Delicious and Unique Sweet Spreads

Blue Chair Fruit’s Morning Toast 2-pack

My good friend Liz got me a wonderful gift this past holiday season, a marmalade from Blue Chair Fruit. This wonderful company makes tasty jams and also runs classes based out of its North Oakland, California headquarters.

I received their blood orange and chestnut honey marmalade with rosemary, which was just stunning on my morning toast. I’m still meaning to try it on some crostini with some slivered parmesan cheese. I wouldn’t hesitate to also try their Elderberry Jam or Meyer Lemon-Blood Orange Marmalade with Rose Geranium. Yum!

Giving Experiences

I don’t know how Mike and I managed to do it, but we convinced our mothers and my grandma to come out to Seattle for Christmas and New Year’s. In addition to the priceless Christmas morning I know we’ll all have together for gingerbread cake, hot cocoa, and gifts, we decided on giving all of us a 2 day-vacation together at Sleeping Lady in Leavenworth, WA. This is an anomaly, because we haven’t done something like this since I was maybe 14. Now that our Dads aren’t around anymore, we felt it especially important to build a beautiful memory after all the pain.

Cozy cabins at Sleeping Lady

I read a post at Oh Happy Day that listed a number of experiences to give someone you care about instead of some thing, and thought I’d add to that list but to focus on family-friendly experiences involving the outdoors and food. Isn’t that what really makes us humans happy – to work out, break a sweat, see something beautiful, and then taste something delicious?

Here is a list of gifts that last beyond a purchase date.

1) Create a brunch tradition
I love breakfast. It’s a meal where you’re freely given permission to mix salty and sweet, and load up on calories because after all, you need calories to burn throughout the rest of the day right? Try to get in the habit of making a new and different item every weekend; a couple months in you’ll soon develop favorites that may become the source of a memory as poignant as Proust’s madeline. A weekly jaunt to a new and different place to experience a new cinnamon roll or bacon sandwich is perfectly acceptable.

2) Plan and create a garden together
There’s nothing like walking outside your door and grabbing something to eat. Fresh alpine strawberries, lettuce, or basil – it doesn’t have to be something as ambitious as corn or potatoes (or tomatoes here in the Pacific NW!) ;)

If you don’t have land, planning an area to grow herbs in a sunny spot of your home might work. Also heading out to the local farmer’s market on a regular basis will keep you in tune with what’s really in season.

3) Create a hike map for the new year
Every year I try to have the goal of going to a new place to hike each weekend during the summer. While I fall short every one of the two years I’ve been trying to do this, it does open my horizons to exploring new places that are free and lovely. Is there an outdoor activity that someone you loves is really into? Try creating a personalized list of suggestion for them, and pack a lunch!

I also now write on Seattle Urban Gardening topics for the Examiner, here are my first posts!
Holiday Gift Ideas for a Seattle Gardener
Show-Stopping Edible Plants of 2011
The Year Ahead : Seattle Gardening Events

English Muffin Bread

This recipe takes about as much effort as mixing together ingredients for pancakes. It’s so easy, so delicious, and I am determined to make it at least every two weeks because it’s a new staple in our house.

I got fantastic results using 1% milk and Eagle Mills natural unbleached all-purpose flour.

Yum, Boulder!

The Foothills

I remember the foothills were first thing that my friend Jay mentioned when he spoke of Boulder. He moved to Boulder somewhat recently, a place he had dreamed about while he was working in Florida with Mike and me. We’ve tried repeatedly to get Jay to consider moving to Seattle, and while he says he likes it here in Seattle, he always goes back to the sunny Colorado skies.

As the days got darker and darker here, my family got more and more excited about visiting Boulder. We finally took a trip out to that hippie-tech startup-sunny base of the Rockies last week.

Jay told us that he was going to make us French Toast repeatedly. I didn’t think much of it until I had a taste of the bread he made the night before. It was the loaf form of an english muffin. You know how an english muffin is soft and airy, yet it has that certain texture that can’t be described except for it being perfect for soaking up butter and jam. Yeah that’s it.

I’m waiting for the recipe. :)

Of course while in the downtown, we looked for coffee. We were lucky to befriend a nice woman (a transplant originally from Jersey City!), who told us about Boxcar coffee. They roast their coffee on premises, oh my god they do a good job. As another plus, they were cool and friendly, unlike some baristas in other coffee houses we visited.

Finally, we took a visit to Spruce Confections, where I had the loveliest chocolate croissant. I would put it in the top three I’ve ever eaten. Yes, that good! We didn’t stick around to listen to the young man playing the violin for very long, but I loved the sun and violin on the cafe table.

So my vote – Boulder is worth a visit!

Need a Job? Entrepreneurs Ace Food and Garden Ideas

In this article from Alternet: Need a Job? Start Your Own — Here Are 5 Entrepreneurs Who Ditched the Corporate World, 5 examples on how to start your own business are listed. Unsurprisingly, two of them have to do with gardens and food!

SoupCycle is soup by bike delivery service based in Portland, OR

You Backyard Farmer’s motto is “We do the work, you enjoy the healthful harvest!” Sounds good to me.