Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Picking grapes







 Monique and I drove 2 1/2hr to visit Kim and Jordan and to help with their neighbors grape harvest. Well it was fun and really hard work too. Lunch was a sit down at a long table  with locals, a German, Dutch and us two Americans. Language was a mix of them all too! We had rice and beans, roasted pork, fresh bread  and wine to drink. They finished squeezing the grapes around midnight after us pickers had gone to bed. 

Saturday, August 10, 2024

Travel

 Travel is a gift that allows people to discover new cultures, visit the world’s most historic locations, escape the daily grind, and experience international cuisine. The world has everything, from picturesque Greek islands, Portuguese quaint villages and Roman cities to modern-day wonders and scenic landscapes. 

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Covid19

Saturday March 28, 20
Finally fell into a deep sleep but something woke me up: I had been in a verbal tug of war with a man and a women (seemed religious cult) and I had opened a piece of paper that had said I had won over $1100, can't remember the exact amount.  He kept mocking me, would walk away and when I finally confronted him and the woman to listen....I ended up giving up as I realized maybe I was in the wrong....

today I'm on day 3 wearing jeans, a black and white turtleneck, a forest green wool sweater..and as most days I top it with my Athleta quilted vest.

My morning in the kitchen started at NPR on Alexa started my morning with a really interesting podcast (Hidden Brain) on the Spanish Flu


Sunday March 29
Food: baked a blueberry/blackberry crumb cake, day 2 of kitty puzzle
Exercise: walked to Jeff Bell's garden
In home projects: repot culinary sage, bulbs, empty small pots
TV: announcement of 30 day extension on social distancing 5:30PM

Monday March 30
-day 1 of extension,
-puzzle making lots of progress
-People: Mugoux confirm letter/photo.  Eveline Graf in line TJ (advise of senior hr)
-Rebel starting to not mind being held
-Weather:Sunny day but windy and cold. It hailed at 12:41PM, hard rain
-2 Carnival Ships enroute to FL after getting priority to pass ship canal Panama : Rotterdam/Zaandam-4 dead on board
-Walked to The Station: coffee creamers, Mac/cheese, fish, one instant oatmeal, rice (bulk)
-4pm-6:00pm: polenta with cheese, roasted asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, fresh (thyme, lemon juice and garlic dressing) serve with a roasted pepper sauce.

Most heard words: coronavirus, moratorium,
unday March 29
Food: baked a blueberry/blackberry crumb cake, day 2 of kitty puzzle
Exercise: walked to Jeff Bell's garden
In home projects: repot culinary sage, bulbs, empty small pots
TV: announcement of 30 day extension on social distancing 5:30PM

Monday March 30
-day 1 of extension,
-puzzle making lots of progress
-People: Mugoux confirm letter/photo.  Eveline Graf in line TJ (advise of senior hr)
-Rebel starting to not mind being held
-Weather:Sunny day but windy and cold. It hailed at 12:41PM, hard rain
-2 Carnival Ships enroute to FL after getting priority to pass ship canal Panama : Rotterdam/Zaandam-4 dead on board
-Walked to The Station: coffee creamers, Mac/cheese, fish, one instant oatmeal, rice (bulk)
-4pm-6:00pm: polenta with cheese, roasted asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, fresh (thyme, lemon juice and garlic dressing) serve with a roasted pepper sauce.

Most heard words: coronavirus, moratorium,

Tuesday March 31
Food: blueberry cake with yoghurt and banana
polenta with roast veggies, red pepper sauce
curried rice with nuts
popcorn, gingersnaps, brioche toast with almond butter and rasp jam
exercise: walk to beacon ave s, Cheasty, alley, Horton, 24th S, Hinds, our alley: 3.6 Kim
house: vacuum basement, do wash: jeans, tops,
puzzle 3: day 2. found 3 pieces to number 2 puzzle.
People; forgot to call Yan bday. visited w Peguero/potter 2:25-3pm

