Slow Cooker Sundays

For the last six months or so, most Sundays around here have been dubbed Slow Cooker Sunday.  It just seems right to lazily throw a few ingredients into the crock pot and let it go to work for six or eight hours.  You start things in late morning, set it on low, and go about whatever business or pleasure that's happening that day.

There's a great cookbook (actually two...volumes one and two) which is published by the folks at  America's Test Kitchen.  I have a few of their books and really like them for a couple of different reasons.  First, they take a scientific approach to cooking, testing, retesting, and trying different combinations and variations.  It's not unusual for them to try 50 different things to yield one recipe.  The second reason is that you not only get a tried and tested recipe, they take the time to explain WHY it works.

So I highly recommend Slow Cooker Revolution (Volumes 1 and 2).  And being a Mexican food fanatic I also use a book called The Mexican Slow Cooker by Deborah Schneider.

The dish below was actually made using neither of these resources, but was found by BowlingWidow at WinCo Foods while shopping there.  Still, it turned out great and occupies an honorable place in our recipe file.

Here are Cauldron Carnitas:

The ingredients are anxious to get going

 

Ready for eight hours of slow cooking

It's ready!

The finished dish (with habanero salsa of course)

Bothell Brews

Since my job is moving from Everett to Bothell in a short time, I thought it would be appropriate to conduct a reconnaissance mission to learn about some surrounding craft breweries.  We hooked up with our friends Bob and Kathy on a recent Saturday, and being residents of the area they were the perfect tour guides.

Our first stop was a little place called Foggy Noggin.  This joint doesn't just feel like it's in someone's garage.  It IS in someone's garage.  And it's only open once a week, on Saturdays, and just for a few hours at that.  Like the Machine House in Georgetown, they specialize in British style ales, with their flagship beer being a low alcohol session English Bitter called Bit o' Beaver (I later learned that the owners are huge fans of Oregon State University).  BowlingWidow and I shared a sampler tray which consisted of an array of eight beers.

A quiet unassuming garage from a distance

Foggy Noggin also got some press recently by brewing a concoction called "12th Man Skittles IPA" as a salute to both Seattle Seahawk fans and Skittle-popping running back Marshawn Lynch.  They received a cease and desist order from Texas A&M University over the use of "12th Man" and ended up calling it....you guessed it:  Cease and Desist IPA.
 

The offerings at Foggy Noggin

Next it was on to Twelve Bars Brewing.  The proprietor is a blues guitarist, hence the name.  We enjoyed the dry, crisp and hoppy Wicked Riff IPA.  And these guys get bonus points and the friendliest brewery of the day award for the impromptu tour the gave us "backstage".
 

The Twelve Bar Boys

Our third and final stop was at the stylish and impressive Triplehorn Brewing Company.  We went with a Landwink IPA and enjoyed chatting and watching both the homebrew competition, and some sort of wedding or graduation party that was taking place in the big room.  A lot seems to happen at Triplehorn, and I noticed on the way out that they have a cask night every Thursday that starts at 4:00pm.  Right after work and just a few miles away.  Hmmmmm.
 

The bar at Triplehorn:  a nice use of space

To end the day, Bob and Kathy took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant.  Pasion Tequila is located in downtown Bothell.  It's a small family-run restaurant that is worth going to.  I can probably count the number of what I think are good Mexican restaurants in the Seattle area on one hand.  Pasion Tequila has earned a spot there.
 

Crawling In Georgetown

Well, hello.  It's been a while since I've posted anything so it's time to dive back into the pool.  My job has kept me pretty busy lately and I've done a fair amount of work-related writing lately, so the last thing I've felt like doing was going home and doing......more writing.

But there are a backlog of topics that aren't going to go away anytime soon so let's get to it.  Several weekends ago, BowlingWidow and I embarked on a mini pub crawl in the greater Puget Sound area.  There are a couple of parts of the region which have become a hotbed of hops in recent times and we just had to pay some visits.

