In my previous post, an interview with Shauna, Gluten-free girl, I asked her where does she find her food inspiration, because they seem to be making all kinds of cool foods over there at her place… It makes me feel like such a bore.

Shauna replied with a few names of people she knows and a food book that inspire her cooking, but summed it up simply with “I’m inspired by food all the time.”

She is right. There’s so many things within close reach and people around us from whom we can get inspired about the next dish or meal to make, or life. Or dessert. We only have to look more closely. The inspiration might be right there, waiting under our nose.

Just look at this mint. I have–It was hard to ignore–and it made me want to run back into the kitchen and make mint ice cream.

My ice cream maker has been standing lonely and neglected since 2 summers ago. 2, summers, ago!

Last summer sucked—my father was really sick and last August he died. I was in no mood to celebrate. Making ice cream feels like a celebration.

This summer I’ve decided to slow down with work and spend as much time as I can outdoors, in the sun, and with the kids. June was wintery, rainy, and grey (I used the F-word a lot in June), which makes the current Seattle summer very, very shot—only 2 months!

I know we’ll have a long winter (The temperatures drop at the end of September) and there’s going to be plenty of time to stay inside the house, and in front of the computer, and hibernate until next May or June. The ice cream machine had to be used, immediately, while the mint is lovely and at its prime time.

The same as I was, still am, crazy for soaking my feet in water and sand at the beach and watch as many sunsets as time and schedules allow, it burned in my mind, “I must make ice cream this summer!”

And so I did.

The recipe I used is from David Lebovitz’s book, “The Perfect Scoop”. It has many recipes that I marked with little Post-It notes but the fresh mint in the backyard was so gorgeous, so that recipe was the first one to be made. Luckily, you can find it on his web site as well under Mint ice cream with an addition of chocolate. Hmm, why haven’t I thought of that?

Do you have an ice cream machine? Have you used it this summer? What did you make?

From that point on, I noticed more and more inspiring stuff around, like… Thyme.

Ah, these beautiful beets reminded me of a wonderful dish, Rib Roast of Beef with Beets, Potatoes, and Horseradish, a friend, Mark, once cooked for dinner and we had the pleasure of eating. It’s a recipe by Jamie Oliver from his cookbook, “Cook with Jamie” (which I bought after seeing it in Mark’s kitchen–what a gorgeous book! The pavlova recipe is taken from that book.)

The recipe is on Martha Stewart’s site + a video how to make it. (I must make it myself soon.) In the video Jamie is making this dish with Martha—you must watch it! I can’t get over him calling Martha “my darling”, and “sweet heart”, and “love”… I must add a to that! Jamie Oliver is always very inspiring.

Up next, tarragon. To be more specific, chicken braised with white wine, cream, mushrooms, and tarragon. I haven’t made this in… 10-15 years??? Wow.

So, remember, inspiration is right under your nose. Start looking.

***

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My fluffy Pavlova

Shauna James Ahern, a.k.a Gluten-free girl, inspires me.

When I read her blog posts (She is also on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr), I get a feeling as if life is one big, ongoing, happy celebration. There’s beautiful food, and fun with friends, parties, and picnics, and potlucks, living on a dreamy island with her husband, Danny, and her little girl, Lucy… But most of all I can feel the love and appreciation for one another in her words, food, and photos. Sometimes it seem as if Shauna’s life is glossy-magazine-perfect.

But wait, there’s so much more.

Shauna is a stay-at-home mom to a 2 year-old toddler and works from home, full time! I asked her a while ago on Twitter how does she do it all. She replied that her house is a mess. Well, my house is already a mess (at least 66.38% of it)—I kind of gave up on the idea that it will be tidy one day–but I can’t do even a 1/4 of what this woman is capable of…

In her post from April 2010, she let her readers know more about what’s been on her plate in the past year. There are difficulties and challenges:

“It has not felt like the right place to talk about terrifying life decisions, watching a baby in pain, living on the ragged edge of desolate sleep deprivation, worrying about cancer, taking a pill that saddens our lives into something we never expected, and coping with it all in old, familiar ways.”

