We got there right on time. One minute before the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Can you see it?

I turned around and snapped this,

and the sun was gone. Sunset has begun.

It was date night. We had dinner—the restaurant was fancy, the food was good, a bit pricy, and overall OK but not worth mentioning to you (We won’t go back)—so, there won’t be much talking about food today. However, afterwards we went to the beach, to lazily sit on our bottoms for hours and gaze at the sunset and the water.

I was in desperate need for some quiet time–rest time for my crazy multi-tasking, tired brain—with no one around around to call “Mommy! Mommy!” and ask me for this or that. I desperately needed to sink my feet in the sand and feel the cold ocean water between my toes…

Summer is short; I count every day that goes by. And each day that passes without enough outdoors time makes me nervous—winter is waiting around the corner.

All I want is to get as much time as possible with water and sand, sand and water, and lots and lots of sun, and yeah, a little bit of sweating won’t hurt either.

Now I warn you, you are about to see a lot of feet!

Ready? Here we go:

Because I badly needed—I still do—a lot of this,

And I encourage you to do so as well, and hurry, before summer ends!

and stare at this,

for hours…

and more and more of this splashing in the sand—well, sort of…

and gazing at the ocean for hours and hours

I call it Water Therapy. I really, really need one.

Water Therapy, in my book, includes: sitting or lying, hardly moving, rarely talking, and a lot of water and horizon staring…

Looking up

and looking down, watching the ferries go by, back and forth from Seattle to the islands

But then, then, bad habits take over

I just can’t sit still for more than 15 minutes—this is what motherhood does to a woman! (Apparently, men are less affected…)

And I really really needed to feel my feet touch the cool sand (Because right now, for example, I have two kids talking to me at the same time, one about Lego and the other about hair clips…) before summer is over.

And, back to the blanket, to sit and do some more gawping and gaping and gawking, and not much moving,

Just staring at the horizon, and the water, the ferries, the boats, the sail boats, the planes… Gosh, there’s so much traffic in this world!

***

What is your must-do summer activity you just can’t seem to get enough of???

***

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I give you this… It’s fresh. From Saturday.

A Saturday sunset.

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Sun, sand, water, feet

Today is my father’s birthday.

(On 8/12 it’ll be a year to his death.)

It’s funny how songs with the word “Easy” remind me of him… Like this one.

It’s been a while since I’ve been thinking about this song, Take It Easy by The Eagles, we once heard together on the radio – on a classic rock station. We were driving together in the car… Maybe it was during one of our trips together… Maybe we were on vacation… Or maybe it was during one of his visits with us and maybe Junior was in the car too, listening and watching us sing…

I remember the weather was nice and sunny, and we had fun.

Sun, summer, singing, driving… This combination always makes me feel so free.

I loved to hear him sing and play his guitar.

He sang beautifully and he knew all the words.

I joined him in the chorus and we sang together…

Take It Easy by The Eagles

Well, I’m running down the road
Tryin’ to loosen my load
I’ve got seven women on
My mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she’s a friend of mine
Take it easy, take it easy

Don’t let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In winslow, arizona
And such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
We will never be here again
So open up, I’m climbin’ in,
So take it easy

Well I’m running down the road trying to loosen
My load, got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin’ for a lover who won’t blow my
Cover, she’s so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy

Don’t let the sound of your own
Wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me, oh oh oh
Oh we got it easy
We oughta take it easy

***

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***

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Our veggie bed is small, as you can see. Only 4 by 8 feet (1.2 m * 2.4 m) but it’s still big enough to produce a lot of lettuce and some kale, chard, beets, fennel, peas, and (although I lost my optimism, we’re still waiting to see some) cauliflower.

Every thing that grows is a prize. But the biggest reward for me is to see the kids – my city kids – interact with it. It doesn’t happen every day because we spend most of the year indoors (we had mostly cool, grey, and rainy days this past June!), but when they do…

I love to see them dig, pick, pull, cut, and eat right off the plants. We have plump peas now,

They are so fresh and tender and sweet that we eat them straight out of the shell in the yard – they barely make it back inside the house. (I bought a bag of fresh peas at the farmer’s market. $5 dollars for a bag of 1 pound! And it was a Big disappointment. They were so starchy and tough and bitter. I cooked them for about 20 minutes, and then sautéed them in butter for another 10 until they finally softened, but they still didn’t taste so good.

Today I picked the rest of them, otherwise the heat will turn them starchy.

