So Long 2021

 

WHITE KNUCKLING IT: After Christmas, we took a 'little' trip down to Bend to visit family. 

On a good day, it would be about a 6 hour drive. Unfortunately, our travel was on a very not good day. There was packed snow and ice even before we left our driveway. Though Interstate 5 was somewhat clear, there was still plenty of snow and slush making it treacherous at times. In fact, just south of Tacoma, we had a very scary situation when a semi truck came barreling down an onramp into the lane right next to us, and then passed us. In the process the truck threw up a wall of ice and snow onto our windshield. We were utterly/100 percent blinded and driving at freeway speed. Christian started swerving back and forth, and I reached over to turn on the windshield wipers  (though he beat me to it). Miraculously, we didn't crash into anything or any one else during the incident. I honestly thought we were goners in that moment. 

That 'excitement' was followed by more 'fun'. We had a long, harrowing drive over Mount Hood on Thursday, December 30th. The roadway was packed ice and snow. Warning signs said chains were required, and, of course, we put them on. As we were approaching the summit, there was pretty heavy holiday traffic, and we were all creeping along at between 5 and 20 miles per hour for miles and miles and miles. However, at one point, just before the summit, the flow of traffic just stopped. We sat and sat sat some more, not knowing what was going on. We eventually saw people getting out of their cars ahead of us (not a good sign). Soon after, we learned there was stuck truck just ahead, blocking our lane. Unfortunately, at the moment we happened to be on a stretch where the highway is physically  divided, so no one could drive out and around the big, stuck truck.  

Moments like these, you start questioning your decisions. Why were we driving over an icy, snowy  mountain pass during a winter storm, putting ourselves at risk like that? And why were we doing that when not really prepared for something awful to happen (the kids and I didn't even have winter coats, and we had no food to speak of in the car)? And, of course, you start thinking about having to go to the bathroom and wondering where and when and how that might happen. Oh, and did I mention we also had to dogs in the car with us? Good times ... 

Eventually, a tow truck came and hauled the @$$4@!3 truck driver who neglected to chain up away. I hope he gets a BIG FAT CITATION for being such a selfish jerk and needlessly causing so many people so much stress and discomfort.

About eight hours after leaving home, we finally reached our destination: Bend, Oregon. 

It was a huge relief to get there in one piece.

FOOD AND FUN: We had a very nice visit, with lots of good food and great company. Check out this Indonesian chicken that was dinner on New Year Eve. Isn't it beautiful?

There were also morning waffles and French toast sticks for the kids. 

And on our last night there, Christian and I made dinner for the crowd. We test drove a menu for an upcoming Teen Feed. We keep hearing the teens love tomato soup and grilled cheese, but we thought we'd elevate that old standard a bit with a pizza-inspired twist. We made pizza soup (tomato base with peppers, artichokes, and Italian sausage with toppers of olives, cheese, fresh basil and fried pepperoni).

We had a side salad of Romain lettuce with a homemade anchovy dressing. The grilled cheese was made on round slices of sourdough, with two kinds of melty cheese, Canadian bacon, and grilled pineapple slices. For dessert, Annabelle cooked up a couple of big cookie pizzas - chocolate chip cookie base with Nutella ganache topping and white chocolate and mini M&Ms for some flair. 

During our stay, we ventured out to a couple of spots in Bend. We hit the city's only record store. CJ picked up a Biggie LP there.

We also swung by The Ale Apothecary to pick up and order for a friend of ours back in Seattle.

Fortunately,  our trip home was MUCH less eventful than the trip down. We left about 7:30 a.m. and were home in about 6.5 hours, with three short stops. 

Boxing Day and Beyond

FANCY FEAST:  Though we usually host Teen Feed on the fourth Saturday of every month, this month we were moved to December 26, since the fourth Saturday was Christmas, and they had something different going on for that holiday.

Little did we know when we were bumped that that would just happen to be the day the Seattle area received about 5 inches of snow. Oh no!  Here's how much snow we had in the driveway when heading out for the University District, about 16 miles to the north. (Check out how the snow is piled on the alien's head!)

Cooking up a "Fancy Feast" of 65 meals for homeless teens and young adults was ambitious even "on paper." Mix in a thick layer of snow in a hilly city that's not used to the white stuff, and it became a monumental undertaking. 

Three days before service, I got a nervous text from Teen Feed, fretting about the forecast and asking if we were aware of the weather warnings. I told them we were monitoring the situation, but would be there no matter what. The morning of the 26th, when we all woke up to a BUNCH of the white stuff, I received a call from the volunteer coordinator asking if we were still going to make it. "We'll be there, with fancy food for 65!" I assured her.    