Her candor and openness about her life amazes me. In spite of it all, she projects happiness and satisfaction—life is a celebration. The woman has incredible levels of energy and strength–or does she have super powers? Instead of letting hard times bring her down (I think this is how I would have reacted), she grabs life with two strong hands and embraces and squeezes the joyful moments out of it. Surely something I still practice doing.

Following Shauna’s work energizes me to get off my butt, go out and celebrate life, food, and my family. It encourages me to get out there and fight for the things that matter to me the most. To try again even when it feels like I failed, and not give up.

I wanted to know more, so I asked Shauna if she can answer a few questions and she has agreed to do an interview.

You should know, Shauna and Danny co-authored a cookbook that is soon to be in the stores. I don’t have to eat gluten-free food to be healthy and alive like she does, but I can’t wait to put my hands on their cookbook, “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef”, for the stories if not for the gorgeous food that is probably in there…

(All photos in this post are used with permission and grabbed from Shauna’s Flickr photostream.)

1. You and Danny cook and work together and you have a new cookbook, “Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef “, coming out in September 28th, 2010. Can you share some tips about how you, as a couple, collaborate in the kitchen in ways that strengthen your family?

Danny and I love being in the kitchen together. Shortly after we met, we started cooking together. At first, I worried that he would think my skills were woeful in comparison to his (they were) and want to direct or correct me. But that’s not Danny. Instead, he enjoyed the chance to collaborate, to smell the spices, to slow down and enjoy the process. And stop for kisses, too!

Danny may have spent over 20 years in restaurant kitchens, and thus can chop an onion neatly in the time it takes me to remove the peel, but he is not interested in being the one who knows everything. Instead, we learn from each other. The first time we cooked together, I taught him a trick I had picked up from Jamie Oliver, about putting a boiling-hot lemon into a chicken before you stick it in the oven. The juices release immediately and make the chicken juicier than any other I have roasted. He loved it. He taught me how to roast peppers under the broiler and add them to mashed potatoes. That first meal we cooked together was a revelation.

Since then, we have cooked many meals together, including all the dishes in our cookbook (many times over!). There are times that I’m too busy writing to help Danny or he’s too exhausted from a long day at the restaurant to help me, but almost every meal means the two of us in the kitchen, side by side, working together, talking about the day and laughing.

And now there are three of us in the kitchen. We want to give our daughter this space, and the joy in the process, as well.

2. Have you cooked in harmony from the beginning of your relationship or did you have any bumps along the road? If you have had any cooking-together-hiccups, how did you overcome them and what have you learned about each other along the way?

For the most part, Danny and I have cooperated and enjoyed each other’s company in the kitchen. We’re human, though. There are times we irritate the heck out of each other!

It irritates Danny when I go fast and forget to put a wet towel under the cutting board. (This cuts the risk of the knife and board slipping.) I think he wishes I could do the dishes at night more often, but we’re all so exhausted near midnight after a day with the toddler and writing full-time. He’s tired after a day at the restaurant. We tackle them together at lunch the next day, as often as we can.

When we first began our time together, I asked him to be my teacher. It was so clear that I didn’t know the techniques that are muscle memory to him. At my behest, he gave me lessons. I wrote everything down in a little black book, like I was his Girl Friday. He loved it. So did I.

After a couple of years, however, I had learned enormously. I’ll never be as good as him, but I was confident in the kitchen. But he kept up the lessons, stopping me in the middle of cooking to tell me how I could do it better. We had a couple of months there where I’d refrain from saying anything, then had to ask him to back away. We were both kind of annoyed with each other. We had to step back and realize we were in a different space. I just wanted to cook, not  have a lesson anymore.

