo…. it’s such a girlie movie.