King Sized

FEEDING TEENS:

"I always look forward to your service. Your food is always so enticing." - Teen Feed staffer on 1/22/22.

Last Saturday was the fourth Saturday of the month so that meant we had our hands full with a Teen Feed to do list.

Our menu was called "Plays on Pizza." Interestingly enough, we didn't serve any pizza whatsoever. Rather, all of the foods were inspired by a pizza dinner. 

Several people (us included) made pizza soup. The bowls were topped with fried pepperoni, grated Parm, shredded mozzarella, and chopped basil. The bowls were beautiful, delicious, and nutritious.

By friend Thy used our big griddle to cook up dozens of Hawaiian pizza-inspired grilled cheese sandwiches on sourdough rounds, with provolone, pineapple, Canadian bacon  and American cheese melted to perfection. 

Thy and her son also tossed a beautiful Caesar salad with Romaine from Dana, plus lots of cheese, creamy Caesar dressing that we made, with olives and croutons. It was super tasty.

                                         

Dessert was fun! Our team baked an array of dessert pizzas: Caramel, Reese's peanut butter, chocolate chip, cinnamon roll and more. 

There was even an Italian soda station.

We boxed up 25 dinners to go for the nearby ROOTS shelter, and then waited ... and waited for the walk in diners. By the end of the hour long service, we had only served a couple of handfuls of in-person guests. It was so unexpectedly quiet, Teen Feed staff actually went out and walked the neighborhood looking for unsheltered teens to invite to dinner. 

Our Teen Feed kitchen lead shared that multiple University District service agencies are reporting a smaller number of people seeking services in the area very recently. Of course, everyone would love to think this is because less people need services, but the actual reason remains a mystery at this point. Stay tuned!

It very well could be that we will be asked to provide less food next month, depending on attendance between now and then. Of course, we had to make sure none of the great food went to waste, so we delivered leftovers to the Tiny Home Village on MLK Boulevard early Sunday morning so that they could have a fabulous lunch! 

WINTER GARDEN: A couple of weeks ago, I assembled a Christmas present I received from Christian. It's a little countertop herb garden. Actually, in our case it's a fridge top garden. 

There are a couple of kinds of basil, some parsley and some dill that is growing like a weed! 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: A couple of days ago, we undertook a sizeable project - procuring and removing a king sized mattress. Once we got the SUV started after about 13 tries, the kids and I picked up the new mattress at the Alderwood Costco. While there, we had to get a rotisserie chicken, of course. 

We took the new mattress to Mukilteo and wrestled it into G&Gs place. That was the 'easy' part. Then we had to wrestle the big ol' mattress out of tight quarters. However, we had the right tools (a tarp, straps, and a mechanic's creeper/roller) and a good plan. With some teamwork and careful communication, we got it moved without incident. After work, Christian arrived and strapped the behemoth to the top of the car. Then we drove a couple of miles to a mattress recycling facility, an experience that actually gave me nightmares that night, ha ha.

CENTER SHOTS: Last week, Christian and I went to watch the Kraken play at Climate Pledge Arena. Here was the view from our season ticket spots. We're at the end where the Kraken shoot twice per game.

The game was a lot of fun - they actually won, which has happened very infrequently this inaugural season. 

Seattle Center was illuminated in an array of bright colors. I had to stop for a few photos.

MEANWHILE, IN OUTER SPACE: After traveling 1.4 million kilometers from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is now in the spot in space where it will start to take images. 

The image below was made by a single 300-second exposure. Unfiltered, it was remotely collected with the “Elena"" (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at the Virtual Telescope Project. The red arrow points to the tiny white dot that is Webb. 

Cake and Games

SPARKLE PLENTY: Earlier this month, we took on another Birthday Dreams cake. This time it was for a 16 year old. His theme request was interesting to us: Gold and white. 

We thought the best way to accomplish that was by using hundreds of gold and white sprinkles, gold sparkler candles, and even a gold confetti cannon atop his cake. 

Annabelle made a custom cake topper using her Cricut machine. We cut his name out of glittery gold cardstock, and it was held up by gold and white paper straws.

My photo isn't the best, but it looked pretty fancy in person!  I'll bet it looked downright spectacular once the sparkler candles were lit and the cannon went off!

ENGAGING: Now that the holidays are over, Annabelle is back to her weekly art sessions at Gage Teen Art Studio on Friday nights. It's inconveniently located in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle, but she really enjoys the sessions, so it's definitely worth the drive. 

Right next door to the art school is the enormous edifice, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. It looms impressively over Interstate 5, on the east shore of Lake Union.

The church has an interesting history. Per its website, Saint Mark’s was founded in 1889. Its first iteration was at 5th Avenue and Stewart Street, in downtown Seattle, in 1890. In 1897, the parish moved to larger digs at Seneca and Broadway on First Hill. In 1923, land was purchased at its present location, 

Tenth Avenue East, plans for a magnificent cathedral were made, and construction began in 1928. However, the stock market crash and Great Depression put the kibosh on the grand plans, and a smaller building was constructed, dedicated in 1931. Unfortunately, the parish struggled to pay their mortgage, and it was foreclosed upon in 1941. However, in 1944, Bishop Huston went to St. Louis to negotiate with the bank, and they were allowed to return to the building. By 1947, the parish was able to burn the mortgage. 

BINGO: A few days ago, I saw an Instagram post about CJ's school hosting a bingo night. I gave him the info and he tuned in online at the appointed time.

About 40 minutes into the event, he was dismayed that in most every game, he was just one square away from Bingo! but someone beat him to it. Christian and I told him, "Welcome to the world of Bingo!" That's pretty much how that game always works. 

We also told him this was a *perfect* example of how people gambling almost always lose. True, he didn't pay to play, but all across America there are bingo halls where people spend more money than they can afford to, chasing that exhilarating Bingo!

That said, if there's another Bingo! night, he'll probably give it another go.

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!