12/14/23 - Bird Watching at Dungeness DIke

We did some bird watching at Dungeness Dike. We saw a few eagles, hawks, a heron and, of course, lots of ducks.

The Dungeness River

The river awash

Gray sky

Two eagles

Two eagles up close

The scene

The marshland

Autumn color

A heron

Ducks

An eagle in flight

A hawk in a tree

An eagle in a tree

Probably a hawk

That hawk again

An eagle in a tree

That eagle again

More ducks

Gray skies bring out the fading color.

Keywords: ducks, dungeness, eagle

03/08/19 - A March Day in Seattle

Text of entry goes here

Mount Rainier as seen from the Bainbridge ferry

Winter blooms at the Ballard Locks

A big flock of docks at the locks

Hellebores

One of the sea ducks

Winter berries

Early, hardy pansies

Mahonia

Crockett and Tubbs - 1980s Miami VIce retro

An honest accountant

Bateau's frankfurter, but the steaks are better.

Keywords: ducks, seattle, winter, mount rainier

11/15/18 - New York City - Part Five - Duck Hunt Success

We went back to Central Park and found that mandarin duck. He's quite impressive. No wonder so many people have turned out to look for him.

Found him!

That mandarin duck

Another view

Ducks in context

It was definitely worth trying again.

Keywords: new york city, ducks

01/19/16 - Chicken Fest

Some friends of friends have been raising chickens in the Puyallup area and had a freezer full of them. As happens in Kaleberg Kountry we became the proud owners to two nicely dressed birds. One weighed a mere three pounds and some while the other weighed in at a hefty seven pounds. This called for Chicken Fest, a festival of fowl.

We prepared the birds two different ways. The small bird we spit turned in our little rotisserie and the large bird we prepared following Edna Lewis' recipe for roasting a large stuffed chicken. We and our friends at Chicken Fest had to admit that both preparations of the birds were delicious. It helped that they were the good old fashioned birds, chickens that actually tasted like chicken. Good ingredients are half the battle.

We also found a lobe of duck foie gras in our freezer, so we declared ducks to be honorary chickens and had them join the festival. Preparing foie gras is sometimes a chore with tedious mechanics and a sloshing bain-marie, but we finessed all that with our sous-vide which turned the lobe into a luxurious terrine in less than an hour.

The big chicken

The little chicken

The honorary chicken

Keywords: birds, ducks

09/15/14 - To The Lighthouse

The walk out to the the Dungeness Light is one of the amazing hikes of the North Olympic Peninsula. It's not completely obvious from the pictures, but it's a walk out to sea along a narrow strip of land. There is salt water on either side, but one walks for miles along the outer beach as it curves away from the mountains and out into the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.

We've been watching the tides at Dungeness Spit. There is usually a period from mid-autumn into mid-winter when the tides are just too high during the day to hike all the way out to the lighthouse without pulling oneself across soft sand and clambering over driftwood. Worse, during the winter, the sand washes away leaving a rocky beach behind. We decided to take advantage of this prime hiking time for our hike.

As you can see in the photos, we made it to the light. We did the full ten mile round trip in excellent time, well under four hours, thanks to a sandy beach and beautiful weather. We kept an eye on the sea and saw seals, seagulls, plovers, and sea ducks. The sky really was as blue as in the photos. Our next chance is not until February, and then only if the spit has some sand. Otherwise, it might not be until next summer.


The Dungeness Light

The curving spit

Our first view of the light

Beach flowers

A common flower

On the way back, mountains

A plover

More mountains and sea

Driftwood fashioned into a shelter

Keywords: autumn, ducks, dungeness spit, flowers, tides

03/31/13 - Late Season Duck Confit

Duck confit is usually a fall or winter dish Chez Kaleberg, but this winter we kept delaying things. Preserving four ducks in their own fat is a bit of a production. We skipped January after all the excitement and cooking of the Christmas season back in December. Then we skipped February due to miserable colds. Then came March and the start of spring. We almost never make a duck confit in the spring or summer, but this year we let the equinox slip by without getting our ducks in a row. Still, when it comes to duck confit, it's better late than never, so we ordered our ducks and cut them up and rendered the fat, and you can see the results, still warm from the oven to the right. Let's face it. It's never too late for duck confit.

Keywords: ducks, spring, food, kale

12/03/10 - Duck Confit

We just finished the last of our first duck confit of the season. That's how far behind this web log is. We preserved four ducks in their own fat and ate every last scrap. We even used up all the fat frying potatoes and the like. All that is left is this picture.

Duck confit, duck fat fried potatoes and lacinato kale salad

Keywords: ducks, food, kale

01/21/10 - An Infestation of Ducks

As you can see, the dock at Lake Crescent Cottage has been infested by ducks.

Keywords: ducks, lake crescent cottage

06/13/09 - Seen at Lake Crescent

This duckling seems to be the last of the clutch, or perhaps it was as only egg.

Keywords: lake crescent, ducks