Cost Cutter
The store I was going to wasn’t open, and I knew we needed a couple groceries, so I headed across the parking lot to the Cost Cutter (yep, it’s raining):
As soon as I got inside, I knew this was not just any old grocery store. The cashiers, the manager and the butchers all looked Mexican! And when I got to the deli section, the specialities were things like Dulce de Leche, all packaged up for people who eat a LOT of dulce de leche:
To my delight, there was an aisle labled Middle East foods, with tabbouleh, canned hummus and muttabel, foul, and Lebanese olive oil:
And a huge aisle with East European foods (I am not sure what East European foods are!)
And, while most stores hide their beer selection in some dark corner of the store, Cost Cutter has a huge aisle down the center of the store, with all kinds of neon signage – it looks very festive:
Stores like Cost Cutter, that serve the large and varied population of immigrants are one of the reasons I love Seattle.
Autumn Plum Torte
We are watching the farmer’s markets for the first of the Italian plums, those elongated plums that show up around this time of the year. We are getting eager for Pflaumekuchen, or Autumn Plum Torte.
It’s really more like a pie. And I hate to tell you how easy it is to make.
This is my mother’s recipe:
Autumn Plum Torte (Pflaumekuchen)
1/4 Cup Butter
1 T Sugar
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c sifted flour
10 – 12 purple prune plums
1 c sugar
1 T Flour
Dash nutmeg and cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1. Cream butter and sugar, add salt and 1 egg yolk. Blend well, add 1 cup flour, mix well.
2. Press mix into bottom of greased 8” pie pan.
3. Cut plums in half or quarters; place cut side up on top of mix. It is pretty if you make a kind of circular pattern out from the center.
4. Combine sugar, 1 T flour and spices. Sprinkle over plums.
5. Beat 1 egg and 1 white, add half and half, pour over top.
6. Bake at 425 for ten minutes, then turn down to 350 for 40 – 45 minutes, until custard sets and plums are cooked.
The smell as it is cooking is divine. You can serve it in wedges, warm or cold.
You can also double this, and make it in a 9 x 14 pan, to serve to larger groups. It goes FAST!
Anthony’s Beach Cafe, Edmonds, WA
These are the bathroom doors at Anthony’s Beach Cafe, in Edmonds, Washington. I am not going to show you any of their delicious food – they already have too many customers, and a long line of people waiting to get in and eat there, especially in this gorgeous summertime weather. Even in winter, Anthony’s is packed.
You would never see bathroom doors like this in Kuwait. But it would be fun to see a door with an abaya, and another with a dishdasha and gutra. 🙂
Long Sleeves in Seattle
The weather is back to Seattle’s normal for late July – early August – absolutely gorgeous. At sundown, we watch the light shift over the mountains and the sound, watch the cruise ships coming and going, watch the clouds change colors until they go that bright smokey fushia just before all color disappears. The sky does not actually become dark until after nine at night.
And it can be chilly! My first day here, I got to wear a little long sleeved hoodie I haven’t worn since February! It was overcast and rainy, and there was an occasional chill wind blowing . . . brrrr! I love it! Even though it can be cold, it isn’t really cold, just a tiny bit cold, just enough to make you move a little faster and get the blood going, and you will be warm enough. I love it.
The weather is shifting, and should be like spring in Kuwait – in the high 70’s, low 80’s Fahrenheit.
My Mom is looking great. We did a little shopping, had a great lunch . . . it has been a hard year for her, with my father’s death, and she is still recovering. Today she will have her hair trimmed up; she knows her birthday is coming and that will mean PHOTOS. My entire family is as camera-happy as I am, and an event like a birthday means a minimum five cameras. I am amazed at how good she looks!
Five Mountains
Every now and then flying into Seattle you can see a whole line of mountains, from Mt. Rainier to Mt. Hood, the remains of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and sometimes, way off in the distance, Mt. Shasta.