Because of the weather, some people dropped off donations a day or two early to Kennedy in Greenwood. Other donors changed from bringing to sponsoring, and three even braved the snowy roads to bring their stuff to the service site. My friend Bernadette walked for an hour in the snow to deliver her home baked rolls to Kennedy before the dinner service.

For the feast, over 30 pounds of top sirloin and New York steak were seasoned, vacuum sealed, and cooked via sous vide to medium rare. 

Those steaks were seared and sliced on site.

My friend Debi handled the vegan main entrée and, frankly, created a bit of a problem. The mushroom Wellington she made looked so darn amazing, everyone who saw it (vegan or not!) wanted some. 

Enormous potatoes were beautifully baked and the spuds were transformed from plain potatoes to dinner plate superstars with stellar toppings (sour cream, cream cheese, shredded cheddar, butter, bacon bits, and green onions). Beautiful broccoli florets were tossed in olive oil and balsamic, dusted with pink Himalayan sea salt, roasted, and then served up with plenty of Parmesan on top. So good!

We had cute little single serve glass bottles of Martinelli apple cider, and dessert was three different kinds of decadent fudge, including Annabelle's colorful "unicorn" fudge.

The fancy folded napkins and little LED candle lights helped make the meal more special. 

Because the weather was so bad, we weren't sure how many of the expected 65 would show up. I surmised the numbers would be super low because the teens simply don't have the clothing to be out in that kind of weather, but we had to be ready for anything. As it turned out, we served only about a dozen guests on site. But the people who came were so happy! Two of the diners each had four servings of steak! We were happy to hear ROOTS (the shelter where many Teen Feed guests stay overnight) opened their space to a 24/7 space due to the extreme weather.  (Each month, 25 our of Teen Feed meals are delivered to ROOTS after Teen Feed service.) Knowing that many of the regular Teen Feed diners were sheltering there, we boxed up many extra servings to feed the hungry folks there.

I couldn't help but feel a little proud of what we pulled off when I overheard a Teen Feed worker talking about Sunday night's service.  

"This is the best meal we've ever had here." - George, Teen Feed Kitchen Lead, 12/26/2021

 A bonus story from Sunday night. While working to get ready for the meal service, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone bringing multiple BIG trays of foil topped food in aluminum trays to the dining room. I wondered what that was about, and found out after our service. Apparently another volunteer meal team had a mix up about their date and delivered on our service date. Their food was all frozen solid, and the current tiny kitchen at Teen Feed has absolutely zero space to store that. In a case of us being in the right place at the right time, before we left last night, we asked if they needed help making sure that donation didn't go to waste. So Monday morning, Christian and and I fired up our three ovesn  and cooked up the other group's really tasty looking chili, corn bread, brownie cake, and Buffalo cauliflower. We delivered it piping hot along with a few bonus leftovers from last night to Tent City 3 and the Tiny House Village on MLK in south Seattle at lunch time. They were over-the-moon thrilled, especially at Tent City, where their only way to cook food is a single microwave powered by a gas generator. Those folks (including two families with elementary aged children) were SO cold and so grateful for the warming, nourishing sustenance. 

YOU'RE KITTING ME: Among their Christmas gifts,  CJ and Annabelle each received gingerbread house kits. It's not like we hadn't had enough fun with baking already this month, but the kits were 70 percent off, and an impulse purchase.

As regular readers know, CJ and Annabelle know their way around finally and icing. In fact, they're award winning cake decorators. They put that experience to work completing the kits. CJ's Corgi dog house turned out pretty darn cute. 

(The corgi was pre-made and included in the kit, by the way.)

Annabelle's experience was not as pleasant. They (Wilton) didn't provide anywhere near enough icing to make completing the gingerbread igloo to look like the one in the photo on the box possible. The icing they did provide was lumpy and chunky, and the fondant was crumbly and dry. Super disappointing. 

We marveled at why Wilton would want to set people up for failure like that. Their business is selling cake decorating supplies. You'd think it's in their best interest to provide people with a positive experience, so that they want to pursue other edible decorating projects. 

Very Merry

SEASONS GREETINGS: As December rushes toward an end, we fit in a few holiday traditions we've had since moving to Seattle. 

One is going to our favorite nursery, Swanson's, to check out their holiday decor. That set up always includes a model railroad. 

This year's theme was dinosaurs. It was a super cute scene, with lots to look at.

We also had to stop by and visit the koi we've been admiring for about 14 years now. They were as vibrant and entrancing as always.

This guy (below) is the lunker. He definitely outweighs both of our dogs. He always surfaces if you stand next to the pond, no doubt looking for a hand out.