Other than that, however, it has been easy. We really just love talking about food, planning meals, going to the grocery store, and cooking. Of course, the eating too. But it’s really the entire process that moves us.

Gluten-free pizza with barbequed duck breast, pine nuts, mozzarella, and cilantro

3. Your little girl, Lucy, who is only two years old, spends time with you and Danny in the kitchen. What do you do together? How can parents include their little kids in the kitchen action?

Lucy is the light of our lives. Every day, both Danny and I are amazed by something she says or does. She is delighted by life and reminds us to live to it too.

That is particularly clear in the kitchen. She stand on a chair at the counter with us as we cook. She has been doing this since she was just over one year old. She has great balance, so we never bought the tower that some families use (but they look great). By now, she uses the mortar and pestle to pound the spices we throw in there for her. She helps to stir fruit with a spatula when we are making pie. She loves to smell lemons and fresh-ground pepper and everything we are cooking. Because we spend so much time in the kitchen, she knows it’s an important place. She wants to be there.

She eats everything. I don’t think it’s entirely because we have her in the kitchen with us–some kids seem to just be born picky. But I think it has played a great part. When we were working on the cookbook, she was a tiny baby, sitting in a bouncy chair. But whatever we were cooking we would put under her nose to smell. I loved watching her eyes go wide.

(I’m working on a book about food and pregnancy and little ones right now. I learned that babies can smell what their mother smells as early as five months in the womb! You can give them a sensory joy before they are even born.)

We involve her in every step of the process, except for the part about working with sharp knives or burners on the stove. She loves food.

And we all eat every meal together, as we can. We three have breakfast together, and then lunch. She and I sit for her dinner before she goes to bed, and then I share some with Danny later too. As soon as she could sit in her high chair, we realized she would not eat unless we were sitting together. So we all take the time to turn off the computer and the thoughts of the day and sit together at the table.

I think this is the best thing we do.

4. Food-wise, what’s the toughest recipe or food project you have ever worked on?

Writing a cookbook was the hardest work I have ever done, aside from being a parent. (That’s in its own category.) I can make up a quick recipe for my website, throw it up there, and if there are holes or places that aren’t clear, I hear about it from people. And then I fix it.

But a cookbook is permanent. It needs to be filled with recipes that endure, that are clear, that inspire people to go into the kitchen and start cooking. Danny and I cooked and cooked, talked and talked, cooked some more, edited, and wrote down everything the best we could. And then we edited again.

Most of the recipes are ones that Danny had cooked as dishes in the various restaurants where he worked. It might have taken some pulling for him to put them into words, but it was a joy.

However, coming up with the gluten-free baked goods in the book? Those were a wonderful challenge.

We knew, no matter how much we talked about the foods that are naturally gluten-free, readers would feel the cookbook was a bit of a cheat if it didn’t have some bread and pasta. So, over the course of two years, we taught ourselves how to bake gluten-free. I thought I knew before. I was wrong. Everything became easier when I learned to bake by weight, instead of volume. (Everyone should buy a kitchen scale!)

I must have made the homemade pasta recipe about 58 times before we had it right. And then, after we had written it down and turned in the manuscript, we were working with our editor’s notes. I made the pasta again, exactly as written on the page. It was terrible! I flailed and despaired. Danny tried it. Still bad. I was apoplectic!

Then I read an anecdote in Heat by Bill Buford, where a visiting Italian chef is in despair because her homemade pasta didn’t work for a big banquet. Someone figured it out for her: grocery store eggs. Eggs that we buy in the store have more protein and weigh more. I had been doing all the original testing with eggs from our sister-in-law’s chickens! We realized that the recipe worked if you use 1 grocery store egg plus 2 egg yolks in place of a farm-fresh egg. Once I figured out that ratio, it worked every time.

