September 2012October 2012 November 2012

10/29 - Halloween Spirit

We had a little gathering of ghouls to get into the Halloween spirit. Being Kalebergs, this meant some serious cooking in the Kaleberg Kitchen.

We started with a Spider Cake. That's an orange cake with chocolate fudge cockaigne filling and a thick layer of orange icing on top. We drew a spider in her web on top using chocolate frosting.

Then we made little buffalo burger devils. Those are little buffalo burgers on Parker House rolls with Kaleberg ketchup, pickles and onion. The devil horns were cut from a red pepper.

No Halloween is complete without disembodied eyeballs. It's a cliche, but an important one, so we hollowed out some of the last tomatoes of the season and filled them with a mixture of cut up iceberg lettuce, bacon crumble, chopped up tomato and mayonaisse. It's sort of an inside out BLT without the toast.

Finally, we made sausage mummies. You can see one of them being wrapped below. We used chorizo and andouille and strips of puff pastry. They're really easy to make, and as we know from excavations of ancient Egyptian burial sites, they're a dish with a long tradition.


A Spider Cake - orange cake, chocolate fudge filling, orange icing and a chocolate spider in its web

Devil burgers

No Halloween is complete without disembodied eyeballs.

Ancient Egyptian burial customs

Sausage mummies

Keywords: halloween, food, kale


10/25 - Lake Angeles Trail Snow

We scoffed at the recently appointed Christmas aisle at our local Rite Aid. They had barely set up for Halloween when the fake little trees, bright red stockings and glistening ornaments started to appear. Then we hiked a bit of the Lake Angeles Trail, and even before the foot bridge we started to feel some Christmas cheer. We really should have waited. We haven't even done Halloween yet, but it was hard to avoid unseasonal thoughts while admiring the light sprinkling of wet snow.

The bridge - We wimped out here. Next time, Yak Trax.

Snow and more snow - Yes, we're exaggerating.

A Christmas mushroom?

More mushrooms in the snow

The boardwalk - This area Christmasses up quickly.

Keywords: christmas, halloween, lake angeles


10/23 - Winter Is A-Coming In

There had been a few sprinkles of snow on Hurricane Ridge, but they largely melted during the day. Now, however, the winter snow has come in earnest. Hurricane Ridge Road was closed at Heart of the Hills and the webcams showed a blanket of white and, at times, near white out conditions. There's a chance it will melt before the real accumulation begins, but after our cool summer it is more likely it will not. We'll be keeping our eyes open. We may be snowshoeing before we expected to.

Snow on the ridge

Keywords: hurricane ridge, winter


10/22 - Port Angeles Farmers' Market Report

We had a very slow summer this year with just about everything coming in late, but now the market is in its harvest bloom with the autumn squashes, chard, potatoes, carrots, cabbages and the like coming. There are a few summer treats, like tomatoes, left, but this may have been their last week. Farmers' markets are about reflecting the seasons, so we are welcoming autumn and its bounty.

Johnston Farm potatoes

Johnston Farm squash

Nash Huber's stand, as pretty as ever

The Korean Garlic Lady's stand (That's not her.)

Clark Farms was selling sausages. We really liked the brats and kielbasa. They were lean and delcious.

Keywords: autumn, farmers' market


10/19 - Grilled Salmon

We often buy from Heritage Foods, especially their red wattle pork and red bourbon turkeys. Now and then they slip in a freebie. This time it was a filet of salmon, sort of coals to Newcastle. We grilled it simply. It was delicious, though it did come to us the long way around.

A well traveled fish

Keywords: food


10/18 - Hurricane Hill in the Autumn

Unlike New England, the Northwest is not known for its autumn colors, but Hurricane Hill tends to put on a good show. The fields turn a rich gold, and there are bursts of red and gold. The flowers of the alpine summer are now dried specimens waiting for their winter covering of snow.

Golden fields and - oh yeah - mountains

More golden fields

Another view to the west

Red gold

More gold

Red and gold in the valley

More red and gold

Dried flowers

The hanging gardens, ready for winter

A touch of gold

A touch of red

Keywords: autumn, flowers, hurricane hill


10/14 - Elderberries

With the drought this year, we weren't sure if the elderberries near mile 13 of Hurricane Ridge Road would ripen. Well, they did, and they're looking pretty good. If you do stop to admire them, keep a weather eye on your rear view mirror. There's a lot to look at on the road to the ridge, so keep your eyes open.

Some ripe elderberries

Keywords: hurricane ridge, autumn


10/10 - Late Season Klahane Ridge

Climbing the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge is always special this time of year. The intense mountain light comes in at a lower angle, so shadows and contrasts are much darker and stronger. The vegetation has turned from green to gold, and everything seems to sparkle in the thin air.

Standing stones

Mount Angeles and the last bit of snow

Dark castles

High castles

The dusty trail

Golden meadows

More of the trail

Fading green

A distant stream through a golden meadow

Keywords: klahane ridge, autumn


10/07 - Manga Seattle

We recently downloaded an application for our phone that turns ordinary photographs into manga-like drawings, complete with untranslated Japanese text for enhanced versimulitude. Where better to mangafy the imagery than the trendy Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle?

That's J. Crew and Barnes & Noble downtown. We went up Pine and down Pike.

The Paramount - looking good

A record shop

A boring looking building looking less boring - This reveals some of the power of mangafication.

Is that Spinassa?

An appliance repair shop on Pike


This must be a head shop

This could be Tokyo, or Des Moines.

A costume shop

The convention center

Keywords: art, seattle


10/04 - Johnston Farm at Good To Go

We're big fans of Johnston Farm and make a point of shopping at their stand every Saturday at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. Now Christy has taken her show on the road, so every Wednesday, from 11AM to 2PM, you can buy her great produce at Good To Go. Good To Go, is on Lauridsen Boulevard at Eunice Street, so it's really convenient for us. If you missed the market or just need some fresh produce on a Wednesday, drop by and see what's fresh. You can also drop in to Good To Go and buy your milk, eggs, bread and other goodies.

Johnston Farms Road Show

Keywords: farmers' market, farms, good to go, johnston farm, port angeles, shopping


10/02 - Market Mushrooms

This is just a quick Port Angeles Farmers' Market update. The fall mushrooms are coming in at WIld West along with king salmon and black cod. Nash has cauliflower, carrots, arugula and broccoli. Johnston Farms has amazing lettuces, celery, potatoes and lots of little tomatoes. In other words, autumn is a coming in.

Wild West mushrooms

Nash Huber

The Family Farm

Keywords: farmers' market, johnston farm, nash huber, port angeles


September 2012October 2012 November 2012