July 2009August 2009 September 2009

08/30 - Mystery Worm

We saw this curious looking worm on the Spruce Railroad Trail along Lake Crescent. At least we think it was some kind of worm. It was wriggling along and not getting anywhere quickly.

UPDATE 07/16/10: According to Alena, this is most likely a lizard's tail. Apparently, they'll drop their tails to escape from predators. They'll sometimes wiggle for quite a while after being dropped.

Keywords: lake crescent, spruce railroad

08/28 - The Port Angeles Farmers' Market Has Moved

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market has moved back downtown, to the new Gateway Center on Front and Lincoln. It's a nice space, and most of the regular vendors are there. We're hoping the market's new home works out in the long run.



Keywords: farmers' market, port angeles

08/26 - Great Year For Grouse

You can really see the change in color up at Hurricane Hill. The grasses are getting golden, and most of the flowers have passed into straw. The mountains are spectacular as ever, and there are grouse all over the place. You just have to keep an eye on the tall grass.

Passing green

Scenery

More scenery

Watch out. They'll eat your shoelaces.

A grouse: one of many

More scenery, and if you look carefully at the rocks you'll see a marmot.

Even more scenery

More grouse

A young grouse

Late flowers and the mountains

The last of the corn lilies

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, high country, grouse

08/25 - Obstruction Point: Late Summer

Summer is brief in the high country. Spring comes in a rush with the melting snows, and then there is a brief time when the land is lush with alpine blooms. Then the warmth and dry air of summer do their work and make ready for autumn. It isn't autumn yet, but the landscape is sere. Still, there is the awesome beauty of the high country and the more subtle blossoms of late summer.

Just another view

More scenery - Are we jaded yet?

The trail on top of the world

Mountain lakes and lingering snow

Paintbrush

Some succulent we were too lazy to look up

Late lupines - Hurry if you want your lupine fix.

The kind of stuff they try for at garden shows

The fields

Flowers

and more flowers

Keywords: obstruction point, autumn, flowers, high country, summer

08/24 - Edamame, Soy Beans to Munch

We aren't sure of where we got the idea for this dish, but it is simplicity itself and a great crowd pleaser. Start with a 12 ounce bag of frozen edamame, soy beans. Make sure you get the shelled ones unless you really like shelling beans. Chop up 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and perhaps an inch of fresh ginger root. Heat a tablespoon or two of sesame oil in a frying pan or wok. You might as well set the stove at full blast for this. Dump in the beans. Toss them around. Let them cook through. Wait for a few of them to get a bit seared. Remove the pan from the stove. Toss in the garlic and ginger. Then splash in a few teaspoons of soy sauce, to taste.

That's it.

Keywords: luau

08/23 - Aloha, Welcome to the Kaleberg Luau

Another year, another luau. Once again it was time for lau lau, ahi sushi, and Balinese chicken. This year we used Balinese fish spice instead of chicken spice, but nobody noticed. It's a long story. We also went a little crazy with the foldout pineapples, and the real one.

The Kaleberg Luau - Note the cupcake heiau in the foreground.

Welcome to the Pacific Ocean area.

Keywords: food, luau

08/20 - Lake Angeles in Season

Just a quick note on Lake Angeles. Come on up; the water is great. If you want to have a good long climb and a refreshing swim at the top of it, now is the time to take the Lake Angeles Trail and take a dip in the lake. The water is cool, but it is as warm as it is going to get. Don't wait for winter.

Lots of people out enjoying the lake

Great looking fungus

The lake in summer

Keywords: lake angeles, summer

08/15 - Regular or No Lead?

We recently purchased two bags of coffee, one caffeinated and one decaf. Unfortunately, we forgot to mark the bags and had no idea which was which. Sure, we could have tried drinking some of each, but the effects of caffeine can be subtle and are subject to the vagaries of human psychology.