Gluten-free homemade pasta

5. Where do you find your food inspiration?

I’m inspired by listening to my husband talk about his specials that night. By the latest vegetable to hit the farmers’ market. By a new spice we find and I try to pair up with everything we eat. By a book called The Flavor Bible, which tells you which foods complement other foods. By crazy ideas I get from reading about other people’s dinner on Twitter. By our daughter, who is new to everything and so excited that I remember just how beautiful blueberries are.

I’m very lucky. I’m inspired by food all the time.

***

Thank you, Shauna, for the Q & A.

And, if you haven’t already, go visit Gluten-free girl!

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The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook, interview with Lorna Yee

This was the perfect cake to take to the beach.

***

I really have nothing else to add to that.

I made H. go into the kitchen to bake a cake! With his mom! (The in-laws visited us.We haven’t seen them in a long, long time.) You know, to snoop around and learn her secrets…

But really there are none! It is so simple to make. Besides the carrots’ part.

You grate and grate and grate the carrots… It requires some muscles and hard work.

Unless you have a trick up your sleeve you would like to share with me?

What’s your best cake to take to the beach, or picnic/potluck/party?

Mother-in-Law Carrot cake

(Or, in Romanian: PRAJITURA de MORCOVI)

For a 9.5 inch (28 cm) cake pan, or a 30 cm * 30 cm pan

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 lb. (500 grams) carrots, peeled and grated
3 oz. (100 grams) raisins or dried currants
3 oz. (100 grams) walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped

Grease a baking pan and line with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 360 F (180 C) degrees.

In a bowl of a mixer put the eggs, sugar, oil, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and beat (We used the beater attachment but my MIL says she uses the whisk attachment) for 7 minutes on medium-high.

Add flour, carrots, raisins, and nuts, and beat on low speed.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

For easy and safe transport, take it to the beach in the pan.

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Jewish Cooking For Dummies cookbook

… of another yummy “cake” to make this summer. (And I’m writing “yummy” ‘cos I’m in a hurry–can you tell?!)

Only thing, in this hot weather the buttery dough melts when you work it, so if it happens to you too, pop it back in the fridge to chill a bit and continue—don’t let it discourage you from making this!

Since I don’t like to cook fresh, seasonal fruit at their peak—I think they are just too good as is and their flavors completely change when heat hits them–I use fruit that have been sitting around on the counter for a while and have gotten too soft and overripe.

Click here for the recipe.

Another very important reminder!

Have you had a chance to get some of this yet?

Ahhhhh, freezing cold Pacific Ocean water…

Got to go now…

***

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Oh My Goodness! The last time I posted a cake recipe was in April!!!!

I love baking and I have to bake a cake for the weekend—no, no one is putting a gun to my head–or else I go bananas. Or nuts.

I might have missed 2, or 3, or 4 Friday baking sessions in the past year and yes, I felt a tickle in my fingertips about skipping a baking opportunity. For me, the big idea is the baking act itself more than the actual eating of the cake. Although I do eat it too. Of course.

So what happened with the cake posts? Well… We had some of our favorite cakes repeated, like:

Jam crostata

Vanilla Pavlova

Chocolate cake

Ricotta Bundt Cheesecake

Walnut cake which I made with hazelnuts this time

and Crostata with Summer Fruit among others…

I think repetition of favorite dishes is part of what makes them an integral part of the household, part of our home.

I think about my kids growing up on a handful, but more likely two or three handfuls, of our favorite cakes that will always remind them of their childhood and of home. And of their mommy—that’s me. Hopefully, the latter will be fond memories… At least as much as the cakes themselves.

I will always continue to try new recipes, but I will always repeat some of those they love.

Then, one day I saw a photo in a magazine for blueberry shortcake with vanilla ice cream and I really really wanted to make it. However, I left the magazine in the car and H. took the car, and… I looked for another idea for the cake instead of shortcake. Then I saw a package of almond paste in the pantry and I wanted to use it before it gets too old… It’s been sitting there for months! So, almond cake it was.