This post will focus on the Georgetown area near Boeing Field.  Quite frankly, Georgetown was a dump not all that long ago.  But now they're climbing out of the abyss with some nice stores, restaurants and yes, breweries.

The Machine House:  just like being in England...but not

Our first visit was to a place I've been wanting to check out for quite some time:  The Machine House.  The style is strictly British ales.   I can confirm that it even smells a bit like a rustic English pub despite being located in what is essentially a modified warehouse.  Just as in Great Britain, these are session ales with relatively low alcohol content being delivered from the casks.  They offer a Special Bitter, a Mild, an Oatmeal Stout and one or two more (I opted for the bitter).  I've learned to prefer the highly hopped full-bodied beers which makes the Pacific Northwest famous, but this was a nice choice and a good starting point for the day.
 

BowlingJoe enjoying a pint of bitter at The Machine House

The next stop was another spruced up warehouse which houses Two Beers Brewing.  "Life is just a little more honest after two beers" is the phrase which inspired their name.  We both enjoyed one of their EVO IPAs (I never did figure out what EVO stands for).  The staff was particularly friendly and since business was a bit slow on this Saturday afternoon we were treated to a personal tour of their brewing and bottling operation in the back room.
 

Nice day to be outside at Two Beers

Our third and final stop was Schooner Exact Brewing.  We ordered a snack (one must have actual food after all when embarking on a mission such as this) and consumed a Hopvine IPA.  The hoppy goodness certainly lived up to its name.
 

The friendly bar of Schooner Exact

We ended the South Seattle sojourn by feasting on Ethiopian food for dinner.  We had never had Ethiopian before and figured it was a good time to cash in the Groupon that was sitting in my desk drawer for an extended period of time.  The place is called Dahlak Eritrean Cuisine.  Ethiopian food is eaten primarily with your fingers, using pancake textured bread to scoop up the various items on the serving plate.  Spinach, chickpeas....honestly I don't entirely know what we ate at the meal.  For the most part it was good but we're not sure if our American palates will be up for a return visit. 
 

Our Ethiopian culinary experience

Next up....some Bothell area brews.

Marching to Astoria

It had been many years since we’ve visited the little town of Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River in the northwest corner of the state of Oregon.  BowlingWidow and I recently took a long weekend to do just that.

 

Astoria Bridge (5 miles long!) in the Background

We stayed at the Hotel Elliott.  Like most of downtown Astoria, this six story structure has been around for a long time.  But it’s been nicely updated and though the rooms are small everything was clean and comfortable (though the water pipes in adjoining rooms are a bit noisy).  Its location is perfect and every place in town is a short walk away.  Which is a great thing, as when you’re walking you don’t have to be concerned with the confusing one way streets that make up the town.
 

The Elliott Hotel

One place that we were thankful was in walking distance is Fort George Brewing.  This fine establishment has a separate taproom and restaurant.  Hit the taproom for one or two beverages before you go next door for dinner and it’ll be one of the best nights in town.  We love hops in our beer so can recommend their Vortex IPA.  The food is great with many healthy options on the menu such as the bean and rice burrito that I enjoyed.

Rogue Ales also has an excellent brewpub on a pier at the eastern edge of town which we visited.  There is one more, Astoria Brewing, that we didn’t have time to visit and will provide a good reason to make a return visit sometime.
 

The Many Taps at Rogue Brewing

On the Sunday we were there, the NFC Championship game was played and we weren’t about to miss watching the Seattle Seahawks dismantle the San Francisco 49ers.  We met some friends at a run of the mill sports bar called Merry Times to watch on the big screen and eat some average tavern food.  The saving grace was that they had Vortex on draft.

In “non beer” news, there are two places in the area which I’d suggest visiting.  First is the Astoria Column.  It’s just a 5 minute drive from town, but by the time you climb the 164 spiral stairs inside the column, you’re 725 feet above sea level  (higher than the Space Needle!).  If you’re lucky and have clear weather you can see a very long way in each direction.  The tower was built in 1926 by Vincent Astor, the great grandson of John Jacob Astor, the city’s namesake.
 

