WWJB?

Also known as Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day has inspired what looks like a brilliant documentary about the "Shopocalypse":

What Would Jesus Buy?

http://wwjbmovie.com/

If We Had No Moon!

A not-so-new Discovery documentary that was news to me, If We Had No Moon was fascinating!! It takes you through the theory of why the moon exists, how it affects the Earth, and what would happen if it weren't there (and how quickly it is drifting away from us! Eeeeeeeek!) It also happens (?!) to be a full moon tonight..

$100 a head...

Garden Pics

These are earlier garden pictures from this summer. I would say June, maybe. I have some other ones on my phone but don't know how to get them here.



The garden was a simple plot of earth with several tons of rocks, concrete, glass, and rusty rebar before it was even this green! Since then it has exploded with kale and chard, which I am still harvesting, and I added three tomato plants. Next year there will be more of a variety, because there is even a limit to my ability to consume leafy greens. Mmmm! Squash!

Orcas Island Anniversary

JD and I have finally downloaded our anniversary trip pictures from August. We stayed at Doe Bay Resort on Orcas Island, where we were married last year, for two days and then moved on to San Juan Island the last night.

We had the opportunity to take the ferry to Lopez Island and bike around on a glorious day. Our favorite stop was at the Lopez Island winery where we tried their 2005-6 wines. We thought that their Madeleine Angevine was the best and decided to relax on their property and enjoy a bottle.






This is me after some Madeleine Angevine, a nice bike ride, and the BEST Reuben sandwich I will ever have! Have I ever looked so radiantly happy?



San Juan Island was our least favorite stop, but we still managed to find some nice wine at the San Juan Vineyards where they were hosting a vintage car convention. We had dinner at a pub right off of the ferry dock where I sampled a number of their beers. The most unusual was their jalapeno beer. Yikes! Glad I only had two ounces of it! The food was not as good as the cafe on Lopez, but in the spirit of our successful Reuben adventure, we ordered a side of their homemade sauerkraut.



The San Juan campsite was not what we had expected, and if it hadn't been for the fact that we had already paid their exorbitant camping fee we probably would have found someplace else. It was all families and RVs cramped together in little campsites with no privacy. Oh, well, we found ways to amuse ourselves...

Olivia's Scarf

MAN! I am so glad this project is over! I get so bored by knitting the same thing over and over! This is the fanciest scarf I have ever knitted for an eight-year-old. Never again! Next time I will teach her how to knit!

Olivia is the sweetest, liveliest girl her age I know, and this design is at her request. She absolutely deserves even more time than I spent on it. I hope it works!

Bubble, bubble...

Not really much toil is involved in infusing your own liqeurs, but it does feel a little like an evil chemistry project!

My latest efforts at infusions have turned to cognac and aquavit. Zac had mentioned that he would be interested in a black truffle cognac for his birthday this summer, but I haven't started experimenting until now. I haven't been able to find truffles, yet, but I did try a vanilla cognac that turned out to be lovely! Really all it involved was tossing half of a vanilla bean into the bottle, but it is very elegant regardless. I have had it on the rocks and with hot water as an unsweetened toddy.

The aquavit is more of a gamble. I was inspired by one of my favorite bars in Ballard called the Coppergate. It used to be considered the penultimate dive bar in Ballard but was sold, remodeled and now serves excellent Scandinavian bites and has a sweet little drink list that includes a variety of aquavit. My favorite there is "Heldig's Own" which is house-made and has saffron, fennel, coriander and horseradish. Yum! A little sweet from the fennel but with nice body which I
attribute to the horseradish. Anyway, there is some knock-off Heldig's Own in a bottle at my house now. Also, a straight horseradish vodka for our friend Muir. I am taking suggestions for the next batches:

Past experiments (and their success ratings!):
Lemon **
Lime ****
Cardamom ***
Raspberry ****
Ginger *****
Jalepeno ****
Black Tea *****
Anise ***
Vanilla ****

New ideas:
Ginger-Lime (because 9 stars total= amazing!)
Cucumber
Cherry-Pomegranate
Wasabi
Tomato (I like tomatoes in any form...)
Gogi Berry (delicious and healthful!)
Mango

Vote for the next one!!