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.

Smokey Attention.

It's a lazy Sunday.

I slept in past noon by 3 minutes, like I could do at a younger age, but it's very rare indeed nowadays. 7 or 8 hours of sleep is usually sufficient. Regardless, I awoke from an intense, movie-like dream where I was an elite soldier, but in one of those "we're going to have a good time during the war" units (like pirates, except government funded?). And then things went south outside Shanghai.....

I then arose from the final credits, which might've promised a sequel, to strong coffee (as always), reading (the girl with the dragon tattoo- yes, I'm a little late to the party), making sweet corn soup (with smokey Oaxaca chiles that were stored in the same bag as some chocolate couverture, and the chocolate has garnered some smokey attention that was pleasant) that I topped with smashed avocados, ricotta salata from Montana, and tortilla chips that got that pleasant, soggy nature I like.

Now I'm listening to the new Eels album, and readying for some parties I got invited to- one a pig roast, and the other a meatballpalooza.

And then there's this:

Pain.

Alright. I've been slacking of late in this place. I've been busy with my return to work- honestly things could be going better there, like being busier, so I've had to tool some things around in the hopes that we'll entice more people in, especially for happy hour and lunch. Come on down if you're in the Seattle area. I bet you will think the food is at least ok....

I've been mired down with at times crippling sciatica pain, which I've been dealing with for a month now, maybe more. I've been stretching, icing, massaging, and have started acupuncture. Sunday I layed low, and felt pretty good Monday. The problem is that I don't have a desk job- sitting eases the pain for me. So after say 6 hours of work, I start hurting, and then I'm there for 3 more hours (at least) and it sucks. Last night I had to run errands after I came home, and walking in the grocery store was hell. I came home, and hated life for a few minutes as things calmed down....it is epically lame.

Figuring out what the heck I'll be doing Labor Day weekend....beach perhaps...

Montuckey.

I am back to the real world. It's mighty real indeed.

Bozeman, the epic journey, the wedding, the Hemingway Week, was many things: short, memorable, tiring, bourbon-ey, beefy, cooler than expected, boot-buying, and enjoyable. Mostly the last.

Drove over with a large car-load, got a speeding ticket about 40 miles shy of the line, stayed in a large house, cooked my way through a whole steer, played nails in the mountains, roasted Dustin, got woken up by Dustin unloading his gun (2nd time a Calery has done this to me...), cooked some more, cooked a little bit more, went to a wedding with a beautiful bride that let me dance with her in my red-seersucker "summer playsuit," swam in the Gallatin river, and drove home with a stop for fried chicken, another stop for nectarines and corn, and a final stop for mountain rock blasting (rawk blasting would have been preferred!)

Browse these pics if you haven't....

Now I've returned to work, where I have to make some changes to some things, and so I embark on that job....

Hasta La Bye-Bye.

I am headed out early in the morning for Bozeman, and I still have much to do!

Will probably do some blogging at some point, but no promises kids.

Have fun. Be back in Seattle in a week.

Hemingway Week.

Not too much to speak of going on this week. I'm laying rather low, to save my energies for my Hemingway Week next week.

I have good friends getting married next week, Jackie and Dustin, over in Bozeman Montana. While my dad pointed out that it means ending the week blowing my brains out, that is not exactly what I meant. What I meant was the imbibing and writing part. So do I need to asterisk, or list caveats after I proclaim Hemingway Week*?

*I will not even shoot a gun.**

**well, it is Montana....

Peak Flavor.

Here's the new menu:

Now with corn, truly ripe tomatoes an sweet peppers, food life is at it's peak in the NW!

Ferns.

Yes.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Steve Carell from Between Two Ferns

Geoduck Grand Champion.

You may now only refer to me as "The Grand Champion", or "His Holiness The Grand Champion." (With or without a French affect)

My dad and I won this year's Andrews family reunion bocce ball tournament, crushing and destroying opponents with suregeon-accurate precision and ruthless antics. I last won in 1998, so it's been a long time coming for the 2nd hoisting of the glorious trophy which represents the pinnacle of athletics. Actually, I wasn't super into the bocce ball stuff when it started, the weather was so glorious I wanted to be dragged behind a boat on an inner tube instead...

Friday night I left work and headed down to the house outside Allyn, and slept out on the deck, with a nearly full moon lighting the bay. It was warm and summer out. Saturday was a day of hijinks, the aforementioned bocce ball, geoduck hunting (which is muddy and fun and wild), volleyball, cooking, hot tubbing....life is tough.

I did all the cooking this year, which was a first, and I went pretty big:

-Sockeye Salmon with Quilicum beach scallop ceviche

-A small farm pork rib roast (Pork Prime Rib) with roasted apricot-dijon-coriander (seed) bbq sauce

-Perfect potato salad

-White beans with braised fennel and arugula

-Ripe summer tomatoes, pickling cukes and celery salad with a sweet sherry vinaigrette

-Geoduck a la Plancha de Washington, a Spanish affair with chorizo, tomatoes and green onions

(cleaning the geoduck was odd.....)