Astoria and the Columbia River from the Astoria Column

The second is a 17 mile drive to town of Seaside.  It’s definitely a destination for tourists and conventions, especially in warm weather times.  The beach is classic.  Sandy with waves breaking in the distance and long stretches of places to walk along it if you don’t want sand in your shoes.  And if you like shopping, carnivals and amusement rides such as bumper cars there’s plenty of that, too.

 

The Beach at Seaside, Oregon

Astoria is really a perfect place to go for a short or long weekend.  If only it wasn’t 200 miles from home!

Confessions of an Erstwhile Mermaid

My friend Kathy Chiles and I go way back.  As teenagers we met on Maui, Hawaii as our respective fathers were part of a two-year construction project which imported a bunch of workers and their families from Washington State.  Being uprooted from a stable teenage life and tossed into a public high school on Maui at age thirteen in 1974 was one of the worst years of my life.

I'm guessing it wasn't great for Kathy either, but it it's hardly a blip on her life experience radar compared to what she and her family went through in recent years.  She believed with all of her heart and mind that she was a mermaid.  Not just any mermaid though.  A mermaid who bought luxury items her family couldn't afford.  A mermaid who had the gift of ESP and was able to communicate with the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates, as well as the Dalai Lama.  Eventually she was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, as things were on the verge of getting really, really bad.

She recently wrote an incredible and noteworthy book about her experiences, called Pangaea:  Confessions of an Erstwhile Mermaid.  It's a fascinating read and has been a true learning experience for someone like me, whose knowledge of mental illness has been primarily driven by what I've seen on TV and in the movies.  (Spoiler alert:  it's NOT at all like what you've seen on TV and in the movies).

Kathy's book is available for download on Amazon.  Click here for the link.  She's also a fellow blogger and her fine blog Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog can be found here.
 

I recently asked her a few questions about her book and experiences.

What motivated you to write this book?

The idea of writing my book came from my mom.  When I got out of the hospital and went to their house so they could "babysit" me while my husband was on a Boy Scout outing, I told both my parents some of the psychotic thoughts I was having.  She and Dad were initially afraid, and she suggested I write them down so I would remember them later. Then, later on, she complained that when I went into the hospital she looked for books and resources to get an understanding of what might lay ahead of them, but there was nothing out there.
 
The only book remotely close was An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jameson. But that book wasn't really pertinent to my situation as she saw it.  So once my ability to read and write returned, she suggested I write something that would instruct people on what to expect when their loved one became mentally ill.  I did some research and learned that she was right.  There isn't anything out there like what I was able to write.

You seem to have a crystal clear recollection of what took place on your journey.  Did you paraphrase your words on occasion or do you really have a brilliant sense of recalling situations?

Initially, my memory was so bad that I couldn't figure out how I had ended up in the mental hospital in the first place. My brain simply had hidden the information about the zombies in the pool from me.  The zombies were, of course, what drove me to go to the hospital emergency room which led to my subsequent involuntary commitment. Once I was committed, the psychiatrist kept asking me who I had been helping to move before my commitment.  I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. 

Once I began writing my thoughts and memories down, it was as if the blanket slowly lifted.  The more I wrote the more I remembered. It was therapy.  In the end, it was like sitting down in my living room and watching a movie and writing down what I saw. Easy as pie.  It was all crystal clear once the memory surfaced.  Then, at the hospital, I met so many interesting people that it was easy to remember them.  I have been told that having a psychotic break is like being on LSD, and I think this accounts for some of the clarity of memory. 

Mental illness is getting more mainstream press these days, probably due to many tragic occurrences involving weapons.  What are some things we can do as a society to help further enhance awareness of what mental illness really is and approach the level of attention that a disease such as breast cancer receives?

