Campy

Beautiful sunsets and (more importantly) dry weather in the Seattle area led us camping. We made our way to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Once on the island, we stopped at Bayleaf in Coupeville, a charming shop selling cheese, bread, wine, chocolates, and more.

We bought camping snacks there, including some wine (screw-top necessary), bricks of marigold gouda and a spicy cheese, individual puddings in rich flavors, mini chocolates, crusty bread, and some the best sausage I've had to date.

Oh, hadn't you heard? I'm eating some pork now. Mostly hard sausages and prosciutto/bacon. I'll save the wherefore for another entry.

Now, about those sausages --



Both (we bought two flavors) were perfect. Fresh air and beautiful views may have made it tastier, but it was already sharp (both the "hot" version and the less spicy) and chewy and moist. Beautiful. And for a camping trip, you really can't beat the portability of hard sausages and bread. I could have eaten nothing but this all weekend. I might have gotten ill, but I wouldn't have cared up until that oops-I-got-ill point.

If you like sausage, keep an eye out for this label:

Japanese Picnic foods

In Seattle, Eva took us to Uwajimaya (an impressive Asian-and-more grocery/home goods market) in the International District for a pre-camping shopping trip. We also picked up some ready-to-eat items for snacking in the car on the way to (and on board) the ferry.



Inarizushi are fried tofu pouches filled with sushi rice. They are good cold -- moist and sugary, but tangy from the (rice wine?) vinegar -- but I wondered if they might be even better just fried and crispy. Then I discovered that the pouches come pre-made in cans. One merely stuffs and (some recipes say) steams them. So I guess they wouldn't be crispy that way, either.

We also tried onigiri (not pictured), triangles of rice and filling (salmon, eel, etc) with crisp seaweed around the outside. The packaging of the brand we found in the market ingeniously keeps the seaweed dry - even if one of your onigiri gets lost in the cooler and doesn't get eaten until the next day.

Ooh, and there were some kind of delicious shrimp rolls (I've forgotten the name). They were excellent - fresh and crunchy and light.



But...



Less satisfying were the Cheese Rings, which also tasted quite sugary. Though the flavor was "off," the shape was novel and they were eaten anyway. I mean, as long as one is trying new things...

Make mine a monkey?

As much as I like chocolate, I'm not that into "mocha" flavored drinks. But I do like frozen-whipped-smoothie-icy beverages. So I was all for trying an advertised "Monkey Mocha" after a long car ride on a sunny day. Dan saw the sign and hopped out of the car to buy a couple while we were in line outside the parking lot for the ferry to Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, WA, and he made it back to the vehicle just in time for us to board and drink the mochas on the crossing. Not bad. Hit the spot, as they say.

Yet -- why "monkey?" It certainly wasn't an ingredient. Was there banana in there? I didn't taste any. Nor was it served by monkeys. The bikini coffees at the bikini espresso stands are served by bikini-clad women (ask me what I think about this), so shouldn't the monkey mochas be served by primates? Nice mocha; confusing name.

Good morning, crumpets.

I was under the mistaken impression crumpets would look like small eclairs or cream puffs, but the crumpet is apparently a cross between an English muffin and a pancake. These pictured above, which we watched being made, started out as batter poured into ring-shaped molds on a large griddle (this is the pancake-y part). Then, the griddle top was closed in with a sort of tent wall made of large metal sheets (about the size of large cookie sheets) leaned over to meet the top of the stove, making the cooking environment more oven-like. Once the crumpets had finished baking on the griddle, the crumpets in their molds were removed from the cooking surface and, after resting on a table for a few minutes, the metal rings were removed.

So, where were we? The Crumpet Shop is near Pike Place Market in Seattle. There, crumpets are served hot - with a wide variety of sweet and savory toppings. A number of teas may also be had. I chose Nutella and ricotta. Others in the party enjoyed pesto with tomato and one with marmalade and butter.

For what it's worth, ricotta doesn't have a lot of flavor, but it is so rich and thick that it is perfect between the crumpet and the chocolate hazelnut spread. The crumpet is crispy and soft and eggy and bready and quite nice!

More pics to come once I have a full-sized computer at hand. Thanks for your patience!

Nopelets and notlets

Cranaplet, originally uploaded by jennybunny.

I do not like aplets and cotlets. In years past they were given to us at Christmas as gifts by friends of the family, so I have known that I dislike them for a while. Recently, Dan insisted on buying them as a genuine Washington state treat for a camping trip. I thought I should give them another try, especially as I might like this new cranberry flavor more. I did not.

They are not "deliciously soft." The jellied texture grosses me out. The plasticky taste does not please me. And the walnuts suspended in the semi-solid goo remind me of when I did not like "nuts in things. "

I was kind of glad they got soggy and wrecked in the cooler and had to be thrown away. Sorry, Dan.

The owls are not what they seem.

Diane, I am in the Pacific Northwest for a little R&R. Haven't made it to the Great Northern, but I have sampled 4 cups of the local joe in the past 3 days. Unlike you-know-who, I'm not much for the stuff back in my workaday life. I'd rather start the day with a large glass of milk. Which may be why, when having a coffee/espresso, I'm partial to the latte.

The best cup I've enjoyed up here? A latte (no sugar needed) at Victrola in Seattle. Victrola coffee is roasted on-site in small batches. The flavor was smoother and sweeter than my Portland choices (including Stumptown Coffee Roasters, which I was told is the best in Portland - indeed, it was the best I tried in Portland) and if I were staying in Seattle I'd make Victrola a regular haunt.

No cherry pie, Diane, but a mighty fine lemon bar and peanut butter chocolate chip cookie were also consumed.

I'll be back in the office soon. Give Gordon the heads-up as to my general whereabouts. Tell him my disposition is dandy.

Green Tea Bark

Green Tea Bark, originally uploaded by jennybunny.

In Seattle, Eva offered me a Sequoia Chocolate, which does have cocoa butter in it but not much chocolate flavor. The dominant flavor is green tea, which comes on strong (and I like it!), and there's a background note of fruitiness. My best guess about the name, as most of the information on the package is in Japanese, is that the lines etched into the green tea chcolate (surrounding wafers and more green tea chocolate layers inside) are meant to resemble tree bark.

Hey, whose toes are those?