April fools postponed
with The NY Times subscription I have the food app on my phone and found a recipe using spices to make a chicken curry with cashews that intrigued me.  Having organized the spices a few days ago this was a breeze to make especially having time on hand.  We're trying hard not to go too often to the grocery store and with a two week idea in hand I found a red potato from last yr's harvest, a purple sweet potato, part of a bintje from the WSEA farmer's market and a carrot to substitute for the parsnips the recipe called for.  In addition I also dug deep in the freezer to find a roti that Eveline had brought from Holland when she came to Seattle to visit in 2018 (October)
We watched Inslee at 2 pm briefing in addition to the 2 week "stay home, stay healthy" order.  In the meantime the two Holland cruise-ships are approaching Florida. (Zaandam and Rotterdam)
Walked to Bartell's Drugstore zigzagging through Beacon Hill, picking the quiet less travelled streets to get there.  I picked up my diuretic Chorthalidone, then proceeded to Lowe's for two venting pieces so Geoff can move the current laundry set-up in the basement.  Walking up the steep hill of McClellan definitely got our heart rate  up and my feet were finally not numb from the cold wearing my Topsiders.  Meanwhile I could feel hunger pangs rising, the panettone with Gouda cheese eaten mid morning along with a good generous helping of tiki-tiki had worn off, so when we reached home grabbing for the last smoothie Pat Delfino left us came in handy.
To find this roti, I had to re-organize the upright freezer, so I took a washbasin with me to help me out.  Discovered more...Philippine lumpia's from the workshop I did and ice-cream that Toni (pizza Tony) had made.
I think we have enough to last us a month with maybe the odd stop to get fresh veggies and fruit.
Found a nice bean recipe with cannelloni beans so soaking 1 cup dry.  I should make the "no knead bread recipe since we're out of bread, used up the flour tortillas in the freezer too, yeah!
Here a gooey pic of dinner: I also picked the cauliflower tops in the garden and sautéd them with EVOO, and sprinkled them with everyday spices. Voila dinner was satisfying!
Polished off the gingersnaps.  Our snack drawer is pretty empty but I'm resisting stores as we can make our own cookies and snacks!

April 2, 2020  Today topped off over 200K virus cases, nearing 5000 deaths, still 12 states that do not want to shut down their entire economy: "not practical, resisting...not sure why!
9am start the no-kneed bread, it's proofing its eh oven, 18 hours ideally which takes it to 3am...yikes!
cooking the beans, I'll make the herb oil later....and accompanied with a Caesar salad, crusty bread this should make a complete vegetarian meal...maybe even vegan depending on what I find to make the dressing!
Doing few hand washes today to keep up with the piles.... organizing seeds...staircase walk...
Well, we didn't do the staircase walk or organize the seeds but I did get to the cabbage head, the kefir, cooked the cannilline beans that soaked overnight, vacuumed the main floor.
Mac and Cheese for dinner with a Caesar salad, homemade dressing!
Watched few more episodes of the Gifted and took a shower!
Walked west of us to 12th Ave S overlooking Sodo.
Pat Delfino turned 71

April 3

April 4

Sunday April 5
Walked Hinds all the way to 24th Ave S, caught the Hanford Steps, then back up to Hinds along Cheasty.  Randy was sitting out cutting up laurel branches and chatted with him. Took path up to 25th S, then walked home along Spokane Ave S, Right on 19th and picked up the white shelving laying on the sidewalk.
April 6th:
Errands: around 8am to Swedish to have blood sample taken for potassium levels, from there tried going to TJ but Senior times are now from 8-9 so we'd have to line up with the regulars so we ended up at Madison Market for salad greens, no yeast or flours, chickpeas, ground beef grass fed, pale ale for baking rolls, chips. From there we mozied on to the postoffice to mail package with mask, cc and sanitizer to Zach in Montreal. I had to remove the sanitizer because of the alcohol in it, it is a huge fine if customs was to find it.  Cost $12.95 vs the 88/98/125 to Fedex it.  At Home Depot there was no pellets that we use as cat litter but managed to make a return, purchase orchid bark and ammonia for window cleaning.
Exercise: Back home we prepped to walk to Bartell's, plant herbs at 21st and Lander traffic Circle and pick up my potassium prescription.  On the way walking back, we got some more water from a lady that was weeding and her 4 chickens were finding worms!  Watered the sage, mint, thyme, Swiss chard and strawberries planted.  On the way back we stopped at the Station and picked up pastas, tom sauce, instant porridge packages, pb (5.3 km from 12:30'ish till 3:00pm)
Food: Leftover waffle, curry chicken with cashews, choc chip cookies, popcorn, beet hummus(7pm) and tortilla chips
Garden: prepped 3" pots to seed herbs, tubors, leaf veggies until 6:30pm while roasting beets for 35 min in small oven. Pulled leafy green bulbs Lillies along the foot path. Arugula, romaine and mizuna seeded.
People: Jeanine, lady with 4 chickens, labtech at Swedish and receptionist, deaf guy directing traffic at TJ.


