Himself has introduced us to Dick's. It is a burger joint that he went to while growing up in Seattle. It is an old glassed in looking drive up restaurant that you make your order at the window and watch them quickly prepare your meal then eat it in your car or drive off to somewhere nice to eat it. The menu is simple; burgers, fries, milkshakes and pop. We ordered our standard order which is always burgers, fries, and all three shakes, strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla, which we pass around for all to taste. This time, Himself took us to a really nifty place to eat our burgers.
It is called Gas Works Park. This waterfront park is the perfect way to watch the float or seaplanes take off or land and has a beautiful backdrop of the ever growing city of Seattle. It is also a popular choice spot to watch the fire works over Lake Union on the Fourth of July. It was pretty chilly out that evening as a rain storm had just blown through (shock) so I got out long enough to take some pictures then double time it back to the car to finish off my delicious burger, fries and vanilla shake.
Do you have a favorite burger joint?
I will be in Denver next week and Boston in October, any suggestions?
Been there, done that, have the t-shirt for it. After finding my closet full of vacation spot t-shirts, I have discovered other ways to spend my money or no money at all, on lasting mementos while on my adventures. This post will give you ideas for unique souvenirs to take home with you on your next vacation. Don't forget, you can click on the pictures for a closer view.
1. Purchase something that enhances your hobby. For example, my mother-in-law is an exquisite knitter and she enjoys purchasing new and exciting yarns wherever she travels. I enjoy kitchen gadgets myself.
2. Purchase local ingredients or specialty food items. I found the best coffee in the world at Useless Bay Coffee Company on Whidbey Island. I met the owner and he explained the different roasts and talked at length about how he roasts decaf coffee so that it does not dry out. I came home with 3 pounds of his coffee. It felt good to support a local and growing business.
3. Visit a place that is your niche and get to know the owners. I enjoyed visiting Island Angel Chocolates and the Chocolate Flower Farm, it was fun to see their progress and success. A picture of the place or a picture with the owner is a great treasure. It will make you feel like a celebrity for sure. (This is a picture of me and my SIL's at The Chocolate Flower Farm taken by Marie.)
4. Books. Yes, books. I have always enjoyed picking up books that pertain to the area in which I am visiting. Whether picture, cooking, ghost stories, history, or folklore, I like a good local book. We visited the Locks in Seattle and I found the three greatest books about animals and plants of the Northwest called "An Uncommon Field Guide" by Patricia Lichen. Let me say that the Banana Slug's love making habits was worth the price of the 3 books together. Hysterical. Pick up your own copies from my Store.
5. Collect information and stories. While at the Locks of Ballard near Seattle, I made friends with the tour ranger Mr. Stevens. He shared an abundance of information, opinions and stories with me. We talked about biology and botany and he even went out of his way to furnish me with information packets that they usually do not give out. I even like to collect recipes. Mona of Island Angel Chocolates filled me in on how to make Sipping Chocolate. Priceless.
6. Make friends. I think this has much to do with numbers 3 and 5. We think we must purchase our souvenirs but making friends or networking is a great thing to do. Those people I met went out of their way to see that I had a great time on my vacation. We met these guys on the highway. They give drivers licences to anyone these days.
7. Collect seeds. Well if that is your thing that is. While at Useless Bay Coffee Company. My SILs and I sat outside his cafe in his beautiful garden and spied that the poppies had expired leaving wonderful little "rattles" of thousands of seeds. Always check with the owner first of course. I plan to plant them next Spring reminding me of the best coffee I have ever tasted.
8. Holiday or birthday shop. I love giving gifts to folks followed with, "I got this for you while I was on vacation" or "I found this in the cutest little shop in..." or "This is may favorite tea from Market Spice." It lets the receiver know that you were thinking of them while on vacation.
9. Purchase local art. I like to come home with a print or work of art from a place I have visited. I suppose this could be in any artistic form that pleases you such as photos, oils, watercolors, pottery, or even music from a local music group or street performer. This time it was chocolate candles for me. Be sure to have expensive art pieces shipped.
I need a tenth idea to make it an even ten, what unique treasure have you acquired while on vacation?
Note- I have joined ProBlogger's "Killer Titles- Group Writing Project". I am always looking for ways to improve my writing, photography, food styling, and editing. So this post is my entry for this project.
Idon't really know what else to call this salad but Blueberry Salad. It was inspired by a salad we ate while on vacation. One night at Family Camp, we were served a salad of mixed greens, dried blueberries, and feta cheese in a vinaigrette dressing. We all raved at how those blueberries popped and made the salad so dynamite. I wanted to build a salad around dried blueberries as well but I wanted to use some different ingredients than I am used to using in salad. No tomatoes or cukes here. I wanted different textures and flavors as well as a bold salad dressing. So here is what I came up with and it is delicious and refreshing, bold and flavorful. I hope you enjoy this great way to eat wonderfully sweet dried blueberries.
Blueberry Salad 1 bag mixed baby salad greens 1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, rough chop 2 handfuls slivered almonds 3 stalks green onions, sliced 3 handfuls dried wild blueberries
Soyaki Orange Dressing: 1/3 cup Trader Joe's Island Soyaki Sauce 3 T. orange marmalade 2 T. olive oil
For the dressing mix ingredients well until the marmalade is incorporated. If you do not have a Trader Joe's nearby then you may try to substitue another type of teriyaki marinade and adjust recipe to taste. Toss the salad ingredients and dress salad. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Did you know...that about 1 out of every 100 blog readers leave comments? I just read that on Problogger. I love the comments I get, in fact it's what keeps me going. I do encourage you, no, I respectfully ask you to leave a comment on any of my posts. I am a very social person and I love engaging with my readers. I think those of you who have commented have added so much to my posts and most of the time I am learning from you! I do prefer clean comments free of naughty words though! So please comment to the following question:
What ingredient have you built an entire dish or meal around?
