Trader Joes Awakening

While I lived in Omaha, NE I fell in love with Whole Foods. I wouldn’t do all my grocery shopping from there because I don’t think I could get use to organic toilet paper. However, there were several specialty items that I loved to grab there, and I probably went there 2-3 times a month. There are two Whole Foods within walking distance (about 1.5 miles) of my Seattle apartment, but I hardly shop there now; in the 18 months that I have lived in Seattle, I have been to Whole Foods only twice during that duration. My favorite “specialty” grocery store is Ballard Market. Both Whole Foods and Ballard Market can be pricy, and I had friends in Omaha and now friends in Seattle that rave(d) about Trader Joes. I have not ever been in a Trader Joes store….but that all changed this month.

As many people know, pumpkin's stock skyrockets in the month of October and Trader Joes capitalized on the many Americans devotion to The Pumpkin, including this American! You won’t see me sipping a pumpkin latte in Starbucks, because coffee should be not flavored and served black in my opinion, but foodwise-I love all things pumpkin. Trader Joes sends out a monthly flyer and this flyer consisted of 90% pumpkin items for sale in their stores.

The Trader Joes in Queen Anne (neighborhood in Seattle by the Space Needle), is a tiny, old building, and has about 10 parking spots. Doesn’t sound very impressive, but as the saying goes “it’s what inside that counts.” First off, they have special little signs that indicate a “flyer item”, one has to love an item that screams for attention with a “look-at-me” signage.  Also, they have copies of their monthly flyer in the store if you forgot yours at home (which I did). As I do with all new stores, I went down every aisle to figure out what I have foods I have missed out of in my life. I got a good haul of groceries for about $50, including some of the pumpkin featured items. After an amazing first experience at Trader Joes, I can see at the minimum a monthly trip to “browse” the aisles and new items; I mean there is no harm in just looking. All hail the pumpkin!

The pumpkin items I bought:

Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix

Nonfat Greek Pumpkin Yogurt

Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix

Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Cereal Bars

Gulp!

I tend to read a lot more fiction than nonfiction books; however, a nonfiction author that I always read her new books is Mary Roach. The most recent book of hers, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, was not an exception. Mary Roach is known for asking questions that everyone is thinking and wanting to know but do not know how to get the answers. I always discover new facts and interests when reading her books. Below are some of the most captivating facts in Gulp.

Questions answered in this book: Could thorough chewing lower the national debt? If salvia is full of bacteria, why do animals lick their wounds? Why don’t suicide bombers smuggle bombs in their rectums? Why don’t stomachs digest themselves? Why is crunchy food so appealing? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis?

• Humans are better equipped for sight than for smell.
• An oenologist is a wine scientist.
• Thanks to 18 Canadians, a canned-cat-food flavor lexicon and a set of tasting protocols have been established through their dedication to good tasting cat food. Part of the protocol is that one has to move the cat food sample around the mouth and chew for 10 to 15 seconds, and a portion of the sample has to be swallowed.
• Cats are mostly monoguesic, meaning they stick to one food; therefore, changing their food is not advised.
• There are clients who have marketed food for cats (whom are true carnivores) that is 100% vegetarian.
• Cats cannot taste sweetness; so that's more cupcakes for you.
• Rodents are slaves to sweetness. There are strains of mice that will, over the course of a day, consume their own body weight in diet soda….have fun cleaning their cages!
• Humans have taste receptor cells in the gut, the voice box, the upper esophagus, but only the tongue’s receptors report to the brain.
• The word 'trichobezoars' means human hair ball.
• The Fletcher system was once admired and implemented. It’s when one masticates all solid food until it is completely liquefied. So basically once you finished “chewing” your breakfast, it would almost be time for lunch.
• Vinegar, cola, citrus juices, wine, all are in the acid range of the pH scale: from around 2 to 3. Anything under a pH of 4 will dissolve calcium phosphate, a key component in our tooth enamel.
• Infant drool could be used to prevent food stains.
• Laundry detergent is essentially a digestive tract in a box.
• In this book you will find out exactly why infants drools continuously.
• Rodent salvia contains nerve growth factor and skin growth factor.
• Chinese men spit so much because they think it’s disgusting to use handkerchiefs or Kleenexes to collect phlegm in their hands.
• The study of oral processing is not just about the teeth. It’s about the entire “oral device”: teeth, tongue, lips, cheeks, saliva, all working together toward a singular goal: bolus formation.
• Chewing and spitting (or CHSP) is participated by about 8% of bulimic patients.
• Hotdogs, grapes and round candies take the top three slots in a list of killer foods.
• A professor in California tried to have hot dogs declared as a public health issue.
• The main reason people have such a strong appeal to eating crunchy foods is that crispness and crunch signal freshness; therefore, to a certain extent we eat with our ears.
• Transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation, or TLESR, is just a fancy way of saying someone burped.
• The consumption record for many foods exceeds eight and even ten pounds; however, no one has been able to eat more than four pounds of fruit cake.
• 'Dyspeptics' are people whose stomachs hurt after a meal.
• The slang for the rectum is “prison wallet.”
• Spelling correctly is very important: per anum means “by way of the anus,” whereas, per annum means “yearly.” Therefore, an extra 'n' makes a HUGE difference!
• 'Grumous' means clotted or lumpy.
• 'Glabrous' means smooth and hairless.
• 'Periblepsis' is the wild look of delirium.
• 'Maculate' means spotted.
• Cows don’t belch.
• The most expensive coffee beans in the world sells for about $200 a pound are those that have been passed through the digestive tract of the civet (a catlike animal native to Indonesia).