I have 2 good recipes for almond cake that I made before but I wanted a new one. A more almond-y one. One that uses the whole tube of almond paste, not just a 1/4 cup of it. I Googled “Almond cake” and the first result that came up was a David Lebovitz recipe.

David Lebovitz? Chez Panisse? Those names guarantee that the recipe is a good one. Without a doubt in my mind, I raced back to the kitchen to bake it.

And so should you…

The recipe I used can be found here. (For another, later variation for it, made by David, click here.)

The cake was tall and handsome—can’t you see?—with a fine crumb, and delicate, but definite, almond flavor. It stayed good and moist, like new, even after 4 days.

It was perfectly matched with a blueberry compote I made:

Cook 1 cup of fresh blueberries with a bit of sugar and 1-2 tablespoons of water for a couple of minutes. When the fruit bursts and soften, add a squeeze of lemon juice and vanilla extract. Taste and fix the flavors until you’re happy and go “mmmm, this is good stuff”.

Serve with a dollop of ice cream. Or whipped cream. Or both.

***

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When I first heard about the The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook, I joked that “If I had to write a newlywed cookbook, it would have ended with divorce, or murder.”

This week, H. (a.k.a, The Husband) and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. While we make a pretty good team in most areas of life (we work hard on our relationship), we still need to figure out how to make a good team in the kitchen. I remember that once upon a time we used to cook together, side by side, and we got along well. We used to have fun doing so. But nowadays we rarely collaborate when it comes to cooking, and when we do share the kitchen floor, we end up stepping on each other’s toes. Our “solution” evolved to be that when H. cooks (on the rare occasions I let him), I have to step out of the kitchen, and vice versa. I would really like to go back to cooking together with him like we used to do nine years ago…

Recently, I had a chance to attend an event with Lorna Yee, the co-author of the The Newlywed Kitchen cookbook (published in May 2010). What caught my attention about the cookbook, even more than the good looking recipes, was its emphasis on couplehood and relationships as they are reflected and developed in the kitchen. The cookbook is designed to inspire couples to cook together and has food-love stories woven between the different chapters.

At the event, I couldn’t help but ask Lorna about how she shares her kitchen space with her husband. She was very kind and sweet with her reply and I wanted to inquire more. This is how the idea of interviewing her has budded. I asked Lorna and she agreed to answer a few more questions.

A bit about Lorna Yee:

Lorna is a Seattle Magazine food writer. Her blog is The Cookbook Chronicles. Born and raised in Vancouver B.C. (Canada), she now lives in Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle, WA.

***

1. Not all couples are interested in cooking together. What encouraging words would you say to them to give it a try?

A love for food is one of the things that brought my husband and me together, so for us, it is natural to want to prolong the special mealtime experience by preparing dinner together, too. If you’re not used to cooking with your spouse, it might seem unnerving to dive into a complicated recipe together. Instead, try baby steps: take a morning to explore a farmer’s market, or even just your neighborhood grocery store together. When you get back into the kitchen with your fresh vegetables and bread, why not divide up the tasks—perhaps one person can put together the salad, while the other makes garlic crostini and sets out a charcuterie or cheese plate. That way, you’re still doing things your way, but get a feel for what it’s like sharing the kitchen space with your spouse. Eventually, you might feel more comfortable giving up some control, and tackle a more complicated recipe together.

2. There are couples who don’t know how to share the kitchen space without stepping on each other’s toes. What advice can you give them?

