But, life has been getting in the way. And I mean that in a good way. We’ve been loving our new home in Seattle and have been getting out nearly every day. I see something or read something amazing and I want to write, but the outdoors or some social activity beckons. I have a feeling I’ll be much more prolific during the winter, if Pacific Northwest winters live up to their dreary hype.

But as I mentioned, there’s plenty of stuff I’ve been meaning to tell you about:

1. I’m so excited about the many things that are happening in my former city, Cincinnati. The city recently approved a new bike plan that will add 329 miles of new bike lanes and promote bicyclist safety with new rules for motorists. This is a huge win for my many friends in the bicycling community in Cincinnati. Congrats! And, the Cincinnati Streetcar funding is coming through.  Hooray for more public transit options.
2. In Seattle, restaurants now are required to offer you the option to recycle or compost disposable plates, forks, cups, etc. That means they have to buy products that are recyclable in the first place too. I hope more cities start to do this.
3. The beer of summer is officially the Fish Tale Organic Blonde Ale. I’m declaring it so. I’m a huge fan of this beverage. I’ll write more about this and other tasty organic beers I’ve had lately in the near future. It definitely requires more than a single sentence in a round up.
4. Something is wrong with our water carbonation system. Our fizzy water tastes terrible. At first we thought it was because the tank was contaminated, so we got rid of a batch, scrubbed down the inside of the keg, and made a new batch. That tasted terrible too, and it gets progressively more terrible tasting the longer it sits. We’re think it may have to do with the fact that we’re using tap water here.  That means jugs of the filtered stuff will be part of the next experiment. It’s kind of a bummer to not have the fizzy water on tap at home. I love that stuff. If you’ve got any ideas on what could be wrong, please let me know.  If you’d like to check out the process for making it, see this old post on the subject.
5. The One Bus Away Android app has changed my life. Never again will I wander aimlessly hoping my bus comes soon. The University of Washington students who came up with this little app of happiness have my eternal thanks.

So, that’s the update from good ol’ Queen Anne in Seattle, where the sun is shining and the outdoors is calling my name. Maybe you’ll hear from me again sometime in the next 60 days… if you’re lucky.

The leak still hasn’t been plugged. BP is pointing fingers in Congressional hearings. The President is angry. We’re all angry. How can you design an oil rig without a fail safe? Did you not have a plan that covered worse case scenarios? Who is evaluating this equipment and granting permission to drill? How many more disasters is it going to take before we start truly evaluating and integrating more alternative energy options? Did you see the size of this oil spill in comparison to your city? Can we get this leak plugged already!?!? The list goes on…

It’s easy to be angry. But, we’re lucky. We didn’t just lose our livelihoods in a U.S. industry that’s been teetering on the brink for years. This is a final blow for many fisherman with small companies along the Gulf Coast who have been seeing the cost of shrimp driven down for years thanks to cheap seafood imported from abroad. The sad thing is, thanks to the imported substitutes, most Americans probably won’t even realize the plight of these fisherman at all. They’ll notice a slight uptick in prices, but they’ll get their shrimp from somewhere.

In the United States, the Gulf produces 73% of our domestic shrimp and 59% of our domestic oysters, according to a USA Today article. Many fisherman have been forced to just call it quits for the year, because there’s nowhere left that’s suitable for fishing. This is a disaster that affects our economy, our ecosystem, and any trust we had in many big businesses.

So, what am I going to do? Starting today: I’m boycotting BP. I’m only eating U.S. produced shrimp. If that means paying significantly more, I’ll pay or go without.

And, don’t forget to let your representatives in Congress know that it’s unacceptable to let BP off the hook. A lot of people are expecting a check in the mail for damages.

Mom knows what she’s talking about. And, I believe those of us who love good beer should follow that lead, especially on this Earth Day. We should drink local, and support our local brewers’ art form. So, here are 10 reasons I think you should drink local:

1.   Local brewers are the innovators. I had a chili stout from a local brewery about a week ago that blew my mind. I don’t think I’d ever drink a full glass of it, because I’m sure the indigestion would be horrible, but I admired the creativity of it all. Your local brewers are the people trying new things – finding the perfect mixture of ingredients and brewing techniques. Some of them are pretty over the top, but the next creation may be the most delicious beer you’ve ever tasted.

2.   You can ask how the beer is made. When you have access to the brewer, you can ask questions about how the beer is made. Do they source their ingredients locally? Are they produced organically? What’s the water they use like? You don’t have that luxury with the giant mass producing breweries. Those giant companies need giant crops, loaded down with pesticides and other toxins that you may not want to be imbibe. Companies aren’t required to put chemicals like that on labels, you know.

