Travels with George and Marta – Page 15 – Journeys in the Botanical World

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

There is so much in my life and world to be thankful for. The item that is always the first – is my health. I am so thankful that I have made it through my life without any serious or chronic illnesses. I am thankful for a loving, gentle and caring husband. He means so much to me.

Family is important but a bit more distant for me. I am thankful for my in-laws and family who have showed me the joy in life.

Friends are what have enriched my life – especially the friends that I have made over the internet. I would have never have dreamed the wide net of friendship I would make that day I posted a question on Slow Travel in 2001. My circle grew from contacts I made in my city and work to a diverse group of people bonded by their love of travel. To them I give thanks this day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the United States.

Alvord Desert

Posted on November 21, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

Looking over my photos for the year, I keep coming back to our time in Eastern Oregon. Our day trip from our camp in the Steens Mountains to the Alvord desert sticks in my mind. It seems so remote and isolated and unique. I wish we would have spent more time there. I’ll blog more about it and the Steens later.

Ginger Cookies

Posted on November 20, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

I used to be known for my cookies. At my previous job, I was a product specialist and I held weekly meetings focusing on the product I supported. We would have a roundtable discussing customer issues and updates on the product development. I would often do demos to train my co-workers on upcoming changes or features of the product. I would bring home baked cookies to the meeting as a bribe. It worked wonderfully.

We are flying down Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with friends and family. Two years ago I made a pumpkin pie and took it down as carry on. It was actually great – a perfect conversation starter and smile maker for even the TSA agents.

But I didn’t want to go through the extra effort since we are flying Thanksgiving Day and I’m working until 11pm the night before our 7am flight. So I’m making cookies!

One of the favorite cookies were the Ginger Cookies by Martha Stewart. I love the spices in the cookie – the pepper is brilliant. I don’t make them as giant size but instead smaller 1/2-1″ balls which make regular sized cookies. G decided he wanted to try making them so I coached him. It is always fun to try to describe what ‘creaming the butter’ means or how much to mix so it is light and fluffy. He is also left handed so that adds an extra twist.

Cookies are so easy and a perfect as a take along for Thanksgiving.

Ginger Cookies
From Martha Stewart

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for coating
6 tablespoons molasses
1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and pepper.

2. With an electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. With mixer on low, gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and freeze for 20 minutes.

3. Divide dough into twelve 2-inch balls. Note: I make them in smaller 1/2″ balls instead and it makes about 3-4 dozen. Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a bowl. Roll balls in sugar to coat; place at least 4 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten into 3-inch rounds. Sprinkle with sugar remaining in bowl.

4. Bake until brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

All ready to mix

Rain

Posted on November 19, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

November is our rainiest month. The transitioning between Fall and winter is always unpredictable especially the week before Thanksgiving. Our tradition for many years was to get together with G’s parent here in Seattle. It was an ongoing joke about what was the weather going to do this year. We had a little bit of everything. One year we had to put on chains to get to the airport. One year it was freezing with temperatures down into the ‘teens. The most memorable was the year we had the wind storm. It came up the night before Thanksgiving. Trees were blown down everywhere. I had just put the turkey in and about 30 minutes later – the power went out. Uggg. I took the turkey out and moved it into the cold garage to wait for the power to come back.

An hour passed and we brought out the candles and lit the fireplace. Another hour passed and we got the transistor radio and cards. We played games by candlelight listening the the crackle of Komo radio reporting how wide spread the power outage was. About 3pm, we had to do something about dinner so we called a couple of restaurants. We found one with power and taking reservations. By 8pm, we were waiting in a crowded restaurant lobby with everyone swapping stories. Our power was still out. The power came back on just after we arrived back home after almost 12 hours.

By then the turkey was unsafe and we threw it out. I don’t remember much of the meal but oh what memories do I have spending time ‘off the grid’ together with family. This unplugged Thanksgiving lives on in our memories much more than the times when the meal was perfect.

Beer Braised Chicken

Posted on November 18, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

Several weeks ago, Amy asked about favorite beef stew on a thread on Slow Talk. The discussion mentioned Carbonnade which is a Belgium stew made with beer, mustard and onions. It has lingered in the back of my mind and I saw a chicken version posted on Simply Recipes. Chicken stew sounded perfect as a food to feed my ‘cold’.

