Sharing Sunday Dinner

I made roast chicken Sunday night for dinner, perfect comfort food for the cold weather. I used a slightly different recipe than the one I shared here. This time, it was like my mom makes at home with onion, garlic, and herbs stuffed inside. The veggies sharing the roasting pan are onion, carrots and yams. I had to share pictures because it looked so good. Here's a "before" and "after" of the bird of honor.

Before the roast

Ready to eat :)

Roasted vegetables are sooooo good! I'll be making chicken soup (recipe to come) with the leftovers tomorrow night, so stay tuned.

Weekend Adventures

I honestly don't know when it was that I first fell in love with the small coastal town that Scooter and I frequent at least a few times a year. My grandmother lived there when I was growing up, so perhaps it's the memories that have turned my like into love over the years. Whatever it is, it's the place that I dream of living in one day. In a perfect world, I would be able to live there, and cook, garden, and read to my heart's content, and I would work part-time at the county library system.

The town, which is home to less than 1,000 people, is nestled along the coastal highway that travels up and down the coast of California. The highway winds right through the middle of town, bringing tourists in on the weekends throughout the year; the local economy seems to rely on fishing and tourism. And despite the rowdy crowd from the city (of which I don't consider myself one), the town is positively charming. For the weekend tourist, there are several gift shops to choose from, salt water taffy and seafood, and some gorgeous scenery. Bumper stickers for his or her car describe the town as "a quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem" to get a laugh out of friends once the tourist returns home. For the less transient resident--which I file myself under because even though I'm not always there in body, my heart is there year-round--there is a slower, quieter life that you can't always see if you're only there for the weekend. The fog rolls in during the early to mid-morning, cloaking the harbor in a grey mist that obscures the view of the water; the sun burns it off by the afternoon to reveal the marinas, the water, and the shoreline. Gulls call to each other in the hopes of finding food to scavenge, and the seals bark across the harbor. The fog horn bellows every 10-15 seconds, day or night, rain or shine; it keeps boats from crashing on the rocks around the headland that forms part of the entry into the harbor. Ocean winds on the headland guarantee decent kite flying almost all the time. The moisture and salt in the air plays havoc with the metal of vehicles. Winter storms are much more thrilling there than they are in the middle of the suburbs. There is no traffic, not by city standards, and in fact there are no street lights in town. It's an accepted fact that for anything other than regular groceries, one is expected to drive to the next town over to the larger chain stores and supermarkets. It's a different life, and one I hope to someday make mine.

But in the meantime, Scooter and I spend time up there when we can and dream about what it would be like to live there full-time. We stay at my aunt and uncle's summer home, which has a perfect view of the channel used by the boats to sail out of the harbor. This last weekend was also the annual Fisherman's Festival, so we got to enjoy the festivities as well. Here are some pictures from last weekend's adventures:

My favorite beach, just north of the town

The beach has a freshwater creek that runs from the hills on the other side of the road.

Some picturesque houses along the coast

The countryside around the town is home to many farms. You can see cows, sheep, horses, and goats all within a few minutes' drive.

We started the morning of the festival off with a yummy breakfast of homemade crab eggs Benedict. *drool*

Llamas are a regular at the festival. The owner (on the right) brought them out for a walk around to greet people.

Llama close-up!

Local rescue crews used this helicopter to demonstrate a water rescue in the harbor near the festival (a demo they continue to do every year).

On the last day of the festival, the boats in the harbor sail out to the bay, then are blessed by a priest as they come back in. The Blessing of the Fleet is done to protect the boats in the coming year.

That's the sum of my adventures. My aunt and I have already talked about when Scooter and I will be able to go up again. It won't be for a few months, at the least. Not soon enough for me!

Catching Up Part 1

I know I have been neglecting my blog lately; and to those who read and enjoy it, I apologize. Time has been running away from me with all due haste, and it is with no little amazement that I find myself already well into July.

A lot has been happening since my last post--a few metaphorical fires at work that I've had to help solve, a Swedish holiday that resulted in much merriment and the usual traditional skoll, my bother visiting from the East Coast, and my adventures during this last weekend to celebrate Independence Day--not to mention any library-related events/topics/issues/etc. I'm going to try to post consistently over the next few days in an effort to catch up. I will also try and post a couple of recipes (including the apple pie I made Monday). Today will focus on Midsummer.

Midsummer is a Swedish holiday that celebrates the longest day of the year. Ironically, the official day for Midsummer is not on the Summer Solstice, but rather a few days after on June 25. Sil, or herring, is always part of the menu. This year, because my family was not celebrating alone, we added some other Swedish foods as well: hard-boiled eggs, Swedish cheese, Kalas caviar, homemade rye bread, smoked salmon to stand in for the gravlax, and four kinds of sil. For those who are not used to Swedish food or don't like it, the menu can understandably be a bit of a turn-off. For those in attendance, however, it was all very delicious. Dessert was coffee and fresh strawberries, another very traditional part of the holiday.

I had the pleasure to be in Sweden for Midsummer in 2000 and had the opportunity to celebrate the holiday with the Swedish relatives. My cousin took me just outside of the town he lives in and had me pick a bouquet of seven wildflowers on Midsummer's Eve. Tradition says that any unwed girl who does this and places her bouquet under her pillow on Midsummer's Eve will dream of the man she will marry that night. My bouquet did indeed rest under my pillow that night, but I woke up the next morning sadly with no recollection of any dreams. To this day, I still don't know if I dreamed of my future husband that night.

Another Swedish tradition that I was able to enjoy was the dancing around the May pole (I have no idea why it's called a May pole when the holiday is in June). Where my cousins live, the celebration is held just outside of town in a big field with a small grassy mound that gives a perfect view of the dancing. The dancers wear a traditional costume; each Swedish province has its own traditional dress. Live music is played, and everyone watches and has a good time--sometimes even joining in with the dancing. Reminiscing now makes me want to go back and see it all again.

Below are a couple of pictures of our Midsummer dinner table. Tomorrow I'll post again about 4th of July weekend (and the apple pie recipe) before returning to the topic of libraries over the weekend.



An overview of the Midsummer table. Can't tell it's a Swedish celebration, can you? ;)



A close-up of one of the Swedish figurines my mom uses to decorate the table.

What a way to spend a vacation!

I know that I said I would post something about my weekend out of town with Scooter. We drove down the coast to a small town that's very lovely. He wanted to visit the aquarium there, so we got two-day passes for the price of one day through the hotel we stayed at. Between the aquarium, the vast array of restaurants specializing in seafood, all the local shops full of souvenirs and curious items, there was a lot to see and do. Two nights was not nearly enough! Here's a few highlights from the aquarium, the restaurant where we had dinner, and the trip.

This was the view from the balcony of our room at the hotel. The weather was perfect the whole weekend.



One of the creatures featured in the jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium





a sea anemone



We caught the feeding time at this tank of kelp forest fish.



I love the exquisite colors of tropical fish!



It was a vacation, and yet we were up early enough to see the sun rise! So much for sleeping in.



This is where we celebrated Scooter's birthday by having an absolutely incredible meal. Scooter is smart--he got us reservations in time to see the sky darken as the sun set. This entire room was covered by a big glass dome (as you can see in the picture).



Around the outside of the room were green trees, some with twinkle lights that were lit as the sky darkened.

Surprisingly, all of these pictures were taken with the camera from my phone. From what we learned using that for our pictures, we need to invest in a better camera--one that can deal better with movement. We had to delete a lot of the pictures simply because they were too blurred.

We also got a photo album that we're going to fill with pictures from this and future adventures. Scooter and I have the travel bug and look forward to our next trip!