3.   Local beer has a lower carbon footprint . The average six-pack results in 7 pounds of carbon. So, while you love your Belgians, maybe try the local brew version. Transportation isn’t the largest contributor to carbon footprint, but the farther away the beer comes from, the larger that number is. If you can’t resist your fix of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, consider buying a carbon offset each year for a portion of the emissions caused by your beer habit. .

4.   Growlers and kegs. When you drink local, you don’t even have to worry about recycling. Just head down to the brewpub and get your growler or keg filled. It means less packaging and less waste. Until we create a system where breweries can easily reuse their bottles multiple times before the end of their useable life, this is really our best option. Reusing bottles is a common practice in Canada that would be amazing to see implemented in the United States.

5.   Support your local economy. This is simple. When you support your local brewery, you’re supporting a local business, local jobs, and ensuring that tax revenue generated from that business goes back to your neighborhood. In short, you win as much as they do.

6.   Build support for the art of brewing. I don’t know what your vision of utopia is, but mine is a brewpub on every corner with a local sour beer on tap at all times. The more of us that support local brewing, the more favorable environment we create for other aspiring beer artists. You may not think you need them, but I certainly do.

7.   Your local brewer has an interesting way of capturing the essence of where you live. When my husband and I were driving cross country from Cincinnati to our new home in Seattle, we stopped at a brewery in virtually every town along the way come meal time. Our stop in Rock Springs, Wyoming took us to brewery called Bitter Springs Brewing Company. The labels on the beer told us pieces of the story about this town we’d never imagined we’d stop in and knew absolutely nothing about.

8.   Access to cask conditioned beer. At your local breweries, you can get beer in its freshest form. As my husband says, it’s straight from the yeast to your lips. It comes to you directly from the vessel it’s fermented in. And, if we’re talking about cutting out packaging, this has none. Ever.

9.   It’s fresh, unpasteurized, unadulterated awesomeness. Beer tastes different when it’s fresh. It’s not affected by oxygen and sunlight, creating a completely different experience from when you pick up that six pack off a shelf that’s been sitting there for who knows how long. If you’ve ever taken a tour of your favorite brewery after years of drinking their beer in a bottle, you know what I mean. A pint of Guinness at the Storehouse in Dublin is different than anything you’ve tasted here. A pint of beer at your local brewery is going to be fresher than anything you’re getting at the grocery down the street.

10. Local brewers support you too. It’s your local brewers putting floats in your local St. Patrick’s Day Parade. They’re sponsoring your local little league team. They’re at your neighborhood festivals, and they’re throwing great beer events for you on a regular basis.

With all the reason to drink local, consider forgoing your favorite brew this week and picking up a growler or six-pack from a brewery within 100 miles of your home. The earth, your local brewer, and most importantly, your taste buds, will thank you.

Did you know you can turn this green leaf into a crunchy snack? You can!

You’d think this is a food blog considering the frequency with which I post about what I’m eating these days, but as of late, I am mildly obsessed with what I eat and where it comes from. One of the great things about this move to Seattle is eating local is now so easy. I get a box of local (within 500 miles) and mostly organic produce every two weeks, and I have to figure out what to do with it. It’s really testing my ability to get creative and work with what I’ve got. That coupled with the fact that I eat a mostly vegetarian diet these days with an occasional piece of fish thrown in for good measure, is pushing my culinary limits.

A good friend said to me the other day, “Do you remember when you used to say you couldn’t cook and lived off of saltines and Kraft singles?”

Yeah, I do remember that. I’ve come a long way baby.

So here’s a summary of my fresh box, and my cooking adventures:

Rhubarb: I love rhubarb pie, but I really don’t bake. So, when I ended up with a bunch of rhubarb in my produce box, I was really nervous. However, after some searching on the internet, I learned that cobblers are easy, and can be made out of anything. I whipped up a rhubarb cobbler in an hour. I’m still glowing with pride over it.

Kale: A few weeks ago I made a garlic and kale soup from a recipe in my Vegetarian Times, so when I found more Kale in my produce box, I didn’t know what to do. Kale is really only good in soups because of its texture, and I didn’t want to have kale soup in consecutive weeks. The solution: Kale chips. Like potato chips, but green and a little bitter, they served as a nice snack while watching some March Madness.

