Party in the Garden.

My husband's parents live in a turn-of-the-century home north of Seattle.  His mom grew up in the house during the '50s and '60s with her two brothers and a sister. At one point, her folks rented rooms to local college students for additional income. My mother-in-law returned to her childhood home with her husband and three kids and moved in to help her parents. The house has many rooms and all the charm you would find in a home that old. Needless to say, there is a lot of history in the house and a lot of good memories.

One thing about living in a house for so long is you end up keeping things you normally would get rid of when you move. This house is immaculate, yet many of the rooms hold memorabilia from when my husband and his siblings grew up there. My husband is always trying to bring home many of his findings when reminiscing through drawers and closets. He can't seem to help himself and has picked up old T-shirts, soccer jackets and all his old matchbox cars, including an original 1970's Evil Knievel motorcycle with the base that shoots it off into the air. (It still works perfectly and our son loves it.)

So, after a recent visit with my in-laws and to my shock and horror, I saw him cart out two full-size beer kegs he's saved since his college days at Washington  State University and put them into our car. I quickly jetted over to him and told him we were definitely not taking those home. He informed me he was going to have my Dad cut them in half with his metal cutter and recycle them into garden planters. I hated the idea - garden kegs in the garden - how aesthetically pleasing could this be?

But, as I've mentioned before, I need to back off and let some of his creative juices flow. So, I hauled these old, stinky kegs to my parent's house and asked my Dad to cut them. Well, when I saw the finished product, I kinda warmed up to the idea. My Dad left the cool Pabst Blue Ribbon wooden coin sign on the side and I started seeing the potential of these little hot beds in my garden.

I brought them home to my husband's delight and we filled them up with compost and added some banana peppers and cucumbers. It's been a slow start to the garden this year due to all the Pacific Northwest rain, but I'm happy to say, those plants in the 'garden kegs' are thriving and they look pretty cool in the garden.

The original Deadiest Catch.

I'm what you call a clam snob. Actually, I'm a seafood snob and my entire family is, too. When you grow up surrounded by fresh seafood it's hard to be anything but. However, we are a down-to-Earth crew, but snobs none-the-less.

Growing up we ate at tables spread with newspapers and empty beer bottles were placed in our tiny hands to crack an endless stream of dungeness and king crab legs spread across the table. My dad was the original Deadliest Catch...just kidding, but we did live on Kodiak Island in Alaska and my dad commercial fished for dungeness, king and Bairdi Tanner crab until his boat sank in the Gulf of Alaska. (Everyone made it off the boat safe!) To say the least, we had an abundance of seafood and ate it daily - and I mean daily. My mom would have to come up with new ways to fix all the seafood and some of it, well, was less than desirable. (Crab casserole, anyone?) Oh, how I miss those days. I'd give anything to sit at a table with an empty beer bottle and crack away.

When we moved to Washington state, we lived on the coast and razor clam digging was a past time. During clam season we'd head out to the beach and dig our 15 clam limit, well, I'd sit in the warm car and watch, but everyone else got their limit. We'd take them home and fry them up for a fresh-from-the-beach, local meal. It's a delicacy our family, and entire town, rather, enjoy each season. This spring, I brought my 2-year-old out to the beach with my parent's for his first razor clam experience. We dug our limits (even me!) and brought 45 clams home to clean and eat up. (Next clam season, I'll provide a step-by-step guide on how to dig and clean clams!) My son enjoyed "digging" the clams and eating them, too.

When my folks moved to a lake house by Hood Canal, an abundance of steamer clam beaches opened its doors to us. Luckily, my dad's friend lives on a private steamer clam beach and, surprisingly enough, nobody in their family eats them so they encourage our family to pile in and head over. Maybe they regret it when they see us coming, but we make sure those clams don't go to waste. Once we bring them home, we flush them for 24-hours in fresh saltwater we harvested with the clams and it allows them to pump the sand out so there's no grit when you devour them!

