Robert and I just returned from a wonderful backpacking trip to Sprite Lake via Paddy Go Easy Pass. It was a pretty steep climb, but the beautiful scenery, complete solitude and (mostly) nice weather was the perfect reward. We spent most of the trip reading our books, watching the playful chipmunks and listening to the pikas make their strange beeping sounds. Foodwise, I was pretty lazy and packed a couple of quick, no-brainer meals. Although it wasn’t gourmet, we still managed to eat pretty well during the trip. We had frito pie one night (of course) and Mary Jane Farm Organic Couscous & Lentil Curry the next which, as far as packaged food goes, is actually really good. Since it is always nice to have something fresh with your jerky and dried fruit and crackers, I packed a couple of CSA nectarines which held up surprisingly well. I also found these beautiful huckleberries growing near the lake which we ate as a morning snack with coffee and homemade zucchini bread. I can think of few things that are better than waking up in the mountains to the sunrise and a handful of freshly-picked wild huckleberries!

For a while now, I have had a hankering to try making ice cream from scratch. Homemade ice cream always sounds so creamy and deluxe. The problem is that I am averse to spending money on an ice cream machine. I remember making ice cream once as a kid and the machine we used was heavy and awkward and a took up lots of storage space. Ice cream machines today are smaller and more efficient, but I still take issue with owning something that has such a specific and limited purpose (the “uni-taskers” as Alton Brown calls them.) So, when I stumbled across this post on David Lebovitz’s blog, in which he describes how to make ice cream without a machine, I bookmarked immediately.

The process that David outlines in his blog is pretty simple. You make your ice cream base according to the recipe of your choice (I used David’s basic vanilla.) After chilling the mixture well in the refrigerator, put it in a deep bowl and place it in the freezer. Every half hour, you want to scrape the frozen ice cream from the sides of the bowl and mix it back into the unfrozen portion using a heavy spoon, whisk or hand blender. It is important to mix thoroughly and vigorously. By breaking up the large ice crystals that are forming, you will create a light, uniform and creamy ice cream. After about 3 hours, your ice cream should be complete!

Yesterday ended up being the perfect day for making homemade ice cream - it was beautiful outside, my brother was coming over for dinner and I got out of work a little early so I had plenty of time to experiment in the kitchen. My ice cream turned out very creamy and soft, much closer to soft serve than store bought. Not surprisingly, it started to melt quicker than commercial ice cream. Pre-chilling the serving bowls would probably not be a bad idea. One of the great things about making ice cream from scratch is that you know exactly what is going in it, in my case lots of heavy cream, eggs and organic sugar. Hey, they may not be the healthiest of ingredients, but at least they are natural and I know where they come from. I flavored my ice cream with nothing more than a single fresh vanilla bean. The vanilla flavor was really strong but in a warm, spicy way not in a fake way like you sometimes get with vanilla extract. And, I just love seeing those little vanilla seeds everywhere (even if it did make my ice cream look a tiny bit gray!)

Finally, a few days of summer weather! I decided to make the most of yesterday’s sunshine and, instead of having a winesday, I served up some delicious summertime cocktails with dinner. My CSA box came overflowing with cucumbers once again this week. Although the fried cucumbers from last week were…interesting, I thought a cucumber cocktail might be more my style.

After a quick search for cucumber-based cocktails online, I found this recipe for “The Cuke.” The Cuke won the New York Times’ best summertime cocktail recipe contest in 2006. It is similar to a mojito in that it contains limes, sugar, mint and sparkling water. Instead of rum, The Cuke calls for my personal favorite liquor, gin. Cucumber is what really makes this cocktail special, however.

To make The Cuke, you put sliced limes, sliced cucumbers, fresh mint and sugar into a large pitcher and muddle the ingredients together. Then, you add gin and let it steep for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to serve, simply strain into ice-filled glasses and top with a splash of sparkling water. Muddling the ingredients proved to be somewhat problematic (it calls for LOTS of cucumbers and limes) so I did muddling combined with a rough chop in the food processor. I also used about 2 tablespoons of simple syrup instead of the 1/4 cup of sugar called for in the recipe (I halved the recipe.)

For dinner, I served grilled salmon steaks with nectarine-basil salsa, steamed baby potatoes, and stir-fried pattypan squash with spinach. The Cuke was the perfect accompaniment to this lovely summertime meal. It was tasty and refreshing but, be forewarned, The Cuke is one strong drink. A whole cup of gin for three servings! I’m not sure if I should admit it, but it actually ended up being two servings for us (in my defense, I really didn’t try too hard to squeeze the excess liquid out of the muddled cucumbers and limes - I’m sure there was probably an extra serving hiding in there somewhere.) I only used up one of the five cucumbers from this week’s box so I have a feeling there may be many more Cukes in my future this weekend!

Georgetown is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Seattle. I sometimes think of it as a second home because it is the only place (besides my parents house and the mountains) that Robert and I actually get into the car and drive to on a regular basis. It is a very funky, industrial neighborhood. If Seattle were to hold a contest to see which part of town had the highest concentration of tattoos, bikers, punks and blue-collar workers, Georgetown might very well win. And, as you would expect from a place like this, Georgetown has plenty to offer in the way of dive bars, cheap beer, blaring rock and roll and…vegetarian food?

