Month: February 2014

Thursday Thrills

On By HanneIn History, Thursday Thrills2 Comments

One of my 30 before 30 items is to spend a day exploring a local (Washington) town I’ve never been too. But there are also many areas in and around Seattle that I’ve never really explored. After walking one kid to the bus stop earlier this week, the little guy I watch was pretty adamant about going buh-bye. It was a pretty nice morning, with quite a bit of blue sky which is always nice (and fairly infrequent at times) in a place like Seattle. So we loaded up and circled through our favorite Starbucks for a latte and specialty ice water (because water from a starbucks cup is ten times better than the water in your own water bottle when you’re two), and then head out. I was aimed for Fremont, a fun artsy area, when I decided to swing out toward Wallingford first. It’s a cute little neighborhood and while I’ve driven up and down N 45th St. more times that I can count, I’ve never been inside the Wallingford Center that advertises ‘Life’s Necessities & Little Luxuries’.

photo 4

An old school building from 1904, this places oozes charm before you even head inside. The kiddo was excited to go inside and look around. We were greeted with a big display of cupcakes at Trophy Cupcake. But before he could do more than point at all the nummies, he spotted a train table in the middle of the ‘hallway’ at the north end. The place was pretty empty at it was just opening, but after a looky–lou around, there are a lot of open spaces available for rent. I get the feeling that most people come here for specific reasons – the pharmacy, the old Tweedy & Popp hardware store, etc. – rather than just to browse. It’s too bad, really. I think they could do a lot with this building to build up visitors to the area. I still have yet to explore the other stores on the street (there is a fun sock shop, but they weren’t open yet).  The kiddo is pretty good about keeping his hands to himself as we looked through a couple of the shops and then headed outside.

photo 33We circled the building and spent some time watching a small fountain that had a pink carnation bud floating around. The water was icy-cold so it was easy to convince the kid to keep his fingers out. We then walked up the street a bit, but a majority of the shops don’t open until 11 (and we were about 20 minutes shy of open).  Overall, it’s a lovely little area. Some of the shops outside the center look a little run down, but certainly worth a revisit once everything is open. And we’ll certainly return for a tasty cupcake sooner rather than later. Trophy has converted a couple of the old classrooms into a fun seating area.

The top floor has been converted into studio apartments. Google doesn’t provide many images of the way it once was, but more than anything I’d love to see the way the studios are set up. A building like this is as close to ‘old history’ as we have in Seattle. #historynerdsunite

Tuesday Turmoil

On By HanneIn Food, Tuesday TurmoilLeave a comment

I’ve been trying to think of a few themes to cover in my blog. Not necessarily one major theme – this isn’t an NCIS-only blog (though I’d never be short of topics), but smaller themes to keep me posting on the regular. In scrolling through the interwebs  for ideas, I stumbled upon something that is utterly disgusting.

9The apples on the shelves of your local grocery store are likely between 9-14 months old.

Now I know the local apple harvest is in the fall, sometimes starting in late Aug and going through October, so I know we’re not harvesting apples in Feb. But I always assumed (in my own naivety) that the apples we had during the off season were just grown elsewhere. Somewhere warmer. I don’t know, can you grow an apple tree in a greenhouse somewhere?

Most apples that aren’t meant for the fresh market (i.e. a fruit stand or local market for sale that day, week, maybe month) aren’t really apples anymore. “They pick the apples when they’re slightly unripe, treat them with a chemical called 1-methylcyclopropene, wax them, box them, stack them on pallets, and keep them in cold storage warehouses for an average of 9-12 months.”  I am absolutely grossed out right now. At least most other fruit, while not local in the off-season, doesn’t sit on a shelf for over a year (unless it’s frozen, and I feel better about frozen than sprayed/waxed/kept cold).

That said, it’s hard to only enjoy apples during apple season. I found this link that suggests a few ways to freeze apples for various uses (except eating raw – though I can find something else to dip in almond butter). I plan to give this a try this upcoming fall so that I can enjoy apples year round without wondering if the apples have sat for a year. Anyone have ideas for what to use frozen apples for (other than apple pie)?

Seriously though, am I the only one that didn’t know how long apples sit around before being put for sale?

*Note to self, an apple a day only keeps the doctor away during apple season when purchased from local, organic orchards.

I do my best proofreading after I hit send.

