by Krista | Oct 6, 2010 | Compatriot Wednesday
It was a bright and briskly cold October day in Amsterdam as my brother Ryan, his girlfriend Melissa, my friend Amy and I donned warm sweaters and woolly scarves and headed out for lunch and a stroll.
The streets of Amsterdam are endlessly fascinating to me. I love the tall, narrow canal houses with their gabled tops and pert little windows, the cobbled streets lined with elegant pastry shops, haute couture, and bicycles everywhere.
Ry and Melissa led us to one of their favorite spots perched on the edge of a canal. We found seats outside in a sunny patch and ordered foamy coffee to warm our fingers and tummies. I think it’s splendid when my coffee arrives with a little extra something like these teensy chocolate chip cookies.
We had such fun soaking up that rare Autumn sunshine, chatting happily about our travel adventures and plotting how we would spend that day. We were off to visit Corrie ten Boom’s house, a place I’d read about over and over as a child through her book The Hiding Place. (This week I wrote an article on it for The Travel Belles. Click here to read more about this amazing woman and her family who rescued Jews in Holland during WWII.)
At last our food arrived and ooeee, was it ever good!!! We shared steaming Dutch pea soup – amazing!! – and I had a fantastic toasted sandwich: thick fresh grainy bread topped with a thick slab of tender smoked turkey breast, fresh tomatoes and gooey circles of melted brie. It was heavenly.
It was such a beautiful start to our day: dear friends, delicious food, and the anticipation of a new adventure.
What is your favorite lunch on a cold day?
This is my contribution to Wanderfood Wednesday. Click here to view more foods from around the world.
by Krista | Oct 4, 2010 | Bootstrap Monday
Good morning, dear ones!! 🙂 It’s SO good to be back home, back to sleep in my own cozy bed, cooking in my little kitchen, tucked up in my armchair writing to you.
After feeling right as rain for my entire trip to Cancun, I arrived home in time to get a whopping cold, start losing my voice, and generally feel like death. 🙂 Isn’t life funny like that?
Just before my trip I went on a marvelous hike to the beach at Point Defiance, Washington with my friend Stacey. It was a gently overcast day, bits of rain now and then, but mostly mild and peaceful. We meandered through the almost tropical rain forest before clambering down a staircase of tree roots onto a deserted beach.
We happily wandered the shore admiring unique bits of driftwood, a beached jellyfish in vivid russet, and a snakey tangle of kelp and seaweed. We read messages carved into the clay walls of a cliff, listened to the gulls shriek and collected smooth white stones.
It was a wonderfully rejuvenating day with my dear Texan friend.
That week I also made delicious Maple Ginger Roasted Broccoli. It’s simple as can be, simply toss broccoli florets with the marinade below, roast 10-20 minutes until edges begin to brown and serve. Mmm. 🙂
How was your weekend, dear friends? What is your favorite memory?
This is my contribution to Chaya’s Meatless Mondays. Click here to see more delicious vegetarian dishes.
Maple Ginger Roasted Broccoli
Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
4″ piece ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1-2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
1-2 Tbsp Maple syrup
ground pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450 F.
- Place broccoli in bowl, set aside.
- In blender add remaining ingredients. Puree until smooth.
- Pour over broccoli and toss to coat (Add a bit at a time, you don’t want it too wet or the marinade will be too strong.)
- Spread broccoli in baking pan and roast for 10-20 minutes, stirring once, until tender and tips are browned.
by Krista | Oct 1, 2010 | Fabulous Friday
Happy Friday, dear ones!! This is my last day in Mexico and soon I will be flying home to my beloved Washington and my own comfy bed and cozy little apartment. 🙂
How are you today? How was your week? Are you looking forward to your weekend?
Today I’m going to share with you a few photos of the beautiful old growth forest my friend Stacey and I explored last week. It is located in Point Defiance Park, a gorgeous spot about a 45 minute drive from Seattle. We meant to hike further than we did, but we kept getting distracted by glistening water droplets and clusters of shiny berries and the cutest little mushrooms poking up from the forest floor.