New to Commenting?- Click on the word "Comments" at the bottom of the post (story). Type your comment then click on "Select Profile." Choose Anonymous if you do not have a Google Acount or any other account (you can make one too if you want). If you want, you can type your name in your comment if you choose Anonymous. Once you have completed your comment, click "Post Comment." Very easy, no accounts, no passwords, right Ma? My mom comments using Anonymous all the time.
Have you ever visited a Chocolate Flower Farm or have even heard of one? My next chocolate adventure on Whidbey Island, occured just down the road from Langley, WA, at neat niche nursery called the Chocolate Flower Farm. It has been two years since visiting the farm and I was blown away at what has transpired since the last visit. Marie and Bill have done an amazing job at transforming this old farm to beautifully flowing chocolate gardens that were recently featured on HGTV. As we entered the farm we followed a path that led directly to the little gift shop that you see in the picture. We had to pass through the Neapolitan Garden and Vanilla Swirl Garden to get to it. If that doesn't grab you then maybe the Field of Chocolate Corn will.
Or the beds of Lavender and Chocolate Cosmos. These beds were planted with the idea of having Chocolate Lavender Honey by next year. Faint. Swoon.
Here are the friendly and very busy Italian bees to make that liquid gold.
I believe the Chocolate Cosmos will make wonderful honey as they are as fragrant as a fresh chocolate bar. Yes they really do smell like chocolate! The chocolate corn tastes like corn, the chocolate peppers like peppers, and the chocolate peas like peas, as we were informed by Marie. Darn, I would think a chocolate tasting pepper would be fantastic. Oh, there were chocolate tomatoes too. What do you think they tasted like?
My favorite flower was the Chocolate Sunflower. Absolutely beautiful.
Oh, all this talk over the last two Chocolate posts of flowers and honey, Lime Truffles and Salt Caramels, I must leave you with a recipe bringing honey and lime together. I already told you how to make Sipping Chocolate! On our last night of camp we had barbequed ribs, baked beans, coleslaw, and cornbread with Lime Honey Butter. I repeat LIME HONEY BUTTER! Yes it was as delicious as its sounds, especially schmeared over warm cornbread. They did not use chocolate corn though.
Lime Honey Butter 1 cup salted butter, softened 1 cup honey (someday Chocolate Lavender Honey!) Juice and zest of one lime or more to taste
Blend all ingredients until smooth and serve over warmed cornbread, scones, or biscuits. Delicious!
If you missed Chocolate Abundance Part I go ahead and click on it so that you don't miss a thing around here. Nope, not a cotton pickin' thing.
While staying at our family's house in Washington, my sister sister-in-law Donna decided to have a shark attack movie night. She rented Jaws II and made Captain Jack's Shark Attack Popcorn. We turned out the lights to watch this "scary" movie. I think the music was the scariest thing about it. The kids mostly laughed at the outdated special effects and had a great time trying to predict who would get eaten next. We were scarfing the popcorn down faster than Jaws could eat that poor water skier and her mother. This popcorn is delicious. My nephew Jack said, "Auntie Robin can you put this recipe on Big Red Kitchen?" You betcha man! Can't turn down a request like that.
So low and behold when we got home one of our TV stations was running the Jaws Marathon. We planned our own Shark Attack night to watch Jaws III, the one with Dennis Quaid. Meh, pretty lame but when you have two little boys in the house all that stuff just ROCKS! I made the Captain Jack's Shark Attack Popcorn and Shark Attack Italian Sodas. The kids had a blast pouring the "blood" in their seltzer.
Captain Jack's Shark Attack Popcorn 4 ounces cinnamon red hots 1/2 stick butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup popcorn kernels, popped
In a medium-sized sauce pan over medium high heat, melt the first four ingredients, stirring constantly until melted and bubbly, about 8 minutes. Place popcorn in a huge bowl and pour red sauce over popcorn stirring frequently to cover all the kernels. Place on a large jelly roll pan, it will be piled high and bake in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes. The original directions say one hour but it didn't really need it and I was hungry for crying-out-loud! Let cool and break apart into bite-sized pieces. Serves a crowd.
Shark Attack Italian Soda seltzer water Torani strawberry syrup ice
Fill a tall glass halfway with crushed ice. Fill the glass with seltzer water leaving about and inch head space for the "blood", ahem, syrup. Pour in about one ounce of syrup and watch the "blood" spread through the water. The kids go nuts for this stuff.
This "pour" shark ate too much of this popcorn and went belly up. Poor buggah. I remember watching the first Jaws as a kid and it scared the pee out of me, I about had a stroke when that head fell out of the boat. The music was something else as well, what suspense. Living at the beach in Jersey, I was petrified of being eaten by a shark but our sharks were tiny but could still do some damage. The only thing that attacked me while I was swimming was a crab who was doing the backstroke while I was doing freestyle. I had no idea the things ever surfaced to swim but this one did and boy oh boy I think he released all his claws and legs I screamed so loud (they'll grow back.) The boy next door was always trying to attack me too. Remember him, Ma?
PS- My kids got those sharks in their Shark Attack drinks at Glory Days Grill, they use Sprite though. I think the Italian Soda is more sophisticated which is very important during an attack.
2008 Shark Team USA Wins Gold in Synchronized Swimming I assure you they are all 16 years old. Wink.
Come back on Monday for Chocolate Abundance Part II: The Chocolate Flower Farm. You won't want to miss it. Super simple and delicious recipe included!