The problem with mental illness is that the tremendous stigma attached to having a mental illness keeps people from getting help.  Also, the nature of the illness itself precludes people from getting help, because one of the symptoms of the illness is a failure to understand that you are sick.  It's called anosognosia. 

One of the other problems is that people's civil rights get in the way of treatment.  There's no way around the fact that involuntary commitment is the ultimate violation of civil rights.  The law makes it almost impossible to involuntarily commit people, and when they do they don't keep them long enough for adequate treatment.  A hospital stay is driven by the number of beds available and the insurance of the person being committed.  Ideally, we would make it socially acceptable to seek treatment and get someone involuntarily committed and keep them long enough for their medication to fully take effect.  This means months of treatment rather than the two weeks currently in vogue. 

Had the stigma not been so great, I could have avoided a hospital stay.  When the voices took over my mind, I went to my physician and got a referral to a psychiatrist, but the voices convinced me it would ruin my life if I went.  They said my bosses would find out and fire me.  So I didn't seek treatment and ended up hospitalized involuntarily.

But things are getting better as far as stigma goes, and people like Katherine Zeta Jones are proof of that.  Her voluntary commitment to a mental hospital hasn't seemed to affect her career.  Her brave action might help others seek the help they need.

What would you say are the most common misconceptions people might have about mental illness?

In terms of involuntary commitment or even voluntary commitment, people have the impression that once you're released you're "fixed".  But it takes months for the medication to build up enough in your system to get the symptoms under control.  My family is surprised that it took me so long to get rid of the voices.  And in reality, I still hear them when I get under stress.  So the thought that I will eventually be "disease free" is a misnomer. 

How have your relationships with family and friends changed since your diagnosis and subsequent stabilization?

One of the things my medication does is change my personality.  I don't have the ups and downs that normal people have.  I am stuck in "neutral", neither high nor low.  And being stuck in neutral means that my personality changed.  Compared to before, I am now boring and predictable.

Additionally, I have changed my personality as a result of my illness. I was a risk-taker and a workaholic before I became ill.  Now I am neither.  I can't be a risk-taker any more, since with risk comes stress. Stress brings back the voices. The voices don't bother me, but they bother the people around me. My psychiatrist is especially bothered by them, but I refuse to take so much medication to eliminate them that I am comatose, which is what it would take.

Changing my behavior and my occupation also changed my interests, and with that change came new friends.  I have mostly dropped my old friends, having nothing in common with them except memories.  I don't face the same daily challenges I did before I was ill, so I can't relate to my old friends any more. 

Having very few challenges in my life (to avoid stress) also changes my personality.  I have been told I was a steamroller/bitch before I became ill, and that I am much more pleasant to be around nowadays. That is all to the good.

I have met many new friends through my association with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), an organization I learned about in the mental hospital.  I can relate to these people better than "normal" people, since we share similar experiences.  Talking with someone about the challenges of hearing voices is comforting.  I feel I'm not alone.  And friends and family members whose loved ones are mentally ill have been especially kind to me.

Do you have any challenging side effects as a result of the medications you use?

When I first left the hospital, I couldn't read or write.  My balance was off, my hands shook and I couldn't drive because I couldn't get up to the speed limit or determine the distance between my car and the car in front of me.  These side effects have mostly resolved, and I am left with short term and long term memory problems and sleep problems.  Sleep is critical to me because without proper sleep I will become psychotic again according to my psychiatrist.  The biggest side effect I have is that I can't retain information or understand information like I did before I became ill.  I prided myself on my high IQ before, but I have lost that. Remember the book "Flowers for Algernon"?  That's kind of what I feel like.  It takes me a long time to understand concepts now, and in some cases I simply give up.
 
According to my psychiatrist, that could be due to my medication or the changes in my brain chemistry caused by the mental illness. Either way, it's not going to resolve itself.  I'm stuck this way.  It was initially depressing, but the further I get from my pre-high IQ self, the more my memory fades of what it used to be like to instantly grasp and retain information and process multiple thoughts simultaneously.  Those things made me very good at my job, and i was paid well for my skill.  It has been quite an adjustment to get used to my "new normal".   If I could return to my old life, I would in a heartbeat.  But that world is closed to me now.