The recipe is very easy. The hardest part is picking out the best beer for the stew. It needs to be a dark sweet beer without a lot of hops. The opposite of the IPA and Pale Ales that we have been drinking. I decided to get a bottle of the Ommegang Abbey Ale that was recommended. I was curious since I haven’t had it before and it is a US based brewery making beers in the Belgium style. Fortunately my local Central Market had it in stock. The bottle is large – about 24 oz and runs about $9 in the Seattle area. The recipe called for a 1 1/2 so we were about to both share a glass. It was very good dubble abbey style beer. I tend to prefer tripples which are less sweet but this was very good on a cool rainy fall day.

The recipe is very rich especially using chicken thighs. There will be a lot of fat given off and even by pouring most of it off, the dish was still very rich in chicken fat. But rich sauce goes well with boiled noodles. Perfect for lunch this week. Now.. if this cold will just go away!

You can find the recipe on Simply Recipes – Beer Braised Chicken

My market is stocking this chicken – sustainable and humane but not local

It uses LOTS of onions

September Harvest Moon

Posted on November 17, 2012 by MartaSeptember 19, 2021

Full moon from Edmonds Pier - September 2011

Sunset at the Edmonds Pier

I have been going through my photos looking for items for our annual Christmas Card and Calendars. I’m a little uninspired this year. G and I have both been sick the past week. It is partially due to our schedule change with me working the evening but we do also traditionally get sick towards the end of October beginning of November. G got sick about a week and half ago and is just now starting to get better. I got sick just about a week ago. I thought I was going to be fine but I went out for a run one cold day and I think that stressed my immune system.

We have been home bound so I have been reviewing photos. I came across these neat photos of the harvest moon rise that I took in September 2011. Did you know that the harvest moon is the moon rise closest to the beginning of Fall or the autumn equinox. It is named Harvest Moon because it usually rises just about at sunset and allowed farmers who were working late in their fields to continue to work and bring in the harvest. It happens between the early part of September and into mid-October.

In 2011, the harvest moon occured in September. It was one of those wonderful warm and clear September nights in the Puget Sound region. We raced down to the Edmonds Fishing Pier and I was able to get a series of shots of the moon rising.

Sunset reflected in the windows of the Ferry

To the West – the sun is setting

To the East – the moon is rising

Fall Vistors to the Backyard

Posted on November 16, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

Flicker

The forecast has been for rain. Rain is always unusual in Seattle. Typically it is drizzle or showers. Rain in the forecast means it will be a constant heavy downpour. Sometimes the storm comes up from Hawaii and we call them a pineapple express. But this one is coming due west.

We went out to fill the birdfeeds earlier this afternoon. I think the birds knew something is coming. Suddenly we had flocks of different larger birds in the yard. First to arrive were the pine siskins. They swarmed the feeder and gathered below in a feeding frenzy from the dropped seed. We could see other larger flocks of birds and soon the thrushes arrive and started digging through the leaf litter. One or two blue jays flew in. The siskins flew off and were replaced with a red wing black bird – a first for our yard. The startlings in their winter coat also arrived and started for the suet until the Flickers chased them off.

Then the big guy arrived – the pileated woodpecker. All the other birds gave him room while he pounded the suet.

Soon it quieted as the afternoon darkened. The rain is here now. I hope they have stocked up for storm.

She’s really waiting for the peanuts

Pine Siskins at the feeder

And gathered below

Blue Jay at the deck feeder

Thrush among the leaf litter

Red Wing Blackbird at the feeder.

Pileated Woodpecker working over the suet

The woodpecker can barely fit on the suet cage

2012 Anniversary Hike at Mt Rainier

Posted on November 15, 2012 by MartaDecember 26, 2014

September 2, 2012

I have to remember not to do our anniversary hike during Labor Day Weekend. This is the second year in a row that we have traveled up to Rainier to do our annual hike to celebrate our wedding anniversary and found it extremely crowded. It was so crowded both this year and last that they closed the entrance to Sunrise.

