Tag Archives: Food

Port Gamble in Washington

 

On Wednesday afternoon Josh, Laura, Michelle and I took the Ferry from Edmonds to Kingston for High Tea in Port Gamble. The Tea Room at Port Gamble is in an old Victorian house on the main street in this little town. You get off the ferry at Kingston and follow the road to Highway 104 headed for the Hood Canal Bridge. When you get to the 25 mile an hour speed zone you know you are close. You can’t miss it and it’s a delightful afternoon stop!

 

Josh was such a good sport to play along and don a hat, too. He had never been to High Tea and we discussed just how civilized it is. Of course none of us had to wear hats but we were just in the mood.

 

I think the highlights for us were the wonderful scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream and then the chocolate fondue at the end of our tea. Duhliscious!! (I miss-spelled that on purpose!)

 

We strolled through the little town and enjoyed the architecture and unique little shops. Took the picture of the Artful Ewe for you Willow!

My son Josh and Laura

My DIL Laura and niece Michelle

 

Do you see the sign the antique dealer has under her cash register in her shop? It says “YOUR HUSBAND CALLED – And said you can buy anything you want” On the way out of town we stopped at the Anglican Church.

 

From the cemetery we could see the Hood Canal Bridge and we commented that we should drop in on Dave and Beth but we didn’t call ahead and our afternoon was turning into evening.  Maybe you can meet Katie and I for tea sometime in Port Gamble Beth!?

 

At the cemetery Josh spotted this engraving on one of the tombstones. “Remember friend as you pass by, As you are now so once was I, As I am now you soon will be, Prepare for death and follow me”

Sobering thought or it could be taken as an encouragement to prepare ourselves for the inevitable by making decisions today that guarantee our future in Glory when we meet our Creator…

Well we decided it was time to head back to the ferry dock and journey across the Puget Sound to Edmonds and onward. But what did we spot on the way back…

CB’s Nuts! A small Roasting operation right off the main highway. We made a U-turn and headed back after we zoomed by too fast to stop. We are glad we turned around. We met Mr. Roasting Guy and he sold us some fresh peanuts, pistachios, and peanut butter.

 

Can’t get too much fresher then this!

 

At the ferry dock while we were waiting for our boat I zoomed in for this shot of Mt. Rainier and downtown Seattle. If you look closely you can see the Space Needle to the right of the rest of the buildings.

Another fabulous day in the Greater Puget Sound! To end the day we met my other kids, Dan and Katie, at PF Chang’s for dinner. A very full day that made this lady pretty tired but joyful.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Slow Cooked Brisket

Barbecue Brisket

This is a great recipe for a crowd!

1 (5-pound) brisket
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chili sauce
1 cup water
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 (10-ounce) bottle of beer
Fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Wash and dry the brisket, cutting away most of visible fat.
Sprinkle the brisket with salt, pepper and paprika.
Place the brisket, fat side up, in a heavy baking pan. Surround with the onions, celery and garlic.
Pour chili sauce on top of the brisket.
Slowly pour the water into the pan around the brisket. Sprinkle with the parsley.

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and pour the beer over the brisket.
Do this slowly so it doesn’t wash off the chili sauce.
Cover the brisket and cook 3 hours longer or until tender.
Cool to room temperature. Place in refrigerator.
Remove any accumulated fat from the top.
Slice and reheat in the sauce.
Garnish with a sprinkling of fresh minced parsley.

Yield: 10 servings.

This recipe is from That’s My Home Free Recipes – Cattleman’s Barbecue Sauce

We served ours after baking it for 5 hours without refrigerating it. We cut it across the grain and shred it before serving also. We served it along with BBQ Sauce.

We also provided Potato Rolls for anyone who wanted to make it into a BBQ Sandwich. Yummy!

This is my big turkey roaster I cooked 2 – 5# briskets in here and all the extras fit in around them well for the baking time.

So the next party you have invite a crowd and let them bring the extras to go with the brisket. It will make for an easy breezy fun party for the hostess and guests!