In a few weeks we’ll have blueberries and tomatoes. Oh, glorious tomatoes…

We’ve been living in this house for nearly 6 years and, thinking back, I wish we had planted blueberry bushes along our fence the first year we moved here. One can never have too much blueberries…

Some housekeeping: I am happy to to report that the beer trap worked!

A few days after I put the trap, I went out to check again on the status. I found a few bodies of rotting slugs – yuck. It was disgusting. I ended up throwing the whole can away and planned to make a new trap but forgot to… We still have slugs, probably some veterans and some newcomers.

Meanwhile, we cut back most of our kale and chard – and into the pot they went – to make room for the tomatoes. I found that tomatoes grow best in the veggie bed, or the ground, but not so much in pots. I also planted two tomato plants in the front yard as part of my vision to have vegetables, fruits, and flowers in the front yard instead of a lawn. So far, they are doing marvelous. We already have a few green ones hanging on the branches.

These blanched greens will accompany the pasta with pesto and fresh peas we picked (4-5 minutes, cooked in salted boiling water.)

***

Summer finally began. It was indeed a miserable June. I’ll confess, I used the F-word a lot in June.

On Tuesday summer arrived! From mid 50’s F degrees we had a big jump to the lower 90’s F – now, don’t I sound like a weather girl/middle-aged woman reporting the weather?

Ahhhh, Summer. It’s going to be a short one this year. Only two months. And I don’t want to waste another second. I plan to spend it as much as I can outside, with the kids, with water (sprinklers, hoses, lakes, rivers, waterfalls), with cool watermelons, ice cream, and milkshakes….

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OK, so we had a few distractions between the No-roll quiche crust post – because we visited Mount Rainier National Park, Blueberry Hills farm, and Lake Chelan – to the actual finished product, that is the mushroom quiche post.

I’ll be honest with you… For me, making – and eating! – a mushroom quiche is merely an excellent excuse for devouring mushrooms soaked in heavy cream. I mean, it’s mushrooms… sautéed in butter and simmered in heavy cream… Besides heavy cream made desserts, what could possibly be richer and more decadent and sinful than this??? Mushrooms with cream…

OK, OK, you twist my arm. A steak seared in butter and simmered in heavy cream with pasta and mushrooms to finish it off – soaked in heavy cream themselves – is indeed better than a mushroom quiche. But, if you seek a vegetarian alternative – for lunch or dinner, and even brunch – that’s the way to go.

Mushroom quiche

I used crimini mushrooms this time but feel free to use any kind you like, or a mix of them! (But I do not recommend using dried mushrooms. I made this quiche once before with rehydrated dried porcini (in addition to fresh ‘shrooms) and I didn’t like how it tasted; it tasted like fake mushrooms soup or one from a powdery mix or something… Not good.)

1 small onion, thinly sliced (about 2/3 cup)
12 oz. fresh mushrooms, washed, dried, thinly sliced (stems removed)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme or lemon thyme
1 fat garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
3-4 oz. gruyere cheese, grated
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 quiche crust, arranged in the pan and chilled

In a medium size skillet, melt the butter with olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until it softens. Add the mushrooms, garlic, a touch of salt, black pepper, and thyme (Add a drizzle of oil or another knob of butter if needed) and sauté until mushrooms and onion are browned and soft. Remove to a bowl and let cool a bit.

To the bowl with the mushrooms, add the milk and cream and stir. Then, add the cheese and eggs and mix well. Pour the batter over the chilled crust and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the custard is set. Let cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Cook till brown

This is what you end up with. Chill before adding the rest of the custard ingredients (so the eggs won’t curdle).

Take the chilled dough our of the fridge

Pour the batter

… it’s so easy

Ta-da!

Now, how do you take the quiche out of the pan, ha???

Run a toothpick, or one of those thin “thingies” like that red one in the photo, around the edges to loosen them from the side of the pan (If you greased the pan well, the dough will pull away from the pan as it cools).

Then, place the pan over a plate or bowl that is taller than the pan

… and there you have it

And we’re done

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We moved to WA State 9 years ago. It was summer. August. And it was raining… We were newlyweds, but, really, rain in August? I almost strangled my newlywed husband – we moved here because of him – on the plane. “RAIN IN THE SUMMER? Where are you taking me?”