April 7th
People: Nathan TH 7th bday, Food truck owner dies (3th owner besides Kona kitchen owners).
Call Karl neighbor to give beet hummus.
Food: Up early by 6'ish, attend to bread dough that I put overnight in fridge after 24 hr proof in oven. At 9am rising for 2 hours to bake. I finally baked it around 5:30PM for 30 min at 450, then 15 min at same temp without lid. Doubling the recipe makes a bread that takes on the shape of the white Dutch oven so next time I'd bake it in the larger pot.
Using a ham hock, two chicken breast bones, leeks, half a kielbasa from freezer with 1.5 cup of green split peas, 1 carrot, 1/2 celery root 1 bay leaf and few allspice berries makes a nice amount in the P-cooker.
Garden: pulled up some more of those lilies around the raspberries with 4 pronged fork.
seeded salad mix in blue cloth planter, beets, celery and parsley root.

Clean-up kitchen from roasting beets etc etc.

April 14
Groceries: Trader Joe to stock up on cheeses, oatmeal, seeds, dry fruit and nuts, one penne, one can tomato chunks, oranges, bananas...
Central co-op: celeriac, rutabaga, red beets seed packages, cinnamon stick, cinnamon, cornmeal. dish detergent.
People: Susan Sanders in line at TJ just as we were entering.
8PMZoom meet with Mike and Solange, texted with Mandy as her business has just skyrocketed! Recipe exchange!
Food: meatball tagine with carrots, Swiss chard, bone broth made in May, roasted tomatoes from last yr's crop.
Finish up broccoli salad, penne with roast tomatoes and Swiss chard.
Make granola using hemp powder, mango, prunes, apricots, raisins.
Saf instant yeast arrived. 30 eggs from Vince and Jeanine (Costco sells 5 dozen for $9) Jeanine boils eggs
Exercise: walk to The Station, down to traffic Circle, along 19th to Jeff park, past the BFF, back home, 4km.
Nation: Trump's big talk about who is deciding how the country gets big time resistance, governors making a fist.

April 15
People: Birthday Maureen 59.
Divided the Saf-Instant Yeast, labelled it.  Also wrapped up two soaps: Biscotti and Jasmin in a gift bag. Called Vital and set up a noon visit.
Food: no need to cook, yay!  I could just make couscous to go with the meatball tagine made yesterday. Bkft granola with yoghurt, blueberries and banana.  Lunch was leftover penne and beet hummus on pita with spice mix.
Garden: raked the north side of garage and added that to the compost bin sifting out the seedlings and moss as much possible. Repotted the elephant tail indoor plant to larger pot and moved the plinka (ground cover with purple flower) to the area with Wisteria root stock.
House: get out the pink colored paper to make cards for Nue
Business: Called AMEX re the disputes I filed for Transavia, Ryan Air, Air Europa 2x (flights bought through Expedia)
to do suggestion: car insurance review, call American Airlines re re-deposit of airmiles (68K)  and refund of taxes and fees $115)
Dispute the $300 for visas to SU paid in December.

Thursday April 16
Started out the day with the cup of coffee and made a bunch of thank you cards for Nue to accompany food they deliver to healthcare workers.  These will go with UW and
Made it to TJ's West Seattle Senior hour to get snacks (pb pretzels, cookies, whole milk yoghurt and org milk for Zach, green onion pancakes, orzo
Using materials and items around the house feels good.  It seems like this Pandemic came at a good time...organizing, using up things and being home is FINE! I still continue to take photos of things we do to document our progress and experiences.
Today Zach is flying home from Montreal with a stopover in Detroit.  He did let us know he was in the terminal with 3 others onboard! Yikes that is some social distancing!
Our $2400 relief money is pending in the Chase account.
House: vacuumed the main floor and corner bedroom where he wants to quarantine.  Did hand-washes and hung them outside on the line, did two loads in the washer as it's projected to be 68F. Love it.  Vacuumed out our bedroom too and changed blankets, Rebel into jumping on the bed while shaking out the blankets and sheets.  funny.  Continued removing, rinsing light fixtures and catching the dust-lines/spiders at that level: completed the upper level and did the kitchen porch (broom ceiling peeling paint, corners with spider cocoons.
Cleaned out the bottom drawer and shelf on the upright refrigerator in the basement and organized nuts and dried fruits in the Yeti cooler to save space. Put Zach's milk, yoghurt etc in that fridge to be used.
Swept basement on other side of apt renovation.
Garden: gave the succulents on kitchen porch a clean face and repotted some. re-organized the bench they are on. Noticed mizuna and micro greens are sprouting. Nothing else is coming up which means I'll have to re-sow newer seed.  I think I'll use the seed packs/seed for art (ie make cards)
Food: second day of the meatball tagine with bread and cheese. granola yoghurt and fruit, pb pretzels

Friday April 17
Zach decided to stay with Dave as he insisted to take him to the Covid Test Drive-up today. Once the test-results are in (8-10 hours later) he'll transition home to us (maybe Saturday)

Call American Airlines.
Send documents to AMEX dispute
Review car insurances

New word: Social distance ambassadors