4th of July at Our House

Do you know why bloggers wear aprons when they are hosting a party? Why to have a pocket for their camera, of course! So convenient, always at your side, or front as the pocket may be…

So we ended up having 14 over for a meal, conversation, Ticket to Ride, and more. The doc and his wife couldn’t make it because someone’s baby decided to be born on the 4th of July.

 

Of course there was enough food for 24. That’s the curse of growing up in a large family, you tend to make way more and buy way more than you really need :0)

 

Some of the “Usual Suspects”. We always love it when little Finn gets to come and he brings his parents along. Oops, I didn’t get pictures of his parents but I did get some of his Auntie Jamie.

 

Finn loves our son Josh. He’s helping Josh make some strategic moves in the game Ticket to Ride. Ticket to Ride is a cross country train adventure.

We learned this great trick from Finn’s grandmother, Jody. This is the quick way to baby proof your cabinets. This is a hair thingee, pony tail thingee, you know what I mean. You just twist it around the knobs.

 

We ended our meal with some Russian Royal Tea of Czar Nicholas II.

It was a wonderful day and a lovely celebration of our freedom in the USA. Blessings on y’all.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Up To The Rehearsal Dinner and Beyond…

Praise God from whom all blessings flow everything came together beautifully for the Rehearsal Dinner. We served Brisket, Barbecued Chicken, Pasta Salad, Potato Salad, Barbecue Beans, Fruit Skewers and Rolls. For dessert we had assorted goodies, Nazook, Bite size Brownies, Madelines, Scones, and Bite size blueberry muffins. The picture above is Dear loading the Barbecue to take to the Bride’s house where we were having the rehearsal dinner.

 

It was so much fun to have everyone chipping in to help make this a night to remember.

 

Don’t ask, we don’t know what my nephew Levi had in mind when he put Jackson on Josh’s shoulders here but Jackson sure is intent on reaching up to the sky. Jackson is my Grandnephew and He was the Ring bearer at the wedding. And while we are on the subject of our Prince Jackson, here is a collage of our Princess, my new niece Hope!

 

She is 5 months old now and really got loved on during all our family gatherings surrounding the wedding. She lives in Dallas with her mom and dad so this was the first time most of her cousins and Aunts and Uncles got to meet her.

We know how to cram fun into a weekend people. On Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. we met our dear friends from Seattle, Dave and Jody, for a walk at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. We met Dave and Jody 23 years ago in Ventura at Bible Fellowship Church and we’ve been great friends ever since. They live in the Seattle area now, too, and were down in Ventura for a medical function at Ventura County Hospital. Even though the wedding was later in the day we were thrilled to be able to have an hour to walk and talk with them.

 

On Saturday after our walk with Dave and Jody we met part of the family and wedding party at Brent’s deli for brunch/lunch. There were 20 of us enjoying good Jewish Deli food. Pastrami on Rye, Matzo Ball soup, kosher pickles, lox and bagels…

 

 

Look at the size of that Matzo ball in that soup! We really had a good time here and it was great to see the groom, our nephew Tim, before the wedding.

On the way home from brunch we fit in a little shopping trip to the Camarillo Outlet Mall. We hit Banana Republic, Puma, and Betsy Johnson where Katie tried on this fun coat.

 

We made it home in plenty of time to get all dressed up for the Main Event. Tomorrow or Wednesday I hope to post the Wedding photos.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Ruby Tuesday

These are the Fruit Skewers we made for my nephew’s wedding rehearsal dinner this last Friday. I thought they qualify for a Ruby Tuesday post.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

 

For more Ruby Tuesday posts vist Maryt at The Work of the Poet

8 Random Things About My Kitchen ~ Meme

Hello everyone! We made it to Seattle at 12:30 A.M. this morning. 17 hours on the road. I’m brain dead but I had this little meme in my drafts and decided I needed to put something new to look at on my blog. Since the kitchen and cooking and eating and fellowship were the theme of the last 3 days I thought this was a good filler for the time being. Hope to get around soon and see what you are all up to! Blessings.