An important thing to remember is your spouse is not going to do everything exactly the way you do them—and that’s ok. This is a lesson my husband and I had to learn, too, given that we both love to cook and both have very strong ideas about the “right” way to truss a chicken, or make fried rice. A common thought among bloggers might be: “Well, I have to arrange the {insert ingredient} on the plate my way, because if I don’t, it’ll ruin my photo for my blog!” And sometimes, this sort of stress makes a person forget about living in the moment, and just enjoying the time he or she is spending preparing a meal. When you think about it, would you rather look at a pretty photo of a meal you meticulously arranged and executed 100%, remembering how it was later eaten in silence because feelings were hurt? Or would you rather remember sharing the bottle of wine, laughing over a little joke, and finally tasting the ragu the two of you collaborated on together? My husband and I are both strong-willed, and we did not always work perfectly together in the kitchen. But over the years, we’ve learned that complimenting (instead of criticizing) each other goes a long way in creating a wonderful evening, and strengthening our relationship.

3. What dishes do you and your husband love to cook together?

My husband and I love cooking Chinese food together, since that is what we eat most at home. My family is from Guangdong and Shanghai, and his mom taught him how to cook Hunanese and Szechuanese food. So together, we’ve learned a pretty broad repertoire of Chinese dishes. When we first started dating, it was really fun to try new-to-us Chinese dishes that we hadn’t been exposed to before, given that our families cooked regionally. The first meal he cooked for me was about a month after we first started dating. He made a simple dish of ma po tofu (tofu and ground pork in a Szechuan peppercorn-flecked sauce), and Hunanese bacon with leeks. Since then, I’ve learned these two recipes and we prepare them regularly for casual weeknight meals.

4. What kind of dishes do you and your husband prefer to cook separately, and why?

My husband has zero interest in baking, and I adore mixing up a gooey batch of brownies, kneading bread dough, or spreading homemade lemon curd in between layers of golden sponge cake. So I handle all the sweets and breads in the house, and he is content just to pick up a fork and dig in when it’s done. And I guess in true stereotypical fashion—he is much more comfortable in front of the grill than I am!

5. If you had such an experience, can you share a story about a time when you and your husband cooked together and it did not end well? What insight/s do you have about that experience?

My husband and I have different cooking styles—he is a “clean-as-you-go” kind of guy, and I’m content with letting the dishes pile up until the cooking is done. We’re celebrating our two-year anniversary next week, and I can honestly say it’s taken us all this time to finally learn how be more selfless, and how to try to accommodate each other’s preferences. I now try to remember to wash the cutting board and knife as soon as I am finished using it, but if I forget, he will wash them without nagging. He knows how I’m used to cooking, and he knows that I am trying. That is enough for him.

6. What recipes in your cookbook would be easy for those couples who would like to practice their cooking-together skills?

My husband went to school in Italy for a year, so he has a particular fondness for the Italian meatballs recipe in The Newlywed Kitchen. The recipe can be found here.

There is only one Chinese recipe in The Newlywed Kitchen, because we wanted this cookbook to be more a resource for American home cooks. But this spicy, aromatic Taiwanese beef noodle soup is one of my favorite comfort food recipes, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to include it. Click here for the recipe.

Gluten-free? Shauna adapted one of my top “indulgences”—Buttermilk Onion Rings for those with celiac. If you don’t have celiac, simply substitute the gluten-free flours and xantham gum with plain all-purpose flour. Here’s the recipe.

If you are a beginner cook, the Samoa Blondies is one of the easiest dessert recipes in the cookbook. I simply adore them, and whip up a batch at least every couple of weeks! The recipe is here.

***

Thank you, Lorna, for the insights and wise words as well as your lovely recipes!

There are so many recipes in the cookbooks that I’d like to try but the first one I plan to make is Lorna’s Triple-layer red velvet cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting. It is a true treat! I saw it—it was beautiful—and tasted it—it was delicious!–at a potluck I was invited to a few months ago. Lorna brought the cake and I remember it had such a delicate crumb and a luscious, but not too sweet, frosting . I’d like to make it to celebrate our anniversary (although it’ll have to be postponed by 1-2 weeks from the original anniversary date, but that’s life…).