I think you can see three easily in this photo; Mt. Rainier in the center, one to the left and one to the right.
East of the mountains, it is totally clear. West of the mountains, there is cloud cover:
My car is waiting, my bags are off the plane first – is my travel karma back? I don’t dare count on it, but I’m thankful for all travel mercies.
Cannabis WORSE than Tobacco
From BBC Health News:
Cannabis harm worse than tobacco
The impact of cannabis is worsened by how joints are smoked.
A single cannabis joint could damage the lungs as much as smoking up to five tobacco cigarettes one after another, scientists in New Zealand have said.
The research, published in the journal Thorax, found cannabis damaged the large airways in the lungs causing symptoms such as coughing and wheezing.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
And don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t addictive as well as damaging to your health.
BBQ in Memphis
I love the Memphis airport. We sometimes arrive from Kuwait via Amsterdam at o-dark-thirty and the BBQ places are already open. Even if we are running for our next flight, there is usually one on the way where we can buy a quick BBQ sandwich to eat on the plane.
The Memphis airport is sometimes a scramble, our flight out leaving from the farthest gate from our flight in; we always get enough exercise to work off that sandwich in a heartbeat. And, for some reason, we often get upgrades out of Memphis, upgrades we haven’t even asked for. The flights are overbooked, and they just bump us up. No wonder I love Memphis! They treat us like old friends!
I just had to share the photo above with you – it’s taken at 7:30 in the morning, they already have customers lined up for BBQ and there are guys in the bar drinking beer. Memphis.
Cactus Flower in Pensacola
The Cactus Flower in Pensacola is usually the first place we go when we get to Pensacola. They have some of the best Mexican food you can find, freshly prepared, and you better get there early or you’ll have to wait a while for a table – the secret is out!
Located in a small strip mall undergoing some serious renovation, the Cactus Flower serves lunch and dinner. You’ll see all your friends there – we can’t go there without running into someone we know.
This is the chicken quesadilla. It is more than one person can eat! We took the rest home for another meal.
This is the three taco dinner; you can choose chicken, beef or pulled pork, or any combination of the above. It comes with a choice of beans (these are the smashed beans) and rice, too. Usually, I order this a la carte, because I can eat the three tacos, but not all the beans and rice, too, and I hate to waste.
This is the tostada dinner, which also comes with beans and rice. Delicious!
As for gaining weight, so far so good. Haven’t done a scale check, but the clothes still seem to fit and the waists aren’t too tight, so I guess I am keeping it off by lugging my baggage here and there, and keeping moving.
Stormy Day in Pensacola
You know me. I see beauty just about everywhere I go. Pensacola has a lot of sunshine, but this time of year, also has powerful thunder and lightening storms. No one seems to really mind – Pensacola needs the rainfall, and the storms are powerful, awesomely beautiful. And Pensacola presents herself well in stormy weather.
I love the French Quarter style balconies, the Spanish style architecture – Pensacola has been colonized by the French, Spanish, Brits, and I think even a couple others! The influences on the architecture, both public and private, provide a rich variety of style.
And the natural wetlands, the bay, the bridges – it is at it’s most magical in stormy weather, in my opinion.
Tuscan Oven – Pensacola
We have food prejudices in my family, and one of our prejudices is against thick crusted pizzas. We like thin crust pizzas, and we like them baked in a wood burning oven. So when my son and his wife recommended we go to the Tuscan Oven, I knew we were in for a treat.
The pizzas were fine. We all ordered them with a minimum of cheese, and that’s the way they came. I had the Pizza Putanesca, all vegetables, with capers and artichokes and oh, it was totally delicious. My son and his wife had a much larger specialty pizza, and they, too, ate every bite. The Tuscan oven is a WOW in my book.
And here was the starter – Yes, I know it looks like chopsticks, but those are tiny little breadsticks:
This place is worth a trip to Pensacola all on it’s own!
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