Caramel Macchiato, extra Caramel and other regional and cultural foods of note

Our son turned 21 on Monday. We officially have two adult children. w00t! For his birthday, I took elements of cakey-ness that I know are good and made a homage to our son's favorite Starbucks drink, using chocolate mocha cake, caramel glaze (used as filling) and mocha buttercream. Then our daughter made it perfect by putting whipped cream on top and drizzling it with more caramel. The fun part was I made it all from scratch, except the "birthday letters" we put on for fun. Man, was that one sugary cake. But good, especially warmed up a little. I was going to put a picture of it but you wouldn't understand. It looks like a mess, like it melted. But that's what the drink looks like. Oh, forget it. Here's the picture and you can think what you like.



I've been busy doing everything but making money lately, mostly eating. Let's see: Steph and I went to a "Sock Fest" in Portland (when she invited me, I said, "Excuse me, did you say 'suck fest'?"), where we wandered around a Sock Museum (I kid you not) and marveled at all the wide variety of fibers and colors you can knit with, and the wide variety of materials and colors and shapes you can use as knitting needles, too. We didn't win anything, even though I TOLD the man at the front door that he was to give me a WINNING raffle ticket. The day did include good food, specifically burgers: we met up with some friends and had lunch at Red Robin, where somehow Dawn managed to pick up the tab for everybody. So it turned out I spent no money at all the whole day, got lunch and had fun. Can't beat that.

Then Rick and I went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market a couple Saturdays ago, where I was completely unable to not spend money. I got a plethora of live herbs in little pots for my garden. So now I am the proud owner of parsley, rosemary and thyme, but I didn't buy sage. I don't use sage for much other than singing along with Peter, Paul and Mary. I've already snipped at the rosemary to make a focaccia. I've never made focaccia before - it was really good, if I say so myself. Among other herbs as well, I got a lovely ornamental oregano with bell-type green and purple flowers, and a huge fuzzy Cuban oregano plant which I have put out by the front door. I love it. We also bought dinner fixin's, featuring baby red potatoes, maitake mushrooms and fresh salmon with organic vegetables and strawberries. I'm afraid to cook fish, I've no experience, but Rick grills it amazingly well. Very fun, local and it made a delicious meal.

Last Saturday Steph and I spent part of the afternoon wandering around a "cultural fair" which was really a fundraiser for the local Orthodox churches - I didn't know there was an orthodox church on Walker Road, but there it was - and we enjoyed souvlaki and Russian pelmeni and Greek coffee while watching teenage Greekies dancing traditional dances. Opa! "Why don't we eat like this every day?" my daughter asks. Well, child, because it takes HOURS to prepare this stuff. But I could make pelmeni once in a while. Really, I could. I will. Eventually. You have to work yourself up to such things, you know. And I'm going to make her help me.

I've had many lettuce salads from the garden, nearly one every day for lunch. Good eats and emotionally satisfying. Something other than me is munching on the cabbage. I don't care too much because I'm not sure even why I planted cabbages, except they do well in the winter. I ate enough cabbage as a child to last my whole life. Though I do like a little of it in my borscht. I have an ambition someday to be able to make and eat borscht that comes entirely from my garden, except for the meat and sour cream. This winter I'll have about half the veggies I need from the garden: beets, parsnips, carrots, cabbage (if it survives). Garlic is going to be planted but it won't be ready until next summer, and onions and potatoes have to wait until spring planting, too. Did you notice borscht is basically all root vegetables that grow well in cold weather? Well, it's from Russia. Makes sense.

It doesn't fit in any way to this post, but for fun here is a Japanese clip of a little chimp being more amazed and entertained by magic tricks than any little kid I've ever seen: magical. I particularly like that, since I don't speak Japanese, I hear pretty much what the chimpanzee hears, and I can see how the animal follows the visual clues he is given, not the words. And I do hope they kept the rest of his day predictable and comfortable, after all those shocking surprises. :)

love,

cat