***

While working on this post, H. and I had a long talk about why we only rarely cook together these days. I won’t go through all the details—it was late at night, it was a 1-2 hours talk while we sat outside, covered in a blanket, looking at the stars from time to time. But in the end, we agreed that we both miss cooking together and decided to have a cooking date once a month. (Well, we are way busier these days then we were 9 years ago.)

But then, the other day—it was a spontaneous thing—we found ourselves in the kitchen, cooking. H. made his halibut with herbed breadcrumbs and I made side dishes and chopped herbs for him. We helped each other; it felt good.

I think that, even though we are not newlyweds, it’s never too late to start cooking together (again).

***

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Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef cookbook, interview with Shauna James Ahern

We just came back from a 2-days trip to Whidbey Island, WA. Ah, what a place! So laid back; just what I need/ed.

The first town we visited was Langley. It has beautiful shops, galleries, restaurants, and a public beach… Charming.

It was chilly and cloudy that day so we spent more time on the main street and its shops than at the beach. I lingered for a long time at The Star Store which has so much good looking stuff from clothing to toys, to food, to kitchen ware… In short, lots of pretty things. (Thank you to my family for being so patient while I touch, and check, and try on, and fumble all “the stuff”.)

Then we had lunch at Prima bistro.

Of all the amazing food that we ordered, I will never forget this bucket of 1½ pounds of Penn Cove Mussels “à la marinière”. What can I tell you? I fell in love with it!

I used to think that ordering mussels meant that I had to work a lot in order to get tiny morsels of food that are hiding inside the shell, unlike say, a steak, which is right there under my nose. And that while I was busy eating it, piece by piece, in small bites, with long intervals of time between one mussel to the next, I’d just get hungry all over again… Bottom line, I thought it wasn’t worth the trouble. But oh, I was so wrong.

That dish… It’s the kind of dish that can brighten up your day and bring you back to life. It makes life seem like one, big, happy party. Maybe the wine I drank helped too. But anyway… Butter, wine, shallots, celery, parsley, lots of garlic (Do they add chicken broth to steamed mussels? I’ll have to check), it was so rich and yet so light and refreshing. Fresh. And the fries? Who cares? I forgot about the fries. Just focused on the mussels.

And I shared fresh, local Penn Cove oysters with my Mother-in-Law. They were so plump and buttery and sweet and decadent!

See how fat they are?

These are the fattest oysters I’ve ever had! Yum yum. No need to add anything to them either.

The second day, we drove to the even more laid back Coupeville

It was a much nicer day with a sunny morning. (Most of the days so far the sun came out only in the afternoon. Oh well… Can’t complain, right?)

We headed directly to the beach.

At the end of the wharf in Coupeville, there’s a small coffee shop called Local Grown, where this guy, William, the owner,

pulls the most perfect shot of espresso in his charming coffee shop.

I had to ask him what’s his name because the coffee was so perfect. So were the kids’ chocolate milks with real whipped cream on top.

I didn’t have such a wonderfully made cup of coffee in a long, loooooooooooong time. (How come all the good coffee shops are far away?) It was fresh, bitter and sweet; really kicks you in the butt to wake up and start your day just by smelling it.

I’m pretty sure that whoever came up with the “wake up and smell the coffee” phrase had this sort of cup of Joe in mind (Unlike the prevalent stale, burnt, pale, sour ones you can buy at that store that starts with an S). Anyway… Let’s head back to the beach,

and to gazing at mussels that got stuck to the poles as well as fast swimming little fishies

     

And a little something for the pet lovers amongst you…

Then, it was time for lunch. We had a great time at Front Street Grill. Of course I had to order the local mussels again, and they were good, but Prima’s mussels ruined it for me – theirs was the best out of the two. Now I need to find where I can get some, just as good, in Seattle. If not, then I’ll just have to go back to Whidbey Island more often.

So, how’s your summer so far?

***

By the way, we lost a doll + her little bottle, so if you ever go to Coupeville and stumble upon it, let me know asap, OK?

Thanks!

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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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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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