Then, just as we thought we couldn’t take in any more beauty, we had some unexpected visitors that delighted us beyond measure. 🙂
I hope you enjoy this little jaunt with us, and have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
by Krista | Sep 30, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
(Good morning, dear ones! 🙂 The sun is shining brilliantly in Cancun and I’m finally relaxing. 🙂 Yesterday I got to swim down an UNDERGROUND river!!! Can’t wait to tell you all about my adventures. 🙂 Miss you muchly!)
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When I was a little girl I wanted desperately to live in the “olden days.” I didn’t much care which era, just as long as it involved adventure of some sort, and the opportunity to live off the land. I wanted to chop wood and milk cows and sleep under a bear skin. It all sounded very romantic and swashbuckling to my inexperienced self.
Nowadays I know better. I know the difficulties they experienced living far from civilization and all the protection, medical care, and social interaction it provided. But I confess I still get a hankering now and then to weave my own cloth on a loom, make butter in a churn, and get maple syrup right out of the tree.
This weekend I got to visit Fort Nisqually on Point Defiance. My friend Stacey knows I’m a crazy, history fanatic, so she let me drag her away from stunning ocean views to enter the walled enclosure and take a visual tour of a time when soldiers, adventurers and a few families left their comfortable worlds to create a new one in the wilderness at the height of the fur trade.
Fort Nisqually was a Hudson’s Bay Company outpost built in 1833, and was the first European settlement on Puget Sound. It employed laborers from America, England, French Canada, Hawaii, Ireland, Native American tribes, and Scotland, and became a thriving center of trade and agriculture.
It is now a living history museum where volunteers and staff, in period clothing, demonstrate the crafts of the 19th century and engage visitors in historic dialogue. Admission is $6 and allows you to wander through a general store, blacksmith shop, laundry and numerous other interesting buildings.
I enjoyed it immensely, picturing myself puttering away in the gardens, airing out the Hudson Bay blankets, or perhaps spending a cozy evening in the parlor of the main house playing cards by the light of an oil lamp.
Did you ever wish you could live in a different time in history? Which one?
by Krista | Sep 29, 2010 | Compatriot Wednesday
(I made it safe and sound to Cancun!! 🙂 Miss you all but having a marvelous time. 🙂 )
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It was a wild, stormy night when my friends and I gathered to cook dinner and hang out. Wind hurtled through the trees sending them into a wild dance that only added to the mysterious feel of the evening.
We sipped wine and visited happily as we dipped tortilla chips in various sorts of hummus and salsa. Half the folks gathered around the big screen TV to cheer and groan as they watched UFC, and the rest of us parked ourselves cozily in the living room to get caught up on a life and our latest adventures.
Cameron, Robin, Jason and Darren had worked hard that afternoon chopping and juicing apples for our annual hard cider making, but they set aside one jug of juice for our drinking pleasure. Oh my. Is there anything better than cold, freshly-pressed apple juice? So refreshing, tart and scrumptious. 🙂
Cameron and Robin gutted and seasoned the gorgeous fresh salmon they’d found for only $3 a pound, then slow cooked it in the smoker with Rooibos tea leaves until they were fragrant, tender, and absolutely delicious.
Ben scrubbed up beautiful little red potatoes, tossed them with olive oil, garlic, dried dill, salt and pepper, and roasted them for a good 45-50 minutes until they were soft and sweet and salty skins. Mmm.
Dana (my brother), Rachel (my sis-in-law), Bekah and I chopped red and green bell peppers and sweet onion for kabobs, and a whole pile of asparagus. Darren grilled them up beautifully until they were lightly blackened and oh so sweet.
We ended our evening at the hot tub, talking about all sorts of interesting things and soaking up that gorgeous warmth as the winds continued to go wild in the tree tops.
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