During the summer months I enjoy growing a variety of lettuces in my backyard kitchen garden, but during other seasons, I rely on the large plastic boxes of Earthbound Organic mixed lettuces, spinach and romaine.
Sold prewashed, they are a great time saver and convenience. With these lettuces on hand, it’s so easy to add [...]

When I purchased my Zojirushi bread machine last May,
I was pretty clueless about using it.
Of course, I started by reading the manual and making the recipes I found there. They are designed specifically for the machine, so I knew they’d be successful in guiding me.
Once I had mastered four or five from the [...]

While at Deception Pass State Park last weekend, I was delighted to see a family handling oysters in one of my favorite ways…they were grilling them!
I first discovered this simple method a couple years ago while writing an article on growing your own shellfish for
The Associated Press. Tim Salo, one of the shellfish growers [...]

Last year at this time, I was deep in the midst of planning and organizing a three course sit down dinner for over 100 people. It is a tradition at my daughter’s school to have the next graduating class cook the graduation dinner for the current graduating class. I don’t know where or how this [...]

All American road food at the Shrimp Shack in Anacortes, WA

We spent the day at Washington’s Deception Pass State Park yesterday. It’s one of our favorite parks and we often camp there with our travel trailer.
I wasn’t able to snag a campground up there for Memorial Day Weekend this year, so we called some friends, packed a picnic and settled for a day [...]

Now that Memorial Day weekend is here, I am anxiously
awaiting the arrival of fresh berry season here in the Pacific Northwest.
When I moved here more than 14 years ago I was shocked to discover the incredible variety found here–strawberries, tayberries, marionberries, raspberries, golden raspberries, wild huckleberries and, of course, the ultra thorny wild blackberries. [...]

Having graduated from college with a degree in History,
I am a die hard information junky.
I read a wide range of books and periodicals and am always looking for facts and useful information.
Unfortunately, when I read many contemporary works, I find them heavy on the fluff and light on the foundation, meaning they [...]

This picture is exactly why I love my Zojirushi bread machine! It was a very dreary morning here in Seattle.
My desk was jammed, the house was a disaster, and my son was sniffling on the couch. So, I decided to generate some housewarming TLC. I reached for my bread machine manual and targeted the [...]

Ever since I’ve had a garden, I’ve loved growing my own tomatoes. Every year, I grow at least thirty different varieties in my small Seattle yard. Some of my favorite varieties include Mortgage Lifter and the Russian heirloom varieties such as Black Krim and Moskovich.
Now that I’ve read some compelling statistics from Burpee [...]