On By HanneIn Food, Health3 Comments

I follow (sometimes, more of binge-read 20 posts and forget about it for two months) a great blog about living frugally – mostly done by growing your own food. It’s a fun blog, the writer is semi-local (Gig Harbor area) and has chickens in her backyard. So while most of the recipes and ideas are healthy/organic, she’s not super strict about it – she’s more focused on getting a good deal. Which is fine, whatever. But I was going over the comment section (omg, ‘internet don’t 101)and someone commented on some nonorganic/health food stuff. Basically, she said she disagreed with something, gave her reasons and went on her way. The comment/reasoning were fineand she wasn’t rude. But all the replies to her comment were horrible! I don’t claim to eat perfect (because I don’t), but these people attacking her for eating as cleanly as possible were almost comical. Except they weren’t because they were adamant that GMO’s are fineand if we weren’t meant to eat chemicals sometimes, it wouldn’t taste good and blah blah blah…

So I wrote up a great response, limited the snark and went with a couple facts and clicked submit and…. Oh. My. God. Is that ‘there’ instead of ‘their’? Luckily I caught it quickly and clicked edit before my comment could be posted (all comments are moderated anyway), but there is no sure-fire way to make less of a point or appear uneducated than to use the wrong form of there/their or two/too/to or anything similar.

Whew.

Anyway, I’ve been awful at this blogging crap, despite my 30 before 30 goals to blog regularly. I’ve been sick for forever, but finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel (hopefully not a train). I have a doctors appointment Wednesday, so I’m looking forward to that. Unless needles are involved. Then I might be looking forward to it a little less.

 Being sicks means I’ve not cooked much lately. But my latest adventure in the    kitchen came in the form photoof scallops. The first time I tried a scallop (that I  remember) was last falland it was delicious. It was part of an appetizer and much better than I expected. I didn’t give it much thought until I was wandering Whole  Foods looking for something different protein-wise compared to my standard chicken. Not that there is anything wrong with one of the eleventy-billion ways I cook chicken, but I can’t have chicken 365, can I? And I’ve never been great at cooking Salmon (another fav) – either over or under cooking it. So I decided to give scallops a try. The guy behind the counter was great and gave me several tips – both for the scallops and for a ‘sauce’. Let me start by saying that I royally fucked up the sauce. Like, blackened/burned garlic mush. But the scallops ended up seared to perfection. I added them to some arugula and goat cheese and then tossed with a dressing of lemon juice, honey, olive oil and garlic.qq

For the scallops I used a cast iron pan. I heated it to med-highand once the pan was hot I added a bit of olive oil and butter and after a quick pat withpaper towel, I added the scallops. I cooked them for a short 90 seconds per side (and by short, I mean that I counted to 90 quicker than one one-thousand, two…). They were tender enough for my fork to slice through, but just seared enough to have a bit of a crusted edge. While they certainly aren’t cheap – Whole Foods sells them for $23.99 a pound and Fred Meyer’s sells them for $18.99 a pound,  four run me about $8 – they are a great alternative for something healthy, low calorie and fairly good for you. Except the butter that I cooked them in, but it wasn’t much. So if  you’re looking for something different and delicious give them a try! But be careful, 10-15 seconds can make a difference between seared to perfection and over-cooked.

** Edited because I didn’t proof-read until I posted. Ugh. Lesson not learned.

“And falling’s just another way to fly.” ― Emilie Autumn

On By HanneIn Health, Stress, TravelLeave a comment

I fell down the last three steps into the basement yesterday.
(see above ^^)

I’ve been sick the past few days, but finally managed to collect myself enough to help out around the house – pfft, that’s what I get for trying to help. I was carrying some dead flowers down to take them to the yard waste. Not sure what happened, but all I remember is the longest fall ever (srsly, in slow-motion). Slammed my left knee into the cement floor and banging into the cabinet at the base of the stairs. I’m not too bad today considering all the various possible outcomes. A little stiff, and my left knee is sore to the touch, but otherwise it’s mostly my ego. And the fact that I probably inhaled a royal shit ton of glitter (also from the flowers) and dead/dried leaves that crumbled at the touch. I mean, really? Ready to go to bed – wake me when Feb. is over.

Struggling with the fact that I have zero vacation planned for 2014. With the trip to Denmark being pushed to *next* year, and Cait unable to drive to OKC for MH14 – I don’t even know how I’ll last the year. I could drive on my own, but at 20 years old, I think my Camry has seen it’s last Epic Roadtrip(tm). Also, a 3+ week road trip isn’t really in the bank account when I’m looking to replace my Camry baby at the end of the year.

With rumblings of MH14 on twitter, I’ve toyed with the idea of flying in for a long weekend. I would hate not having the use of my car – having to either rent or rely on friends for a ride. Cait and I got separated from the group last year during the Tornado fiasco… they knew we had a ride, so it wasn’t as big of a deal, but to go through that again and wonder how to get back to a hotel 40 minutes away during a natural disaster is enough to make my stomach churn.  Thinking of MH14, I would of course love to go and, as always, chat with my favorite celebrity, and spend time with the many friends I’ve made over the past 3 years. But I also feel drawn back to Oklahoma. Sort of a ‘back up on the horse’ after falling off – or in my case, sitting through a tornado. #needagoodadventue