Tourism at Home

Mom and Barbara came for a visit. I don't think Mom would have come without Barbara so I am grateful for her willingness to travel to see us and to bring Mom. I had pretty much resigned myself to the idea that my mother would probably never visit us again.

We did lots of fun things. David took the week off. We went whale watching. Gray whales are not as exciting as orca's but it was still a chance to see whales and it was still pretty cool. We saw cormorants, grebes and bald eagles along with the whales. This picture is of cormorants on top of pilings as we pulled into the dock. The whales are too hard to get a picture of, but we did get to smell whale breath. The gray whales feed on the bottom and have kind of a mucky smelling breath.









We went up to Skagit Valley for the daffodils blooming in the fields. That is the picture that is at the top. It would normally be tulips by this time of year, but it has been a cold winter. The peak bloom will be beautiful in a couple of weeks. This is the largest bulb producing region in the world and is pretty impressive when in bloom. These are some early tulips.





















Our outside activities were somewhat limited by the weather, but we did manage a little walk in our nearby woods where the fungus was fascinating and the trillium was in bloom.




We also spent a little time with a stroll in the Arboretum. And I as usual enjoyed the shaggy bark of this tree - whose name I can't recall.










Our Camellia won't be blooming this year because of the cold winter. But there were some beauties in the Arboretum.









We went to Pike's Market where the flower stalls were also beautiful with daffodils. They even air brush some of them an orange color, but the ones in the picture are all natural.

We walked along taking advantage of some of the free tastes along the way. Expensive balsamic vinegar flavored with blackberry could have had us standing around that booth for a long time and then there are the Chukar Cherries (chocolate covered dried cherries), ummmm.



We went to the glass museum in Tacoma. It is pretty cool to watch them blow and shape glass in the hot shop there adn walk across the bridge of glass. I'll have to wait for Barb to send pictures of that one as I didn't bring my camera. Look for Tacoma Museum of Glass on the internet and you can see glass blowing on the internet.

We also took the Boeing tour. Kids - it's much better than it was when you guys were young and we took it on a spring break. It was pretty impressive to see five planes in one building. Again -- no pictures - they will confiscate and not return your camera if you try to take it on the tour.

Lots of fun activities, good food, and a restful round of "Jeeves and Wooster" in the evenings. Almost too much fun for one week.

Conservation

This pretty white sand on the drive way is the stuff that came from the bottom of our water heater when we drained it. We finally did what the plumber recommended several years ago when we replaced the water heater. He said it extends the life of the appliance and conserves energy. We are now convinced as we estimate that there was about an inch of percipate in our water heater. The good news is that it is nice and white - not rusty.

We've made a few other conservation measures this last winter. We replaced a toilet. Again talked with the plumber to find out what low flow toilets work the best and this one is far better than it's predecessor. We changed the aereators in our faucets to one gallon per minute aereators. I don't notice it anywhere but in the kitchen when I'm filling a pot of water for pasta. We also replaced our shower heads. This one I do notice because the spray pattern is not as wide as the old one. The final thing we did was to turn down the heat on the water heater. We figured with only two of us living here we used less water than when the whole family was here. I notice that my shower water is not as hot, but it doesn't seem to make very much difference in the pace at which we do other things. We have enough hot water for the two of us.

Results are a little hard to quantify, because we also went from having young adults with their "late night - lights on" life style to having just two of us pretty much on the same schedule. However, our heating bill went down $14 a month. Some of it had to be our conservation efforts.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

We had this yummy soup at a restaurant a couple of years ago and were eager to make it at home. We've experimented with good flavors and various ways of making it and have come down to a basic plan that is enhanced with whatever herbs you like with these flavors. This is easy, but not specific. Make it how you like it.

Last week WinnCo had red peppers on sale for 68 cents each. That is a great deal around here when the normal winter price is about 2 dollars apiece. So I loaded a big bag and took them out to the grill to roast them. Turn as the skins blacken and blister to get all sides roasted. When they are blistered all around, put in a paper bag and roll it closed. Let them steam in the bag for a 20-30 minutes or so. Scrap the skin off and remove the stem and as many of the seeds as you want to remove. Blend it to a puree. If you do a bunch at once you can freeze the puree in whatever size portions you want. I now have a bunch of red pepper popsicles in my freezer - almost instant soup.

Alternatives to grilling the peppers include oven roasting, roasting on stove top over a gas burner or in a cast iron pan. I just think that I can do a lot more peppers in less time if I roast them outside on the grill.

For the soup combine red pepper puree with chicken broth and potato flakes (or real mashed potatoes if you want) to get the combination of flavor and density of soup that you like. Add herbs that you like. I kind of like thyme and a very little bit of oregano with snipped chives to garnish it - but that is what I have in the garden.
Salt and Pepper to taste.