Nine years later, I know it is the rain that makes this area so gorgeous. And in summer, on non-rainy days, this is one of the most beautiful places in the world to be spending the summer. It’s hot, but not too hot, there’s lots of water all around – the rivers are running strong (unlike miserable trickles I’ve seen in other countries) and the lakes shimmer in the sun, salmons are migrating back to their “homes”, and abundance of green trees and plants and flowers are everywhere you look. It’s just perfect. And let’s not forget The Mountain…

Most of the year, Mt. Rainier hides behind a veil of clouds, but when it is finally out, it’s stunning. I recalled a quote about it in a book I read on our first year here, Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie.

The book is wonderful thriller. I’m not a big thriller, suspense, or mystery books’ fan, but this book got me hooked. Plus, the plot happens in Seattle and there are lots of mentions of places we visited. That only made the book seem more real and scary, especially on a dark, stormy, winter night.

Nine years ago we lived in a rented small single-family house. All my life up to that point, I lived in tall apartment buildings in the big city, with at least a dozen of neighbors, and where all the streets are completely lit with street lights. The transition to living in a quiet town, short houses at ground level, with distance between houses and neighbors, a random street light here and there, old windows with locks I could break with a toothpick, and a thin front door even I could break with a slight kick, scared the hell out of me. Especially on a dark, stormy, winter night. Especially when I was alone in the house. And especially when reading a thriller where the plot takes place partly in my town and nearby places.

My husband left for the gym (those were the days when we still worked out) and I stayed at home. All alone. By myself. I sat on the couch in the living and read the book. It was dark and rainy and windy outside – oh, I’ve said that already – and the trees’ branches banged against the roof, the wind shrieked through the window cracks, giant leaves flew in front of the windows like silhouettes, broken twigs scratched the siding. I looked outside; the darkness was so thick and endless. I dared not look out again.

Terrified and scared by the story of the Indian killer in addition to the storm outside, I froze and shrunk into the couch, my finger squeezing the pages of the book which I could not stop reading. I did not move, I did not get up, not even to pee, until my husband, finally, returned home.

Back to the mountain, I looked up the quote for you. Here’s how Alexie describes the mountain:

“The shadow of Mount Rainier rose on the southern horizon. On a slightly overcast day, the mountain was just a ghost, a subtle reminder of itself, a brief memory. With unlimited visibility, the mountain was spectacular and surreal, rising as it did over the urban landscape of Seattle. Daniel knew accidents had occurred on Seattle freeways because of drivers who were distracted by Rainier’s beauty. Local Indians had always believed that Rainier was a sacred place, not to be climbed or trivialized. Daniel wondered if any Indians had wrecked their cars because of the view of the mountain.” (p. 218)

On the first day at the park, Mt. Rainier’s summit (14,410 ft. high) was mostly behind the clouds.

As we drove higher and higher, all the way up to Paradise visitor center, the weather became more like winter (unlike the pictures in my previous post – a totally different climate). The trees were covered with snow,

some squatting under the weight of the heavy blanket of snow.

Lots of snow!

And the mountain was completely veiled behind the enormous clouds,

while the other side was sunnier

We spent the night at Paradise Inn, a hotel that was built in 1916. I’m sure it was remodeled since then but it still feels old. Let’s just say it’s been years since I’ve seen one of these… No, it’s not a toilet;

It’s a sink with one faucet for hot water and the other for cold water.

Or this,

But the view from our room…

changed quiet dramatically:

	after 10 minutes
after less than an hour	a bit later…

And here is The Mountain, basking in the bright sunlight and big blue sky

No photo does it justice.

Can you see little tiny us?

So I thought maybe if we go to Reflection Lake, you’ll get a better idea how gigantic and magnificent it is. But, Reflection Lake is still mostly frozen right now.

Here it is in 2001

And 2002

And from I-90 floating bridge (that’s about 3 hours drive from there…)

And from Vashon Island

And I’ll show you Mt. Baker (another volcano, 2 hours drive from here) with its own Reflection Lake. That was a fun easy hike…

What? Are you still here?

Go take a hike!

***

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Eight years. 8 years since the last time we visited Mount Rainier National Park in WA State. Ahhh, we were younger, we were prettier, and we were kid-less back then. But the kids have grown; grown enough to endure the 3 hours drive (non-stop) it takes to get to the park + the additional hours of driving inside the park in order to see lots of cool “stuff”. It’s a huge, huge park with lakes, waterfalls, snow, wild life, snow-capped mountains, and The Mountain, that is Mt. Rainier (an active volcano).

The kids were great on our trip to Lake Chelan (besides the usual arguing, whining, and such), so we thought they are ready for a trip to Mt. Rainier.

