The Great Outdoors

Seattle finally had a warm (78 degrees) and sunny Saturday, so Ed and I hopped in the car and headed over the mountain to Roslyn, WA. 

The town is tiny, picturesque, and brews a great beer (Roslyn Brewing Company).  People wave, smile, and make small talk with you.  Sigh.  I love small towns.

After eating lunch at the Roslyn Cafe we headed out to the Wenatchee National Forest for an easy hike on the Hyas Lake trail.  After getting a little bit lost and a VERY bumpy ride on FS4330, we finally hit the trail head.  (Note: if you don't have an SUV/truck don't even try to get to the trail head.  At two points we actually had to drive through rushing water.  At one crossing I waded out to the middle to make sure the current wouldn't sweep the car away.  brrrrrrr)

I really don't know why it didn't occur to Ed and I that the trail may be a bit snowy/wet, seeing as how we had a pretty cold/wet spring - but it didn't.  Hiking in the snow in 78 degree weather and hopping over run-off streams (or walking across on fallen logs) made it quite a fun adventure.  I love the great outdoors.

Grilled Halibut w/Flavored Butters

Whenever Ed makes a recipe from a cookbook I get a little (okay, a LOT) lazy to post it, because it means I have to type the recipe up rather than just embedding a link (sigh).

But - since this recipe for Grilled Halibut with Flavored Butters (adapted from a recipe from Julie and Jacques Cooking at Home, 1999) turned out so well - I feel obliged to blog about it.

For the Halibut you'll need

2 - 8 to 10 ounce skinless halibut fillets
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
pepper
2 tbs anchovy butter (combine 1 stick room temp butter, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, black pepper, 1/2 lemon, 6-8 anchovy fillets packed in olive oil, 1/2 tsp olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth - adjust seasonings to your taste)

Preheat the oven to 200 F and set grill over high heat.

Brush the tops and bottoms of the fillets w/the vegetable oil and salt/pepper.  Sear each side on the grill for approx 1 1/2 minutes.

Transfer the fillets to a baking dish and bake for 5-10 minutes (until flesh is firm yet moist and warm all the way through).  Remove from the oven and top w/a tablespoon of anchovy butter.

We served with Rice Pilaf with Pepper, Peas, and Asparagus - the recipe for which is in the same cook book.  If you want the recipe let me know, and I'll muster up the energy to type it out :)

"Granola" Bars ;)

My stepdaughter, Natalie, inspired me to try my hand at making homemade granola bars after I told her about my recent addiction to Zone bars, to which she replied, "Do you even know what they put in those things?"

Hmmm...I think I glanced at the ingredients at some point in time, and I know there must be some sort of additive to ramp up the protein content...but who really knows.  All I know is that they satisfy my 10AM cravings and I feel like I'm eating a candy bar.

Well - Nat suggested I try my hand at making my own granola bars and last night I did.  I must admit I cheated a little and picked a recipe that is more on the rice krispy treat side of the granola bar spectrum - but hey, at 143 calories each I don't feel that guilty.

Check out the recipe for Cranberry Crisp Bars here

Back From the Concrete Jungle

NYC is one of those cities I think is wonderful to visit (the magnificence! the history! the stimulation!), but I couldn't live there - mainly because: (1) I "heart" Seattle, (2) the never ending NYC crowds would eventually lead me right to a bottle of Xanax, (3) I only like heat/humidity when I'm on a beach in a bikini, (4) I'd go into debt ($17 cocktails! $4800 for rent! eek!).

But - if someone magically gifted me with an unlimited pass to NYC Broadway shows, I may reconsider my stance. 

I arrived to NYC clutching a ticket to the Wednesday matinee of Promises, Promises and a chatty seat mate convinced me I had to catch another show on my only other full day (Thursday) in the city.  Therefore, after a morning relaxing in the urban oasis know as Central Park - I stood in line (for an hour +) at the same day ticket booth (TKTS) for a ticket to A Little Night Music.

The Line

It was totally worth it!  I was 13 rows away from Angela Lansbury (and I got the ticket at a 40% discount)!  She was captivating. 

I also must say - Catherine Zeta Jones can really sell a song.

Yay Broadway!

You Perplex me American Apparel

This is not a rant...since I'm really not that ticked off...

But I must say - I probably will never again shop at americanapparel.com again.  Let me explain why.

American Apparel is one of those stores that scares me (a little).  It's a place where I know I don't belong.  Their target market is really hip & risque early twenty somethings, whereas I'm basically a yuppie without all arrogance and superficial trappings. 

But - I was perusing their website the other day and decided I HAD to have a couple lace t-shirts and quickly pulled the trigger.  Making the purchase online seemed so safe - so far removed from the judgemental stares of AA sales people.

Everything was going great.  I received my first order confirmation and it was perfect, but then I received the second and it looked a little odd.  Somehow my cream and black lace t-shirts morphed into two nude camis and a black lace t-shirt.  I thought, "Okay, it's probably still fine but I'll confirm with customer service."

Let's just say customer service told me what I wanted to hear ("everything is ok") and I received a black lace t-shirt and two nude camis, yet they charged me for my original order.

At that point I still wasn't too miffed, since I figured I could just pop over to my local AA and return the extra cami.  Then I checked out their return policy, and learned I can't return/exchange in store - I have to ship the items back.

Sigh.

At that point I was done.  I gave a nude cami to my step-daughter, and called it a day.

Ugh.

Pan-Fried Egg Rolls

Interestingly, we discovered you can make this Pan-Fried Egg Roll recipe vegan merely by omitting the shrimp.  The egg-roll wrappers, which we assumed had egg, did not - nor did the recipe call for any. 

Hmmm....

All in all - it turned out well for Nat, Ed's daughter, who is vegan.

The recipe also turned out well for all of us since the egg rolls were not deep fried, but retained all the crunchy deliciousness you come to expect from an egg roll. 

At only 103 calories a pop, you think Ed would have let us have more than two :)

Lemongrass and Garlic Shrimp

I'm out of town this week, but I've cleverly scheduled a couple blog posts - mainly featuring all the yummy food we made last week (please note: when recipes do not turn out yummy, I do not blog about them - hence the over-use of the word "delicious" in my blogs).

First up - Lemongrass and Garlic Shrimp. 

Since I knew the shrimp needed at least 45 minutes to marinate in the refrigerator, I got to chopping and prepping right when I arrived home from work, so that by the time Ed walked in - I was ready to rumble.

The hardest part of the recipe was waiting for it to marinate.  The best part (which far outweighed the agony of waiting) was eating it.