-Brown sugar poached apricot buckle (I forgot the mint whipped cream I had planned)

And then I spent the night out there again, and it was another fine evening. The place really is fine..... I plan on heading out there again sometime this summer, as it's only an hour away, and it really is underused according to the relatives that own it. So y'alls invited!

Lots.

It's been a weekend of lots. Lots of friends, lots of bloody marys, lots of highlife, lots of outside sitting, lots of ducks, lots of life.

The party went rather well- lower turn out than I'd hoped for, but whatever. More booze for the serious folks. That rolled downhill into hanging out all day and night with friends.

Which rolled right into a brick wall of pain Monday morning. I went into work to do a few things, rather slowly, and then headed to Capitol Hill to hang with Gregor, visiting from Edinburgh. We travelled from Cafe Presse, to the P-I, to Art of the Table's happy monday, to King's in Ballard. Sun followed us the whole day, and naturally fine conversation flowed. I was rather beat afterwards, and woke up early today to play paintball with people from work. It was going really well (minimal pain incurred via high velocity paint), when 5 minutes before the end, I wrecked my back. I am pretty hurt, and need to get into better shape once I heal enough to...

But there's a new kitchen at work- new equipment! New refrigeration and heat and storage and tables! I am loving it tomorrow (if my back is ok!) I've never cooked with brand new stuff except culinary school. Will take some pics tomorrow....

///.

I am scheming/plotting/getting ready for the bloody mary party/soire/shin dig on Sunday.

Who knows what special treats/delights/culinary train wrecks will happen/be presented/change the world?

We will find out/expectorate.

Weekend Roundup.

I had a weekend of enjoyment, after a long and tiring week (6 days, 60 hours).

I enjoyed a summer eve on Saturday, outside mostly, in the fine weather. I love sitting around outside in the summer air at night. The coolness is lovely.

Sunday was, of course, the World Cup Final. I attended a party, and watched a rather dull game, full of fouls that will tarnish the legacy of this Dutch side. But Spain won in the end, and I liked to see that, since it means essentially FC Barcelona are the world champs....

And then I headed up to Vancouver, to see not only Beth, but her parents, and her boyfriend Chris, who is around for a few months too. It was enjoyable and an honor to see the parents, and we went to Lynn canyon, a place I'd like to explore more, and laze in the river. We then returned to their posh hotel and had high tea. Tea sandwiches are so odd. They range from insipid to spongey, to archaic, to too rich. English genteel ladies were/are/will be odd. But the tea was lovely, as were the biscuits that they called scones.....

Returned to Seattle last night, and after a large Chinese bbq dinner, I got pulled over, for expired tabs in my brother's car. I knew this. The 1st officer was nice, and just wanted to make sure my record was clear. He took my license, and another cop returned and asked me if I was "DOC active." I became confused, she become angry, and then asked me if I had a parole officer. I guffawed, which incensed her more. I've never been arrested, contrary to what you may think! They got their issue corrected, and let me go after too long. (wrong birthday- a entry level mistake I think....)

Finished off the night with a nice 7 hour nap....

VanDreams.

For some reason, I got this idea in my head of an epic, trans-America road-trip. An almost circumnavigational one. When I tried to get directions from google maps, it blew the entire system of computerized map-makers up, and left a smoldering pile of rubble behind. That is the level of epic-osity.

In a conversion van no less. I've looked into it.....the vehicle of perfectness doesn't exist though: a 2 captained chaired, bed, cooking area, entertainment system in a diesel, made in the 90's. And it's painted green as an alligator. And it flies.

A flying Wani-Van! (A WV, not a VW.)

Anyways, this is what I think of when I have a spare moment and walk to the store for coffee in the morning. Besides, the new menu debuted to much acclaim- I am far happier with this one than the past ones. It needs an appropriate wine list, which I have to sort out now....

Heads Up Cuz.

When I was camping, I concluded that my NZ Immigration debacle had one last gasp: a letter to the Immigration minister. (Read it if you care....)

I tried to impart on him that the best chefs in the world never went to school, that cooking is a craft, and cannot be measured by a degree. A subtle petition for myself was perhaps laid out, but I expect nothing to come from this, other than a "Thanks for the heads up cuz." (It is NZ, and they speak like that there, even MPs from Northcote!)

So, yeah. I have given up on doing things the right way, the correct way. Are there other options? Yes. But I haven't really given too much thought to those ways, as other things around these parts require attention. Bottom line is this: money. I need it, and am saving up for the eventual return to Wani-san Glory. (That's my band's name, number one hit: Wani-san no groly. Inside joke: for Trever).

Happy 4th of July everyone. Freedom isn't free, and neither is the movement to another nation! (I just had the idea that if the US conquered NZ, I could live there then!)