Yes, that’s right. It may seem incongruous, but this rough and tumble section of town has a pretty significant vegetarian presence. This is most likely due to the fact that Field Roast, a well-known meat substitute, is produced in Georgetown. Many of the sandwiches at Smartypants, our regular Georgetown pub, can be ordered with Field Roast in place of meat. But, just down the street from Smartypants is another pub, Georgetown Liquor Company, where Field Roast is first and foremost on its entirely vegetarian menu.

At first glance, Georgetown Liquor Company seems like an ordinary Georgetown pub: friendly people, casual atmosphere, classic punk rock on the radio competing with loud planes landing at nearby Boeing Field (at one point, I looked out the window and realized we were being buzzed by a huge AWAC - exciting!) But then, as your eyes adjust to the dim lighting inside, you start to notice the very strong sci-fi theme around you. There is a huge mural on one side of the restaurant featuring vaguely familiar-looking aliens (is that Alf on steroids?) The menu offers sandwiches with names such as “Frac,” “Yoda” and “Picard.” During the fall and winter months, Heroes is played at full volume on the TV each Monday night. And, there is some sort of creepy old sci-fi radio program that plays in the bathroom. If you’re a gamer, you will be happy to discover the old arcade machines and vintage game consoles available for playing including an Atari 2600. No, Georgetown Liquor Company is not your average pub. It is a pub for serious geeks (and I mean that in the most loving way since I live with one and occasionally venture into that territory myself!)

The menu at Georgetown Liquor Company consists mainly of sandwiches and salads with a few appetizers and non-sandwich entrees available as well. The wild mushroom tamales and polenta triangles sounded interesting, but sandwiches somehow seemed more appropriate for the surroundings. Robert ordered the “Darth Reuben” which is Roasted-Tomato Field Roast, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and remoulade sauce on marbled rye. He said it had a great balance of flavors. Not too much cheese and not too much Field Roast (let’s face it, if it’s not real meat, you don’t really want it piled up high do you?) His only complaint was that it got a little soggy after a while. A bit more toasting on the bread would have made it perfect. I had the “Picard” which is Lentil-Sage Field Roast, roasted red onions, mozzarella, tofu cream cheese and roasted garlic spread on a toasted ciabatta served with vegan au jus for dipping (vegan au jus…what heresy! I’m pretty sure people have been sent to the guillotine for less.) It was a big, messy, crispy, utterly delicious sandwich. I loved it. We washed everything down with a couple of pints of Manny’s Pale Ale which is also made right here in Georgetown.

Although it is a fairly new place, Georgetown Liquor Company seems to be doing quite well for itself. Every table was full when we were there Friday evening, and everyone appeared to be having a great time. We will certainly be returning; it is going to be a pretty tough choice now between Georgetown Liquor Company and Smartypants. Thanks to Alison for the heads up about this place! Georgetown Liquor Company is located at 5501 - B Airport Way S.

I’m not a huge fan of cucumbers. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just don’t crave them like I crave other vegetables. It seems like anytime I buy a cucumber, I use about half of it for whatever recipe I am making and then inevitably let the remainder go to waste. Well, in this week’s CSA box, I received not one, but FOUR cucumbers! Two regular green ones and two Boothby’s Blondes. The Boothby’s Blondes are an heirloom variety from Livermore, Maine. They are oval in shape and look like bright yellow potatoes. They were beautiful cucumbers, but how was I, a veteran cucumber waster, going to use them all up?

It was time to hit up my trusty copy of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman for some ideas. I flipped to the cucumber section and was immediately struck by his recipe for Crispy Sautéed Cucumbers. I’ve never really thought of cucumbers as being a vegetable that you would want to cook. It kind of seems like a betrayal against everything a cucumber stands for - refreshing flavor, crisp texture, etc. But, it also sounded just odd enough that it could be good.

The recipe is quite simple. Cut a cucumber in half and remove the seeds. Then, slice the cucumber into ½ to ¾ inch chunks. Toss the chunks in a bag full of flour, shake off any excess flour and then fry the cucumbers in butter or oil, turning occasionally, until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside (about 10 minutes.) To finish, simply season with salt, pepper, lemon zest and parsley. Mark’s recipe also calls for tossing the fried cucumbers with sectioned pieces of lemon, but I skipped this step. Instead, I served them with homemade tzatziki sauce on the side, thereby using up even more of my cucumber surplus! I had kind of a dueling cucumbers theme going on.

The fried cucumbers were good, but not mind-blowing. They had a nice mellow cucumber flavor. Not surprisingly, due to their watery nature, they didn’t stay crisp for long. I was actually amazed that they were able to crisp up as much as they did. A combination of flour and cornmeal might have worked better than flour alone. I think the cornmeal would provide a nice crunch even after the cucumbers themselves were no longer crispy. I got the feeling while eating them that fried cucumbers must be a Southern dish. There was just something about them that felt very summery and Southern, akin to fried green tomatoes. While I may not have been transformed into a cucumber addict, this is certainly a quick and easy to way to use up leftover cucumbers.

