Blarg. The blog.

Today I got up at literally the ass-crack of dawn to try to catch some Chinooks in inner Elliott Bay. A buddy from work and I fish quite a bit and last week EB opened for 5 weeks of Fri-Sun only. We're allowed 1 hatchery or native Chinook per day.
Unfortunately our first trip out was a series of unfortunate events:

• The Seattle Parks dept didn't open the parking lot until well after 4am (their posted time)so one of our group had to park a distance away.
• On our way out the crab pot lines got tangled. In cold rainy weather it took what seemed like hours to untangle them
• A down rigger ball (10 lb lead weight coated in rubber) got thrown overboard (they cost $45)
• The kicker motor BROKE
• We got a bite, but the line snapped so there's a Chinook with a lure in his mouth trailing a flasher (lure, flasher, ball bearing swivels and whammadyne hook = $25). So we were down to one down rigger trolling on the main motor
• We got another bite, but lost the fish in the fight
• On the way back, we stopped to pull the pots and found that mine had been dragged to sea (crab pot, bait box, buoy and line = $45) - we caught 4 keeper crabs, but J threw one overboard because we said "it's a rocky, not a dungeness." He took that to mean it's not a keeper. We were merely stating the species. 5" or better male OR female rock crabs are keepers, so we tossed a keeper back into the drink.

This week went WAY better. No bites, not even a nibble, but starting your day with a fishing trip is AWESOME. Pure joy!
I must've looked pretty shady driving the back streets of north Seattle at 3:20am on my way to Shilshole because I was stopped by one of Seattle's finest. The officer approached the car with his hand on his gun and asked if I was indeed Michael Harris. I told him I in fact was . He asked for my ID, went back to his patrol car and came back a few minutes later. He said, "You are free to go, you are not the Michael Harris we are looking for." Fishy...
Meanwhile: Back to Urban Farming...
This weekend should be our first veggie stand weekend in our driveway. We're planning on doing it on Saturday, midmorningish. Everyone is welcome to come on buy (pun intended). We're very excited about the growth in the yard. I think if we get 5-10 interested veggie purchasers we'll have sold out of our harvest for the week. Yesterday I gave two garden tours to passers by and scheduled another one. It seems the spectacle of 8 foot tall sugar snap peas and literally GOBS of veggies being grown int he front yard equals an invitation to stop by and ask to see everything while I'm watering the lawn and drinking a beer. I'm more than happy to oblige. I love to show off the garden. I sent a family off last night with some free samples and their promise to stop by tomorrow and buy us out of all the lettuce.
Trisa and I are loving growing our own food and buying local. We've been on this adventure for 5 weeks and with the exception of purchasing food for road trip snacks and our contribution to a pot luck, we've managed to not buy any food except from farmers markets. To date our rank of markets is as follows:

1. Mercer Island - tops for actual food variety and amount
2. Ballard Sunday Market - they have a meat pie maker
3. Snohomish - overall a great market well worth the trip out, plus there's a bakery in Snohomish that sells the awesomest pies in all the land

Today or tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at baking with Duck eggs. Most likely I'll start with a loaf of bread.
Mike's Meat Pie Review (hopefully I can get my hands on all sorts of meat pies and review them - maybe once per month) - Mike's meat pie review really rolls off the tongue quite nicely so I'd like to make it a regular tidbit in the blog...
My first meat pie (and only so far) was from Deborah's Pies in the Ballard Sunday Market. We bought the Peasant's pie, which would normally not have been something I'd have chosen due to there being sun dried tomatoes in it. But the allure of feta compelled me to bite the bullet and try it out.
The pie was excellent. It looked good, smelled good and the taste was a sensation in my mouth. I paired it with a uber chilled Pinot Gris from Columbia Valley AVA. The pair was perfect. the sun dried tomatoes were not over powering and only added to the balance and complexity of the affair. My only complaint is that the directions on the box did not cook the pie to it's tip top potential. Several more minutes were needed to bring the center to a wonderful warmth and the bottom crust was slightly mushy, most likely caused by the frozen water melting and not heating fast enough. I'd recommend flipping the pie at least once when it is half cooked, bake it at about 15 more degrees and for about 10 minutes longer than the directions state. OR... use convection if your oven has it. Otherwise I give that meat pie 4.5 Pi out of 5 Pi.
That's all for now.
Word,
Mike

Plastic bags should never be used as barf bags

This week, we went on our first fishing adventure in hopes to return home with a cooler full of fresh fish! On the way to Westport, we realized that we would have to stop at a grocery store to pick up lunches for the next day. In the checkout line, the cashier (upon seeing the Dramamine), shared how his father was sick on the entire trip of their first fishing experience. I should have known this was a warning….

Later we arrived in the sweet town of Westport, which should really be called Motelport. Of all of the motels we could have chosen, we stayed at the Holiday Motel. Aside from the smell of cigarette smoke and the 80s motif, the Holiday Motel was the perfect fisherman’s motel. We unpacked our things, said “hello” to my parents, and went looking for a place to eat. We ended up at the Knotty Pine pub next to our motel – another non-smoking facility that reeked of cigarette smoke…. The bartender’s smoke break won over my drink order.

The next day, we awoke at 4:30 am, crawled into our fishing wear, and popped some Dramamine before heading to the charter. Once we arrived, Michael realized that he forgot his checkbook and ran all the way back to get it-- thankful that he wore his running shoes and not his rubber boots. When he made it back, he paid for my fishing license with our very last check.

After chatting for a while with our friendly Skipper, it was time to head out to sea. I knew that the ride would be bumpy at first, but I figured it wouldn’t last too long. About 10 minutes into the ride, I started to feel queasy. About 5 minutes later, what I had left of the” Knotty” pub food, was now in a plastic bag.

Throughout the hour long ride to the first fishing spot, I wasn’t alone. Just about everyone on the charter, with the exception of my mom and Michael, lost their breakfast. Finally, after about an hour of rough waters, we “stopped.” The motor was all that really stopped. The boat continued to rock and rock and rock and rock….

I attempted to join my family outside and to begin fishing (the whole reason I went on the boat). But every time I stood up, I lost a little more of that “Knotty” food…. until, of course, there was no more. So, needless to say, I didn’t do any fishing on this trip. I will, however, always be thankful for the beautiful salmon and sea bass, caught by my dear husband, Michael. From now on, I will stick to lake and river fishing!

Lessons Learned:

1.) Plan ahead- pack lunches with fixings from home so as not to have to stop at a grocery store!

2.) Just because you took Dramamine, doesn’t mean you can’t experience motion sickness.

3.) There is no end to sea sickness once it starts.

4.) A charter may be the one place where public vomiting is considered acceptable.

5.) Plastic bags should never be used as barf bags.

-Trisa