Mushrooms: This wasn’t tough, because we eat mushrooms constantly. Our box included shiitake, portabella, cremini and button mushrooms. YUM! They were included in many meals over the last week and a half. I did attempt a portabella mushroom recipe that turned out to be a big failure (because it was really soggy), but Jonathan swears it still tasted good. Side note: Jonathan is a good man.

Our box was rounded out by some cooking staples like red potatoes, shallots, and cucumber.

I’m feeling pretty accomplished. At this rate, I’m going to be quite the chef in a few months. I’m already geekin’ out at the thought of my produce box next week.

Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Flour. Delish!

I have a habit of ripping out the good recipes from Vegetarian Times each month and then waiting for months and months to actually get back to trying them. I was looking for something new to cook earlier this week, and sorting through my stack of papers stuffed into a cookbook, when I came across a recipe for Chickpea Croquettes with Greek Salad Topping, from the Oct. 2009 issue of Vegetarian Times.

It sounded delicious, so I went on a hunt for the ingredients, which included something I’d never cooked with before: Chickpea Flour (often called Garbanzo Flour). Chickpea flour is made from garbanzo beans that have been dried and ground. It’s great for those who require a gluten free diet, and it binds easily with water (no eggs needed). And, how cool is it that it’s flour filled with protein and much needed fiber? I say, very cool.

I purchased a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour at the supermarket, and the croquettes turned out delicious. In fact, they went so well that I decided to try out a second recipe using the flour to see if it was just a fluke. And, it wasn’t! I made some delicious zucchini and chickpea pancakes from a recipe I found on a site called JustHungry.

Now that I’ve discovered how delicious and easy to use chickpea flour is, I have a feeling I’ll be using it much more often. I’m also looking forward to experimenting with more grains. Why just limit myself to wheat and rice? There’s a whole world of interesting grains out there?

The plains were pretty rough, so I was so thankful that I was totally engrossed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the duration of Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Colorado. Poor Dumbledore.

Anyway, the highlight of the trip for me was our stop in Park City, Utah, where I skied on my very first mountain. We headed to Deer Valley, and I felt like I was standing in a postcard while I was on top of the mountain. It was startlingly beautiful. After only having skied at Perfect North outside of Cincy and some random other ski place in northern Ohio (not exactly , I was pretty intimidated by the mountain, but as you’ll see in the videos below, I didn’t venture far from the most gentle greens. Occasionally I pushed myself, but if you think these videos you’re about to see are awkward, you can only imagine how graceful the more difficult greens were.  (Please be kind about the crazy hair, awkward pose, and kick ass gear please.)

So, after the awesome day we spent at Deer Valley (I never fell while skiing, BTW), we drove through Wyoming, Idaho and eastern Oregon, which has to be some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen. At one point while driving through the rolling green hills of Oregon I had no choice but to comment: It’s like we’re in the shire. And yes, at this point we were listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and YES, I am a huge nerd.

And then, the next day, we passed through the beautiful Cascades, saw Rainier, and headed into the city that we now call home. It’s all still a little surreal, but we’re exploring, learning, and really enjoying our new city.

Would I drive cross country again? Maybe. It took a long time, but it was great to really see the country and understand how beautiful and diverse the different parts are. It was a chance to just be in awe of nature and explore. Of course, I’ll need to find some good audio books.

Jon and I just got back from securing a place to live over the weekend, and I couldn’t help but make note of some of the things I’m particularly excited about:

1. More vegetarian food options. I know this seems strange, but there were always a few good vegetarian entrees everywhere we ate.  I wasn’t ever relegated to deep fried items from the appetizer menu. And since I’ve decided to include some fish in my diet over the longterm, my options for fresh, local and delicious are through the roof in Seattle. Yum!
2. Bikes, bikes and more bikes. Bicyclists are everywhere, and no wonder! The city has a really robust bicycling infrastructure of bike lanes, bike trails, and bike friendly people. People are key here, because they expect to see bicyclists on the roads and know what to do with them.
3. Walkability. Granted, some areas are more walkable than others, but I’m pumped about living in the uber walkable Queen Anne area. Jon and I are so excited that it will be easy to walk and bike everywhere we need to go that we’re selling one of our cars. We really won’t need two.  Plus, compared to Cincinnati, public transportation is great. So, if we can’t bike or walk, we’ll catch a bus, streetcar, or the light rail line.

I could add many other things, like proximity to skiing, hiking, and other outdoor activities, but I’ll stop now. With only 18 days left in Cincinnati… I don’t know whether I should be crying because of what I’m leaving or laughing with glee because of what I’m gaining.

Onward!

Enjoy!