Archive for the ‘City of Destiny’ Category
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date*
Inspired by a trip to the The Old Cannery, SB and I found ourselves on a walk in Sumner of all places.
It was a lovely fall day, and the leaves were so bright! Have you noticed they seem to be brighter this year? I thought I’d learned somewhere that hot summers make bright fall foliage. As this summer sucked donkey balls, we know that can’t be the case, but I could swear the saturation seems to be upped a notch or two this year.
We stopped at this place and had some QUALITY malts. SB had vanilla and I had chocolate.
There has been a request for more pictures of Freya. (Have I mentioned I take requests?) She found Sumner to be a nice place for a stroll, and appreciated the public drinking fountain we used to fill her water dish.
She is quite color coordinated with the fall wouldn’t you say?
* Isn’t that always the case? Also, something fun for the English nerds and Theater dorks. Name that Shakespeare!
Posted by Jenny @
11:41 am |
Going the way of the buffalo…
I’ve said it before, but I love my polling place. Sadly, as was reported in Sunday’s Tribune, yesterday was the last time I’ll ever get to use it.
I’m so sad! Sad, to lose my polling place, but also sad to lose the ceremony and ritual of voting. I like the official feeling of it all. Sitting at your kitchen table, filling out your ballot in spurts, eventually spilling something on it, does not on officious occasion make. Plus, I want my ‘I voted’ sticker, damn it.
So, yesterday, I took some scones to the poll ladies and thanked them for their service. I let them know how special it all was for me, how I loved that everything was exactly the same since the first time I voted there, way back in 1994. I also took some sneaky pictures for posterity’s sake. I wanted to document the whole thing more thoroughly, but I was afraid it would be against the law, or something.
Isn’t it so cute? It’s like walking into 1964 all of a sudden. The shiny floors and that yellow, gym-lighting are so charming and old time-y to me.
”…. Back in my day, kids, there was this giant official-feeling printed ballot, and we would use these always satisfyingly moist, and mysteriously capless pens to vote ‘No’ on stupid Tim Eyeman initiatives*.”
Farewell, dear Grange, nice old ladies, and always pleasurable civic duty. SB did say he’d rig me up some sort of voting booth in the house for the next one. I’m thinking the shower?
* Oh. Um. Hmmm. Well then.
Posted by Jenny @
9:04 am |
Craig Ferguson at the Pantages
Saturday night, SB and I attended the Craig Ferguson show at the Pantages Theater. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I see a lot more shows in Seattle than I do in Tacoma. I don’t even think I’d ever seen anything there before Saturday night. It’s really beautiful! I was impressed.
The Tacoma crowd was an excellent, high energy audience. We showed well! Except for some obnoxious woman who kept yelling during his pauses. That is SO annoying! It totally fucks up the commedian flow, that forward momentum of funny. (The Pantages should really have a plan in place for removing people if they’re going to do comedy shows. It’s hard to expect the volunteer grandma ushers to do anything about it.)
Anyway, I almost never see his show because it’s on at 3am or something, but not too long ago I saw this youtube clip about how he will not make fun of Britney Spears and I became an instant fan.
Craig Ferguson is a funny guy and an energetic performer. He told lots of entertaining stories about his original experiences in America in his lovely Scottish accent, and made jokes about how he has the immigrant’s typical, flag-waving, pride in America.
In his encore bit, he made some funny remarks about the Hollywood writer’s strike. He said something, people laughed, then he goes, “Was that funny? No one wrote it down for me.”
Funniest thing he said all night:
“Did you know that Fife is named after a place in Scotland that is also shitty?”
Posted by Jenny @
10:44 am |
Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe
Pumpkin is my medium.
There are few culinary things that I do well, but pumpkin seeds are my specialty. The pumpkin patch experience is preferred, but in town, Tacoma Boys is great. (Let’s pause and appreciate what a magical produce and specialty foods wonderland we have in Tacoma Boys. If you haven’t been lately, you should definitely go check it out.)
Right. The Recipe. Here goes:
Step 1:
Harvest the seeds. You don’t have to to be super diligent about removing all of the guts. They add flavor.
Step 2:
Saute in butter over medium heat.
How much butter you ask? Well, as I mentioned before, cooking is not exactly one of my skills in general, plus, any exact measurement would change depending on how many seeds you have. These were the seeds from 3 medium sized pumpkins and I used about 1/3 to 1/2 of a stick of butter. (mmmmm…. butter.)
Notice the bits of guts still in there. It’s okay!
Step 2:
Add salt, pepper, Johnny’s Seasoning, and garlic salt.
How much you ask? Again, this all depends on the amount of seeds. Also, pumpkin seeds are quite “grainy” if you know what I mean. In my opinion, they need a LOT of seasoning. With each spice, I usually thickly cover the top of the seeds and then mix it all up.
After you add all the spices, leave them on for about 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally until they look like this:
Step 3:
Cover a cookie sheet with foil, transfer seeds from the frying pan, and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes. Carve your pumpkin now. You’ll be a few minutes behind the others so all the tools you need will be available.
When they’re done, they look like this:
Step 4:
Enjoy! Collect compliments! Eat them while admiring your masterpiece.
Posted by Jenny @
10:10 am |
Keeping Tacoma Weird
Check out this character we saw at the waterfront on Sunday:
I got a free hug and it was really nice, actually.
