10.5.

I love that all I am doing this week is linking to pointless endeavors captured on the internets. (See Ichiro's Milestone).

And now this guy, who likes making pancakes waaaaay too much.

In my life? Work is insane this week for some reason; working long days, and the good news is my sciatica hurts after 10.5 hours as opposed to 5.5 hours, so treatment is working right?

Oktoberfest/karaoke tonight!

Immigants.

And you'd think this was posted in the Onion, but no, off the wire.

*.

The one good thing about this season of Mariner's baseball?

Ichiro of course. (Unless you count last offseason, when our pitching rotation looked incredible, but you know how that turned out*)

*unless you live in NZ, then of course you don't most likely. Long story short: we made an audacious trade for a former Cy Young Winner**, then our batting was (some would say) predictably miserable, and the pitching didn't matter.

**Also for Kiwis: The award for the best pitcher in baseball, named after the guy who has not only the most career wins, but also the most career losses in baseball history***

*** yes, baseball is weird, but not as weird as cricket****

****like having to introduce a rule because a player replaces himself with a cardboard cutout.

Farm Trip.

I feel physically shattered. I had a long day yesterday, which ended late for me (10! Yeah, I know that's a wimp time for a real chef on Saturdays....) and started early this morning for me.

Saturday was hitting the ground running, with the hotel full of Cornhuskers (Really NZ, they're called that), and they eat some eggs and potatoes for breakfast, let me tell you. They also drink lots of red beer at night- lager with tomato juice. Yummers.

But in between, I took a couple cooks out to Vashon Island for a farm tour and lunch at Sea Breeze Farm. We took the ferry over, and had the tour where the farmer explained two big ideas to me:

1st, that he's really a grass farmer, and the animals manage the land, and what he gets as a by-product of that management is meat, dairy and eggs. Through careful and thoughtful management, the systems of nature work well.

2nd, and the reason why the products cost more is because you're paying for nature's share too. Keep animals in cages? It keeps them safe from predators. Never feed a calf mother's milk and go straight to milk replacer? That makes them grow differently/faster. Feed them grass? It takes time. No antibiotics? Creatures get sick and can die, and that's a loss.

He had some great view points, and he had a very good chef at the spot, with the farm's meat playing the main role on the menu. Paté, rilletes, and head cheese featured on the charcuterie platter. Sausage, kale, potato soup shined because of an awesome and rich chicken/pork broth. The salad had no meat, but perfect tomatoes, and really good sheep's milk cheese. The porchetta sandwich was the bombdotcom, and the grilled country sausage was perfect with the earthy puy lentils and dijon. They even make wine, and I had a glass of Sauv Blanc that really was not what I expected, but in a good, and interesting way. A deeper color of yellow than I've ever seen, but the honey-tropical fruit notes generally seen in that varietal when grown in the antipodes....

Today was work early, and done early, and then football Sunday with the recently-returned-from-an-Italian-honeymoon Calerys. Mrs. Calery made a nice enchilada pie with homemade chorizo and pork tinga! (Wow! 2 references to slow cooked, national pork dishes in one blog post!)

At the Beach House, Beach House.

Working my 7th day in a row- but hey, at least my leg feels better, and I get tomorrow off!

Went to a chiro, and he must've opened things up in my back. The x-rays showed that my spine was all whacked out of alignment. And my back muscles are crazy tight. So slowly and surely I'll fix myself!

And a link to the pics from last weekend at the beach house. Hopefully the link will work- it was sent from my friend....

Laffers.

Yo Ho Ho, like a pirate.

Whatever that means, I had a great holiday weekend with my friends and family at the beach house. I cooked some chickens described as "immaculate" and "ridiculously expensive" over a wood fire, simply seasoned. They were indeed amazing- pure poultry succulence!

Also enjoyed: white chanterelles, 1st of the season, with corn, tomatoes and sweet banana peppers cooked in a skillet over said fire. A succotash of sorts. Duck, roasted. Beans, braised with carrots and wild arugula/rocket. Wilted beet greens with bacon and the fine sherry vinegar finish I love. Nectarine-Marionberry crisp. All local. All amazing.

Guitar jams by the fire, poker, beer, whiskey and whisky imbibed, laffs/real slappers all happened out there.

That place rocks. Pictures maybe someday.

Weekend.

Here's to hoping that today's fine weather will travel till Monday round these parts, contrary to the report, because, I am heading to the family's house on the Kitsap peninsula where the reunion was held. I'm headed out there with friends, and my dad. Cooking and drinking, and being relaxed at the end of this summer, which has had a lamentably low number of scorching days.

But I still got sorta tan.

Tomorrow I will hit the market before work, to grab some stuff for the Sunday night dinner: jerk chicken with some awesome chickens, and then some stuff with peaches, corn and tomatoes, and greens. One cannot complain about the produce round these parts this time of year! Enjoy celebrating your Labor, Americans.