I’ve got one warning for you: in this post you get to see only trees. You’ll see The Mountain in the next post, OK?

I have a feeling you won’t mind

To get them kiddies in the mood for some nature adventure, I offered a little bribe. “Whoever sees a deer first, gets ice cream! Who ever sees a bear first, gets a laptop!!!”

“REALLY? A laptop?”, Junior got excited. (I knew this will get his attention. I tell ya’, the 7 years-old of our days are not the seven year-old kids of the old days when I was seven years old) “And it will be just mine?”

“Yes” I answered surely.

“But won’t we be dead if we see a bear?”

“Are you sure? A laptop? Will you give him a laptop?”, his father whispered to me.

“Sure I’m sure. If we see a bear, we’ll be dead and eaten by the bear anyway, so I won’t have to buy Junior his own laptop”, I volunteered more details.

“Well, you’ll have to see the bear from up close” said his dad to clear things up.

“And you need to pat his fur” I added and demonstrated.

“Yes!” his loving and caring father approved. “If you only see the bear from far away, you will get to see a laptop from far away. You’ll need to get up close.”

And that pretty much sealed the deal.

And then we stopped at our first destination. An easy, short hike, perfect for families with lil’ kids, The Trail of the Shadows. (Sounds spooky, no?) As fate had it, I was the first one to see a bear! It was on this trail,

“Bear!”, I yelled.

But a little old lady held the bear in her arms. It was cute and fluffy and had a pink ribbon and I was too embarrassed to ask her if I could take a photo of her and the bear. Or the bear alone. However, a few steps from there, I did get to see this:

For real.

One ice cream for me!

Dear Bambi stood very close to us, minding his own biz, chewing lunch.

Broken trees

This John Muir guy sure does write some cool stuff… So I Bing-ed him. He sure was a cool guy.

“Trees receive a most beautiful burial.”

It reminded me of how I explained my father’s death to my son.

***

And now, some family photos, overly exposed, courtesy of my loving husband… Don’t I look radiant?!

The end.

For now… Next, The Mountain!

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On our second day at Lake Chelan, we visited Blueberry Hills farm. For us, a family vacation is just incomplete without a visit to a farm. Especially a farm with a U-pick field! And especially when lil’ kids are involved. I was very much farm-deprived as a kid so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

Before picking any fruit, at the entrance to the farm, we met this lovely lady who talked about barn owls. She explained how the owls help solve the problems caused by mice in, well… barns – what do I know about that? – but is sure does sound better than using poisons and traps; letting nature do its “thing” instead.

She said that a barn owl catches, and eats, about 8 mice a day. That’s 2,920 mice a year! This sure does sound impressive. However, the city girl that I am, I could not help thinking about how this owl looks like an orchestra’s conductor; the way it is standing on its two legs like that, all tall and upright, he seemed to me like a bird wearing a tuxedo with funny, skinny legs.

The owls were fascinating and we spent lots of time asking question about them. Well, OK, I did most of the asking and the kids Suburban Cowboy was getting impatient.

Sadly, the blueberries were still green!

Some with a shade of purple

Or a touch of pink

But not ready to be picked. That’ll take another 2 weeks or so.

Luckily, the farm had strawberries and they were ripe and ready. Yay.

Not certified organic but the folks at the farm promised they do not spray the strawberries with any pesticides, and we took their word on it.

Gorgeous.

Suburban Cowboy was looking pretty good in a hair net, don’t you think?

Oh, Man, the strawberries tasted so good. It doesn’t get any fresher than that!

It was a hot day and the strawberries were warm and bursting with juices and sweetness. Earth-candy.

And I just love to see kids, especially mine, on their hands and knees picking fruits and vegetables.

This is by far the shortest distance food can make from the ground and into the mouth.

(… and I’m starting to fall in love with my cheap lens – the one that came with the camera’s kit – and its “fish bowl” effect.)

OK, that did it! I want a strawberry field in my backyard! Rows and rows of the stuff.

Our bag of treasure cost 85 cents!

after 20 seconds in the microwave…	and another 30 seconds…

Oh, yeah, baby…

That’s right, we were dipping our freshly picked strawberries in chocolate sauce.

The lady who moaned in the pool below as if she was having great s_x (she didn’t; was merely excited by floating in the pool) had no idea what was going on only a few feet away and above her head in our balcony. A quick chocolate fondue by the lake. Oh, yeah…

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Truly magnificent clouds in this area…

And my lens has some serious fish bowl effect…

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