If you have the chance, get out there and dig. Nothing is like it and you get to eat the fruits of all your labor. Check out these websites for public beaches in the Pacific Northwest:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/beachreg/
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/razorclm/razorclm.htm
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/crab/qa.htm

I've also got to take this opportunity to share a couple favorite shellfish recipes:

CRISPY-BAKED RAZOR CLAMS
(Helps keep your kitchen free of odor and grease.)

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 sleeves of Ritz crackers
1 limit (15) razor clams
Salt and Pepper

Beat eggs until frothy and add milk place in separate bowl for dipping. Place crackers in ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin and place on separate plate. Clean and  dry clams. Dip clams in eggwash and roll in cracker crumbs. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray and lay out clams on baking sheet. Bake 450 degrees 15 minutes or until crunchy. Salt and pepper and serve.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST STEAMER CLAMS:

4 cups fresh saltwater
2 cups dry white wine
2 limits (72) steamer clams
1 cup butter
2-3 minced garlic cloves
Herbs
Salt and pepper

Clean clams in saltwater for 24-hours to pump the sand out of the clams. Fill steamer with saltwater and wine and fill steamer basket with clams. Cover and bring to boil. Steam until clams pop open about 20 minutes. Melt butter, minced garlic, salt, pepper and various herbs in saucepan. Serve clams with butter for dipping.

Calling all Seattle neighbors!

I like free stuff, recycled stuff and stuff for almost free. I like to borrow vs. buy and I like to share when somone is in need. That's why I'm excited about this new site Neighbor Goods - an online source for sharing goods in the hood. You just enter your zip code and it pulls up a list of neighbors within a 50-mile radius ready to loan you some cool stuff - including fresh herbs you don't have to give back. Cool!

You can also post things you'd be willing to share and it itemizes it by category. What a cool idea.

So, check out this new site which was just launched nationally TODAY!
http://www.neighborgoods.net/

Phosphate-free Washington

News on the street is Washington and Oregon recently passed  a law banning phosphate-ridden dishwasher soap. According to the Seattle PI, "phosphates promote plant growth and may degrade water quality in lakes and streams." By July 1, it's illegal to sell phosphate dishwasher soap for automatic dishwashers.

The bottom line is phosphates act as a fertilizer and allow algae to grow - limiting the oxygen supply to fish. Although treatment plants and private septic systems help eliminate phosphates, it's not 100 percent.

It seems Spokane and Whatcom counties have had this in effect since 2008, but the Eco-formulas lacked luster and folks were crossing the boarder into Idaho to get phosphate-laden soap. Who knew you would be considered an outlaw for smuggling dish washing soap?

But, the good news is there are better formulas in 2010 than there were even two years ago. Now, that's progress. And we all really do have to do our part. Here's some helpful ideas on which brands to consider when you change-over.

Here's a review for Method Smarty Dish Tabs which seems to be the best product out there and easily available. I heard it's cheaper at Bartell's or Lowe's. http://housekeeping.about.com/od/productreviews/gr/methodsmartydish.htm

Also, you can order in bulk from Eco-friendly Cal Ben - an online soap store. To order go to http://www.calbenpuresoap.com/

Lastly, Consumer Report tested three types of phosphate free detergents and wrote their finding on their website at http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/october-2009/home-garden/detergents/overview/detergents-ov.htm

Other states also implementing the ban are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Check out the full article: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_dishwasher_soap.html

 

The Beet goes on.

I don't know when your tastes change, but you don't grow up liking beets. Their rustic, dirt-like flavors just don't go over so well when you're, like, ten. I can't put my finger on it but there is just a day when you start enjoying beets, and once you do, you never look back.  I've got to have them canned, pickled, roasted and raw; in salads and soups, or just simply roasted and sprinkled with blue cheese and hazelnuts. The super-nutritious baby greens from the beets are perfect in salads or sauteed in your favorite stir fry - who knew! Another great thing about beets is they last forever; up to three weeks in your fridge. (I'm sure I've kept them even longer than that.)