"Junk" for sale

One aspect of a State Fair is perusing the different vendors selling antiques, homemade items, and all other oddities. The Washington State Fair is no exception. Here are some items that I thought were either funny or inspiring.

Stay Calm and Do the Puyallup!

Going to the Missouri State Fair was a tradition of my family when I was younger; I would always go with my mom, sister, and grandmother. Then after the fair we would have burgers and fries at Eddy’s (which is no longer in business).  Additionally, I was secretly jealous of anyone that had an RV camper and could camp on the fairgrounds. As a kid, I thought nothing was cooler than being able to drive on the road as one cooks a meal and goes to the bathroom, not necessarily at the same time.  At the Missouri State Fair one was expected to see Smokey the Bear asking you to help prevent forest fires, standing in line forever to devour delicious mini donuts, riding amusement rides and fun houses, enjoying overwhelming smell of animal poop, interesting people watching, and it was guaranteed that it would be a scorching hot day in August.

I have been to other State Fairs (including Iowa’s State Fair), but Missouri is still my favorite because it holds a lot of sentiment. I missed the Washington State Fair last year because my dad was visiting me here in Seattle and he had zero interest in attending.  This year I was able to attend. It was the first time that I have attended a State Fair in September, and I didn’t sweat to death. The Washington State Fair use to be called the Puyallup State Fair, but people had difficulties pronouncing it so they changed it this year to Washington State Fair, but it is still held in the city of Puyallup.  The slogan of the fair is “Do the Puyallup.”

Besides parking lots charging for parking during the fair, people where charging individuals if they wanted to park in their yards. Prices ranged from $5-$20. Basically people stood out in their yards all day waving flags or pieces of cardboard advertising that their yards were up to being ruin by your vehicle. We were able to park on a street that was not charging and it was only a few blocks away from the fairgrounds. 

Personal highlights from the State Fair were eating the hot scones, watching the wool riders, riding the skyride, listening to the Rock Bottom Boys, and of course eating food that is prone to instantly clog one’s arteries.  The wool riders were my absolute favorite thing at the fair. It was when children under 40lbs are put on the backs of sheep and they hold on for their dear lives. It was immensely entertaining!

Scones with raspberry jam are a must-have at the WA State Fair.

Getting ready to do a roundtrip on the Skyride

Skyride

Aerial view of the fair from Skyride

Giant sunflowers

Wool riders: Children under 40lbs would ride as far as they could without falling off.

Child holding on tight

Pumpkin carving 

Rock Bottom Boys

The whole group: Rock Bottom Boys

Godmobile: find out if you are going to the Pearly Gates with just two questions

Slogan of the fair: Do the Puyallup

Tractor Pull....felt very Midwest Fair

In the words of Will Smith: Get Jiggy with it!

You had one job: It's a foot massager but its in the shape of a hand???

Sillyville: The area of the fair with all the amusement park rides

The "best" smelling palace around.

The mecca of fried food with an interesting twist: Fried Lobster Corn Dogs

Wish prices were still this cheap

Spooked in Seattle

There are many walking tours offered in Seattle. One of them is called Spooked in Seattle. I do not believe in the supernatural but I bought a Groupon for the tour because I was definitely intrigued on what the tour consisted. It’s a 90-minute tour that offers evidence on actual paranormal investigations led by real paranormal investigators. You also get to go inside some real haunted hot spots. Some of the sites have been featured on SyFy Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. Most of the tour is above ground, but then a small portion at the end of the tour happens underground. At the end of the tour, there is a gift shop if you want to buy any mementos.

The tour didn’t make me a believer of ghosts and the supernatural, but it was definitely interesting to hear the effects these events had on individuals, and how still today people still experience events after 100 years after the first occurrence.  Additionally, there were no sightings spotted during the tour.

Meeting spot by the Ferris Wheel down at the Waterfront.

Having some fun with the flashlight. I had enough self control during the tour to refrain from making shadow puppets.

The part of the tour that was underground.

Merchandise at the gift shop.

I want to adopt Casper since he is oh-so-friendly!

This reminded me of potential props from The Harry Potter movies.

