Happy Birthday Dad! The Brunch!

Last Weekend was the birthday celebration of one of my favorite fellas in the world: my dad. :) We surprised him for his 60th birthday weekend by flying me home so we could all be together. It is weekends like this, with my family, that make me remember everything good in the world. Above is the picture of the restaurant where we went to have the most delicious, posh, elaborate brunch in town: Salty's... with its view of Seattle dining here is certainly a treat for everyone.

While we waited for our seats, we enjoyed the scones, hot chocolate, and coffee they had in the waiting area. I love this picture of Kelly, Bea, and Dad. That little face enjoying the scone with a great big bow? How adorable, right?

Mom and Dad at the end of our meal. As you can see, the sun did come out and with the great big windows around the restaurant it was bright light and lovely!

Above: The Parents
Below: The Siblings(/Children?)

One thing I love about my brother is that he gets his money's worth at a buffet. Salty's is all you can eat, but not in the typical all you can eat way... in the "oh my goodness they have oysters on the half shell, blackened salmon, two kinds of eggs Benedict, all kinds of carvery meat, a pasta bar, omelet bar, etc" and that is not even mentioning the desserts! Needless to say, we all ate our fill, it is just that Erik has the magical ability to eat more of his fill than anyone I know... impressive! Makes up for me being a vegetarian at an all you can eat buffet. :)

"Did somebody say Bacon?"

Beatrice helped dad open his cards. What a great meal; what a great family. Happy Birthday Dad!

Oh Broccoli, you're so saucey.

I was gifted a Costco size bag of broccoli florets last Friday and have spent the subsequent week working out ways to eat them and glean all that broccoli goodness. However, as someone who is not a fan of the cheddar broccoli combo nor a fan of quiche (especially quiche with broccoli! yikes.) there are a limited amount of recipes that tempted me. I very much enjoy our friend, broccoli on its own merits, but wanted to mix it up and see what sauteing could do to one of my favorite vegetables.

I started yesterday with making a peanut sauce. It was pretty tasty and easy to prepare. Those packets and jars in the store are so expensive and I was able to make this with all ingredients I had to hand... with a few modifications which I will note below:

Broccoli in Peanut Sauce

The Sauce

• 1/2 cup unprocessed peanut butter (I used almond butter)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari (I used soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

The Saute

• 1 (1 lb) bunch fresh broccoli
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 8 cloves garlic, minced (yay! ( love garlic!)
• 1 lb tofu, cut into small cubes (I omitted this and it was delicious)
• 3 dashes salt
• 2 cups thinly-sliced onions
• 1 cup coarsely-chopped raw peanuts (or almonds)
• 2 -3 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the peanut butter and hot water until uniform in consistency.
2. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Set aside.
3. Cut off the bottom half-inch of the broccoli stems and dice them into bite sized slices; it works well to cut the stalks diagonally into thin slices and coarsely chop the flowerettes.
4. Set aside.
5. Begin heating the large skillet. When it is hot add 1 tbsp of the oil.
6. Add half the garlic and salt lightly
7. Sauté over medium heat for 1 minute, then add the tofu chunks (if using)
   
8. Turn the heat up a little, and stir-fry the tofu for 5-8 minutes.
9. Transfer it, including whatever liquid it might have expressed, to the saucepanful of peanut sauce.
10. Mix together gently.
11. Add the remaining garlic to the now empty pan.
12. Add the onions, and some black pepper and sauté, stirring frequently, over medium heat, until the onions are soft.
13. On another burner, begin heating the peanut-tofu sauce on a low heat. It shouldn't actually cook-it only needs to be warmed through. Add the broccoli and the chopped peanuts (or slivered almonds) to the skillet.
14. Add 2-3 tbsp tamari (soy sauce) and stir-fry over medium-high heat until the broccoli is bright green and just tender.
15. Pour the heated peanut sauce over the sauté.
16. Toss everything gently until everything is coated with everything else.
17. Serve over long-grained white or brown rice (basmati is good).