When we started growing beets five years ago, I couldn't believe how easy it was. Just space the seeds so they have room to grow and watch the magic happen. Since then, we've experimented with golden beets and the striped Chioggia beets. So far, the standard "bull's red" beets have prevailed in our garden. Anytime you grow your own, you need to stock up on different ways to prepare them. The list goes on for beet recipes, but if you want to preserve your beets and have year-round, here's a delicious recipe from friends in Eastern Oregon. Lucky for us, they were willing to share:

CANNING PICKLED BEETS

30 pounds of Beets results about 35 pints of canned pickled-beets. Beets of about 3-5 inches in diameter.

Recipe for Vinegar Mix (1 Batch)
2 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Water
2 Cups White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Teaspoon Allspice
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

The above will do about 8 pints

Clean all jars and boil jar lids. Cut the tops, leaving two inches above the beet. Do not cut the roots because it limits bleeding; scrub them with a brush in cold water. Cover beets with water and boil and cook 2-3 inch beets for 20 minutes. Cook 4-5 inch beets 30 minutes. Try to sort sizes in each batch. Cooked beets will allow you to rub skin off with some easy effort. Take them out with a slotted spoon and cool in cold water for easy handling. Once cooled, remove the peels and cut off the top and the bottom roots and wash beets in water before dicing. Prepare vinegar mix by adding the spices and liquids in a pot and bring it to a boil while stirring. After it begins to boil, let it cool as you work on other steps. The beets will be packed cold  so the vinegar mix should not be boiling hot. Warm is fine. Dice the beets into about 1/2-inch cubes and fill the pint jars within a half inch of the top.  Fill each jar with vinegar mix to cover beets leaving a 1/2-inch heads pace. Wipe rims, place lids and screw on rings, tight but not over tight. Put jars into the water bath canner covering the top of the jars by a half inch and bring to a boil for 30 minutes for pints. Remove and let cool. Once cool, you may want to remove rings to rinse in hot, soapy water so it's easier to remove at a later date. Store in a cool storage area.

Bike to dinner and raise money!

The best thing about the current season is getting on a bike and riding in the wind with your legs kicked out to the sides. (Well, that may be just me, but, anyway.) Regardless of age, riding a bike just immediately brings you back to your childhood. I get giddy just thinking about it. Thankfully, a bike we found in a friend's backyard, basket and all, has brought us into our third year of casual cycling. Once we added a second bike from Recycled Cycles down by Lake Union and an iBert for our son, we were set for family outings all about town. 

That's why we're excited to participate in the bike to dinner event on, Tuesday, June 29th, during the Spoke and Food event to raise money for the Lettuce Link program at Solid Ground. A portion of the dinner's proceeds will go to the non-profit program which provides lower income families in Seattle with access to fresh food and gardening information. Read more about this awesome program at

http://www.solid-ground.org/Programs/Nutrition/Lettuce/Pages/default.aspx

Enjoy the ride to dinner and support your community along the way! The map and list of participating restaurants can be found at http://www.viewhalloodesigns.com/spoke_info.htm

Farm fresh ideas.

We live within walking distance of a year-around farmers' market in the University District of Seattle. The greatest thing about this is we can walk, bring our dog and 2-year-old, and check out the latest harvests. I love the ideas it inspires in our kitchen; vegetables I would never know what to do with get a second chance after chatting with some folks on how to prepare them.

I remember a trip last year while visiting my brother-in-law in Portland. He lived close to Beaverton's farmers' market and we took advantage of some decent spring weather and headed down there. We stocked up on our dinner for the evening with breads, cheese, salad and fruit. Luckily, they were having a demonstration of sauteed fava beans with onion and parsnips. I'm not around a lot of fava beans and, quiet frankly, the thought of them brings me back to the horrendous Hannibal Lector in "The Silence of the Lambs." I can hear him utter the words, "...fava beans," with his tongue slurping up his words. Ugh, gives me the creeps just thinking about it, and because of this, I never cared one bit about fava beans. But, the demonstration made me think twice. The chef simply sauteed the beans with olive oil, salt and pepper, and added chopped parsnips and onion after a bit. The flavor was awesome and so fresh and buttery. We bought some on the spot, along with parsnips and onion, and replicated it when we got home.

I now embrace foreign vegetables and am pleased to say I've acquired a liking to sea beans, kobocha - a Japanese squash and, well, fava beans.