We were celebrating our 37th anniversary. It has been almost 10 years that we have been traveling up to the Sunrise area of Mt. Rainier to do a late afternoon hike and dinner. For several years we would go up to Burroughs Mountain and watch the sun going down while having dinner. We would hike back in the twilight. We had all types of weather during the years. It was not unusual to have the clouds close in and to hike back in the misty gloaming.

But we have been less energetic the last couple of years and we have done the hike around Naches Peak in the afternoon before having dinner. It is very interesting to look over the pictures from the past couple of years. One year, the meadows were filled with fall color by the first week of September. This year was just the opposite. It was like mid-summer. The late and wet Spring resulted in a late bloom of wildflowers. It also turned warm and sunny so it felt like August instead of September this year. The meadows were covered with an amazing display of lupine. Overall, it was an excellent but late bloom at Rainier.

We arrived at the park around 2:00pm on Sunday. We started towards Sunrise only to see the signs saying the parking lot was full. We didn’t want to wait at the entranced until enough people had left for the rangers to allow more cars up. So we headed over to Tipsoo Lake. Last year we had good luck and spotted a parking space right at the lake when we drove up. No luck this year. So we drove up to the pass and turned around to park along the road.

The trail was busy as expected. Everyone seemed to be out especially since the weather was beautiful. We hiked to the small reflection lakes and snapped several pictures before returning to the car. By this time, it was almost 5pm. The parking lot and road was still busy at Tipsoo so we decided to go up to picnic area at Sunrise. What a smart decision. Most people were heading back and the ones that were still around were out on the trail. We were able to find a picnic bench with a perfect view of the Mountain while we ate our dinner in the setting sun.

It did get quite chilly after the sun set so we quickly packed up and headed back to the car. Fortunately we brought warm coffee. The sky will striking as the sun set behind the Mountain. We could resist a couple of stops along the road before we bid adieu to the Mountain for another season.

Here are some posts on our previous Anniversary Hikes.

Favorite hike – Mt Rainier

Posted on November 14, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

I did not get a chance to blog earlier today so I will share this post of our favorite hiking place – Mt. Rainier. This is the Reflection Lakes Trail taken in August this year. It was a very late spring in the mountains due to a cold wet June. We were surprised to find the tremendous meadows of avalanche lilies especially in August.

Inspiring Women

Posted on November 13, 2012 by MartaOctober 11, 2014

I have been working an alternate shift at work to cover our office in Asia. I start at 3pm in the afternoon and finish up around 11pm. I have slowly adjusted to the different time by sleeping in later and trying to stay up late on the weekend. I do like having six straight hours of time each day to exercise, prepare dinner, take care of chores, shop. I feel like I have so much more time since it is not broken into two chucks – before and after work. I have been pretty good at getting to bed right after work.

I have also been looking for something on the television to watch before work. Daytime TV is even worse than evening TV. I normally do not watch a lot of TV but yesterday I decided to give it a try. I think it is the commercials that drive me to distraction. They repeat over and over the same thing. I mean how many times can I watch an ad for Medic Alert in an hour?

So I turned to the computer and checked out the videos on PBS. I came across a very inspiring program on the PBS videos – Solar Mamas. It is a film that is part of the Independent Lens series on Poverty. It focuses on women who were brought from around the world to study for a month at the Barefoot College in India. They were being taught how to set up a solar light system with the goal of training rural poor to be independent and sustainable.

They focused on one woman from Jordan and the challenges she had to over come in her family and village. She had the dream to make a change but was constantly being held back by her family, her husband, her village. But there were also many little things that I saw as common issues faced by any woman – the first time traveling, going to a place where they did not speak her language, lack of education not only in science but also the basics of reading and writing, being away from her children. But there was also the joys of learning, friendship and support between women, success and learning to know yourself.

I wonder if she was able to full fill her dream of bringing changes to the women of her village. She wanted to teach them what she learned so they could set up a solar collective. The ending implied that she was still facing many challenges. But this is the type of television that keeps me from throwing it out the door. The video is no longer available on PBS but do look for it elsewhere.