So that is the fancy way of doing it with lots of directions. I just kind of put it all in the pan, sauteed and added the sauce and simmered. Either way... delicious!

Alright, but the real winner for the evening was the Broccolli in Garlic Sauce... was very nice. I would have taken a picture, but we ate it too quickly.

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• approx 2 cups broccoli, chopped
• 1 can of chick peas or whatever beans you have around.
  
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder (a little fresh ginger finely diced made a good addition)
  
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water

Preparation:

In a large skillet (or whatever pan you have. I only have one... so that is what I use and it still turns out well) sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until onions turn clear, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the chickpeas, ginger, cayenne and broccoli to the pan and continue to cook until broccoli is done, another 6-8 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the corn starch, soy sauce and water, then add this mixture to the broccoli and chickpeas. Cook until sauce thickens, then remove from heat. At this point I added a little freshly chopped basil I had in the garden, about 1/4 cup. It was a good addition.

I served this over brown rice and it goes beautifully together. Though, I imagine over noodles or quinoa it would also be a treat.

Now that I (and you!) know how to make these sauces I believe they will go with many seasonal vegetables. They are cheap, cheerful and easy to make in less than 20 minutes (except for waiting for rice to cook.) A dinner time win!

Progressive Dinner! SOUPER!

I interrupt this series of installments regarding my recent visit to the UK to bring you a recipe!

Last Friday night, the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary community partook in an epic progressive dinner. Around 30 of us traveled from house to apartments to house eating, laughing and drinking until the wee hours. It was a proper joyful evening. I felt really blessed to have been able to share my home with so many lovely individuals-kindhearted and exuberant!

I hosted the soup portion of the traveling meal and upon request am putting the recipe up for those who would like to make it. I believe I did some modifying of this recipe as I went along, but I think that even making this recipe below "as is" would be delicious! Though, I do recommend adding the two small heads of roasted garlic that I added to the soup for Friday evening. I think there are lots of variations on South African Butternut Soup... so I made mine--and you can make yours! Enjoy! :D

Ingredients
2 medium butternuts
1 apple
2 medium onions
4 TBSP vegan buttery spread (Earth Balance)
1 1/4 tsp medium curry powder
pinch of ground cinnamon
2 vegetable stock cubes
3 cups boiling water
2 cups of coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
a little black pepper.

Directions
Peel, seed and dice the butternuts. Peel, core and chop the apple. Peel the onions and chop roughly. In a large saucepan, saute the chopped onions in the butter. Add the curry powder and fry the mixture lightly. Add the butternut and apple and saute the mixture for a while. Add the flour and nutmeg and stir-fry lightly.

(If you don't have a pan big enough for frying the squash, you can also cut them in half, core out the seeds, pour a little olive oil on them and fill them with garlic cloves, cover them with foil and stick them in the oven until they are soft. Obviously... turn on the oven to maybe 375 ish and it takes somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes depending on the size of the squash. Then scoop out the squash and follow the rest of the steps below.)

Dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in the boiling water. Add the stock, together with the coconut milk, and salt, to the butternut mixture. Boil, with the lid on, over moderate heat until the butternut pieces are soft. Stir the mixture occasionally. Puree or blend until smooth. The color of the soup should be a deep yellow and the texture creamy. Serve the soup hot.

Hay-On-Wye: Where Books go to Die!

So I kind of got out of order on my blog for our trip, but I also look a bit out of order in this photo, so I think it is okay. I loved Hay-On-Wye. It is a tiny town full of used book shops, including this great oudoors bookshops that is near a huge castle and sells books on a honesty basis. Fantastic.
It was one of the places that I really wanted to go on our roadtrip, so even though it was a bit out of the way, we made a stop. Thanks Tim! I think we both had a good time.


Plus there was a chance to try Welsh cakes! and the more variations of afternoon tea I can consume in my life the better.