The Underworld Tour

Probably the most popular tour in Seattle is The Underground Tour. However, there’s an Underworld Tour that is offered too; it is an adult-oriented guided tour of Seattle’s underground. It is advertised as including tales of graft, opium, sex, debauchery and Red Light district shenanigans that made Seattle what it is today. Another marketing advertisement for the Underworld Tour is that it’s the “R-rated” Underground Tour. In my opinion, the tour was just slightly shrewder than a PG-rated tour. It definitely wasn’t as jaw-dropping and risqué as I initially thought. In addition, the narration for The Underworld Tour and The Underground tour is very different.  I definitely learned a lot from the tour but I am also excited to go on The Underground tour soon. Disclaimer: there were absolutely zero supernatural beings/things present on this tour.

This is where you start and end the tour at; It's the Underground Cafe.

The current city of Seattle has been built up a story above the Underground because of the fire that happened in Seattle.

In the Underground

This is tunnel was used during Prohibition

This is the first part of the tour underground.

Article about wedding taken place in the Underground Tour

One of the alleys in Pioneer Square.

Smitten Kitchen

I am a library addict to the tenth degree; I love utilizing my library for as many reasons as I can. One of my favorite things to do is check out cookbooks and then try a few of the recipes to see if the author taste in cooking is compatible with mine. If our tastes are compatible, then I go out and buy the cookbook; therefore, I do not end up cookbooks that I dislike the food. My latest cookbook adventure has been with the cookbook, The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook,  by Deb Perelman. The author comes across as a no-nonsense cook making her teeny tiny New York kitchen work magic for herself and those seeking delicious recipes without using fancy equipment that requires an instruction manual. One of the major things that I have learned from the author is the importance of using a digital scale for cooking…here’s why: A cup of flour, packed different ways, can clock in anywhere from 115 to 200 grams; therefore, you could end up with almost double the flour the recipe’s writer intended in your recipe. Therefore, the author of this cookbook puts measurements in grams; therefore, you know exactly the amount that is suppose to go into the recipe….GENIUS I know! The other thing that I have learned is the ease an immersion blender is compared to a food processer or blender when mixing items. The author got started with blogging and the recipes in this cookbook through my experience have been  nothing short of deliciousness.

Below is the progress I have made with making/baking recipes from the cookbook with comments so far. I will most likely have another blog posting in the future with other recipes from this cookbook because they are sooooo scrumptious!

Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes

This is a picture of the pancakes cooking in the skillet. I ended up putting 2 tsps of vanilla extract.

 Green, eggs, and Hollandaise

This is the recipe in it's completion. The english muffin was toasted in the oven and it was so much better than being cooked in a toaster. The fruit are plum and blackberries.

This is before the Hollandaise sauce was poured over the meal. I kept the leftover Hollandaise sauce for 3 days after originally making it. It kept it's flavor but the butter definitely began to separate each time it was microwaved.

This are the eggs and greens before placed in the oven to bake.

 Cheddar Swirl Breakfast Buns

These rolls were still soft enough three days later without being microwaved.

 Big Breakfast Latkes

This is the complete recipe. I cooked the egg with black pepper and chives.

This is the Latkes after being fried and kept warm in the oven.

 Whole-Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

After being taken out of the oven. The recipe recommended cutting the scones into squares but I actually own a scone pan so that's why mine are triangular.

Scones are always a bitter sweet cooking experience. In my opinion they are only tasty the day they are made, and technically just out of the oven.  In the past, even a day after initially the scones have been baked I think they get dryer than a biscuit. I do not know if this recipe has those same results because I took them to a potluck; therefore, I did not try a day-old scone.

 Plum Poppy Seed Muffins

This is a muffin cut into two so you can see the inside. Each subsequent day after being baked these muffins got softer and more moist. They were still delicious 4 days later.

Fresh out of the oven.

Getting ready to go in the oven.

 Roasted Fingerling and Carrot Coins

So few ingredients go into this recipe and these vegetables were so delicious. The carrots were still good as leftovers; I did not care for the potatoes left-over.

This is my first time cooking with Fingerling Potatoes, and they are finger-licking-good! The purple ones were definitely my favorite and I devoured them, and did not have any as leftovers.

 Maya's Sweet and Sour Holiday Brisket

This is the brisket after being cooked in the crockpot and with the sauce poured over it. The brisket was delicious straight after being cooked in the crockpot; however, it absorb more flavor after sitting in the refrigerator overnight.

The brisket fresh out of the crockpot. You can really see how tender the meat is; no knife was needed only a fork.

 Leisurely Pizza Dough

There are two recipes (leisurely and then rushed) for pizza dough in this cookbook. This one is the leisurely pizza dough; which, basically means it sat in the refrigerator overnight. I couldn't taste a difference when compared to the rushed pizza dough. I then followed the recipe for the Everyday margarita Pizza. 

This is the Leisurely Everyday Margarita Pizza fresh out of the oven without the basil on it.

 Rushed Pizza Dough

This was the first time that I made a pizza out of the cookbook.  Even though the recipe for the Everyday Margarita Pizza indicated that you should put the basil on after it is cooked; I put some one before and that's why some of the leaves look blackish. I recommend following the recipe and putting the basil leaves on after the pizza is cooked.

Rushed Everyday Margarita Pizza before going into the oven.