Are you involved with any organizations which promote education, funding or treatment or mental illness?

My family and I first learned about NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) when I was discharged from the mental hospital.  They recommended I attend the weekly group therapy meetings (called Connections) held by NAMI.  I went to them, and found them important in my recovery.  Relating to people with similar problems helps. Sometimes I learn about successful solutions from someone who went through what I went through.  It's amazing how many people hear voices, although the term "hearing voices" has many different variations.  It's fascinating to learn about other people successfully (or not) meeting the challenges of living with a mental illness.

I now co-facilitate a Connections group in Everett, WA.  I also speak to people about what it's like to live with a mental illness through a program called In Our Own Voice.  Additionally, once a year NAMI meets with police officers and educates them on how to handle mentally ill people they run into during the course of their work.  This is called CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) and is designed to keep police officers from accidentally killing people in the throes of a psychotic break as well as to keep mentally ill people out of prison or jail when possible.

We also go to Olympia, WA during Martin Luther King Jr's birthday to lobby legislators on behalf of mental illness issues. NAMI's purpose is to make the world a better place for those living with a mental illness and their friends and loved ones.

One of the best examples of what NAMI accomplished is the new "parity" law, which says that insurance companies who pay for regular hospital stays must pay for mental hospital stays to that same degree, Also, Washington State is making it easier to involuntarily commit people by allowing the Designated Mental Health Professionals (who assess people for involuntary commitment) to gather information from friends and loved ones and other interested parties of those being assessed.  Previously none of the bizarre behavior witnessed by others could be taken into account for assessment purposes. 

Also, a certain percentage of taxes must go towards mental illness, and that money is spent on mental health issues.  This is resulting in things like Mental Health Court and Triage Facilities (places to handle the mentally ill without entering the criminal system).  There are more beds being built right now in King and Snohomish Counties.  None of these things would have happened without NAMI. 

New York City - Part Six - The Craft Beer Scene

No trip would be complete without a few words about the local craft brew scene.  I’m going to focus on a couple of places within easy walking distance of where we stayed on the Upper West Side, as well as a couple of others.

 

First is George Keeley.  This is a lively place in evenings and weekends as it tends to attract a younger crowd who are there to catch a game on TV.  It’s got a solid selection of around a dozen local brews as well as a couple from as far away as San Diego.  We didn’t see anything from the Northwest though.  The beer was good and the pub food pretty decent.  A solid choice if you don’t mind being in a place that’s a bit on the noisy side.
 

A Nice Day on Amsterdam Street:  Jacob's Pickles

Our favorite was Jacob’s Pickles, which we originally thought was called “Beer, Biscuits and Pickles” as that’s what the big sign out front said.  True to their word, they have great biscuits, some excellent uniquely flavored pickles, and the best selection of beer we found on this vacation.  Their Bronx Rye IPA on cask was tasty after a long day of walking and riding in subway cars.
 

The Busy Biergarten at The Standard Hotel

 For those interested in German style beer gardens there is a large tent in the Chelsea neighborhood near the southern terminus of the High Line where you can get some satisfaction.  It’s called the Biergarten at The Standard Hotel. 

 

Another Happy Customer Leaving McSorley's

 One unique old tavern that’s worth a visit is McSorley’s Old Ale House near Greenwich Village.  This place has been around since 1854.  And it was one of the last establishments to have successfully banned women.  They managed to keep the ladies out until 1970.  You don't go their for the beer, as they're now owned by Pabst and essentially serve pedestrian light and dark lager.  You're there for the atmosphere, history and the cheese plate which consists of cheddar cheese, saltine crackers, raw onion, and pub mustard.  Besides, it's very cool to hang out in an establishment that both Abraham Lincoln AND Hunter S. Thompson used to frequent.

