A Chihuly Valentine

My wife and I recently visited Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center. The two great things about it are: 1. The glass work; it's beyond imagination, and 2. Photography is allowed. Additional features worth noting are descriptions of Chihuly's influences and his development as an artist, and periodic presentations from the staff on "how did they did that?"

Armed with my Lensbaby, Sweet 35, and single glass (with heart aperture) optics, I enjoyed the exhibit.  While I miss the retro feel of the Fun Forest, I have to say the Garden and Glass will be high on the list of things to do when friends and relatives visit.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy Thanksgiving

This year's menu.

Turkey:
   PC Willy's Green Chille Rub
   Onion/Celery loose stuffing
   Smoked in the Big Green Egg with one chunk of pecan
   ~300-325° F 3.5 hrs

Stuffing (2 bags rustic crumbs)
   Onion/Celery sautéed in one stick butter
   Four cups stock (chicken carcass, turkey neck, veggies)
   Bag of Mariani dried cherries
   Cup each chopped macadamia and pecan nuts
   Two chopped apples

Mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives

Roasted brussels sprouts
    Blanched
    Toss in lemon/olive oil/tarragon emulsion
    Bacon salt

Cranberries
    Water/sugar
    ~1/4 cup molasses
    Tbsp cherry balsamic
    Tbsp Cointreau orange liqueur

Sweet potatoes
    One big garnet yam, baked and sliced
    Chopped pecans roasted in butter
    Two Tbsp Bourbon
    Marshmallows

Mushroom medley
    Chantrelle, Shitake, Crimini
    Garlic, wine, and oil

Food Channel: Grilled Caesar Salad and Steak for May Day BBQ

Julie Reinhardt, owner of Pete's BBQ and author of She Smoke had a virtual BBQ today. I did not have time to BBQ, but grilling on my Big Green Egg is always a good thing to do.

Today's menu:  

• Grilled Ribeye
• Grilled Caesar Salad
• Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms

The onions and mushrooms go on first.

 When almost done put the meat on.

While the steaks rest, grill the romaine.

The caesar dressing came from cooks.com

anchovy paste 

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar 

1 tbsp. lemon juice 

1 1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard 

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 

1 lg. clove garlic, minced 

1/2 c. olive oil 

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

I put the cheese on top.

Tip Toeing Through the Tulips

The month of April is tulip month in Mt. Vernon, Washington. Home of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, this area is a destination event. We've been in Seattle for nearly 27 years and finally had the right convergence of remembering, having some time, and not caring about the traffic. We were not disappointed. The Tulip Festival web site has all the needed details.



The sun was bright and overhead. Not always ideal for bringing out the color, but on Sat. (4/23), it created some very nice highlights with both front and back lighting capabilities.





Additional tulip photos can be viewed at Sockeye Photography

Foggy Morning

This is why I keep a camera in my backpack.  Morning commute a few weeks back.

January Sunset

I have a great commute. Most days by bicycle. Somedays I get a treat.

Happy New Year 2011

Seattle likes to bring in the New Year with fireworks from the Space Needle. Many of the years, I get to Seattle Center and get some pictures.  The movie below is compiled from those pictures. You can view the originals in the 2011 New Year gallery at Sockeye Photography.

Classic Seattle

Winter is a great time to get the the sun's low lighting.  Kerry Park is the place in Seattle where you can get a classic shot of the Seattle skyline and Mt. Rainier.  

I'm not the only one getting this kind of shot.














Mt. Rainier was particularly spectacular.


Just after sunset.

Food Channel: Happy Thanksgiving

For a long time I've been cooking our Thanksgiving dinner.  I always serve a few standard items (mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a basic stuffing), but I also like to try new things.  Last year it was a cranberry sauce with red wine, pomegranate  molasses, mint and cilantro (Bon Appetite [BA] 2009).

In addition to turkey, smoked in the big green egg (12 pounds, 4hrs @ 325), this year's menu included roasted red onions (BA 2010).

 And brussels sprouts with ham and pecans (BA 2010). My gravy is prepared from a turkey broth with pan juices. It is thickened with a roux made in clarified butter (I went the distance on this one).

Most years, I've purchased bags of dried out bread to make stuffing.  This year we dried our own bread, because we realized we're good at that - we've been drying out bread for years. So, why not get something good like a raisin/pecan loaf and make stuffing from that.

Finally, what to do with those left overs? Some things like turkey, stuffing and potatoes get eaten right away. Other items, like the cranberries and onions can last a while. 

Not this year. I threw them onto a butterflied flank steak, added some cotija cheese (not shown), and rolled the mix up and cooked it in the green egg and had a nice steak dinner.

Happy Halloween

 Hope yours is a good one

September Spiders

In Seattle's late summer the spiders come out. Actually they're there all the time from early May when the spider eggs hatch to late summer/early fall when those little spiders are grown up.


According to a recent Seattle Times article, many of the spiders we see are European cross spiders.  In my yard they seem to like to start at my mailbox and then migrate to different areas.

















They mostly hide in bushes until they are big. Then they build very large webs and are able to eat many insects including bees.





Mailbox pictures were taken with the a macro lens and the camera's build in flash.



We caught this one enjoying a bee. The web is between our sunflower and tomato plants, and is between two and three feet in size.

To see more spider photos visit Sockeye Photography. 

Biking in Minneapolis

Last week we visited the Twin Cities. I grew up there and moved to Seattle in 1984. When I left, Minneapolis already had a great biking system. Now it is even better.

Today, there are over 50 miles of paths. But, what do you do when you are visiting and don't have a bike?  Minneapolis solved that problem with "Nice Ride" bikes. You can rent these at kiosks throughout the city. What a great idea, every city should have such a system. Especially those that claim great biking like Seattle.

With bikes rented, we could travel around the lakes and take in the other features that make Minneapolis an enjoyable city. 

Fishing at Lake of the Isles

Sailboat on Lake Calhoun 

Wild flowers on Lake of the Isles

Lily pads between the lakes

Time to spawn

Welcome to the piscatorial perspective (fish eye). My photo and all things digital blog.  I thought a first post would appropriately celebrate this year's sockeye run in Washington State, and more locally, through the Ballard locks.

This year's run is a good one.  WA state estimated 123,600 would be going through the locks between June and July.  By July 14, ~117,000 have come through.  

These photos were take in the Ballard locks viewing area using a Lensbaby (above and below) with the f2.8 aperture ring and a Nikkor 18-200mm zoom on 18mm (left).

Herons and seal pups enjoy the fish too!