American Cookies! and Greenbelt

I love this. One of the food booths from the Greenbelt Festival. I didn't take many photos at the Greenbelt Festival because a lot of the time was spent in talks and prayer, which didn't seem like a place to be photographing. The Greenbelt Festival is a Christian festival that takes place outside of Chelthenem. The festival had its highlights... two of which were the fantastic vegetarian savory pies and the hemp clothes booth (excellent!) but I was disappointed that there wasn't more chance for conversations between people about what Jesus is doing in their lives and more testimonies or preaching.

There is a real call for a place where people can feel safe and connected to God; the meditation tent as well as the meditation floor were packed for most of the weekend as people gathered together in prayer. That was my favorite bit of festival life. That, and the fact that we pre-booked our showers (you camp when you go to festivals) so we didn't have to wait in line! Most excellent.

I also enjoyed running into friends from Christchurch (Chester) who were volunteering or attending the festival. Tim and I came across a band called Hope and Social and they were definitely worth a listen. They did a pretty fantastic cover of Paul Simon mixed into one of their songs. I don't suppose they can put that on their albums, so I recommend seeing them live if you can.

Another highlight was hearing a talk by Pastor Nadia Boltz-Weber on Preaching. She represented ELCA Lutherans well and her talk not only illuminated the process of preaching, but also shared her personal story and relationship to the Gospel and to Jesus Christ. I appreciate the honesty and vulnerability with which she speaks. I have met her a few times before at PLTS and it was nice to run into her in this other context where she was a familiar face and one of the few fellow Lutherans at the Festival.

Pembrokeshire Coastal Path

These are some seriously over-due photos of my trip to Pembrokeshire in August. The walk was gorgeous. We left straight from our campsite which connected to the Pembrokshire Coastal Path at St David's and enjoyed a whole day of cliff hiking beauty!

Also, there were cows. (above.)

Every view was pretty breathtaking. This is one of many of those crashing coastlines. I wanted a picture with me in it so I could remember that I didn't just download these photos off a tourism website. :)

Tim takes the lead! And the backpack for a bit :)

To the left of the path was the water. To the right there would be cows, sheep, and (my favorite) beautiful fields of heather.

Above is a picture on one of the little outcroppings along the path. There was a bay that went inland quite a ways and end in a little harbor where there are lots of little sail boats kept.

Monkeys (above)
Sheep (below)

I couldn't get enough of the views coastal path. While walking along, it seemed that around every corner I said, "oh what a great view!" of "gorgeous!" Because they were all great views. It helped that the weather was just overcast enough to keep the sun off a bit and clear enough so that the horizon was visible.

St David's

Camping! Tim and I drove to St David's where we camped for three days and two nights. I had found Caerfai Farms on the internet and we pre-booked our tent pitch. I recommend this, as the site was fairly full when we arrived. Not only was it a beautiful campsite, right on the coastal path, but also the office had a little shop with fresh croissants each morning! Delicious! That is my kind of camping for certain. Here is me outside the little shop after purchasing my breakfast! Delicious!

Another nice aspect of the camping spot is its proximity to the city of St David. St David's is a tiny city and as you can see the cathedral is huge. It almost seemed that the cathedral took up at least 1/3 of the city. Tim and I walked down to join in their evening vespers service and I was renewed in spirit through the chatting of the psalms in particular. I forget how much I enjoy psalm chanting, but when it echos through that old cathedral it moves the spirit.

Below is the picture of the beach next to our campsite. So close! and so protected! Just a short walk away. I borrowed Tim's warm top thing for the water to wear while playing in the waves and thought it was pretty humorous that it could double for a dress. Beach to town in own outfit. Fantastic! :)

Above is a shot from inside the tent to show you how close we are to the beach. We were really lucky to have such sunny weather, especially the first few days. Below is Tim expertly BBQ-ing the skewers that I helped prepare. We had an absolute feast on this little bucket BBQ and got quite a bit of use out of it throughout the week. So though we forgot to pack plates (easily replaceable!) I am really glad we had this BBQ. Roasted veg with halloumi on couscous? I love that any day of the week, but is especially nice to enjoy while camping :)