We scoured the expansive grounds of Swanson's, looking for the little red sled the kids have had their photo taken in since they were preschoolers. Alas, it was not on site this year. We had to settle for a white bench and a snowman backdrop.

SKY HIGH: We also made a trip to the Space Needle this holiday season. There, you'll find the best Santa in the galaxy, Space Needle Santa.

On the way to the top, we passed the various displays marking notable moments in Space Needle history. In the photo below, Elvis and a date dine at the Needle's rotating restaurant. 

Guess what? That restaurant is gone! That level has been remodeled and it now features a glass floor! But more on that later. ...

In the elevator on the way up to the Observation Deck, we spied the remodeled Key Arena, now Climate Pledge Arena and home to the Seattle Kraken.

We also admired the white arches of Pacific Science Center, with Elliott By in the background.

We spent an hour or so on the Observation Deck. The weather was pretty awful - not a great day for spectacular shots the Space Needle often affords.

Eventually, we made our way down to the Loupe level, where Santa and the world's first (and only?) glass floor were located.

Here, you should be seeing a great photo of the kids with Santa. Instead, you'll have to settle for my candid shot, because they screwed up the photo. When we entered our ticket # to download our photo, it was of another family! We immediately asked a manager for help, but were referred to emailing the Space Needle's photo department. We did that days ago and have had no answer, sadly. 

Here's a photo of Space Needle Santa with a kind of lonely looking, gray Puget Sound in the background.

If you're interested, here's a short, crude video I took of the rotation. 

And here is a video about the unique feature when it opened. 

From MPA to you and yours, we hope you had a very merry holiday!

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

SUGAR RUSH: Back on December 16, we loaded up our car with a ton of sugar and headed south. Our destination was an elementary school in Kent. It's a school where Rick used to teach. There are a lot of low income families in the school, and those kids go without all too often.

CJ, Annabelle and I used to go make cookies with Rick's students when he was a teacher there. Now, we go and do the same in the classroom of one of his former co-workers.

There is a whole lot of work that comes before the whole lot of fun. We made 25 melting snowman cookie kits. First, we had to make a bunch of sugar cookie dough hand cut each snowman base, and baked those. We also made 25 little round Rice Krispies treats for their heads. We assembled boxes with items they could use for decorations. Those included multiple kinds of chocolate chips, mini M&Ms, different colored nonpareils, gummy bears, little orange carrot noses made from gum paste, Teddy Grahams, sour candies that could be used for scarves or ??? and more.  

As usual, we started with a little PowerPoint presentation about how we like to play with our food, and how that has led to entering cake contests and being volunteer cake makers for Birthday Dreams. We gave some safety instructions, and then it was off to the races. 

The kids were so enthusiastic, and they really did a great job making their own melting snowmen. They were so proud of their final products.

We didn't get to do the cookie session last year because schools were closed, so it was especially fun to be back this year. 

We had so much fun, I asked the teacher if we could come back this spring and do an edible art session with healthy foods with the class. She responded with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

SO CLOSE: I have lot track of how many times this launch has been postponed, but the latest news is that the James Webb Space Telescope will launch on Christmas Day.

Unfortunately, the timing of lift off, 4:20 a.m., is a wee bit early for West Coasters in the U.S. to watch the launch from Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

However, if you're up and at 'em, you can watch on NASA Live.

Early December Doings

SPECIAL DELIVERY: We were recently contacted by Birthday Dreams and asked if we could make a cake for an extra special situation. Of course, we said, "Yes!"

The teen is a fan of Roblox (it's an online game), and that was the theme of the cake. I just *love* the character Annabelle Kisky made for the cake topper. It was based on a photo of the birthday boy, but made in the style of a Roblox character.  (The trees and text were game inspired, as well.) CJ helped cook up the chocolate brownie cake with crunchy peanut butter filling. Yum! We hope he likes it. (Name obscured to protect anonymity.)

MOVIE TIMES: One of CJ's classes this quarter is about the history of labor unions in the United States. It has been such an interesting class and has really served to remind us all about just how important unions are. 

We've watched some movies for his class, including "The Killing Floor," "Norma Rae," and a more recent film, "American Factory." 

Rather than me describing it, here's a trailer that can give you the gist of it. 

The documentary was an eye opener, for sure. And it was profoundly depressing, in my opinion.

Speaking of depressing things, for CJ's class about Korean history, we watched a documentary that was filmed in North Korea by a Russian director, Vitaly Mansky. "Under the Sun" documents life in Pyongyang, North Korea, primarily via following a young girl and her parents for one year as she prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the 'Day Of The Shining Star' (Kim Jong-Il's birthday). 

Here's the trailer for it. ...