So, what did we do? We went to Discover Testing and ordered ourselves a set of caffeine test strips. When they arrived, we brewed two pots of coffee and tested them. You can see the two strips on the right. Each strip has two reaction strips, and you can see that each batch of coffee reacted more with a different strip. D is for decaf. C is for the real stuff.

The upper strip shows D for decaf; the lower strip C for caffeine

Keywords: science

08/10 - To The Lighthouse

We didn't time the tides perfectly, but we made it out to the New Dungeness Light and couldn't help noticing the changes. The beach is much sandier than it has been, and that made for easier going. The sandbar out past the turn where the lighthouse becomes visible seems to have disappeared, but the big news is that it is once again possible to approach the lighthouse from the beach. For a while the beach had been so eroded that you had to cut inland and approach by the route they use for the beach buggies. It is nice to have the old approach back.

For a bit of history, you can click on the Dungeness Spit keyword.

The approach to the lighthouse

The lighthouse and its lawn

More beach

More sky

Orange fungus on the trail up to the bluffs

Keywords: dungeness spit, tides

08/08 - Frogs at Lake Angeles

Some time back we mentioned the frogs peeping up at Lake Angeles. We didn't see them back then, but we saw one of them on our last visit.

One of the frogs of Lake Angeles

Scenery

Corn lilies in bloom

Keywords: lake angeles, flowers

08/07 - Scalloped Oysters

While we haven't been in an R month for a while now, the local oysters are still in great shape. We made a big batch of scalloped oysters for a party and we were most impressed. The recipe was pretty simple, but it took a bit of baking time. This is a recipe for a big batch, you can scale it to suit.

INGREDIENTS

  • one BIG loaf of sourdough bread (or two smaller ones)
  • 4 10 ounce jars of oysters
  • a half gallon of the best milk you can get (we use milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery)
  • worcester sauce
  • a stick of butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Tear up the bread into crumbs and toast them in the oven on a metal tray. Keep a close watch so they don't burn.

2. Put half the oysters into the baking dish to form the bottom layer. Add a few shots of Worcester sauce.

3. Put half of the bread crumbs on top of the oysters to form another layer. Add a few more shots of Worcester sauce.

4. Put the other half of the oysters into the dish to form a second oyster layer. Add a few more shots of Worcester sauce.

 5. Spread the rest of the bread crumbs across the top for the final layer.

6. Pour in enough milk to wet everything but the topmost bread crumbs of the top layer.

7. Dot the top with chunks of the butter.

8. Bake at 350F for about an hour. Add milk if it is getting dry too soon and to keep the top bread crumbs from burning.

Keywords: food, recipe

08/02 - Salmon Roe, The Kaleberg Way

One of our friends called us triumphantly with the news. He had caught, not one, but three salmon. We had to join him for dinner, so we did, and we had an excellent meal. One of the salmon had roe, a pair of red egg pods, but our friend wasn't sure of what to do with them, though he did a fine job with the rest of the fish. We, however, did.

Most people eat salted salmon eggs, which are processed much like caviar so that each egg is firm and separate, but coming from the East Coast, we were more familiar with shad roe, and salmon roe is quite similar. We pan fried the complete packets of roe in butter, then baked them to cook them through. The concoction in the photograph is the salmon roe on toasted whole wheat bread with lots of capers.

So, if you ever come across some good salmon roe and aren't sure how to serve it, just try them the Kaleberg way.

Salmon roe on toast, attractively plated; click to enlarge and see otherwise

Keywords: salmon


A floating nurse log on Lake Crescent

08/01 - A Nurse Log Floating On Lake Crescent

We saw this nurse log floating on Lake Crescent. You can see the old log floating and at least one, and possibly two, new trees growing out of it. As for the origin and future of this floating island, we cannot say. Perhaps it will join the mainland, or perhaps it will remain a floating island, visited by kayakers and spotted now and then by hikers in the winter fog.

Keywords: lake crescent, science

July 2009August 2009 September 2009