Robert and I hiked up Iron Peak this weekend, and I brought along a couple of Pain Bagnats for our lunch. Pain Bagnat (also commonly spelled Pan Bagnat) is a sandwich from the Provence region of France. It is basically Salade Nicoise on a crusty bun. The most traditional fillings are tuna or anchovies, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, cucumber or bell pepper, olives and some sort of vinaigrette. Optional ingredients include sliced cheeses or meats, lettuce or other greens, pesto, capers, roasted bell peppers, sliced onion, or even marinated chickpeas. A nice crusty bun or loaf, such as a baguette, is essential to making a good Pain Bagnat.

Pain Bagnat is a perfect sandwich to take hiking because it doesn’t contain any highly perishable ingredients. Also, it is a very sturdy sandwich; once assembled, it is actually meant to sit for a while to allow all of the ingredients to marinate together and soak into the bread (Pain Bagnat actually translates to “bathed” or “wet” bread.) Pain Bagnats are usually pressed down using weights for anywhere from 15 minutes to overnight to assist with the marination process. I figured that wedging the sandwiches into a tightly packed daypack would have a similar effect. We ate our delicious Pain Bagnats with fresh grapes while enjoying the stunning 360-degree view from the top of Iron Peak.

I decided to go with something a little bit different for this week’s winesday: a rose wine. For a long time now, roses have been regarded as second-rate wines. Wine connoisseurs felt that rose wines lacked the complexity found in red and white wines and were therefore not worth taking seriously. Only people with really poor taste in wine would be caught drinking a rose! As usual, what was once unpopular is now becoming hip. These days, people are slowly starting to rediscover rose. Previous misconceptions about rose – that it is too simple, too sweet and poorly made – are being rejected by today’s wine enthusiasts. It is really only a matter of time before rose wine becomes downright trendy.

Rose wine is made pretty much everywhere that wine is made; particularly delicious roses come from France, Spain and the United States. There are several different ways to make rose, but the most commonly used method entails using red wine grapes but allowing the grape skins to be in contact with the juice for a very short amount of time. The end result is a wine that is closer in many ways to a white wine but that has extra body and a subtle hint of red wine flavor. Rose wines are light, crisp and refreshing. Because of this, they are often called summer wines. One of the brilliant things about rose wines is that they are able to be paired with practically any food. They are great wines to take to a picnic. Another plus? Rose wines tend to be very affordable.

My rose wine of choice for this week comes from my own home state of Washington: Chateau Ste Michelle 2006 Nellie’s Garden Dry Rose. I first learned of this wine while watching Wine Library TV’s video podcast. This podcast is hosted by Gary Vaynerchuk, a young guy whose goal is to make the world of wine fun & accessible to everyone. He is a little bit hyper and might rub some people the wrong way, but he definitely knows his wine! In each podcast, Gary tastes 3 or 4 wines. He doesn’t usually go too in-depth into the history of the wines or terroir or other such topics that typically bore casual wine aficionados. Instead, he really focuses on the tasting of the wines, thoroughly describing the aromas and the flavors. This is something I am trying to develop more in myself so I find it to be very helpful. And, the nice thing about it being a video podcast is that you get to actually see the wines being tasted. I can’t tell you how many times I have read or heard about a delicious sounding wine only to be unable to recall the name of it in the store. Seeing the label in the video really helps cement it in my memory.

As I mentioned above, rose wines are sometimes called summer wines. I decided to continue with this summer theme by making one of my favorite hot weather dishes: Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad.) For this dish, I cut a baguette into 1-inch cubes and briefly toasted the cubes in the oven. Then I tossed the toasted bread with fresh basil, kalamata olives and some beautiful yellow, red and orange cherry tomatoes. For the dressing, I whisked together red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt. Super easy! On the side, I served dandelion greens from this week’s CSA box. Dandelion greens, like rapini or mustard greens, are bitter so they are best served slightly cooked. You can sauté them, but it is very common to see them wilted with hot oil or bacon fat. I decided to make a hot garlic and red pepper oil. I made sure that my dandelion greens were well washed and dried and then I tossed them with the warm garlic-infused oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. By the time I served dinner, they were slightly wilted with just a trace of remaining bitterness.

The Chateau Ste Michelle rose was absolutely delicious. I fell in love with this wine after just one sip. This is one of those wines that really lingers on the palate, and it has such a wonderful flavor that you don’t want it to ever leave. It smells slightly floral and sweet, but the flavor is completely dry. Everything I have read about this wine mentions cranberry, and I think that is a fitting description for both the color and the flavor. It is pretty dark and full-bodied for a rose; imagine a very light pinot noir (although this wine incidentally is made from syrah grapes.) Rose may be a summer wine, but, I could easily see myself drinking this rose in the fall with roasted butternut squash and apple soup or wild rice pilaf with dried cranberries and hazelnuts.