Posted by Jenny @
9:32 am |
Dog!
SB has been whining about getting a dog for YEARS. I’ve had to play the role of the mean mommy that won’t let him get one, pointing out the myriad reasons why it’s not the right time. Since we became homeowners, however, it’s gotten more difficult, and besides, I love dogs! I just couldn’t imagine taking on all that grown-up responsibility.
I seemed to have too many high expectations, and dogs are such a crap shoot. You can easily end up with a pain in the ass dog.
It would be perfect if we could adopt an adult dog who is already trained. She should come when you whistle and sit when you snap your fingers. She should be micro-chipped, and come with two dog beds, a bag of toys and a dog backpack. She should of course be extremely cute and have exceptionally soft fur and a sweet face. Oh, and in case I didn’t mention it, this should all be free.
Dude. It happened! Meet Freya!
SQUEEEEEE! She is so wonderful and we already love her so much! She seems to be adjusting well to our dog-door-into-the-basement scenario, and has not protested at all about not being allowed in the main part of the house. (I SHALL win the war on dog hair. I must.)
After several Netflixed episodes of Cesar Milan: Dog Whisperer, we have even learned to walk with her successfully. She is an Alaskan Husky, so her instict is to pull her sled, but Cesar taught us to have her leash really short and to make her walk next to us or behind us, while we radiate calm, assertive energy. And it worked! We even took her to the waterfront yesterday, with all those other dogs and smells and everything, and with continuous, firm, corrective leash pulls, she learned to walk next to us within about 20 minutes. It was SO incredibly rewarding.
Now we need all kinds af advice! Internets, where are the best dogparks around Tacoma? Who knows a good vet? Do we have one of those U-dog-wash places anywhere? Which smaller, local, pet supply stores do you frequent? Or do you just go to Petco? Anyone have any dog owner advice, like, “Don’t ever take your dog here, or never let your dog do that,” ect?
So far, this dog is perfect. YAY, FREYA!!
Posted by Jenny @
9:27 am |
I Am Curious…Yellow
Yesterday morning as I was heading out to run errands, I miraculously remembered about this cool art event happening at 10 am. Lynn DiNino is a local artist who has a reputation for grand public art spectacles that always somehow invite the public’s participation. Sunday, she had a garage sale for Habitat for Humanity with an interesting theme. It was cool! And great for pictures.
See Kevin’s photos here. He got one of me and my scores.
Posted by Jenny @
11:33 am |
This sign bugs me.
Have you seen this particular campaign sign about town? It’s been puzzling me for weeks. In the quick glimpses I got whilst zooming past, I could never figure out what the heck that graphic was. Is it two scorpions fighting? Is it 3-D glasses?
Yesterday, on my cupcake walk, I was finally able to inspect one up close, and I THINK it’s boxing gloves.
I can’t decide now if it’s a good sign or a bad one. It definitely got my attention, if only to irritate me. Mr. Warren may himself be entirely un-irritating. A cursory Google tells me very little.
Posted by Jenny @
10:52 am |
Another glowing review of Hello, Cupcake
The Tacoma bloggers won’t shut up about Hello, Cupcake and now I know why.
I was having a grumpy sort of day today, and decided a walk and a cupcake might fix me right up. So I strolled down to Pacific, and after poking around a bit in the UWT Bookstore, (sniffing a book or two, touching the satisfying crispness of fresh notebooks) I arrived at Hello, Cupcake, ready to be impressed.
They did not disappoint. I was almost giddy. In fact, it’s so pretty in there, I think I may have teared up a little.
I was soon settled in at the front window bar space with a cup of coffee, The Stranger, and a vanilla cupcake with Chocolate frosting, watching the traffic and the people go by. It. Was. Perfect. And I don’t even like cake very much. Or frosting. This was the perfect amount of sweetness. It made you want to cram the whole thing in your mouth to get more of it, not perform the frosting overload removal process normally necessary with cupcakes.
The coffee was quite good, too, and the perfect accompaniment. I appreciate that the menu is so simple. No froofy, line making espresso drinks, just the cupcakes you see in the case, brewed coffee, tea, and cold milk.
I’m so thrilled to have this option so close by. I have a feeling that I’ll be treating the upcoming seasonal blahs with cupcakes and coffee on a regular basis.
If you haven’t seen them already, please go check out Kevin’s photos here. They’re SO pretty, I didn’t even bother taking any.
Posted by Jenny @
9:34 am |
Saaaailing…
About a month ago, my friend won a 2 hour cruise from iBoat Tacoma in a drawing at a LoveTacoma event. Wednesday was another friend’s birthday, so Ahoy! Off we went, to sail the high seas in the cutest little electric boat you ever saw. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful night.
iBoat is so cool! It was perfect for a pleasure cruise along our beautiful waterfront. The boat is electric, so it’s quiet and clean. It doesn’t go very fast, so it’s a pleasant trip, and it’s safe and easy to drive. You get to take it out by yourself! It seats 12, and can be rented for $85 an hour with a two hour minimum. It’s super comfortable, has cute decor, an iPod dock, and you can bring your own snacks and bevvies.
We had such a good time! I would totally rent it again when company comes to town, or maybe for a small wedding or baby shower. It was awesome!
Posted by Jenny @
9:10 am |