I can't say that it's a feel good film, but it does offer a rare glimpse of life in "The Hermit Kingdom." Watching the film I kept saying aloud, "Those poor people ... and it's all because they happened to be born in North Korea." It's just very sad.

GINGERBREAD: Tis the season of gingerbread baking, at least in our house. A friend of mine posted to Facebook about a week ago asking if anyone was going to a Disney park. She was hoping someone could pick up some Mickey Mouse gingerbread men for her. I told her I wasn't going anywhere near Disney, but that I knew a local baker (that's me) who could replicate one. 

So, I studied the photo she posted, and drew an outline of the cookie on paper. I traced around that with various cutting devices into the dough. The Mickeys were carefully baked and then iced. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. :)

Annabelle had her own gingerbread project - a bunch of cookies too take to work with her on Saturday.

She made gingerbread people with STAFF shirts on, and some with a WC logo on the front, which stands for White Center, which is the neighborhood the King County Parks office she works at is located.

Meanwhile, we continue to deck the halls around campus. Yesterday CJ carefully installed his nutcracker collection.

November's End

ASIAN PERSUASION:  Last Saturday night was our monthly Teen Feed gig. For this month's menu, we asked the team to contribute Asian-inspired food and drink items.

We had four different choices for diners' main entrée: There was yummy sesame beef from Kennedy, my friend Thy brought some terrific teriyaki chicken, a mother-son team cooked up tangy Thai sweet chili tofu, and the Birds sponsored spicy BBQ Korean pork, which CJ, Annabelle and I prepped. The filling stir fry came with a mound of aromatic rice. I think I made about 100 cups of cooked basmati. There were also tons of super colorful, nutritious veggies thanks to other sponsors. 

Spring rolls were cooked up as side offerings. Each diner also received a brown lunch sack packed by CJ and Annabelle. 

Those were filled with tasty treats, including packets of savory seaweed, homemade matcha and white chocolate chip cookies or fresh-baked vegan matcha donuts that Annabelle and I baked.

The bags also included soy sauce and chopsticks, a fortune cookie, and bubble tea. 

No less than three Teen Feed workers reported that the bubble tea was a Teen Feed first and a HUGE hit with the guests. In fact, employee Austin reported that one teen called in to see what was for dinner, and when he heard there was bubble tea, he made it a point to be there. It just happened to be that teen's birthday, and he said the bubble tea was the highlight of his day. It just goes to show you, sometimes the smallest thing can mean so much. 

SEATING ARRANGEMENT:  One of our passing away the pandemic time activities is sitting at a picnic table outside a convenience store in West Seattle. Doesn't that sound like fun?

It gets us out of the house, we get some fresh air, visit with other regular customers and get to pet lots of cute dogs. 

Of course, it does get a little bit cold this time of year, so we have lap blankets and a little propane heater.

However, we've recently done that set up one better by creating a pseudo kotatsu. 

According to the website Japanobjects.com, these heated tables are believed to have originated in the 14th-century Muromachi era. "Charcoal was once used to heat a hearth set into the ground known as an irori. Later a seating platform was added which separated the cooking function from the heating and finally, to stop the heat disappearing too quickly, a quilt was placed on top to localize the heat. This early style was called the hori-gotatsu meaning a ditch foot warmer," per the site. 

Today, the tables have evolved into functional, comfortable, efficient living room tables in many Japanese homes and restaurants.

Below is an 'action' photo of CJ and Annabelle filling our little propane tank.

We bought an inexpensive, allegedly king-sized weighted blanket off Amazon to help create our kotatsu. The amount of heat it retains under the table is a dramatically marked improvement over our previous set up!

WAITING ON WEBB: It seems like it has been decades since NASA announced its plans to build the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It feels that way because it has been decades. JWST originated in 1996, initially called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). According to Wikipedia, the telescope was renamed in 2002, after NASA's second administrator James E. Webb (1906–1992). JWST is a collaborative project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

The "origami" telescope, with its unfolding arrays, is finally set to launch on December 22 from Arianespace's ELA-3 launch complex at European Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana. During its 1,000,000 or so mile journey, Webb will 'unfold' through a number of deployments to reach its operational configuration.

The public is invited to be NASA's virtual guests for the launch of the launch of the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever built. Registering for the event will give people access to launch information, news about about post-launch milestones, and you'll be notified when the first JWST images are available. 

All resources, participation, and registration are free. You can sign up at this link: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/james-webb-space-telescope-registration-167215593341?aff=invite

More info about JWST is available on NASA's site: https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/index.html

ROCK ON: An email from a homeschool group recently contained, of all things, a link to a rock stacking game. It is alternately relaxing and totally vexing.

https://neal.fun/rocks/