 

The Spartan Cheese Plate at McSorley's

Craft beer in New York is really just getting off the ground.  I think it’s where Seattle was around 20 years ago and it’ll only get better as local brewers will eventually convince the masses that whatever they’re producing is far better than the industrial stuff that you can buy anywhere.  Some of our favorites included:

Ithaca Flower Power

Yonkers IPA

Bronx Rye IPA

Harpoon IPA (from Massachusetts)
 

A Final Toast from McSorley's Old Ale House

New York City - Part Five - The Food

There are more than 18,000 restaurants in the New York City area.  If you ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at a different restaurant every day for 365 days a year it would take more than 16 years to complete the job.  And that doesn’t include the ones that open during those 16 years.  We had a week to narrow down that number to something manageable and settled for showing up at 0.0008% of them.

Something obvious that we noticed about Manhattan is that people go out to dinner a lot.  It adds up to a competitive food scene and a seemingly normal place to eat in NYC can hold its own with top tier restaurants in Seattle.  That’s our opinion anyway and we’re sticking to it.  Here then, in no particular order are some places we can recommend. And none of these are fancy, high-end, expensive, pretentious places by the way.  That just isn’t our style.
 

Our Very Own Grimaldi's Pizza

 Grimaldi’s Pizza.  This is the place in Brooklyn we ate at before our bridge walk.  It's a clean, comfortable and popular place with an upstairs dining room at which we were seated.  There was a bit of sniping going on between the manager and one of his staff which was entertaining.  I loved the passion that these guys brought to work.  Perhaps it’s an Italian thing.  At any rate, we ordered our favorite type of pizza (the Margherita) which was very good.  I’m sure there’s a lot of good pizza to be found in some unlikely places here and wish we had more time to confirm that theory. 

 

A Scene From the Deli at Zabar's

Zabar's.  This is a very famous deli that has tons of items to buy and take back to your residence to eat if you don’t feel like going to a sit-down place.  We bought some bagels and cream cheese here to take care of a few leisurely eat-in breakfasts after we got up, as well as scoring things like Shepherd’s Pie to heat up in the oven or microwave for dinner.  Their cheese selection is stellar as well.
 

Indian Tanpura on Amsterdam Street

Indian Tanpura.  A non-descript restaurant on the Upper West Side which was recommended to us by a friend of a friend.  BowlingWidow enjoyed the chicken tikka dinner while I was knocked out by my lamb in a spicy sauce.  Inexpensive, unassuming…..and incredible.
 

The Madison Square Park Shake Shack

Shake Shack.  This is their In-N-Out Burger if you’re from the southwest, or their Dick’s Drive In if you’re from Seattle.  The one we ate at was at Madison Square Park (not to be confused with Madison Square Garden) and featured outdoor seating at their little plaza.  A great location, good burgers and as a bonus you could also get a beer.
 

Trattoria Trecolori

 Trattoria Trecolori.  This is a place near Rockefeller Center at which we went with our friends after catching a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Although we had reservations we didn’t really need them.  Good pasta dishes.  It’s clean and the service was attentive.  These guys get extra credit for using one those squeegee things to clean off the tablecloth as they removed our main course dishes.

 

Gray's Papaya

Gray’s Papaya.  There are a few of these hot dog stands in New York.  They’re known for cheap hot dogs with a casing that “snaps” when you bite into the dog.  Serviceable but not great…for the price though you definitely get what you pay for.  The “papaya” part of the name refers to a longtime accompanying drink.  And it rolls of the tongue better than Gray’s Mango would.
 

A Busy Night of Eating in Little Italy

Somewhere in Little Italy.  For the life of me, I can’t recall where we ate in Little Italy and I failed to write it down.  But trust me.  Eat anywhere in Little Italy.  You’ll love it.

OK….this post was so lengthy that I’m going into overtime with a Part Six in a week or so!  I’ll conclude next time with the local beer scene and some final thoughts.