Here’s a little Meme about the Kitchen. List 8 random things about your kitchen. You can combine things about your kitchen with your cooking style…

1. My Kitchen in my home in Washington is also my Dining Room. It all happens in here….

2. I have a gas stove top that is separate from my electric double oven.

3. A center rectangular work area with cabinets and a section of bar seating doubles as a buffet service area.

4. My kitchen has loads of cabinets that were an Oak finish and Dear painted them for me in two shades of green with my walls an even darker shade of the same green tone.

5. We used to have fluorescent light fixtures in this space that we jokingly said we could do surgery under. Dear replaced them with recessed lighting and drop down pen lights over my Island and a light fixture over our table.

6. We have seated up to 16 people around our dining room table!

7. We like to cook classic comfort food and also experiment with the latest recipes we see on Food Network!

We clean up all the messes in this wonderful sink. It’s deep and wide and I can fit a cookie sheet in here and my large pots and pans.

8. We love to share our space and our food with no expectations of reciprocation…

If you’d like to participate in this meme please do and let me know if you do…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Pelemeny ~ Russian Ravioli

Pelemeny (Russian Version of Ravioli)

Filling:

1/2 lb. ground chicken
1/2 lb. ground veal, or lamb, or beef
1 medium onion grated
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Dough:

2 cups sifted flour
1 egg
1/3 cup water

Combine the two meats with onion. Add seasonings to taste and mix well and set aside.

Prepare Dough: In a small mixing bowl, sift the flour and a pinch of salt. Make a nest in the flour, add the egg which has been mixed with water. Work the flour into the egg and mix and then knead to a rather dry dough. Use more or less flour as needed. Roll dough very thin. We used a pelemeny mold/maker that my mom brought back on one of her trips to Russia so the pelemeny come out in a round shape. If you don’t have a mold cut the dough into 2″ circles. Put a small ball of filling (about 1/2 tsp) onto each circle and fold over and pinch edges making a half-moon shape. Then pinch each corner up together.

Boil in your choice of broth. Add the Pelemeny to the boiling broth. When they are done they will surface like doughnuts. You can serve them with the broth like a soup or you can have them plain with some sour cream. This recipe should feed 4-6 people.

The photo collages that I have shown are of my family making a huge batch of these for a family gathering we’re having. We made 648 of these.

It is very important to flour this mold really well each time you put the dough on to fill.

We found that a plastic teaspoon worked best to press the meat into each little hole.

You have to shake the completed Pelemeny out of the mold.

You can serve these with a lot of broth like a soup or just plain with sourcream.

Some people enjoy them with soy sauce.

Enjoy!

Amgen Summerfest 2008

 

The company my husband works for always puts on a nice summer party for their employees and families. This year they combined it with the company chili-cook-off competition and gave it a Hawaiin theme.

 

The decorations were lots of fun. Even the founders statues got decorated.

We picked up our wrist bands and we were ready to eat, drink, and be entertained.

 

The chili competition booths were all very creative and the chili was cooked by employees and hosted by them as well. We spotted several celebrities serving their chili. Elvis with the cool vanilla bean chili, Gilligan, Lovee and Thurston Howell the third. We also spotted Indiana Jones.

 

There were several stations with many choices of food and drink. The entertainment was great with Polynesian Dancers, Chinese Acrobats of Hebei, Fire Dance, and Denver and the Mile-High Orchestra. Thankfully the weather was nice and not too hot. We’ll never forget the summer fest of 2006 when it was well over 100 degrees.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Italian Wedding Cookies

This is one of several recipes for Italian Wedding Cookies out there. We had these cookies recently at a shower and I decided to share the recipe for Wendy at Ivory Spring and anyone else who might like it.

Ingredients:

5 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup melted crisco
1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp. Anise

Mix together the dry ingredients. Beat the eggs and sugar together. Add the crisco, butter, milk and anise. Work into dry ingredients. Roll into 1/2 thick rolls. Cut to desired size and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 10 minutes. When cool you can ice them.

Icing:

3 Tblsp. melted butter
3 Cups powdered sugar
3 Tblsp. lite whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2.
2 tsp. anise

Mix together and if you want to add food coloring to coordinate with your event now is the time. Ice the cookies…